USDGC results-exactly what people were worried about?

[craftsman]

I always figured that the USDGC funded the large payout mainly based on the sale of the champ Rocs and the associated support packages. From 2004-2006ish there was a feeding frenzy online when they went on sale, but lately that isn't the case from what I can see. Less demand for champ Roc = smaller USDGC?? Or was that just a minor factor?

I thought the same, so i quoted it to hopefully get a response.

 

[Stetz1010]

Has anyone discussed the revenue earned for the host city from tourists during the USDGC? Could the USDGC continue to fuel tourism for that area if it is played with the same format this year next year? Take into account hotels, shopping, grocery stores, rental car businesses, etc. I don't know the involvement of local government with the USDGC, if there is little to no involvement, then maybe someone from Innova should seriously consider trying to get the local gov. involved and press the USDGC as a way to attract more tourists to their city as a way to earn monetary support from said local gov.? just a thought.

 

[craftsman]

I feel bad for jk*. Not only for the rumor mill his win has created, but because his sister came to defend him.

Not that i dont see how shed be upset, but just pike in grade school, being defended by your mom, sister, or grade school crush, definitely warrants some lulz.

 

[Connor Jones]

I bought a magic at your store,yay.

 

[esdubya]

I thought the same, so i quoted it to hopefully get a response.

After watching the J. Poole interview it pretty much answered my question, should have watched that before I posted..

Check it out, it's on page 7 of this thread

 

[oddjob]

best finish at SN events was 4th

http://www.sndg.org/stats/player.php/John-Key?start_year=2009

 

[1978]

Good Morning people,
My name is Ronda Key, I am an owner of a disc golf store,a disc golfer,Pres. of my local club,teacher of dg in our schools, and John Key is my brother.

This thread was brought to my attention yesterday by a club member. While my brother is grown man and can speak for himself, I personally take offence to anybody saying or posting untruths about any of my family members. Not sure if some are trying to be Mr. Big****s or they are just out and out liers. What ever the case may be, I dont appreciate it. Know your facts or shut your mouth!

If you want to dog the USDGC and Innova, be my guest, but the facts are the USDGC was losing money! The only way to move the sport to the next level, is to get MORE than the top 10 pros competing at all the big events. Do I agree totally with the way it was done? NO Am I tired of watching the same people compete at every big event? YES All of the guys/girls that were givin the chance to qualify and compete at the USDGC, were people that would probably never had the chance to go otherwise. Due to rent,car,food, life in general is what keeps them from travel. Dont get me wrong, I have had alot of the Pros in my store. I talk to Nikko on the phone, have great respect for all of them. But in order for disc golf to move to the next level there has to be more than them. Should they have picked the USDGC to do this? MAYBE, MAYBE NOT But it did showcase alittle of the bigger picture.

As for my brother, I am very proud of him for even going, mush less winning a tournament like this. He had never competed in or on a course like this, so Congrats to him.

Ronda Key

Event and rules are the issue, not the players that participated or won.

 

[billnchristy]

As I poorly said before John is a good player, not a great one and almost certainly not consistantly 970 rated.

If he played more PDGA tournies he would be solid 935-950 tops or a killer INT or an ok to good ADV depending on location.

The 880 rating with left hand is impressive, I would probably be around 750 rated with my right because when I had to play that way I got to the point where I could ocassionally beat Christy throwing right only but I still putted left, without that it would be closer to 400...so that is killer and I bet it comes in handy on a wooded course.

I'm not John's biggest fan because our personalities are different...I am too laid back to be as competitive as he is but he is a good guy and his sister is very cool. But then again I don't think anyone was really attacking them either.

Another impressive thing about John's win is that there are no big bomber courses down in his neck of the woods, everything is tight finese stuff so I don't know where the heck he got the big arm necessary for Winthrop.

Anyways...congrats John.

& like the level headed folks have said, if you don't like the way tournies are run go run one and see how you can do with it...you may have the answer.

 

[rnance7]

You guys talking about John's lack of PDGA rounds seem to forget that he is in NW FL and Southern Nationals territory. There are hardly any PDGA tournaments in that area.

Just saw his Southern Nationals stats...played 7 events, 4 of them he played advanced with top 5 finishes and then played 2 open tourneys...I would say that if you are playing advanced you shouldnt be given a projected score of that of a low intermediate/higher up rec player of 89..Thats crazy. So nontheless, he is a good golfer bc these stats show it. He must have played really ****ty in the qualifer but good enough to qualify because I did watch the guy play, and if he is an 880 player, pigs must be able to fly. By watching him I'd say 970-980 range easy. Very good golfer, so John, if you are reading this, I enjoyed watching you play this week and your shot placement was in 'beast mode'

 

[rkbraves]

I feel bad for jk*. Not only for the rumor mill his win has created, but because his sister came to defend him.

Not that i dont see how shed be upset, but just pike in grade school, being defended by your mom, sister, or grade school crush, definitely warrants some lulz.

Look you little dork, I have spent alot of time,money and effort in my area to grow this sport! What have you done? I am the one who got him involved in dg. And pretty much, I have had enough of grown man whinning like a bunch of two year olds!

What I'm p'ds about is the people on here commenting that they personally talked with my brothers caddie and got the scoop on him! News Flash, he didnt have an f'n caddie! So know your facts.

If you want to continue to whin about the USDGC/Innova, be my guest. But then dont be alarmed when NO big sponsor ever picks dg up! Cause what they see is a bunch of grown men whinning over either the TD,Tourney,Payout, Course or the people playing at just about every tourament held! Mainstream.......NO WAY!

 

[rnance7]

We've already established the fact that he didn't have a caddie..However, for everyone there to know that he got his rating left handed SOMEONE must have said something, probably him. Things like that spread like wildfire, especially for 935+ guys who are barely struggling to shoot even on their projected score..and then they look over and see this guy slingin discs like its nothing have a projected of 89, 10-15 strokes higher than everyone else. I believe he may have had the highest projected out the field

 

[rnance7]

JUST SAYIN

 

[Dave242]

You can if you turn your back on the Open players. If you don't squeeze your wholesale/retail differential back into the Open payout, you can make a little money. However, as the tier gets higher there is more and more expectation that you are going to add cash to the Open payout. Once the words "cash added" show up in the description, either somebody came up with a cash sponsor or you are robbing Peter to pay Paul. Most of the time it is the latter. The bigger the event, the worse it gets. If you look around online there are some Clubs that have run NT's that put meeting minutes online, and you can see the discussions where those Clubs will vote to eat the $2,000 or $3,000 the event lost. I've seen them. For those events there is a high guarantee of added cash, and they don't have enough Peters to rob.

As a board member of one of the bigger and better clubs around, I always voted against the practice of clubs subsidizing ringers coming into the area to snatch club funds.

In my perspective, the club's purpose is to grow and nurture the local disc golf scene. And, the vast majority of members do not come out an watch the big dogs who show up.....so how is it right to take their membership dues and fees assessed in weeklies to support this sort of thing? What is the benefit to locals to host a big expensive event?

 

[DSCJNKY]

Has anyone discussed the revenue earned for the host city from tourists during the USDGC? Could the USDGC continue to fuel tourism for that area if it is played with the same format this year next year? Take into account hotels, shopping, grocery stores, rental car businesses, etc. I don't know the involvement of local government with the USDGC, if there is little to no involvement, then maybe someone from Innova should seriously consider trying to get the local gov. involved and press the USDGC as a way to attract more tourists to their city as a way to earn monetary support from said local gov.? just a thought.

The local tourism department seems to be heavily involved, or in years past was heavily involved. Didn't see it this year, but in the past they had banners attached to every light post for miles and miles down the main drag in Rock Hill that said Disc Golf on them.

DSCJNKY

 

[Dave242]

Has anyone discussed the revenue earned for the host city from tourists during the USDGC? Could the USDGC continue to fuel tourism for that area if it is played with the same format this year next year? Take into account hotels, shopping, grocery stores, rental car businesses, etc. I don't know the involvement of local government with the USDGC, if there is little to no involvement, then maybe someone from Innova should seriously consider trying to get the local gov. involved and press the USDGC as a way to attract more tourists to their city as a way to earn monetary support from said local gov.? just a thought.

I think the USDGC has that covered. See the 2nd sponsor listed on their sponsor page.

Also, notice all the local sponsors listed from the host hotel to a whole bunch of local restaurants.

EDIT: DSCJNKY beat me to it.

 

[turbosteve]

Has anyone discussed the revenue earned for the host city from tourists during the USDGC? Could the USDGC continue to fuel tourism for that area if it is played with the same format this year next year? Take into account hotels, shopping, grocery stores, rental car businesses, etc. I don't know the involvement of local government with the USDGC, if there is little to no involvement, then maybe someone from Innova should seriously consider trying to get the local gov. involved and press the USDGC as a way to attract more tourists to their city as a way to earn monetary support from said local gov.? just a thought.

The City of Rock Hill has given tremendous support to the USDGC over the years. Actually since this format has a lot more ams playing than pros it wouldn't surprise me if the economic benefits go up. The USDGC is only one part of Rock Hill's sport tourism. Recently the city got awarded as the host city for the 2012 US Youth Soccer Federation National Championships. They have also started construction on the Riverwalk project which includes a velodrome for cycling and would be a perfect spot for disc golf. Some members of the community have voiced their concerns that the Riverwalk project is too costly. There is actually a very important city council race that could change the composition of the council. If the challenger wins I wouldn't count on increased support from the local government. If I was Innova I would be happy that I had any support at all.

 

[joe_kool315]

We've already established the fact that he didn't have a caddie..However, for everyone there to know that he got his rating left handed SOMEONE must have said something, probably him. Things like that spread like wildfire, especially for 935+ guys who are barely struggling to shoot even on their projected score..and then they look over and see this guy slingin discs like its nothing have a projected of 89, 10-15 strokes higher than everyone else. I believe he may have had the highest projected out the field

Wrong ... there were a few higher than his. At least 2 92's as well as a host of 88's and 87's to boot It's that not hard to look on the scoreboard and see the facts before posting on here is it? That's how those "left hand" kinda rumors get started. Someone over in the corner saying "I bet he played left handed in his qual rounds" and someone overheard "he played left handed" and it grew from there ... READ MAN!

I guess he played the Atlanta Open back in April of 2010 he was psychic and new he needed to throw poorly to beef up his handicap for a handicapped tournament that didn't exist yet. Of course he hurt himself there with that 920 rated 4th round or he may have been the highest projected in the field.

just say'n

facts are what they are ... new format new rules and everyone played within them. ANY handicapped ANYTHING is always going to favor a newer player that's learning or just coming off a plateau in performance and climbing to the next level over a Pro that performs consistently at a high level or advanced player that is consistent at his level. That's just the way handicapping works. Is your performance levels off, the goal is to have you shooting "even" given your handicap.

Given qualification guidelines and all the tourney rules what's the issue here and why the negativity toward a player that busted his handicap 2 days and bested it the other 2 days? there's NO handicapping system out there that works perfectly. Also, setting the minimum Tournaments played in too high will eliminate a lot of players that would otherwise like to play due to geographic locations and the fact that there only a few PDGA events in some regions.

 

[1978]

No one should lose money on a PDGA tournament. If they do, its their own poor planning. Most events can get a "few sponsors" and that pays for the players pack. However, if no sponsors the event should NEVER lose money for the following reasons...

1. Traditionally players packs are deducted from the payout at retail. Usually this swag is donated or purchased at whole sale. The club or organizer would gain the difference in what they paid for or accepted in donation and what they deduct from payout.
A TD that decides to take players pack out of the equation is at fault for losing money.

2. Merch that is used as payout is purchased at wholesale and paid out at retail. At the very least the event should make 40% margin on their payout. So $1000 worth of payout should net the club $400 and so on.

Basically, as we all know, the more pro's you have attend, the less money you will make because of the 100% cash payout. Am's drive and grow the sport. Without them there would be way fewer new courses, disc manufacturers, and disc types. Its because of the growth of the rec and am player that many companies feel like they can produce new discs.

So, the USDGC...format or not, is now starting to target more Am players... and you will continue to see the growth of "_____ Am Championships" and its the Am dues, and tourny fee's that fuel local clubs and local growth.

 

[grodney]

the big arm necessary for Winthrop.

Huh? Perhaps you've never seen/played the course.

There is no requirement for a big arm. If you can throw 250 accurately and get up-and-down from 150ft, you can fairly easily shoot 72 (4-over).

I'm not personally good enough, but I could take pretty much any 950+ player out there, take away their drivers, and if they throw exactly where I tell them to throw, they'd be between 70-75.

 

[rnance7]

Huh? Perhaps you've never seen/played the course.

There is no requirement for a big arm. If you can throw 250 accurately and get up-and-down from 150ft, you can fairly easily shoot 72 (4-over).

I'm not personally good enough, but I could take pretty much any 950+ player out there, take away their drivers, and if they throw exactly where I tell them to throw, they'd be between 70-75.

I agree 100%...that course is all about accuracy and shot placement on narrow and sloped fairways