What do you love about you local league? Tell ME!!

[hedfan1]

Hey guys and gals, it's been a while but I am looking for your input. I am working on my 3rd year of the Fly-By Disc Golf League in Brainerd, MN and I need some inter-web suggestions.
1st year we had 26 members 30 events 6 of which were tournaments and a elimination bracket challenge at the end of the season and with sponsorship's purchased 5 new baskets for our home course.
2nd year we had 26 members, multiple different from the first year we held 24 events with 4 of them tournaments and the elimination bracket for tags. In our second season we proposed 9 new tee boxes for some added variety and placed 4 new bridge crossings. I hope to have signage for the new tee's this spring if given final approval by the park board.

1st - $30 membership, $3 events, Free Tournaments (No Swag just course improvements)
2nd - $20 membership, $3 events, $5 Tournaments (League Towels, Mini's, and season ending drawing based on attendance plus tons of $5 cash giveaways for attendance)
3rd - ???

Questions)
What are some great fundraising ideas you have participated in or ran and why were they great? (I don't do speedo-car washes)

How long is your typical league season? (We've done 6 and 5 months)

How many events does your club run, what day, what time, how much?

Do you have more than ONE tournament a year?

How much is member sign up and what do you get for that league fee?

What would you want to get for a $20 league sign up?
For $25?
For $30?
Would you join for more than $30?

What events do you enjoy and how do others react to them?

How do you keep the noobs, intermediate and women feeling competitive and wanting to come back to play with the "local "pros""? Doubles does not do the trick, they feel like they never have a chance unless paired up with me or the other 2 or 3 players that stand out week after week. Essentially paying money to loose unless luck of the draw gives them a partner with a chance.

Cheap, Value Added, course or league additions?

Do you have trips organized by the league or is this left up to the members to think of and organize?

Other ideas or tips that I missed in this list of Q's.

 

[goosefraba1]

1. I dunno... we are still working on this I think.
2. I think our season is about 8 months... but we still have some events going on in the winter (Kentucky is a little bit warmer than MN)
3. Tuesday night singles league (handicapped), Thursday night doubles, Sunday doubles.
4. We have 4-5 tournaments sanctioned.... several that aren't (like bag tag challenge, charity ice bowl, halloween glow)
5. $20 bucks for shirt, towel, and tag..... $10 tag alone
6. I would sign up for more than $30 if I knew that money was going directly to course improvements.
7. Everybody here really enjoys the bag tag challenge at the end of the year. I really liked the Halloween Glow. Singles handicap is really fun too. Basically, you compete against yourself to get better.
8. The best way to keep noobs and women around is in the layout of the handicaps. Nobody wants to stick around if there is no chance to win or compete. Also, for doubles consider giving a handicap to teams with women or noobs (say 2 strokes per group).

 

[whentherainscome]

What are some great fundraising ideas you have participated in or ran and why were they great? (I don't do speedo-car washes)

Usually our fundraisers are unsanctioned tournaments. They normally don't fill up, but are the most fun tournaments of the season.

How long is your typical league season? (We've done 6 and 5 months)

April-September for the singles league.

How many events does your club run, what day, what time, how much?

Monday Glow (winter) $5, Tuesdays Pro/Am Doubles $5, Sat/Sun 10am Doubles and Wednesday singles league $35 (+$12 for PDGA Sanctioned 12-week league, which just made the middle 12 weeks Sanctioned rounds, helped jump my rating ~20pts when the scores were turned in at the end)

Do you have more than ONE tournament a year?

Yes. 6 or so C- and B- Tier and the club runs one of Michigan's two or three A-Tier events (CCR Open)

How much is member sign up and what do you get for that league fee?

$15 for the annual tag challenge. $35 for the singles league (30 if you have a tag) - you get a disc when you sign up, and we get shirts printed w/everyone's name, those obv come later in the season.

What would you want to get for a $20 league sign up? A towel?
For $25? Disc
For $30? Disc
Would you join for more than $30? Disc and a shirt

What events do you enjoy and how do others react to them?

I like the unsanctioned tournaments. Generally it's just locals who want to donate to the course and play a couple fun rounds. I usually bump up a division for fun. Others seem to enjoy them for similar reasons.

How do you keep the noobs, intermediate and women feeling competitive and wanting to come back to play with the "local "pros""? Doubles does not do the trick, they feel like they never have a chance unless paired up with me or the other 2 or 3 players that stand out week after week. Essentially paying money to loose unless luck of the draw gives them a partner with a chance.

We do a Pro/Am doubles. The better guys get paired up with the not so good guys, so it's more of a toss up each week. I don't go too often, and I don't think many/any n00bs or women do either. When I do I play Am.

Our singles league has Rec/Int/Advanced/Elite and Womens. Just one Women's divison, we had about 7 women and maybe 50 guys last year? The winners in each division (by a points system, tracked on discgolfscene) get a Discatcher basket.

Cheap, Value Added, course or league additions? Dunno.

Do you have trips organized by the league or is this left up to the members to think of and organize? Left to members. We're lucky to have a lot of great courses, so our singles league has 6-8 locations to rotate through.

 

[pspunch]

http://discgolfdesmoines.org/League.html

The website has a lot of details about the schedule and format we use. It's half doubles, half singles with handicaps and 3 tiers. This is my fist year running it, but I'd be happy to swap ideas and brainstorm with you. I'm planning a lot more games this year, side stuff like closest to pin, long drive, long putt, best second (basically long drive for BIG holes, how far can you get in 2 shots).

We also start league nights with a game sometimes. Ring of fire, mini putting, and I have some new ones planned. It's the side games that get everybody involved and having fun. Everybody has a shot a winning longest putt, or ring of fire.

 

[hedfan1]

These are all great tips and insights, thank you for those who took the time to respond.

In the league I am running, I have essentially one guy who has been willing to step up and help out. Is there anything besides enthusiastic members willing to help out?

Are these leagues run strictly by the people or are they backed by a store, government, etc.?

We have done sponsorship in the past but not for the league. More for (Sponsor a Basket) type thing. As I see it, we are looking to generate upwards of $1000 per year through member sign-up and tournament entries but it's not easy with 25 people.

One issue I have here is no one really wants their money to go to the improvement of the city course. They feel like they are spending their hard earned cash to make the park better for everyone else that is not paying. They think their taxes should pay for it. How have your leagues structured the payouts, prizes and course improvements as well as their relationship with the DG course owners to make the cheap-O's happy while still investing for improvements.

Do you have separate funds?
i.e. membership and entry fees go to the league while asking for an additional donation for the "basket" or course fund that would be used for park improvements.

We have a gathering of the minds this Sunday to lay out the years schedule, go over roles and responsibilities. I hope I can get someone to lock in as a Treasurer - (Someone who runs the finances and helps with sponsorship and league sign-ups.)
President - (Over see the operations on all fronts and help where needed)
Event Director - (Over see each event, make sure things are ready to go for each weeks event/tournament)
Fundraising Coordinator - (Find leads, follow up on leads, bring in money for the league or the course.)

What else could I be missing?

 

[simpletwist]

For me the thing I like best about leagues is the socialization and the friendly competition.

 

[Tpro]

Would you pay 20 to join a club for a year that got you slight discounts on discs (maybe a dollar or so) , a tag, and a discount of a dollar in weekly doubles/singles?

 

[Royal Hill]

For the Brainerd area, if there are averaging 25-30 buy-in participants on average..

How big is the local playing population? Are you getting a sizable percentage, or only the "regulars" that would sign up for play regardless of the format?

If you take a look around at those who are participants, are there any glaring similarities to the demographic group? Unifying features asidde from golf? What groups are you attracting? Are these the people you wanted to reach, or are you missing chunks of people you'd like to involve?

Sometimes we ask the people who come what they like, and we continue to serve them well, yet in a tighter and tighter circle of "regulars". We could then find ourselves stagnating growth wise and find out that everyone that was interested in (x) is already there. The rest wanted , or (z)

 

[DSmith]

1. I dunno... we are still working on this I think.
2. I think our season is about 8 months... but we still have some events going on in the winter (Kentucky is a little bit warmer than MN)
3. Tuesday night singles league (handicapped), Thursday night doubles, Sunday doubles.
4. We have 4-5 tournaments sanctioned.... several that aren't (like bag tag challenge, charity ice bowl, halloween glow)
5. $20 bucks for shirt, towel, and tag..... $10 tag alone
6. I would sign up for more than $30 if I knew that money was going directly to course improvements.
7. Everybody here really enjoys the bag tag challenge at the end of the year. I really liked the Halloween Glow. Singles handicap is really fun too. Basically, you compete against yourself to get better.
8. The best way to keep noobs and women around is in the layout of the handicaps. Nobody wants to stick around if there is no chance to win or compete. Also, for doubles consider giving a handicap to teams with women or noobs (say 2 strokes per group).

Tuesday Night's entry fee is $2
$1 goes to the club (course improvements etc.)
$1 goes into a prize pool which at the end of the 8-10 week session the top players get paid out in wholesale priced plastic (their choice)
Players play for bag tag standings on raw score nightly
The handicapped scores determine how many points the players get for that night, based off of how many people they beat with the handicap
Its an inexpensive alternative to the rest of the leagues, encouraging new players to get involved in club activities.
I think you can also buy into a session for $15 (saves you $5). We did that last year I don't know if the person running it is still offering this option.

Thursday night entry fee is $6 (?)per person
$1 going to the club (course improvements etc)
$5 going to payout
No handicaps and as of this moment doubles format

Both tuesday and thursday run on seperate courses and rotate out after X number of weeks

Sunday Doubles entry fee $6 (?)
same format as Thursday but at an earlier time in the day @1pm


Also a note about tuesday and thursday league;
It was originally just thursday and sunday but I added tuesday to the mix after getting tired of listening to players complain about handicaps.
Some liked the handicaps (new players) some hated it (the usual suspects)


As for the $20 membership fee;
It used to be $20 for new members and $10 to renew (all you got was crappy bag tags)
We changed it after realising A) we make way more money off tournaments for the club than membership and B) People like stuff
So we went with the Paragon deal which costs about $12 per person and you get a dry fit shirt a towl and a cool looking bag tag.
We kept the membership costs and made less money per member but in turn we gained way more members.
$20 gets you the full package (New and Renew)
$10 gets you just a tag (Renew)



sorry about hijacking your post Zach haha :thmbup:

 

[B3NDER]

I love that it's at flip city. :thmbup:

 

[hedfan1]

Very Interesting!

I am having a hard time grasping the ability to give away a dry-fit shirt plus other swag with just a $20 entrance fee. I can't find a whole sale cost that low for an order of 25.

I started this league in 2011 for the sole purpose of improving our poor inadequate course baskets, tees, bridges, etc. Since this league has started it has morphed into so much more than that. We now run a yearly clinic on how-to disc golf. We have worked out forming two new courses in a 15 mile radius, both were designed by league players, one by me and one from a member but also a student at the local collage, so he got one going there, plus our action has spurred the start of 2 more leagues in neighboring cities, which spurred them to ask me to help design a new course in one of those towns.

I want this league to be simple and fun, I've found out the less the members are asked about what they want the more they enjoy it, I've been told, you plan it, I'll play it.

Our Demographic has the youngest, 18 to the oldest, 55. Average age of members 23 so it is a much younger crowd. I do not want anyone under 16 unless with a legal guardian.

No one CURRENTLY between 34 to 54. I also, do not see to many of those ages on the course.

I was thinking
$20 early registration
$25 regular registration
$2.00 Events (I like the idea of collecting the cash and handing it back out for retail merchandise at some local stores.)
Optional course donation's (for those who like to hoard their pennies)
Tuesday League Events (Ace Race, Doubles, Handi-cap, 3-disc, etc.)
Sunday Social (A generic time for people to come out and play at leisure for fun, no cost, but also no organization from the league besides discussion on league page.

You get a...
Tag
Bigger Swag idea
Smaller Swag idea
Discount on league events
$10 Tournaments (members)
$15 Tournaments (Non-Members)
3 1/2 months long for member league (18 events) (4 league tournaments)
Other months have stuff going on, still be pay to play sometimes but not member oriented.

What kind of persuasion do you use when looking to sign on league sponsors? Do you push your members spending at their location? Push your ability to advertise for them during events? Maybe just asking for support for the league and not promising advertising or patronage? Other ideas?

 

[General Scales]

The NIDGC (North Idaho Disc Golf Club) runs a league from March till October at the local courses and this is their format.

25 dollars gets you a club disc and a bag tag (20 dollars the next year gets you a disc and a free bag tag)

For non members to play it's 3 dollars (2 of which goes to cover the insurance the club bought to circumvent the PDGA insurance), 1 dollar ace pot, 1 dollar CTP (usually 2 CTP's per league round), 4 dollar Super Ace Pot (no cap limit). Members get to play for a buck instead of 3.

They have two different bag tags. 1 is Scratch and one is Handicap. We work the average for the handicap out after two rounds at the course being played (we alternate between two different courses, 1 each week).

They also have a scratch and handicap pay in (2 dollars for each, guaranteed to be paid out at the end of the round). The person who runs it is also the owner of a local disc golf store, all the funds procured either go back to course improvements or throwing a big tournament at the end of the year (Farragut Open). Our turn out for league play is usually 30-40 people with the youngest being around 11 and the oldest be dear old Jack B (79 years young this year).

This format seems to have worked wonders as it was different a few years ago and we had nowhere near the turnout. Our regular dollar ace pot is capped at 100 bucks with it being rolled over (last year, you could've hit 5 aces in a 5 week period during league and gotten a 100 bucks each time). The ace pot was only hit twice last year so the remaining ace pot was split, half donated to the local humane society and half put up in pay out for our yearly ending league tournament. The half that was donated was voted on and had a resounding and overwhelming amount of support from the members.

 

[hedfan1]

I like the roll over ace pot. That' I will be incorporating.

So we had our meeting and everything went not at planned. I had prepared for me and three other guys, nine showed up. So as ten of us sat around a table meant for six max was rather interesting trying to get good eye contact with everyone but the food I got went to the three that confirmed attendance and the rest got water.

Any way, we got to discussing the calender and what days would be designated league days. I got through the length of the season and then the conversation spun off and I ended up using my freestyle meeting technique. I sat back and listened, took notes and spit out on occasion some topics I wanted to hear about. For the first time in two years people were speaking openly to each other about their thoughts on the league while I was in hearing distance. I heard about pricing, events they liked, disliked and what they would like to try. They discussed structure and what they thought the leagues goals should be. Fundraising ideas, not so much. They talked about how we could get new people coming to events. Inter league competition. St. Cloud? Wadena? Ironton? League members want to connect with other areas and do a little traveling. Last year I asked about Tee Pads, no one thought it was our duty to pay but they didn't want to suggest ideas on how to accomplish that. This year they talked about how they could network to find sponsors and wanting league funds for course allocation to be allocated to tee pads. They talked about competition vs "fun" play. So we came up with about a dozen game variations that we are going host, making it more inviting for those who are not looking to compete every week but more so looking to socialize and make some throws. They thought that might be a good way to draw a few more members and non-members out to the course that wouldn't normally come out to "lose" weekly because they are not as good. Lots more, but to me, even though I got almost nothing covered I was hoping to, I got so much more and now I don't need to draw in a large number next time to finalize the schedule.

Thank you to all for your suggestions and advice. I took bits and pieces from each and every one of you and I hope they add to the success I hope to have in Leagues this year!!

 

[Psicko]

I like the fact that my league at Emerald disc golf course is year round, there is no start date and no end date. It is a dollar to play one night, and one dollar for ace pot. The one dollar goes to the course, and maybe even putting other courses in the east valley(not sure on the last one). I like the fact that it is handicapped based. There are usually three prizes, one for the handicapped winner, one for the non handicapped winner, and one for a CTP prize. Prizes vary from gift certificates, free play at a local pay to play, 25% off the local dg store, free food, and random other stuff. I am there to improve, the socialization, and of course hit the ace pot(one day, I will). If I win anything, that is all extra.

The emerald dg group also does free tourneys for members every year. The cost of the membership goes towards improving the course and whatnot.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

The guys who run it, and the dedication they have to making sure we have quality events, reasonable fees, well cared for courses, quality league packages, occasional freebees and assorted CTPs and sometimes longest putt prizes... Plus they do summer and winter leagues. Proud to be MCCG. :thmbup:

 

[Psicko]

Oh, also The guy who runs the league helped the course get concrete tee pads and better signs a few years back. More recently he has made more pin positions available, and help start and design other courses in the area. One went at a golf course, another one will be installed shortly at a golf course, and two 18 hole courses with one bieng a champion course is planned.

There are other leagues at other courses nearby, but this is by far the cheapest one.

 

[DeadEye]

Because it's basically all of the people I like that play disc golf, all meeting on one day and having a good time. Me and a buddy of mine started it back up after our city didn't have one for a few years, so we basically built it from the ground up. Now we're running weeklies, have run 2 tournaments, are in the process of designing a new course, and have made several changes to our current course.

 

[hedfan1]

Sounds like there is alot of grass root gangs out there. That's awesome to hear. When you say you meet every week all year round, does that mean the league president is there 52 weeks a year to collect cash and run the event? During the summer I spend over a month worth of days in the summer where I am showing up to the course to run things. That's in 5 months. If the same guy is there all year round to run things, he deserves more than a $1.00. I would love to have a year round league but I need some down time too. If I had a team of 3-4 people who I could work with to run the $$ scheme each week, that would help.