What should be the call?

[juju]

Okay, here is the scenario. This was at a weekly league and there is some confusion over what the League Director announced, either playing to all long pin positions, or to all blue basket positions. The course recently upgraded their baskets and placed new blue baskets in all of the long positions except for one hole. Some groups played to the blue (short) position while other played to the long. During the round, the League Director aced the long position. After the round, it was brought to his attention with people claiming they played to all of the blues as instructed.

The League Director chose to keep all scores, regardless of which position the group played.

What should be the call?

 

[scarpfish]

My call is don't play in that league anymore.

 

[juju]

My call is don't play in that league anymore.

Solid advice. I actually don't play it anymore but this was brought up by some friends who did play. Some of them missed cash by a stroke, getting beat by people who played to the short.

I would have thrown out all scores on that particular hole, even if I had aced.

 

[Stardoggy]

Sounds to me like the entire round should be thrown out.

 

[juju]

Sounds to me like the entire round should be thrown out.

I think that may be a little aggressive since the discrepency was only on one hole. The conflict of interest is that the LD aced the hole in question and chose to keep all scores. Seems pretty shady to me.

 

[JC17393]

Just so I understand this, the only hole in which people played to different baskets was the one the director happened to ace? The rest of the course everyone played to the same baskets?

In that case, I agree with tossing the scores from the hole out due to the confusion and pretending it didn't happen. Hard luck for the ace and all, but you can't compare scores on a hole in which different people played to different baskets. I might suggest a compromise on the ace and pay it 50% of the ace pot with the rest carrying over to the next week or something like that, but given that it's the league director who benefits, he really shouldn't be the one making that decision either way.

 

[Timeetyo]

Ouch - this is tough as no matter what you do, someone is harmed (even if it is only a few $).

If you let the scores play as they were - those who did poorly on the longs that lost to someone who did well on the shorts is upset.

If you toss the entire round - those who did well overall (regardless of tee) are upset.

If you toss those holes - those that did well there are upset.

Moral of the story - there is no good way to handle this cluster - and good communication at the start is KEY.

 

[juju]

Just so I understand this, the only hole in which people played to different baskets was the one the director happened to ace? The rest of the course everyone played to the same baskets?

In that case, I agree with tossing the scores from the hole out due to the confusion and pretending it didn't happen. Hard luck for the ace and all, but you can't compare scores on a hole in which different people played to different baskets. I might suggest a compromise on the ace and pay it 50% of the ace pot with the rest carrying over to the next week or something like that, but given that it's the league director who benefits, he really shouldn't be the one making that decision either way.

Correct. I like this idea, 50% of the ace pool and carry over to next week. It's just a weird situation altogether. Having people play different pin positions because of your mistake and then including those scores is unfair to the participants. Should have just taken one on the chin and thrown out scores for that one hole.

 

[juju]

BTW, some regular league players who always play the long ended up playing the short since they say they heard play all blue baskets. League Director is contending this, stating he said to play all long baskets.

 

[Timeetyo]

BTW, some regular league players who always play the long ended up playing the short since they say they heard play all blue baskets. League Director is contending this, stating he said to play all long baskets.

Rule #1 when you make a mistake - own up to it and do what you can to make it right. Trying to explain it away and it just makes it worse.

 

[smyith]

is this a PDGA league, or just local run?

PDGA league, then everyone who played the wrong basket should get penalized for it. (but which basket was supposed to be played seems to be the real arguement).

local league, then throw out the hole for everyone and the ace doesnt count.

and i agree it sounds like a league not to be apart of.

 

[discgman]

So it sounds like all the holes with blue baskets where the long positions except for one. So everyone played the right pins except for one hole? Also, half the time League directors give instructions or call out names, most people are talking and socializing and not listening at all. So, like in our local league, we always get people at the end of calling names who don't know what hole they start on. I'm sure players get frustrated, but if most people were paying attention, this wouldn't happen.

 

[spinachd]

Sounds like a compromise is in order. Seems like confusion was understandable. Plus compromise is the best way to prevent long term animosity in a regular league. And that last part may be the most important.

Was the Ace pot big?

 

[discoriented]

Sounds like a bush league to me ....

 

[juju]

Ace pot was not that big, maybe $150. Someone else aced too so that kinda complicates things. Still sticking to my ruling that hole scores should be thrown out and LD ace does not count.

 

[tangfoot]

How many groups played Blue vs Long? Without the ace, I'd defer to the LD. With the ace, I'd defer to someone else who was not on his card and can be trusted.

 

[TalbotTrojan]

This sounds like the kind of director I am starting to avoid. Then again the one that pulled something like that on me last year is running a tournament on a couple of my favorite courses. I still signed up for it.

I think it should have been obvious if he said blue or long in the pre round meeting. If it wasn't clear then someone should have asked. Sad to say it is the directors call on what he intended. Then everyone who played the other basket should be peanalized. If you don't like the call you should have asked clearification questions. Not penalizing is just as not fair.

 

[ru4por]

I am confused as to the confusion. Did the LD say blues or longs. Unless he mumbles, speaks Chinese or said both, I am not sure what the issue is.

 

[JC17393]

I am confused as to the confusion. Did the LD say blues or longs. Unless he mumbles, speaks Chinese or said both, I am not sure what the issue is.

I think if one group got it wrong, you can blame them for mis-hearing or not remembering correctly. If multiple groups got it wrong, then perhaps the director wasn't as clear as he could be.

I'd be curious to know in what order the groups played and how that correlates to who played what. If the first few groups played "blue" because that's what they heard or understood to be the case, then the LD's group got there, played it long (yay ace), and the group behind them saw that and followed suit (and the group behind them did the same, etc). That could be a case of the LD saying "blue" then thinking he said "longs" when he got to the hole.

I just have a hard time thinking that one group played long, then the next played blue then the next played long and so on. Groups had to be close enough together to see the group in front playing it one way and either correcting them or copying them.

 

[GB Phil G]

I would be more or less okay with how things went down. This sounds like a classic Murphy's Law situation. I liked hearing all the solutions people have. My solution - Gather up the players. Talk about the issue. Offer solutions and let the majority decide.

Actually, if I were the league director the first thing that would happen is to find the person standing closest to me when I stated the rules. There has to be someone who heard it loud and clear. If you THINK you heard something that's not good enough.

A good league director knows image is everything. And should be vocal and take action to fix the image he just created. They need to take blame even if it wasn't their fault.

A good league player should also realize its just league. Perhaps the LD was euphoric after acing a long hole and didn't realize people were upset. I would hope the players said something if they were. Personally I can't understand why its worth getting upset over a less than $10 amount. There is always next week.

Take your one stroke loss, make it into a chip, and put that on your shoulder.