• maximum value in services to the membership
• progress towards membership goals
• a dynamic infrastructure to effectively handle the organization's growth rates

Table of Contents:

1. Current Situation and Challenges to the PDGA
2. The PDGA of Tomorrow
3. Vertical to Horizontal Integration
4. Transition Plan
   1. Organizational Impact
   2. Financial Impact
   3. Timeline
5. Constitutional Impact
6. Appendix

As a growing organization whose sources of income are primarily based from the membership it serves, the PDGA is continually challenged on many fronts whether it be membership service, getting desired results from it's outstanding network of volunteers or handling disruptions in both the system and membership base. We as an organization are limited in meeting these challenges both financially and organizationally. The organization of our association is no longer sufficient to meet both our current needs and able to invest the appropriate resources to grow and develop the sport we serve. The following challenges are based on my experience to date with the organization.

1. The PDGA office systems and practices are overburdened with the current level of membership and excellently administrated by the current office staff.

The current back office practices were designed at a time when the active membership was at approximately 2500.[1]. Although the processes have been tweaked throughout the years, the backbone of the system is primarily manual. At three times the active membership, the current systems and practices do possess inherent economies of scale. Our current office located on Toronto Island is at or near full capacity with no opportunity to grow.

Required investment to relocate the offices and incur an increase in overhead present an additional challenge to our current financial resources.

2. The PDGA is not effectively addressing the memberships' requests as defined by the membership survey of 1997/1998.

The bulk of the PDGA efforts (volunteer and paid) have been focused on issues related to growth. Primarily reactive as opposed to proactive. When recent proactive activities were engaged in, such as hiring a marketing effort or initiating the player ratings system, sufficient time to ensure the success of the program was lacking.

Primary requests of the survey included Sponsorship and Media Coverage. Limited success in this area is partially a function of our current tournament structure and the lack of perceived value contributed by the PDGA in the process. Outside of variably supporting the recently defined 'majors', a tournament structure sanctioning 39 'Supertour' events presents a scale issue in which PDGA efforts to develop sponsorship and provide media coverage are, at best, diluted if attempted at all given our current financial resources.

3. Growth of the organization has caused a chasm between its constitution and the reality of its activities.

Constitutionally, the PDGA structure is to be run by a volunteer Board of Directors supported by an employed administrator and various volunteer committees. Growth of the PDGA to its current membership levels has resulted in the volunteer defined duties to be too cumbersome to be effectively managed and executed by our current volunteer base. In addition, given the amounts of work necessary recruiting and acclimating new volunteers into the system has logically dwindled. In the case of the elected board members, many of these duties were transferred to the office of the administrator. With other activities, stipends for work have been implemented to augment the increased duties or key services to the membership would have suffered as a result.

With the current membership levels of the organization and the growth rate of the sport in general, the constitutional structure of the organization and our current activities are in need of review and revision to encourage, rather than inhibit:

• The current levels of service provided to our membership
• Proactive change, complimenting the constitution, to best promote the sport of Disc Golf

By effectively addressing the challenges above, the PDGA can transform itself in an organization better suited to accommodate the growth of the sport and position itself to deliver on the priorities of the membership. But why should we do this now? While the PDGA currently enjoys being the only nationally organizing body of this sport, there is no one to benchmark our services against at this point. As the sport continues to grow, logically others will look to take advantage of the opportunity. Competition in this area is fine, however, there is one 'wrinkle'. As a member of the Board of Directors of the players' organization, I personally believe it is our responsibility to ensure that the 'voice of the players' maintains a significant role in the development of the sport. If, for example, a major corporation were to be interested in the sport why would they want to involve the PDGA in that activity? With our current organization needing a restructuring - the issue of potential sponsors asking 'do we give our money to them or do we build it ourselves?' becomes much easier to answer against the players' favor. We as a Board owe it to our membership to ensure that the PDGA of Tomorrow is effective in delivering those services that will secure our role as the sport grows. These services can be separated into general membership services, general tournament/ competitive support and the PDGA Super Tour.

General Membership Services:
Membership services today include:

• registration of new/current members
• providing the Disc Golf World News subscription
• the Affiliated Clubs Program
• providing the on-line course directory (and future hardcopies??)
• information resources via PDGA.com including the DISCussion pages
• support of the Disc Golf Foundation

Some of these services present more opportunity for improvement than others.

The current process for handling membership registrations is primarily manual. The paperwork flows into the PDGA through three avenues: memberships are mailed in to the PDGA office individually, memberships are mailed in with tournament results and members can currently sign-up online at GottaGoGottaThrow.com. The backbone of the process relies on manually entering the information into a DOS based database that is reaching capacity. An access database is in development but has yet to be fully implemented. To effectively handle this process in the future, the PDGA needs to look to technology that offers economies of scale. This can be accomplished by shifting the backbone of our current process to the internet with the data flowing into an on-line database which can be uploaded/ referenced to for the various needs of the organization. While moving this process to the Internet will make registering for the organization simpler for our e-enabled members, the conventional process would also be accommodated with mailed in memberships being entered into an online screen by our administration.

As the PDGA grows, reliance on its network of established clubs would become increasingly important both to develop and rely on to efficiently accomplish its objectives. The Affiliate Clubs program presents an opportunity for several initiatives including developing a PDGA sanctioned league play, an on-line tool for clubs to track the league results, developing a league 'ratings' system, and fostering PDGA sanctioned inter-club competitions including a national title competition. Development of such a system has several potential benefits to the sport:

• The club network would become a tighter community coordinated by the PDGA enabling improved communication channels to our membership, a network of experienced volunteers to tap for large events and sharing of successful practices amongst the clubs will help to strengthen the community as a whole.
• The PDGA could realize a new income stream to finance the additional administrative costs.
• The format, once initiated and proven, could be rolled out to schools and universities to enable the development of a true amateur sporting level in the organization. An established network of clubs could parlay into a nationwide support group when marketing into schools and universities.[2]
• Expansion of membership value and, in turn, membership scope (including disc golfers who previously perceived little value in being a member of the PDGA).

The PDGA currently realizes 25% of its income ($96k per 2001 budget) from its tournament sanctioning activity. Currently we put $40k directly into the tour in the form of purse support for the 'majors', tournament insurance, SuperTour kits, Worlds Registration, and miscellaneous tournament expenses.

Based on the current effort of our office staff, the amount of hours put into the tour breaks out as:

1. 540 hours - Event Data Entry
2. 180 hours - Scheduling
3. 240 hours - TD Packages
4. 180 hours - Misc. incl. Web site support

1,140 hours from a total of 4,800 hours yields 24% of staff expenses allocated to tournament support. This equates to roughly $17.6k of staff expenses. Applying the same percentage to our office/overhead expenses adds $14k. Looking at the process from this perspective, the PDGA puts $71.6k into the tour currently realizing a net gain of 25% for the organization. For this expense, the PDGA sanctions and organizes the tour, inputs event results when received and tabulates player points. Volunteers currently facilitate the ratings system, technical standards, rules and related maintenance.

In the future, the PDGA could provide improved services in this area focusing on reducing the burden for our volunteer TD's and improving the experience for our membership. These improvements could be categorized as follows:

• Tournament reporting procedures
• Added Services to Tournament Directors
• Added Services to Membership
• Review of Tournament Structure/Divisions

Similar to the membership registration process, the current process for handling event reports is primarily manual, with electronically enhanced elements. Event reports can be transitioned to an Internet process facilitating simpler tournament reporting procedures and accommodating our current manual processes as well. The technology is readily available to support database functions accomplishing the following upon receipt of tournament results: scanning for player errors (i.e. correct, current numbers), cross check on mathematics/statistics, immediate update of player points, immediate update of player ratings. Given the amount of data collected per tournament, there would logically still be a need for review of the data prior to releasing 'official results'. Overall, the process could take advantage of proven technology, become simpler for TD's to utilize and require reduced administration time by the PDGA staff.

In addition to improving the tournament reporting process, the PDGA could offer additional services designed to reduce the workload of our volunteer TD's. Specifically, offering tools to handle the registration for events and providing related services. The BOD has considered such services in the past however there were hurdles that ultimately hindered activity in that area. One large hurdle dealt with the time required to transfer collected registration fees to the Tournament Director. To ensure the tournament monies would be available for the tournament, on-line registration would need to close two-weeks prior to the event. It was determined this option would provide little value to our tournament structure with it's current registration practices. The PDGA does have the opportunity to develop a working model by playing a role in the process. Essentially, the organization would be the 'middleman' in transferring the registration fees in a timely manner. This approach provides advantages to both the TD's and the PDGA:

• · Reduction of tournament staff registration activity the day of the tournament
• · Ability to better plan the orchestration of the event with confirmed knowledge of attendance including division offerings, etc.
• · Enables the PDGA to realize player/tournament fees up front rather than following when the event is reported
• · Allows the PDGA to offer value-added services at a nominal charge such as preparing leadercards, scorecards, etc. depending on the desires of the TD.
• · Builds a de-facto infrastructure to accommodate added sponsor dollars to flow from the PDGA to appropriate tournaments.
• From the membership perspective, the combination of the above activities would manifest itself via:
• · Timely knowledge as to the impact of a particular event on points tracking and the player rating.
• · Ability to raise inaccuracies prior to the event being posted as 'official'.
• · Knowledge that tournament participation is secure prior to the event (quite a number of our events this year have filled)
• · Ability to see fellow competitors registered

PDGA SuperTour

Evolving our current SuperTour structure presents one of the greatest opportunities for the organization to address the requests of the membership. While focusing on developing the Tour will highlight our top pros, opportunities also exist for our current 'advanced player' membership as well. The term SuperTour currently refers to our 'A-Tier' sanctioned events where competitors receive triple points. These events have minimum criteria including at least a purse of $6,000, and a minimum distance of 1500 miles between simultaneous 'A-Tiers'. This year 39 sanctioned events met those criteria, creating a real 'Super' Tour. If a player were to play in as many A tier events as possible (go to the closest event in the case of duplicate A tiers on the same weekend) this competitor would travel over 34,000 miles in 2001! It requires a 'Super' effort to compete on our current SuperTour. The current SuperTour can be evolved into fewer showcase events, geographically logical and marketable, to provide more meaningful experiences for both our pros and advanced players. In March we laid out our plans for expanding our involvement in the SuperTour (Fig. 1)

As this is part of our Mission Statement, this structure indicates where we are heading with the SuperTour. After obtaining member feedback and ongoing discussions, wholesale change may not be the best approach. Challenges identified included coordinating 39 events in securing a geographically logical tour is too massive to undertake in one step. Each of our events has elements that have grown with the PDGA and elements that have grown independently. Expecting success in getting 39 independent TD's to willing change their dates with little return is probably a little unrealistic. One can imagine the discussions - "No I will not move the St. Patrick's Day Classic to October!"; etc. There are, however, incremental steps that can be taken to provide a working model that could realistically prove successful. (Fig. 2)

This 'next-step' model incorporates some bridges from our current structure to where we are looking to go and adds increased value to the events from the PDGA. Representing the PDGA of Tomorrow, this model is a logical transgression towards our published mission statement including tangible benefits to our players, TD's and the PDGA:

• Trimming down the number of focus events yeilds a simpler scheduling proceedure to provide a geographical tour
• Sponsorship packages can be developed to accommodate the entire tour and seasonal or regional aspects to compliment desired demographic exposure.
• The PDGA would provide on-site support and coordination with the local tournament staffs and include our state coordinators in the process.
• The PDGA support would include facilitatation of player/spectator/staff evaluations designed to provide appropriate feedback to share best practices and raise the overall quality of the events.
• Registration and related services would be provided by the PDGA
• The PDGA on-site support would include media coverage coordination and a communication network for the competitive results.
• The geographical tour, along with potentially increased purses, would encourage more professionals to participate in the entire tour or portions there of.

Taking a look at our top grossing/longstanding events in 2000, a possible scenario could be created utilizing the following events (Fig. 3)

FIGURE 3
SUPER TOUR MODEL

Note: This Tour is a demonstration of what is possible, no tournament directors have been consulted with to determine the actual viability of such a schedule.

This potential tour takes advantage of our current base of tournaments that deliver well run events and large purses as well as provides a logical progression both seasonally and geographically. Additional observations include:

• With the Tour starting in February and finishing in early August, the remainder of the year could facilitate the scheduling of the PDGA Major Events, including Pro-Worlds, USDGC, etc.
• Additionally, traditional regional/state championships could easily be accommodated without interfering with SuperTour events.
• Each of these events would be considered an 'anchor' for scheduling purposes of our other tier events.
• A-Tier events would still be accommodated and scheduled with respect to the SuperTour;
• The Tour could be marketed as a whole (national sponsors), regionally ('southwest swing') or in conjunction with local/regional efforts.
• Total mileage covered with the above scenario: approx. 6,200

This format alone will not bring radical change in the form of purse development, however, it provides a vehicle to market sponsorship opportunities and transition our top events away from purses primarily made up of entry fees. In 2000, the PDGA paid out $1.6 million in total purse value; $800k was cash for pro purses with a sponsorship portion of approx. $200k (the bulk of which is raised on a local level). To balance the 'fees vs. cash added' equation an additional $400k would need to be added ($600k fees, $200k added in Y2K)? Ultimately, the added cash would outstretch the current fees, freeing them up to provide appropriate venues and paid staff to run top quality events and facilitate the accompanying media and sponsorship needs. In addition, significant added cash would facilitate a true 'professional' level of player classification for which 'pro cards' would need to be earned and the addition of SuperTour events to the schedule.

Of the PDGA membership, 32% is currently competing for cash. The remaining majority percentage is classified in our amateur ranks. Benefits to these members previously addressed in this proposal include adding a higher profile to the sport with the SuperTour, instituting sanctioned league play and efficiently reporting tournament results, points and ratings. There is an additional opportunity for the PDGA to provide a level of regional competitions for Amateurs looking to compete for National and World Titles. Currently there are two established methods for entering in the Amateur World Championships - earn an invitation by amassing points the year prior or be quick to get on the waiting list. It has been reported that close to 200 members on the waiting list for Nashville were turned away.

The PDGA can provide better alternatives. By creating regional competitions, several purposes can be served:

• The creation of the string of events can be marketed similar to the pro-SuperTour. The amateur opportunity offers sponsors the option to provide prizes/merchandise in lieu of cash.
• The PDGA can provide similar services to the SuperTour events (described previously).
• This string of inherently profitable events can be solicited to our established tournament volunteer network to provide local event support and administration
• The top X finishers in the event would earn an invitation to the world championships held in that calendar year
• As the ranks continue to grow, major events can also be added including a national championship event, ala USDGC, Junior Championships, etc.
• Adding this competitive level of events also adds additional 'title' opportunities like region x champ for our membership.

In summary, the PDGA of Tomorrow can be a performing organization:

• that provides services to it's growing membership efficiently and effectively
• realizes a greater membership base with the addition of sanctioned league play and subsequent university/school competition formats
• provides a professional SuperTour as a vehicle for sponsorship and media coverage
• provides an amateur series and amateur specific events as a vehicle for sponsorship and media coverage

To accomplish the PDGA of Tomorrow the organization would require multiple employees, established offices, online database development and administration skills, and the ability to travel around the country while remaining linked to the home office. Compare that to today's organization that has relatively low overhead costs including two employees operating from their home (and we're losing this benefit). To incur the costs to build the PDGA of Tomorrow would be prohibitive with the organization's financial resources, not the mention the level of membership necessary to cover the ongoing costs of such a structure. There is however an opportunity to take a different approach, moving from a vertical integration perspective to a horizontal approach.

To be vertically integrated means an organization or company performs 'in-house' everything necessary to deliver their service or product. With its manual processes the PDGA performs the membership registration, tournament reporting, etc. all 'in-house'. The vertical PDGA is diagrammed below showing it draws extensively from its volunteer base (figure 5):

Currently our sport is growing, so is the PDGA. Although sales numbers of disc golf related companies are not made public (due to all companies being private), most would agree the sport and related industry growth is outpacing that of the PDGA. These companies are committed to the sport and realize the potential of its growth. Taking a 'horizontal' approach would allow the PDGA to provide Tomorrow's services much sooner than if we raised the capital ourselves. The PDGA would collaborate with companies to provide these services to our membership. In a sense, the horizontal PDGA would be diagrammed as in Figure 6.

When looking at the PDGA of Tomorrow, there are several 'modules' that can be defined and collaborated upon with other companies/organizations:

1. Membership Registration Module: This module is primarily defined as providing on-line membership registration services on the front side and maintaining the secured on-line active membership database for use by the PDGA on the back side. Having an 'administrators' page for the office to enter information into the database can also accommodate traditional mailed-in membership registrations.

2. Fulfillment Module: The PDGA staff currently spends 80~85 hours per month on average preparing and sending membership packages and other items. This module provider would hold the inventories and mail out the packages as requested. In addition this provider could also facilitate the direct mailings of the PDGA to potential new members.

3. Affiliated Clubs Module: This provider would work with the PDGA to springboard from our current program to develop the online support tools and sanctioning guidelines for club league play, provide a support network in sharing best practices and helping clubs grow, manage the online course directory and facilitate regional/national club competitions.

4. Tournament Registration/Reporting Module: This service to the PDGA would be comprised of on-line tournament registration, facilitating the event reporting process and maintaining a secured, on-line database of event results, player points tracking and player ratings. In addition, this provider would also provide any added services such as first round leader/scorecards, etc.

5. SuperTour Module: This module would entail marketing the SuperTour and our major events for national/regional sponsorships, providing onsite support at the events, work with the providers of the Tournament Registration module to ensure proper registration of our marquee events, handle publicity and media relations including releasing the results of the events.

6. Amateur Series Module: Similar to the SuperTour module provider, this service would include all mentioned above, but with a focus on the amateur series including regional and major competitions.

The key to success for implementing this approach is threefold:

1. Defining mutually beneficial relationships from both a financial and simplified process perspectives
2. Developing Request for Proposal (RFP) documents and facilitating an open search for potential providers
3. Effectively defining the relationship and protecting both the PDGA's and the provider's interests through written agreements

While moving to a horizontally integrated organization will reduce the workload in several areas, other activities for the head offices become more active and critical.

Currently the head office spends, on average, 60 hours per month on member requests/questions/issues both on the phone and via e-mail. When taking on a shift such as this it is logical that issue resolution will most likely increase in the short-term. Not only will working with the membership be critical, there will also be added accounting activities, relationship management and a greater focus on our internet presence. Coordination through the PDGA website will become most critical as it moves into more of a focal point for the organization and provides data coordination among its providers.

This approach will somewhat spread out the money the PDGA raises to those with a vested interest in the sport and our organization. Another key benefit is that as the volume of members/tournaments/clubs grows, the relationships become strengthened as well. This is a model that not only enables growth - it inherently encourages it.

By transitioning these modules to providers the role of the PDGA administrator changes significantly to more of an executive, collaborative position. With the current resignation of our office staff, the opportunity exists not only to redefine the role but also the title to signify greater importance of the role. Taking a look at our current organization it can be simplified to the following:

Implementing the horizontal approach would redefine our organization:

With any shift in organizational structure, it is critical to redefine the specific roles for each responsibility. This aspect of the organization is addressed in the proposal section of this document.

Making a detailed forecast of the impact on our current finances in not currently possible at this point, however, using some basic assumptions we can estimate how this approach will effect the financial picture of the organization. Given that several key modules will be variably structured to increase with the volume levels achieved whether it be membership, tournament reporting/registration, or fullfillmet; a baseline of the 2001 budget has been utilized to estimate the impact.

To complete the financial snapshot, the PDGA will be challenged to find a low-cost solution relative to our office and overhead expenses, similar to what is in place at this point. Applying these numbers to the PDGA 2001 budget and compensating for the above changes the broad-brush financial impact detailed below.

This model assumes our current fee structure, which we've stated in the past would most likely need to be raised for 2002. Assuming a $5 increase across the board we could expect an additional $30k income. Increasing the tournament fees to $3 per player would realize an additional increase of $23k. Adding those two items into the mix realizes a positive position of approximately $27k. As this is an overview, detailed financial impacts would need to be developed based on specific module definitions.

The following is a potential timeline for implementation. For the next year I would recommend that the membership services, fulfillment and tournament registrations be first addressed as they present the most significant impact to the office operations. Once these modules are in place, the SuperTour and Am Series Modules would be kicked off. Best case scenario would allow the series to start in this format in 2003. Given the amount of activity required, the Affiliated Clubs Module would be addressed in 2003.

The constitution of the organization will need to be revised and proposed to the membership for ratification as it relates to the definition of roles and responsibilities. In short, to evaluate the constitutional impact of these activities and best accommodate them, it would be best to look at other non-profit organizations in both the sporting and non-sporting arenas.

Determining Constitutional Impact:

• Prepare a Benchmark study of similar organizations and related constitutions
• Propose constitutional changes best relfecting the new organizational structure and encouraging organizational growth for review by the BOD and subsequent voting by the membership

Back To The Future

In the Beginning
At the time, it seemed like a reasonable thing to do. Several hours after we discovered that we could play something that resembled golf with a disc, we were churning out fliers on the mimeograph machine for the Galactic Championships in our new sport. Even before we had a cool way to finish the hole, Jim Palmeri was serving up the American Flying Disc Open in Rochester and giving away a brand new car to the winner. Although there was hardly anyone who even knew what disc golf was in 1974, and we were putting into little boxes laying on the ground, Jim drew a pretty good national field of talented players. The shiny new car did get peopleıs attention. Other early big meets drew the same developing elite group of players and we all began to wonder how long it would be until we could join the pro tour. The emergence of the Professional Disc Golf Association confirmed it...we were on our way to prime time. And then we had the $50,000 tournament in 1979. We were on the way. Even the most doubtful parent or spouse couldnıt deny that 50 grand was some serious cash for tossing a disc.

Well, weıve been on a bit of a plateau since then. Sure, there are lots more events now and we have a long history of World Championship meets, but we simply havenıt met the meteoric projections that we had originally envisioned. Not that it hasnıt been fun if youıve been part of that elite. It has been a blast. But the number of competitive players has remained too small to provide the critical base for the sport. Now, maybe youıre a slow growth type. Did you picket against the new multiplex theater that they wanted to build down the street from your house? Were you worried about the increased traffic, pollution and litter? Or were you one of the folks only too eager to movie hop through those 21 theaters on the same ticket? If youıre a slow growth type, you may be glad that disc golf has not gone "big time." You probably like the down-home, informal aspects of the game as it is today. On the other hand, if youıre the movie hopper, you are probably peeved that your favorite game, which you know is much better than most of the sports you see on ESPN 2, has been mired in what seems like a permanent role of a micro sport. Well, my theory has always been that we donıt really have to worry much about making a choice between slow and fast growth. I see kids playing sandlot baseball while the Dodgers are playing the Astros on TV. My goal is simply to make it as satisfying as possible to be a disc golfer and if itıs a fun game for people to play and watch, weıll have good opportunities for the future.

So back to the beginning. I think the mistake that we made was that we attracted an elite group of players and concentrated mainly on them at the cost of not building a solid base of interest for the game. That is, there are simply not enough people who care if disc golf is played well or not. Enough people care about football and ball golf and as a result, Emmit and Tiger are doing great. We know that Kenny and Elaine are similarly talented, but only a small group of us care about the skills that they have developed. So, can that be changed? I think it can. Of course, many things contribute to such a change. The P.D.G.A. has a long, long list of things that should be done to promote disc golf. Only so many can be taken on at one time. Itıs also an incremental process. Each factor of development builds on the next. If the local folks donıt do the work to put in the course then thereıs no place to have the clinic. If the magazine doesnıt come out then thereıs no news about the event and if the local guys donıt buy the magazine, etc., etc....

A New Beginning...Kinda
There is something that I believe could quickly change the face of disc golf and provide wonderful benefits for both the players who want local fun and those who want the P.D.G.A. tour on Saturday afternoon TV. We have all the pieces in place to make it happen right now. I believe that the primary form of disc golf competition should and perhaps will soon be team play. Outrageous? Well, letıs look at a familiar sports cousin, track and field. A huge percentage of the competitive activity in track is local, dual meet play. Many participants never, ever, go beyond high jumping for their high school in head-to-head meets against other local schools. Some of the better athletes are a factor at the conference meet at the end of the season. A very small number may move on to the state meet. This is front page news. The chances of going on to the National Championships or the Olympics? Hitting the lottery with your P.D.G.A. number is a better bet. That mix of competition with a preponderance of play at the local level is similarly true in many "individual"sports. Consider, swimming, ball golf, gymnastics and tennis. In disc golf, we started with the Olympics and never went back to build the dual meets. Donıt get me wrong. I love the big individual meets. They should and will continue to be an important part of our sport.. However, I think that weıve had an adequate amount of years pass now to see that we are not attracting large numbers of new players or spectators for these events. The primary reason, I believe, is that the meets that are the principal competitive form of disc golf now are too limited and are not adequately accessible for new playing candidates. To effectively bring in new players on a consistent basis, we need to seduce them with a really appealing opportunity to have fun. I believe that team play provides such an opportunity.

So Whatıs A Disc Golf Team Look Like?
There are, of course, a number of team events that are already taking place. I love them. However, to achieve the goals that I have mentioned, there are several characteristics that team meets must have:
-The teams must be based at local courses. This makes it easy for new players to access. They already play there.
-The teams must be large. Many of the existing team meets have 6 to 12 players. Again, nothing wrong with that. However, it only involves the competitive elite who are already being successful at individual events. To promote an expansion of play, teams should be composed of 36 members. The usual response to this number is, "Oh, man! I donıt know that many players who we could get to play." Thatıs exactly the point. We donıt know them yet, but they are out there, playing the course already. This is the seduction part. We have to really need them. People respond to being needed. Think about it. The big annual tournament doesnıt really need them. Sure, new players are invited to come, pay and get their butts kicked and some survive to kick some butt. The number is just too few. The recruitment for the team is a whole different thing however. The top players at the course have to go out looking for talent to fill the team.
-The team must include all the divisions that we are trying to develop. The suggested team makeup is:

Again, remember that you may not have the players to fill all these positions initially, but itıs the shortage that brings in the new talent. Of course, if the meet is two days away and neither team can locate a Senior Grand, then, of course it makes sense to convert the position to a division where you both have players ready to play. Just donıt give up too easily or the outreach wonıt happen. If you donıt see some new faces, itıs not working.
-There must be enough play to make it worthwhile to get involved. In the beginning that may only be a few matches. After it gets rolling, there might be spring, summer and fall leagues. It depends on how the appetite for play develops.
-The team ladder for match play must be an ongoing activity that is available to anyone who comes to the course. It works best if it is posted at the pro shop or first tee with all the information on how to participate and the upcoming team schedule. The ladder for most courses should probably be pretty long. Remember that there is no reason not to have matches for the lower parts of the ladder also. New players will have just as much fun playing on the B or C squad. I would expect to see some ladders that number into the hundreds. Make it as easy as possible for new players to get onto the ladder.

Team play is really pretty simple and involves relatively little organizational structure to run.

We start with two teams of 36 players each. The players from each team match up with the corresponding players from the other team. On the first tee, for instance, we have the Swope Park Birddogs number one open player matched up against the number one player from the cross-town rival Sioux Passage Tomahawks. Also on the tee are the number two players open players from each squad. On the ninth and tenth holes we have the four women from each team going head-to-head and on down through the order on each succeeding hole. Of course, each individual match is its own competition in match play format. No handicapping needed here. The number twelve Birddog simply has to do the best he can with the number twelve Tomahawk. At stake in each match is a team point. In match play of course, unlike individual medal play, the score is kept by the number of holes won, not the total strokes taken. This makes things pretty exciting because if the opponent has a sure putt win a hole, it certainly pays to go for your own long approach to save the hole. No worries about the comeback putt. It doesnıt matter. Individual match scoring can be easily kept in the head. No scorecards or pencils needed! Just remember the net hole score. If youıre up by three with only two holes to play, youıve won a team point and your match score will be recorded as 3 and 2 in your favor.

In the case of Swope Park and Sioux Passage Park, their proximity may make it desirable to do a "home and away" one-day format. Start off at 8:00 on Saturday morning at Swope. Play those matches, then go somewhere for lunch to fill in the scoreboard and give adequate time for the players to make their excuses for the morning play or gloat over their obvious mastery of the game. Then, with 36 points already on the board, go on to Sioux Passage and play the second half with the same match ups. Itıs important to note that each position is worth exactly the same. It might take world class golf to win the number one position over Crazy John, but the fourth womenıs position is just as valuable to the team. In terms of team preparation and strategy, itıs obviously a better use of time to work with that novice woman in fourth position because a little bit of guidance from other team members can probably take 5 strokes off of her score. Itıs pretty hard to take many strokes off of Crazyıs score. The result is that there is a lot of sincere interest in working with the newer players to make the team more competitive.

The matches are important but in terms of the total impact on a club program and new player development, the on-going play to sort the challenge ladder has probably even more of an impact. First of all, it gives newcomers an easy way to get involved in competitive play at their own levels and meet golfers of similar ability. It also provides a very flexible way for players to schedule their own competitive play. Course ladder rules can vary a bit, but most are somewhat like this:
A player may challenge up to three positions above his or her current position. Letıs say player 15 challenges player 12 and wins the match. That means that on the board, the old 15 would take over position 12 and the old 13 and 14 would each move down one. Usually there are rules about the number and frequency of challenges. For instance, perhaps weıll say that a player must accept at least 4 challenges a month if they are offered. It also may be that a certain time period must pass before a player can challenge the same person again. The matches are 18 holes in the same format as the team meet and are arranged directly between the players at their mutual convenience. The results are then reported to chairperson of the board who makes the appropriate changes. Some clubs, like the one in the Fort Collins, CO area, have made little numbered totems which the team players attach to their playing bags. If you win your challenge match, you get to have the lower numbered totem on your bag. It gets pretty competitive.

-Get a couple of movers and shakers at your club to read this article.
-Decide that you want to begin a team.
-Contact some players you know from courses that would make sense for you to play against. Have them read this article.
-Agree upon a date to have an inaugural match with one of the other courses or clubs. Make it at least a month away. Donıt worry that you have no team yet. Look at the New Orleans Saints.
-At your course, post an announcement of the upcoming match and the details for a team organization event.
-At the team organization event, explain the format for the upcoming match and play a conventional tournament round to determine the initial team ladder positions. Explain the board challenge procedures and put out the word that you need players for the positions that are unfilled. Itıs a nice touch if you can have an actual challenge board with moveable name tags to put up at the course but if thatıs not possible, a printed list with the information contacts and the match date is a reasonable start.
-Let people challenge away for a couple of weeks. You may want to have a practice match and let your number one play your number two and so on just so your players get to know how the format works.
-Stay in contact with your rival course and make sure that theyıll be ready to play. If possible, schedule some additional matches with other courses or clubs. Invite members of other clubs to come to your first match to see how it works.
-The day of the big match! If you have club shirts, wear them. If not try to get everyone at least in the same color to build that team spirit. Have some fun with it. Ultimate has made an artform of team cheers. After the event, make sure you have some get together scheduled so that the teams can celebrate their triumph or lick their wounds. If people liked it, plan the rematch right then and see if there is anything that you can improve about the match format for the next time.

Of course, every local area is different. In some towns, there are lots of courses and team play is begging to be done. In others, there may be only one poorly organized course, or none. How this kind of activity develops will vary greatly. In the best situations, I think that it is very reasonable to imagine ladders of hundreds , A, B, C, and D teams, twenty match schedules and end-of-season team bracket play for the league championships. I can easily imagine college and high school teams as numerous as those in ultimate. Most importantly, I can imagine a competitive scene in disc golf which provides consistent, convenient and satisfying competition for a much, much broader range of players than we have today. I imagine meeting someone at a party who says, "Oh yeah, Iım a competitive disc golfer. I play 4th position on the C team at El Dorado. Itıs a blast. Tell me something though. Somebody told me that there are individual events that you can go to also. How do I find out about that. See, Iım gettinı pretty good..." Thatıs the real key. The broader base of active team competitors will actually provide a great increase in the number of players who may eventually become interested in individual competitive play. Theyıll also give us the base of people who know enough about the sport to be amazed by Kenny and Elaine.