gotcha
Apr 06 2010, 10:10 PM
If an amateur accepts a cash prize in a pro division, does the PDGA require that player to pay the pro membership fee in order to be registered and compete as a professional for the remainder of the year? The following is copied from the PDGA web site:

STANDARD MEMBERSHIP LEVELS:
JUNIOR: (born 1994 or later) $25
AMATEUR: $50 (Members accepting prizes in PDGA sanctioned events)
PROFESSIONAL: $75 (Members accepting cash in PDGA sanctioned events)
PLEASE NOTE: Memberships and the PDGA Tour run the calendar year, January 1 - December 31.

cgkdisc
Apr 06 2010, 10:20 PM
I don't believe they charge the first year you accept cash. But as soon as the TD report is received showing an Am accepted cash, their member status will be changed to pro.

gotcha
Apr 07 2010, 09:26 AM
I recently learned that a female player (who had renewed her 2010 PDGA membership as an Amateur) played and accepted cashed in the Open Women division, but the TD required her to pay an additional $25 for pro membership with the PDGA. I believe the TD deducted $25 from her cash prize.

I've never heard of such a thing. :confused:

kUrTp
Apr 07 2010, 09:28 AM
Sounds kinda fishy...that TD probably pocketed the money!

rhett
Apr 07 2010, 01:57 PM
Sounds kinda fishy...that TD probably pocketed the money!

Why on Earth would you jump to that conclusion? Do you think that all PDGA TDs are making money hand over fist and ripping you off at every possible turn? If only you understood the value of all that free labor...

kUrTp
Apr 07 2010, 02:37 PM
I'm not jumping to any conclusion. I have TD events in the past so I do know the value of all that free labor. It was simply a "joking" style of reply.

rhett
Apr 07 2010, 04:05 PM
With all the anti-PDGA and anti-TD sentiment posted on this board, and no smileys present, there's no way to tell that you were joking.

kUrTp
Apr 07 2010, 06:00 PM
Rhett...I'm the last person to bad mouth anything about the PDGA or a TD that spends months to organize a tournament. I LOVE THE PDGA AND ALL TD'S!!!

Plus, I'm an idiot and have no idea how to post a smiley face into the body of a post.

Joking or not that situation does sound a little odd. I know when my wife accepted cash as an amateur she didn't have a $25 deduction in her payout.

gotcha
Apr 12 2010, 03:25 PM
Okay.....I got clarification on this situation and was incorrect in my first two posts.

A female amateur renewed her PDGA membership for 2010 (she paid the $50 fee as an amateur).

She then decided to test the open waters where she placed and accepted cash in her first tournament of 2010, ultimately turning pro.

She played open and cashed in her second tournament of 2010.

When she signed up to play for her third event of 2010, the tournament director made her pay the additional $25 for a pro PDGA membership fee. The TD saw that she had renewed 2010 as an amateur, but noticed she had cashed as a pro in the two events preceding his/her event. The TD would not allow her to register for the event without paying the difference toward the pro renewal fee.

Thoughts?

cgkdisc
Apr 12 2010, 03:36 PM
TD doesn't have the authority to do that and it's not PDGA policy anyway to collect the $25 difference the first year a player cashes as an Am and turns Pro.

discette
Apr 12 2010, 04:32 PM
TD doesn't have the authority to do that and it's not PDGA policy anyway to collect the $25 difference the first year a player cashes as an Am and turns Pro.

I had a woman player who wanted to sign up with the PDGA as a Pro this year. Since, she had never accepted any cash, I told her to sign up as an Am and save the $25.00.

gotcha
Apr 12 2010, 04:44 PM
I had a woman player who wanted to sign up with the PDGA as a Pro this year. Since, she had never accepted any cash, I told her to sign up as an Am and save the $25.00.

I've been telling amateur players this very same thing for years. Just last year I had a local friend who said he was ready to start playing Open. He was going to renew as a pro ($75) when I told him to renew as an am ($50), pointing out that an amateur can always register to compete in the Open division.

JerryChesterson
Apr 12 2010, 04:54 PM
I've been telling amateur players this very same thing for years. Just last year I had a local friend who said he was ready to start playing Open. He was going to renew as a pro ($75) when I told him to renew as an am ($50), pointing out that an amateur can always register to compete in the Open division.

Just curious why pros have to pay more. Seems we could be pricing some people out of a membership. I know several local players who simply refuse the pay $75 for what they percieve are the same benefits. This has caused some to just reason that they don't plan to play 8 events for the benefit of joining is gone, for $50 they would renew, but for $75 they will not. When I informed one player that he wouldn't be able to play in an upcoming A Tier as a result he said, "You can't play in an A-Tier unless you are current" Guess I won't play."

cgkdisc
Apr 12 2010, 05:05 PM
Been thru this several times. The amount of money the PDGA pays for services specific to pros is about equal to the $75K difference in collected member fees between ams and pro members. The Board went thru this and published the items back when Shive was on the Board. Marshal program, Tour guide, NT bonuses, Pro Worlds underwriting including the DVD were some of the items on that list of little or no benefit for Ams.

the_kid
Apr 15 2010, 07:56 PM
Been thru this several times. The amount of money the PDGA pays for services specific to pros is about equal to the $75K difference in collected member fees between ams and pro members. The Board went thru this and published the items back when Shive was on the Board. Marshal program, Tour guide, NT bonuses, Pro Worlds underwriting including the DVD were some of the items on that list of little or no benefit for Ams.

We don't want marshals................who cares about a Tour guide?.......NT bonuses are meh......and Pro Worlds gets 10K from the PDGA which seems to be the only sponsorship to the event in the form of cash yet the PDGA takes 1/2 of the profits from the AM side which I would assume negates the 10k in "sponsorship" and is really just a short-term investment.

DVD????????? I don't know why this is only charged to us.....the footage is horrible and I find better things on Youtube (The swedes make a GREAT vid) and marshal Street has the current PDGA films beat hands down........the footage has been the same boring stuff for 10 years......yet we keep the current company whenever a new video is to be made.

75k in entry fees and the purse was only 83k even with the 10,000 from the PDGA which means no other cash sponsorships to the purse....

How many AMs are used for the banner pics and other advertising the PDGA uses to bring in new members? If anything the Pro players help increase the number of members for the org.

johnrock
Apr 16 2010, 08:43 AM
Let's not forget those long time Pros who don't compete much anymore. Those reasons for Pros to pay more doesn't make much sense to this group. Many want to continue to help the sport grow (and many do A LOT more than Ams by running clubs and minis), but find it increasingly more difficult to pay more in membership fees than Am players. The economy may be on the road to recovery, but it's not streets of gold yet.

Equal membership prices for all!

ERicJ
Nov 06 2012, 05:34 PM
TD doesn't have the authority to do that and it's not PDGA policy anyway to collect the $25 difference the first year a player cashes as an Am and turns Pro.
What's the PDGA policy if said player has already purchased a multi-year AM membership?

E.g. Joe Player renewed with a 3-year membership for 2012, 2013, and 2014; he takes accepts cash payout at an event in 2013 and turns pro mid-year. Is he grandfathered in for 2014 since he has already paid?

jconnell
Nov 06 2012, 06:25 PM
What's the PDGA policy if said player has already purchased a multi-year AM membership?

E.g. Joe Player renewed with a 3-year membership for 2012, 2013, and 2014; he takes accepts cash payout at an event in 2013 and turns pro mid-year. Is he grandfathered in for 2014 since he has already paid?

I don't know for certain, but I'd imagine that they would not go seeking the difference in fees for future years. The "discount" should be a reward for committing that far ahead.

cgkdisc
Nov 06 2012, 06:25 PM
You'd have to check with the Membership or Tour Managers. I think they check if a player cashed during the past year when they activate the player's membership for the next year even if the player has paid for multiple years. They would be bosted to pro status but not sure if the $25 difference is collected.