Hi, I am sure this question has been asked before but I was unsuccessful at locating it so here goes again.

Recently I played in a tournament as an Advanced Woman (FW1) and there was a woman in my division who had both previously played AND cashed as a Pro player in a PDGA sanctioned tournament. I was under the impression that once you accepted cash as a Pro player, you were unable to return to the amateur level, am I wrong? What are the guidelines for this from the PDGA? Inquiring minds would like to know :)


Meeshl~L

Hi, I am sure this question has been asked before but I was unsuccessful at locating it so here goes again.

Recently I played in a tournament as an Advanced Woman (FW1) and there was a woman in my division who had both previously played AND cashed as a Pro player in a PDGA sanctioned tournament. I was under the impression that once you accepted cash as a Pro player, you were unable to return to the amateur level, am I wrong? What are the guidelines for this from the PDGA? Inquiring minds would like to know :)


Meeshl~L
Provided one's rating is low enough, someone who is registered as a pro (and by accepting cash, one becomes a pro) can play in an certain amateur divisions.

This is the document that specifies who is allowed to play where: http://www.pdga.com/files/documents/PlayersDivisionGrid.pdf

All pros male and female may enter am divisions if their rating, age and gender meets the requirements of the Am division they enter. Pros are only excluded from playing in Amateur Major events like Am Worlds and Am Nationals. A pro woman couldn't enter an Am division at the U.S. Womens Championship but would have to play pro.

Interesting info! Seems slightly unfair for the Ams, this woman took 1st by 14 strokes, leaving the ACTUAL Am player in second place. Guess that's the way the cookie crumbles! Thanks everyone :)


Meesh~L

In the womens ranks, there are many women who have turned pro, not because their skills are at that level but because they are one of the better or only women players in their area. They might as well get their money back at events rather than continue to essentially buy stuff when they are the only woman Am at an event. That's why the rating guidelines give a better idea of the true skill level of a player. She just may have been at the top of your skill range and not truly at the pro skill level yet.

I agree with your analysis, but do not believe that was the case here. In Southern California there is a strong female presence at most tournaments and the event was a 2 weekend event where the Am's played 1 weekend and the Pro's the next. She could have easily played the Pro weekend the following weekend. I am an Am player that played both the Am weekend and the Pro weekend (there was a "Trophy Only" option) to play the different lay out and see what the Pro level was like as I am creeping upon the "in between".

In addition to this, I have attended tournaments where there were only Intermediate Women registered and chose to play Novice or Rec instead of dropping out of the tournament. I liken my original post example to me choosing to play Intermediate Women instead of challenging myself and playing "up" with the men of a similar rating. Now this is prohibited by the PDGA with the rating requirement, so I couldn't "play down" so to speak, and even if I could I wouldn't want to because of the different levels of performance.

Now I just sound like a whiner :p Not my intention by any means. I guess I just wanted to seek clarification on what the rules were for the Advanced Am/Pro level and see if there were guidelines or if it is left up to the player's discretion (which I see now it is). Thanks for the help everyone!

Meesh~L :)

Her rating was about the same as yours, and it allowed her to play Advanced Women if she wanted to. She played quite a bit above her rating that weekend, which is generally going to be true for almost any player who wins their division.

All pros male and female may enter am divisions if their rating, age and gender meets the requirements of the Am division they enter. Pros are only excluded from playing in Amateur Major events like Am Worlds and Am Nationals. A pro woman couldn't enter an Am division at the U.S. Womens Championship but would have to play pro.

Thank you Chuck. This is exactly what I told players when they asked the same question at the tournament.