I was going to enter a PDGA B Tier tournament in Huntsville, Alabama. They advertised it as "PDGA B-Tier with 1000$ added cash to the Pros." Would one not assume that every pro division would get something? I was the only pro woman there, and they said the added cash was for Pro Open Men. That prompted me to ask if the winner of the pro women (if there were other pro women playing in a Pro Woman division) would get any added cash, and they said it was only for Pro Open Men. If there is a division, playing on hard courses just to get your money back is not an incentive to play especially if you are a woman. Anyway, I walked. I believe that they should give little something to the pro women if there is enough for a division. Yes, they did raise the money, and they can do what they want, but they needed to advertise the added money is only for Pro Open Men and not for any other pros. I would not have gotten up that early and go to the course if I would have known that in advance. Has anybody been in a situation like that? I was wondering.

That's what we used to do with the IOSeries, but we advertised it on the main websites where we expected people to go for tournament information.

Rocket City Chang Gang Website
http://www.rocketcitychaingang.com/ - It was advertised as PDGA B-Tier with $1000 added.

http://www.rocketcitychaingang.org/Rocket-City-Re-Entry.html - Rocket City Re Entry Online registration and it was advertised as PDGA B-Tier $1000 Added Cash.


20th Anniversary of the Rocket City Re-Entry Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/events/383110975136922/permalink/397330803714939/ - It was advertised as a PDGA B-Tier with 1000$ added cash to the Pros.

Rocket City Chain Gang Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/rocketcitychaingang - This page provided provided a link to the online registration page.


Again, they can certainly do what they want, but they need to advertise it correctly.

From what I have seen, you should probably always assume that any added cash is all going to Open Men unless specified otherwise. It might have been a good idea to ask for clarification before the tournament. It would be great to see more added to cash to pro women, but, unfortunately, the number of pro women is very small, and most tournaments have zero competitors in that division. It seems a bit of a stretch to put very much blame on the TD for this.

I believe in Huntsville, the RCCG has been adding cash to Pro Women for the last five or so years, and I had no reason to believe differently for this tournament. I was wrong. It is definitely not a way to grow women's disc golf. Shouldn't tds focus on that minority and add some kind of incentive? If you don't put an emphasis or make it a priority for women to play, we will be inclined to take note and not enter in future tournaments either. I believe I am speaking for many pro women disc golfers.

I would like to emphasize that tds have every right to do what they want to do with he money Yes, they raised it. Please state the divisions that it is going to. The added cash is an important factor to us, just as it is to the pro men.

I am not necessarily disagreeing with you, just pointing things out. You would have been the only Pro Woman to play in the tournament. Would you feel justified getting added cash without beating any other competitors? I am all about growing the number of women that play, but in this case, it seems a much better use of the added cash to put it towards Open Men where there is actually some competition. Also, if you were interested in added cash, there was a tournament a couple of weeks earlier in Birmingham with $450 added to the Pro Women's purse, and it was very well advertised that there was added cash to Pro Women.

I don't want to get into the whole debate about whether added cash should go to a Pro Women division of one. I would however like to agree with the OP's sentiment that the tournament flyer, Facebook page, websites, etc. should have all specified and clarified well before the event that all added cash would go to Pro Open division ONLY. Had this very simple qualifying statement been added, there'd be only the ethics debate left.

Did the men's pro masters get added cash? If not, it would seem like the masters age men would have equal room to complain about advertising. If so, then it's a bona fide gender discrimination issue.

or a bonafide don't add cash to a one person division issue

I understand what you are saying. I would like to point out that not adding cash to a one person division is NOT an issue with me. That was not the reason I didn't enter the tournament. Not adding any cash to Pro Women and any other pro division, and not advertising it correctly is an issue with me. In this case being the only pro woman in this tournament, some would consider that a mute point. With that being said, they would NOT have added any cash regardless of the number of competitors in the pro woman division. I found out that they didn't add any cash to the other pro divisions either. One can conclude that Pro Open Men is the priority for them. I wish they would have advertised it correctly, and let everybody know beforehand. I am pretty sure that some people in the other pro divisions also would not have entered. It certainly wasn't fair to the people who were from out of town.

I will emphasize that not adding any cash to the pro women division (if there is enough for a division), a minority that the PDGA should really focus on, certainly doesn't help to grow women's disc golf. It makes us to be inclined not to enter future tournaments, but that's what some tds may want or don't care about.

I've made it plain that at my events, any added cash goes to Pro Open and Pro Women only regardless of how many are in either division. It's always a proportional spread (i.e. 19 men and 1 woman, 5% of the added cash goes to the woman).

IMO, age protected divisions should get none of any added cash. At most, if I were to use any added cash for age-protected divisions, it would be enough to make the purse equal to the gross entry fees but no more. If those players want to play for extra money, they are free to play the Open division like anyone else.

Never had a complaint about my policy but I realize reading this thread that I probably should be more detailed than saying "$XXX added to pro purse". Guess I should specify that it is Open and Women only.

Also, if you were interested in added cash, there was a tournament a couple of weeks earlier in Birmingham with $450 added to the Pro Women's purse, and it was very well advertised that there was added cash to Pro Women.

Gosh, I looked at the payout. That was a sweeeeeet payout for the women!! It was highly unusual, too. I will keep my eyes open in the future. :)

I've made it plain that at my events, any added cash goes to Pro Open and Pro Women only regardless of how many are in either division. It's always a proportional spread (i.e. 19 men and 1 woman, 5% of the added cash goes to the woman).


Some tds spread it out proportionally like that, and we greatly appreciate it! Thank you.

I've made it plain that at my events, any added cash goes to Pro Open and Pro Women only regardless of how many are in either division. It's always a proportional spread (i.e. 19 men and 1 woman, 5% of the added cash goes to the woman).

IMO, age protected divisions should get none of any added cash. At most, if I were to use any added cash for age-protected divisions, it would be enough to make the purse equal to the gross entry fees but no more. If those players want to play for extra money, they are free to play the Open division like anyone else.

Never had a complaint about my policy but I realize reading this thread that I probably should be more detailed than saying "$XXX added to pro purse". Guess I should specify that it is Open and Women only.

If that is the policy throughout the state I am glad I don't live in Maine. I always spread the added cash out proportionally to all the pro divisions and add a smaller percentage to the am divisions since they get a little better players pack. I think if a master, grandmaster, open woman, or master woman is going to pay as much or near as much to play they should get similar payouts. If I have enough to add 15% to the pro purse I add 15% to each division based on the number of competitors and their entry fees. This year my open men got paid a little more because I had an open player not show up so his entry fee stayed in his division.

So all you older players and women come out to Colorado to play, but sign up early the tournaments out here fill fast.

If that is the policy throughout the state I am glad I don't live in Maine. I always spread the added cash out proportionally to all the pro divisions and add a smaller percentage to the am divisions since they get a little better players pack. I think if a master, grandmaster, open woman, or master woman is going to pay as much or near as much to play they should get similar payouts. If I have enough to add 15% to the pro purse I add 15% to each division based on the number of competitors and their entry fees. This year my open men got paid a little more because I had an open player not show up so his entry fee stayed in his division.

So all you older players and women come out to Colorado to play, but sign up early the tournaments out here fill fast.

Weird that you assume that my personal policy as a TD is representative of tournaments in the whole state (it's a big state...not as big as CO, but by northeast standards, it's huge). I don't know what other tournaments' policies are across the state, but I know I don't speak for any but the ones with my name on them.

Also weird that you assume that the age protected divisions pay anything close to the same price as the Open division. They aren't. The Open division at my events pay anywhere from 20-50% more than their gender and age-protected brethren. Age protected divisions are there for the older players who don't want to play with the young bucks, not for the older guys that want to win big bucks.

As I stated, my philosophy is that if the 40+ folks want to play for added money, they're welcome to play the Open division. I don't like to add money to a division for which players of the appropriate gender can not enter. Any woman is eligible to enter Pro Women. Any player of any age or gender is eligible to enter Pro Open. So that's where the money goes.

That might make sense if the sponsors asked for it or expected it. But from a practical standpoint, with no spectators, the only people the sponsors are "talking to" are the players. Doesn't make sense to apply the sponsor money only to Open on that basis. And in fact, it actually can produce a negative effect for the TD and the players that do not access the added sponsorship.

I agree, Chuck. My husband was the td for many PDGA tournaments in Huntsville. He felt it was right to add cash to all pro divisions. There are some people who probably would not cash at all in Open Men. Why enter if you are most likely giving your money away especially in these economic times? I would believe that you would get more players to enter the tournament if you have age protected divisions that cash. Also, these older players might have sponsored tournaments and such and may have done a lot more for disc golf in general than the younger pros. I can name many pro masters and such that have donated time and/or money for the great sport of disc golf. We really appreciate everything they do. :)

This is the first I've gotten any negative reaction to the idea of not putting added money in an age-protected division. Never had a complaint from a player.

12 years of running a B-tier that met or well exceeded the minimum added cash requirement. 12 years of adding little (enough to cover fees and expenses so payout was 100% of gross entries) to no money to age-protected divisions. Tournament has nearly or entirely sold out for the last 6-7 years. So concerns about attendance are more or less non-existent.

The guy who originated the tournament and started the no-added-cash-to-age-divisions policy has won it in both Masters and Grandmasters. You'd think if anyone would want to add money to an age-protected division, it would be a guy who plays exclusively in one of those divisions, no?

In the meantime, Masters-aged players have won the tournament in the Open division four times and a Grandmaster has won Open twice, including this year. That's exactly why I don't add cash to age-protected divisions...so that Masters and Grandmasters age players who can compete in Open play Open rather than get the "easy" ride in their age division.

Josh,

I was very happy and honored to play in your tournament this year (certainly have NO qualms about anything regarding your running of it), but your...

"This is the first I've gotten any negative reaction to the idea of not putting added money in an age-protected division. Never had a complaint from a player."

...has me thinking that I KNOW you're smart enough to realize that players - if they get their "money's worth" (which they do at your DDGC) - won't say much if anything. Only if it is really egregious might someone (of reasonable sanity) say something...and most O.F.s (the people that such a policy affects) are 'sane' ;) .

But just another lesson learned about the concept of TD's SHOULD be able to do just about ANYTHING they wish to - IF they disclose upfront as much as humanly possible...and let players choose with their feet.

Karl