<font color="red"> What Would You Do? :confused: </font>

On January 1, 2005 I am Master's eligible. :cool:Please hold your applause! Here's the question. After two years of playing I'm currently, and possibly forever an Intermediate rated player. Currently my rating is 879. Up 40 points thus far this year but I've had rounds in the 940's and the 830's. Now I've bounced around in just about every division possible this year in my search for ratings in my very successful crushing of md21954&amp;34hs08%[email protected]

Next year I'd just like to go to tourneys and play for the sake of playing, and not worry about earning ratings. I'd also like to find a home in one division. I have two choices: Advanced Masters or Intermediate (assuming my rating stays under 915). Both choices, based on comparing results in my tourneys this year with the Intermediate or Advanced Masters winner, have about the same chance of tourney glory for me.

Playing Advanced Masters allows me to play with my contemporaries, and exploit my physical advantages. ;) These are guys who for the most part are like me in that they have jobs and women, and thus aren't playing every day of the week. On the other hand many of these mid-40's men used to be the 22 year old un/underemployed Advanced players that I can't hang with now. Playing Intermediate would allow me to be the old guy punking the youngsters, though I would run the risk of getting spanked by some doughy 15 year old. :oAlso I would have to endure the ignorance of youth regarding rules etc. Both choices have their pluses and minuses, and I have gone back and forth on which way to go. Who better to ask than you the disc golf intelligentsia?

Advanced doesn't hold any particular appeal because while I can hang on my local courses, I have been treated like a drunk sorority girl during pledge week at the frat house when going on the road to unfamiliar places.

You fit the Advanced Masters division to a T, bye bye now :D

Play Advanced Master in A and B tier events, advanced or pro masters in c tiers and local events. don't confuse having a bad day with having the advanced guys smack you around. sometimes you just have a bad day, there doesn't have to be a reason. that's why were amateurs. we aren't consistent yet.
i do like the idea of maybe having one of the young intermediate guys possibly dragging his hot GF along, it's happened before. But you are WAY better than the INT field and would probably win any event you play INT at unless you have a bad day.

"that's why were amateurs"
It is that attitude that will keep you guys from advancing, am I wrong?

Since you have the option play wherever you want. Play where you can have the most fun, because that is all that maTTers.
Schweb

if i am at the tourney, play my division. i need to avenge '04.

You're missing the point Rich. I want to find one division to play in all year. There will always be an intermediate division, but the downside is you have to play with guys like Paul. /msgboard/images/graemlins/smirk.gif There hasn't always been enough bodies to field an Advanced Masters field as we nearly saw at Codorus. This isn't about Codorus, but a review of the whole year to date. I'm clearly not good enough to travel and hang with local Advanced guys on their home courses. You for example, as hot as you were on Saturday, could you have beaten Gump and DJ if they hadn't opted to play up? I've always thought it was silly that we have so many divisions, but they are there, so there's nothing wrong with playing in them. So many players are playing way over their heads around here. If I did enter a bunch of Int. events and starting winning 50% of them, that doesn't necessarily mean I should move up (that's what the ratings are for) but it probably means there are a bunch of recreational players playing intermediate. Also the idea of playing age protected kind of rubs me the wrong way.

if i am at the tourney, play my division. i need to avenge '04.





You are so in my rear view mirror at this point. :D

Play where you can have the most fun,



The big guy makes a point for the Masters scenario in that both Paul and I were a little exasperated playing with the Ints. at Bluemont.

it is one division, ADV. just a matter of if i play with the old guys or not. the way the PDGA is shaking things up, i am tempted to play pro masters more....my only gripe is that it costs more.

I don't care about points, but I don't think it is viewed exactly the same by the PDGA since they award points in Adv. Mast. not at the Advanced level, but at the same level as Int.

hawk,

at your age, you are only as good as your last round. unfortunately, an 861 rated player happened to beat you by seven strokes that round. :eek:

Paul,

The last time it counted was less than two weeks ago, and you failed (curiously by seven strokes)...


Bluemont Fall Pro Am VIII
October 17th, 2004

Men - Intermediate Amateur
1 Hawk Corrick 22013 46 66 112 $60.00
2 Matt Garber 11796 49 64 113 $53.00
3 Eric Smith 44 70 114 $43.00
4 David Hodges 50 65 115 $36.00
5 Tom Coffin 49 67 116 $29.00
6 Duane Ludwig 49 69 118 $19.00
7 Paul Lichtinger 21954 47 72 119
8 Steve Schwartz 54 67 121
9 Scott Harrell 25140 48 73 121
10 Dean Matthews 25323 53 71 124
11 Robert Huley 53 74 127
12 Dave Rinehart 58 81 139



...again as usual. Please note the second round collapse from third place to seventh! So much for your talk of us finishing 1-2. :D

hawk
you may want to hang with the young women to capture your youth but when it comes to golf, roll with your age group :D

Preach,

By capture you're implying I've ever lost it! :eek:

hawk,

do i need to remind you of your last round?

I think your dense inability to comprehend the difference between practice and tourneys might be at the root of your problem.

there's that excuse again! :D

Or do you mean the last round when I shot 66 to your 72?

no. my 52 to your 59 that you refuse to acknowledge.

beware... another excuse coming.
.
v v v v v

Oh I acknowledge you beat me at this weekends Tour stop. As you have done several other times this year. The difference is that you think it means something, whereas I think things like ratings and tourney results are what count, and that's where you have come up pathetically short time, after time, after time................

thanks! :D

now cut out of work and come try to redeem yourself against the shark, jim b and myself. druhill, 4 o'clock sharp!

No can do.

Preach,

By capture you're implying I've ever lost it! :eek:



denial is the first sign of old age :eek: :D

And here I was always thinking it was endurance.

i thought "endurance" was a under arm aid
i must be getting old /msgboard/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Yes.

There used to be an Intermediate Masters Division a year ago, but the division was eliminated. We have a very large contingent of Int. Masters Men here in Des Moines who wrestle with the same questions as you. What one of them decided to do this last Saturday was hold a non-sanctioned Int. Masters only tournament. He had 15 guys show up and play. If everyone he contacted could have made it, he would have had ten more.

When the PDGA eliminated the division, I know a few of the guys sent letters of protest, but to no avail. What I have found with the Intermediate Masters in our area, is they are great volunteers for the sport of disc golf. They are active in their community and many with their church and of course their family. They have many connections in the community and these connections helped us for Worlds. They don't have time to play but once or twice a week, if even that. I wish for my friends the Intermediate Masters division would come back.

I remember the Intermediate Masters division being an option, but also recall it being eliminated. Many of the Advanced Masters in our area as well are actually better suited for that according to their ratings. I guess this was the first sign of the PDGA realizing that there are way too many divisions out there.

I know that the Int and Rec Masters by the end of the year were the 2 fasting growing divisions in Texas. I saw quite a few players on the course I hadn't seen out there in years.

Now I don't see them out there anymore.

Well being Masters age there's always the chance they're dead.

:D

I've done both and I had a rating something like yours when I started playing Am Master. There is no "home" in Intermediate. This has always been a division for players moving up and moving through. It is more like a half-way house than a home. If you want to get better, play Intermediate.

You will find more comraderie and less competitiveness in Am Master. More players with wives, kids, football games to go to, and such. So it is a matter of what you are looking for.

If you are not playing a series, you don't have to make a choice. If that 935 rated guy is playing Am Master instead of Advanced, maybe you want protection from good players rather than protection from youthful players.

Bruce,

Some of my Masters age friends have said exactly the same thing you did about it in paragraph two.

I'm not so worried about specific competition as finding a field to regularly hang in. I wouldn't base my decision on where to play next year on trying to dodge a specific superior opponent.

If I've said something they've said, it may be true.

The other thing to think about is Am Worlds 2006. Maybe it will be in Georgia, but more likely than not it will be east of the Mississippi somewhere. With the larger turn outs in Intermediate, it will be easier to get your points for an am master invitation there than by playing am master. If you wanted to go.

True about the points. That's obvious when you look at point distributions from tourneys, but World's doesn't call to me like a Siren, so I'm not particularly concerned with that.

hawk, about how many disc will I leave behind next year. as I dont tend to lose them as walk away and leave them. Will this ever end?

Wrong thread Matt. We're all going to walk quietly away from you now.

Wrong thread Matt. We're all going to walk quietly away from you now.



RUN don't walk! sorry to bother you @#!%!

So we're at 2-1 for Advanced Masters it seems.

that's right baby. there's more of us OG's than you think!

OG's



Old Geezer's?

Put both arms up (roller coaster)...it's all down hill from here! Well, starting Jan 1, that is... :D

Put both arms up



Should I oil up and flex for this?

Depends who's on your card...to each their own...I guess. :o:D

HG...stay int. bro...how many hoTT master's wives have you seen in your day? We could do a bosom buddies thing and try to sign up in the adv. women's division in another state...let me know at least three days in advance so I can get my make-up ready.

Bump,

I say there is about a 1 in a 1,000 chance of a truly hot Masters wife existing, and a nonexistent chance that she's be out for a stroll with him. At that age couples are looking to avoid each other. Obviously you are unaware that I organized the Maryland Women's Pro Tour, and have a membership card...somewhere.

if i am at the tourney, play my division. i need to avenge '04.





The only problem with that Paul is that unlike you, I'm no longer Recreational eligible. /msgboard/images/graemlins/smirk.gif As for the second part... :D

Well one month to go in the voting, and suprisingly to me, Intermediate is not getting totally blown away. :eek: I figured the Advanced arrogance would make Advanced Masters a bigger leader than it currently is. Playing an age protected division kind of rubs me the wrong way, and I think the Intermediate fields will always tend to be larger.

HG...stay int. bro...how many hoTT master's wives have you seen in your day?



This was proven true yesterday when I was playing a Toys for Snots event at Paint Branch one of our unfriendly local courses. A group of young lovelies were perched on the bench at #1 when the lead intermediate group :Dapproached in round two. Naturally everyone was assuming they were awaiting Your Disc Golf Hero or local beefcake SexSki, but after watching us drive they moseyed off after a card several groups below us! :eek: :oWhile somewhat demoralizing this incident coupled with the anymosity generated by a few discers playing their ratings puts the Int. option out front again. :)

Stay intermediate, that will help your game. I'm sure folks from NC and Texas will agree.

You fit the Advanced Masters division to a T, bye bye now






Stay intermediate, that will help your game. I'm sure folks from NC and Texas will agree.



Note how the Paint Brancher Sherwood changes his mind six weeks later. :D

Considering that I beat 23 of your Ams and 7 of your Pros on Sunday, more of you should consider practicing in Intermediate also.

Those lovely lasies were not dissapointed by your drives. One was the wife of a discer in my group and I am sure the guilt of fantasizing about SexSki and yourself sent her running for her man. The others, well I paid them to follow me around as I have not yet achieved the sex symbol status that you so enjoy.

Stay in intermediate. Play your rating. F the bagger calls. Anyone calling that seriously is either a pro who wants more money in their division, a "pro" rated low 900's that wished they had not moved up or an ADV AM that is too "proud" to play their rating.

Too much pressure is put on players to move up before they are ready. When my rating goes above 915, I will move back to ADV. Until then I will continue to take lessons from my Disc Golf Hero. :D

You have learned well grasshopper.

Okay it looks like I'll be playing Advanced Masters/Pro Masters next year. The people have spoken. Unlike Dr. Evil I don't fear letting you, the great unwashed, dictate my future for one season.