I joined the PDGA about 3 weeks ago and have my first tournament as a member coming this weekend. I know upon checking in at a sanctioned tournament you are supposed to show your membership card as proof of PDGA membership.

The membership package however, which includes said card, takes 4 weeks to deliver. What can I use in lieu of that in order to show proof of membership?

You do not have to show your membership card. The TD is sent a list of current members usually the Friday before the tournament. As long as you are a current member, you don't have to have your card to play a tournament, basically.

You want a reply in less than four weeks? I've got about eight weeks down, and I was recently told to expect it to be taken care of the 2nd week of March.

Thanks for asking the question for me.
We are waiting anxiously for two new memberships to come through ourselves.

Good questions, the PDGA is very far behind at the moment. But that is one of the best things I have heard since I have been playing. They are behind due to record memberships and renewals, which is good for any golfer whether they are current member or not.

Mine took a while to get to me too, but like mentioned before all TD's are sent an updated list right before their tourney. So you will be covered. It may take several weeks to get your package, but trust me they get you in the system almost right away.

Good questions from everyone!

If you join or renew your membership with the PDGA online, your membership is processed by the office on the following Wednesday and you are entered into the database. At this point you are a current member and you are eligible to receive all benefits as a member. After registering online, you will receive a confirmation e-mail from the fulfillment house. This confirmation can be printed and used as a receipt to prove your current status at events until you receive your card, should that be necessary. TD's are also e-mailed a list of the current members in their region just prior to their event so you should show as current on that list. As a tournament director, a great benefit of uploading your tournament registration list to PDGA.com prior to your event, is that it will automatically show you which members are current.

The amount of time it takes to deliver your membership package and magazine is another matter altogether and one that the office is currently evaluating and trying to improve upon. Our internal processes are about as efficient as they can be in terms of processing your membership package and beginning the fulfillment process. The problems we are currently encountering are due to the mail rates that we use with the USPS for the various types of packages we ship. We are guaranteed a delivery time of no more than 3 weeks with the current rates. Add one week to that for the processing and fulfillment and that is how we arrive at the four week time period that has been mentioned. I suspect that the USPS has not been meeting their guaranteed delivery times and that is a problem that we are looking into.

Another factor that is often affects the delivery of membership packages is the timing of the release of Flying Disc Magazine. It is much more cost effective to the association to hold a membership package for a short time until we receive the newest issue of the magazine so we can mail everything out together. The PDGA could choose to guarantee the delivery of all membership packages within one week of receipt of payment but that would come at a very high cost to the association. As a non-profit organization, we have to look for the best value for our members. Would you rather your dues be spent on promoting the game we love or on very expensive postage rates?

A percentage of all mail is also destroyed, lost or undeliverable due to an incorrect address. If you do not receive your package within 4-5 weeks, please notify the PDGA office so we can issue a re-deliver. Also, please take the time to call the office if you move so we can enter your new mailing address into our daatabase.

The bottom line is that we are very aware that some members are not getting their membership packages in a timely manner and we are continuing to look for ways to remedy the situation. As always, your patience, understanding and asistance is much appreciated.

Regards,
Brian Graham
PDGA Executive Director

Speaking of membership, and all that, I have a request. I'd like to be able to select a cotton shirt option vs. the dry fit option next year (Ace club member). While the dry fit shirts we got are beautiful, I'm one of those idgits who prefers cotton. Do you think this might be possible Brian?

BTW - the membership cards and other stuff we got this year are really nice!