What is the offical call on an Am rated player cashing in the Pros?
If they don't accept the cash....how do they get paid, if at all?

They get that amount in merchandise.

What is the offical call on an Am rated player cashing in the Pros?
If they don't accept the cash....how do they get paid, if at all?



There is no issue. You can take the money and keep playing AM if that's where your rating puts you.

What if a TD doesnt expect an Am to take merchandise, and doesnt have enough stuff to give out?

What if you're playing in So Cal and that half of California falls into the ocean?

If I somehow got myself into that situation, I'd give him discs out of my own bag and tell him to stick around for a few minutes. Or tread water, whichever.

Bruce- At IOS events, when an AM player "cashes" in open- do they get to purchase their merch at cash value or brass cash value?

(this question is for other TD's as well)

Brass cash value. It is the PDGA rule. If an am cashes in Open and they were entitled to $50, they get 50 Brass, which is $50 at retail. It is more like $75 retail if they take Discraft.

So far every am cashing in Open taking prizes was also playing 1/2-in.

Why would an AM play Open, be good enough to cash, then
go back to whipping on the other Ams?
Seems like the sport needs more dedicated Pros to rep the game in a higher fashion. Not bagging Ams with 960 plus ratings trying for 8 years to get a World Championship.
Basically it is maybe time to move up with the plastic you got.
An AM could use the winnings toward the next tourney to register again, more like credit.

What is the offical call on an Am rated player cashing in the Pros?
If they don't accept the cash....how do they get paid, if at all?



There is no issue. You can take the money and keep playing AM if that's where your rating puts you.



The issue may be that the player wishes to remain 'classified' as an amateur, as compared to 'eligible' to play in an amateur division. Accepting cash will reclassify the player as a pro, excluding the player from tournaments the player might be interested in playing.

Merchandise in place of cash won't reclassify an Am to Pro.

Why would an AM play Open, be good enough to cash, then
go back to whipping on the other Ams?


Ever heard of am worlds?

i dont understand when a player is capable of playing at a pro leval what value said player would have with an am title. !yea i beat a hole group of players i expected to beat because i play better?

Why would an AM play Open, be good enough to cash, then
go back to whipping on the other Ams?
Seems like the sport needs more dedicated Pros to rep the game in a higher fashion. Not bagging Ams with 960 plus ratings trying for 8 years to get a World Championship.
Basically it is maybe time to move up with the plastic you got.
An AM could use the winnings toward the next tourney to register again, more like credit.



938 rated advanced player tired of playing against 960 rated players? There are a million reasons why a 960 rated player would not want to "just go pro". Each person has to make their own decision. Obviously no one should "dominate" a division and refuse to move up. I have been playing 960 rated golf for a couple of years now. My rating is not increasing, so why would I move up until my rating does? I trust the PDGAs ratings break to tell me where I should play. I take advantage of my situation instead of complaining and play as many tourneys, pro and am, that I can.

I would say that at least 75% of advanced competitors are capable of cashing in pro if they have a good day (especially at 1 day events). Why do we even have an advanced division?

Honestly, I would play pro if the division was larger and there was a more evenly spread out payout. Its hard to go from Adv. where it is a 50% payout to pro where only the top 1/3 gets paid. At the last tournament I had a decision to play am or pro there were 7 pros, and 3 were rated above 1000. What chance did that leave me? I played Adv with 30 other guys. The 3 1000+ rated pros took all the money (big surprise).

If pro and advanced were combined and the payout more like 40% or so, I would be all for it. As it stands, the system is not helping the pros or the Adv players.

the amateur / pro classification of a disc golfer is not restricted to disc golf. There are valid reasons why a good player may not want to be classified as a professional athlete. This a good reason why I'm in favor of ratings-based events. The skill levels are better defined into divisions and those who place in the top divisions but want to remain "amateur" can take their winnings in merch.

if they are only paying 33% in pro they are below pdga standards which are at minimum 40% currently. in this area 45%+ is much more the norm.

Honestly, I would play pro if the division was larger and there was a more evenly spread out payout. Its hard to go from Adv. where it is a 50% payout to pro where only the top 1/3 gets paid. At the last tournament I had a decision to play am or pro there were 7 pros, and 3 were rated above 1000. What chance did that leave me? I played Adv with 30 other guys. The 3 1000+ rated pros took all the money (big surprise).

If pro and advanced were combined and the payout more like 40% or so, I would be all for it. As it stands, the system is not helping the pros or the Adv players.



In the example cited, the tournament didn't pay 1/3....nor the 40% you'd like....but 43% (3 of 7). Probably rounded from the standard 45% PDGA payout.

[/QUOTE]Ever heard of am worlds?

[/QUOTE]

I have played in a World Championship for Ams.
And what is your point?

938 rated advanced player tired of playing against 960 rated players? There are a million reasons why a 960 rated player would not want to "just go pro". Each person has to make their own decision. Obviously no one should "dominate" a division and refuse to move up. I have been playing 960 rated golf for a couple of years now. My rating is not increasing, so why would I move up until my rating does? I trust the PDGAs ratings break to tell me where I should play. I take advantage of my situation instead of complaining and play as many tourneys, pro and am, that I can.

I would say that at least 75% of advanced competitors are capable of cashing in pro if they have a good day (especially at 1 day events). Why do we even have an advanced division?

Honestly, I would play pro if the division was larger and there was a more evenly spread out payout. Its hard to go from Adv. where it is a 50% payout to pro where only the top 1/3 gets paid. At the last tournament I had a decision to play am or pro there were 7 pros, and 3 were rated above 1000. What chance did that leave me? I played Adv with 30 other guys. The 3 1000+ rated pros took all the money (big surprise).

If pro and advanced were combined and the payout more like 40% or so, I would be all for it. As it stands, the system is not helping the pros or the Adv players.

[/QUOTE]

Yeah i understand now................you may always be 960 rated player. I dont play by the system, for what its worth, i like to experience a higher challenge these days. I dont see much challenge offered to players in Am divisions where 950-970 rated players also usually take the top 10% of the field.
In a field of 30 players i would hate to see a 960 rated player take lower than 5th place, that could pose a ratings drop and possibly 3-4 less discs to take home. Bummer.

Now for that player to step up, not cash in 5-10 tourneys in the pro division could lead to dismay. No wonder the Pro divisions are small fields. I hope to cash as a Pro someday and i will in time. For now i enjoy playing against the best just to see how i can do. I may waste money but i enjoy the times.

I'm a higher rated am, and i plan on moving up after am worlds. This is my 3rd year playing disc golf so i'm still getting the experience i'll need for the pros. also in Michigan, its a lil different story, i've had avg tournaments of 951 and 962 without cashing. As long as thats the case, then i don't think i'm that far above being an AM. Plus, thats how the system wants us to play, if you want a chance of being pro rookie of the year, then you move up after am worlds.

Part of what I missed when playing pro was the competition. It is more fun to play against more people. It is also more fun to play to win. It is a hard pill to swallow that I should move up into a division where the odds are I'll never win. I guess it takes some shift in perspective to get excited about last cash like I used to get excited about winning.

winning in open is hard. this should not be the standard of when you should move up.

winning in open is hard. this should not be the standard of when you should move up.



You're making it look easy this year ;).

Part of it is the comaraderie that comes from playing/competing against many of the same people in successive tournaments.

I know my experience playing in the NoVa has been that there are a handful of us who have gotten a lot better in the past year or so (for me, ratings have gone from up from 934 to 967)). There are probably 10 of us in the area who all play in basically the same skill level (even though our ratings range 25 points from low 940s to high 960s), and it trades out who does well on any given weekend.

These are people I've played against several times in the last year, and really enjoy competing against; many of these are also people I enjoying throwing discs with on non-tournament weekends as well. There is excitement in showing up to a tournament, seeing all your peers, and knowing that it is going to be a hard-fought day of golf for any chance at the win... but knowing you have a chance if you have your A-game that day.

I agree that it is hard to go from a big, competitive field of disc golfers in Advanced -- many of whom are friends and peers -- and move to Pro where your chances of being competitive for the win are so much lower.

I don't think it is nearly so much about winning prizes as it is about the thrill of competition, and I really enjoy competing against a group of peers who happen to be playing Advanced.

In a year or two, odds are that many of us will move up to Pro, and will maintain a similar competitive dynamic there -- and if we all move up together, it will help the enlarge the pro pool of players locally. So I hope it happens.

But in the meantime, I play where it is most fun to play -- that's the point of spending free time on the weekends out in the fresh air: to have fun. And so I play in the division that I am most likely to enjoy the experience -- and a lot of that experience is competing with friends.