NicoleFrazer
May 24 2009, 05:18 PM
Does anyone know what courses are being played for this event or how to sign up? The TD contact information is unfortunately missing.
Thanks! :)
z Vaughn z
May 28 2009, 09:52 PM
I too would like to know some more information about this event. It has remained somewhat a mystery even here in the state of Michigan. Website information anywhere?
PDGADirector
Jun 03 2009, 10:56 AM
The Lower Peninsula Open organizing committee, in collaboration with the Professional Disc Golf Association, is announcing the cancellation of the June 26-28 National Tour event in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
"We deeply regret having to make this difficult decision to cancel one of our top PDGA events of the year," said Kevin Dowd , Tournament Director for the LPO. "But the challenges we faced after running our incredibly successful World Championships last year left us short on the resources it takes to conduct the type of outstanding event that our players, our sponsors, and the PDGA have come to expect from our disc golf club."
The Kalamazoo Disc Golf Club hoped to build on the great momentum they gained from last year's Worlds, but the economic reality in the state hit hardest by the national downturn created a situation that even one of our top disc golf clubs could not overcome.
"Many of the sponsors and volunteers, who added so much to last year's success, are just hunkered down waiting for things to turn-around," Dowd observed.
And while the Lower Peninsula Open is down, it is not out. Kalamazoo disc golf will continue its hard work at producing top-notch disc golf events with the hopes of coming back in 2010 bigger and better than ever.
The next PDGA National Tour event will be in the Twin Cities at the Minnesota Majestic, which is being held on June 19-21st. The tour then travels to Columbus, Ohio where the Brent Hambrick Memorial will be held July 11-12th.
md21954
Jun 04 2009, 10:16 AM
any idea where the 5 USDGC qualifying spots will be transferred?
how about giving them back to WVO?
thanks
unclemercy
Jun 04 2009, 11:57 AM
the professional disc golf association should have stepped up to prevent this.
DSproAVIAR
Jun 04 2009, 12:42 PM
What a bummer. Can someone tell us what is going to happen to the 5 USDGC qualifier spots?
Luke Butch
Jun 04 2009, 03:37 PM
the professional disc golf association should have stepped up to prevent this.
this
and its pretty ridiculous that this announcement was made less than a month before the event
davidsauls
Jun 04 2009, 03:41 PM
Agreed. They should have made the announcement before they knew about it.
davidsauls
Jun 04 2009, 04:39 PM
Agreed. They should have made the announcement before they knew about it.
Oops. I retract that snap remark. I wrote out of ignorance, as I've no idea what happened here. I'm sure someone else here knows what happened, when the TDs knew they couldn't pull off the event, when the PDGA was advised, why the PDGA's crack team of Emergency TDs couldn't be dispatched to pull off the event in the locals' absence, and why their clairvoyance was not employed to head this off well before the announcement.
discette
Jun 04 2009, 04:53 PM
the professional disc golf association should have stepped up to prevent this.
How could the PDGA prevent this? They had every reason to believe this club could host this event. Especially after the fine work they did hosting nearly 900 players for the World's last August.
It is not the job of the PDGA to run NT events, it is the job of the local organizer/club/promoter. The local club does not have the volunteers to prepare the courses, and they are unable to raise the required added cash and don't have people to actually work at the event.
The PDGA provides support, not manpower nor added cash.
Should the PDGA pay round trip airfare and provide hotel rooms for 5 to 10 volunteers to come to town, prepare the courses, raise sponsorship and officiate? How would someone from out of town know to get park permits or get the courses mowed or request the sprinklers be turned off on Saturday morning? Would the registration fees and tournament expenses be run through the PDGA's bank account? If so, I guess they need to pay airfare and hotel to send the check signer as well.
Then there is the added cash. Do you expect the PDGA to pony up the $1,500 plus? Do you think Brian Graham, or other PDGA staff should be selling custom tourney stamped discs or soliciting local businesses for sponsorship dollars? And again, be doing all this from Augusta?
Again, what exactly could the PDGA have done to prevent this?
unclemercy
Jun 04 2009, 05:18 PM
if there is no contingency plan, then there is no real tour.
The PDGA provides support, not manpower nor added cash.
same as my boxer shorts.
davidsauls
Jun 04 2009, 05:55 PM
I must've slept through logic class, which is why I come here. I'd have never guessed that a tour cannot be real without a contingency plan. It'll probably be a surprise, too, to everyone at the next NT stop. Always great to learn new things. Thanks.
unclemercy
Jun 04 2009, 06:21 PM
well, they scheduled it, so i guess it was a tour on paper. what happens if the next nt gets canned and the one after that? you can call it the tour that never was and act snarky on the strength of your newfound logic. you can overlook the fact that the professional players of this sport pay their own expenses and coordinate their own travel and compete for each other's paychecks. you can ignore the fact that this highlights a problem and pretend to be entertaining. you can act like you know. i won't. instead, i'll try to imagine how a real sports governing organization would have handled a similar set of issues.
is there precedent for such a thing?
pterodactyl
Jun 04 2009, 06:29 PM
The PGA just cancelled a pro tour stop. Those tourneys run exclusively on sponsorship and volunteerism. The sponsor pulled, and wham, no tourney. PGA doesn't step in and pay the bill. Pro ball golfers' entry fees don't come anywhere close to adding up to the scheduled payout ( like most of the pdga events I play in ); it barely covers food and bevs for the vols. \
I feel bad for the tourning disc pros that need that tour stop or maybe bought a plane ticket to revisit some worlds courses.
PDGADirector
Jun 05 2009, 12:08 AM
well, they scheduled it, so i guess it was a tour on paper. what happens if the next nt gets canned and the one after that? you can call it the tour that never was and act snarky on the strength of your newfound logic. you can overlook the fact that the professional players of this sport pay their own expenses and coordinate their own travel and compete for each other's paychecks. you can ignore the fact that this highlights a problem and pretend to be entertaining. you can act like you know. i won't. instead, i'll try to imagine how a real sports governing organization would have handled a similar set of issues.
is there precedent for such a thing?
Uncle Mercy (Gregory Lane #21212),
In your opinion and in your own words, how would a "real" sports governing organization have handled a similar set of issues?
I know that almost every sport I have researched has had similar situations and in nearly every case they did exactly what we did, which was to attempt to remedy the situation, look for alternatives, and as a last resort cancel the event. Is there a precedence? Perform a google search on "PGA Tour event cancelled" and see what you find.
It is a very unfortunate situation but blaming anyone at this point does nothing to remedy the problem or change the reality. Despite what has occurred, I continue to hold the tournament director and host club in high regards and I support the very difficult decision they had to make to cancel rather than hosting a sub par event with limited resources.
Regards,
the_kid
Jun 05 2009, 01:10 AM
Uncle Mercy (Gregory Lane #21212),
In your opinion and in your own words, how would a "real" sports governing organization have handled a similar set of issues?
I know that almost every sport I have researched has had similar situations and in nearly every case they did exactly what we did, which was to attempt to remedy the situation, look for alternatives, and as a last resort cancel the event. Is there a precedence? Perform a google search on "PGA Tour event cancelled" and see what you find.
It is a very unfortunate situation but blaming anyone at this point does nothing to remedy the problem or change the reality. Despite what has occurred, I continue to hold the tournament director and host club in high regards and I support the very difficult decision they had to make to cancel rather than hosting a sub par event with limited resources.
Regards,
How about making Worlds a PREMIER EVENT!?!?!?!?!?
$1 per entry would equate to $125,000+in added cash to Pro/Am worlds and would benefit those who played the mist events and gained points.
Those who put in the most will get the most back and those who only played 1-2 events won't mind because we will actually have a WORLD CLASS event worthy of the name.
Sorry but I am going to keep on trying and 99% of the people I talk to think it is a great idea and wonder why the PDGA never steps up with a real plan.
unclemercy
Jun 05 2009, 03:08 AM
good work, brian j. 5861...
unclemercy (glane #21212)
In your opinion and in your own words
what would happen if the rest of your events were to go the same route as the lower peninsula open national tour event?
unclemercy (glane #21212)
In your opinion and in your own words
what would your job be?
unclemercy (glane #21212)
In your opinion and in your own words
why not use this as a spring board to address potentially disastrous underlying issues?
unclemercy (glane #21212)
in my opinion and in my own words
i am beginning to care less. my initial reaction was out of disappointment as a fan, not anger as a player, or dissatisfaction as a member. i appreciate you asking my opinion on solutions to the situation, but that is not my obligation. i apologize if you felt wrongly blamed. if, as you mention, blame does not remedy the problem or change the reality. what could?
either way, you can catch me chillin at the last resort. later for you.
Luke Butch
Jun 05 2009, 03:39 AM
like no one saw this coming- no flyer, no info, etc when other NT's are filling MONTHS in advance.
the problem as I see it is the host club probably realized a while ago that this wasn't looking good, but wanted to go ahead with it anyways(I wouldn't want to quit on it either). They waited too long to "admit defeat" though. And as I said above with no info about the tournament published, the PDGA should have known whats up a while ago. However when we have board members who are clueless about the current state of the tour, this shouldn't be that surprising.
Since I assume you aren't traveling out of your own pocket Brian, why not use the money allocated for your travel expenses and used that towards the payout of this event??? Might have been enough to keep it on the schedule. If you are travelling cross country to take pictures on your own dime, I apologize.
And I think a lot of the tour players would have understood a scaled down event, and definitely would have preferred it to nothing, since those that are traveling full time for the summer now have a open weekend without a good size B tier within reasonable travel distance. Besides, it probably still would have payed out as good as oklahoma!
Luke Butch
Jun 05 2009, 03:46 AM
Again, what exactly could the PDGA have done to prevent this?
not prevent, but they should have made a decision to cancel it more than a month in advance. its the short notice that upsets people.
md21954
Jun 05 2009, 08:27 AM
does anyone have any clue as to what's happening with the 5 USDGC spots that were up for grabs?
davidsauls
Jun 05 2009, 08:51 AM
well, they scheduled it, so i guess it was a tour on paper. what happens if the next nt gets canned and the one after that? you can call it the tour that never was and act snarky on the strength of your newfound logic. you can overlook the fact that the professional players of this sport pay their own expenses and coordinate their own travel and compete for each other's paychecks. you can ignore the fact that this highlights a problem and pretend to be entertaining. you can act like you know. i won't. instead, i'll try to imagine how a real sports governing organization would have handled a similar set of issues.
is there precedent for such a thing?
Sorry to mislead you into thinking I act like I know. I very clearly don't know. I don't know what happened, when people knew, and for all I know, whether there is a contingency plan and perhaps this is it cancelling an event when necessary. I don't know how often events cancel at the last minute; all I have is my experience, which is that I've heard of it happening so seldom that I would have never thought of a contingency plan if I were on the board, which I'm glad I'm not.
My "newfound logic" is only the logic I read here, which I did not know before.
Far from knowing it all, in my life, in other ventures, I've occasionally failed, and I suspect it'll happen again. I hope folks will be more gracious.
Tkeith
Jun 05 2009, 11:19 AM
maybe they can have 10 spots for monday qualifying now!
TK
DSproAVIAR
Jun 05 2009, 11:21 AM
This is terrible news for Michigan disc golf. Like Woj said, alot of other tournaments got the shaft so that the LPO could happen. To mess up the entire state's schedule, and then not follow through is irresponsible. Larry Labond is the best TD I know of, and I'm sure he did everything in his power to try and make this happen. I want to think that the PDGA could have stepped in with support to make this happen.
Brian, do you know what will happen with the 5 USDGC qualifier spots that were to awarded at the LPO?
Thanks
I've tried to contact USDGC organizers right now but am not able to.
Dana
Jun 05 2009, 12:36 PM
maybe they can have 10 spots for monday qualifying now!
TK
I like.
the_kid
Jun 06 2009, 02:58 PM
I am actually glad I decided not to go to this event since I would be out $225 in airfare.
I would bet there are many who aren't as lucky and have a ticket they no longer need.
Jeff_LaG
Jun 06 2009, 05:37 PM
Local clubs run disc golf tournaments - even National Tour events - and not the PDGA Office. And the current economic climate created a situation that could not be overcome. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the added cash requirement for 2009 National Tour events is $5,000 (http://www.pdga.com/files/documents/2009NTPayoutSharesCalculator.xls). It's not the role of the PDGA to bail out an event which because of a recent highly successful Pro/Am Worlds event and the economic reality in a state hit hardest by the national recession, could apparently not muster the sponsorship that is expected from a NT event.
The PDGA is our national sanctioning body whose income and expenses are carefully budgeted with slim margins. It is not the role of our national organization to bail out an NT event, and were they to do so it would set an extremely poor precedent and there would be expectations to follow suit if the situation were to arise in the future.
All the people clamoring that "the PDGA should have stepped up to prevent this" (with the underlying implication of taking away funds earmarked for literally dozens of other important progams which grow the sport of disc golf) need to step back and think about and understand what the role of our national organization really is.
haroldduvall
Jun 07 2009, 12:38 AM
This is a tough break for a good club, the players, and for other events in the area. The circumstances are unprecedented. We are trying to decide the disposition of the 5 USDGC spots. As soon as we decide, we will let y'all know.
Take care,
Harold
DSproAVIAR
Jun 07 2009, 10:06 AM
Harold, Thanks for the quick response. What a sticky situation. I'm glad it is being handled and I'm hoping at least 1 of those spots stays in MI.
Also, I think there's something wrong with the contact page form at USDGC.com.
the_kid
Jun 07 2009, 01:38 PM
Harold, Thanks for the quick response. What a sticky situation. I'm glad it is being handled and I'm hoping at least 1 of those spots stays in MI.
Also, I think there's something wrong with the contact page form at USDGC.com.
At least you guys were given the opportunity to give spots. TX has only one spot and you have to travel all the way to the boonies of Pawhuska to qualify. I know we have like 6-8 A-tiers this year but only the State rep spot to give away.
Maybe that is a good thing since I probably would have to miss because of school.
I just don't understand why the wast coast has so many spots yet the closest thing to the center of TX in 8-9 hours away.
spamtown discgolfer
Jun 11 2009, 01:20 AM
This tournament wasn't cancelled, but they had to lower the purse because they lost the main sponsor.
FoxSports (http://msn.foxsports.com/golf/story/9667188/Daly-set-for-1st-PGA-event-since-suspension?GT1=39002)
Should we complain to the PGA for not stepping up?
P.S. Should be intersting to have Daly back.
Twisted1
Jun 11 2009, 09:15 AM
Post deleted
DSproAVIAR
Jun 11 2009, 11:27 AM
This tournament wasn't cancelled, but they had to lower the purse because they lost the main sponsor.
FoxSports (http://msn.foxsports.com/golf/story/9667188/Daly-set-for-1st-PGA-event-since-suspension?GT1=39002)
Should we complain to the PGA for not stepping up?
"Late last week, the purse was cut $500,000 to $5.6 million, the first time that's happened on tour this year. The winner will take home a little less but still a $1 million check in a move players learned about only an hour before the commitment deadline last Friday."
There is not a very significant similarity between these 2 situations. Like I said, I want to think that the PDGA could have stepped in with support to make this happen.
davidsauls
Jun 11 2009, 12:44 PM
Several posters have mentioned that the PDGA should have "stepped in", without specifics. I'm curious about what people mean by this?
Should the PDGA have provided the funding so the event could meet NT requirements? I don't think the PDGA holds a large cash reserve from which it can easily issue a $5,000 check. Exactly how should they have done this.
Or should the PDGA have stepped in by sending staff to run the tournament, if there weren't enough local volunteers. What assurance do we have that the PDGA staff is ready to run off to Michigan on a month's notice?
Or is there some form of "stepping in" that I'm not thinking of?
So what, exactly, do folks mean by the idea that the PDGA should have "stepped in"?
*
To save time on the follow-up, once we have that answer, we must ask if the PDGA should be prepared to "step in" not just in this instance, but any other NT that may have trouble? How about any A-tier? Any tournament?
Personally, as a dues- and fee-paying member, I'd prefer the admittedly unpleasant option of canceling a tournament if necessary, than using PDGA resources to rescue tournaments that run into insurmountable problems.
haroldduvall
Jun 11 2009, 01:08 PM
The Discraft Great Lakes Open has agreed to stand in for Kalamazoo as a Regional Qualifier. The DGLO allows the qualifier to stay within the great disc golf state of Michigan. Spots are still available for this weekend's event on the challenging Hudson Mills courses.
Our thanks go to both the Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo clubs for their promotion of disc golf and support of the United States Disc Golf Championship.
Take care,
Harold
Roosta
Jun 11 2009, 01:10 PM
not kensington, but hudson mills courses....
Jeff_LaG
Jun 11 2009, 01:32 PM
Careful, davidsauls. You've made an overly convincing rebuttal of their proposition by presenting valid rationale, using relevant & sound logic, and common sense. That kind of thing is frowned upon around these parts. :D
"The PDGA should have stepped in" is code for "The PDGA should have waved their magic wand and everything would have been made right." Didn't you know that this magic wand is what our membership dues pay for? :D
unclemercy
Jun 11 2009, 01:39 PM
no one reads your posts, jeff
davidsauls
Jun 11 2009, 02:39 PM
Ah, the magic wand. I knew I was overlooking something.
I do have sympathy for the other Michigan-area tournaments who had their schedules scrambled, all for naught. In these days of packed calendars, addition of an NT or even an A-tier in an area can really foul things up for events with traditional weekends.
I also have sympathy for the organizers of this NT, whom I do not know, but who I'm sure have derived no enjoyment out of the efforts they made to put it on.
DSproAVIAR
Jun 11 2009, 03:11 PM
So what, exactly, do folks mean by the idea that the PDGA should have "stepped in"?
The specific problems that occurred were not publicly disclosed. Without further information, this question cannot be answered. Here are my thoughts-
The PDGA has many resources, including what seems to be a large budget. It would be unreasonable to think that the PDGA is able to step in on such short notice and run an NT event from scratch. Knowing Labond and Dowd, it would be reasonable to assume that the LPO team had most of their responsibilities covered. Assuming this, I want to think that the PDGA could have stepped in with support to finish the job and make this happen.
davidsauls
Jun 11 2009, 03:46 PM
So the answer is that we have no definition of "stepping in", we don't know what would have been involved, but whatever it was, the PDGA "SHOULD have stepped in."?
unclemercy
Jun 11 2009, 03:51 PM
it is not real complicated.
Jeff_LaG
Jun 11 2009, 03:56 PM
it is not real complicated.
Yup, it's never complicated when they can just wave their magic wand.
cgkdisc
Jun 11 2009, 04:09 PM
It would be unreasonable to think that the PDGA is able to step in on such short notice and run an NT event from scratch. Knowing Labond and Dowd, it would be reasonable to assume that the LPO team had most of their responsibilities covered. Assuming this, I want to think that the PDGA could have stepped in with support to finish the job and make this happen.
What's unreasonable to assume is that the PDGA did not try to do whatever was reasonably within their power to prevent this cancellation including financial help. As you note, the detailed story has not been shared and I'm not sure it's necessary other than for the conspiracy theorists.
DSproAVIAR
Jun 11 2009, 04:10 PM
The PDGA appreciates your blind support, David.
Without further information, this question cannot be answered.
I want to think that the PDGA could have stepped in
Knowing the PDGA, I don't think those details are going to be disclosed anytime soon, if at all. So, to move on to your follow-up question-
Yes, I do think that the PDGA should be prepared to "step in" and make sure that all 10 (9) of their NT events are not canceled. I think the PDGA should not let precedent be set here.
I don't have many details, but I'm guessing that the PDGA is not at fault for the LPO falling through. But they could prepare a contingency plan so that this would not happen in the future.
janttila
Jun 11 2009, 04:40 PM
your contingecies rely on contigency....
Look forward to a POOL PARTY SATURDAY!
cgkdisc
Jun 11 2009, 04:45 PM
I can think of some reasons why an event may have to be canceled (and I truly know nothing on this event) that even the PDGA couldn't resolve such as course permission being denied for some unexpected reason or courses becoming unavailable (flooded). I've actually had to deal with that before. Not sure why you assume the PDGA leadership did not do what they could to save the event.
The closest the PDGA has come to swooping in to run an event was the 1999 Pro Worlds in Rochester. However, that was planned long in advance with mutual agreement with the local understaffed team who graciously offered to host under the conditions of major help from the PDGA (who had no bidders to host the event).
davidsauls
Jun 11 2009, 05:51 PM
dsproaviar
I'd think a worse precedent would be set if the PDGA had a contingency plan that stated, if a NT can't raise the added cash, the PDGA will provide it. The possible effect would be to reduce the efforts of the NT TDs to raise cash, knowing they could fall back on the PDGA. So the PDGA would need a reserve of, what, $25,000? $50,000? to back all 10 NT events.
I'm not sure what contingency plan I would suggest for the PDGA to have that would cover if the local TDs and/or club backed out.
I guess one action the PDGA could take would be to better screen applicants. But I'd think an applicant that just pulled off a successful Worlds would clear any screening process.
As I said WAYYYY back, perhaps the contingency plan was to cancel an event, if necessary.
At this point, since the inception of the NT we've suffered through, what, 1% cancellations? 2%? A terrible thing when it happens, but a terribly rare occurance. If it becomes commonplace then the PDGA needs to rethink the plan.
It's not a matter of blind support for the PDGA. It's just that I'm not bright enough to think of a contingency I think the PDGA should have had in place. Several people on this thread have said that they should have been able to "step in", but I still can't figure out the details that "stepping in" to "make it happen" would have been.
the_kid
Jun 11 2009, 09:50 PM
The Discraft Great Lakes Open has agreed to stand in for Kalamazoo as a Regional Qualifier. The DGLO allows the qualifier to stay within the great disc golf state of Michigan. Spots are still available for this weekend's event on the challenging Hudson Mills courses.
Our thanks go to both the Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo clubs for their promotion of disc golf and support of the United States Disc Golf Championship.
Take care,
Harold
How about the truly great state of TEXAS????????????
Also it is great to learn about the spots 2 days before the event........................especially with only 16 players.
This is getting really lame that the Closest qualifier is at the SN championships in Little Rock which is only a PDGA event so they can show us how much better they are at running a final.
the_kid
Jun 12 2009, 11:46 AM
I still can't believe the spots are being given away on such short notice. Heck I am playing a B-tier this weekend that will likely have more 1000 rated players and a Higher 1st place prize than DGLO.
I still don't get why TX only gets a State rep spot while the mdwest has 5 events giving away spots and they are all closer to each other than Pawhuska is to Austin(middle of state).
TX still has a few players that go each year but to do it we have to travel way to far when we already have plenty of A-tiers.
DSproAVIAR
Jun 12 2009, 12:03 PM
Yes, Texas is relevant to this discussion. Good points.
Several people on this thread have said that they should have been able to "step in", but I still can't figure out the details that "stepping in" to "make it happen" would have been.
I am also at a loss. It would not make sense for one to suggest that the PDGA should have stepped in without knowing what problems or obstacles arose, and whether or not the PDGA had the resources to help fix or solve them.
Twisted1
Jun 13 2009, 09:25 AM
I still can't believe the spots are being given away on such short notice. Heck I am playing a B-tier this weekend that will likely have more 1000 rated players and a Higher 1st place prize than DGLO.
I still don't get why TX only gets a State rep spot while the mdwest has 5 events giving away spots and they are all closer to each other than Pawhuska is to Austin(middle of state). It's up to the lobbying your State Coordinator does for your State.** TX still has a few players that go each year but to do it we have to travel way to far when we already have plenty of A-tiers.***
** Every State gets just one spot. Anything after that requires thought, action and resources.
*** That's how everyone else felt traveling all the way to HOUSTON to play for years.
For those of you talking PDGA $$$... They have on hand cash reserves of over $100,000.00
if it was just $$$ I think it would not be a problem.
suemac
Jun 14 2009, 09:20 PM
``Sometimes it is just easier to "not have a need to measure a specific body part" than to have to live with the restrictions that came with those events.
Remember, Matt doesn't live in Houston, and given the caliber of our event over the years, I resemble that remark! LOL
the_kid
Jun 15 2009, 10:41 PM
** Every State gets just one spot. Anything after that requires thought, action and resources.
*** That's how everyone else felt traveling all the way to HOUSTON to play for years.
For those of you talking PDGA $$$... They have on hand cash reserves of over $100,000.00
if it was just $$$ I think it would not be a problem.
You guys live pretty close to KC right? How about Des Moines and Ft Morgan? Those events usually have spots and are all closer to OKC than Houston.
I just think there are too many USDGC spots in the Midwest. Many of those events pay down spots outside of the top ten as well. Personally I think the results from this wekend speak for themselves..........................the B-tier in TX was better than BOTH A-tiers this weekend.
The fact remains that announcing the spots are to be given away at an event 2 days away which drew 35 total players is bunk.
jonnydobos
Jun 16 2009, 11:03 AM
I just think there are too many USDGC spots in the Midwest. Many of those events pay down spots outside of the top ten as well. Personally I think the results from this wekend speak for themselves..........................the B-tier in TX was better than BOTH A-tiers this weekend.
The fact remains that announcing the spots are to be given away at an event 2 days away which drew 35 total players is bunk.
You have valid points on a lot of spots in the Midwest. Texas obviously has a lot of players and a lot of quality players. I can't speak to how the distribution is decided, but I would guess your state coordinator could help influence this through lobbying and ensuring that there are more A tiers in Texas.
As for your comment on your B-tier being better than Both A-tiers, yes DGLO was lame at best. But from my count High Plains had 39 more players, 11 more open players, more 1000 rated players than your event. It does appear to be an impressive B-tier, but not sure how you argue it was better on paper than High Plains
DSproAVIAR
Jun 16 2009, 11:33 AM
MI had 30 open players, TX had 26. TX had better payouts. CO was bigger and better than both of those events.
You have valid points on a lot of spots in the Midwest. Texas obviously has a lot of players and a lot of quality players. I can't speak to how the distribution is decided, but I would guess your state coordinator could help influence this through lobbying and ensuring that there are more A tiers in Texas.
Well said Jonny.
Nice comeback on the 4th round, Matt.
johnbiscoe
Jun 16 2009, 11:48 AM
they are REGIONAL qualifiers. texas and oklahoma constitute one region (total of 207 male pros), michigan and wisconsin are another (159), virginia, north carolina, south carolina are another (167- just did this one to include my own).
if you want to question something look at arizona, new mexico (64 male pros). i didn't take the time to run the numbers on all regions but i'd imagine that is the smallest by far.
there are also 2 wild cards added- this year one is in the cali/nevada region, and one in the iowa, missouri, illinois region. (worlds)
cgkdisc
Jun 16 2009, 11:59 AM
For all the hype about how big the membership is in Texas, they certainly haven't demonstrated their skills at the USDGC compared with players from the midwest. Couldn't find a Texan finishing in the top 40 for the past five years unless you count transplant Jay Reading from Iowa (midwest). It's unlikely this has any bearing whatsoever on where qualifying spots are made available but it's an interesting perspective (and Yes Matt, I'm yanking your chain).;)
ROCinRON
Jun 17 2009, 09:29 AM
I cant believe I have actually just witnessed the cancellation of a NT event. Ive read through this entire thread and I have to say its crap like this that makes me care less about disc golf. I guess they should have kept a perfectly good NT in Bowling Green or maybe gave it back to Melbourne. I really just feel bad for the people that had to request time from work and really, really feel bad for the people that bought non-refundable airfare to attend this. This sport has certainly taken a hit this year with the loss of a major and now this. Speaking of which, Im sure nothing was done to those "top" players that caused the loss of the Cup.
davidsauls
Jun 17 2009, 09:58 AM
I feel really bad for the volunteers who doubtless spent a great deal of effort, only to have to cancel. I mean, I'd feel terrible if I was running a local C-tier and had to cancel; I can't imagine being in that position for an NT. I'm probably just guilty of having a soft spot for volunteers, even those that fall short.
Are NTs rationed by the PDGA? Did they turn down requests from Bowling Green or Melbourne? I've assumed, perhaps wrongly, that with the minimum standards involved, relatively few locales were offering to host NTs. If there are lots of folks clamoring to host an NT and the PDGA is selecting which ones are used, then maybe there's a way for the PDGA to improve this process.
schick
Jun 18 2009, 06:44 PM
I thought BG was a voluntary step down from the NT status....maybe I am wrong on that??