Online registration has opened for this first National Championship for Super Class discs. It's Aug 29-30 at the Lemon Lake complex near Chicago that will host the Pro Worlds in 2010. It's a SuperTour event with a minimum $1500 added proportionately to the Open Men and Women divisions. Pro $75 and Am $50 entry. Format is two rounds of 24 on Saturday with a third round Sunday morning. Optional doubles on Friday evening with last minute registration closing at 9pm that night. http://www.pdga.com/event?TournID=9309 (http://www.pdga.com/event?TournID=9309)

There are no Pro or Am age based divisions this first year. In Super Class events this season, we've seen the older pros able to hang with young pros and older ams hang with younger ams. So we're all playing together to have one big pro division and all four am divisions based on rating. Older pros may also choose to enter the appropriate am division instead of Open based on their rating if desired. Early favorite, David Greenwell already won his "old guy" GM title at Worlds Aug 1 and will try to cap off the month with an Open National title in Super Class.

we've got a couple good locals out here chuck that will give greenwell a run for his money! Thats lots of added cash!!

That's great. I'm sure he would want some competition and not just walk away with the cash. ;)

how can you have am divisions based on rating when you have separate superclass ratings for players who have played a superclass event? how many players currently have a superclass rating?

I'd be more inclined to play Superclass if excellent "Super" discs like the 40-mold; 70-mold and Whittler were included. But I do wish you success with the event.

A player's regular PDGA rating will determine their division if they don't have a Super Class rating. Most of the local players around Lemon Lake don't have Super Class ratings yet. We're updating the SC ratings right now so we'll see how many players will have them sometime next week. There were 63 members with SC ratings in April. I expect tha will top 100 with a half dozen having enough rounds to be SC propagators.

I'd be more inclined to play Superclass if excellent "Super" discs like the 40-mold; 70-mold and Whittler were included.
Get someone to host a Vintage Nationals SuperTour event or do it yourself. Vintage disc specs are spelled out in the PDGA Tech Standards just like Super Class. I'm sure it could get similar X-tier status if asked.

Just finished our first super class tourny at lemon today. Had lots of fun giving the tourny away. Lost by one on the last hole. Super class discs are already challenging to throw by them selves and to add to the excitement there was about 20mph winds. I think our lead card for open men probably set a record for shortest round time. We played the 2nd round in 45 min with three players and caught the group 7 holes in front of us. Greenwell has some tuff locals to beat!!

There will be Minnesotans coming to try and win several divisions.

Super Class scores and ratings are posted for Day 1 at the Lemon Lake complex. Live scoring planned for Sunday morning starting around 8:45am Central. Two locals are tied for the lead with veteran David Greenwell four back. The final round features a 24-hole par 83 layout with 5 to 7 holes from each of the four Lemon Lake courses set up for Super Class.

Maps of the four courses at Lemon Lake are located here:
http://www.lakecountyparks.com/lemonlake.html

Final round will be holes White 1-5, Red 11-14, 18, Blue 3, 4, 9, 10, 13, Silver 1, 2, 14, 15, Gold 16, Silver 17, 18, Blue 14, White 18. Top group will be playing White hole 18 first which is shown as hole 24 on the live scoring.

Seems like a lot of effort and added expenses for a 13 player "national championship" tournament. I still don't understand why this became part of the PDGA.

Nor do you need to.

Nor do you need to.

Every dues paying member has a right, some just have more than others!

What a payout for only 13 players. If I didn't know any better I would have guessed the tourny had a $300 entry

What a payout for only 13 players. If I didn't know any better I would have guessed the tourny had a $300 entry

That is because they have to still meet the added cash requirements. Last cash more than I did at worlds!

Not bad for throwing ultimate discs around. Kinda makes disc golf look silly. (opinion only)

Seems like a lot of effort and added expenses for a 13 player "national championship" tournament. I still don't understand why this became part of the PDGA.

No more effort than running other special format PDGA sanctioned events like doubles, match play or night glow. The PDGA didn't provide a stipend or send any staff to help with this event and will expend no staff time besides entering the date on the calendar and handling the event report when it comes in. They made money off the sanctioning fee and player fees to make a little money.

All of the added cash ($1500) and event expenses were covered locally. All local staff time to run the event was volunteered including the live scoring. The PDGA contribution was having the web site available for results, live scoring and stories like they offer to all other events who provide them.

The idea for the Super Class format and its development have all been done by volunteers. The PDGA has earned sanctioning fees, player fees and several new members as a result of the Super Class initiative with almost no staff effort on their part other than saying "Go for it."

Not bad for throwing ultimate discs around. Kinda makes disc golf look silly. (opinion only)

...when I say "silly".

I think a lot more players are going to be there next year. There are lots of players wishing they would have gone this year, not really understanding the possible historical significance of the event.
It would have been cool just to have gone there, bought some old school zephyrs, ultrastars and whatever else those super class pros throw, and probably play like a real disc golfer; get to play Lemon Lake (home of the 2010 Pro Worlds). Because it's still disc golf.

Congrats CK on the inaugural SC National Championships.

All of the added cash ($1500) and event expenses were covered locally.

Who were the sponsors of this event? IMO, they deserve much more recognition than the 13 people who attended. Hopefully they'll continue to sponsor DG events like the 2010 Worlds (although it's probably a tougher sell now).

The sole cash sponsor was Catalyst Productions, the DJ company owned by the TD Brian Cummings, who will be your TD and host for PW2010.

Photos on PDGA Media from the event:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdga/sets/72157622226231412/

Seems like a lot of effort and added expenses for a 13 player "national championship" tournament. I still don't understand why this became part of the PDGA.

Rome wasn't built in a day.

Super Class was officially announced in what, October or November of last year? So it's not even a year old yet.

The population of the United States is currently around 305 million people, of which I'd be willing to bet more than 200+ million have never even heard of disc golf. And our sport has been around for decades!

Of those within our sport, how many have even heard of the idea of Super Class? Word is barely even getting out about it. Give it some time.

Look, is the idea of using vintage discs which were considered state of the art 20+ years ago and which cannot be thrown for long distances enormously appealing? That's debatable. Is a PDGA-sanctioned 'A' tier tournament that only drew 13 competitors somewhat of a disappointment? Absolutely.

But there's no denying that Super Class has the potential to draw in thousands of Ultimate players. It has the potential to to pull in kids, older folks, recreational players, and those used to classic Frisbees. And if the format can make more people aware of the idea of disc golf, make money for the PDGA, and grow the sport, all while depending almost exclusively on volunteer efforts and using a minimum of PDGA resources, why not give it a chance? If after 4 or 5 years it doesn't catch on, then has anything really been lost? Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

The stark resistance and close-mindedness to a new concept that hasn't even blown out its first candle and from those who may have never even thrown a single shot with a Super Class-approved disc such as a Zephyr is really disappointing. It's typical of the attitudes in our sport today, and the reason why ratings based events, Pro 2, the Expert division and other ideas have all gone the way of the dodo bird. So instead we're stuck with the same status quo of multiple & redundant overlapping divisions of the same skill levels, sandbaggers, the idea that we need 10+ division winners at every event, and arguably a sense of loss of the spirit of competition in our sport.

...when I say "silly".

I think a lot more players are going to be there next year. There are lots of players wishing they would have gone this year, not really understanding the possible historical significance of the event.
It would have been cool just to have gone there, bought some old school zephyrs, ultrastars and whatever else those super class pros throw, and probably play like a real disc golfer; get to play Lemon Lake (home of the 2010 Pro Worlds). Because it's still disc golf.

Congrats CK on the inaugural SC National Championships.I wanted to play this year, but when they moved it back a week, it fell on the weekend that Kelsey was going back to college. Zephyr class or burgers at the Hunt Club? The Hunt Club makes a good burger.

I think SuperClass is on the same arc as the R-tier, Pro 2, and Mid Nats.

The stark resistance and close-mindedness to a new concept that hasn't even blown out its first candle and from those who may have never even thrown a single shot with a Super Class-approved disc such as a Zephyr is really disappointing. It's typical of the attitudes in our sport today, and the reason why ratings based events, Pro 2, the Expert division and other ideas have all gone the way of the dodo bird. So instead we're stuck with the same status quo of multiple & redundant overlapping divisions of the same skill levels, sandbaggers, the idea that we need 10+ division winners at every event, and arguably a sense of loss of the spirit of competition in our sport.

if there were demand for dodo bird events there would be a supply of them. is there any aspect of anything done by the ORG that you are not an apologist for?

for the record i don't oppose superclass- i do think it should be called something else without the connotation that it is superior in some way and i do have problems with the nationals being sanctioned at such a high level with no proven demand for them.

I think SuperClass is on the same arc as the R-tier, Pro 2, and Mid Nats.

Having only been in existence for less than 10 months, my $.02 is that it is entirely premature, as well as somewhat unfair, to make that kind of projection.

is there any aspect of anything done by the ORG that you are not an apologist for?

Yes, a number of things. But most troubling is what they DON'T do: install a real competition system that doesn't result in multiple & redundant overlapping divisions of the same skill levels, 10+ division winners at every event, and instills a proper sense of competition in our sport. Even though it's the right thing to do, such a measure will never be enacted for fear of alienating even a small population of traditionalists who have been weaned on the current structure and fear change.

why would any company alienate its current customer base (which has been growing at a steady clip ever since i got into the game 15 years ago) to attract a theoretical one that may or may not even exist? new coke anyone?

How is offering Super Class events alienating the current customer base? It's not like New Coke, where the original formula was discontinued, and you could only get New Coke. The equivalent for us would be if the Technical Standards changed such that we could only use Super Class discs in any PDGA tournament.

What is being done here is like a product brand extension. We now have Coke with or without caffeine, with or without corn syrup, vanilla flavored, etc. Some varieties will survive long term, some will not.

What the PDGA has done with the Super Class is offer another "brand" of Disc Golf. Whether or not it survives long-term will be decided by the market. As for me, I know I would be much more competitive using Super Class discs than what an old friend calls "Stress-Tech" plastic, that is, plastic that makes you stress out when you don't park that 350ft hole.

Y'all just take a deep breath and let this "flavor" of disc golf take its course, whatever it is.

Every dues paying member has a right, some just have more than others!

I'm suprised your not all for it taylor??! Maybe you'd be a pro at it and not just an am for life. lol