Ladies of Mesker - All women's tournament celebrating Women's Disc Golf Week

Mesker Park, Evansville, Indiana, USA

Check out our previous article recognizing the women of Women's Disc Golf Week

A quick reminder of the Women's Disc Golf Week perks that can still be taken advantage of throughout May:

• USE CODE WDW2023 at pdga.com/join to get 20% off PDGA membership for new female members!
• Mystery boxes of goodies sent to 50 women and girls who participate in a PDGA-sanctioned event in the month of May with current PDGA membership or who are nominated to be recognized during Women's Disc Golf Week. Winners to be determined by a drawing after June's ratings update.
  • You will get an entry for each event! Play 5 events = 5 entries! 

---

At the end of the season last year, we asked women on the PDGA Women's Facebook page, "Ladies – What do you wish every tournament director knew? What are must-haves for an event? Any deal-breakers?"

Here are the responses, along with a few tips for tournament directors, on how to make every week Women's Disc Golf Week!

Actually… It is kind of simple.

Bathrooms. Bathrooms. Bathrooms.

The number one comment on our post was about bathrooms. To spell it out simply: It's just not that easy or even safe for women to go out in the woods. The more bathrooms, the better. Clean, safe, and don't forget the hand sanitizer. 

TD Tip: As of 2023, bathroom fees are included as allowed pass-through fees that are deducted from the player’s Gross Entry Fee to arrive at the Net Entry Fee. See the PDGA Tour Standards for more info.

It occurs to me that some people may not understand why restrooms are so important for women. I’ve heard more times than I can count “Why can’t they just pee in the woods?” I’m pretty sure it just does not cross their minds that the majority of women are ok peeing in the woods. However, there are certain times of the month a woman would like a bit more privacy. I mean, really…I don’t think this is on the forefront of their minds.

– Lesli Younger

Bathrooms-we need bathrooms and by that I mean more than 1 or 2 portable ones.

– Lynn Bellomi

I would take even the GUARANTEED presence of a single porta potty.

– Courtney Hostetler

It's been said many times... bathrooms!!!!! Accessible at multiple different holes, and appropriate for the amount of people there.

– Ariel Francis

Divisions and Smart Card Building

Offer every women's division. At minimum, they ask that if you're offering it in the mixed division, that you offer it in the gender-based division as well. This includes pro masters divisions. Folks don’t want to be forced to play with other people who are a significantly different skill level than they are. We also aren't there to supervise the junior players, so don't default to sticking women with the junior card.

TD Tip: Some folks (such as juniors who are trying to earn points in a specific division, may be searching events just for one particular division. If you don't offer that one– your event will not show up in their Disc Golf Scene search results).

Don’t put women with the juniors. If you offer junior divisions prepare to have staff walk with them.

– Danielle Spalding Vargas

Offer every women's division. I'm totally fine being the only one in my division and not getting a trophy.

– Sarah Cahill

If I have to ask the same TD to open my division Every. Single. Time. they run a tournament, I'm going to stop attending their events.

– Jenny Williamson

For PDGA tournaments or leagues don’t put the women with juniors or the male rec players. It’s happened to me a few times and it’s not that much fun to teach folks the rules of the game.

– Samantha Hennessy

Age protected divisions, we may be old, and want to play, but not against 20 - 35.

– Robyn Tindall

STOP putting women and juniors together.

– April Kunath Rocksvold

If you only offer FPO/FA1 a lot of ladies may skip your event (especially juniors who have dads that search for their specific age-protected division).

– Cory Wiebusch

Age protected divisions! More women divisions. I love playing women in my age category!

– Judy Reiter

When the juniors are all on our card

Registration

By letting women register ahead of time, you'll have women see other women have signed up (and not just on a waitlist), and they may be more likely to sign up than if they do not see other women signed up.

TD Tip: TDs may offer early registration tiers based on specific divisions that are otherwise underserved. These are limited to female-only divisions, junior divisions, or senior (age 50 and older) age-based divisions. Registration can easily be scheduled on Disc Golf Scene to allow various tiers with scheduled start and end dates. TDs can set the registration tiers in the "Schedule" section of their tournament page. Each tier can have a different requirement and start/end dates. Reach out to the Event Support team for questions getting this set up!

I think TDs should also offer an 'early bird' registration window where only women's divisions are able to sign up before the men. This gives the ladies opportunity to sign up without the event selling out seconds after registration opens.

– Donovan Livingston

I've seen too many tournaments that I didn't sign up for because I would have been on the wait list because less than 10% of the registration was set aside for women.

– Betty Kurczewski McNelis

Women often wait to see if other women will sign up and then there aren't spots.

– Chelsea Shimp

Hold womens spots until the date registration closes. Don't prematurely move spots to accommodate MA waitlists. Once registration closes, then move extra slots.

– Sadie Shattuck

Appropriate Layouts

It's always good to have a female player to bounce ideas off of. You can ask them how they feel about a certain layout and they can advise how to best accommodate women of their similar skill. This also helps with backups and pace of play, so it's win-win for everyone!

It would be nice to have skill appropriate layouts for FA3 and FA4.

– Chris Spencer

Layouts for women.

– Robyn Tindall

Courses that have appropriate pars (500 ft par 3 is depressing).

– Laura Morgan

Player Packs and Trophies

Player packs - we get a lot of really nice items in our player packs that we are super happy to get but sometimes they aren't super useful to us. Discs that are heavier than we throw will move to a shelf to never be thrown. When asking for shirt size during registration, be sure to note what cut the shirts are, so women can make an informed decision.  Shirts that are women's cut versus those that are unisex fit differently. 

Lighter tournament discs…. I can’t throw any of the tournament discs I get because they are all too heavy or too high a speed.

– Chris Spencer

Set aside some of the lighter or more understable discs for women only.

– Kyla Harsin

Lighter discs… they should be set aside for women only at the check-in. Often when TDs do have lighter weight discs, men claim them before women check in. Then women are stuck with max weight discs.

– Marguerite Martinez

All of the above, and also.... tell us what kind of cut the shirt is when you're asking for size. It makes a big difference! (literally)

– Sara Widboom

Further, every division deserves a trophy. I can’t help that there’s only 2 people playing, but someone worked dang hard for that trophy… heck, even a printed piece of paper certificate. Just something I can show off in the office Monday when folks ask how I did, and that I can take photos with at the brewery later.

– Sarah Hibbs

Trophies for more than one placing even if there are only 3 or 4 ladies in the division. Create incentive to want to come back to more tournaments.

– Sadie Shattuck

Atmosphere / Appreciation

It is impossible to make everyone happy but having a welcoming environment leads to openness and women feeling welcome and more comfortable to pitch in and help. 

First of all, as a TD I want to state that TDS are volunteers and often put a lot of their own money into these events. If you want all this stuff get involved and help them out. You see something you want at your local annual tournament. Approach the TD and offer to facilitate it happening . You want another layout … offer to help set it up.

– Chris Spencer

Show appreciation. There are three TD’s in our area that show true appreciation to all players equally. I have played tournaments where they did not even acknowledge the female winners. I would rather you say thank you for coming out to play than get payout.

– Kim Bowen

I enjoy disc golf as an amateur player in Japan. In June, I participated in the Amateur World Championship from Japan.

Amateur ladies players need a welcoming environment. I think it's a light disc that's easy to throw, a restroom, easy-to-understand rules, and surrounding support.

– Yoshioka Kuniko

Know that women might not automatically feel comfortable at a tournament. This is partially because they are usually in the minority and don't necessarily feel like they belong. They also might have had bad experiences before.

Make an effort to be attentive and supportive. Go out of your way to talk to the women players. Let them know you're happy they're there, ask them if they're comfortable, make sure they know you have an open ear for any problems (especially if they get mistreated in any way be male players). Let them know you're an ally, and follow through when/if they do need one. Ask them for feedback at the end of the event and take the feedback seriously.

This WILL make a difference and it will be appreciated.

Also, of course: Bath. Rooms.

– Sara Krieg

TDs who ask their community what they want and talk to female golfers before running events.

– Laura Morgan

In Conclusion

We hope this information was helpful and we’re sure there are more tips and suggestions to help make your tournament more enjoyable for the women of our sport. Develop relationships with your local ladies, hear their feedback and work with them to make your event women-friendly and, together, we can all make every week Women’s Disc Golf Week!