Tournament director Brad Pietz presents Calvin Heimburg the trophy at the 2022 Jonesboro Open. Photo: Kevin Huver / DGPT

(This is the latest in a series coming to PDGA.com spotlighting the tournament directors of the PDGA Elite Series and beyond)

Tournament directors are often the unsung heroes of disc golf competition. They spend their time preparing and hosting disc golf tournaments all over the world.

Get to know Brad Pietz, PDGA No. 49689, the tournament director for the Disc Golf Pro Tour - Play It Again Sports Jonesboro Open powered by Prodigy.

We caught up with Brad to get to know his story in disc golf and what advice he has for tournament directors:

PDGA: How were you introduced to disc golf?

BP: My dad worked for the City of Shreveport during the planning phase of putting a disc golf course at Clyde Fant Parkway in Shreveport.  I believe this was the first disc golf course in the state of Louisiana.  Once complete, we went out and played.  If memory serves me correctly, it was 1984 and I was about 11 or 12 years old.

Tell us about the first event that you organized. What made you want to serve as a tournament director? What did you learn?

The first event that I was listed as the TD was the Mid-South Collegiate Open in 2014.  All of my professional career has been in either College Athletic Administration at 6 different Division I schools or in the private business sector in event management.  With the experience of running football games, basketball tournaments, sold out concerts etc., I felt very comfortable running a disc golf tournament.  I am sure something popped up that weekend that I learned from, but at this point I honestly do not remember.  Every event you organize you take away positives and negatives and use those to plan the next event.

What is the top priority for a TD? What is your top goal as a TD?

The top priority for a TD depends on the event.  A TD for a local C-Tier and a TD for an Elite Series Disc Golf Pro Tour event have vastly different priorities.  I think for the C-Tier guy he should gear toward the AMs and make sure he offers a fun-filled day for the players.  Disc golf is fun, and when I play in tournaments I want to have a good time.  As each tier goes up, there are more expectations from the competitive players.  The more competitive the tournament, the priorities are more course and rule heavy, making sure you have a fair contest. 

My top goal is both.  I want to provide a world class venue for players to play on, but I also want them to have a lot of fun while doing so.  One of my greatest joys in this career is seeing the crowds walk into a football stadium, or a concert venue, or a disc golf course and see the smiles and excitement on their face as they enter the facility.  This includes the players and the fans.

What is one piece of advice for someone that is hosting their first event?

Be prepared for any question.  Every tournament someone is going to ask you a question you have not thought of.  If you don't know the answer, say you don't know and you will try and find out.  If you answer something that is not totally correct, it could come back to bite you later in the tournament.

What is one thing that TDs often overlook?

The clean up.  For big tournaments, it is easier to get people to help set up the course and work during the tournament.  But the job is not over until the course looks like it did before you started.  Make sure you have a clean up crew to case the course and parking lot after.  If the course and parking area is cleaner than when you started, parks departments will be glad to have you back.  If the course and parking lot is a disaster after your tournament, the parks offices or landowners will be less likely to work with you in the future.

Tell us about the history of the Jonesboro Open. How has it grown over the years?

The first year of the Jonesboro Open was actually in 2017, and it was part of the second year of the Disc Golf Pro Tour.  Steve Dodge and I spoke several times in 2015 and 2016 leading up to the 2017 schedule release.  I was able to convince Steve that with my background in event management that I would be able to handle the event side of things.  Once he came down and saw the course in person, he was sold.  The first year of the tournament, even though it was part of the DGPT, we only had 54 MPO and 12 FPO players.  This year within 75 minutes we had 120 1,000 rated MPO golfers and more on the waitlist.  Also within a short amount of time we had 40 FPO players and about a dozen more on a waitlist.

What makes the Jonesboro Open unique?

I believe the most unique thing about the Jonesboro Open is the course.   The Championship Course at Disc Side of Heaven sits on about 50 acres of nothing but disc golf.  It was also designed to challenge the best players in the world.  There are other courses out there like this, but I believe the Jonesboro Open was one of the first on the Disc Golf Pro Tour designed strictly for the best of the best and I believe the Pros appreciate that fact.

What is your favorite hole on Disc Side of Heaven?

On the Championship Course, Hole #16.  I actually designed that hole first, and worked the rest of the course around it.  It is a shorter Par 5, but each year it does exactly what I wanted it to do... it makes the best players in the world make a decision on every single shot until they finish the hole.

On the Recreational Course, Hole #14.  (Yes, there are two 18-hole courses on the property) Long, sweeping left to right hole that is slightly downhill.  The basket sits on a hill that falls away on the left, rear and right side of the green.  It is lined with huge, 100-year-old oaks that pop in the spring and especially the fall.