John Minicuci has been the TD of the USADGC since 2013. Photo: PDGA Media

(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 John Minicuci, PDGA #22116, the tournament director for the 2022 PDGA United States Amateur Disc Golf Championship presented by Discraft. This is John’s 10th USADGC as the tournament director.

We caught up with John 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?

JM: I used to throw a lot of ultimate Frisbees but not for ultimate, but just to throw Frisbees in general — play catch back and forth with my buddies. I was working in the engineering field in the early 80s and we used to go up to the park and throw frisbees. I saw these baskets one day and we just started throwing at the baskets before I realized that it was an actual game a few years later. I've been hooked ever since.

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

I learned a lot about being a tournament director from when I played golf and played in a lot of tournaments. Even if you run a 5K, or anything you show up to as a contestant in organized sports, you see what the other TDs do and what they provide their contestants in whatever the venue is. You see what they provide everyone, how well it flows. To me, even when designing a golf course, the flow is just as important as the difficulty. For me, I look at the enter overview — how did the event flow from the time I started to the time I left that day. That's what I bring in when I try to organize a DG event.

We had a local disc golf store that opened and was running a lot of tournaments. I took over the website and as the store faded away and we moved into friends running tournaments, I just naturally took over the local ones in my area and have been doing it ever since. It's been a blast watching our local area grow, let alone the entire sport.

I've just had a blast, whether I played in them or organized them. It's always about the expectation when you pull out of the driveway in the morning. You're leaving to have fun and that's what you should be thinking about when you're doing it.

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

Try to answer all of the questions before they get asked. providing as much information up front in an organized manner so anyone that wants to attend or is just thinking of attending can find all of the information relatively easily.

Having people say thank you at the end of the day. Whether we're cashing out people in the amateur or pros, people saying thank you is always satisfying.

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

Patience, patience, patience. In today's world, as a TD, I get phone calls, text messages, emails, Facebook messages, Disc Golf Scene messages -- it comes at you in many different ways, and you have to be flexible enough to handle it all.

What makes the USADGC special?

The staff treating the players and giving them everything they can plus more so that they can focus on their shots. When the players walk off, they know that the staff has treated them well, the spotters have done a great job, food and water throughout and, by the way, they just played a phenomenal course for a PDGA Major. They're coming up the hill smiling, even though the course may have not treated so well, they're all thankful to be here and that's the biggest thing.