Back To The Future...Again                   9/17/97 (from DGWN)

by Dan "Stork" Roddick, P.D.G.A. Director of Special Projects

In the Beginning

    At the time, it seemed like a reasonable thing to do. Several hours after we

discovered that we could play something that resembled golf with a disc, we

were churning out fliers on the mimeograph machine for the Galactic

Championships in our new sport. Even before we had a cool way to finish the

hole, Jim Palmeri was serving up the American Flying Disc Open in Rochester

and giving away a brand new car to the winner. Although there was hardly

anyone who even knew what disc golf was in 1974, and we were putting into

little boxes laying on the ground, Jim drew a pretty good national field of

talented players. The shiny new car did get people’s attention. Other early

big meets drew the same developing elite group of players and we all began to

wonder how long it would be until we could join the pro tour. The emergence

of the Professional Disc Golf Association confirmed it...we were on our way

to prime time. And then we had the $50,000 tournament in 1979. We were on

the way. Even the most doubtful parent or spouse couldn’t deny that 50 grand

was some serious cash for tossing a disc.

    Well, we’ve been on a bit of a plateau since then. Sure, there are lots more

events now and we have a long history of World Championship meets, but we

simply haven’t met the meteoric projections that we had originally

envisioned. Not that it hasn’t been fun if you’ve been part of that elite.

It has been a blast. But the number of competitive players has remained too

small to provide the critical base for the sport. Now, maybe you’re a slow

growth type. Did you picket against the new multiplex theater that they

wanted to build down the street from your house? Were you worried about the

increased traffic, pollution and litter? Or were you one of the folks only

too eager to movie hop through those 21 theaters on the same ticket? If

you’re a slow growth type, you may be glad that disc golf has not gone "big

time." You probably like the down-home, informal aspects of the game as it is

today. On the other hand, if you’re the movie hopper, you are probably

peeved that your favorite game, which you know is much better than most of

the sports you see on ESPN 2, has been mired in what seems like a permanent

role of a micro sport.

    Well, my theory has always been that we don’t really have to worry much about

making a choice between slow and fast growth. I see kids playing sandlot

baseball while the Dodgers are playing the Astros on TV. My goal is simply

to make it as satisfying as possible to be a disc golfer and if it’s a fun

game for people to play and watch, we’ll have good opportunities for the

future.

    So back to the beginning. I think the mistake that we made was that we

attracted an elite group of players and concentrated mainly on them at the

cost of not building a solid base of interest for the game. That is, there

are simply not enough people who care if disc golf is played well or not.

Enough people care about football and ball golf and as a result, Emmit and

Tiger are doing great. We know that Kenny and Elaine are similarly talented,

but only a small group of us care about the skills that they have developed.

So, can that be changed? I think it can. Of course, many things contribute

to such a change. The P.D.G.A. has a long, long list of things that should

be done to promote disc golf. Only so many can be taken on at one time.

It’s also an incremental process. Each factor of development builds on the

next. If the local folks don’t do the work to put in the course then there’s

no place to have the clinic. If the magazine doesn’t come out then there’s no

news about the event and if the local guys don’t buy the magazine, etc.,

etc....

A New Beginning...Kinda

There is something that I believe could quickly change the face of disc golf

and provide wonderful benefits for both the players who want local fun and

those who want the P.D.G.A. tour on Saturday afternoon TV. We have all the

pieces in place to make it happen right now. I believe that the primary form

of disc golf competition should and perhaps will soon be team play.

Outrageous? Well, let’s look at a familiar sports cousin, track and field.

A huge percentage of the competitive activity in track is local, dual meet

play. Many participants never, ever, go beyond high jumping for their high

school in head-to-head meets against other local schools. Some of the better

athletes are a factor at the conference meet at the end of the season. A

very small number may move on to the state meet. This is front page news.

The chances of going on to the National Championships or the Olympics?

Hitting the lottery with your P.D.G.A. number is a better bet. That mix of

competion with a preponderance of play at the local level is similarly true

in many "individual"sports. Consider, swimming, ball golf, gymnastics and

tennis. In disc golf, we started with the Olympics and never went back to

build the dual meets. Don’t get me wrong. I love the big individual meets.

They should and will continue to be an important part of our sport..

However, I think that we’ve had an adequate amount of years pass now to see

that we are not attracting large numbers of new players or spectators for

these events. The primary reason, I believe, is that the meets that are the

principal competitive form of disc golf now are too limited and are not

adequately accessible for new playing candidates. To effectively bring in

new players on a consistent basis, we need to seduce them with a really

appealing opportunity to have fun. I believe that team play provides such an

opportunity.

So What’s A Disc Golf Team Look Like?

There are, of course, a number of team events that are already taking place.

I love them. However, to achieve the goals that I have mentioned, there are

several characteristics that team meets must have:

-The teams must be based at local courses. This makes it easy for new

players to access. They already play there.

-The teams must be large. Many of the existing team meets have 6 to 12

players. Again, nothing wrong with that. However, it only involves the

competitive elite who are already being successful at individual events. To

promote an expansion of play, teams should be composed of 36 members. The

usual response to this number is, "Oh, man! I don’t know that many players

who we could get to play." That’s exactly the point. We don’t know them

yet, but they are out there, playing the course already. This is the

seduction part. We have to really need them. People respond to being

needed. Think about it. The big annual tournament doesn’t really need them.

Sure, new players are invited to come, pay and get their butts kicked and

some survive to kick some butt. The number is just too few. The recruitment

for the team is a whole different thing however. The top players at the

course have to go out looking for talent to fill the team.

-The team must include all the divisions that we are trying to develop. The

suggested team makeup is:

Open - 16 players

Master - 8 players

Women -4 players

Grand Masters - 4 players

Juniors - 2 players

Senior Grand Masters - 1 player

Legends - 1 player

    Again, remember that you may not have the players to fill all these positions

initially, but it’s the shortage that brings in the new talent. Of course, if

the meet is two days away and neither team can locate a Senior Grand, then,

of course it makes sense to convert the position to a division where you both

have players ready to play. Just don’t give up too easily or the outreach

won’t happen. If you don’t see some new faces, it’s not working.

-There must be enough play to make it worthwhile to get involved. In the

beginning that may only be a few matches. After it gets rolling, there might

be spring, summer and fall leagues. It depends on how the appetite for play

develops.

-The team ladder for match play must be an ongoing activity that is available

to anyone who comes to the course. It works best if it is posted at the pro

shop or first tee with all the information on how to participate and the

upcoming team schedule. The ladder for most courses should probably be

pretty long. Remember that there is no reason not to have matches for the

lower parts of the ladder also. New players will have just as much fun

playing on the B or C squad. I would expect to see some ladders that number

into the hundreds. Make it as easy as possible for new players to get onto

the ladder.

How’s It Work?

    Team play is really pretty simple and involves relatively little

organizational structure to run.

    We start with two teams of 36 players each. The players from each team match

up with the corresponding players from the other team. On the first tee, for

instance, we have the Swope Park Birddogs number one open player matched up

against the number one player from the cross-town rival Sioux Passage

Tomahawks. Also on the tee are the number two players open players from each

squad. On the ninth and tenth holes we have the four women from each team

going head-to-head and on down through the order on each succeeding hole. Of

course, each individual match is its own competition in match play format.

No handicapping needed here. The number twelve Birddog simply has to do the

best he can with the number twelve Tomahawk. At stake in each match is a

team point. In match play of course, unlike individual medal play, the score

is kept by the number of holes won, not the total strokes taken. This makes

things pretty exciting because if the opponent has a sure putt win a hole, it

certainly pays to go for your own long approach to save the hole. No worries

about the comeback putt. It doesn’t matter. Individual match scoring can be

easily kept in the head. No scorecards or pencils needed! Just remember the

net hole score. If you’re up by three with only two holes to play, you’ve

won a team point and your match score will be recorded as 3 and 2 in your

favor.

The Big Match

    In the case of Swope Park and Sioux Passage Park, their proximity may make it

desirable to do a "home and away" one-day format. Start off at 8:00 on

Saturday morning at Swope. Play those matches, then go somewhere for lunch

to fill in the scoreboard and give adequate time for the players to make

their excuses for the morning play or gloat over their obvious mastery of the

game. Then, with 36 points already on the board, go on to Sioux Passage and

play the second half with the same match ups. It’s important to note that

each position is worth exactly the same. It might take world class golf to

win the number one position over Crazy John, but the fourth women’s position

is just as valuable to the team. In terms of team preparation and strategy,

it’s obviously a better use of time to work with that novice woman in fourth

position because a little bit of guidance from other team members can

probably take 5 strokes off of her score. It’s pretty hard to take many

strokes off of Crazy’s score. The result is that there is a lot of sincere

interest in working with the newer players to make the team more competitive.

The Challenge Board

    The matches are important but in terms of the total impact on a club program

and new player development, the on-going play to sort the challenge ladder

has probably even more of an impact. First of all, it gives newcomers an

easy way to get involved in competitive play at their own levels and meet

golfers of similar ability. It also provides a very flexible way for players

to schedule their own competitive play. Course ladder rules can vary a bit,

but most are somewhat like this:

    A player may challenge up to three positions above his or her current

position. Let’s say player 15 challenges player 12 and wins the match. That

means that on the board, the old 15 would take over position 12 and the old

13 and 14 would each move down one. Usually there are rules about the number

and frequency of challenges. For instance, perhaps we’ll say that a player

must accept at least 4 challenges a month if they are offered. It also may

be that a certain time period must pass before a player can challenge the

same person again. The matches are 18 holes in the same format as the team

meet and are arranged directly between the players at their mutual

convenience. The results are then reported to chairperson of the board who

makes the appropriate changes. Some clubs, like the one in the Fort Collins,

CO area, have made little numbered totems which the team players attach to

their playing bags. If you win your challenge match, you get to have the

lower numbered totem on your bag. It gets pretty competitive.

How to Get It Going

-Get a couple of movers and shakers at your club to read this article.

-Decide that you want to begin a team.

-Contact some players you know from courses that would make sense for you to

     play against. Have them read this article.

-Agree upon a date to have an inaugural match with one of the other courses

     or clubs. Make it at least a month away. Don’t worry that you have no team

     yet. Look at the New Orleans Saints.

-At your course, post an announcement of the upcoming match and the details

     for a team organization event.

-At the team organization event, explain the format for the upcoming match

     and play a conventional tournament round to determine the initial team ladder

     positions. Explain the board challenge procedures and put out the word that

     you need players for the positions that are unfilled. It’s a nice touch if

     you can have an actual challenge board with moveable name tags to put up at

     the course but if that’s not possible, a printed list with the information

     contacts and the match date is a reasonable start.

-Let people challenge away for a couple of weeks. You may want to have a

     practice match and let your number one play your number two and so on just so

     your players get to know how the format works.

-Stay in contact with your rival course and make sure that they’ll be ready

     to play. If possible, schedule some additional matches with other courses or

     clubs. Invite members of other clubs to come to your first match to see how

     it works.

-The day of the big match! If you have club shirts, wear them. If not try

     to get everyone at least in the same color to build that team spirit. Have

     some fun with it. Ultimate has made an artform of team cheers. After the

     event, make sure you have some get together scheduled so that the teams can

     celebrate their triumph or lick their wounds. If people liked it, plan the

     rematch right then and see if there is anything that you can improve about

     the match format for the next time.

In The Future

Of course, every local area is different. In some towns, there are lots of

courses and team play is begging to be done. In others, there may be only

one poorly organized course, or none. How this kind of activity develops

will vary greatly. In the best situations, I think that it is very

reasonable to imagine ladders of hundreds , A, B, C, and D teams, twenty

match schedules and end-of-season team bracket play for the league

championships. I can easily imagine college and high school teams as

numerous as those in ultimate. Most importantly, I can imagine a competitive

scene in disc golf which provides consistent, convenient and satisfying

competition for a much, much broader range of players than we have today. I

imagine meeting someone at a party who says, "Oh yeah, I’m a competitive disc

golfer. I play 4th position on the C team at El Dorado. It’s a blast. Tell

me something though. Somebody told me that there are individual events that

you can go to also. How do I find out about that. See, I’m gettin’ pretty

good..." That’s the real key. The broader base of active team competitors

will actually provide a great increase in the number of players who may

eventually become interested in individual competitive play. They’ll also

give us the base of people who know enough about the sport to be amazed by

Kenny and Elaine.

It’s been a fun start but now it’s time to build the base if we really want

this thing to grow. If you have a team going now or would like to start one,

contact me at cyberstork@earthlink.net .   I’ll be happy to help you get it going and

will add you to a P.D.G.A. listing of team contacts which will appear in the

course directory beginning next year.