I have a question regarding time between rounds in a PDGA sanctioned tourney. The pro group, which had 3 players, finished their round early(surprise). When I finished my round they had been done for about 30 min. My wife was playing in the womens division, which had 5 players, and they didn't finish untill 30 min. after that. As the "pro's", which included the td, had waited so long they gave us 20 min. to get and eat lunch. The nearest place to eat is at least 10 min. from the course. We made it back before our 20 min. had ended to find no-one at the tent. I talked to the td about the 20 min. and
he told me sorry we made a mistake, I'm new to this, etc.. handed us a map, as this was our first time at this course and proceeded to call for 2 min. This was still before the 20 min. lunch had expired. The course is spread over about 30 acres of forest and field and we were nowhere near our holes when play began. I am just wondering if there is some sort of standard as far as lunch goes. Everyone in the tourney had 1 hour for lunch except the women and their spouses who got less than 20 minutes. We have 1 sanctioned event in our state and we truly feel we were robbed of our chances to compete. I dont think we will ever play another sanctioned event in this state again. :mad:

Sorry, hopefully that was an oversight rather than inconcideration...do you believe this TD would do the same thing again? What was he apologizing for, then? Hopefully this person will now realize that you can't measure time allowance by the first finishers. :o

I don't know about any set standard, but I try and provide 40+ minutes for the last-finishing group. That might mean 70+ minutes for quick players. Sure, it would be preferable to have one more Woman and play two trios instead of a Fivesome, but that's just the way-it-is sometimes. :)

I guess that sometimes that is just the way it is...sometimes you drive for two-hours to support disc golf in your state, sometimes you pay 80+ dollars in entry fee's, and sometimes, apparently, you get treated unfairly at sanctioned events?! When's the next one? Sign me up.

Unfortunately you should expect the same treatment from the same TD.

I try to pack a lunch for all tourneys, including ones that claim to provide it. You might also find that when lunch is provided and one card comes in real late that there will be no lunch left fot them. Unfortunate, but you should be prepared.

I hate leaving the course for lunch, especially in a new area to me. A jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread in the car, along with a cooler with some drinks and some fruit, works out well.

I hope you'll use this as a learning experience and not give up tourney golf because of this terrible aspect of one tourney. Tourneys are a lot of fun, but it takes a little bit to get adjusted to them.

Good luck, and please try it again. :)

I have played in at least 8 sanctioned tourneys down in America and have always had enough time to eat lunch, whether packed or not, and never seen such blatant disregard for others.

Personally, I always push off the 2nd round start time as the last players come in. I aways give the last card in 1 hour no matter what.


(what I do is set the time 1 1/2 hours from when the first card comes in, as the last cards start comming in, I check my time and see if I need top push it off 15 more minuets.)

I'm pretty sure the rules state that the round doesn't end until the last card holes out, or 25 min. after. Something like that, so if fair is fair, then 20 min. from the time each card finished they should have been teeing for their second round. Givin the time the pro's and td waited that would be quite a few strokes added to their cards. Just kidding, it's more the principle of the whole thing. I am looking for no glory but when I left I was in a strong second in my am division and my wife and I brought 48 bottles of water for players packs, made the only flyers posted advertising the event, and left our players packs at the tent when we left.

My 'that's-the-way-it-is' comment applied to the situation of having a slower-playing fivesome, and not being able to split that group, period, and wasn't in any way betrifling your treatment. I apologize if you read otherwise, and felt badly, like others might not care. Ouch.

Now, was there unfair, or just neglectful treatment, and can that change?

Every tournament I have been to but one, sanctioned or unsanctioned, has given at least 1 hour after the last card was turned in. This usually means about 90 minutes for the first card.

One TD shortend lunch to only 30 minutes because he wanted the tournament to be over early so he could watch the Final 4 NCAA basketball game. That guy was a $%#^

The most common practice for tournament directors is to allow 1 hour after the last group has finished before the start of the next round. I have been to events where the TD's have been kind enought to ask the last group (the ladies) if they mind starting the next round with less than an hour. As long as they ask first, I usually don't mind doing without the full hour.

I think it is much easier for the quick finishing players to wait for an hour and a half for the second round than for the last group to have only a half hour for lunch. A half hour hardly gives you time to sit down, change socks and eat. It leaves zero time to warm up for the next round. If you have to leave the park to get lunch, it is totally unacceptable.

I have been to events where players withdrew because they were not given a full hour between rounds, so the fact that you are upset about a short break is a familiar complaint. I think your situation was not handled properly and the fact you were unable to make it to your hole assignments shows poor TD skills even if they are "new to this". The time for the start of the next round should be posted, and the next round should never start BEFORE that time.

You should take the time to write the TD a note. With your input, they may run the event differently next year. Otherwise, they might continue the same practice thinking "it has worked fine in the past with no complaints".


Unless a tournament is fighting daylight or some expected bad weather conditions, most TD's will not rush the break for the slowest players. If everyone is interested in finishing quickly to watch the local sports team on TV, that is fine, but it needs to be announced at the beginning of the day. It is not uncommon to have breaks shortened in these types of situations. Sometimes TD's have groups play back to back rounds without a break to accomplish a quick finish. Again, as long as everyone is aware what is happening, this practice is acceptable.

It is also important to mention it at the players meeting if there is a required (no later than) start time for the second round. If there is a chance that the gap between rounds will be shortened, the TD should arrange for lunch to be served at the course. If lunch is available on the course, shorter breaks are more acceptable.

These are all good "shoulds".

But the reality of it is that as a player you should be prepared for the worst. Not excusing the TD actions, but you will see it happen again because this is not a perfect world.

That is true.

I say that if a TD changes the alloted time for lunch, and players are already out to lunch and the TD starts without them. Then the affected players are allowed to each give the TD an atomic wedgie. :eek:

I would like to see the adversely affected players ask for a refund of their entry fees when the "10 minute lunch" scenario plays out. Usually there is one or more cards that finish a lot later than the first cards that come in, and the TD tries to justify the short lunch for them because those cards played slow. That's not a good enough reason IMHO, though. And it completely possible to be stuck behind the one slow card and then get the "short lunch punishment" even if you weren't the slow one. (I've had this happen at the unsanctioned Morley Monthly, where my card got stuck behind a log-jam of non-tourney players at hole 1 and then basically got handed our cards for round 2 and sent out immediately. All you could do was grab a sandwich from your car if you had one ready and head out to your hole.)

So if the TD says the next round is in 10 minutes as you are handing in your card, we should ask for refunds on the spot. That might get the message to hit home.

I would think that anytime the TD had the majority of cards in and 1 or 3 missing, The TD would send out someone on their staff to investigate.

Ok,

Refunds AND Wedgies

:)

Ok,

Refunds AND Wedgies

Make sure you get the refund before you give the wedgie.

We instantly gave the td his player packs and demanded a refund. As he didn't stop his round it didn't seem as though we would get one but today I learned we will. They assured me it wouldn't happen again and are very apologetic.