PDGA Members,

Some of you know me (Cris Bellinger), if not, I am looking forward to getting the opportunity to meet you. I am on the PDGA Competition Committee and running for the Competition Director position. I have a few questions to pose to you. First, my overall questions: Is the National Tour just for the Pros?

Like many other National Tour tournament directors, the Beaver State Fling team and I choose to run the Beaver State Fling as a Pro/Am (NT/A tier) event. There are many advantages to using this format. My question is, provided the National Tour is Pro only, does running an amateur tournament at the same time dilute the tournament experience for the Pros, the Ams, or the spectators?

Any input regarding these questions would be a great help to me to get a feel for what you, the players and event organizers, are looking for from PDGA competitions. We can�t make a change unless our voices are heard� I�m listening. If elected as Competition Director, one of my priorities will be to help the PDGA work for the players, and to reflect player sentiment in the decisions and changes that PDGA faces over the next few years.

Thank you,
Cris Bellinger
PDGA Marshal
Competition Committee Member
Competition Director Candidate

Personally I like it when events are seperate for three reasons.

1. Ams want to watch top pros and play in the tournament. The dogwood crosstown classic was a perfect example of this for me. When I was an am, with a month of each other, I was able to play in the oldest am only pdga event in the world and then go watch kenny and barry play on my home courses. lets face it, 95% of the people who are going to come watch pro disc golf (meaning not family members) are the ams that play the sport. Don't make the ams make a decision about whether to watch the pros play once a year or play this tournament once a year.

2. Some of the top ams want to play in both tournaments. Near the end of my days I loved pro only tournaments b/c it gave me another tournament to play and try and prepare myself for my up and coming pro debut.

3. Running two medium sized events is always easier than running one huge event. The rounds are quicker and the groups are smaller. Enough said.

Pro only, and Open Pro only at that: no age protected divisions, just two divisions: MPO and FPO

The original intent of the National Tour was to showcase the best players we have to offer. No better way to do that than make all the best play in one division. Lower the entry fees, though, so that it doesn't cost you $132 to take your chances against the best. $75 should be the max. Steep enough to generate a gallery from the casual and am golfers that don't want to pay so much to get stomped, but cheap enough for the non-1000 rated pros to still want to play if they love the course.

Have a 3 round Am event at the same time as your NT. The Ams finish Sunday morning. Then they become the gallery we so desperately need for the last round video coverage. This will make for greater potential sponsorship as the ams create a bit of an artificial gallery. Video and photos will show a crowd, not just 4 guys and a couple of stragglers.

I like the idea. Just not on the same course.

I also like the idea of three rounds for the ams so they may spectate at the final round of the pros.

Pro only events get much smaller turnouts. (that is unless they are one of the very few exeptions) Almost every texas tournament that went to two weekends has gone back to one.

So we're back to how to grow the pro division.

I still say cut the entry fees.

While I like the large festival-like feeling that a combined Am/Pro tourney offers, I also like the idea of Ams being able to spectate at Open events.

If the Beaver State Fling can be used as an example, the first day of the NT was Friday. Lots and lots of Ams were spectating in the Open groups. The awesome amounts of people spectating declined sharply on Saturday, which was when the Am side of the BSF kicked off.

I think both viewpoints have thier pros/cons, but for the time being, I'd have to say that my opinion is that large events should be Am/Pro until there are too many participants to fit on the courses. (This may be the case already in certain venues like in NC).

Building the open field is essential!!!!!!!!! But, not one single golfer out there walked onto the course their first day and dominated the open field . Open division must harvest the best am players, and inspire them to move up. Giving the am players an opportunity to see what the NT is like is crucial. Everybody wants to feel like they are part of something big. Pro/Am events do just that. At this years Z-Boaz open, there was a certain magic in the air. It all centered from Joe Blow 875 rated golfers, breathing the same air as several world champions. When you can provide the magical moment to Joe Blow and his crew, you will inspire progress in their game. That inspiration can take an 875 rated am, and fuel their passion for mastering their game. It is fun to watch. It is better to experience. Just to know that you are playing the same format as the pro's , can make an event special. Plus, it can give you a basis for comparison . To know that you are only 20 strokes off of a world champion, can be inspiring. Also, 3 rounds for am's , 4 for pro's works great! You can pretty much guarantee a gallery for the last round. Anybody whom was fortunate enough to witness the final 9 mixed doubles skins match (Z-Boaz Open 06 ) this year knows what I am talking about. Watching "Burl" can a 50 footer to push a 7 hole skin, in front of about 200 people, simply awesome. Des's 45 footer to take the 8 skin push , magic. The noise from the gallery was absolutely deafening!
You can not provide moments like that at a Pro only event. The gallery will not be that large, and those moments will not be remembered!

For pro-only NT's, Ams always have the option to pay the entry fee and play the tournament in the same division as the pros. Having separate weekends (such as the Dogwood Crosstown in Raleigh) allows for the ams to play in their own division for the competition against similar players, and then later see how they fare in the same conditions as the "big boys." The PDGA now includes provisions for TDs to offer "Trophy Only" options, which may be better for NTs than having a separate A-tier for the ams.

Personally, as an am player, I'm rather have a separate weekend than play on the same weekend as the pros but different courses. I've only been to maybe 2 tournaments where 2 courses are used and ams and pros play the same set of course/layout combination over the weekend - the rest have made the ams play a different course for the whole weekend or unevenly distributed the rounds between courses.

On a side note, I've also seen many situations recently where the am side of a tournament either fills before the pro side or just gets huge before many of the top pros in our area sign up for a tournament. It seems to me it's a lot easier for ams who only travel to play a few tournaments a year to plan ahead for a tournament than it is for the pros who travel every weekend for tournament play (especially in terms of needing time off work for travel). In a recent A-tier, three weeks before the tournament the waiting list had three top pros. The TD graciously added holes to accomodate the large field of players, but I would have considered giving up my spot as an am so that a pro could play.

The issue of capacity does raise an interesting point. Ghost cards anyone? " PUKE "

At the larger events worlds / nt's / snt's / etc. increase the size of the field to its greatest possible maximum.more players mean more money. more money means more people will try to reach that level (also solves the not moving up problem). more people at an event more sponsors. more money.
to help getting dg on tv, tape these events in a more ball golf fasion. getting each shot by everyone. would awesome. plus dvds would be even better ($$$).

>Having separate weekends (such as the Dogwood Crosstown in Raleigh) allows for the ams to play in their own division for the competition against similar players, and then later see how they fare in the same conditions as the "big boys."<

As TD of the Am Crosstown let me tell you another way to get the better ams to move up. Give them a spot in the Pro event. The low gross player at the Am Crosstown has his/her entry to the Pro Crosstown paid. So far it has only been the Adv. Mens champ. If the field fills it is not expensive (about $1/ player or less).
It has moved some Am Crosstown winners up to pro. The names B. McRee, C. Lee, M. Johansen, B. Smith, J. Jernigan and J. Schmallfeld come to mind. If you've heard of them.

>Having separate weekends (such as the Dogwood Crosstown in Raleigh) allows for the ams to play in their own division for the competition against similar players, and then later see how they fare in the same conditions as the "big boys."<

As TD of the Am Crosstown let me tell you another way to get the better ams to move up. Give them a spot in the Pro event. The low gross player at the Am Crosstown has his/her entry to the Pro Crosstown paid. So far it has only been the Adv. Mens champ. If the field fills it is not expensive (about $1/ player or less).
It has moved some Am Crosstown winners up to pro. The names B. McRee, C. Lee, M. Johansen, B. Smith, J. Jernigan and J. Schmallfeld come to mind. If you've heard of them.



that is awesome