Greetings Members,

I am sorry it has taken so long to start a thread regarding my candidacy. I have been lurking about reading everyone�s comments and trying to decipher what issues are really on the minds of the membership. Below are my thoughts on various subjects. I am sure that some of you will have additional questions, so please feel free to fire away.

Membership fees:
I feel that the membership fees are a fair value. The last time that the cost of membership was raised was in 2004. As our organization grows in size and complexity so will the cost of being a member. As a member of the Board of Directors I would strive to keep the price of the membership dues in check by finding ways to make the organization more efficient such as streamlining operations. I would also like to make membership in the PDGA more beneficial to the players by listening to your ideas on what you would like the organization to give back. One of the questions I am asked on a regular basis is what benefits do I get for being a PDGA member? You can help me answer this by telling me what it is that you think the PDGA should do for you as a member.

Clarification of the rules of play:
I know from experience that sometime the rules of play are a little hard to understand. If elected I would like to see the appropriate rules Q&A�s added as an addendum to the rule book. I would also direct the rules committee to clarify some rules to make them easier to comprehend. If this were undertakem, I would hope to see more people following the rules and more people speaking up when they see the rules being broken.

Enhancing the tournament experience for tournament directors and players:
It has been my experience at tournaments that the players consider the best tournaments to be those that are efficiently run. Players like it best when a tournament is run on time and when the awards ceremony is ready to go and is over in a minimum amount of time. To accomplish this I would encourage the PDGA to enhance the current TD Report software and leverage the PDGA database to perform more essential tasks more efficiently. Some areas for improvement are; registration, scoring, payout and reporting.

Reporting of financial information:
The PDGA is required by law to publicly disclose its financial information to the membership. However, there is no reason for the public at large to know every detail of the organizations finances. Therefore, I do not feel that that it is prudent to publish this detailed information in a way that is accessible to those outside of the membership. It is my understanding that if a member needs to see the full financial information they can request to do so.

Player divisions:
It is obvious to me from reading the many posts on this subject that there are numerous opinions on how to change things, but no easy or fair way to do so. Our organization is a dynamic one and the divisional breakdown has changed a lot over the years. It is also my understanding that we are due for another change in the near future. We should continue to research what will work best for everyone as some things work great in some parts of the country and not very well in others. I think that ratings based play should be further investigated, but as an Advanced Master, I feel that there should continue to be age protection in most circumstances.

Well, this should be a good start to the discussion and I look forward to hearing from everyone.

Regards,

Todd,

incoming BoD members need to get up to speed on a wide variety of issues, activities and expectations.

what kinds of information and materials would you like to see as part of a "BoD Intro Kit"?

thanks,

pat

Pat,

Great question. I believe it is very important to preserve the "corporate memory" for future reference by new Board members. One way we have done this with the Beaver State Fling is by having the main people involved write down a "brain dump" outlining what we did, what worked well and what areas can be improved upon. This is a great way to pass on information to new people and to help remember what happened in the past.

Beyond that, I feel that it is my responsibility to get up to speed by reading past meeting minutes and financial reports. I would also take it upon myself to talk to current and past Board members to find out what are the current hot button issues and other things that they are working on or toward.

I hope this answers your questions.

Regards,

Todd,

What direction would you like the PDGA go in the next few years?

Just my observations, but there seems to be an ever increasing supply of amateurs to the organization but the professional numbers are not growing at the same rate, and year to year rentention seems to be a problem in the professional ranks. Do you feel the difference in membership between Pro and Amatuers is fair and the average Pro feels the benefits of the increased cost of membership? Or should Tour Pro's be seperated form Local Pro's and have them pay an increase in membership to support the National Tour?

The following is a question from Mikey Kernan:

"David Gentry is the PDGA Tour Manager. In 2006 the PDGA paid for him to fly all the way to Japan to learn first-hand about International PDGA competition. Yet recently he claimed in an e-mail to candidate Mike Kernan #14304 that he is "not up to the specifics on International events".

This was in response to a question Mike asked in regard to the PDGA charging different fees for events overseas versus events in the USA, such as $0 per player for non-members in Europe versus $5 per player for non-members in the USA. (I'm not sure if that is a fact, but could be true)

So, Board of Directors Candidate, do you feel that David Gentry is properly doing his job as PDGA Tour Manager? Don't you agree that the PDGA Tour Manager should know what the PDGA charges for overseas sanctioning? Finally, does this indicate that all the PDGA's finances are improperly centered in one person, the PDGA Executive Director?

Thank you for tackling this thorny issue."

Mike

PDGA tour manager, Dave Gentry followed proper office protocol in politely advising Mr. Kernan to contact the International Committee chairman, as that committee has been charged with the management of the International program. It should be noted that Mr. Kernan's reply to Dave contained profanity, false accusations, an insult and a threat. Dave used his better judgement and showed great restraint in not responding to this unwarranted attack and he has my full support in this regard.

Regards,
Brian Graham
PDGA Executive Director