(Article and Photos from National Amateur Disc Golf Tour)

In the past, the National Amateur Disc Golf Tour has used a format that allowed amateur players to qualify throughout the year and then head to Austin, Texas for a chance to turn pro and play for cash at the NADGT National Championships.

This format gave players who have been waiting to turn pro their opportunity to do so on a big stage. The NADGT noticed during the two years of this format, according to Dave Feldberg, “the event was not very competitive in most of the divisions, there were 5-10 players who were clearly above the rest. Additionally, not everyone wanted to turn pro, many players enjoy playing amateur as their lifetime sport.”

After evaluating the data, the NADGT realized that there was only one solution: to change the National Championships in Austin and turn it into a true amateur-only event with rating caps. Then create a separate event for players who really wanted to take that next step into the Disc Golf Pro Tour.

So that’s just what they did. The 2023 NADGT National Championships in Austin was a true amateur event for the first time in the tour's history, still providing the best player experience in amateur disc golf with over 1,000 players and many additional activities including events hosted by the world’s top professional disc golfers. The NADGT finals in Austin has become one of the true destinations for any amateur player looking for a week full of fun activities and competitive disc golf yearly — "an event that provides memories and friendships that last a lifetime", says Synthya Feldberg Co-Founder NADGT tour.

They announced that they would be hosting the first NADGT Tour Finale in Jacksonville, Florida on February 1-4 at New World Sports Complex.

Corbin Michesky

A Big Change

The NADGT is aware that change is hard, but they believe this change is for the best. Their aim is to make the National Championships a very competitive event in each division, “players want to find out where they rank against true amateurs in their division and know who is truly the best amateur in North America,” said Kyle Maute, NADGT Tour Director.

How Does It Work?

The NADGT hosted over 200 events throughout the year, including 12 A-tier NADGT Premier events, and state championships across the country. The qualification process stayed in place with 25 percent of players competing receiving invites to play at Nationals in Austin.

They Added Rating Caps

If you were rated 1000-plus in MA1 or the equivalent in all the advanced divisions, or became ineligible for Amateur Worlds, they sent you an email that explained that you could not compete in Austin, but that you had earned an invite to the Tour Finale in Florida.

The top five finishers at each of the Premier events, the top-three in age-projected divisions, and each of the state champions earned invites directly to Jacksonville or Austin, based on their amateur eligibility. Then they took the top percentage of competitors from the Nationals in Austin and sent them invites to the very first Tour Finale in Jacksonville, Florida.

In the past, the NADGT has allowed people who were under 970-rated and have accepted cash to play in Austin. They also allowed players who are over 1000-rated that had not accepted cash to play in Austin. Both categories are players who are basically semi-pros and the NADGT decided to provide an event specifically tailored for them.

The Tour Finale will be Pro-Invitational for the qualified players and, as in years past, players who win cash and don’t want to turn pro have the opportunity to decline cash and accept merchandise instead. This event will award the MPO and FPO winners with DGPT Tour Cards for the 2024 season and podium finishers will receive multiple DGPT sponsor exemptions to play in DGPT Elite Series events in 2024. Players will be competing for added cash and have the opportunity to turn pro just like in the years past in Austin.

The NADGT aims to avoid sandbagging and hopes to give everybody a fair chance. We know if you travel in from out of state, you want to feel like you weren’t beaten before you got off the plane.

Eliezra Midtlyng

It’s a Learning Process

Based on feedback received during this first year of this experiment, the NADGT will continue this format into 2025, except they will be making the Tour Finale for MPO and FPO only. Age-protected divisions will go back to the previous format where they played for cash in Austin.

The NADGT will make the National Championships a A/B tier Invitational in which all non-age-protected amateur divisions will compete in the NADGT National Championships A-tier and the age-protected divisions will compete in the NADGT National Masters Championships, a B-tier Pro-Invitational, exactly as in years past in Austin.

“We listened to the feedback and realized most age-protected amateurs are not looking to go on the Professional Tour, so we removed the ratings-caps and will let their year finish in Austin,” said Kyle Harrigan, NADGT Operations Director. “Our goal as a tour has always been to provide everyone with fun and fair competition. The addition of our Junior Nationals here in Colorado also came from changes made to the National Championships, we believe we are now highlighting each division fairly throughout the year.”

At the Tour Finale in February, we’re excited to watch Eliezra Midtlyng #198446 (FPO) from Georgia and Corbin Michesky #153445 (MPO) from Oklahoma. Eliezra is probably the best young women’s player in the country and Corbin is the newly crowned 2023 National Champion.

This year, the NADGT will be producing coverage of the Premier Tour with a more ‘television-style’ format. “The idea is to focus on a smaller group of players who are ready to take the next step and really highlight their journey. To help give them the experience they need when they become professional players on the DGPT,” says Tony Thomas, NADGT Media Director.

For information on the NADGT Tour Finale, see the Disc Golf Scene page here and and look for the coverage on February 1-4, 2024.