2011 PDGA Pro World Championships: Monterey Bay, California

[JHern]

neither of those pics appear to be working.

Not sure why the link doesn't work for you. Works fine for me.

[Billym]

If the "World Series" came to your town and you could have the chance to bat even though you are not a Pro would you take it?

[Peot]

If the "World Series" came to your town and you could have the chance to bat even though you are not a Pro would you take it?

If the World Series came to your town, that means (probably) that your hometown team is playing. Would you want to diminish their probability of winning because you wanted a cool experience? (I guess you could do your home team a favor and bat for the other team)

You see my point, though. MLB and professional disc golf are utterly incomparable right now. Maybe in 20 years or something pro disc golf will have moved up in the sporting world, but by the time PDGA Worlds is "big time," Ams probably won't be allowed to play.

[Billym]

If the "World Series" came to your town and you could have the chance to bat even though you are not a Pro would you take it?

If the World Series came to your town, that means (probably) that your hometown team is playing. Would you want to diminish their probability of winning because you wanted a cool experience? (I guess you could do your home team a favor and bat for the other team)

You see my point, though. MLB and professional disc golf are utterly incomparable right now. Maybe in 20 years or something pro disc golf will have moved up in the sporting world, but by the time PDGA Worlds is "big time," Ams probably won't be allowed to play.

So your answer is no Huh? OK.

[Peot]

It's an asinine question to begin with. The way you've posed it isolates something I've already discussed (people's desire to play) and ignores all kinds of other factors. The other factors are what we've been discussing.

[Billym]

It's an asinine question to begin with. The way you've posed it isolates something I've already discussed (people's desire to play) and ignores all kinds of other factors. The other factors are what we've been discussing.

You realize when you use asinine you are basically calling me an ass. Classy use of volcabulary.

[Peot]

More like "assy" use of vocabulary, am I right?

[JHern]

...Maybe in 20 years or something pro disc golf will have moved up in the sporting world, but by the time PDGA Worlds is "big time," Ams probably won't be allowed to play.

That's where the sport is headed, but there are a few more hurdles to cross. Having a larger Pro field is one of them. But the biggest hurdle is, of course, cost. Travel for a big tournament like Worlds is expensive, which is the main reason why the tournament didn't sell out to Pros in the first day it opened for Pros only. Even for the best local deals on housing (free, if you know a local with couch space, but more likely $60/night minimum for one week...$420), if you're traveling from out East the airfare is at least $300, and if you want complete freedom of movement you'll need a rental car ($300 for a week), plus the registration and other tournament-related expenses (buy a few things at the flymart, go to the banquet, Chains the movie, doubles events, etc., you're up to another $600). Gas to get around between the courses ($100 minimum). As you can see, it gets up to $2K really quick, and probably higher for all the beer, fine food, and everything else you're going to indulge in while in Monterey Bay. For a playing field of 432, the cost for all the players is close to $1 million. In order to recoup this expense, you'll have to place around 6th-ish or better in open, 2nd-ish or better in other divisions.

So what we need is a big dollar tournament sponsor(s) to take it to the next level. They cover hotel, rental car, airfare, and registration fees for all invited players, rent all the venues, pay for banquets and other special events, etc.. They also kick in to build up the prize pool. But we have to raise $1 million+ in sponsorships to get there. I think it will happen, but right now we don't have any sponsors big enough to handle that kind of investment. We're still in the $100-$200K total combined sponsorship funds range, which only covers local expenses like permitting of venues, insurance, basic food, etc.. The local clubs are the ones typically raising all the money and labor for course improvements, which is itself an ample sum.

If you want to see the next level, just find the money.

[JHern]

All Worlds courses are set up in the 2011 Pro Worlds Configuration from now until after the tournament.* CSUMB has all 27 concrete tees in place. Now is a good time to come and preview all four courses.

*Exceptions: 1) Pinto Lake has an extra 8 holes that play through otherwise busy soccer fields, and won't be set up until just before Worlds. 2) DeLaveaga is short one basket...new baskets are going to be installed soon...for now, 17 is still closed, but we might be able to move 8A to 17 (8A and 26A are not being used for Worlds). 3) Hole 27 at CSUMB currently has no basket, one will be put in place very soon.