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Tips for those new to tounaments.
vanadaar
Posts: 53

With a new course in Clarksburg and a whole new set of faces in Fairmont there are a lot more people in northern West Virginia learning about disc golf. I thought it would be wise to help some of those people understand why and how a tournament is run.

Why:
Tournaments are held for many reasons, mostly personal. You may want to travel and meet new people who have a similar interest. You may find the grip of competition exciting. You may like to travel and see new places. While the personal reasons to compete are many there are other reasons. Many disc golf clubs hold tournaments to promote the sport in their community, may it be tourney day media, local advertising, or to raise funds for course improvement or charity.

The WVDGA is committed to promoting disc golf throughout our communities by club events, tournaments, educational activities and park maintenance. We bring you the WVDG Classic once a summer to bring you out to a beautiful park and throw a couple rounds. In return we hope to improve not only the park and course, but increase our exposure of disc golf to the State of West Virginia.

How:
Tournaments typically have a registration time and a player meeting time. During the meeting what rules are in effect will be announced, such as mandatory shots and out of bounds areas. You will be placed randomly into 18 groups of 4 to 5 players per hole. Once the meeting is over each group heads to their designated hole. Once the signal is given all 18 groups start tournament play. There is typically two rounds per day of any given tournament, a morning round followed by lunch and an evening round. The second round will be grouped by your first round score. The better score you had will land you closer to starting on hole 1 the second round. This creates a more competitive second round. One day tournaments there will typically be an awards ceremony after the second round. Multiple day tournaments will hold a final 9 for the top finishers.

The WVDG Classic is a one day tournament consisting of two rounds following the PDGA rules. Since many of our players will be new to tournaments, here are some basic rules.

1. Always mark your lie. Use a mini disc and place it between your disc and the basket, touching the front of your disc. One of your feet must remain directly behind the mini marker no more than 12 inches back. If you do not have a mini, you may use your disc you just threw as the marker, however you may not move the disc and will lose the length of your disc in distance.

2. If your disc goes out of bounds, you take your next shot at the point at which you and your group feel it left in-bounds. You must add a penalty stroke for your OB shot. If you lose your disc in the trees/foliage, every player of the group must search for the disc, you have 3 minutes to find the disc. If it is not found you must take your next shot from your last lie/tee pad, and add a penalty stroke. You may come back after the round/tournament to find your disc.

3. Always tap in. You MUST put your disc in the basket and let it come to rest, even if you are 1 foot away. Failure to do so can result in penalty strokes. Also after tapping in always clear your putt from the basket. If your group mate putts and it hits your disc and bounces out they cant count it as in, and you may have upset a group mate.

4. ALWAYS be courteous to your fellow competitor. If you do not display sportsmanship you may be disqualified. Drinking, smoking and cursing out loud are not appropriate for tournament play. Remember using smoke to see the wind, or a range finder to find distance is against PDGA rules.

5. Watch for pedestrians. One slight mishap with a disc can not only risk injury to another person, but can degrade the public view of our sport. You ARE allowed to delay your drive/shot if you feel someone is in any danger of being hit with a stray disc. (And yes we all have stray discs)

6. Stay out of your group mate’s vision. Stay behind the furthest lie, and wait quietly until your group mate has taken their shot. Avoid talking walking and creating noises that could distract other players. Failure to do so can result in a warning and subsequent penalty stroke. When the group is putting out, do not stand where you are "behind" the basket for another player. Again if you feel someone is standing unintentionally in a distracting spot, you are urged to politely ask them to step back.

The rules really are common sense. Have fun and be courteous. Remember some people are playing for money, and will take tournament play serious. Be courteous and play by the rules and it can be an extremely fun day of disc golf.

Tournaments are the place to watch other disc golfers and maybe learn a trick or two. Also many people bring discs to trade/sell, so they are also great places to restock your bag.

By all means dont be afraid to ask about a rule or other tournament related issue. Have fun and enjoy a great day of Disc Golf! Dont be afraid to compete, we're all out there striving to have a perfect round.

Feel free to add/alter/criticize this if you wish, I am by no means an expert.



Clang. Crap.



Posted: July-21-2006 5:05 am
Re:Tips for those new to tounaments.
spreadicus
Posts: 626
Great description of the tourney process, I recommend reading this if you are going to playing in any disc golf tourney no matter what your experience level is!

thanks V!

_________________
"CHING!"

Posted: July-21-2006 5:42 pm