League and Short Days

Every year we deal with the issue of league and shorter days. When we start league in March it begins at 5:15 and then moves back as the days get longer. In mid summer we run things at 5:45. But now as the days gradually get shorter we have to cut back our start times. Right now we start at 5:30 and after next week we will start at 5:15. Mid September we go to 5:00 and our last week of league is the first week of October and we start at 4:45. Inevitably this means that we will lose some players. But that is the nature of the beast.

 

Tonight we had six people show up and we had already flipped when two more people showed up. Sometimes we might just tell them to pair up and then go on. So I asked everyone else what  to do and they said to "just play". I believe that is the right thing to do because everyone else was on time and we had already chosen our partners. It is unfair to make everyone re-flip and choose new partners. And so they started calling me names and such. And then after we had already played two holes three more people showed up. One knew he was going to be late but didn't have my number to call me and let me know. The two others probably should have known better because we have been playing at 5:30 for the past ten days. And there was more yelling. In the end we just went on our way and played.

 

This kind of thing happens every year at this time. I am curious how many other places are even playing league at this time of year. A good rule of thumb is to start the league at two hours before the sunset time. We are a bit ahead of that right now but soon we will be exactly at that time. Next week we will be starting almost exactly two hours ahead of the sunset time. So I think that we are on a decent schedule which allows us to play until the first week of October. When I am running things there will be no playing in the dark and the subsequent losing of discs.

[Greg D'OHogne]

Still playing league?  Of course!  I have 3 more weeks of BYOP doubles (80 people/40 teams) to complete before we play a 7 week "Ace Race" format singles league leading up to Daylight Savings.  It gets dark for the teams that start later (I go out last of course), but as long as you have the proper tools (led lights, etc), nobody loses a disc.  Since I have been doing this for several years, I actually feel like I make more putts in the dark...scary.

[Eric Day]

We can play year around here, I think we are going to swich our league to a Sunday nooner. Just waiting until it gets cool enough to play at that time of day. I know one club that keeps there 6:00 start time year around and it just turns into a glow league in the later part of the year.

[Jeffery Nugent]

we start our singles league here in indiana (Avon) @ 6:30 on thursday nights. Last one will be oct.6 it won't be full dark, but the last couple of holes will be hard to see. If ppl aren't there before we tee off.....sorry about your luck, and everyone that plays regularly knows it so there's never a problem with ppl being upset.

[Rudy S.]

At Lemon Lake we've had a Silver Course series on Tuesday at six o'clock, recently we've started at 5:45 and replaced two of the long holes.  That caused some complaining, because the change was discussed informally and not put on the web site until the day of the alteration.  We let a late pair double up and play with us the first week of the change and it probably sped up play because it caused a sixsome to become two foursomes.  That two hour rule is a good idea, though, I'll have to keep it in mind. 

[Jim Coonradt]

The two hour rule works well and you can easily get sunset times for your location from sites like timeanddate.com. I always try to get the word out early about the starting time changes but it always seems that there are those who don't pay attention. It was supposed to be posted on the front page of the club's website but the guy who runs the site is also a very busy computer guy. So I called him last night and he reassured me that he would post that info.

 

We sometimes will let stragglers in but after a while it doesn't make sense to do so, especially since our current starting time has been in place for the last ten days. If anyone isn't sure about the starting time they can just ask. That of course means that last night people were just coming up with excuses.

 

The crazy thing is that last night we had a group of six and play was quite slow and we ended up letting others play through. It took us almost two hours for the round. If we had actually let the two late comers pair up and play we could have had two foursomes and I am certain that we would have ended sooner. But by the time they showed up we had already flipped and chosen partners and when I asked if we should let them in I got "Let's just go". In the end if you want to play this time of year you should be on time. I got called a few names but it is nothing I haven't heard before. Oh the trials and tribulations of running league. Next year I think that I will just sit on the sideline and let someone else handle things.

[David Sauls]

Columbia, SC has leagues 3 nights a week.  The times don't change; they start at 6 pm and run until they can't anymore, then close for the winter. 

 

Long ago a firm line was drawn on latecomers, especially for doubles league.  Generally speaking, if you're not there by the time the drawing begins, you're not playing.  This was the aftereffect of some people who were chronically late and everyone else losing patience with re-draws and delays.

[Jim Coonradt]

I have to agree that redraws and delays are not acceptable or fair to those who show up on time. If you can't make it on time you should not expect to play.

[Destraayer]

Here, in good ol' West Michigan, we run a 4-6pm window for singles league. It's not year round, it actually goes as long as a 4-6pm window will allow for sun light (which usually means mid April to mid Oct.) We do have a winter league that tees off at noon on Sundays, but I'm not a big fan of weekend league play. I reserve those days for the family or disc road trips.

[Jim Coonradt]

Yes we started a Sunday morning at 11:00 league as well last year. I prefer to spend Sundays with my son but during the winter I will take a couple of hours out to play league (if weather permits).

[Jim Coonradt]

Just thought that I would post an update here. On Monday I thought that nobody would show up as our Monday league has been somewhat sparse. To my surprise we had nine people and everyone showed up on time. The starting times until the end of the year are now posted on the club's website as well as on a sign at the course. So I wouldn't expect anybody to claim that they didn't know the start time but you never know. Next week we scale back to a 5:15 starting time which puts us right into the two hour allowance for a round and possible playoff. September 19 we go to 5:00. The last day of summer league is October 6. That week in October we will start at 4:45. If you want to know sunset times here is a good site...

 

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=398&mont...

 

As you can see I am using that two hour rule to generate starting times. And I am just happy that here in Colorado we can play league for seven months out of the year.