New Am Golfers = No confidence in nor cal

During tournament Disc Golf in the Northern California area I have been observing the AM divisions' scores as the have been coming in for the monthlies and club tournaments(non sanct.). The big thing I have noticed has been that the top 4 AM 2 scores have been beating or been comparable to the AM1 scores. As an AM golfer this is frustrating. Mostly because the AM2 fields are the biggest and therefore have the biggest pay outs. I have tried to talk the club into eliminating the AM2 division so that this problem would be fixed. Would this scare away new tournament golfers?
Is this happening all around the country or just Cali?

[Jamie 'gr8rocshot' Ruane]

The best way to deal with this is not to combine the fields...but to have your club adopt into your By-Laws....a provison similiar to the PDGA Rating system...whereas, I know that most of these guys aren't likely PDGA members....so do it with Handicaps locally. Establish some sort of guidlines to prevent sandbagging.

[Lotto]

maybe they dont wanna pay the extra 10 bucks to move up to am1.

[Grassidy]

The buy-ins are flat across all divisions.

[Lotto]

oh, then i guess they are just baggers

[Jean Christyn]

Just play for fun and you'll never be frustrated for money.

[Grassidy]

Im talking about having your local home course disc golf tourneys structure with two divisions only, Pro or Am. Do you think that this will scare away new tourney golfers?

[LSDiscs-Neileo]

Man, its all over the place...I play in am2 and I've noticed the same thing...its baggin all across the board and I agree, guidelines must be set...at our club, the top dogs who run it will not allow someone to play in a lower division especially if they know the person and their abilities...In my opinion, just relax and throw your game and have fun, don't worry about the knuckle heads that are baggin...look at it this way, playing against better competition whether they're baggin or not, will help your game...having a 2 division only tourney might not scare anyone away, it will however scare the newbies away, and that's not the goal for this sport...Growth and recognition are the goals

[Jamie 'gr8rocshot' Ruane]

Grassidy said:

Im talking about having your local home course disc golf tourneys structure with two divisions only, Pro or Am. Do you think that this will scare away new tourney golfers?

Yes, I think it will in the long run. If setting guidelines for determining skill level is too much of a challenge..then combine your current Am fields and start a Rec division...with the stipulation win once..move up...that could be an option.

But again if you want to curb sandbagging, your local club needs to establish some sort of guidlines. Don't you guys have established handicaps on your home course?

[Grassidy]

That is how I feel. I prefer to play with the more serious golfers, they wont talk during your shot, they will be more aware and courteous, and you'll learn from them. I play Am1 at my home course and area tourneys but am a AM2 pdga golfer.

[Lotto]

in sanctioned events, you have to play by your rating. so i dont know why people bitch about that. but in unsanctioned play, i agree that you should develop a rating scale.

[Mike]

I think Jamie said it well. If you combine fields offer the Rec division, win once and you have to move up. This way the new players know they are playing with other newer tournament players and are not so intimidated and they will actually have a chance to win before being fed to the sharks. Yeah, this happens all over the place, non-rated and rated players. Some just know they will cash or at least get a lot of plastic if they are in AM2, same with guys in AM1 that should be in the Open division, but if they move up to AM1 or Open they will just become dead money. It is hard for them to go from winning or cashing every tournament to not even finishing in the top 10.

[Travis]

Make the AM 1 payout better than the AM 2 payout. that will encourage people to move up and let newer players take advantage of a more even field.