What amuteur class should I play at in tournaments?

I am 29, I have been playing for around 10 years. My game is a little off right now, I am currently in Iraq and I am going to get back to the states around October of 2009. I am going to register with the PDGA for next season and planning to play a bunch of local tournaments in about a 200 miles or so range from my home.

I have never played in a PDGA tournament and I would like to know what type of amateur class i should play in? (such as open, advanced, and so on) I shoot around par for my home course give or take a few. I would say on a difficult course maybe 58 or so on a alright/half bad day. Any help would be appreciated

[Justin Ellsworth]

wayhighoffire said:

Justin Ellsworth said:

I'm 894 and am playing rec. I'm a bagger and i get pay outs.

and what kind of payouts do you get in rec division?

The highest pay out i got in rec. was $125, which the tour. was only $25 to get into and there was around 25 people in the divison. Like i said, i'm a bagger and i get pay outs. How bout you?

[Justin Ellsworth]

DIRTY DOG said:

I want to win cash, who dont? I do also want a challenge so like you said i might go ahead and try rec at first and then move. I am hitting as many tournys as possible next year. I will probally start with the Ice Bowl in KC. I still get a points rating for Rec right?

You have to play pro (open) to get a cash pay out. Unless you play a mini tour. than it might be cash pay out all divisons. I think the Ice Bowl is not a sanction event, or it wasn't down here anyways and the pay out there is a nice stamped disc. There was about 120 people at our Ice Bowl this year.

[charles lignos]

i'm playing novice until they make me move up to ams. the ams in my area are pretty tough.

[JC]

I don't know if the rest of the posters missed that you say you've been playing for around 10 years or not, but that fact alone makes me think starting at the very bottom might not be appropriate.

My recommendation is to make your first event one on which you are familiar with the course, either one you've played often or one you can play a few rounds on before the tournament. What you want to know is roughly what you shoot on that course...not your very best round, but the most common score range. With that information, you can go to the TD of the event and ask him/her where your scores would fit best. They should have a pretty good idea of what scores should win/compete in each division. I'd take his/her advice over suggestions from posters here who don't know you or the courses you play regularly. At the very least, if you play where they recommend and you dominate the field, you're not so much of a "bad guy" for bagging.

When you say you're shooting "par" on your home course, that isn't all that descriptive since notions of par vary. But given what you said about playing a "difficult" course, I'm assuming you mean par as around 54. On most courses, shooting that score means you're certainly too good to play novice or recreational...few in those divisions shoot better than 60 on most courses where 54 is considered "par". So at a guess, I'd say your best bet might be intermediate (AM2) for your first tournament. But like I said, don't just take my or others anonymous advice...ask the TD or do some investigation of past events at a course you're familiar with. That should give you a better picture.