women and disc golf tournaments
 

We now have more women dger's, more gigs and more divisions than ever.
But, the old question of where do you put certain players is still here.
I've seen where TD's state that you have to have so many for a division, but I know as well as other TD's this is seldom enforced in the women's division.
So where do you place them if there's only one or two?
Should pro women be allowed to play in men's amateur?
Do we place them in their respective division regardless of gender?

No, you have a women's division even if 1 shows up, promote it and they will come. Pair them with us old guys, or others near their rating.

Personally I would rather play with other women when possible, rather than the guys.

I have played in tournaments where the division has gone ahead with one, but they had all the women play on the same card. Example Timber slosh there was two FW2s, and only one FW1 we all played on the same card and had a blast.

Also I have played in tournaments where they have either moved the ladies up or down into one division. Example Leverich Slosh there was three FW2s and only one FW1 they combined us all into FW2 (which of course would only work if the FW1 has the rating to qualify for FW2). Another example was just last weekend there was one FW1 and two FM1 they combined us all into FW1, and again we all had a blast.

Now if it comes down to just one gal period then what Jman said just try to match them as close as possible to their rating. Hopefully though more ladies will be playing this season, and it all will be a mute point :yay:

Cindy :)

It's been my experience that the ladies are basically two skill levels of players

Ams > say 850
and
Open <850.

If I have 3 I will usually play them with age protected men. either Open or Am

Fixed...remember the alligator eats the bigger number! :wink2:

That sounds about right though. One issue, I know though is that for some women, they'd like to play at the am level--lower entry fee, player packs, keeping am status, etc., but are "too good" to play am. They'd end up beating the competition by too wide of a margin to feel sportsmanlike (sportswomanlike?), and so move up due to morals. I think it would be nice to have truly separate intermediate, advanced, and open fields, but the numbers just don't work out that way all the time.

Just thinking out loud here...say a woman wants to play Am but is at the more advanced level. Move her into the pro division, but let her pay the Am fees, give her a player pack, and play for trophy only. :chinscratch:

I think there should at least be an women's pro and am division offered. Other divisions are great if there are enough people, and in women's divisions that may only be two people. I think if it's one pro woman or just one am woman being the entire division that it should still be offered.
If only one mens pro player showed up but was eligible to play am would you bump them to another division?

The Val Jenkins and Liz Lopez types would beat the pants off half (if not more than half) of the pro fields here in the northwest. I think if the situation presented itself, then you should group people with their ratings.

One thing I noticed last year was that towards the end of the Oregon Series, there was more communication on women going to the specific events and impacted how many women signed up to play. Once the number of entries for women goes up and stays up, then I think the discussion on where to place them would diminish... I would like to see more communication among the ladies or even their hubbies who play DG to ensure that a solid number of women go to each event...

Pros rated under 970 are allowed to play in amateur divisions at the option of the TD (with no payout beyond players packs and trophies).

Pros playing in Am are not limited to just player packs and trophies but also receive the same merch prizes as an am for the same finish position. Now, TDs also have the option to allow Pros to play in Am or Ams in Pro divisions (meeting the appropriate ratings/age guidelines) to play simply for Trophy Only at a reduced entry fee.

I have tried to enter a few tournies in my area but they filled up in 4-24 hours. There is no way I could have made it within this time frame to sign up. I feel very discouraged from even trying to go to a tournament now. If the community is trying to encourage more women to play, maybe they should hold some spots for those who can't check the website every four hours in order to register. Also, I am tired of playing with men. It would be most exciting for me to be placed with women, even if they were much better then me.

Disc golf is a fast growing sport, and some tournies do fill fast. However, up here in Portland, we do have space available in both the Bad Monkey Open (AMs only at Leverich) and the Rose City Open. You might want to consider coming up here and playing the Chick Flick in August. Women only! Registration is currently open, but may fill fast. :)