WA State Championships - August 29-30

[AchimbaProphet]

Seems like a small turnout for a state championship. Were there others besides those listed in the results above?

[Scott]

Originally Posted by AchimbaProphet

Seems like a small turnout for a state championship. Were there others besides those listed in the results above?

This tournament was not widely publicized and was first announced less than two weeks before.

[LJ Jubner]

WE need a "tourny pop up" blocker. Gone are the days when players showed up early Sat, Money in hand and ready to play.

[Toby Puttzinski]

Change is good.

[Lowell]

Originally Posted by Wobbly Bob

Shouldn't this tournament be called the Western Washington Championships? The east side of the state didn't hear anything about this tournament until 8/17/09. Nine days is hardly enough time to work out the logistics to compete in an out of town tournament.

The east side does have some competitors that would give the west side guys a run for their money and their trophies.

I do however think that the Washington State Championships should be a PDGA sanctioned event, minimum "B" Tier, perferably an "A" Tier.

I also think that the Washington State Championships should be held on the east side of the state at least once every three or four years. We have some very challenging courses in Spokane and an awesome volunteer tournament crew that can handle all jobs from raising sponsorship and course maintenance to food preparation.

NOTE: The tradition of the washington state championship goes back to before there were any courses on the east side of the state or anyplace but seattle in 1976. It was founded by hall of fame member Doug Newland. the first golfer in this state along with Steve Slasor who also won the florida state title several times. Since 1986 the tournament has also been held in Tacoma and Seattle, now Terrace Creek since 1995. There was no PDGA when this tourny started. There were only the IFa and frisbees. Every tournament out there is PDga. I give that money to the players and I never take a directors fee. Neither did Doug who handed it down to me. This is the oldest tournament for disc golf in the world, the longest running strictly golf tourny there is on the planet. You don't mess with that. It should never be stopped.
It would be good to have a turn on the east side once in awhile as long as it's a fair test of skill and not a bunch of wide open 600 foot holes only power throwers can win on. By the way, this tournament was announced at every single washington series event and flyers were available at all of them. So don't try to say there was no advertising. Ask Samantha Campbell and Gordy. This tournament pays out better than most and always has in spite of turn out. We paid out over $1000 for first with 14 Pros a couple of years back. And we don't take all the amateur money and give it to the pros field either. We give all the money from ams to ams. The PDGA means nothing unless you are going to worlds. How many wash state people went? 2? 3? One of us won a title though. good job Paul Wright!

[REDFIVE]

Originally Posted by Lowell

NOTE: The tradition of the washington state championship goes back to before there were any courses on the east side of the state or anyplace but seattle in 1976. It was founded by hall of fame member Doug Newland. the first golfer in this state along with Steve Slasor who also won the florida state title several times. Since 1986 the tournament has also been held in Tacoma and Seattle, now Terrace Creek since 1995. There was no PDGA when this tourny started. There were only the IFa and frisbees. Every tournament out there is PDga. I give that money to the players and I never take a directors fee. Neither did Doug who handed it down to me. This is the oldest tournament for disc golf in the world, the longest running strictly golf tourny there is on the planet. You don't mess with that. It should never be stopped.
It would be good to have a turn on the east side once in awhile as long as it's a fair test of skill and not a bunch of wide open 600 foot holes only power throwers can win on. By the way, this tournament was announced at every single washington series event and flyers were available at all of them. So don't try to say there was no advertising. Ask Samantha Campbell and Gordy. This tournament pays out better than most and always has in spite of turn out. We paid out over $1000 for first with 14 Pros a couple of years back. And we don't take all the amateur money and give it to the pros field either. We give all the money from ams to ams. The PDGA means nothing unless you are going to worlds. How many wash state people went? 2? 3? One of us won a title though. good job Paul Wright!

Good to see you on here lowell, welcome. Tradition is good but if we stubbornly continued to do what was done in the 70's we would be restricting ourselves. Growth and an evolution of an event doesn't take away from the tradition. The event could be run at lake fenwick and as longas the history wasn't forgotten the tradition would be alive. Just because there wasnt a PDGA when the event started doesn't mean it shouldn't be sanctioned. I enjoyedthe event when I played it but wouldn't mind it being sanctioned. The draw of rated rounds gets me more excited for events than non rated rounds. I getexcited about my rating and think todays serious players do also.

As far as there being word about this event I never heard any until sea tac. I don't know anyone that had either. You name two and these might be the only two.

Change is good if it is for the right reason.

Thank you for your continued effort to keep the event alive.

Chris Waugh

[kokaneeninja]

I am so sick of hearing more about this. This event was announced at all 8-10 events I played this year, and all those complaining know so... in fact many of them even bought a disc from me to support this event. I made announcements all year long leading up to this event, and I do believe that Gordy did also. In fact I first started announcing this at Wa events in March!!! Quit with the event bashing!!! Lowell has done so much for this sport over the years and I am sick of all the complaints.

[DMajor]

Anyone that takes the time and effort to put together a tournament of any level should be appreciated. That being said I would have loved to play in the Washington State Championships this year but the first I heard of it was on this thread. And with only two weeks notice I wasn't able to make it. I played in all of the wash state series events after the Lilac and paid attention at all of the meetings and I never heard anything about it or saw any flyers at these events. A couple random people at courses mentioned it to me but they all thought it was going to be in October and weren't sure what the specific date was.

I don't really care if an event is PDGA or not but this website is a free way to give people a heads up and increase the number of people attending. If the Championships had been posted even two or three weeks earlier probably another dozen or two people could have made it. Two rounds at Steily and two at Terrace sounds like a super fun tournament and I hope next time around I hear about it far enough in advance that I can make it. Thanks again to all of the people donating their time and resources to put on all of the events that the majority of us are just playing in.

[Scott]

Originally Posted by DMajor

but this website is a free way to give people a heads up and increase the number of people attending.

I honestly don't understand why every TD in the region does not use this website to promote their events. With nearly 700 registered golfers (and growing every day), why woulnd't you want that kind of free advertising?

[Flash]

Originally Posted by Scott

I honestly don't understand why every TD in the region does not use this website to promote their events. With nearly 700 registered golfers (and growing every day), why woulnd't you want that kind of free advertising?

Maybe its the confuser thing or the lack of better emoticon's

[Wobbly Bob]

Last year the Spokane Disc Golf Assn. made Northwest Disc Golf News our main source of communication as well as posting site for our tournaments. It really helps us to know what is going on and what tournaments are available to compete in. Even course workdays are posted.

I'd bet that if the Washington State Championships had posted a date for their tournament on NWDGNews in March that their tournament (PDGA or not) would have drawn more competitors than 41 and had a wider representation of players from across the state. I've always felt that the winners of the Washington State Series Finals are the true Washington State Champions anyway.