Club member and albino Bryan Schumann won a National Championship for players rated under 925 last weekend. Congratulations on overcoming a monster field of 11 players that included part-time professional disc golfer Nick Swanson. :D
I feel sorry for Chuck. I know what its like to run tournaments that are a bust. He probably set some kind of record for an all-gender all-ages Major with the fewest players.
My PDGA records:
Full Color Flashback: PDGA sanctioned. October 2003, I think. 5 players :-[
Sturgeon Full Moon: PDGA Sanctioned. August 2004, I think. 4 players :-[
According to Brian Hoeniger, of all sanctioned tournaments that were not cancelled, I held the all-time record for the least attended tournament and then I broke the record! ::)
Since I already had trophies done, there was no point in cancelling. Due to the almost free entry fees, the FCFB also set the all time record for highest percent am payout. That was the year they decided to limit that stat to tournaments with 50 or more players so I didn't get credit in the DGWN winter stat edition. The FCFB was like a $3 or $4 entry fee, but you get to deduct your PDGA fee before calculating payouts. I bought everyone lunch. Every division winner [we all played in different divisions too] got a trophy and a disc. It was like a 1700% payout or something.
The Sturgeon was actually profitable. Terry Calhoun saw that I brought all the merch and went inside for more money. It was at his house. The trophies were Colormax discs and I later sold them all.
i mostly feel bad for that guy who owns the land and cancelled the golf course he was building and convinced investors to go for this disc golf idea. he's put a ton of work into getting those courses installed and so few people have actually played them. hopefully the pro worlds will be a success there next year. if the complex could somehow be transplanted to any metropolitan area i feel like they could host monstrous events with no problem. the land is unbelievable.
Hell, everyone here has driven lots of miles to play disc golf. I'm lucky in that I have family 1 hour away & play Highbridge 1-2 times a year. My partner at work had the week off other wise I would've went to the Mid-Nats also. There's no doubt that the land & courses are sweet! With 4 more courses planned, I'm hoping as more word gets out people will want to make the drive. I'm going to go up there to watch the Pros next year.
Unfortunately most people just cannot afford to own disc golf land near metropolitan areas. Usually the land is too expensive and the taxes too high for anyone but a bazillionaire. In some states the golf industry has right-to-golf laws that parallel the more common right-to-farm laws that protect those sorts of large acreage uses from being property taxed out of business. There aren't any right-to-frisbee-golf laws, and the model right-to-golf law tightly defines golf as the sport sanctioned by the USGA.
I've often thought that if I ever have enough money to open a disc golf course, I'd look for overgrown farm land and instead start a hardwood farm. If the local apple farm can take advantage of the right-to-farm laws and make their real money doing hay rides and running a store, and having a petting zoo, etc., I'd think a hardwood farmer could have a farm store and some baskets on the premises!
Kelsey would be happy to run the petting zoo.