Pillage the Village

[tacimala]

This Saturday, May 5 in South Bend. Anyone headed that way?

[Bruce Brakel]

The last time I played the Pillage there wasn't a single good thing I could say about the tournament afterwards other than the weather was nice and the course was fun.  This was the tournament where my daughters were introduced to the phrase, "with their heads up their butts."     I think I could list a dozen things wrong with the tournament if you were to bet I couldn't. 

I probably posted about it somewhere on this message board. 

If I had the weekend free and I was heading to Ann Arbor from Chicago, I'd play Mishawauka [George Wilson], Ferretti-Baugo or Mad.-Bert.  Or all three.  There's Lemon Lake, too. 

[Mukey]

The last time I played the Pillage there wasn't a single good thing I could say about the tournament afterwards other than the weather was nice and the course was fun.  This was the tournament where my daughters were introduced to the phrase, "with their heads up their butts."     I think I could list a dozen things wrong with the tournament if you were to bet I couldn't. 

I probably posted about it somewhere on this message board. 

Now I don't feel so bad about taking my family to Gary Lewis' Worlds Biggest at Shorewood Saturday!

If I had the weekend free and I was heading to Ann Arbor from Chicago, I'd play Mishawauka [George Wilson], Ferretti-Baugo or Mad.-Bert.  Or all three.  There's Lemon Lake, too. 

FYI:  Per Brian Cummings, they're having a bring your own partner doubles tournament at Lemon Lake on Sunday, playing both permanent 18 hole courses.

[Bruce Brakel]

I found my previous post.  I was diplomatic and only said that we had fun.  You can't not have fun playing that course.  It is a fun course. 

But all of the South Bend area courses are fun courses.

Brian Cummings is an intentional kind of guy.  I think it says something that he would run an unsanctioned cash-for-ams event the same day as the Pillage. 

Here's my list.  Let's see if I have 12:

1.  Registration started a half hour late because the guy who had the registration cards showed up a half hour late. 

2.  The tournament started a half hour late for no discernable reason. 

3.  There was a Pro Master in my Am Master foursome in the morning and an Am Master in the Pro Master group.  We all pointed it out to the TD before he sent us out but he was unable to fix it, for no discernable reason.

4.  We could not point it out earlier because they were doing the secret leader board thing.

5.  Between Round 1 and Round 2, they did not sort the leaderboard by score because "they didn't have time."  This was in June.  The sun was going to set at 9:00 or so.  We finished two hours before sunset. 

6.  Between Round 1 and Round 2, they did not fix the Pro Master / Am Master thing because they didn't have time.  Before he started filling out scorecards for round 2 I said, "Um, we had a pro master in our group, there on hole 12, and there is an Am Master with the pro masters, there on hole 5," and he tells me he does not have time to fix it.  Doh!

7.  Between Round 2 and Round 3 they got the Pro Master / Am Master thing fixed for those two guys but put some other Pro Master in with the Am Masters. 

8.  See, 4.

9.  They had the right number of players and holes to run 10 threesomes and 8 foursomes, or leave two gaps on the course and run 14 foursomes and 2 threesomes.  Or do some other combination that would make sense for the number of players in each division.  For some reason I played the entire tournament in a fivesome.  There were only four players in my division!   

10.  After the last card came in it took them at least a half hour to get the leaderboard set. 

11.  Payouts were PDGA minimums after deducting for PDGA fees, trophies, etc. 

12.  The merch selection was pitiful. 

That was my list.  Kelsey has a few of her own.

They gave the rec division and am women two short tees so they would not get ratings.  [Actually, I "fixed" this by e-mailing the TD afterwards and explaining it to him.  He agreed to leave that out of his TD report.  I think that was why I bit my lip after the tournament, because I wanted to get this fixed.] 

They let these two guys who showed up together play together, and Kelsey said they were cheating on their score.  She was only 15 back then and a little intimidated about calling adult men on this stuff.  She played in a threesome for 36 holes with two guys who pronounced the number 5 "four". 

[tacimala]

I played 3 events run by the MDGC last year and they all went well. The tournament at Ox Bow got off to a late start because the TD had gotten in 2 car accidents the night before (yes two). The Advanced winner took home a basket in 2 of the 3 tourneys I went to as well. I don't really remember having complaints from the events last year except for that the payouts were less than I was accustomed to because I was accustomed to playing Larry Labond's tournaments.

[tacimala]

So without any badmouthing someone, I somewhat rescind my comments from before. I'll leave it at that! 

[Mukey]

So without any badmouthing someone, I somewhat rescind my comments from before. I'll leave it at that! 

Sounds like a confirmation of at least some of the things Bruce said...

[tacimala]

Pretty much!

Michiana Open should be a solid event though with 2 rounds at Ox Bow and a large field. There is another B tier in Three Rivers, MI (45 minutes northeast)  the next day that will also see a good amount of people.

[Bruce Brakel]

I've never played the Michiana.  I assume that three of the reasons why the Pillage sucks is that it is a fund raiser for the Michiana.  I've heard that the Michiana is o.k.  Maybe some Discontinuum members who've played it could enlighten us.

[Dan Michler]

i played michiana once and it was extremely well run and well organized.  i think jason samuels is an excellent TD.