ST. LOUIS OPEN MAY 3RD AND 4TH GREAT TIME

[OvEr HaNd AsSaSiN]

Let me tell you i have been to ALOT of tourneys sense i started playing disc golf and by far the best experiences have been tourneys in the ST. Louis area.  The courses are great sioux passage has to be my favorite... Represent chicago and go to The st. louis open May 3rd and 4th... It is an A-tier tourney so make your plans early...  Top pros like Barry shultz, NIkko, Justin Bunell, and others will be there....   I cant say enough about the people, courses, and overall experience of st. Louis tourneys....

Visit stldiscgolf.com for complete up to date information

[Dan Michler]

Did Barry call you and tell you he'd be there?

[dvicich]

Wow, I had the complete opposite experience in St. Louis.  I guess if you like people OPENLY drinking beer during the rounds, OPENLY smoking weed all over the place and breaking rules and being complete redneck d-bags- then yes, The St. Louis disc golf scene is DA BOMB, brah.

[OvEr HaNd AsSaSiN]

oic dana. I didnt experience any of that.. And barry is pre- reged

[dvicich]

That last post came off as somewhat angry.  I was just blowing some steam off.  There are people like that everywhere, it seemed like there were a lot more that played at the JB and Souix Passage Open this past weekend.

[Tom McManus]

Wow, I had the complete opposite experience in St. Louis.  I guess if you like people OPENLY drinking beer during the rounds, OPENLY smoking weed all over the place and breaking rules and being complete redneck d-bags- then yes, The St. Louis disc golf scene is DA BOMB, brah.

Nothing wrong with saying what you feel. It would be nice if more people spoke up when that crap was going on.

[tacimala]

I liked the two courses when I was there a long while back and I enjoyed the random draw dubs I played on a Sunday. The people were cool and they seemed like there was a lot going on there. I have been looking forward to going back for a tourney and have not had the chance yet, so I did not have the same experience as Dana. He's OK in my book though.

[hj70ft]

One of our newer players was put in an uncomfortable position by some dude lighting up a pipe of weed without asking directly if everyone was cool with it. The next day his wife tried confronting him as a narc and a liar for having a discussion with the TD on what was the proper method of addressing the issue with a person while on the course. The TD looked at the card our guy was on and recognized a single name and decided to ask him about the situation.

I feel bad that a new to the game guy has to deal with crap like that on the course in the REC division. I also felt bad that Dana had to deal with some guy pounding brews in the open division. I know that a person can be strong and bring the issue up with the offender, but then you are dealing with being "that guy" and taking yourself out of your mental game to deal with the situation.

I loved playing down in St. Louis on those courses and had the time of my career winning at Sioux Passage. I just wish people could make it a couple of hours clean and take care of their drug usage on their own time instead of thrusting it upon those players that don't want to engage in those activities.

[pickax]

TDs need to enforce the automatic DQ for junk like that. There is no "are you cool with it" exception.

[Chainmeister]

I think even more important is a simple announcement at the player's meeting.  The above post refers to the difficulty with being the"narc".  Many players just want to play the game and take no position on the hjinx of the other players so long as its not distracting.  If the TD makes a simple announcement that drug and alochol useage will not be tolerated it helps create an enviroment where the group will feel that they will be backed up if they report an offending player. Also, the announcement will forestall many of the potentially offending players.  Most will know well enough to leave whatever in the car, pocket or bag.

That being said some of our most colorful players seem to play better when drunk. I can't figure out how they do it but it admit that they can be fun and lighten the mood for me.  Of course, I am not sure I would say the same if somebody in my group was drunk.  That could ruin my day.

[Mukey]

TDs need to enforce the automatic DQ for junk like that. There is no "are you cool with it" exception.

No, but there is the "are you going to be that anal as long as I'm not an a** about it" question. At least if someone asks that they are trying to be courteous, if they go ahead anyhow that's another story. I can personally say I've never had to admonish someone while playing, but I'm admittedly pretty laid back as long as you're not creating a distraction, like Chainmeister said.

[Dan Michler]

I'm not trying to start a fight with smokers or drinkers, but lets be realistic.  If you are doing it in a tournament, its not courteous whether you ask your group if its okay or not.  Most people will just go with the flow and say they are cool with it whether they actually are cool with it or not, because they don't want to look like a jag.  Putting others in that position is just as non-courteous as the dude who just lights up without asking.  It personally doesn't really bother me either, but that doesn't mean it doesn't bother anybody.

In tournament play we all paid money to be out there, so everybody should be shown the respect of not being put in the position of having to tolerate drug use in a public park.

[Mukey]

I was going to add to this further, but like Dan said, it's easy for this to get into a back-and-forth thing. This discussion has been done over & over again both here & on PDGA.com. I doubt any of us will have anything really constructive or new to add to this. Be courteous and things should go smoothly.

Mukey - out

[Chainmeister]

...and this is why I think the TD needs to set everybody straight.  Once the teacher tells everybody the rules the kids in the class know what they have to do.  After that we all know who is going to the principal's office, who is sitting in the corner and who gets to go out for recess. 

...ok, I'm out too. (but why do I keep hearing the song, "smoking in the boys room" in my head )

[OvEr HaNd AsSaSiN]

This is an issue that is around the sport now and forever will be.. Please dont hold this against the people of st. louis. I went down to mid nationals last year and the st. louis disc club was awesome to us... They even offered us a place to stay next time... Yes there were people that smoked weed and drank beer but you are going to find that every where .  These people put ALOT of time into these courses and making sure that there tourneys are ran well..   I would hate to see people be turned off by this great tourney coming up here just because dana had an opinion.. NO OFFENSE

[Bruce Brakel]

I might have said this before.  This is my view.  I'm not representing Brett or Jon's view.  They may be less libertarian. 

I would rather that people not engage in activities that are illegal while they are playing a disc golf tournament for which I am in any way responsible.  On the other hand if I had wanted to be a cop I could have chosen that profession.  I didn't. 

As a TD I arm myself with lots of rationalizations for looking the other way.  The PDGA does not issue breathalyzers and field reagent testing kits.  Not being a consumer of mood altering substances, I have no particular expertise at identifying them.  It's not my law.  I'm not calling foot faults either.  I would be happy if everyone would play nice and play by the rules. 

I have seen a lot of suspected beer drinking and dope smoking at my tournaments.  I've never once called anyone for that.  And no one has ever brought it to my attention in my capacity as the TD.  I'm fine with things that way, but you gotta watch out for Jon and Brett who might have other opinions.  Diana too. 

[dvicich]

whatever, overhand assassin.  i've played a shitload of tournaments from AZ to MI, GA, NC, KY, etc etc and by far st louis was the worst fu cking disc golf scene ive played in.  i hate to generalize, i really do, but almost every single one of the offenders was from st. louis.  one guy even went as far as saying 'i dont care if the TD see's it!  he already saw it and he dont give a shit!'  i haven't even mentioned the nutcases screaming and cussing after every shot.  all these instances were in the open division where there were 20-25 players each day.  people i rode with had issues over on the AM side of things as well.   (see ben's post from above). 

and NO SH!T, there are people who smoke and drink everywhere you go! DUH, no one is naive enough to think otherwise!  its just that st louis (in my opinion) had a high concentration of people drinking, smoking and generally being assholes during the rounds. 

[Fiddler]

Sounds like somebody could use a drink. geez

[DiscGolfSchodt]

I dont know if the St. Louis open is run by the same people as the two tournaments last week but look at the open men payouts.
15+ open players each day
$90 for 1st place on the Sat. tournament
$85 for 1st on Sunday

IOS #7 in 2006 11 open men players
$200 for first

All events discussed were C-tiers

That will keep me from making the trip down to play those events.

[skipache]

Tom, I agree with you but at the st Louis events you mentioned the entry was like 25 and at ios it was like 40 or 45. When you do the payout calcs, they still had a weak one but not as bad as they looked...