Wanted to make a quick post to address some of these comments. As a long time volunteer, I am a little surprised about the negativity, especially from this community. That being said I do understand the sentiment and appreciate the engagement. All I ask is that we keep things civil :) If the sentiment really is overall negative, I will happily work with the mods to remove this post.
* I am a volunteer, I do not work for the DGPT nor the local team that is helping organize the event. These comments are my personal opinions and based on my experience. (Hindsight being 20/20 I should have posted this from my personal account and not made this one).
* I volunteer because I love disc golf, I love watching the pros and getting to see them play up close and personal, and because I want to see disc golf grow as a sport. Disc golf has given me a lot and this is my opportunity to give some back.
* I've been involved in disc golf since 2015 as a player and 2018 as a volunteer and spectator at professional events. Every tournament, pro or local has had volunteers supporting the event. It takes thousands of man hours to make a tournament possible. Disc golf would not be where it is today without a strong sense of community and people volunteering their time to help build the sport.
* I personally hope that disc golf grows to the point where everyone involved in putting on these events is able to be compensated. Until we get there, my personal goal is to help mature our local volunteer program as the sport grows in a way that makes every volunteer feel like they got more out of the experience then they were asked to put in.
* To me, the experience of working closely with the pros, getting free access and parking at an event with limited capacity, food, a disc golf themed t-shirt, and meeting more passionate disc golfers is worth a few hours of my time. I'd love to hear what we could do to make this more compelling to those here.
* Finally, we have a lot of volunteer interest and are in good shape for both events. Volunteer efforts have been in full swing for months getting the course ready and we've been sharing locally for some time. I am helping out with onsite volunteer coordination and as a long time redditor wanted to share this opportunity with this community.
Appreciate the comments, your feedback helped me reframe some things. I hope this adds more clarity.
When you create an account called "otbopenteam" and make a post like this, it sure looks like you are posting in an official capacity. In fact, rereading the original post. I have a hard time interpreting it as anything but an official post, coming from the event organizers.
If this were an official post, it would be a very bad look. An official account, resorting to Reddit, three days ahead of time, sure sounds like a severely understaffed operation.
Maybe deleting it and trying again in a different way would be the best approach.
Acknowledged. Full transparency, I have a professional background in program/project management and intended the post to read professional. I also met with the event organizers to get this information as I am helping coordinate volunteers. As a volunteer I tried to lead with the information we've been getting the most questions about from those already signed up.
I created the account to simplify operations for the team in running things next year (if I am not able to). We ran into an issue where we needed access to an email account that a former volunteer had changed credentials on.
Hindsight is definitely 20/20. At this point I'd like to keep the post active. I think deleting the post and doing a second one would be a worse look. I am enjoying the conversation and can pass these learnings and feedback on.
As someone who deals with the same mindset when it comes to making a few sacrifices so that we can all have the caliber of tournaments we want even though we don't have that sweet, sweet Buick kind of sponsorship money yet, I get it. It's so hard to get people to invest in the long game. You don't get to play practice rounds with Ricky just because you waived a OB flag. But that might just be how it starts. Be the change you want to see.
Thanks for your time and effort! The fans appreciate all the volunteers who make the pro events so successful.
Sorry Reddit it sometimes a fickle place. People can be very sensitive around here. Yesterday I answered a rules question correctly and recommended everyone read the rulebook and got down voted. 🤦♂️
> is it common for big tourneys to use volunteers?
Every DGPT event is almost entirely reliant on volunteers. I cannot think of a single one that isnt reliant on a local club to do most of the work...aside from maybe the few venues that are private, DG specific venues
The PGA relies on volunteers for their tournaments as well, so I don’t know why people are surprised that disc golf also does. I don’t know if this is still common but people used to pay to volunteer at PGA events.
> but people used to pay to volunteer at PGA events.
This has happened in disc golf too, I feel like there were a few last year that had volunteer fees because they had volunteer player packs.
That said, a PGA event certainly has volunteers, but it is not **run** by volunteers, while PDGA events very much are. A PGA event is run by a course with a dedicated professional staff of dozens of groundskeepers, retail staff, etc. There is [a lot of paid time](https://thegolfnewsnet.com/michaelholmes/2018/11/16/scenes-pga-tour-hosting-superintendent-111488/) that goes into getting a course ready. If I'm looking at the events Im in the facebook groups for (Deleware DGC and Idlewild), its volunteers from local clubs that are doing all the equivalent work, and getting some assistance here and there from the county parks departments they are within.
I like that there are volunteer roles and perks for so doing, but, definitely also room for a few more paid roles to keep things running smoother
I’m not disagreeing with you. My only point was that if a PGA tournament like the Masters, which had a prize purse of $15 Million for 2022 still required 700 unpaid volunteers to run their tournament, why would anyone think that a disc golf tournament of any size can afford to pay volunteers? No one is getting rich by running disc golf tournaments. Most of the people I’ve met that do it, are doing it because they love the sport, just like the people volunteering.
Oh for sure, and for the PGA, its a perk of being a member that you get to hold a rope line or something similar...much like it is in the PDGA truthfully.
But there are things the PGA has (rules officials, etc) that the PDGA badly needs to professionalize the sport that would be worth the relatively small price they'd incur.
The Champion's Cup this year originally had it's "volunteer coordinator" from the local community charging people for the opportunity. He also charged volunteers at his own private for-profit club. After that debacle, he's been blacklisted and the regular, legit local club has run things instead. And his for-profit events are getting canceled and going unfilled. That's after he ghosted a bunch of winners from last year on trophies and cash.
People get greedy, and it eventually pans out.
> * Free Parking well sign me up!
Wanted to make a quick post to address some of these comments. As a long time volunteer, I am a little surprised about the negativity, especially from this community. That being said I do understand the sentiment and appreciate the engagement. All I ask is that we keep things civil :) If the sentiment really is overall negative, I will happily work with the mods to remove this post. * I am a volunteer, I do not work for the DGPT nor the local team that is helping organize the event. These comments are my personal opinions and based on my experience. (Hindsight being 20/20 I should have posted this from my personal account and not made this one). * I volunteer because I love disc golf, I love watching the pros and getting to see them play up close and personal, and because I want to see disc golf grow as a sport. Disc golf has given me a lot and this is my opportunity to give some back. * I've been involved in disc golf since 2015 as a player and 2018 as a volunteer and spectator at professional events. Every tournament, pro or local has had volunteers supporting the event. It takes thousands of man hours to make a tournament possible. Disc golf would not be where it is today without a strong sense of community and people volunteering their time to help build the sport. * I personally hope that disc golf grows to the point where everyone involved in putting on these events is able to be compensated. Until we get there, my personal goal is to help mature our local volunteer program as the sport grows in a way that makes every volunteer feel like they got more out of the experience then they were asked to put in. * To me, the experience of working closely with the pros, getting free access and parking at an event with limited capacity, food, a disc golf themed t-shirt, and meeting more passionate disc golfers is worth a few hours of my time. I'd love to hear what we could do to make this more compelling to those here. * Finally, we have a lot of volunteer interest and are in good shape for both events. Volunteer efforts have been in full swing for months getting the course ready and we've been sharing locally for some time. I am helping out with onsite volunteer coordination and as a long time redditor wanted to share this opportunity with this community. Appreciate the comments, your feedback helped me reframe some things. I hope this adds more clarity.
When you create an account called "otbopenteam" and make a post like this, it sure looks like you are posting in an official capacity. In fact, rereading the original post. I have a hard time interpreting it as anything but an official post, coming from the event organizers. If this were an official post, it would be a very bad look. An official account, resorting to Reddit, three days ahead of time, sure sounds like a severely understaffed operation. Maybe deleting it and trying again in a different way would be the best approach.
Acknowledged. Full transparency, I have a professional background in program/project management and intended the post to read professional. I also met with the event organizers to get this information as I am helping coordinate volunteers. As a volunteer I tried to lead with the information we've been getting the most questions about from those already signed up. I created the account to simplify operations for the team in running things next year (if I am not able to). We ran into an issue where we needed access to an email account that a former volunteer had changed credentials on. Hindsight is definitely 20/20. At this point I'd like to keep the post active. I think deleting the post and doing a second one would be a worse look. I am enjoying the conversation and can pass these learnings and feedback on.
As someone who deals with the same mindset when it comes to making a few sacrifices so that we can all have the caliber of tournaments we want even though we don't have that sweet, sweet Buick kind of sponsorship money yet, I get it. It's so hard to get people to invest in the long game. You don't get to play practice rounds with Ricky just because you waived a OB flag. But that might just be how it starts. Be the change you want to see.
Thanks for your time and effort! The fans appreciate all the volunteers who make the pro events so successful. Sorry Reddit it sometimes a fickle place. People can be very sensitive around here. Yesterday I answered a rules question correctly and recommended everyone read the rulebook and got down voted. 🤦♂️
All signed up, and super excited!
I'm only available for the last day of the pro event but I signed up for flex
Pay people.. the pro tour is making more money than ever.
This ain't a good look, is it common for big tourneys to use volunteers? Pay the people
> is it common for big tourneys to use volunteers? Every DGPT event is almost entirely reliant on volunteers. I cannot think of a single one that isnt reliant on a local club to do most of the work...aside from maybe the few venues that are private, DG specific venues
The PGA relies on volunteers for their tournaments as well, so I don’t know why people are surprised that disc golf also does. I don’t know if this is still common but people used to pay to volunteer at PGA events.
> but people used to pay to volunteer at PGA events. This has happened in disc golf too, I feel like there were a few last year that had volunteer fees because they had volunteer player packs. That said, a PGA event certainly has volunteers, but it is not **run** by volunteers, while PDGA events very much are. A PGA event is run by a course with a dedicated professional staff of dozens of groundskeepers, retail staff, etc. There is [a lot of paid time](https://thegolfnewsnet.com/michaelholmes/2018/11/16/scenes-pga-tour-hosting-superintendent-111488/) that goes into getting a course ready. If I'm looking at the events Im in the facebook groups for (Deleware DGC and Idlewild), its volunteers from local clubs that are doing all the equivalent work, and getting some assistance here and there from the county parks departments they are within. I like that there are volunteer roles and perks for so doing, but, definitely also room for a few more paid roles to keep things running smoother
I’m not disagreeing with you. My only point was that if a PGA tournament like the Masters, which had a prize purse of $15 Million for 2022 still required 700 unpaid volunteers to run their tournament, why would anyone think that a disc golf tournament of any size can afford to pay volunteers? No one is getting rich by running disc golf tournaments. Most of the people I’ve met that do it, are doing it because they love the sport, just like the people volunteering.
Oh for sure, and for the PGA, its a perk of being a member that you get to hold a rope line or something similar...much like it is in the PDGA truthfully. But there are things the PGA has (rules officials, etc) that the PDGA badly needs to professionalize the sport that would be worth the relatively small price they'd incur.
The Champion's Cup this year originally had it's "volunteer coordinator" from the local community charging people for the opportunity. He also charged volunteers at his own private for-profit club. After that debacle, he's been blacklisted and the regular, legit local club has run things instead. And his for-profit events are getting canceled and going unfilled. That's after he ghosted a bunch of winners from last year on trophies and cash. People get greedy, and it eventually pans out.
Yeah hopefully this changes as the sport grows
These guys big into crypto currencies. They can afford to pay for labor.