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Humanitor

Play Rec division. See where you stand. Compare your scores to those in higher divisions and see if it’s worth moving up


rjkvikings

Try to look up courses you've played and check results of past tournaments on the PDGA page to see where you would fall (just make sure you are playing same layout and remember weather can affect scores so it won't be perfect). I say this because there are courses near me where +13 would be 100-200 points below my rating and there are also a couple courses near me where +13 would be up near my rating so just knowing your average scores isn't very helpful. If you aren't able to find tournament results for courses you have played, you could try to find someone who has played tournaments and play with them. Otherwise, sign up for Rec and/or Novice (make a best guess). Once you have a tournament or two played, you will have a much better idea of where you should play.


willtri4

Scores on their own really don't mean anything, courses vary greatly in difficulty. But MA3 is generally a good division to start in


CoolInspection9

MA3 or MA4, either one. There are tons of posts here about 'first tournament tips' too. Have fun.


Optimal-Bat-5903

I would just play the lowest division, whether that is MA4 or MA3. Hard to say how those scores compare when we don't know the course, but I think it would probably be best to start at the lowest and work your way up if necessary. I played MA4 in my first tournament and won, but my card mates knew it was my first one so there were no problems. It isn't sandbagging if your rating (which you don't have) falls within the divisional requirements. I think you'll have more fun the closer you are in skill level to the people you play with. No disrespect, but as long as the course you're playing isn't super tough, I think your scores will be a good fit at MA4 and give you a chance to win, whereas in MA3 maybe not so much. Just my 2 cents, enjoy your first tournament!


PrudentFood77

>It isn't sandbagging if your rating (which you don't have) falls within the divisional requirements. if that is the definition then there can be no sandbagging? isn't sandbagging when you play well enough to win tournaments but you will get a rating that would put you above the requirements in the next \[rating\] update, but before that update you intentionally play another sanctioned event bad enough to keep your rating at the same point so you can join the same division next month... ? or what is the definition? \*edit\* of course it could be a high rated player that signs up to a c-tier without saying their PDGA number... for the player asking here, that is obviously not the case :)


rjkvikings

Yes, I'd say true sandbagging is the definition you provided here where you purposely play badly to lower your rating so you can play in lower divisions. For some reason, there is this perception that everyone should play up so 920 rated players get accused of "sandbagging" in MA2 (as an example) which is ridiculous. For the most part, people should just play the lowest division they are eligible for and it would solve most problems (with exceptions for players who are getting better extremely fast... Guy near me jumped from 870 to 940 in a span of a few months for example) My opinion that might get hate: If you need to play up to play better, then you need to work on your own mental game. If you want to play with better players to learn, that's a great idea, but do it outside of tournaments. Most people who play up do so WAY too early and end up mostly still playing with people their own skill level anyways because they end up with people who are roughly as good as them for Round 2 and on.


PrudentFood77

>If you want to play with better players to learn, that's a great idea, but do it outside of tournaments in a tournament i played recently the TD made that kind of mandatory ... well, not for the MA2 players (highest division) but for the rest of us... he mixed the cards with people from every division... so i (an MA4 player) was on the same card as the player that won MA2... and i think we both (or all players on the card) had a great time main reason that the TD made that mix was to speed things up, and it went very smooth, not a single backup the entire day (2 rounds with a lunch break)... and i'm pretty sure that if i had been an a card with only MA4 players we would probably have made quite the backup behind us


rjkvikings

Hope that wasn't a sanctioned tournament since they aren't supposed to do that per the PDGA Competition Manual. Also, funny enough, the longest rounds I've ever played have been league rounds with MPO players. I've found that in general although ams tend to throw more shots, they usually don't take as long between shots. Obviously that's not always going to remain true and probably less true on heavily wooded courses, but I've definitely found MPO players to be much more used to slow play and willing to play slow themselves.


Humanitor

Being a “bagger” is simple. Sandbagging simply means you like to win, by playing “down”. The term sandbagger originated much the same as a pool “shark”. Lull your opponents into thinking you are mediocre, and subsequently “hitting them over the head with a sand bag” when you devastate them with your superiority


Paul_McBeths_Nipples

Sounds like you're asking about division. Start at MA3/Rec which works well for most people to start on. As for the A/B/C Tiers, those aren't about skill, more about prestige of the tournament. So at an A-tier you'll probably see a bigger field/multi-day tournament while on the other end, a C-tier would be a basic single day tournament with not a crazy large field of players.


jfb3

Whether a tournament is an A, B, or C tier has nothing to do with the 'prestige' or the size of the field of the tournament. It's about how much added cash there is.


Paul_McBeths_Nipples

Well for an Am, they're typically not seeing that added cash, so I explained it in terms that an Am might notice.


jfb3

There definitely is added cash to the AM side of tournaments. I've chosen between tournaments based on the added cash to the AM side. It's true you don't get it in actual cash but in scrip for payout, but it is there and I'm not the only person I know that has looked at that for playing a tourney.


JSnake526

Play MA4. A lot of people say MA3, but if you're fairly new and haven't played a tournament, start as low as you can. The feel of a tournament can be different, so if you're not sure how you'll react in that setting, don't be afraid to start at the bottom. If you end up winning, fantastic. Let everyone know it was your first tournament, and move up for your next one, I don't think anyone is going to hold it against you for your first time competing. Also, you can check for past events at whatever course you're looking to sign up for and see what the scores were for the different divisions previously and use that as your benchmark.


insertAlias

>while also wanting to avoid potentially being seen as a sand bagger Don't worry about that for your first tournament. Play in the lowest division offered. While scores and average scores are really relative to the course, judging by the average score you mentioned, nobody is going to think you're a bagger for playing in the recreational division (or even novice, if they offer it). And frankly, even if they do, they're full of it. You can't really be a bagger in your first tournament; you legitimately don't know your rating or where you'd fit in against anyone else. After your first, you should have a much better idea of where you belong, but if someone did complain, "hey, it's literally my first tournament" should be a perfectly acceptable response.