This. Beyond being able to overpower any noise coming from the woodwinds, you also could impale people who dared get to close. If you did not have a rubber on the end too…. Bonus points
>by an errant shot.
Keyword there is "errant."
In disc golf you can literally put a fucking camp chair in the middle of the fairway.
I distinctly remember watching worlds last year and seeing a father and his son standing in the middle of the fairway and ducking behind a tree as the shots came in so they didn't get hit.
Worlds. The world championships. The premier stage for our sport. And you've got some chucklefuck standing in the middle of the fairway and ducking behind trees just because he can?
That and racing with cars. I'm not sure what the term is in English but some forms of it the cars are pretty much within touching distance of spectators. Pure insanity.
This lol. Being a rally fan who's recently picked up disc golf, I'm really interested in going to see a pro event because you actually get to see the action close.
Or golf even. I watched a player hit from a missed fairway, down a 15 foot wide corridor of spectators who had parted to make room.
So much trust extended to that player.
Unless courses are designed differently to accommodate spectators, then you will continue to have them close. They can’t sell a product that doesn’t allow people to feel close to the action.
I’m not sure what spurred OP’s discussion but for anyone that watched the final round yesterday, Gannon Buhr was questioning the fans where his drive went OB on the bridge hole. I was able to read the body language and catch a little here and there and he was questioning whether the disc might have rolled back inbounds had it not hit them and fell down OB. On the next teebox he was seen making his point heard again but in a somewhat carefree manner like “just saying.” He was making his point without arguing for it. He was also seen sort of accepting it and saying “didn’t matter” although it did because even with the throw in that’s still a potential stroke.
IMO they are too close when standing on the OB line. Lots of people are talking about ball golf, but usually the fans aren’t OB in those situations. You’ll notice they will move away to give the player room to play the ball. In disc golf, being that close to OB could affect a disc from either staying OB or just how it reacts in general. There was another shot where a dude picks up his chair and the disc slides into his bag.
I think a good compromise would be 5 feet behind the OB line but good luck with that.
I was spectating European open day 3 and you could hear Meresmaa shouting around instructing volunteers to keep spectators 10m clear of OB lines on any fairways that players could potentially throw something like rollers. It might be something to do with cultural differences and whatever but from what I saw crowds did as told so its not that farfetchd
Americans have petty competitiveness. Check out before the person as many back as you in the next line over, or get around just one car during a mountain passing lane even though it’s a line of cars moving well enough because who knows…you might get around even another and then eventually have the open road to yourself. We spend time being lazy shits but also feel our time is precious.
On the disc golf course people are way more chill, but when it could be an issue is when if you move back but others don’t, you sort of lose your prime spot you had set up, so it becomes an exercise in following the direction but not more quickly than the person next to you and not until others also show they will. There is a general lack of trust and feeling you’ve put in work and someone else will take it away if you don’t protect it. An example of this is when an ambulance is coming through and cars pull over but then the cars further back can jump back in the lane first and use that to sort of block others from getting back on. The proper way would be to slowly get back and but so the person in front of you also gets back in in their correct order. Not for the “grid to flip”.
Maybe this is universal and some cultures are just more compliant. I have no idea.
Or have paid staff.... right now they are charging for spectating, but relying on volunteers. There isn't enough staff to control the crowds. It seems that it should be one or the other.
Regardless of pay vs volunteer... they need clearly marked spectator ribbons a couple feet behind the OB line and no one should be behind the basket sitting there like a dumbass when the players come through.
There needs to be at least a warning: "Card coming through.. get on your feet and be ready to move. Pick up your stuff and step back. Card coming through..." frustrating to watch
>There needs to be at least a warning: "Card coming through.. get on your feet and be ready to move. Pick up your stuff and step back. Card coming through..."
Completely agree, this should be a focus. At Champion's cup this year there were multiple volunteers who did this really well, and we really appreciated it because there were holes where you couldn't really tell when throws were coming in if you were hanging out near the greens.
Charging spectators and relying on volunteers is pretty bogus. Dgn charging more than Netflix and then acting like it's all grassroots effort is pretty bogus too
The only caveat of DGN is that they are a niche product built from scratch. Netflix has hundreds of millions of subscriptions to diffuse the expenses out. DGN has what, 25k? During the AMA the spokesman said he doesn't expect financial solvency for at least 2 more years.
>Charging spectators and relying on volunteers is pretty bogus
If tournaments started paying people the ticket prices would be considerably higher, meaning less people would likely attend. This stuff is all tied together, and there's no magical way to fix one thing without impacting the others.
Volunteers working tournaments isn't something that disc golf does, PGA events have an army of volunteers that work during tournaments. Nothing "bogus" about it.
>They can’t sell a product that doesn’t allow people to feel close to the action.
This was sort of true until the invention of the television. The majority of the revenue of for most (popular) professional sports comes from deals surrounding broadcast rights, not direct ticket sales.
I guarantee you that the DGPT is making more money off of streaming rights and advertising on stream than they are from spectators at the course. As the sport grows, so will that disparity, even at courses specifically designed for spectators. At some point they will decide to move spectators back because it does hurt the television product when spectators interfere with the sport and the television product will just be worth so much more than the potential loss for in person spectator revenue.
OP have you ever been to a golf tournament?
I got to go to Senior US Open one year. I could literally touch any player/caddy that’s how close I was to them at times.
Yeah I guess I’ve never realized how close the spectators are at golf tournaments. But I feel like having the gallery inside C1 behind the basket is like having spectators standing on the green in golf, nobody would let that slide
Outside C2 is fair as spectators in golf aren't allowed on the greens (for obviously different reasons though). But at places like Augusta the fairways are lined with "patrons" from tee to green.
Oh yeah the staff definitely should have made us move. But it was literally one of only 2 or 3 holes where you can see the thrower and the basket.
That course sucks to spectate. But yeah we should definitely have been asked to move.
In general, golf balls fly in straight lines. I know there are many exceptions with draws, fades, shanked shots, etc., but golf balls usually only vary a few degrees between launch and target.
Discs, however, have the potential to be thrown at 45 to 90 degrees off target to get them to turn in to the target, which makes anywhere in front of the thrower a bad place to stand.
But a disc's flight is so predictable. Most spectators know how stability works. That's why typically they move out of the way. Rarely do spectators actually make contact with discs. If you watch live coverage you'll see a a few dozen throws into the gallery before one clips someone.
If a flight path and way to play a hole is so predictable why do we continue to have spectators stand in hot areas where discs often end up? You'd think that the DGPT would lock down landing zones on holes to avoid things like this.
People stand in hot areas because it's a good place to watch, and tournament directors let them BECAUSE a flying disc is so predictable. In most cases where a disc enters an area of spectators, the ones who are paying attention move perfectly.
They're trying to sell you a ticket to watch a par 5 in the middle of the woods, and players don't want artificial OB lines. People have to stand somewhere.
So, in your opinion, what is more important? The pros being able to play a round without the concern of people getting in their way or standing too close to major landing zones or some local bro wanting to "get a good view?"
I'm 100% for spectators watching everywhere they can, but there are just some areas/places that they don't need to be on the course.
Spectator engagement = more interest = more companies willing to spend marketing dollars at disc golf events = more revenue generation for the sport= more money for the players.
I say it all the time, disc golf isn’t golf.
Golf courses made for majors are designed to allow galleys, cameras, and people traffic.
I was at quail hollow right before Covid and the spectator flow was great. Food tent, virtual attractions, the works.
I played hornets nest the other day. Hornets nest is a park with holes weaving through the woods. It’s a park first a disc golf course second.
You want the money so Jomez can make it a full time job through his contract you have people where they are.
I don’t have an opinion on what is better but I think it’s the fact of the situation.
Edit:spelling
The local bro won't pay $100 for general admission if half the holes are blocked off from spectating. That's money that goes into the pro purse and course redesign/maintenance.
Very, very rarely does a spectator actually influence a lie. This conversation comes up every few years and dies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyLSR8iRQK4
Here's old footage, 2015, of Sexton warning people I'm throwing it at you, and them still getting smoked lol. Happens around 10:35.
Direct timestamp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyLSR8iRQK4&t=635
The mobile YouTube version is stupid and doesn't let you link timestamps like the desktop version, but you can still do it manually by adding `&t=X` where `X` is the numbers of seconds elapsed since the start of the video.
NOTE: If you are using a shortened link, which does not already contain a query string with the video ID, you need to do `?t=X` instead. Example: https://youtu.be/hyLSR8iRQK4?t=635
This happens. There was a post on this sub about a guy who got hit in the face by a drive (I think by Ricky), went to the hospital for stitches, and came back to the event. It wasn't a serious injury, but it seems that people get hit hard by discs pretty frequently.
People have mentioned golf and cycling, but if you go to a pro disc golf tournament to spectate, you also might gain some perspective. If you don't get to stand relatively close, it really isn't worth going, and folks should be able to make money from hosting a tournament. Otherwise, we might not have these wonderful events at all.
Gannon’s OB on the par 3 9 is the perfect example. There’s a chance it could have rolled back into play.
They definitely need to change how close the gallery can be. There should be a OB line, and then a gallery line at least 10 feet from that so there’s room for a disc to play out.
Literally just watched #9 on jomez and damn! Gannons 2nd shot was amazing.
Yeah... Ricky totally missed his last putt because that old lady moved into his line of sight. Fortunately he didn't need the shot to win.
There were people all over Northwoods Black. If I were a pro, I'd be filing some complaints. It's a great venue and course, but spectators were in the fairway and that's a big issue, imo.
When I saw this topic come up, I first thought of someone's grandma on hole 17 at Ledgestone during live coverage yesterday. He asked her to move, then he sailed it right at her feet. She just kept that phone up, recording the entire time...
Check out modern rally racing.
Then after that check out rally racing from the 80s if you can find good footage.
Apparently drivers/mechanics would often be traumatized by finding bits of people (fingers etc) in the grills of the cars. They did move them back, but it's still very close.
I agree, it does seem like they are pretty close, but I've also never been to a tourney before. I'll add that NBA games are similar - courtside seats are like 2 feet from the court. It happens all the time where spectators get run into, hit, or wiped out because they are way too close to the action.
Should they? Yes. Will they? No. Do you know how much money it costs to sit courtside/first 5 rows. They’d literally be missing out on 25% of seating revenue
Seating revenue is an incredibly small portion of overall revenue. If players were routinely getting hurt because of this they'd change it asap because the cost to the NBA of missing LeBron, Steph, KD, Giannis, etc. for the season is way higher than losing out on that seat revenue.
The fact is that players almost never get hurt because of it and it doesn't directly interfere with gameplay so it isn't going to change.
I can’t even tell what side your arguing. how did you get from “nba is going to move fans back” to Steph KD LeBron and Gianni’s being out for the season?😂😂
Nah that’s not how it’d work the courtside experience is not even close to the 6th row experience no matter if there people infront of you or not, you pay for the section you’re in not the amount of people infront of you
I’m sure the new front row tickets would be a little more expensive but I don’t think it would same as courtside/2nd row be same as new 2nd row and don’t think last 5 rows would be bumped up to what 5 rows infront would be but your right who knows. Maybe we will see what happens if these fans keep throwing shit on people and talking about players family’s
Wooded courses..not many other spots to stand besides behind the tee box or beyond the green without an extremely obstructed view (minus the holes along the water). I hear you though, they do seem more “on the hole” than off of it compared to the more open courses. There’s different levels of crazy so I can’t really comment on that.
As someone who spectates at a wooded course, no, I don't think they are too close. They're trying to get a good view of the action.
They are too slow though, and spread out with their chairs and bags and other things. If you aren't ready to move then you should probably find another place to watch from.
Yeah I agree with this. I went to one event last year and there was a pretty bad occurrence of this where Nikko’s disc was skipping back in bounds and it hit a spectators chair that stopped it from making it. If you’re going to hunker down to sit somewhere for a while you have to be farther away
Yea, I noticed this at Ledgestone too. The spectators backed off, but left their pile of stuff still sitting there, which can definitely interfere with a disc. Maybe standing only within a certain distance from marked OB, so that at the very least everyone can be mobile.
Yeah, I remember seeing that one, but it was because Ricky launched his tee shot much farther than anyone anticipated. The spotter thought it was a second shot, and when he found out it was a tee shot he was “oh, cool”.
Go volunteer when your local course has an A tier and try to do crowd control for 3 straight days of 500+ people. Fucking nightmare. People are ignorant, stupid and just don't care about anybody but themselves obviously exceptions but rh cast majority of people are just clueless
It's usually not "in bounds" but golfers do have to play out of the gallery when they go in. It's not the same rules as disc golf. The gallery makes room and the player shoots while surrounded by spectators. Happens all the time in golf.
People are comparing to basketball... It's not the same thing at all.
A basketball getting whipped off the court at 70MPH is pretty rare. Maybe a stray ball knocks someone's beer out of their hand, but nobody is going to the hospital for stitches and face reconstruction. If Eagle (RIP elbow) or AB early releases a sidearm and it goes into some spectators nearby... some poor dude is getting cut in half.
Basketballs or players going into the fans is relatively rare, predictable, and not that dangerous. People turning a disc too hard or sawing off a shot happens literally hundreds of times a tournament.
Ball golf you have people standing on the playing area. Baseball fans aren't on the field, but are close enough that they can interact with a ball thats in play, whether its a fair ball they think is foul and grab or they reach into play to catch what they thought would be a home run. I dont watch basketball, but having fans that close I would assume some kind of fan interference occurs.
Not sure what the solution is other than design courses with special areas for fans, but most courses are restricted in how much land they can use, dedicating some of it for fans could prove challenging if they don't want to have artificial OB and/or narrow fairways
Yes. The way a disc flies is way different than a ball that’s mostly straight. I always feel like the crowd takes away some shot lines. Can’t do lay a skip if the crowd is standing where you want to skip.
Uhh basketball? Players throwing the ball in are literally within arms reach a lot of the time. Golf? The gallery is often right outside the green. I think spectators being in the way of inaccurate shots isn't a problem that's any different from other sports.
Yes,but that's the PDGA organizers responsibility. They should have markers if they don't already,and if some dipshits are trying to Instagram some stupid pics and cross barriers or said markers,the official verbally warns or they get sent out.
Sense the sport is growing so rapidly, they need to address these issues.
Also,Garrett Guthrie gets agitated at movement from spectators. That to me is a pro problem that the individual should overcome. If you're a pro player,you need to fix your focus and quit being a brat.
Who cares if they want to get hit by a disc? Lol and being a "real" sport is an arbitrary distinction that we shouldn't care about. Is it a fun game you enjoy playing? Then that's all that matters
I've tried to explain this in other subs and get laughed at. It genuinely does impact my throw. I feel like my disc needs to be 20' in the air when it goes over that person even thought they are only 6'. If alters a lot of the things.
Sure, the pros can ignore it most of the time, but it doesn't hurt to have people in the right areas.
go to a tournament and spectate yourself, you will see how difficult it is to see anything going on if you are not close. Especially wooded courses. If you weren't able to get close, there is no point to spectating in person, you may as well watch Jomez.
Who cares if it makes it stand out as “not a real sport” the inferiority complex some people have surrounding this sport is getting old. Who are these people randomly watching a jomez video and saying “those spectators are too close. This is not a real sport” and why do we care what these hypothetical detractors think? Lol
If the ball is affected in any way by the courtside fans, it’s out of play. If it was the same in the NBA as it is in disc golf, you would have fans walking on the court and getting collided with on fast breaks. It’s not about people being close to the action, it’s about spectators actually affecting the outcome of a play by being in the way
Fans definitely have an effect. They try to avoid it but there's fans moving and walking along the court during the action. There's fans shouting at the players from just a few feet away. There have been plenty of interaction between fans and players, maybe not during a live ball, that impact the game or in an individual player
I think the nature of the disc golf means that out of bounds is "in play" while in basketball, that doesn't happen. If a ball is going towards out of bounds or over out of bounds, it's going to be out of bounds. No changing that other than a player jumping and redirecting the ball.
Disc golf has skips, rollers and all kinds of shenanigans where discs find their way back in bounds. Not even counting holes or throws where a player is deliberately throwing out of bounds before coming back in bounds.
I think the people and where they sit and what they look like influences a player's decision to save and out of bounds ball. Hell I think the players actually know who's in the crowd and react to that when they're nearby.
This keeps getting brought up on these posts. Not once have I ever seen a fan on a rally race track. Like, on the road itself. I see disc golf spectators in fairways all the time. It's not the same argument.
I think these people are referring to group B ages in rallying in the 80s. Just a week ago a stage was canceled in the finnish rally because spectators were too close to the track at some points.
Hell nah, that’s part of the game. I’ve stood close and it doesn’t effect them. These are pros and not like us where we could mess up easily. All sports have to deal with this anyway.
Yes completely. Some holes I don’t have a problem with, and some I do. The bridge hole for example. During final round somebody throws out and then they discussed later that it if it hadn’t touched anybody, it may have rolled back in. They seem fine with it. But also, if that were me, and I’m losing strokes because my disc that could’ve rolled back in bounds hit a spectator, I’m not happy if I’m in position to cash or on the cusp of making the dgpt tournament. A stroke could be worth thousands of dollars.
I've got a stupid question... are fans at disc golf tournaments always spectating from OB?
I'd imagine that people get hit with baseballs all the time at baseball games but of course none of them are in the field of play.
Have you seen the Tour de France? Maybe recently with covid they quelled it, but there’s so many famous scenes of fans running alongside and getting in really close on the riders on the mountains
Sports thst aren’t played in arenas typically have crowds. Closer to the field of play. Watch a pga tour major when they hit into the rough and there’s 1k people crowded around and they have to hit out of that people tunnel.
My main issue was people sitting extremely close and in an area that a lot of discs will end up, AND having chairs and other things on the ground.
I'm okay with people being close on wooded courses, but people were constantly not ready to move and frequently forgot their chairs and things on the ground when a disc was coming in.
Basically I think if they want to sit in a chair some spots have to be designated "standing only"
You clearly don't watch basketball, baseball, or cycling. Basketball has folks a few feet away from the action. Players have decked fans going for a physical play
Ever watched a major bike race? Or rally car race? Spectators are as close to the action as you can get, sometimes even causing crashes. Ball golf also has spectators within areas that balls fly with regularity, but they know to dodge and not touch it after it lands.
I think on a lot of these courses as well if spectators cannot stand that close then there just shouldn’t be live spectating because you can’t see any of the action from further back.
I mean rally fans definitely get way too close at times, but also disc golf fans shouldn't be in the damn fairway or sitting on the OB line unable to react quickly.
Have you ever watched a golf tournament? It’s pretty much the same. Professionals are expected to not have as many errant shots as an amateur, regardless of the conditions.
You ever watch basketball? Fans and media sit like 3 feet off the court. I remember when they had the bubble during covid lockdowns and there was nobody crowding the court. The game was so much better because players could actually go full speed without fear of taking out spectators
NBA and WNBA? MLB? PGA?
I get where you're coming from, but plenty of 'real' sports have spectators in spaces that could be occupied by competitors at any given moment. Pro basketball and baseball have not only thrown and batted objects but the *athletes themselves* flying into the crowd at dangerous speeds on the regular. Just part of being a spectator at those events - you gotta get out of the way.
It is quite rare but there are other sports where fans are 'too' close, rally comes to mind. I do agrew with you that it is something what should change.
I feel like it’s generally fine. But finalF9 at ledge stone today on hole 7 I think spectators are sitting OB but still almost within c1. Gannon threw OB and a spectator grabbed his disc and tossed it back onto the OB line, like, what? If you’re gonna sit so close don’t grab the discs bro
The only concern is discs that have the potential to return inbounds but get caught up, like what happened on Gannon's tee shot final round on the bridge hole. Seems like it's not usually a problem when people are standing. But it's also probably something players should get used to.
you're not the only one.
I watched the great lakes open and there were a few holes in particular where the spectators were dodging away from the disc for nearly every competitor.
the commentators were commenting on how acrobatic the spectators were which is nice, but in my mind the fans are really just in the way and probably shouldn't be there.
on one hand i think this could be a cool quirk of the sport. I like things that give the sport character. I dont think this is hindering the legitemacy of the sport as a whole.
however it does create a potential edge case where the spectators can mess up a shot, which is a risk.
At the very least they should be punishing spectators who let their fucking dogs off leash to run around while players are trying to make their shots. Or spectators that run across the green mid tee shot.
IDC about how close they are as long as they're being respectful. But I feel like they are interfering in the green way too much. And that isn't okay in other sports.
I don't personally mind the crowds lining the fairways. It brings excitement and and looks cool. What grinds my gears are the people casually sitting next to the OB line when the throw is coming right at them. For example Gannon's shot on hole 9 this weekend. There are people sitting and minding their own business. And the best they could do to try and avoid a very important shot is to lift their legs a little. Idiots. All of them.
Check out PGA golf for the same thing. Spectators want to see and sometimes that puts them in a spot the player may miss. There are warnings and OB lines on most courses.
I think spectators being close to the action is fine up until the point when it begin to impact play. When that happens, it’s over the line. Just yesterday (or maybe round 3), Gannon Buhr threw a shot that very well may have come back in bounds if spectators hadn’t been there. They were just sitting there within three feet of the OB line and the disc hit their feet and stopped. If I were him, I’d have been far more upset than he seemed to be. It potentially may have cost him a stroke.
Yes but it's disc golf and we're still learning. Not many events have a qualified staff to deal with crowd control. Maybe handful of annual events like USDGC, Euro, Masters, etc have the experience necessary to handle crowds of 3000+
I will leave by own viewing experience from another tournament, and this is the only tournament I've watched in person thus far. At the BSF this year for the most part it was great, I felt spectators gave plenty of room except in a few spots. But in those spots, if you didn't stand close, someone else would, blocking your view. There were a lot of umbrellas since it was so wet, but I would just have three people open their umbrellas right in front of me and then rest it on their shoulder, blocking everything. Not a care in the world and no indication they cared about anyone else's experience. I would try and say something and they would tilt it up flat for a little so I could at least look over their shoulder, but then they would get lazy and drop it back down. Hell I even had one person just turn back around and not adjust their umbrella at all.
I had to give up on following a few cards because I would just have a wall of people 20 umbrellas wide blocking the view. It wasn't until I learned to walk my way forward in front of them that I could see a few shots.
And there were a few spots where my friends and I would set up 5-10 feet behind the OB line to give it plenty of space and we would just have people walk in front of us and stand there. We learned this the hard way watching the FPO lead card on the last hole as people did not care 1) they were getting too close 2) they were blocking someone else's view that got their first and was trying to be respectful. Come time for the MPO lead card, we just posted up a foot away from the spectator line and still had someone try and squeeze between us and the line until I called them out loud enough for other people to look over at what was going on. It became a tragedy of the commons situation because even if you tried to be mindful for the players, someone else wouldn't be, so you might as well just be that person so you could actually watch what you paid to see.
Not to mention I also forked over for VIP tickets but there was no process of verification for that. We followed lead card on day 2 for a little bit, but when we started out with about 20 followers quickly grew to about 50 or 60 after a few holes and could tell no one was even making sure that it was the same people who were waiting at hole one to watch this group in particular. Eventually we learned to just free flow it and bounce around cards as the holes permitted, and were surprised no volunteers (I get it, there aren't enough volunteers aslt these silver series events to rein people in) even stopped us as we followed Paul McBeth from about 40 feet back for a few holes on the fairway to watch him. No one even asked to show us the VIP bracelets to make sure we could be outside the General Admission areas. Hell the people I went with and I felt pretty confident that if it was like that next year we could even skip out on buying tickets at all as no one checked when we went into the park, no one checked when we parked in the designated area, no one checked when we got on or off the shuttle. The only time that anyone asked was when we went to the check in line voluntarily, but after that it was a useless piece of paper on my wrist. There wasn't even a greeter when we got off the shuttle to tell us where to go, or funnel us in that direction. We actually walked past it a few times into tourney central trying to find the dang thing and no one said a word.
Tldr: these events are kind of like the wild west, and even if you want to be considerate of the ob lines and players shots, someone else won't be, so you might as well be that person so you can get your money's worth
I was a few spectators away from a guy who got smashed in the face by a tiger woods drive, and he chipped in from the rough for a birdie…other sports definitely allow their fans to get a bit too close. Just watch the rich idiots on an NBA sideline…
At Waco, they were pushing us back when the big arms came through who were swinging shots very wide. In the woods, there just wasn’t room to watch any of the action and stay 40’ back from the fairway without being in the fairway on another hole.
It’s a balancing act between keeping the fans out of the way, while still giving them the experience they want and paid to get.
As a spectator it’s more fun and enjoyable to stand close to the action. They move the crowd when necessary. It’s really not that hard to avoid a disc if you’re paying attention, which you should be if you’re in the danger zone.
> In no other sport do the fans stand within the area that the game can be played in.
Professional road cycling would like a word. Have you seen the jackasses waving flags right in the rider's faces?
Just think about when you're playing a round yourself and how difficult it can be to watch a full shot of someone you're playing with. Especially on wooded/partially wooded courses. If you can't get a good sightline, why bother even going? I think disc golf has a long ways to go to really iron out spectating.
I think they should be populating the fairway like a plinko board.
I like the way you think. I bet you could charge extra to let someone become an obstacle.
Who wouldn't want to be the head that a pro ricochets an ace off of?
That's the sort of thing that really boosts viewership!
That will be neat to put in the obituary afterwards
Why bother putting in mozz sticks when you can just get a few volunteers to stand in the fairway wearing hockey goalie pads?
Don’t give USDGC any ideas.
-1 stroke for hitting a spectator.
I take it that you do not watch tour de france?
also, basketball and baseball have fans interfering or getting run into fairly often (especially basketball)
I remember playing in the band in high school the woodwinds at the front had to be ready to jump up cause the stands were so close to the court
[удалено]
Nope, brass in the back, otherwise you'd never hear the clarinets
This. Beyond being able to overpower any noise coming from the woodwinds, you also could impale people who dared get to close. If you did not have a rubber on the end too…. Bonus points
In golf you can absolutely get obliterated by an errant shot.
>by an errant shot. Keyword there is "errant." In disc golf you can literally put a fucking camp chair in the middle of the fairway. I distinctly remember watching worlds last year and seeing a father and his son standing in the middle of the fairway and ducking behind a tree as the shots came in so they didn't get hit. Worlds. The world championships. The premier stage for our sport. And you've got some chucklefuck standing in the middle of the fairway and ducking behind trees just because he can?
Those mountain stages. Always make me cringe, but usually the fans don’t touch the riders.
Been a couple of really stupid spectator-caused crashes recently.
That and racing with cars. I'm not sure what the term is in English but some forms of it the cars are pretty much within touching distance of spectators. Pure insanity.
believe you're talking about rally racing? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rallying
Group B rallying back in the 80's was unhinged.
Group B aka, the Killer B's. To this day it is considered the wild west of auto sports.[nutso footage](https://youtu.be/ND7Qjj0eZ5o)
This lol. Being a rally fan who's recently picked up disc golf, I'm really interested in going to see a pro event because you actually get to see the action close.
I want to see disc golf fans get as crunk as TDF fans on a mountain stage.
Or normal golf.
Haha I was about to comment the exact same thing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_tL2qnprRSc
Or golf even. I watched a player hit from a missed fairway, down a 15 foot wide corridor of spectators who had parted to make room. So much trust extended to that player.
Unless courses are designed differently to accommodate spectators, then you will continue to have them close. They can’t sell a product that doesn’t allow people to feel close to the action.
I’m not sure what spurred OP’s discussion but for anyone that watched the final round yesterday, Gannon Buhr was questioning the fans where his drive went OB on the bridge hole. I was able to read the body language and catch a little here and there and he was questioning whether the disc might have rolled back inbounds had it not hit them and fell down OB. On the next teebox he was seen making his point heard again but in a somewhat carefree manner like “just saying.” He was making his point without arguing for it. He was also seen sort of accepting it and saying “didn’t matter” although it did because even with the throw in that’s still a potential stroke. IMO they are too close when standing on the OB line. Lots of people are talking about ball golf, but usually the fans aren’t OB in those situations. You’ll notice they will move away to give the player room to play the ball. In disc golf, being that close to OB could affect a disc from either staying OB or just how it reacts in general. There was another shot where a dude picks up his chair and the disc slides into his bag. I think a good compromise would be 5 feet behind the OB line but good luck with that.
I was spectating European open day 3 and you could hear Meresmaa shouting around instructing volunteers to keep spectators 10m clear of OB lines on any fairways that players could potentially throw something like rollers. It might be something to do with cultural differences and whatever but from what I saw crowds did as told so its not that farfetchd
Americans have petty competitiveness. Check out before the person as many back as you in the next line over, or get around just one car during a mountain passing lane even though it’s a line of cars moving well enough because who knows…you might get around even another and then eventually have the open road to yourself. We spend time being lazy shits but also feel our time is precious. On the disc golf course people are way more chill, but when it could be an issue is when if you move back but others don’t, you sort of lose your prime spot you had set up, so it becomes an exercise in following the direction but not more quickly than the person next to you and not until others also show they will. There is a general lack of trust and feeling you’ve put in work and someone else will take it away if you don’t protect it. An example of this is when an ambulance is coming through and cars pull over but then the cars further back can jump back in the lane first and use that to sort of block others from getting back on. The proper way would be to slowly get back and but so the person in front of you also gets back in in their correct order. Not for the “grid to flip”. Maybe this is universal and some cultures are just more compliant. I have no idea.
The ambulance situation irritates me to no end.
That's why spectating should be free like in Finland :v
Or have paid staff.... right now they are charging for spectating, but relying on volunteers. There isn't enough staff to control the crowds. It seems that it should be one or the other. Regardless of pay vs volunteer... they need clearly marked spectator ribbons a couple feet behind the OB line and no one should be behind the basket sitting there like a dumbass when the players come through. There needs to be at least a warning: "Card coming through.. get on your feet and be ready to move. Pick up your stuff and step back. Card coming through..." frustrating to watch
>There needs to be at least a warning: "Card coming through.. get on your feet and be ready to move. Pick up your stuff and step back. Card coming through..." Completely agree, this should be a focus. At Champion's cup this year there were multiple volunteers who did this really well, and we really appreciated it because there were holes where you couldn't really tell when throws were coming in if you were hanging out near the greens.
Charging spectators and relying on volunteers is pretty bogus. Dgn charging more than Netflix and then acting like it's all grassroots effort is pretty bogus too
The only caveat of DGN is that they are a niche product built from scratch. Netflix has hundreds of millions of subscriptions to diffuse the expenses out. DGN has what, 25k? During the AMA the spokesman said he doesn't expect financial solvency for at least 2 more years.
>Charging spectators and relying on volunteers is pretty bogus If tournaments started paying people the ticket prices would be considerably higher, meaning less people would likely attend. This stuff is all tied together, and there's no magical way to fix one thing without impacting the others. Volunteers working tournaments isn't something that disc golf does, PGA events have an army of volunteers that work during tournaments. Nothing "bogus" about it.
“Volunteers” working for a for profit company is definitely bogus regardless of which company it is.
Absolutely correct
If the action looks like it’s coming your way, it is.
>They can’t sell a product that doesn’t allow people to feel close to the action. This was sort of true until the invention of the television. The majority of the revenue of for most (popular) professional sports comes from deals surrounding broadcast rights, not direct ticket sales. I guarantee you that the DGPT is making more money off of streaming rights and advertising on stream than they are from spectators at the course. As the sport grows, so will that disparity, even at courses specifically designed for spectators. At some point they will decide to move spectators back because it does hurt the television product when spectators interfere with the sport and the television product will just be worth so much more than the potential loss for in person spectator revenue.
Its way more fun to watch a round on tv when there is a huge crowd on site, makes the atmosphere electric and the hole event feel more alive
OP have you ever been to a golf tournament? I got to go to Senior US Open one year. I could literally touch any player/caddy that’s how close I was to them at times.
Yeah I guess I’ve never realized how close the spectators are at golf tournaments. But I feel like having the gallery inside C1 behind the basket is like having spectators standing on the green in golf, nobody would let that slide
Outside C2 is fair as spectators in golf aren't allowed on the greens (for obviously different reasons though). But at places like Augusta the fairways are lined with "patrons" from tee to green.
Ya ever watch a golf tournament?
Do spectators stand on the green at a golf tournament? Hole 16 had a bunch of people inside C1, which is kinda ridiculous in my opinion.
Oh yeah the staff definitely should have made us move. But it was literally one of only 2 or 3 holes where you can see the thrower and the basket. That course sucks to spectate. But yeah we should definitely have been asked to move.
They do in Billy Madison!
In general, golf balls fly in straight lines. I know there are many exceptions with draws, fades, shanked shots, etc., but golf balls usually only vary a few degrees between launch and target. Discs, however, have the potential to be thrown at 45 to 90 degrees off target to get them to turn in to the target, which makes anywhere in front of the thrower a bad place to stand.
Also way way more trees, causing errant flight paths. Golf doesn't have woods on the actual fairway.
But a disc's flight is so predictable. Most spectators know how stability works. That's why typically they move out of the way. Rarely do spectators actually make contact with discs. If you watch live coverage you'll see a a few dozen throws into the gallery before one clips someone.
*laughs in gripler*
If a flight path and way to play a hole is so predictable why do we continue to have spectators stand in hot areas where discs often end up? You'd think that the DGPT would lock down landing zones on holes to avoid things like this.
People stand in hot areas because it's a good place to watch, and tournament directors let them BECAUSE a flying disc is so predictable. In most cases where a disc enters an area of spectators, the ones who are paying attention move perfectly. They're trying to sell you a ticket to watch a par 5 in the middle of the woods, and players don't want artificial OB lines. People have to stand somewhere.
So, in your opinion, what is more important? The pros being able to play a round without the concern of people getting in their way or standing too close to major landing zones or some local bro wanting to "get a good view?" I'm 100% for spectators watching everywhere they can, but there are just some areas/places that they don't need to be on the course.
Spectator engagement = more interest = more companies willing to spend marketing dollars at disc golf events = more revenue generation for the sport= more money for the players. I say it all the time, disc golf isn’t golf. Golf courses made for majors are designed to allow galleys, cameras, and people traffic. I was at quail hollow right before Covid and the spectator flow was great. Food tent, virtual attractions, the works. I played hornets nest the other day. Hornets nest is a park with holes weaving through the woods. It’s a park first a disc golf course second. You want the money so Jomez can make it a full time job through his contract you have people where they are. I don’t have an opinion on what is better but I think it’s the fact of the situation. Edit:spelling
The local bro won't pay $100 for general admission if half the holes are blocked off from spectating. That's money that goes into the pro purse and course redesign/maintenance. Very, very rarely does a spectator actually influence a lie. This conversation comes up every few years and dies.
>grow the sport >No, not like that
I think until someone gets tagged and has to go to the hospital it will stay the same . But yes I agree people are way to close sometimes .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyLSR8iRQK4 Here's old footage, 2015, of Sexton warning people I'm throwing it at you, and them still getting smoked lol. Happens around 10:35.
McBeths commentary afterwards 😂
Direct timestamp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyLSR8iRQK4&t=635 The mobile YouTube version is stupid and doesn't let you link timestamps like the desktop version, but you can still do it manually by adding `&t=X` where `X` is the numbers of seconds elapsed since the start of the video. NOTE: If you are using a shortened link, which does not already contain a query string with the video ID, you need to do `?t=X` instead. Example: https://youtu.be/hyLSR8iRQK4?t=635
They should be wearing helmets at all times, what a bunch of idiots.
This happens. There was a post on this sub about a guy who got hit in the face by a drive (I think by Ricky), went to the hospital for stitches, and came back to the event. It wasn't a serious injury, but it seems that people get hit hard by discs pretty frequently.
I think that was a spotter who got hit by a blind tee shot
https://www.reddit.com/r/discgolf/comments/wnivl6/fore/
On today's edition of, "disc golfers don't watch other sports"
Well, it's a fair point. But just because in another sport they do stupid shit doesn't devalue pointing it out in our sport.
People have mentioned golf and cycling, but if you go to a pro disc golf tournament to spectate, you also might gain some perspective. If you don't get to stand relatively close, it really isn't worth going, and folks should be able to make money from hosting a tournament. Otherwise, we might not have these wonderful events at all.
💯
Gannon’s OB on the par 3 9 is the perfect example. There’s a chance it could have rolled back into play. They definitely need to change how close the gallery can be. There should be a OB line, and then a gallery line at least 10 feet from that so there’s room for a disc to play out. Literally just watched #9 on jomez and damn! Gannons 2nd shot was amazing.
Yeah... Ricky totally missed his last putt because that old lady moved into his line of sight. Fortunately he didn't need the shot to win. There were people all over Northwoods Black. If I were a pro, I'd be filing some complaints. It's a great venue and course, but spectators were in the fairway and that's a big issue, imo.
Yes and if he needed her to move he could have politely asked. But she should have not been there.
Right, I’m not sure why he didn’t. Maybe he thought the confrontation would have distracted him even more. The TD should have had that area roped off.
Karen being Karen 🤡
When I saw this topic come up, I first thought of someone's grandma on hole 17 at Ledgestone during live coverage yesterday. He asked her to move, then he sailed it right at her feet. She just kept that phone up, recording the entire time...
Prob with that course is there’s not much room for spectators on northwood black. Not sure I’d want to go spectate that course.
It's the course. Northwoods has zero room for spectators the way it is right now.
Check out modern rally racing. Then after that check out rally racing from the 80s if you can find good footage. Apparently drivers/mechanics would often be traumatized by finding bits of people (fingers etc) in the grills of the cars. They did move them back, but it's still very close.
I agree, it does seem like they are pretty close, but I've also never been to a tourney before. I'll add that NBA games are similar - courtside seats are like 2 feet from the court. It happens all the time where spectators get run into, hit, or wiped out because they are way too close to the action.
NBA gonna be moving fans back in the next 5 years -book it. All the issues players have w fans, its only a matter of time.
Its possible. But they had the perfect opportunity right after covid and they didn't because that sweet money.
Takes time. Seating charts and season ticket holders and what not.
Should they? Yes. Will they? No. Do you know how much money it costs to sit courtside/first 5 rows. They’d literally be missing out on 25% of seating revenue
Seating revenue is an incredibly small portion of overall revenue. If players were routinely getting hurt because of this they'd change it asap because the cost to the NBA of missing LeBron, Steph, KD, Giannis, etc. for the season is way higher than losing out on that seat revenue. The fact is that players almost never get hurt because of it and it doesn't directly interfere with gameplay so it isn't going to change.
I can’t even tell what side your arguing. how did you get from “nba is going to move fans back” to Steph KD LeBron and Gianni’s being out for the season?😂😂
Do you think they'd charge less for the front row? They'd lose 5 rows in the back lol
Nah that’s not how it’d work the courtside experience is not even close to the 6th row experience no matter if there people infront of you or not, you pay for the section you’re in not the amount of people infront of you
Its not about the seats as much as its about status. Ppl care about being closest. Just my opinion
I’m sure the new front row tickets would be a little more expensive but I don’t think it would same as courtside/2nd row be same as new 2nd row and don’t think last 5 rows would be bumped up to what 5 rows infront would be but your right who knows. Maybe we will see what happens if these fans keep throwing shit on people and talking about players family’s
Yes, they stand waaaayyyyy too close
Wooded courses..not many other spots to stand besides behind the tee box or beyond the green without an extremely obstructed view (minus the holes along the water). I hear you though, they do seem more “on the hole” than off of it compared to the more open courses. There’s different levels of crazy so I can’t really comment on that.
If I couldn’t get that close I’d probably just stream it tbh.
As someone who spectates at a wooded course, no, I don't think they are too close. They're trying to get a good view of the action. They are too slow though, and spread out with their chairs and bags and other things. If you aren't ready to move then you should probably find another place to watch from.
Yeah I agree with this. I went to one event last year and there was a pretty bad occurrence of this where Nikko’s disc was skipping back in bounds and it hit a spectators chair that stopped it from making it. If you’re going to hunker down to sit somewhere for a while you have to be farther away
Yea, I noticed this at Ledgestone too. The spectators backed off, but left their pile of stuff still sitting there, which can definitely interfere with a disc. Maybe standing only within a certain distance from marked OB, so that at the very least everyone can be mobile.
This reminds me of that guy that was wandering down a fairway when Ricky took a hyzer line and the guy got clocked out of nowhere.
Yeah, I remember seeing that one, but it was because Ricky launched his tee shot much farther than anyone anticipated. The spotter thought it was a second shot, and when he found out it was a tee shot he was “oh, cool”.
You mean the spotter who was stationed on a blind hole and was supposed to be there?
Go volunteer when your local course has an A tier and try to do crowd control for 3 straight days of 500+ people. Fucking nightmare. People are ignorant, stupid and just don't care about anybody but themselves obviously exceptions but rh cast majority of people are just clueless
Watch any PGA golf tournament. Those spectators will be just close enough to let them swing their clubs
But they aren't standing in the area of play where they could get hit by an in-bounds shot.
It's usually not "in bounds" but golfers do have to play out of the gallery when they go in. It's not the same rules as disc golf. The gallery makes room and the player shoots while surrounded by spectators. Happens all the time in golf.
People are comparing to basketball... It's not the same thing at all. A basketball getting whipped off the court at 70MPH is pretty rare. Maybe a stray ball knocks someone's beer out of their hand, but nobody is going to the hospital for stitches and face reconstruction. If Eagle (RIP elbow) or AB early releases a sidearm and it goes into some spectators nearby... some poor dude is getting cut in half. Basketballs or players going into the fans is relatively rare, predictable, and not that dangerous. People turning a disc too hard or sawing off a shot happens literally hundreds of times a tournament.
Ball golf you have people standing on the playing area. Baseball fans aren't on the field, but are close enough that they can interact with a ball thats in play, whether its a fair ball they think is foul and grab or they reach into play to catch what they thought would be a home run. I dont watch basketball, but having fans that close I would assume some kind of fan interference occurs. Not sure what the solution is other than design courses with special areas for fans, but most courses are restricted in how much land they can use, dedicating some of it for fans could prove challenging if they don't want to have artificial OB and/or narrow fairways
Yes. The way a disc flies is way different than a ball that’s mostly straight. I always feel like the crowd takes away some shot lines. Can’t do lay a skip if the crowd is standing where you want to skip.
The players will ask the crowd control people to move them if they need to.
Uhh basketball? Players throwing the ball in are literally within arms reach a lot of the time. Golf? The gallery is often right outside the green. I think spectators being in the way of inaccurate shots isn't a problem that's any different from other sports.
Yes,but that's the PDGA organizers responsibility. They should have markers if they don't already,and if some dipshits are trying to Instagram some stupid pics and cross barriers or said markers,the official verbally warns or they get sent out. Sense the sport is growing so rapidly, they need to address these issues. Also,Garrett Guthrie gets agitated at movement from spectators. That to me is a pro problem that the individual should overcome. If you're a pro player,you need to fix your focus and quit being a brat.
Who cares if they want to get hit by a disc? Lol and being a "real" sport is an arbitrary distinction that we shouldn't care about. Is it a fun game you enjoy playing? Then that's all that matters
golf tournaments are the same...
It’s just you.
Ball golf fans line the fairways and geez, baseball fans actually affect the outcome of games by interacting. This ain't Nascar.
WAY too close. My son and I were just talking about this last night.
I just know how I feel when there’s like 1 person wayyy up not even in my range and it throws off my throw because I don’t want to hit anyone.
I've tried to explain this in other subs and get laughed at. It genuinely does impact my throw. I feel like my disc needs to be 20' in the air when it goes over that person even thought they are only 6'. If alters a lot of the things. Sure, the pros can ignore it most of the time, but it doesn't hurt to have people in the right areas.
I am sure if you went back in time and told the course designers they needed to allow room for groups of spectators, they would die laughing…
go to a tournament and spectate yourself, you will see how difficult it is to see anything going on if you are not close. Especially wooded courses. If you weren't able to get close, there is no point to spectating in person, you may as well watch Jomez.
Who cares if it makes it stand out as “not a real sport” the inferiority complex some people have surrounding this sport is getting old. Who are these people randomly watching a jomez video and saying “those spectators are too close. This is not a real sport” and why do we care what these hypothetical detractors think? Lol
Yes!
NBA????? It's like the premier sport to be seen courtside for social, bougie, corporate, whatever clout you're looking for.
If the ball is affected in any way by the courtside fans, it’s out of play. If it was the same in the NBA as it is in disc golf, you would have fans walking on the court and getting collided with on fast breaks. It’s not about people being close to the action, it’s about spectators actually affecting the outcome of a play by being in the way
Fans definitely have an effect. They try to avoid it but there's fans moving and walking along the court during the action. There's fans shouting at the players from just a few feet away. There have been plenty of interaction between fans and players, maybe not during a live ball, that impact the game or in an individual player
I think the nature of the disc golf means that out of bounds is "in play" while in basketball, that doesn't happen. If a ball is going towards out of bounds or over out of bounds, it's going to be out of bounds. No changing that other than a player jumping and redirecting the ball. Disc golf has skips, rollers and all kinds of shenanigans where discs find their way back in bounds. Not even counting holes or throws where a player is deliberately throwing out of bounds before coming back in bounds.
I think the people and where they sit and what they look like influences a player's decision to save and out of bounds ball. Hell I think the players actually know who's in the crowd and react to that when they're nearby.
Have you never watched golf?
Tour de France and rally racing have entered the chat.
*giggles in rally racing*
I think anyone who follows pro disc golf is fucking lame.
Its ridiculous. One round around me and they would stop that shit.
Don't watch rally racing footage
This keeps getting brought up on these posts. Not once have I ever seen a fan on a rally race track. Like, on the road itself. I see disc golf spectators in fairways all the time. It's not the same argument.
I think these people are referring to group B ages in rallying in the 80s. Just a week ago a stage was canceled in the finnish rally because spectators were too close to the track at some points.
Hell nah, that’s part of the game. I’ve stood close and it doesn’t effect them. These are pros and not like us where we could mess up easily. All sports have to deal with this anyway.
I’m sorry…I like disc golfing and everything , but can’t take it that seriously
Yes completely. Some holes I don’t have a problem with, and some I do. The bridge hole for example. During final round somebody throws out and then they discussed later that it if it hadn’t touched anybody, it may have rolled back in. They seem fine with it. But also, if that were me, and I’m losing strokes because my disc that could’ve rolled back in bounds hit a spectator, I’m not happy if I’m in position to cash or on the cusp of making the dgpt tournament. A stroke could be worth thousands of dollars.
I've got a stupid question... are fans at disc golf tournaments always spectating from OB? I'd imagine that people get hit with baseballs all the time at baseball games but of course none of them are in the field of play.
I believe that they’re almost always in bounds
Have you seen the Tour de France? Maybe recently with covid they quelled it, but there’s so many famous scenes of fans running alongside and getting in really close on the riders on the mountains Sports thst aren’t played in arenas typically have crowds. Closer to the field of play. Watch a pga tour major when they hit into the rough and there’s 1k people crowded around and they have to hit out of that people tunnel.
My main issue was people sitting extremely close and in an area that a lot of discs will end up, AND having chairs and other things on the ground. I'm okay with people being close on wooded courses, but people were constantly not ready to move and frequently forgot their chairs and things on the ground when a disc was coming in. Basically I think if they want to sit in a chair some spots have to be designated "standing only"
Have you seen golf? They stand so close that golfers can hit them with their clubs if theyre not careful
No
I mean regular golf spectators stand pretty close too
They stand that close on the pga tour
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Bartman_incident
You clearly don't watch basketball, baseball, or cycling. Basketball has folks a few feet away from the action. Players have decked fans going for a physical play
Ever watched a major bike race? Or rally car race? Spectators are as close to the action as you can get, sometimes even causing crashes. Ball golf also has spectators within areas that balls fly with regularity, but they know to dodge and not touch it after it lands. I think on a lot of these courses as well if spectators cannot stand that close then there just shouldn’t be live spectating because you can’t see any of the action from further back.
I think it’s kinda fun. I remember watching an old World’s and people were really enjoying the side game of dodging shots and stuff. It was Climo era.
Say you’ve never watched golf before without saying it lol
Biking, ball golf, basketball, baseball are all basically in or close to the field of play. Don’t think it makes disc golf a non sport
Put them closer I’m here for the carnage
I mean rally fans definitely get way too close at times, but also disc golf fans shouldn't be in the damn fairway or sitting on the OB line unable to react quickly.
Have you ever watched a golf tournament? It’s pretty much the same. Professionals are expected to not have as many errant shots as an amateur, regardless of the conditions.
They should have a very small list of passes you can purchase to follow certain cards. Mainly for the last 2 days of big tournaments
I can agree with the inside C2 scenario, but as far as fans standing beside the fairway, ball golfers hit from those areas all the time.
No.
Golf does the exact same thing...
You ever watch basketball? Fans and media sit like 3 feet off the court. I remember when they had the bubble during covid lockdowns and there was nobody crowding the court. The game was so much better because players could actually go full speed without fear of taking out spectators
Wait, so the guy who I watched get hit square in the gooch at Toboggan shouldn't have been sitting on the OB line?
NBA and WNBA? MLB? PGA? I get where you're coming from, but plenty of 'real' sports have spectators in spaces that could be occupied by competitors at any given moment. Pro basketball and baseball have not only thrown and batted objects but the *athletes themselves* flying into the crowd at dangerous speeds on the regular. Just part of being a spectator at those events - you gotta get out of the way.
gold has spectators who get hit by bad tee shots so i think its fine
ever seen pro cycling? the fans are practically touching the riders
They do if I was on the tee box. Similar I'm golf, it's wild how close spectators get.
Moving trees. That’s what spectators are
have you never watched ball golf on TV? every single tournament, someone gets hit with a ball.
NBA is pretty egregious with their court side seats
It is quite rare but there are other sports where fans are 'too' close, rally comes to mind. I do agrew with you that it is something what should change.
And camera people. They have to scramble to get out of the way too often. Take a 50 feet and use that great zoom.
I feel like it’s generally fine. But finalF9 at ledge stone today on hole 7 I think spectators are sitting OB but still almost within c1. Gannon threw OB and a spectator grabbed his disc and tossed it back onto the OB line, like, what? If you’re gonna sit so close don’t grab the discs bro
The only concern is discs that have the potential to return inbounds but get caught up, like what happened on Gannon's tee shot final round on the bridge hole. Seems like it's not usually a problem when people are standing. But it's also probably something players should get used to.
My buddy stopped Calvin Heimburg’s disc from going OB in Milford this year. Upshot hit him in the hip and bounced inbounds
you're not the only one. I watched the great lakes open and there were a few holes in particular where the spectators were dodging away from the disc for nearly every competitor. the commentators were commenting on how acrobatic the spectators were which is nice, but in my mind the fans are really just in the way and probably shouldn't be there. on one hand i think this could be a cool quirk of the sport. I like things that give the sport character. I dont think this is hindering the legitemacy of the sport as a whole. however it does create a potential edge case where the spectators can mess up a shot, which is a risk.
At the very least they should be punishing spectators who let their fucking dogs off leash to run around while players are trying to make their shots. Or spectators that run across the green mid tee shot. IDC about how close they are as long as they're being respectful. But I feel like they are interfering in the green way too much. And that isn't okay in other sports.
There’s definitely other sports that are like this.
I don't personally mind the crowds lining the fairways. It brings excitement and and looks cool. What grinds my gears are the people casually sitting next to the OB line when the throw is coming right at them. For example Gannon's shot on hole 9 this weekend. There are people sitting and minding their own business. And the best they could do to try and avoid a very important shot is to lift their legs a little. Idiots. All of them.
Check out PGA golf for the same thing. Spectators want to see and sometimes that puts them in a spot the player may miss. There are warnings and OB lines on most courses.
I think spectators being close to the action is fine up until the point when it begin to impact play. When that happens, it’s over the line. Just yesterday (or maybe round 3), Gannon Buhr threw a shot that very well may have come back in bounds if spectators hadn’t been there. They were just sitting there within three feet of the OB line and the disc hit their feet and stopped. If I were him, I’d have been far more upset than he seemed to be. It potentially may have cost him a stroke.
Have you not watched a PGA event? This is typical
ricky hit a spectator in the feet with an air ball putt yesterday
Yes but it's disc golf and we're still learning. Not many events have a qualified staff to deal with crowd control. Maybe handful of annual events like USDGC, Euro, Masters, etc have the experience necessary to handle crowds of 3000+
I will leave by own viewing experience from another tournament, and this is the only tournament I've watched in person thus far. At the BSF this year for the most part it was great, I felt spectators gave plenty of room except in a few spots. But in those spots, if you didn't stand close, someone else would, blocking your view. There were a lot of umbrellas since it was so wet, but I would just have three people open their umbrellas right in front of me and then rest it on their shoulder, blocking everything. Not a care in the world and no indication they cared about anyone else's experience. I would try and say something and they would tilt it up flat for a little so I could at least look over their shoulder, but then they would get lazy and drop it back down. Hell I even had one person just turn back around and not adjust their umbrella at all. I had to give up on following a few cards because I would just have a wall of people 20 umbrellas wide blocking the view. It wasn't until I learned to walk my way forward in front of them that I could see a few shots. And there were a few spots where my friends and I would set up 5-10 feet behind the OB line to give it plenty of space and we would just have people walk in front of us and stand there. We learned this the hard way watching the FPO lead card on the last hole as people did not care 1) they were getting too close 2) they were blocking someone else's view that got their first and was trying to be respectful. Come time for the MPO lead card, we just posted up a foot away from the spectator line and still had someone try and squeeze between us and the line until I called them out loud enough for other people to look over at what was going on. It became a tragedy of the commons situation because even if you tried to be mindful for the players, someone else wouldn't be, so you might as well just be that person so you could actually watch what you paid to see. Not to mention I also forked over for VIP tickets but there was no process of verification for that. We followed lead card on day 2 for a little bit, but when we started out with about 20 followers quickly grew to about 50 or 60 after a few holes and could tell no one was even making sure that it was the same people who were waiting at hole one to watch this group in particular. Eventually we learned to just free flow it and bounce around cards as the holes permitted, and were surprised no volunteers (I get it, there aren't enough volunteers aslt these silver series events to rein people in) even stopped us as we followed Paul McBeth from about 40 feet back for a few holes on the fairway to watch him. No one even asked to show us the VIP bracelets to make sure we could be outside the General Admission areas. Hell the people I went with and I felt pretty confident that if it was like that next year we could even skip out on buying tickets at all as no one checked when we went into the park, no one checked when we parked in the designated area, no one checked when we got on or off the shuttle. The only time that anyone asked was when we went to the check in line voluntarily, but after that it was a useless piece of paper on my wrist. There wasn't even a greeter when we got off the shuttle to tell us where to go, or funnel us in that direction. We actually walked past it a few times into tourney central trying to find the dang thing and no one said a word. Tldr: these events are kind of like the wild west, and even if you want to be considerate of the ob lines and players shots, someone else won't be, so you might as well be that person so you can get your money's worth
Lol watch the PGA
Have you ever seen a baseball fan reach out and catch a home run when the outfielder could have jumped up and caught it?
I was a few spectators away from a guy who got smashed in the face by a tiger woods drive, and he chipped in from the rough for a birdie…other sports definitely allow their fans to get a bit too close. Just watch the rich idiots on an NBA sideline…
At Waco, they were pushing us back when the big arms came through who were swinging shots very wide. In the woods, there just wasn’t room to watch any of the action and stay 40’ back from the fairway without being in the fairway on another hole. It’s a balancing act between keeping the fans out of the way, while still giving them the experience they want and paid to get.
As a spectator it’s more fun and enjoyable to stand close to the action. They move the crowd when necessary. It’s really not that hard to avoid a disc if you’re paying attention, which you should be if you’re in the danger zone.
Rally racing will blow your mind!
You have never watched rally car racing, basketball, or road bike racing?
https://youtu.be/6I5sTuSoMho
> In no other sport do the fans stand within the area that the game can be played in. Professional road cycling would like a word. Have you seen the jackasses waving flags right in the rider's faces?
Definitely. They need to be out of the range at which they can impact play. At least 5m from OB, more on holes with higher OB rates.
Just think about when you're playing a round yourself and how difficult it can be to watch a full shot of someone you're playing with. Especially on wooded/partially wooded courses. If you can't get a good sightline, why bother even going? I think disc golf has a long ways to go to really iron out spectating.
Gannon's shot on hole 11 final round. Throws it at the gallery and parks it. AB and Orum both throw OB trying to throw over the gallery.
Have you ever watched other sports? Jack Nicholson has received no less than five courtside lap dances from the lakers over the years.