The "Beginners' League" at Watson Trail

[steve3001]

I would like to get into this league. I just started playing last fall and signed up at this website a few weeks ago. I actually started playing just to keep my arm in shape for softball but am now interested in this sport. Wednesdays and Thursday late afternoon/evening sound good to me. Although I am much closer to Watson Trail, I usually play at Kircher Park as that requires a lot longer throws on most holes. Thanks for doing this, and I am looking forward to playing in this league.

[Stubborn Puppet]

Again, thanks to everyone for the interest. I have been really busy doing some graphics for the St Louis Open and some others as well and haven't quite got this all organized yet... nor have I been able to get the flyers done and up at the park for it.

I have decided to start off trying Thursdays with a start between 5:15 and 5:30. I encourage people to show up as close to 5 as possible because we will need time to get organized. We will play two rounds of 9 holes. I'll organize us to play in as many groups as necessary to have 4 to 5 people max. The format will be singles with no special rules for now. As a beginners league, I will want to change up the format and rules from time to time to introduce players to new ideas and give them a chance to meet and learn from other players.

NOTE: I have to have each player sign a one time waiver for the city of Sunset Hills. I also have to take careful records of who was there and exactly what the scores were and report those to the parks dept at Sunset Hills. I know this is abnormal and no other leagues have this requirement... but I don't think it's a big deal.

One other thing I am sure we're going to have to work out is some divisions. I'd like to really only see first and second year players in this league, but I've heard from a few people who have played for 3 or 4 years... but don't play more than once every couple of months and have less actual play time than some first year players. I guess we'll see how it goes and start figuring out which people need to play in which division after a few games.

The first Thursday night is going to be the 29th of March.

Remember folks, I've never run a league before... I hear it's pretty simple, but bear with me, point out where I'm blowing it (nicely please) and we'll all figure out how to run this league like a well oiled machine in no time.

See you there,
Daniel

[wachoutforthattree]

Hey Dan,

It is great to see someone to do a league. I have been doing the random draw doubles at creve for about 5 years now. If you want this to do well all you have to do is keep showing up everyweek. There are gonna be weeks when no one shows and there will be weeks when 20 people show up. It takes time for it to really get going.

The other thing I would say is that keep it open to everyone. The people that are going to pay to play are most likely club members. Alot of people don't want to pay to play something that is free.

The last thing I would recommend is have an Ace Pool. When the Ace pool gets high the more people will be there to try and win it.

Good luck, Ben Hart

[jsgipson]

I played a few times at the old Muegge Rd course in St. Charles, but not much since then. A beginner league would be great for me. I can only do Thursdays. If it is Thursdays, I will be there. Thanks for setting this up.

[Stubborn Puppet]

I like and am planning on most of your advice Ben, Thanks. I am still going to strive to make this a "beginners" league, so I can't really just let anyone play. I just want us newbies to sock it out with each other in a field where all the players are at a beginning skill level. Eventually some players will have to "graduate" from this league (myself included) and hand it on to other new players. We're probably going to have some players who also have to be asked to join other leagues because their skill level exceeds that of a 1st or 2nd year player (in other words, if we realize someone is lying about their experience and just there to take everyones' money).

jsgipson: It IS going to be on Thursdays and will start next week, March 29th.

I want to try to run this league every week until the end of fall and maybe finish off with a league glow tournament after DST runs out.

If everyone who's said they'll be there makes it, we've already got 9-10 players to start.

I'm still running behind on flyers for the sign at the park, but I'll get one out there as soon as I can. In the meantime, please help spread the word for new players to come join us.

[Stubborn Puppet]

The flyer is done and the league is official...



I hope to see you there!

[fadingaway]

Can't make it this week but I will be there for the following weeks! Let us know how it goes!

[Stubborn Puppet]

We had a really nice turnout for a first day of a league that was only officially announced this week - and we had even better weather to play in.

It was especially nice to see two players in the league who are truly "beginners" as they only had a total of 6 games of disc golf between them. Kudos to you, that is jumping in with both feet, fearless and ready to go!

Here is some information and breakdown of how the league is currently working:

The $5 entry fee that you pay before each Thursday's game is broken down as follows:
$3 to payouts (in your end division)
$1 to league operating costs (printing, paper, CTP prizes and so forth)
$1 towards the end of league event. (hopefully a cookout and glow tournament if Sunset Hills OK's it)

The scorecards will be tallied after each weeks game (later that night) and logical splits between divisions will be made. While we have few players, like in Game 1, we will be paying out to first place in each division only. Once we grow to where a division has 6 players, first and second place in that division will get paid.

I'm still going to have to make decisions about how to split the divisions with more players, but March 29th's game was pretty easy once the cards were totaled.

Here you go:
We had a total of 7 players.
5 players contributed to the ace pool.
So, the league started with $35 and $5 in the pool.
After the $1 per player for the league and $1 for the closing event,
The payout total is $21 and the league has $14

The field ended with 3 divisions: Advanced Beginners, Moderate Beginners and New Beginners.

Advanced
Name End Score Place Payout
Mark Munter 52 1 $3

Moderate
Name End Score Place Payout
Wendell Ferger 58 1 $9
Daniel Doss 60 2 -
Karl Schutte 63 3 -

New
Name End Score Place Payout
Don Rush 69 1 $9
David Gipson 70 2 -
Tom Coleman 78 3 -

As with any league, the bigger the turnout, the bigger the payouts... so spread the word.

I'll see what I can get for us for a cool CTP prize next week, so that will certainly add some fun to the mix. I was impressed by how many close calls we had for aces in the group I played with... but actually glad we didn't have one on the first night while the pool was only $5. Bring a $1 extra next week and let's watch this pot grow as we wait to see who will nail the first ace of the league.

Thanks again everyone, see you there next week and I'll have your payouts in hand!

[Stubborn Puppet]

Looking forward to another great night tomorrow: we'll have a new disc up for CTP on hole 5 in the first round.

More CTP's to come next week as well as all players will get a two free minis/markers. One will be for an automatic 25% off all products at the Gateway Discs store and the other for actual play which has the basic rules on it. Eh, it's free and 25% off disc golf merch is nice.

Don't forget, if you won your division last week, show up to get your payout (and join us for the league again, of course).

See you all there.

[Stubborn Puppet]

Good game tonight folks.

Here's the lowdown:
We had a 100% return of all players from game 1.
We had a total of 11 players
Game 2 payout money is $33, $11 towards prizes, $11 towards the end of league party
A Innova DX Roc was purchased for $7.78 to go as a CTP for tonights game.
The league balance for Prizes is $10.22 and $18 towards the party.

The previous ace pool balance was $5
9 players contributed to the ace pool.
The new ace pool total is $14

The field ended with 3 divisions: Advanced Beginners, Moderate Beginners and New Beginners.

Here's the division breakdown after the scores were totalled.

Advanced Beginners
Name Score Place Payout
Daniel Doss 55 1 $9
Andrew Majeski 58 2
Andy Lansing 60 3

Moderate Beginners
Name Score Place Payout
Eric Holloway 64 1 (tie) $14 or $7(after shootout next week)
Mark Munter 64 1 (tie) $14 or $7(after shootout next week)
Keith Richardson 67 2
Don Rush 68 3
Wendell Ferger 68 3
Karl Schutte 68 3
Tom Coleman 71 4

New Beginners
Name Score Place Payout
David Gipson 80 1 $3

Eric and Mark will have a shootout next week to determine who will walk with the $14 for first place in moderate. Because this division had more than 6 players, there is a first and second place payout.

Nobody hit an ace, so the $14 carries over.

There was a lot of movement between divisions from last week, so congratulations to those who moved up. It may look like Daniel had that Advanced division locked up, but was actually struggling for 3rd until nailing 4 birdies in a row on the last four holes of round 2.

Join us for game 3 next Thursday.