Disc golf has boomed over the last couple of years, and with that, there has been a rise in sanctioned disc golf tournaments being run to meet flooding of players into the competitive scene. If you want to run a tournament nowadays (think local – this isn’t the DGPT), standards are higher than ever – there are a couple of things you can do to ensure you fill up your tournament!

1-Day Tournaments are PLENTY

This won’t come as a shocker – but most of us playing competitive tournaments on the weekend have to return to work on Monday. People don’t love dedicating a whole weekend to a 2-day/3 round tournament that could easily have been run as a 1-day/2 round tournament. This makes your life as the TD much easier since you don’t have to line up tee times, handle the inevitable DNFs, and give the players half of their weekend back.

The Basic Course Amenities

Water, trash cans, and a clean bathroom (or porta pot if necessary) are three things that make the tournament experience 10 times better. They are all things that people may not notice or think a ton about if you have them all – but if you miss one of these, people will remember and make sure you hear about it.

Get People Paid and On Their Way….PLEASE

Waiting 45 minutes for awards to start after the final card finishes drives me crazy as a player. There are exceptions to this rule, but there is no reason payout slips to amateurs and professionals shouldn’t be ready to go immediately following the rounds since payouts are determined BEFORE the tournament starts. When the tournament is completed, announce your winners (don’t forget a picture with each one; this is a nice touch for your Facebook post), get payouts in people’s hands so the vendor can do their thing, and THEN do CTPs or any other type of raffles. Everyone will be happier, and you, as the TD, can go home sooner.

Hopefully, you’ll think about these when planning your next tournament – through personal experience, players appreciate these, and it promotes player retention in the disc golf scene in your area. These are just a few things you can do to improve your tournaments, but plenty of other aspects are critical to creating a great player experience!

What aspects of tournaments matter the most to you? Have you been in a tournament where the TD did something unique you loved? Let us know below or tweet at us @thefueldg!

Cheers!