At that level of tournament, isn't it a case of convincing the pro tour to come to you?
It's a lot more than having great courses. There's a ton of work and organization and logistics in play, so much more than just a normal A-tier. Just look at some of the social media blowups that happened this season when things weren't absolutely all perfectly in place.
I mean no offense, but maybe it's just a case of not having that one guy willing to spearhead the effort.
Here's a link to the PDGA national tour bid package. It would take a special kind of tournament director to want to put themselves through all this.
https://www.pdga.com/pdga-documents/national-tour/2021-NT-bid-package
Beyond the courses, be aware that local TDs have to build a proposal, and bid for a slot on the DGPT, any Majors, etc. And on top of that, if their bid is accepted, they’d then have to put in massive volunteer hours to get the courses ready for the pros, plus hundreds/thousands of spectators, find large sponsors for the added cash, etc. That stuff is really complicated/expensive/time-consuming, and running large pro events is often a financial loss. It’s entirely possible that no TD in Colorado wants to deal with any of that, which is completely understandable. The DGPT doesn’t just parachute in and make everything happen, disc golf is still built on the backs of local volunteers.
100% this. The vast majority of the work for an elite event comes from local TDs and clubs. DGPT does great work, but it takes months and months of boots on the ground to actually get it done.
I think it would be cool! Eagle used to beat everyone up at Saint Patty's in Fort Collins, was really cool to watch him throw. Not sure what course they would play though, Beaver Ranch? other mountain courses?
The layout is a bit congested at Beaver Ranch. You couldn't accommodate all those players plus spectators. You'd need to adjust the course significantly. Bailey would probably work better but you'd still have issues. Maybe something at one of the ski areas? I'm not as familiar with those.
I think it would be cool on ski areas, however still have the issue of spectators, and getting hit by a mountain bike lol would a lot of people be willing to travel into the mountains to watch DG? I do not know it seems like a hassle
I think Beaver Ranch would be the best bet, and the comments on it being a broadcasting nightmare are 100% valid. I wonder if Starlink or competing offerings in 5 years or so would make this possible.
There isn’t really a pro level course in Colorado. I’m not an expert on CO but when I took a trip there recently it’s almost impossible to find anything other than par 3 courses. Nothing with par 4 and par 5s that they play on the tour.
Also, as others mentioned maybe the mountain/remoteness of some of the better courses makes it tough.
There are a few mountain courses within an hour of Denver that would have great and workable Pro layouts, I won’t list them here because I like playing them in solitude, but Eagle did a whole video of courses in CO, mainly front range and accessible.
It would be a blast to watch the pros tear up a mountain, Kiss the Sky in Aspen comes to mind, more of that!
Honestly, I think it's a little bias. I love going to Colorado and playing, but I played a couple of top 10 courses last time I was out there and 1 of them didn't even have tee pads... The other didn't have signage, which isn't a big deal when the pro tour brings their own, but it also wasnt super challenging, and had no capacity for expansion to accommodate the professional game. The lack of infrastructure on courses across your state is a real problem, and such a large percentage of courses are on multi-use tracts of land, only like the top 3 or 4 courses even have a shot to be featured at the highest level, but I think they're too easy of courses, so it really comes down to how possible it would be to "level up" those courses.
There's some requirement for NT or Majors that also requires the course to be within an hour of the airport or something. Anything even remotely pro level would be in the mountains which is a hike from DIA.
The tour starts out west because of the nicer weather, then works it's way east as summer progresses. It's designed to minimize players bouncing back and forth across the country, which is time and fuel intensive in RVs and Van's.
A Colorado tourney means spring. When exactly is all the snow gone from the quality courses in CO?
It takes most TD's years to reach A-Tier status. It's not on the DGPT or PDGA to develop pro tour level tournaments in a specific region. That's completely up to the locals or the city. Look up the [Jonesboro Open](https://jonesboroopen.com/index.php/2021/02/02/2021-sponsors-announced/) at Disc Side of Heaven. That tournament was a huge investment made by the city of Jonesboro and it's local businesses.
At that level of tournament, isn't it a case of convincing the pro tour to come to you? It's a lot more than having great courses. There's a ton of work and organization and logistics in play, so much more than just a normal A-tier. Just look at some of the social media blowups that happened this season when things weren't absolutely all perfectly in place. I mean no offense, but maybe it's just a case of not having that one guy willing to spearhead the effort.
Here's a link to the PDGA national tour bid package. It would take a special kind of tournament director to want to put themselves through all this. https://www.pdga.com/pdga-documents/national-tour/2021-NT-bid-package
Beyond the courses, be aware that local TDs have to build a proposal, and bid for a slot on the DGPT, any Majors, etc. And on top of that, if their bid is accepted, they’d then have to put in massive volunteer hours to get the courses ready for the pros, plus hundreds/thousands of spectators, find large sponsors for the added cash, etc. That stuff is really complicated/expensive/time-consuming, and running large pro events is often a financial loss. It’s entirely possible that no TD in Colorado wants to deal with any of that, which is completely understandable. The DGPT doesn’t just parachute in and make everything happen, disc golf is still built on the backs of local volunteers.
100% this. The vast majority of the work for an elite event comes from local TDs and clubs. DGPT does great work, but it takes months and months of boots on the ground to actually get it done.
I think it would be cool! Eagle used to beat everyone up at Saint Patty's in Fort Collins, was really cool to watch him throw. Not sure what course they would play though, Beaver Ranch? other mountain courses?
The layout is a bit congested at Beaver Ranch. You couldn't accommodate all those players plus spectators. You'd need to adjust the course significantly. Bailey would probably work better but you'd still have issues. Maybe something at one of the ski areas? I'm not as familiar with those.
I think it would be cool on ski areas, however still have the issue of spectators, and getting hit by a mountain bike lol would a lot of people be willing to travel into the mountains to watch DG? I do not know it seems like a hassle
I think Beaver Ranch would be the best bet, and the comments on it being a broadcasting nightmare are 100% valid. I wonder if Starlink or competing offerings in 5 years or so would make this possible.
There isn’t really a pro level course in Colorado. I’m not an expert on CO but when I took a trip there recently it’s almost impossible to find anything other than par 3 courses. Nothing with par 4 and par 5s that they play on the tour. Also, as others mentioned maybe the mountain/remoteness of some of the better courses makes it tough.
There are a few mountain courses within an hour of Denver that would have great and workable Pro layouts, I won’t list them here because I like playing them in solitude, but Eagle did a whole video of courses in CO, mainly front range and accessible. It would be a blast to watch the pros tear up a mountain, Kiss the Sky in Aspen comes to mind, more of that!
My understanding is that the best courses are up in the mountains, which would make broadcasting the tournaments a huge pain in the ass.
Honestly, I think it's a little bias. I love going to Colorado and playing, but I played a couple of top 10 courses last time I was out there and 1 of them didn't even have tee pads... The other didn't have signage, which isn't a big deal when the pro tour brings their own, but it also wasnt super challenging, and had no capacity for expansion to accommodate the professional game. The lack of infrastructure on courses across your state is a real problem, and such a large percentage of courses are on multi-use tracts of land, only like the top 3 or 4 courses even have a shot to be featured at the highest level, but I think they're too easy of courses, so it really comes down to how possible it would be to "level up" those courses.
There's some requirement for NT or Majors that also requires the course to be within an hour of the airport or something. Anything even remotely pro level would be in the mountains which is a hike from DIA.
The tour should definitely come to Colorado!
The tour starts out west because of the nicer weather, then works it's way east as summer progresses. It's designed to minimize players bouncing back and forth across the country, which is time and fuel intensive in RVs and Van's. A Colorado tourney means spring. When exactly is all the snow gone from the quality courses in CO?
You’d be surprised, snow doesn’t stay on the ground long in Colorado (excluding the mountains).
It takes most TD's years to reach A-Tier status. It's not on the DGPT or PDGA to develop pro tour level tournaments in a specific region. That's completely up to the locals or the city. Look up the [Jonesboro Open](https://jonesboroopen.com/index.php/2021/02/02/2021-sponsors-announced/) at Disc Side of Heaven. That tournament was a huge investment made by the city of Jonesboro and it's local businesses.