Jeff Spring: How can the DGPT grow spectatorship at wooded courses?

Have you ever heard of a “false dichotomy,” by chance?

A false dichotomy is a perceived dilemma in which a person thinks they must choose between one of two options. For example, you can lie, cheat and steal en route to making a lot of money. Or, you can deal honestly with others and carve out a meager living for you and your family …

In reality, though, there’s a THIRD option …

You can strike it rich as an honest, hard-working professional.

See how this works?

Here’s an example from the world of pro disc golf:

• Door No. 1 – The DGPT can keep mega-wooded courses, but attendance will suck.
• Door No. 2 – The DGPT can go all-in on ball-golf courses, and attendance will kill.

The truth of the matter?

Let’s go straight to the top of the totem pole with this thing …

Here’s what Jeff Spring thinks:

“I think there’s a wide range of courses people like to spectate. We pride ourselves as a tour on providing a good balance. There are open courses. There are wooded courses, too. We travel around the country to identify the best venues for all DGPT events.

“Doing this, you’ll find different parts of the U.S. offer different kinds of disc golf experiences. For example, in the Southwest, it’s hard to find wooded courses. Naturally, we work with what we can find.”

Different strokes for different folks

“Back in 2019, I remember a National Tour event was held at Iron Hill. The DGPT wasn’t running it, but I recall a flood of complaints from people claiming the course was making our sport’s professionals look dumb – that it was too hard. That, should somebody tune in to watch disc golf for the first time, they’d see a sub-par product and look elsewhere for entertainment.

“I thought it was funny.

“I love Iron Hill. The guys in Delaware have made it a premier, elite-level challenge. I bring this up, however, to show that there are a myriad of opinions out there as to what courses are best for pro disc golf. Many people love heavily wooded golf. There are plenty who don’t, though.”

Giving in-person attendees what they pay for

“One of our top priorities is certainly to improve general admission areas at DGPT events. Given the course, the first-hand viewing experience isn’t always the same. At wooded courses, with crowds and limited space, live spectators might not have as many views available to them as those on a more open course. To account for this, we adjust general-admission pricing.

“Wooded courses aren’t going anywhere, though …

“The woods are part of disc golf. So it’s our job to find ways to improve the overall, in-person spectator experience without getting rid of them. If general admission rates go up, it’s likely the result of there being less room on the course for galleries. Obviously, if we’re at a more open course, the inverse of that would hold true, as well – lower prices with more available tickets.”

Learning from what’s worked

“Glendoveer was a GREAT compromise, though …

“This year, we ran the Portland Open there. I designed the East Course layout. While it was on a ball-golf course, in general, the feedback from fans and players was overwhelmingly positive. It felt, looked and played like wooded golf for the majority of the holes. As we didn’t rely heavily on any ball-golf fairways for drives and upshots, they were designated as spectating zones.

“The plan is to do more of this in the future.

“Disc golf-only venues are best, but when that’s not possible, what was done at Glendoveer this year serves as a good template moving forward: Design wooded holes as a type of diorama with folks on the outside looking in. Golfers play a wooded hole; fans spectate in the open.”

Finding a happy medium

“Balance, however, is STILL the end goal.

“The best venues on tour have both open and wooded holes. General-admission spectators are given a great show. Then, the full viewing experience is reserved for VIP attendees. That might sound limiting, but segmenting tickets in this way makes woods-viewing possible. If there’s only room for 150 to 200 people in wooded areas, they pay a premium price and are granted access.

“The long-term solution will require both time and funds, but we’re working on it – the key is venue development. We need to make venues we already have better for general-admission viewers, as well as VIPs. And for new, disc golf-specific venues, it’ll be more of the same.

“No worries, though …

“The woods aren’t going anywhere.”

The woods are here to stay

Guys like Michael Johansen can breathe a sigh of relief …

No, the need to huck a pure, 450-foot hyzer isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but in the coming years, his Discraft Scorch will still find plenty of trees from the teepad to carve up.

Even better, you shouldn’t have an issue seeing it – in-person.

Have anything to add? Take to Twitter to let us know – we’ll actually (for real) get back to you.

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