If not tournaments, then what?

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the 4th Annual Fernburner at Lucky Mud, an almost overwhelmingly positive experience. I say experience, because while the Fernburner is technically a tournament, it amounts to so much more. You’re can stay at the inn or camp out on the course, are fed ample amounts of great home cooked food, and have plenty of opportunity to kick back, take a deep breath and lose yourself in serenity of your surroundings. Not to mention, you’re surrounded by a group of great people who all likeminded and share a common love. Sure, the competition is there if you want it, but it just seems to be one facet of this gem.

On the Sunday following the tournament, some of who camped out had a round of casual random draw doubles. My partner was Jenn, the only woman playing in the doubles. My game was simply not there in the morning, and Jenn had to do the majority of the work for us. And you know? I’m not embarrassed to admit that. The girl has game. She’s a solid player that could give a lot of guys a run for their money, and would probably do very well in PDGA tournaments. I’d even go so far to say she’d quite possibly dominate in the WA State Series, were she to play in it. But no, she only plays one tournament a year, and that’s the Fernburner.

Jenn said that she’s just not a tournament kind of person, and I can totally respect that. Even though I’ve played a decent number of tournaments, I wouldn’t really consider myself a “tournament kind of person.” I don’t thrive on competition like some people do. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy it, but the whole “second place is just the first place loser” mentality never enters my mind. While I’m always trying to shoot well, the main reason I go to tournaments is the camaraderie; a purpose to head to a course (or courses) and spend a weekend with friends. I saw an article where one person likened a disc golf tournament to a Harley rally, and I’d say that’s a fitting analogy. But, while that solidarity exists, there is still the overreaching goal that competitors are there to win, and that’s just not something that interests all of us.

To follow the Harley rally example, there’s no real competition going on there as far as I know, other than who has the sweetest ride, best looking babe, or looks the most grizzled. The problem for not-so-competitive disc golfer though, is that disc golf is still a game, and therefore, has an inherent object of winning. It is only natural that organized disc golf events are competitions, I mean, the point of the game is to have the lowest score, so the obvious choice for an event is to compare those scores and award the best ones.

I would like to see more events take place that don’t place such a high emphasis on the scoring aspect of the game. Part of the reason why the Fernburner is so dearly loved by its attendees is that people for the most part are just out to have a great time at a great course, and if all goes well, they’ll score decently. There are a few other events that I’m aware of that don’t place an emphasis on competition, such as World’s Biggest Disc Golf Weekend, Discraft’s Ace Race, and the Ice Bowl. Also, more local to me, there is Scott Papa’s quasi-annual Halloween tournament, Howliewood, where his personal course is transformed with all sorts of crazily themed obstacles and no awards are given for the amount of strokes, but on the quality of costumes.

I’ve been to a few of these events where there seems to be less of an emphasis on how well you shoot and more on how much fun you’re having. The examples I’ve listed above are great, but there’s so few of them, especially in the scope of how many traditional tournaments are held. These noncompetitive or at least less competitive events attract people that don’t usually play in organized disc golf–they’re awesome people, and I want to see more of them. So I’m asking our readers: are you interested in non-competitive events? And if so, what kind of events would you like to see, or have attended, that you think would do a good job of bringing the greater disc golf community together?