USWDGC Caddie Book: Low Effort From the PDGA

Many of you may have discovered my channel and website when I called out the PDGA for the lack of amenities, preparation, and all-around jerk former PDGA President Justin Menickelli. As I sit here and prepare for the USWDGC tournament happening in Madison, Wisconsin, I want to get a preview of what the courses are like. What better place to look than the official USWDGC caddie book?nn

n nnThe cover page looks really nice with the logo, date, and Paige Pierce in her follow through after a throw. Page two is a different story. There is a screenshot of the course schedule that is completely illegible. There is a link you can click on to go to the actual webpage that is actually legible. But why include this in the official caddie book if you can’t read it? Is this a bit of a nitpick? I will admit, yes, it is.nnnnnWhy should I quibble over an indecipherable course schedule when I’m actually trying to get a hole preview? Well, to say the caddie book is less than helpful is a major understatement. If I told you that a second grader drew the holes in Microsoft paint, would you believe me? Honestly, I might have just insulted most second graders. Just look at the comparison from the DGPT caddie book and this low effort attempt from the PDGA.nnLooking at the Preserve Championship Hole 1 overhead shot we can see some similarities. They both have the par noted. They both have the distance in feet and meters. They both have any relevant rules or notes like OB or mandos. They both have structures/OB/water marked. Finally, they both have multiple shades of green.nnThat’s where the similarities end. The DGPT caddie book has a nice DGPT logo along with the area name and course name. They also have the tournament logo embedded on each page. The DGPT notes where the trees are in and along the fairway as well as and shrubbery around the basket. The basket is also marked as a basket on the map rather than a blue dot. The DGPT even included where the sand traps are and C1 & C2 around the basket.nnMaybe I’m being too harsh on the PDGA and the TD of USWDGC. It’s not like they’ve had around a year and a half to prepare for this tournament. They just found out they were hosting this at the end of May, right? RIGHT?!? Sadly, they’ve known they were hosting this tournament since they put in a bid in 2020. The bidding process for the PDGA majors (Pro and Am) finishes in November 2 years before the major will happen. The bidding process for the 2023 Majors finished November 1^st, 2021. This November all bids for the 2024 Majors will be in. So, it’s not like they really had time to come up with a caddie book that was at a similar standard to the DGPT.nnWhy am I making such a big deal out of a relatively small issue? It’s the details that matter. Making sure the OB lines are painted correctly. Having a caddie book that is somewhat useful. When you don’t focus on those things it makes me question if you did the rest of the tournament prep correctly. I’m not even talking about the “True Amateur” bologna, relegating the AM side of the event to trophy only.nnAt the time of publication, USWDGC FPO has not teed off yet. I’m doing my best to hold back judgement until the tournament starts. My hope is that the tournament runs well and it’s a great experience for all the women players attending this event. But my Worlds senses are tingling and I’m a little afraid of what can happen. The PDGA gave up the National Tour to the DGPT and disc golf if better for it. The PDGA runs 4 Pro Majors this year (USDGC is run by Innova and is in a strange position), Champions Cup, USWDGC, European Open, and Worlds. The issues surrounding Champions Cup and Elaine King were sort of PDGA related and sort of DGPT/DGN related. My hope is to talk about how wonderful the event was and the winner on next week’s podcast and not how the PDGA screwed the pooch, again.nn