High 20s to Low 30s, but it felt colder with a slight breeze and cloudy skies. I kind of cheated seeing as how I didn't drink the night before and got a solid 8 hours of sleep.

I must of not drank enough. Too much blood in my alcohol system, that's the only way I can excuse shooting a 51 both rounds.

Why do we have seperate divisions at all on the course like that. There were only 5 open players in the top 10 if you throw all the divisions into one with an open grandmaster winning! We all can easily reach every hole and put our drive within 15 feet and yet people still show up at this non PDGA event and play grandmaster.

It was the nicest new years day that I have seen in while. Wish I could have made it.

So you were one of the ones who got my two dollars. 

I appreciate the donation. ;)

I'm sorry Alex. (we did try to yell, "four") It seemed like many of my drives were doing that. I'll blame it on the Captain Morgan the night before.

The age-protected division issue has been and will continue to be a heated discusion. Here's my take on this particular one...
Let's be honest...no one winning the NYD tournament was going to make enough to pay for their rent/mortgage, at least I hope no one was counting on that, if/when disc golf ever gets to that caliber, then I would hope the division argument would be long settled. If Russ would've played in Open, then he would've won over $125, instead, he won less than half of that amount, let's let him live with that unprofitable decision. I find it completely ironic that people who didn't show or quit after the first round b/c of their score are complaining, in my opinion, that is far less respectable than playing in a division with some old guys....

 Liz, I was in the early stages of a cold/flu that's got me down for several days, plus I don't particulary like the course and really don't like waiting on every hole and 20 on hole #12, that's why I left after the first round but I did want to get out of the house for a while. Consider it a donation to the Open division. I really do beleive that divisions are a good thing but you're not doing your game any good by playing with people you can easily beat especially at winton.   Playing in the open division is a great way to make someone a better disc golfer and the Winton tournament would be a perfect opportunity for an up an coming player to see what it's like to play open because every hole is deucable. It's not easy playing in the open division, these guys are serious and want to win and they don't miss too many putts. It's good to see a couple of people did step up.

I know you yelled that's why it is my arm that is purple, not my face :) don't worry about it. I will live.

Heh, heh. 1st really good New Year's day I had in over 20 years and I stirred up the old worn out age division argument. There's no place, nowhere, I'd ever consider playing Open, and frankly after not playing at all for 2 months, I wasn't even sure I wanted to play this, much less as pro.
Once, just once, every putt fell. It happens.
Deal with it.

I love this debate, and it will likely never go away. Everyone has their opinions based on their own vision of the game and its future. The PDGA loves having a million divisions, and the ‘everyone’s a winner’ mentality because they get a cut out of every single entry fee. All they care about is that as many people as possible play tourneys. While this encourages newbies and older players to come out, it discourages up and coming potential pros. These players can stay in advanced, be labeled as baggers, and get little material or mental benefit from their success. The alternative is to move up to Open, pay twice as much, and have little chance to cash. It’s tough when the division is tiny, yet includes a handful of 990-1000 rated players. While it helps one’s game to play with the best, it is discouraging when your score is consistently in the top 5-10% tournament-wide, yet you win nothing and have paid the largest entry fee. Ever wonder why so many guys who fit this category seem to fall off the face of the Earth? They realize that the system is not set up to foster competition and proficiency at the highest level, it is set up to maximize participation at all levels. While this is seen as a fundamental flaw in the system by some players-for others it is just fine. Many do not care that there will never be million dollar tournaments, national media coverage, and a large core of touring pros who make a real living playing the game. As mentioned, these folks like the social aspect of it. They like to play with their peers (very often long-time friends), and to be competitive in whichever division fits their skill level. I’ve heard accounts from ‘masters and above’ aged players that one reason why they like the age protected divisions is simply so that they can talk about their children and back problems during the round as opposed to hearing foul-mouthed accounts of the previous night’s debauchery from the young punks on their card. Where you stand on this issue likely has everything to do with how you, as a player, see the game itself-especially when it comes to competition. Is the priority competition or socializing? Should divisions be based on common ages or common skill levels? Is the goal to have the best players play, or to have the most players play? These are all crucial questions whose answers are rarely agreed upon. Attached are the results from the NYD tourney, ranked on score, and color-coded by division. As mentioned, players of all ages (and self-assigned skill levels) put up some of the best scores. Still, there is a cluster of Open towards the top and a cluster of Novice towards the bottom. The middle portion is the most diverse in terms of divisions. What does this mean? Maybe not much-but take it as you will. I have my own opinions as to what changes would make tournaments better-as I'm sure all of you do. But it's pretty hard to agree on a remedy, when we can't even agree on the presence-much less the variety-of the illness.

File Attachment(s):
NewYear2009(1).xls (33kb) downloaded 41 time(s).

Very nicely put.