We know at The Planet, that the more we are able to present disc golf in it’s highest form (i.e. best players at the best events on the best courses), the more attention we will get from the casual disc golfer, as well as corporate brands.

Disc golf has gained great attention around the globe, and many corporate brands are interested in partnering with our various media outlets, including DGP.tv. But it is the enduring commitment that our vendors and event coordinators with disc golf have to our sport that really carries the day.

And do it is to these dedicated purveyors of disc golf we tip our hats and express our most sincere thanks for their support of DiscGolfPlanet.tv. Without their sponsorship, and our growing membership rolls that our viewers are responsible for, we could not help nurture the rising tide of disc golf.

So a special thanks goes out to all our Memorial Broadcast Sponsors!

The Professional Disc Golf Association (Our Major Underwriter for The Memorial)

DiscGolfWorld.com and the 30th Kansas City Wide Open (A Cannot Miss Event!)

DiscsUnlimited.net and Millennium Golf Discs (Our Friend and Our Supporter)

FadeGear.com (Whose Women’s Tournament in Colorado is setting the new standard)

DiscNation.com (With Us Since we began back in 2009)

SunKingDiscs.com (Enjoying the fruits of their labor and a Great New Storefront in Sarasota, Florida)

ClearwaterDiscGolfStore.com (One of the largest onsite selections of golf discs in the USA!)

There are a LIMITED Number of Sponsorships Remaining for the Memorial Championship Broadcast

Please Contact Us Now for More Information!

In the meantime, we invite you to join many of your fellow disc golfers and become a Lifetime Member of DiscGolfPlanet.tv!

This survey has maintained many of the same questions since its inception and is designed to better understand what disc golfers do when they are not on the course. We hope that you will participate in this 2012 Disc Golf Survey.

DiscGolfPlanet.tv is pleased to announce that the 2012 disc golf broadcast season will begin in Arizona at The Memorial Championship presented by Discraft. Coverage is scheduled to begin on Thursday, March 1st, with the second round of the Men’s Open division at the scenic Fountain Hills course.

“We are thrilled to be heading back out to Arizona for our third consecutive year to kick off the PDGA National Tour at this prestigious event,” smiled Dr. John G. Duesler, Jr., Executive Producer at DiscGolfPlanet.tv. “Special thanks goes out to the PDGA for their outstanding support and partnership with our broadcast crew. Fountain Hills is one of the greatest disc golf stages in all the world, and with the extremely talented pool of players, our job is pretty easy making great broadcasting.”

This is a sampling from last year’s Memorial Championship presented by Discraft. Enjoy this Men’s Open Final Round coverage.

Paul McBeth will be defending his 2011 Memorial Championship title against the stalwarts of the sport. 2011 World Champion, Nate Doss, multiple Memorial titlist, David Feldberg, 2009 and 2010 Player of the Year, Nikko Locastro, as well as local Paul Ulibarri, Ken Climo, Avery Jenkins, and a host of other world-class disc golfers will be in the field.

On the women’s side, Paige Pierce used last year’s Memorial title to springboard her sophomore year on the tour into a World Championship in Santa Cruz, California last August. Her dramatic win on the 72nd hole of play gave Pierce the meddle she needed to endure the long and winding National Tour, and come out of 2011 with a World Championship on her mantle. Pierce will again face the likes of Valarie Jenkins, Liz Lopez, and past champion, Liz Carr. However, some of women’s toughest competitors should come from emerging womens’s star, Sarah Hokom, and Europe’s top female disc golfer, Camilla Jernberg.

DiscGolfPlanet.tv will also be providing great drama with its generous prize give-aways during the broadcast. Discs, Bags, Shirts, Hats, and Baskets will again be on the prize list again this year…But you have to be a Member to win!

To be eligible, please consider becoming a Lifetime Member of DiscGolfPlanet.tv. It’s only $25, but it goes a long way towards helping our crew fulfill our mission…”Broadcasting the Best in Disc Golf.”

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How can you take the biggest event in disc golf and change it?

What do you mean “no payouts?”

How can we possibly understand this performance-based scoring system?

So, as with anything that disrupts the status quo, change becomes the very definition of stress and anxiety and an immediate source of criticism.

And yet, with all the consternation that has surrounded the 2011 USDGC, there are a number of positive elements to this event that may be overlooked by some disc golf fans.

a. There will be a “USDGC” this year. Like the Japan Open and European Open, both of which are considered the top events in that country and continent, the USDGC, as we have known it, has decided to go to an every-other-year format. Just having the event this year, for the over 120 disc golfers, the long-list of volunteers, the scores of school-kids who attend, the entire community of Rock Hill, and for EDGE is a positive development. Scrapping it, which was one of the other options considered, would have rippled throughout all these groups and been a major blow to the community’s expectations that have grown along with the USDGC.

The USDGC has long been about so much more than just disc golf's top pros competing for a large purse. Canceling the event for even a year, would have a negative rippling affect throughout the Rock Hill community.

b. Performance-based play could become a trend. When ratings were first introduced to disc golf at the 1999 PDGA World Championships in Rochester, they were scorned and scrutinized, much like this performance-based system is being critiqued today. Now, we all celebrate the advance of ratings-based play throughout our sport. Therefore, why would we not now want to further extend this model and create an event where everyone competed on a level field of play? Up to this point in time, ratings have been used merely as a way to stratify competitors in a given field. Why not use performance-based play (essentially derived from ratings), as a way to bring divergent fields together? It may be a trend we come to embrace in the future.

c. Bringing AMs to Winthrop Gold may accelerate their development. When you consider that there are three-times as many amateur disc golfers in the PDGA, as pros, it would seem that our top disc golfers would want that ratio to be more even, so that the pro fields could continue to grow and be more competitive throughout the disc golf season. The obvious virtue of larger fields, would be that more cash would be available to the top performers in stroke play competition. Allowing the top amateur disc golfers the opportunity to play the Winthrop Gold course against a smattering of our top pros may, in fact, be enough of an impetus to help these “sandbaggers” realize, “Hey! Despite my resistance to moving up, I now see that I can play with these guys.”

d. Scaling down the USDGC this year may make it stronger next year. Let’s face it, Innova dedicated an enormous amount of resources, both in personnel and finances, to the success of the first 12 USDGCs. There have been estimates in excess of $1 million flowing into the event, and it definitely showed. But after 12 years, the question had to eventually be asked, “Is this sustainable?”  We know it is not sustainable for the Japan Open (which started in the 1980s). We know that it is not sustainable for the European Open. After stepping back and looking at it objectively, how could we possibly think that the USDGC in its One Division. One Winner. format could be sustainable? Clearly, making the decision to throttle back the USDGC this year was controversial. But whether it was the “right” or “wrong” decision is unanswerable even once the event is concluded this year. It will indeed only be at the conclusion of the 2012 United States Disc Golf Championship where the merit of this year’s changed format could be addressed.

e. It may actually come down to an incredible ending. This is more wishful thinking than anything based on the demonstrable examples provided above, yet, imagine an ending where a Jussi Meresmaa and a Pete May are locked into a tie with only three holes remaining. How about a Barry Schultz and Mike Solt battling it out for USDGC supremacy? Could a Dave Dunipace and Harold Duvall possibly be crawling around the course on the leadcard at the end? Sure they could! And it will be that unlikely name, whether we know them or not, who will be paired up with a known player to determine the Championship. And you know who the pressure will be on, right? The more accomplished player, where there is no room for error! Make believe ending? We will have to wait and see.

Regardless of how this year’s USDGC ends up, this October classic will continue the legacy of excellence that it began 13 years ago. Whether it was laying string out all over the course, creating an event with just one division and one champion, or bringing 18 states together to rally behind one event, the 2011 United States Disc Golf Championship will again do that one thing it has done so successfully in the past…break through the barriers of our sport.  And for that we applaud you.

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Combining a deft mix of power of the tee with some spectacular throw-ins from the fairway, Doss has brought his World Championship momentum clear across the country to the Maple Hill course in Leicester, Massachusetts. He stated the his first round with a chain-smashing deuce throw on the uphill hole two and thrilled the gallery with a 100 feet hole out on the iconic final hole 18 yesterday.

Watch Nate Doss describe his round-two ending play throw during his interview with DiscGolfPlanet.tv’s Terry Miller.

There is still plenty of golf left on Championship Sunday here at Vibram, as the Maple Hill course can be cruel to these top pros. Geoff Bennett had a 12 throw bloat on his second round, and David Feldberg’s 13 throw increase from his first round are testament to the challenges of the Maple Hill course.

But if Doss can continue with his impressive long-putting, his primary competitors will be battling for the runner-up spot.

Make sure to check out all the LIVE Internet Broadcasting at the 2011 Vibram Open on DiscGolfPlanet.tv’s Streaming Portal.

The DiscGolfPlanet.tv crew will be on site in Leicester, Massachusetts this entire weekend bringing you all the LIVE Action from the Vibram Open.

Indeed, going into this weekend’s culminating National Tour event at the Vibram Open at Maple Hill, there are more questions that answers. The Drive for the Championships Points Series presented by Vibram has the World’s number TWO ranked player, Nikko Locastro, holding a slim 6 point lead over the reigning PDGA World Champion, Nate Doss. The World’s number ONE ranked player, David Feldberg is certainly within striking distance (only 7 points out of first) of gaining another National Tour Points Championship, but he will need help from the players above him.

This weekend’s Vibram Open Points will be awarded as follows…
1st Place – 100 Points
2nd Place – 95 Points
3rd Place – 91 points
4th Place – 88 Points
5th Place – 85 Points
6th Place – 82 Points
7th Place – 80 Points
8th Place – 78 Points
9th Place – 76 Points
10th Place – 74 Points

So however our Touring Pros finish this weekend, the Vibram Points will be added to the points that the players’ have accumulated so far throughout this year’s NT, meaning that the top spot is wide open for either Locastro, Doss, or Feldberg to claim and add to their already impressive resumes.

On the Women’s side, a modicum of drama still exists, especially given Sarah Hokom’s win at the Pittsburgh Flying Disc Open last week. With that win, Hokom still trails Women’s number one ranked player Valarie Jenkins by ten points. However, if the results this weekend mimic the PFDO results from last weekend, the Hokom would earn a stunning sprint to the finish National Tour Points title. And while this is still an odds-against occurrence, the long-awaited depth of talent in the Women’s Open field has meant that picking a winner in this field has become rather unpredictable.

Join DiscGolfPlanet.tv's Terry Miller, as he describes all the action LIVE this weekend from the 2011 Vibram Open's Maple Hill course.

So with so many possible outcomes this weekend on both the men’s and the women’s side fields, IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS! It’s the 2011 Vibram Open this weekend in Leicester, Massachusetts, where the stakes are high, the drama is great, and field is extremely competitive. And two PDGA National Tour Points Titles are on the line! IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS!

And you can watch it all unfold LIVE on DiscGolfPlanet.tv, as we continue our efforts at “Broadcasting the Best in Disc Golf!”

BROADCASTING SCHEDULE
The following is our tentative Broadcast Schedule for the 2011 Vibram Open (All Times Eastern)

Thursday, September 1st
5:30 pm— Final Holes of Vibram Match Play
6:30 pm— NT Players’ Interactive Disc Golf Teaching Clinic
10:15 pm— DGP Weekly Magazine Show

Friday, September 2nd
11:30 am— Super Group #1
2:40 pm— Super Group #2

Saturday, September 3rd
Women’s Lead Card… and bonus coverage
Time To Be Determined

Sunday, September 4th
Final Rounds of the Men’s and Women’s Lead Groups
Time To Be Determined

And you can watch the entire clinic LIVE on DiscGolfPlanet.tv, as Reading and friends will surely help some aspect of your game during this highly entertaining and informative session. Viewers from around the world are also encouraged to use the Chat Widget below the streaming video portal to interact with our disc golf pros. Your participating is encouraged, even if you cannot be there in person.

That’s the power of DGP.tv and the willingness of our pros to teach! Take advantage of it and tune in Thursday around 6:30 pm Eastern to find out more!

But the one tradition that seems to mark the official commencement of the Vibram Open, now entering into it’s eighth year, is the ceremonial tee times announcement that tournament director Steve Dodge likens to the early days of the NFL draft, when fans would sit around and watch to witness onto which team their favorite players would land.

And while it’s always risky comparing the most popular professional sports enterprise in the United States with our niche sport of disc golf, we can still strive to create news-worthy media events that will help elevate our great game.

So it is with that promotional spirit that DiscGolfPlanet.tv is pleased to be the exclusive media partner for the player first round tee time announcements at the 2011 Vibram Open in Leicester, Massachusetts during next Labor Day Weekend’s PDGA National Tour culminating event.

Vibram Open Tournament Director Steve Dodge will be in Leicester and will be joined by DiscGolfPlanet.tv anchor, John Duesler in Philadelphia, Thursday night (August 26th) at 9:45 pm Eastern to run through the entire field and announce their tees times. Since the Vibram Open is an event for which all players must qualify, it will interesting to see how players are matched up during the literal “draw from a hat” process. And with Drive for the Championship presented by Vibram points race as of yet to be determined in the Men’s Open division, having rival players in the same first round group may set the stage for a dramatic weekend of play.

You can watch all the tee times be drawn by Vibram Open Tournament Director Steve Dodge starting at 9:45pm tonght (Thursday, August 25th) by clicking over the Watch DGP.tv menu tab. We look forward to seeing you online and helping us elevate the intrigue level in disc golf.