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Frequently Asked Questions - Leagues

No.  All players participating during league must be reported, players can not opt out of reporting or ratings in any PDGA sanctioned event, including leagues.

Since not all players will play each week of a league, the total score across all weeks can’t be used to do rankings, so ranking is instead done by total points earned within each division of the league. Points are awarded based on how many players a competitor either ties (including themselves) or beats within their division during EACH week of play times the points factor for that division.

Not really. PDGA Ratings are calculated using what's called a zero sum process. The total ratings points earned in a round by the group of players with established ratings (who generate the ratings) will always total the same as the total of their player ratings going into the event.

PDGA rules must be followed in leagues just as they are in regular tournament play. The one exception allowed for league play is players of legal age may drink during rounds if the park rules allow alcohol to be consumed on the course. However, please drink in moderation since courtesy rules can be enforced to penalize unruly behavior.

If the same league plays more than one day in a week, a separate sanctioning form must be submitted for each week day. For example, if you have a league that meets every Tuesday and Thursday, the PDGA would see that as a Tuesday league and a separate Thursday league for reporting purposes. That doesn't mean the league couldn't continue to locally process their league standings, results and payouts with those days combined.

No and Yes. All players must play the same tees on a specific league day. However, everyone can play a different set of tees on the same course or even another course the following week. The league can move around so the same tees/course are never played twice over a 10-week league. If the courses being played in your league are particularly long and too tough for lower level divisions to play the long tees, we recommend sanctioning two leagues running on the same course on the same night. Have your higher level divisions in one league playing the long tees.

The TD determines the basic entry fee per day for each league division. The TD adds $1 fee to each of those entry fees which is paid by each player whether PDGA member or not. From that $1 fee, $0.50 goes to the PDGA and $0.50 goes to the TD to help with their league expenses, compensation and possibly final league prizes. The fee to sanction as a PDGA league is $25.

There's no temporary membership fee to play in a PDGA league. However, non-members will not receive ratings they can see online nor earn PDGA points.

Yes. Players will earn PDGA points based on how many players they tied or beat in their division during each week of play.  League points are 1/2 the amount of points of a C-Tier tournament.

Yes. Some TDs may either want to or be required to sanction their league for the PDGA insurance coverage. It takes at least 3 propagators to produce unofficial ratings each week. However, even if your league has fewer than 3 propagators some or most weeks, the PDGA will use an alternate method to generate official ratings for the current and hopefully new PDGA members in your league once your final league results are submitted.

Yes. Current PDGA members will earn ratings and even non-members will earn them even though they won't be able to see their official ratings until they join or renew. Players will see unofficial round ratings each week when the league director posts the scores online just like regular tournaments.

TDs can run their leagues pretty much however they run them now using best average scores, a points system, best 4 of 10 finish positions or handicaps to determine nightly and final league standings. Payouts will not be reported to the PDGA so amateurs may even get cash payouts if the TD prefers and they will not lose their amateur standing.

Simply sanction multiple league sessions to cover the full length of your league. For example, if your league runs 18 weeks, just sanction two 9-week league sessions to cover it. The main reason for the 10-week limit is so scores get reported to the PDGA within 3 months of the time a league session starts so players can get official ratings for their league rounds without waiting half a year.

PDGA league sessions include 6 to 10 weeks of singles play. No doubles yet.  Players enter standard PDGA divisions or the league can be run where everyone participates in one handicap division as long as the TD reports players' raw scores to the PDGA site within standard PDGA divisions so players can earn ratings. The League Director or assistant must be a PDGA Certified Official and they are allowed to play.