Tour takes pressure off players with changes
February 9, 2018 by Alex Colucci in Livewire, News with 0 comments
Yesterday the Disc Golf Pro Tour announced in an article by Tour Director Steve Dodge, that professional players will no longer have to test baskets and provide feedback for any targets whose manufacturers request their inclusion on the list of DGPT Approved Baskets.
“Our previous two-step approval process relied on approval by the PDGA that the basket meets their Championship level criteria and then a 75% approval from the players,” Dodge stated in the article. “This process put the onus on the players to go out and test baskets, provide feedback, and in some cases, say no to a manufacturer, potentially even a manufacturer that sponsors them. This is a difficult position to be put in and we have decided to adjust accordingly.”
The criteria that DGPT Approved Baskets must be approved by the PDGA’s Championship standards for baskets remains in place. To substitute for pro player testing, baskets will now be assessed internally by DGPT staff and “input from various trusted third parties” will be taken into account. The article states that if a basket requesting approval has negative results in testing the tour will reach out to the manufacturer privately to discuss why. Any new models that are added, as well as baskets that are currently approved, will continue to be tested for consistency going forward.
“A catch rate of 98% is acceptable. A catch rate of less than 95% will need to be reviewed,” the article states. “As long as the newly approved baskets meet or are better than the current acceptable range, they will remain on the list of approved baskets.”
The DGPT’s 2017 list of approved targets included the DGA Mach X, Innova Discatcher 28, Dynamic Discs Veteran and Prodigy T1. This announcement comes just over a week after it was announced that Vista del Camino Park will be outfitted with new Chainstar Pro baskets for the DGPT’s opening event, The Memorial Championship. The event, and Fiesta Lakes, in particular, was a source of consternation for some top pros last year as the course had DGA Mach 5 baskets that proved inconsistent at best, despite the model not appearing on the DGPT’s list of approved targets for the 2017 season.
Discraft’s Chainstar Pro basket has yet to appear on the DGPT’s list of approved baskets, while the four models that appeared on the 2017 list have yet to be added for 2018. The Chainstar Pro has been added to the PDGA list of Approved Disc Golf Targets as of February 2nd.
