New England DGC Regional Qualifiers

[Rob Tatro]

I just don't understand limiting the number of NEFA sanctioned Massachusetts qualifiers for the NEDGC. I thought that the regional dispersal of championship invites was a great step forward in rejuvinating regional interest in the point series throughout New England. I don't remember discussions which involved limiting the amount of qualifying events. Trenton, I think you're making a big mistake with this and I can tell you that we, the MA contingent is not going to be happy about this and on top of that, the locations you picked certainly don't make sense geographically either. I urge you to reconsider or face certain and continued criticism from your voting constituents.

I know that back in my hayday, I was able to make maybe 15-20 NEFA events per calendar year throughout New England but as my kiddo's have grown older and our weekends are more entrenched with other activities, that is just not possible right now. I would assume others are in the same boat and you'll be excluding a larger portion of our membership than you think. Why do you think that limiting the amount of qualifiers are going to bring you the bigger/better cream of the crop? I most certainly disagree.

[ira divoll]

Trenton, I don't believe I have formally met you before, but I am sure we have crossed paths at a tourney or two.

I would also ask that you reconsider the format of the MA qualifiers, and make more tournaments eligible. There are just some weekends that I am unable to play a tournament for a variety of reasons, and I am fearful that I'd a couple of these come up at the wrong times, I will be unable to qualify if only for the schedule alone.

I would likely participate in more tournaments, over more of the summer, if I knew it could help get me into the finals.

If you feel that certain tourneys ought to be weighted more heavily towards the championships, then perhaps weighting them makes sense. But to exclude places with established tournaments like Devens and Borderlands (coincidentally, two of the three closest courses to us Bostonians) and courses that would like be good additions to the circuit (looking at you, Webster) seems shortsighted.

I just don't see the benefits of limiting the number of qualifiers outweighing the drawbacks.

Thanks for all that you do for NEFA, and again, please reconsider the qualifying format.

[Greg Wintrob]

The NEDGC committee just voted to allow all NEFA events in a region to count for regional qualifier. All regions except MA will be using best of 3. MA will be best of four.

[Nyles_Johnson]

I think that is an excellent decision. Well done!

[John Tserpes]

The NEDGC committee just voted to allow all NEFA events in a region to count for regional qualifier. All regions except MA will be using best of 3. MA will be best of four.

Might as well call this what it is, NEDGC Regional Point Series. Same thing as the regular series but broken down into regional format. It is going to force people to stay within their region more and discourage travel for those who don't play that many NEFA events. Plus somebody can finish in the top 10 of their division in the regular point series by playing outside their region and not get an invite to the NEDGC. Hence making it not the best of the best. Playing well outside your region is harder and now you get no credit for it if you play well other than getting points for regular season standings. Regular season payouts are nothing special. It's was all about the Finals for most members.

[Mike Dussault]

John, I think you are right, it was all about the finals for us competitive golfers. That is a big reason why this new finals tournament has been created, making it something special and more than just another tourney.

Maybe soething could be worked out in the future where you need 4 or 5 events to qualify in your region, but allow points to count for another region as well. Might be tricky to chart and track points that way. Could maybe use points series as is now constituted, but seperate by region to determine invites...

I like the changes so far, we will have to see how it woks out. I am going to join NEFA for the first time in three years.

NEFA #151

[John Tserpes]

Mike glad to hear you are rejoining. I may or may not.

Just an idea would have been using the regular point series to determine the invites and then resetting the points for finals to some type of starting points (ex. 250 for 1st, 225 for 2nd, 200 for 3rd etc...) and then double weighing for finals (500pts for 1st, 450 for 2nd, etc...) so there can be a player who can win the championship who came into finals(NEDGC) in 10th place but still giving the guy who came in 1st with some type lead before the start of finals. Making finals more exciting as everyone has to play their best to win the NEDGC.

Plus don't payout there regular season with 60%, more like 3O% and finals 70%. Make it worth everyone's wild to make the cut and attend finals. Let NEFA charge $2 a head for each tourney which should have been done already.

Use the old 2x events as qualifiers where the winner gets an automatic invite to finals. Must be a 2 day event (1 for AM, 1 for Pro) so more people in every division get a chance at signing up. If a state doesn't want to run a qualifier then so be it.

[Chris Young]

The GMDGC takes $2 per player at all our events and it goes to end of the season GMPS payouts. We had it at $1 per player for a couple years and then changed it to $2 without one word of concern from any players.

[John Hart]

MA 28
CT/RI 17
NH/VT 15
NY/NJ 15
ME 15
Smaller regional players can qualify in larger regions. Larger regions cannot qualify in smaller or equal sized regions.

Every region is responsible for fundraising of $250.

If you want to qualify in another state, you will need to contact the rep prior to competing. That way they know to track you.

Sorry if I am misunderstanding this but solely based on the numbers above can you verify:

If you live in mass, you can only qualify in mass
If you live anywhere, you can qualify in mass

As for sizes of the actual regions, Maine is larger than Mass, VT & NH together.

My real question is: can I qualify in NH/VT if I live in Mass?

Thanks

Trent, North Calais appears to be listed in the wrong month.

[rick belhumeur]

Crickets-------John--------Crickets.


Sorry about the rap Jack.


To many cooks have spoiled the soup.

[Greg Wintrob]

John, if you live in Mass you can only qualify there

[Charlie Holmgren]

Haters gonna Hate

[rick belhumeur]

1st------I am not a Hater!

So now a person who has a job, works hard & has limited time, runs events in more than 1 state can only qualify in the state He/She lives in??? NEFA has gone wild!

When does the poster of all elected officials with there shirts lifted HIGH go on sale...

I am thankful that I don't live in Florida MA.

WE have made it easier for so called excluded members to get into finals while excluding others.

The more things change the more they stay the same.

2nd I am still not a HATER.


My .02 cents--------Posting is FREE Y PAY.

[Greg Wintrob]

Mass has near twice the spots of any other region.

[Kenji Cline]

So now a person who has a job, works hard & has limited time, runs events in more than 1 state can only qualify in the state He/She lives in???

Not true. I have a job. I work hard. I have limited time. I have helped run events in MA, VT and NY. I can qualify in NY my home state, CT/RI or MA.

[Troy Dietrich]

Rick makes a good point. What about the Mass player living in North Adams? Or Great Barrington? They'd be much closer to the majority of tournaments in NY or CT, than the Mass ones.

I think a player should be able to compete in whichever region they choose, rather than being forced to compete in the state they live in. That way players living near the borders can opt to play one or the other (but not both!).

Might be too late now, but that's a change I would certainly suggest for next year.

Troy

[rick belhumeur]

John, if you live in Mass you can only qualify there





Well there it is John & all you other folks that live in the Booooneeeees




My .02 cents Posting is Free Y Pay.

[Craig Cutler]

Last year's soup tasted worse. Unless you live in Mass, then it tasted better.

Facts:

2012 Finals: 80% of all Final Participants lived in Mass

2012 NEFA membership: 54% of all members lived in Mass

2013 NEFA events: 18/39 are located in Mass 46 %

2013 NEC Championships: 31 % of all participants will be from Mass.

seems fair for the first year right? To encourage growth in non Mass membership??


Unless NEFA is a mass club and wants to keep it that way. If so, other states can go elsewhere in 2014.

[Bobby Direnzo]

Crickets-------John--------Crickets.


Sorry about the rap Jack.


To many cooks have spoiled the soup.

OK SI.

[Josh Connell]

Snipped from the Pyramids thread so as to not pollute things there...

.......from what I understand about the NEDGC, (which i'll admit is very little) you can run a qualifier for the NEDGC without it being a NEFA tournament.

INcorrect, sir. When we decided that all NEFA events would be qualifiers for their respective regions, the non-NEFA/NEDGC qualifier plan went away.

That whole idea didn't make any sense to me.

You know what would have been awesome?

If when this was decided, whenever it was decided, THAT SOMEONE funk ANNOUNCED IT OFFICIALLY!

Why is this the first I've read that non-NEFA tournaments are no longer allowed to be NEDGC qualifiers? Why is the first mention buried in an individual tournament thread that most people are likely to miss?

Here's the extent of the "announcement" of the change in qualifying standards made on this very thread...

The NEDGC committee just voted to allow all NEFA events in a region to count for regional qualifier. All regions except MA will be using best of 3. MA will be best of four.

Nowhere do I see anything that states that non-NEFA qualifiers will no longer be allowed. Nothing to that effect has been posted in any thread. I haven't been informed by my state rep who told me "no problem" when I asked for my non-NEFA event to be a qualifier 2+ months ago. Awesome communication on this one. What a cluster funk.

[Troy Dietrich]

I didn't say anything when I saw Jeff post that earlier. But that's the first I'd heard of it too. The Buc stops here event in CT, is listed as a NEDGC qualifer...non NEFA, because the GHO is Wicks annual NEFA event.

<insert popcorn eating emoticon here>

[Greg Wintrob]

Josh, This was not the official position so that's why it was not announced.

Troy, GHDGO was not NEFA last year and won't be this year. This year The BUC Stops Here IS the NEFA tourney and NEDGC qualifier for 2013.

[Joseph Mason Proud, III]

Get it together, boy

[Josh Connell]

Josh, This was not the official position so that's why it was not announced.

Thanks, Greg. So to be clear, Jeff was speaking out of turn and what he posted is not true (except maybe for NY/NJ, I suppose). State reps still have the discretion to appoint any tournament they see fit to be an NEDGC qualifier for their region, with NEFA Points simply being automatics? Fair enough.

Explains why Dave didn't have a clue what I was talking about when I asked him what was up.

[Greg Wintrob]

Yes, just talk to Dave and he can bring it to a vote to get your event approved.

[Jeff Wiechowski]

Sorry for the misunderstanding........... it just sounded illogical to NOT have NEFA sanctioning on what is basically a NEFA Finals Qualifier.

[John Mucciarone]

so according to post #1, ALL NEFA events are qualifiers. CORRECT?

[Greg Wintrob]

Yes. You need to try in qualify in your own region first. If another region is bigger than yours, you can try an qualify there. You would need to let that region rep know to track you. If you qualify in multiple regions, your home region counts first.

[Troy Dietrich]

Something I don't think some people understand (either that, or maybe I'm the confused one).

*** Even though all NEFA events are now NEDGC qualifiers, they're only a qualifier for the player if it's an event in their home state. ***

Example; A Massachusetts NEFA tournament is NOT a qualifying NEDGC event for anyone living outside of Mass.

Which is why players from CT, would likely be opting to play at the Wick tourney rather than the APO in Mass if they have aspirations for playing in the NEDGC. (Which I think is what John was getting at by his question).

[John Mucciarone]

actually not what I was getting out....but see its relevance (and have voiced my opinion to our organization's leaders)

when one reads a thread of 3 pages that lists 6, 8, 12 events for NEDGC (whatever the #)
and specific tournaments determined by the holy points power, everything seems unclear
and very different from the first post. i got the state part, that did not change.

i am glad its just a slight tweak and not isolating other events, or creating qualifiers from tournaments that one could not possibly deem worth of a qualifier over another in any fair manner.

in 8-9 years, I have never played in finals, because I felt the top 16 who qualified (as was done in years past) earned it, and when everyone says no and I get asked if I want to show up as the #28 finisher for the season or whatever, i turn it down. because I didn't earn it or deserve it. fix it for those that qualify.
as Tserpes said, payout 70% at finals, 30% for the season.

Create real incentives to play Finals, not constructs like:
# of tournaments played in zipcodes starting 021 for events that occur only on first and third Saturdays of months with 31 days in it, and not, definitely not in a Leap Year*!
*during leap years, it flips to 2nd and 4th Saturdays, but 30 day months only!

(please understand, humor is all humanity has left)