The Salt Lake Open 2021 Powered by The Looking Glass Gallery
PDGA B-tier · Fri-Sun, Jul 9-11, 2021Jul 2021 · Salt Lake City, UT
The Salt Lake Open 2021 Recap! WARNING, LONG WINDED POST AHEAD!
If you don't know me, I had the privilege of being the Tournament Director of The Salt Lake Open this weekend.
This tournament ha ...
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The Salt Lake Open 2021 Recap! WARNING, LONG WINDED POST AHEAD!
If you don't know me, I had the privilege of being the Tournament Director of The Salt Lake Open this weekend.
This tournament has been a dream of mine for 3 years now. When I first brought it up in 2018, I was met with a lot of doubt that a tournament like this could (or should) ever happen!
In 2019, I proved my concept could work even if we shotgun started on one course, and all traveled to the second course mid day. It went off with no issues, but also made me change my focus as a TD. I wanted instead to focus on creating a tournament that has the best possible player experience for all those involved. As such, I began to study tournaments of all sizes, and break them down to per card/per division stats. If you have played in a tourney (or even a casual round with me, sorry for that ;) ) I run, then you know I'm a stickler for great pace of play and tourney flow. I take great pride in seeing others smile!
296 People competed this weekend to become "The Salt Lake Champion". 296 people!!!!
Out of 296 people, I don't think there's a single person that was unhappy about their Tournament experience. I say that both in a cocky manner, but also because I believe I spoke to the majority of you personally, and got your feedback face to face. It made me smile to hear people's appreciation of me inquiring about their feedback. Most TDs feel like thay don't have time, but I try to take care of as much prep as I can before (The 5P's of life) so that I'm not over stressed and can take that time to interact with my competitors. That being said, if you didn't get that personal attention from myself this weekend, feel free to reach out, and we can have that discussion any time!!
We had a few missteps out there, but that's expected, and nothing that affected the tourney too much. I'll address a few of those here.
Due to an unfortunate series of events the day before the tourney, I was left to get creekside set up for the tourney at roughly 3am, in the dark, without a flashlight! I need to give a big shout-out to Zack Ralphs aka Zackamanjaro for coming up to me as I was starting getting ready, and helping me struggle in the dark getting it all set up!! He came in so clutch! I'm not here to get into his personal stuff, but a clutch play was made, and I appreciate that! This also caused a few of the early morning things to be delayed, and I personally apologize for that, but nothing was off more than a few minutes, thanks to the help of others, including Nathan Bjarnson!
Creekside water logistics took a bit to get figured out, so my apologies to anyone playing creekside on Friday that had water issues. I believe there were at least 3 cards that had no water available as they hit that halfway point. I don't believe that was an issue after that though. I heard there was no snack table set up Friday at creekside, and I also apologize for that, as I take great pride in my snack tables!
Awards ceremony was, quite frankly, a mess! My excuse is that I woke up yesterday feeling very bad, and by the time awards was there, I had nothing in the tank anymore. I'll be better prepared next time, and may even hire Alex Covey and Noel Covey to present awards, because they kill it at that!!!
The Parks Department reserving the wrong pavilion for us is something I'm going to have a very "nice" Convo with them about, as soon as they accept my call!!
All those things being said, no major issues!!!
Thank you to everyone that pitched in to make this event better! My assistants Nathan Paxman Tanner Black my course assistant Mandie Chamberlain and everyone else that hooked up coolers, extra hands, hugs, and more!!
My future visions for this tournament include an additional course, an additional round, and a Sunday cut!
I'll wrap up this novel of a post with the invitation of feedback for this event, even if you didn't play. Please reach out to me!
Jul 12, 2021
If you don't know me, I had the privilege of being the Tournament Director of The Salt Lake Open this weekend.
This tournament has been a dream of mine for 3 years now. When I first brought it up in 2018, I was met with a lot of doubt that a tournament like this could (or should) ever happen!
In 2019, I proved my concept could work even if we shotgun started on one course, and all traveled to the second course mid day. It went off with no issues, but also made me change my focus as a TD. I wanted instead to focus on creating a tournament that has the best possible player experience for all those involved. As such, I began to study tournaments of all sizes, and break them down to per card/per division stats. If you have played in a tourney (or even a casual round with me, sorry for that ;) ) I run, then you know I'm a stickler for great pace of play and tourney flow. I take great pride in seeing others smile!
296 People competed this weekend to become "The Salt Lake Champion". 296 people!!!!
Out of 296 people, I don't think there's a single person that was unhappy about their Tournament experience. I say that both in a cocky manner, but also because I believe I spoke to the majority of you personally, and got your feedback face to face. It made me smile to hear people's appreciation of me inquiring about their feedback. Most TDs feel like thay don't have time, but I try to take care of as much prep as I can before (The 5P's of life) so that I'm not over stressed and can take that time to interact with my competitors. That being said, if you didn't get that personal attention from myself this weekend, feel free to reach out, and we can have that discussion any time!!
We had a few missteps out there, but that's expected, and nothing that affected the tourney too much. I'll address a few of those here.
Due to an unfortunate series of events the day before the tourney, I was left to get creekside set up for the tourney at roughly 3am, in the dark, without a flashlight! I need to give a big shout-out to Zack Ralphs aka Zackamanjaro for coming up to me as I was starting getting ready, and helping me struggle in the dark getting it all set up!! He came in so clutch! I'm not here to get into his personal stuff, but a clutch play was made, and I appreciate that! This also caused a few of the early morning things to be delayed, and I personally apologize for that, but nothing was off more than a few minutes, thanks to the help of others, including Nathan Bjarnson!
Creekside water logistics took a bit to get figured out, so my apologies to anyone playing creekside on Friday that had water issues. I believe there were at least 3 cards that had no water available as they hit that halfway point. I don't believe that was an issue after that though. I heard there was no snack table set up Friday at creekside, and I also apologize for that, as I take great pride in my snack tables!
Awards ceremony was, quite frankly, a mess! My excuse is that I woke up yesterday feeling very bad, and by the time awards was there, I had nothing in the tank anymore. I'll be better prepared next time, and may even hire Alex Covey and Noel Covey to present awards, because they kill it at that!!!
The Parks Department reserving the wrong pavilion for us is something I'm going to have a very "nice" Convo with them about, as soon as they accept my call!!
All those things being said, no major issues!!!
Thank you to everyone that pitched in to make this event better! My assistants Nathan Paxman Tanner Black my course assistant Mandie Chamberlain and everyone else that hooked up coolers, extra hands, hugs, and more!!
My future visions for this tournament include an additional course, an additional round, and a Sunday cut!
I'll wrap up this novel of a post with the invitation of feedback for this event, even if you didn't play. Please reach out to me!
