PDGA Amateur World Championships
For the die hard competitive disc golfer, the greatest achievement is to be crowned World Champion. As an amateur player, performing well in the Amateur World Championships may feel like the pathway to playing as a professional as you test your skills against the best amateur players from all over the world. Even if you’re not super competitive, the Amateur World Championships may be appealing just for the experience of it alone. In 2021 I had decided that I wanted to receive an invite to the 2022 World Championships and began the process of meeting the requirements.
The Requirements
There are a few ways to receive an invite to the Amateur World Championships.
The first way is to have your rating reach 970 or greater. You will automatically receive an invite in this case.
The second way is to earn enough points in an amateur division. Points are earned by competing in sanctioned events and are multiplied by the number of competitors you score better than, and the tier of the event. The higher level tiers produce more points per competitor. You need 2,000 points in MA1, or 100 points in FA1 during a calendar year to qualify. Points from any amateur division will count towards your total to meet the invite criteria. Amateur Worlds only offers MA1 and FA1 divisions though, so be ready to compete at a high level!
Here is a link to the requirements to obtain an Amateur Worlds invite: Am Worlds Invite Critera
I decided that I was going to focus on qualifying during the 2021 season and played as many events as I could. I played 21 sanctioned events in 2021. In the 5 seasons prior, the most events I played in a calendar year was 7! I battled with pre-existing injuries that held me back from practicing as much as I would have liked, which kept me from improving my rating at all that season. Regardless, I played enough events to earn sufficient points to qualify for the 2022 PDGA Amateur World Championships.
The Registration Process
If you’re new to disc golf, get familiar with discgolfscene.com! This is the hub for all disc golf tournament registrations.
There is a staggered schedule based on different criteria that you’ve met to qualify for the event. Once registration opens, it’s first come, first serve. I would recommend going into your discgolfscene profile and setup defaults for tournament registration. This will speed up your registration process and give you a better shot at getting into the event. When I registered last year the event filled within minutes! The wait-list was incredibly deep within 10 minutes of registration opening. If you end up on the wait-list don’t request a refund! There is a good chance that enough people will drop due to whatever circumstance, and you may work your way into the event.
My Amateur Worlds Experience
Amateur Worlds is an event that you will want to dedicate an entire week to. You’re going to want to get there a few days before the first round to practice the courses. The 2022 Amateur World Championships was located in Princeton, Indiana. Located southwest of Indianapolis, it is a quaint little town with a ton of history. In fact one of the first baseball stadiums ever built is located here, and we were lucky enough to get to play disc golf in it! Worlds isn’t just about competing, it’s a social gathering of like-minded people from all over the world that share a passion for disc golf, just like you. There are vendors from all over the country, many of which you likely have seen ads for while watching JomezPro, or have seen over and over on social media. You’ll likely even see faces of disc golf influencers you’ve been following on Instagram.
Playing in the event is an amazing experience in itself. At the first tee of each round, an official announced your name and hometown. There were spectators and other players waiting to tee off watching you line up your first shot of the round. The energy was completely different from what you would experience at your everyday local event. I had the pleasure of meeting a couple guys from Australia and played my first round with one of them. Not something you get to do very often! The skill level of the players was a spectacle to see. Everyone had their own technique to achieve the same objective as you, getting that little plastic disc in the basket in as few throws as possible. Going into the final day, the field was cut down to a percentage of the total participants. I unfortunately missed the cut by a few strokes, but it gave me an opportunity to relax and watch the top players do their thing.
Outside of tournament play, there were social gatherings almost every day. Mini games were setup, vendors were out promoting their wide variety of disc golf attire and gear, and live music was being played. Local food trucks were there to support the disc golf community and share their unique local cuisine. I was camping with a few guys from Buffalo and enjoyed sitting around the campfire at night talking about how our rounds went and what our goals were for the next day.
Putting game at the third oldest baseball stadium in the world!
Conclusion
If this is something you’re interested in doing, start planning your year of tournaments! It takes a serious dedication to earn that invite, whether it be through field work and improving your rating, or putting the time in on the weekends at sanctioned events. I had a great time in Indiana and received an invite to the 2023 Am Worlds which I plan on attending. If you are on the invite list I’d recommend signing up! If you haven’t received an invite yet, now is a great time to start preparing to earn one!
