Q1: I've been playing for a couple years and I understand most terminology, but I still don't get bead. What is a bead?

A1: This is a bead.

Q2: What is the point of age protected niche divisions in amateur ranks?

A2: From your question, I am going to infer that you feel the AM Masters division is quasi-redundant. I contemplated this and came to the logical conclusion that you are correct. If a player competes as an amateur, they should be able to fit into one of the three primary amateur divisions (Advanced / AM1, Intermediate / AM2, Recreational / AM3) thus making age based AM divisions unnecessary. I agreed and decided to ask some bigger wigs than me.

According to Brian Hoeniger, the Executive Director of the PDGA, the two primary reasons for AM Masters are that other sports do it and to mirror the Pro Divisions. These both seemed like relatively weak reasons, so I moved on.

I then asked Rick Rothstein, editor of Disc Golf World magazine and a major disc golf historian. He replied, "To encourage camaraderie. Most players who play AM Masters realize they have both a belt and suspenders on competitively and have no pretensions of being the best male golfers. They enjoy competing, and also enjoy as much if not more the company of like-minded adults."

Now that makes sense, and Chuck Kennedy said basically the same thing when he commented that these divisions are offered because "they are popular."

So I reflected a bit and realized that as we age and our abilities diminish, it would be tough to go from AM1 to AM2. You'd feel like you were backpedalling. But the jump to AM Masters is easy and keeps people competing.

And while Spock may not agree with this illogical approach which is based on people not wanting to move down a division and people wanting to hang out with their peers, I am convinced, as humans, it is the best solution for us. The reason we have an AM Masters, and other age protected AM divisons, is because we are good, pragmatic people.

Now Pro Masters may be another story! To be continued ...

Sincerely,

Torque Novitski, Marshall Street

Our mission is simple: Grow the sport, grow the sport, keep growing the sport.