Disc Golf Daily

A DGPT History - Bob Decker - S0E3

Summary Bob Decker, a former PDGA board member, shares his insights into the early days of the Pro Tour and the growth of disc golf. He discusses his background in disc golf, his involvement with the PDGA, and the challenges faced in making the sport financially stable. Bob highlights the importance of increasing viewership and getting more eyeballs on the sport to support the growth of the Pro Tour. He also emphasizes the role of volunteers in the disc golf community and the passion that drives the sport forward. Keywords disc golf, PDGA, Pro Tour, history, growth, financial stability, viewership, volunteers

Takeaways The PDGA has seen significant growth in membership and financial stability over the years, thanks to the efforts of volunteers and strategic decisions made by the board. Increasing viewership and exposure for disc golf is crucial for the sustainability and growth of the Pro Tour. The Pro Tour has faced challenges and setbacks in its early stages, but perseverance and learning from past experiences have led to its success. Disc golf is a close-knit community with passionate individuals working together to expand the sport.

Chapters 00:00 The Origins of Disc Golf and Bob Decker's Involvement 07:41 The Growth of the PDGA and Financial Stability 11:26 The Importance of Increasing Viewership for the Pro Tour 27:36 The Disc Golf Community: Passion and Volunteerism Music: Strange Bop by contreloup

Duration:: 29m
Broadcast on:: 28 Jun 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

The PDGA has seen significant growth in membership and financial stability over the years, thanks to the efforts of volunteers and strategic decisions made by the board.
Increasing viewership and exposure for disc golf is crucial for the sustainability and growth of the Pro Tour.
The Pro Tour has faced challenges and setbacks in its early stages, but perseverance and learning from past experiences have led to its success.
Disc golf is a close-knit community with passionate individuals working together to expand the sport.

(upbeat music) - Hello everyone and welcome to a DGPT history here at Disc Golf Daily. This weekend, we're meeting with Bob Decker. Bob is a previous PDGA board member and is just an absolute delight to talk to. We ended up hearing a whole lot more about his history in the sport than necessarily the Disc Golf Pro Tour, but I think it really helps to shape how things came about for the tour to sort of understand the history of things at the PDGA and sort of those different pivotal moments that it took for the tour to eventually get started without really the backing of the PDGA that it initially saw it. So we hope that you are having a great weekend and you take the time to enjoy this interview with Bob Decker. Sweet, we are joined by Bob Decker. Bob is a former PDGA board member and was a part of the board whenever the Pro Tour was first starting to be proposed. And so he has some pretty unique insights into what it was like whenever the Pro Tour idea first came up or it was like working with Steve to sort of both help, but also offer some critical feedback on what it would look like for the tour to start. And so with that, I would like to start with any of our guests. I just, Bob, first off, thanks for being here and would love to hear a little bit about your background in Disc Golf. - Well, I guess we'll start with the origin story. I mean, I used to, as a kid, play with Frisbees as much as I could, but there wasn't much really organized sports. The organized sports kind of started, took the Boy Scout troop to Ben Della Tour Scout Ranch in 1996. And that's up in the mountains just outside of, I believe it's Fort Collins, Colorado. And they had a PVC pipe course that you were throwing the Humphrey Flyers at. And that's the little cheap $2 Frisbee that you, well, there's probably 50 cents back in those days, but you'd give away as prizes and just promotional items. And my son and I fell in love with it. And one of the other Assistant Scout Masters had knew there was a Disc Golf course in Fort Collins. And we all stopped by and visited it on our way back to Wichita. It didn't take long for me to find a Disc Golf course. There were only two in Wichita at the time. And I just had our regular little Frisbee and we were out there playing and ran into somebody that convinced me that a P58, I think it was a P58 Hornet by a manufacturer that I don't think even exists anymore, was a good disc. It was probably one of the most overstable discs that were, but we were throwing sign arms. And I actually still carry one. It's a number three hyzer is now the name of it. And it was one of the few discs that float, but it is one of my go-to mid-ranges right now. So, I mean, that's really my origin story from there. I mean, it's how did I get involved with PDGA? I played the 2003 Worlds in Kansas City. And I can't remember it was shortly before that. Maybe '97 or '08 that I'd gotten into the PDGA so I could play tournaments. And had a blast there and shot two aces of the following year and got enough money to go to the Des Moines Worlds, which is my highest finish at 16th in the Advanced Grand Masters at the time. Got to play semi-finals that year, but I got to play with Terry Calhoun, who was one of the board members at the time. He found out I was a CPA, and the financial director of the PDGA was going to be resigning. And so he talked to Teo and they called me up and said, "Hey, you want to volunteer for the board?" - Great, so your first interactions with the PDGA was just straight up volunteering. So for my background, I joined the PDGA in 2009. And so I remember even back then, the different times that you ran for the board positions. And so, and voting, this guy is a certified CPA. He's been helping the PDGA for years. I should probably vote for him. It seems like he's doing a good job. So can you tell us a little bit more about, as you sort of progressed, I guess, from being this volunteer to becoming even more, maybe, or less so involved with the PDGA as a board member? - Well, and that's what it was, is they needed to appoint a board member to replace the financial director. So my official appointment was 1/1 at 2005. I did attend a December 2004 meeting. And from there on, I either won my elections or I convinced them to reappoint me to a vacant spot while I didn't within a couple of times. So that I was on the board from 1/1 to 2005 to what was 831 of 21, 16 years and eight months. And I was president for two years. That was 2007 through 2009. Rest of the time, I was treasurer except for one year when I didn't hold an officer position. So that gives me the record for the most consecutive months on the PDGA board. There might be one board member that has a couple more months than I do actually on the board, but his work consecutive. I think I've got that record safe. - Yes, yeah, for sure. And so you've been a board member for quite some time. What were some of the changes that you saw sort of at the PDGA that I guess maybe encouraged you to keep running or if it was just the straight passion for the sport that kept you involved? - There was a passion for the sport. I was knew I was never going to be good enough for a pro because I just wasn't willing to practice that much. But I had the knowledge and skills to help the business grow. That's part of what I do as my profession. And that when we started, I think you could look at the statistics, but I think we had like 9,500 active members where I got on the board. By the time we went through dropping down for COVID and then bringing it back up, I think we were right in range of 200,000 active members when I got off the board. I just saw, I knew I had the knowledge and the wish to help an emerging sport grow. And one of the things that when I got on the PDGA was struggling to be in salt. So my skill set helped me push to help the board members, which at that time was an operating board. We made decisions and did a lot of the work. We didn't think we had what I got on two or three staff members to move from that operational level and get it to where we now have staff that do it and the board truly is a lead in the board. - That's great. So that's, it is I think interesting to see sort of where the PDGA has grown to, right? Like to your point, a lot of people, especially given how many new people we got in during COVID, don't recognize or know that the PDGA used to not have, you know, the 15 plus employees, I think it has now. I mean, there could be more. - I think it's like 35 now. - Yeah, yeah, I wanted to shoot low 'cause I didn't want to be, you know, too over. And so as things grew, obviously one of the things that sort of came about was the national tour. I think it was what the super tour before that and then eventually the pro tour. And so what was it like at the PDGA as sort of like, there was this maturing of an idea of a professional tour? - Well, and initially the PDGA was professional. All, when Steady had turned it over, I think everybody was a pro. Again, I wasn't there, so I could be wrong, but I think that's the situation. And I've got to talk to some of those early folks, but I wasn't there. So as time went on, basically, I think by the time I got on, the membership was approximately 75% and 25% pro. And part of the reason is to get the funds to bring in sponsorships, to have good pro purses, all of those things. You need to have, first of all, numbers for sponsors to see that their ads are going to be seen by a lot of people. And you need to have, therefore, a lot of members, and that just wasn't going to happen from solely pro. I mean, there's been many discussions about separating the two into different divisions and so on and so forth, which I could party you with, but I'm not going to. So the whole time was, yes, we weren't to have a sport that has the ability for its pros to earn a living at it, not just be traveling people in a van that live from day to day. So that's been the goal the whole time. There's been different visions over time. I think the first time Steve was involved was back when he was first on the board, was it 2006 through 2008, was when he was on the board. He tried to get something going there and it just wasn't time. And that's a lot of what we've seen happen, or what I saw happen across timely PDJ is, some ideas would recycle until they finally hit their tunnel. And that's kind of what happened with the pro tour is there were multiple different precursors to it, some more successful than others, but it's always been the goal. And trying to get there has been a lot of heartache for a lot of board members, let's just say that way. And for a lot of members in general, because this sport still runs on its volunteers. - Yeah, and so I guess the most people think of the national tour as kind of a precursor to the pro tour. So since you have the history of being around the board for such a long time, and you mentioned sort of the headaches of a professional tour, like what was it, what was it like to sort of get the national tour of off the ground and see that become what it was. - So that's a hard question. It was like raising a child. There's a lot of missteps. There was some, a lot of cheers and a lot of tears. We can say it that way. Moving through, I mean, the PDGA always has had to weigh whether it's been a provider or an in a board. And the tour has been one of those things that we have moved through over time. With various proposals, Steve I think was involved in two of them, Steve Dodge. And I'm actually remembering maybe a third one, but I can't tell you that for sure. So he was very active in pushing for it. Of course, you know, whether I was president or treasurer, I had to help watch the money. And so I was always concerned with how is it going to be paid for, or how is it going to pay for itself? And that's been a lot of the push over time. Not a lot of good dreams, a lot of good visions, but just how to get it done was always the road block. Now ultimately, I think we then saw the proposal that I want to say was in '21. I think it was the spring of '21 that came from the DGPT. And that was, that was decided in favor of in some of my last meetings. So far so good. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's really a good way to sort of get us to sort of down the road of, you know, eventually, even though in the first startings of the tour, the PDGA didn't quite find a way to work with the Pro Tour directly, it did eventually find a way to make that happen once COVID was over. And some things had really, I guess, the tour had sort of proven itself. And so all of that to say though, before that happened, as Steve had, I guess, proposed, you know, a Pro Tour in 2014 and 2015 after he had been on the board and are really curious to hear sort of your perspective as a board member. You talked about earlier about how like, there's some ideas that just keep coming around and sometimes it's not a good time. What was it really about that proposal that maybe indicated that it wasn't a good time or it wasn't something that ultimately the PDGA was ready to invest money in, I guess is probably the best way to put it. - Well, and thank you for linking me back to the minutes. - Yeah. - I actually still have them saved on my computer once you did and I found them again. I mean, it really was, I was thinking of a different board meeting than the one in West Virginia, where he did the teleconference here. I think it could be pointed out pretty good from some of the minutes in there, the concerns that were brought up by, you know, the staff, which was primarily Brian Graham and at the time, well, more than that, of course. Now, Stort and Roddick had some questions and so did Rebecca. And part of it goes back to, I think we were concerned about the estimates of viewership that was, that were being used and how they were arrived at and whether they were achievable. And that was probably the lynch pen to the rest of the concerns because, without hitting that level of viewers, and of course, considering in 2014, where the internet and social media was in comparison to seven years later, we didn't, I think ultimately, we didn't think it could be financially sustainable the way it was being proposed. I mean, that's really what this made me remember. I think there was, we thought there was a good vision but at the time, we didn't think it was wise for us to use the memberships, dollars for something that hadn't been proven yet. I think that's really the best way to put it. - Yeah, and I think that just for some context because you were there in the room, but you're also looking at the minutes for people who are just listening or watching at home. The proposal basically was that the PDGA would help foot a portion of the pro-tour expenses to help it get started. And the reality is to what Bob said earlier is that the professional membership of the PDGA is not a large portion of our membership. The membership is predominantly amateur. And so then as the judiciary sort of oversight of these member dollars that you have to determine, is it worth it to invest in something that is just a small percentage or is it not? And so I think that that's a very apt way to put it. And probably, at the time, the smart financial decision. I think that one of the other things that both before we sort of move on that people maybe don't fully realize and Bob talked about it a little bit at the beginning is the PDGA and where it sits financially now is largely a byproduct of not just all of the great work that Bob did, but also a byproduct of the pandemic and sort of getting us to that 200,000 active member number that Bob mentioned. If you've been around the PDGA for a while, you can actually follow in the minutes how the sort of nest egg worry that the PDGA now has. - Yeah, and you look back in 2014 in these minutes themselves, it mentions a decrease in the net financial position of about $150,000. So I don't remember that. Sometimes that may have been just a recording swing, but when I got on the board, we were having to raise membership dues every two years just to stay financially viable. And there were some good decisions along the way that we were able to stop having to do that. We added the non-member fee, and then we finally, after weight, too many years of leaving it at $5 raised to 10. And so that encourages the membership. Bluntly, if a person joins as a M member and plays five tournaments, it's paid for, and then they still have all the swag they got from membership. The goal was to get the organization financially stable in case something came along. Well, we had six months worth of operating cash from COVID hit. So PDGA was able to react in a wise way instead of a panic play at that point. And it has benefited all the members in so many ways, including having now the disc golf pro-tour fight. - Yeah. - And I'm gonna say some members don't think that's a positive, but that's neither here nor there. - Right, yeah. Well, it's great to sort of have that perspective because like you said, it's been fun for me. I started playing in '06, didn't join until the end of '09. I was one of those people that definitely took advantage of the, if you join early or at the end of the year, you get the whole full year after that sort of thing. But if you haven't been around for 15 years or even longer, you don't have all of that context really of where things have come from. And so I think it's super helpful and important to note that the pandemic in and of itself probably in some ways the pro-tour wouldn't be where it is today without how the pandemic shaped it as well. We also took time off because of COVID, but at the same time, we prepared ourselves at the tour to start right back up whenever we could. And that really put us in a position to be successful to help propel the vision of the sport. I mean, we were able to get ourselves onto national broadcast because at that point, there was no other sports to broadcast. And so it is really, it was really funny to me and very interesting for me to hear, even in 2014, 2015, when things were proposed, it all hinged on viewership, right? And at the end of the day, as much as we want to talk about the pro-tour being a way to help the pros be sustainable, the ultimate goal is to get more eyeballs on the sport and getting more eyeballs on the sport ultimately grows the sport makes the pro-tour more sustainable but also helps to disc golf as a whole. - Well, that's one thing. It took a lot of hard-learned lessons to make some good decisions on the board. And it'll sometimes sound like it was me, no. It was the work of a whole lot of people on the board and a whole lot of staff. But interestingly enough, one of the investments that we had argued about over and over was finally culminated in investing member dollars, PDGA money into getting cameras out on courses and getting that, the video that could be put on to the social media. I think one of the ones that's really started driving it was when ESPN started picking up ACEs in the top 10 sport shots of the week, you start hitting national level exposure like that, it's bound to hell. And everybody loves to see that ACE. They don't want to see the one that gets missed and skips out of bounds. - Yeah, for sure, and it's been great to see sort of that progression and even to know spoilers for like four seasons of this podcast from now that ultimately one of the guys who helped get ACEs on sport center ends up working for the Pro Tour. You know, it's a whole really cool ecosystem. And I'm constantly reminded every day that the Disc Golf family is both bigger and smaller than people think that it is. One of the goals to get on a sort of a small soapbox, for a moment, one of my goals really with this podcast and with having people like Bob on is to be able to get that history really down and out there while we can. It's very unique. I feel very, very blessed if you can say it to have the history that I have in the sport. It's one of the things that actually keeps me around. Bob, to your point about when you sort of came into it, I was introduced to sport in '06 by the person that steady had handed the PDGA to. Ted Smithers is the guy who introduced me to Disc Golf. And to be able to say that the guy who introduced me to Disc Golf is in the first class of the Hall of Fame and is also just one of my friends' dads, you know? Like, that's not, you don't get that, you don't get that in other sports. And I think that that's really, those are the stories that I'm hoping to be able to tell through the podcast. And I really appreciate you, Bob, taking the time today to be here with us. I mean, that's, you bring up Ted, that's Disc Golf is a very small family still, even though the PDGA numbers are maybe half a percent of all the worldwide players. Ted Smithers serves on the Kansas Disc Sports Scholarship Fund, which I'm also a member of. So I really like you. When I got to meet him, that was great. Getting to meet Dan Roddick for him. Fundly known as Stork, through the PDGA in that. Or even meeting the other members, you know, getting to talk two weeks ago at the PDGA Masters Worlds to, you know, some of the Hall of Famers, the world Hall of Famers that I do know, but I don't get to spend a lot of time with them. And so it was a lot of fun going back and getting time with those people that have been around. I started in '96. It was a lot of Disc Golf before I started. And as you said, we all have to realize, we all have our little blinders to what we see. And yet the Disc Golf family is so wide and there are so many people working to expand this sport that just don't get a whole lot of recognition. And all the players, whether you're a tournament player or just playing out on the course, need to realize that this mostly has come about between, because of the effort of a whole lot of people that put a whole lot of volunteer effort into growth. - Yes, yeah, very well said. Well, thanks again for being with us. Is there anything else, any other parting bits of wisdom you want to leave with us before we wrap up for the day? - Well, wisdom I come up with was, we all play this sport and throw those 99 lousy shots to get that one great shot. That's what keeps us coming back. But I don't know where it originated, but I love the most fun wins motto. - Yes, yeah, well, thanks again Bob for being with us. Thanks again to everyone listening. We hope you have a great weekend. If you haven't already, tell a friend about the podcast. We'd love to have more people hearing about the history of the Pro Tour and just listening every day to what's going on on Disc Golf Daily. Have a great weekend. (upbeat music) - Thank you so much for watching. Please like, subscribe, comment and share. It really does help us grow. (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING]