Elite events on the pro disc golf tour make up 75% or more of the tournaments that standard fantasy disc golf leagues schedule. And average finish for each player at Elite events, conveys a large part of the season story regarding who deserves higher ranking in the division.
In standard fantasy leagues, it is typically 15% of events in a season are Major events. For custom leagues, that play all 5 Majors for FPO, it would work out to 25% of the season are Majors. Some leagues may add in third type of event (certain A tiers, or Q / S series tournaments). These less prominent events are often testing the depth of rosters in fantasy leagues, and so they rarely come into play. This Guide page covers Elite and Major events only, as depicted on our site.
Methodology for Elite Averages
Seasonal Elite average for each player is easy to find in other media, given its prominence on the pro disc golf scene. Art’s Fudge is taking an otherwise mundane list and adding relevant fantasy considerations as well as the AF color scheme, layering in added data.
Elite Averages list is essentially sorted by the 2024 Elite Avg (3rd) column, and tweaked or fudged a bit, due to amount of events played, being varied among the listed players. The other columns convey timely information pertaining to Elite pro tournaments in the current season. The following explains each column.
Columns 1 and 2 – Order and Name
Order
The first column, for both divisions, the order is 1 through 18 on both lists, and invoking ties on this list where applicable. Color in this column pertains to tiers that AF has assigned to each player and how they fare specifically with regards to current season’s Elite Avg, or which tier they’d fall on if only this data avg mattered. As the season goes on, players on higher tier due to their avg may appear lower in the list than lowered tiered players, due to less events played.
MPO tier colors
| Top tier for MPO - Averaging 5th place or better | ||
| 2nd tier for MPO - Avg 6th to 11th place | ||
| 3rd tier MPO - Avg 12th to 20th place | ||
| 4th tier MPO - Avg 21st to 26th place | ||
| 5th tier MPO - Avg 27th to 31st place | ||
| For MPO Elite Averages, the top 5 tiers cover all who are likely to appear on this top 18 list. | ||
FPO tier colors
| Top tier for FPO - Averaging 3rd place or better | ||
| 2nd tier for FPO - Avg 4th to 8th place | ||
| 3rd tier FPO - Avg 9th to 14th place | ||
| 4th tier FPO - Avg 15th to 22nd place | ||
| For Elite Averages, top 4 tiers cover all who are likely on this top 18 list. | ||
Column 2 – has no special color to it, as is a neutral color to display each pro name.
Columns 3 and 4 – Elite Avg and Amt Played
Key Metric(s)
The third column determines the order of the list. Green, Red and Orange text in this column conveys how they are trending since last update to the list.
Details on Color Values
- orange represents player is within 1 full place of their previous update, either higher or lower, but within 1
- green is 1.1 or better than previous average
- red is 1.1 or worse than previous average
Fourth column conveys amount of Elite events each player has played.
Color on text of 4th column
- Green is indicating the player has played as many events of this type that have so far been played in the season, or at end of season.
- Gold text is indicating all but one of the events has been played of this type.
- Blue text indicates player is on bubble of being eliminated from the list, due to lack of play and minimum number to qualify for the list, which grows as season goes on.
Methodology of combining current average with amount played
Art’s Fudge goes with a fairly simple formula to balance player averages with times played. We have consistently approached the order of this list, in this manner for a few years. Each event played equals 1 placement points. It’s that simple. And this only comes up if comparing to a player who has played less events. If players have played same amount of events, then better average always gets better ranking on list.
If say Kristin Tattar averages 2nd place, over 8 times played, and Ohn Scoggins averages 4th place over 12 times played, AF will give the ‘better average’ to Ohn, as she is getting 4 placement points over Tattar. Granted, Ohn then having average of zero place is the weak part of this approach, but it only comes up later in season, and Tattar is only player this has been an issue with, as her average tends to be that good.
If Lisa Fajkus averages 10th place, over 10 times played, and Valerie Mandujano averages 9th place over 9 times played, then AF will put them into a tie, as Lisa compared to Valerie also averages 9th place, picking up 1 placement point from more times played. If the tie is invoked, Lisa would be positioned on top, for having played more events.
Column 5 – Event Placed
(Last event) Placed
This column notes the most recent completed Elite event, and where each player on the list placed. DP equals didn’t play. Color here indicates who finished in the top 5, following our standard color scheme, and found in the MPO tier colors above in Column 1 (and 2) notes.
Column 6 – Rating Value
Rating
Color here denotes player value. The criteria for the colors are unique to the Elite Avg list. It compares order on this list to order of each player’s rank by rating in the division. Orange suggests the player ought to be at, or within one spot, of the place they are on this list, according to how their rating lines up within the division. Yellow (best) conveys the player is 1+ tier above their rating rank. Gray (the worst) conveys 1+ tiers below rating rank.
Column 7 – Prev Order
Previously on AF…
This notes where they were ranked before latest update. Anything outside top 18 is not ranked (NR). Orange is reserved for players new to this list since last update. Green on text indicates they were NR in previous update and are still on the list. If still on list after next update, the text will go to black, as they’ve proven they belong.
Column 8 – Next Up History
Performance History
This column conveys player performance at the next event each player is registered for. Next up on this page pertains to their next Elite event, even if the player’s actual next event is not an Elite tiered tournament. Their average finish over past 5 years is designated by their color, and assumes they’ve played at least twice. For more details, see our Next Up Column Colors Explained, on our Color Scheme Guide
Quick Color Guide
| Best | For full color guide - click here | Worst | ||||||
Methodology for Major Averages
Major tournaments can be challenging to glean information from them, especially considering the 2nd Major of the season on standard fantasy schedules (European Open) occurs just after midpoint of the season. Here is list of the Major tournaments in each division, as AF sees it:
MPO Majors
| Major | When |
|---|---|
| Champs Cup | Late Apr / Early May |
| European Open | Mid July |
| Worlds | August – varies |
| USDGC | Mid Oct |
FPO Majors
| Major | when |
|---|---|
| Champs Cup | Late Apr / Early May |
| USWDGC | Varies |
| European Open | Mid July |
| Worlds | August – varies |
| Throw Pink | Mid Oct |
How the Data Lays Out
The order of this list for top 18 in each division, at start of the year, is based who was top 18 in placement average of the previous year’s Major tournaments. Once the first event of the season (usually Champions Cup) wraps up, the list is then a rolling average of the last 4 (MPO) to 5 (FPO) events, essentially over the past 12 months. Such that the first event of the previous year drops that column from the list and the current season’s version of that tournament is added column to the list, and is then figuring into the player averages.
Columns 1 thru 3 – Order, Name and Prev
These 3 columns are fixed as the first 3 columns of the list. There is no color layering occurring in the columns and selected colors in those columns are neutral.
Next 1 thru 6 Columns – Previous Season – Rolling
At start of each season, this will be full slate of previous season Majors, so 5 columns for FPO for each Major event in previous season, or 4 for MPO, plus 1 more in each division noting the player average for that previous season. As the current season moves on, this section of the list is losing columns, until just the previous year’s season avg column remains.
Columns with tournament names in header are making use of color in the following way:
- The header color is depicting which of the Majors is longest and strongest field (yellow) and which of the 4 or 5 is weakest (dark orange for MPO, dark green for FPO0.
- Color in the column indicates which players on the list of 18 were among top 5 in the event, following our Quick Color Guide above.
Columns for Avg numbers for a season or on rolling past 12 months follow our tiers for fantasy placement, with the color guide being at a glance depiction of those tiers. For more information on the breakdown see our AF Colors Explained on the Color Scheme Guide.
Final 2 to 6 Columns – Current Season – Rolling
First column after the Avg for last season column will be first event of current season, and once that wraps up, the column for Past 12 Months Avg is added as well. Colors in event columns here are dynamically updated before and after the current event.
- Before the event: Colors are added to cells to communicate player performance history for that event, over past years, aligning with our Next Up Colors Explained on our Color Scheme Guide.
- After the event: Color in the column indicates which players on the list of 18 were among top 5 in the event, following our Quick Color Guide above
Final column (or two) for average is follow our tiers for fantasy placement, with the color guide being an at a glance depiction of those tiers.