Hewho's behavior towards a spotter was inexcusable. However, I think the PDGA dress code is bunk. You can wear a tee shirt made out of synthetics, but not one made of cotton. Women cannot show their shoulders. Hewho's sleeveless shirt was actually clean and not that wrinkled, but did violate the sanctity of the PDGA dress code. More damaging to the future and image of "professional" disc golf is the incessant whining and self-importance of the best men players, as was again on display during the final round of the top four men.
No arguments about the whining. It's difficult to listen to. I sort of stayed away from it this year...the pros and I were at Cliff Drive on Friday...apparently before they got good and wound up.
When did PDGA disallow sleeveless shirts for women? That's absurd. As far as the whole synthetics goes....the idea (at the time, and remember, this initially went into effect in 2004) was to allow MORE shirts and apparel. At the time, the Competition Director (who is the current PDGA BoD president) came up with the NT handbook (which has morphed into the Competition Manual). The dress code originally called for collared shirts ONLY. After some requests from players who were wearing these new dry-fit crew neck shirts (and most of them looked pretty nice at the time), the PDGA BoD allowed these sorts of shirts as well. After a lot of sometimes contentious debate on this issue, we arrive at where we are now. Even in 2004 under the more restrictive code, women were allowed to wear sleeveless shirts, they just had to be collared (and there were plenty of women that did wear these).
Personally, I've always called for clean and neat as the standard for dress code. Disc golf is not played at country clubs (generally, I know there are exceptions sometimes for tournaments, like this year's GBO). Country clubs are the reason for golf's dress code, because that is what the club requires for dress, not the what the sport's governing body requires. Disc golf is played at public parks for the most part. I can point to one instance in 2004 where we had one player show up in a very clean and pressed tank top. (Those of you that remember Carl Kittell will remember that he often dressed in a tank top). Cal's tank top had been ironed, and looked good The aforementioned player in the utube video showed up in dirty, worn out shorts, and a collared shirt that was faded, stained, and may have had a few holes in it. Guess which player conformed uynder the dress code (for once in his life), and which one didn't? That was a travesty.
