(This is the second of a series coming to PDGA.com to get to know the tournament directors of the PDGA Elite Series and beyond.)

Tournament directors are often the unsung heroes of disc golf competition. They spend their time preparing and hosting disc golf tournaments all over the world.

Get to know Ryan Draper, PDGA No. 55587, the tournament director for the Disc Golf Pro Tour - Waco Annual Charity Open presented by Prodigy Disc and course director for the Emporia Country Country Club at the Dynamic Discs Open.

PDGA: How did you get into disc golf?

RD: I had a buddy that was into disc golf, we were roommates a while ago and he would always try to get me to go. I was never at all interested, even a little bit. He was pretty avid and would go several times a week. Finally, I guess I was bored enough and I asked him to explain to me what it was exactly, what it entailed and all of that. He explained it and to be honest, I said that's about the dumbest thing I've heard of. I don't know if I went that week or if he finally convinced me another week, but I finally went and I was instantly addicted.

He was throwing nice, long flat shots, and the harder I threw, the more it went just straight up in the air and 20 feet in front of me. I don't know if it was an instant love of the game or just an instant need to be better or as good as him.

That was probably 15 years ago or so here in Waco at Cameron Park. I've been playing avidly ever since.

Tell us about the first disc golf event that you organized.

It was a just local mini. I just helped out at first. I wasn't part of the leadership or anything at that point, but it was a good feeling to help others by organizing something cool that other people enjoyed. It gives you a feeling where you feel good and you get addicted to that as well.

What is your top priority as a TD?

The top priority is the player experience. You need to pay attention to all of the little details that go into the decisions that you're making or the work that you're doing to make sure that it is going to benefit the player experience in some way. Whether it's making life easier for them in any way, making sure the course is completely fair and that you haven't left any stone unturned. It's one of those situations where anything that can happen will happen and you want to make sure that you're really giving a lot of thought on how the course is going to play, any little OB snafu that can happen or chance for a split decision on a card of players. You want to negate all of those things.

In my experience as a player at other events, I would say it's those little things that TDs often overlook. Those are the things that a player will remember, one of those little things is missed, not the other cool stuff like a player's pack or player party. If something like that happens in a negative way, that's what they will remember.

Ryan Draper hands Paul McBeth the trophy at the 2021 Dynamic Discs Open. Photo: PDGA Media

What is the history of the Waco Annual Charity Open?

This is the 26th or 27th year. It was started in the early days by a guy named Troy and the first charity that it benefited was Friends for Life. It's had a few different TDs over the years and a few different charities that it's benefited. Most recently, before me, a guy named Channon Quillen took over the event. He has an autistic child and utilized the Baylor Autism Resource Center as the benefactor and we decided to keep supporting them.

It's been every possible tier of tournament over the years. It's been a C-Tier, B-Tier, A-Tier, Super Tour back in the day, National Tour and now it's a Disc Golf Pro Tour event. Every iteration of every tier, it's been one.

What is it about the Beast that brings players back every year?

The Beast is a cool course. I feel like it's got everything. There aren't many other courses that do really well at an exact mixture of park, open-style holes and just heavy wooded holes. The park-style here isn't just super-open, golf-course style either. You still have to get around some trees and there are some real obstacles there. We do have a few wide-open bomber holes, which I think are great. I think you should have what people call a 'tweener' hole. I think there should be one or two holes on every course that are 550-650 feet and only a few elite arm players can get there for a two. If you can do that, you should enjoy an advantage at least a few times on a course.

The wooded holes are heavily wooded but have pretty fair fairways. If you get off that fairways, it's gnarly. You're not having a good day and it's a pitch out. It punishes a bad shot.

What is your favorite hole at the Beast?

It's got to be 17. Even if not just for the play of the hole, just the way it looks. On the last day on Sunday every year, the final cards are coming in as the sun is starting to set and you look out from the far side and you see the basket with the river and bluffs. It's a perfect picture. It's dramatic and beautiful. It creates drama at the end, along with 18.

For the age-protected and amateur event at WACO this year, it starts on Saturday and ends on Monday. How did that idea come about and what has been the reception?

The age-protected guys are just not a part of the DGPT. I'm not a hater of that, I support that. I think there is a need for a tour like this to be its own thing. It's just necessary and I think it's coming sooner than later. I respect all of those guys, like we all do. A lot of those players paved the way for this and they definitely feel that way, whether I say it or not, they will and rightfully so. They've put in a lot of hours either running events themselves or playing these events and being the stars that didn't get the notoriety or attention like they do know with where the game is currently. I think it's important to give them a little bit of that experience as well.

We have two courses are good enough and in proximity enough to host an event. We're definitely looking at getting another professional-level course not far from here that could allow us to utilize a few pools to make sure everyone is on the same schedule.

Surprisingly, the response has been really good to finishing on a Monday. We have famously been the stop on the DGPT that starts on Thursday and finishes on Saturday in years past. We did that because we wanted the amateur players to be able to watch all of the pros, so we set a shotgun start for the amateur players early in the morning so they could come over and watch the pros in the afternoon. Then on Sunday, after they've spectated, they got to play the Beast with all of the assets set up. We even had pros announcing them at times throughout the years. The DGPT now ends on Sunday due to media, and I agree with that, so we tried to figure out a way to make that work. It was right in our face the whole time, almost too easy. Just let them play Monday. In my thinking, Monday is the same as Friday as far as asking for a day off work.

It sold out within minutes and the response has been great so far.