Island hole requirments

[sonny]

Chuck mentioned this in another thread:

TD included an island hole with no drop zone where players of all skill levels were required to re-tee until landing safe on the island. Several players in all divisions were taking double-digit scores on the hole including some in the 20s. Some players ran out of discs and even gave up, leaving the event in disgust. This type of island without a DZ would not have been approved even if TD had applied for a waiver.

I'd like to ask about a somewhat similar situation. TD included an island hole. Players of all skill levels were required to attempt to land on the island twice before moving to a drop zone (throwing five). I suspect no waiver was requested. My question is if a waiver had been requested, would this be allowed?

 

[Cgkdisc]

Chuck mentioned this in another thread:

I'd like to ask about a somewhat similar situation. TD included an island hole. Players of all skill levels were required to attempt to land on the island twice before moving to a drop zone (throwing five). I suspect no waiver was requested. My question is if a waiver had been requested, would this be allowed?

No. Players must be allowed to move to drop zone after first miss.

 

[krupicka]

Possibly. That is a question for the tour manager.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Possibly. That is a question for the tour manager.

While the Tour Manager makes the call, the policy has been that players must be able to move forward to last point IB or they can be restricted to a forward DZ. The only exception would be if players were not penalized on their first miss and were rethrowing their 2nd stroke from the tee. Even then, players would have to be allowed to move forward to a drop zone after their second tee shot missed.

 

[brutalbrutus]

While the Tour Manager makes the call, the policy has been that players must be able to move forward to last point IB or they can be restricted to a forward DZ. The only exception would be if players were not penalized on their first miss and were rethrowing their 2nd stroke from the tee. Even then, players would have to be allowed to move forward to a drop zone after their second tee shot missed.

If you leave an area short of the OB as safe, would you still need a waiver for a "must land safe" rule?

We used to have a tourney at a course that no longer exists that had a crazy island hole. The hole was roughly 150ft with a walking path about 50ft in front of the tee. The path was OB but short of it was safe. After the path, there was a trapezoid shaped OB lines tapering to a picnic table with a basket on top. You had to land safe off the tee to move forward, or you retee.

Then once you were safe off the tee, you had to land safe on approach shot/putt or move to a drop zone 40ft or so short of the basket but you only had to attempt one shot from that drop zone and could mark where it went OB if you shanked it from there...

It was basically a test of your ability to throw a very controlled shot to get a 2 or to make two layups(the 2nd being a very precise shot) to get your 3... and whether you were stubborn(dumb) enough to keep attempting the tee shot instead of just laying up.

Note, this course's open area where this hole was, is almost always windy. Even on calmer days, the wind was funneled thru this area. So this was a much tougher shot than it sounds typed out in a message board...

 

[Cgkdisc]

If you leave an area short of the OB as safe, would you still need a waiver for a "must land safe" rule?

A hole where the area in front of the tee is inbounds up to around 80 ft or less from the pin before you have to clear an OB "moat" to the island is fine with no waiver needed, presuming the player can move forward to the last point inbounds or a drop zone if they land OB off the tee.

 

[araytx]

Chuck mentioned this in another thread:



I'd like to ask about a somewhat similar situation. TD included an island hole. Players of all skill levels were required to attempt to land on the island twice before moving to a drop zone (throwing five). I suspect no waiver was requested. My question is if a waiver had been requested, would this be allowed?

Hey there! Discussions are nice, and I have had several interactions with the PDGA Tour Manager to have a pretty good idea what is expected regarding these island hole waivers. However, the smartest thing to do is simply to go straight to the source, the decision maker.

The documents are at https://www.pdga.com/files/2018_tour_standards.pdf, explanations are on page 2. For questions, Email Andrew at [email protected] or [email protected].

Good luck.

 

[geoloseth]

A hole where the area in front of the tee is inbounds up to around 80 ft or less from the pin before you have to clear an OB "moat" to the island is fine with no waiver needed, presuming the player can move forward to the last point inbounds or a drop zone if they land OB off the tee.

So how does this relate to Winthrop 17? Or does it not apply because it's an -X tier event every year now?

 

[biscoe]

So how does this relate to Winthrop 17? Or does it not apply because it's an -X tier event every year now?

USDGC doesn't play by the rules. What better place to experiment than the biggest event in the game?