Rules on Out of Bounds an Unplayable Lies

[ERicJ]

The rule says "on the line of play" which I interpret to mean left or right but not backwards.

Rule 800:

[FONT=verdana,arial]Line of Play: The imaginary line on the playing surface extending from the center of the target through the center of the marker disc and beyond. This line has no thickness; therefore one support point must be directly behind the center of the marker.[/FONT]

 

[magictenor1]

I have sometimes had people ask about sidewalks or roads being OB. I always thought that if it says OB then if you are on it OR over it you are OB. But then someone said NO you are only OB if you are on the road or sidewalk not over it. This is in cases where it says something is OB but does not specifically say on or over.

 

[magictenor1]

Line of play would mean back not left or right.

 

[sidewinding]

Rule 800:

[FONT=verdana,arial]Line of Play: The imaginary line on the playing surface extending from the center of the target through the center of the marker disc and beyond. This line has no thickness; therefore one support point must be directly behind the center of the marker.[/FONT]

I'm an idiot!

 

[magictenor1]

If it's marked on the course signs or map as OB then it's OB. Some signs will say "on or beyond" referring to sidewalk OB. Some courses with seasonal creeks have postings that say the creek is "OB even when dry". My local course has a dry creek that is not OB but I play it as OB just for the fun of it.

How do you determine the boundary line for OB if there is no water in the creek?

 

[sidewinding]

How do you determine the boundary line for OB if there is no water in the creek?

It's a judgement call. You can lie to others but you can't lie to yourself. No pun intended.

 

[Donovan]

You're not an idiot, you are trying to help which is why I brought all this stuff up in the first place. This is good for all of us. BTW, your humbleness is uncanny though.

 

[ERicJ]

Re: Drop Zone placement

On a similar but different note, how would one determine where to put a drop zone? Would this area be placed arbitrarily adjacent to the water or is there a set distance from the pin? There is a hole on my course that I woul like to be able to place a drop zone. For instance, if I throw a good tee shot but it lands in the water 20ft. from the pin, there is really no penalty b/c 20' makes for an easy par save. I would like to move the drop zone back towards where the tee box is but about 60' closer. What do you guys think about that?

A well designed water hole should have an element of risk/reward.

Initially, assume no drop zone:

1. If you "go for it" off the tee and clear the water you're probably rewarded with a birdie (2) opportunity.
2. If you lay up on your first shot, then safely cross the water on your second shot you probably have an easy par (3).
3. But if you "go for it" off the tee and sink your disc and the last point the disc was in bounds is only 20' from the basket, as you said it's probably a relatively easy par (3) save.

In other words there isn't really any risk in crossing the water off the tee. (Unless you count losing your disc... then there isn't any risk to your score in crossing the water.)

Now assume the same hole has a drop zone for tee shots. This drop zone should be placed outside the range of a makable putt for most players. Somethink like 100' from the basket would be good. Now in the third scenario where you go for it and sink your disc you're looking at a 100' shot to save par (3), that's possible but pretty unlikely. Thus you'll probably end up carding a bogey (4) on that hole and suffereing the risk of going for it.

I noted above that the drop zone is for the tee shot only because you don't want to over penalize players either. If your shot from the drop zone also sinks in the water you shouldn't have to throw from the drop zone again, you should now get the benefit of throwing from the last point in-bounds by the water.

At least that's what I've learned about course design so far.... Each course is going to have varying conditions leading to unique layouts, placements, etc.. That's one of the things that makes this sport so much fun.

ERic

 

[magictenor1]

EricJ, nicely described. The best holes are the ones that have that element of risk/reward and your drop zone should reflect that.

 

[Rbuzz9]

On a similar but different note, how would one determine where to put a drop zone? Would this area be placed arbitrarily adjacent to the water or is there a set distance from the pin? There is a hole on my course that I woul like to be able to place a drop zone. For instance, if I throw a good tee shot but it lands in the water 20ft. from the pin, there is really no penalty b/c 20' makes for an easy par save. I would like to move the drop zone back towards where the tee box is but about 60' closer. What do you guys think about that?

i would think the ball would be dropped where it first entered/crossed into the hazard no closer to the hole - if for some reason that can't be done - a drop zone would be created. A drop zone should try to be as close to the most common point of entry would be. - If its a really big body of water i can see being a little lenient and making a drop zone slightly closer to the hole to give those with weaker arms a break.

Does anyone think that the term OB overused in Disc Golf? Or think that Water is inapropriately referred to as Out of Bounds?

Water Hazards in DG are treated like water hazards are treated in BallGolf - yet ponds are referrred to as OB. It is inconsistent with the rule of going out of bounds

If somebody goes OB in Ball golf you need to take the stroke penalty and reshoot from the original spot.

Calling Water OB would mean you would reshoot from where you originally shot into the water - i think water Hazards should ALWAYS be treated like water is treated in BALL GOLF - shoot from behind or point of entry (lateral hazard)

are there any DG courses that distinguish between "OB" and lateral hazards?

 

[magictenor1]

As far as I can tell OB is used to refer to any hazard. I have not seen any differentiation. Coming to the sport after playing ball golf it took some getting used to but the rules are different. In ball golf OB refers to a course boundary and is a stroke AND distance penalty. In DG it is usually not stroke and distance.

 

[Rbuzz9]

it is what it is - i'm only a casual player - in ball golf i'd re-tee when there was a 100% chance i went OB - but if i hit a tee shot and found my ball OB - i'd probably just drop inbounds take a stroke penalty - nobody goes back 300 yds to retee on a casual round.

i just dont like seeing water called out of bounds - in the end it's splitting hairs and doesnt really matter too much

 

[JR Stengele]

Usually there would be a drop zone I believe. Some courses use rope or spray paint a circle.

 

[ERicJ]

Does anyone think that the term OB overused in Disc Golf? Or think that Water is inapropriately referred to as Out of Bounds?

Not me. Unless declared casual, water is OB in disc golf.

When in water, OB rules apply: re-throw with penalty from last lie -OR- throw with penalty from where the disc last crossed the OB boundary. If a Drop Zone was established you must usually throw from the Drop Zone.

ERic

 

[Rbuzz9]

there should be no OR or choice with an out of bounds penalty - one or the other - there is no OR in Ball Golf - OB is treated one way and Water or similar hazards are treated another way - therefore they are not all called OB

If people always throw from point of entry for water hazards -because its the better of the two options it shouldnt be called out of bounds.

are the penalties to "sidewalk" type OB boundaries stroke and distance or just point of entry also? if this is the case im no longer bothered by calling water OB

i think im overthinking

 

[ERicJ]

there should be no OR or choice with an out of bounds penalty - one or the other - there is no OR in Ball Golf - OB is treated one way and Water or similar hazards are treated another way - therefore they are not all called OB

If you played disc golf by ball golf rules then you may well be correct. But disc golf has its own set of defined rules that are reasonably clear when it comes to OB. In disc golf a shot that goes OB may be played from from your choice of where it was last in-bounds (with +1 penalty) or rethrow from the last lie (with +1 penalty).

Have you checked out the rule for a lost disc? In the scenario where you can't find your disc then you must rethrow from the last lie (with +1 penalty). The rule was changed to that fairly recently.

If people always throw from point of entry for water hazards -because its the better of the two options it shouldnt be called out of bounds.

That's not always the case. Consider a hole where there's a pond 30' in front of the tee and the obvious throw is straight over the pond to the shore 250' on the other side. Clearing 250' is not usually an issue for me, but say I execute a poor throw, or a gust of wind comes along, or whatever and my disc sinks in the pond without ever crossing land on the other side. I'd probably retee taking the secure footing of the tee box for an x-step rather than marking my lie 30' forward on the bank of the pond. (At least that's what the logical part of my brain tells me... the other side is ranting: "You dumb@#$ you can clear that! Throw it again to prove it!")

are the penalties to "sidewalk" type OB boundaries stroke and distance or just point of entry also? if this is the case im no longer bothered by calling water OB

The type of OB (water, sidewalk, top of building, strung dry creek, etc.) does not matter. In disc golf all OB plays by the same penalty rules, with the conditionals on "lost disc" or if a Drop Zone has been established.

ERic

 

[Donovan]

Man, ERicJ, you are the man!

 

[Rbuzz9]

awesome thanks for the clarification!!!

 

[PhattD]

What's OB stand for? lol j/k

 

[discinator]

OB=Out of Bounds