I have played a lot of disc golf on ball golf courses - casual rounds and tournaments - and have TD'd several events played on ball golf courses. Bunkers and greens (which weren't OB for this event) make natural hazards and add strategy and complexity to these courses, which need it because of the general lack of trees. I disagree with earlier posts which opine that ball golf courses make for boring disc golf. If properly executed, a disc golf design on a ball golf course can require a lot more than Hyzer bombs, especially if you have some elevation to work with. (Come play Goat Hill Park in Oceanside, CA to see what I mean.)
That being said, if the TD decides not to use rope/string to mark OB on bunkers and greens it becomes tremendously important to make clear to players what defines the OB line. On greens (not applicable here) you have to use a cut line in the grass - the boundary between the mowing thickness of greens and fringe or fringe and rough/fairway. Depending upon the level of upkeep of the course these lines can vary from very distinct to indistinguishable.
For bunkers, you have to decide if the line is the edge of the sand in the bottom of the bunker, or if the line is the edge at the top of the cut into the grass (the "lip") above the bunker's surface. Dana's comment above would reflect defining the OB line as the edge of the sand. I prefer the top of the lip on the bunker as the line, so if I were running the event Will's disc would have been OB. Neither method is right or wrong - both have pluses and minuses depending on course maintenance.
But what becomes very important is making the definition clear to players and officials, either during the players meeting or with a rules handout that preferably includes pictures of some examples of inbounds and out-of-bounds discs. Handouts are always better, as players often miss important info stated during players meetings. I have no idea how this information was passed on at St. Jude, but it is critical to making this kind of call.
Dana (if you read this far), can you shed some light on how OB bunkers were defined for players?
