YOU make the call!!!

[tomjulio]

True scenario at tournament over the weekend. You make the call as the TD according to what you think and according to the PDGA rulebook. I will supply the final answer of what happened in a day.


The foursome approach their drives which all lie within putting distance to the basket. The basket is on a pretty hefty slope, and they are all putting up hill.

Player A sets his bag down with chair attached behind him. Approaches his disc and marks his lie. He the proceeds to putt and hits the bottom basket and the disc bounces off. It hits the ground and starts to roll back down hill towards him.

He realizes it's heading towards his bag and picks it up. The chair attached to the bag doesn't fully get off the ground and the rolling disc hits it and stops, obviously preventing the disc from rolling way father down the hill.

Player B suggests that a two stroke penalty be issued to Player A for interference. Player A says he was trying to get his equipment out of the way and shouldn't be penalized.

So....what is it? How would you rule?

YOU...MAKE...THE...CALL!!!!

 

[deadbody]

I think a penalty needs to be charged, because it is his own equipment. Had it been someone elses it's no penalty. Good faith effort to move stuff quickly is not an excuse, his equipment altered the flight (or roll) of his disc, penalty ensues.

 

[zenbot]

803.07 Interference

C. Any player who consciously alters the course of a thrown disc, or consciously moves or
obscures another player's thrown disc at rest or a marker disc, other than by the action of a
competitively thrown disc or in the process of identification, shall receive two penalty
throws, without a warning, if observed by any two players or an official.

I'm going with no penalty because the path of the thrown disc was not "consciously altered".

 

[tomjulio]

I like how we already of both train of thoughts up against each other! Same as yesterday for about 30 minutes!

 

[TWO CROWS]

Yeah stroke em'. So was it you?

 

[cydisc]

He should not be penalized, even if he didn't move his bag.

 

[CaptainAnhyzer]

Player A would have had to been observed to be "consciously interfering" with his disc by 2 other players or an official to be penalized. Since I didn't see it personally, call goes to the player. No penalty.

 

[SmoothSailor]

no penalty. how was he to know he would be in the line of play? his bag is now just another obstacle of the course.

 

[deadbody]

Conciously alters is a judgement call though, like I could make it look like I was trying to pick up my stuff while keeping it low enough to stop anything rolling past.

I'm basing my ruling off similar sports, since you can't judge intent, all you can judge is action. He didn't move his stuff quick or far enough, therefore he conciously altered it by not taking care of his stuff.

I still think 2 strokes are in order.

 

[Jaysus]

No penalty

 

[sgamerp]

That's funny this is brought up because I have played one tourney and someone was bringing that rule up to me and I asked "What if the disc hits a tree on the drive and comes backwords and hits my bag" Which is almost the same thing as this.

 

[bazillion]

I'm going with zenbot. The PDGA rules seem to be ambiguous - it's not the consciousness of the player that's relevant, it's the intention. In this case, the intention seemed to be to clear the path of the disc, which is a good thing. The only other thing that the guy cuold have done would have been to let the bag sit there and have the disc hit it, which is also covered in PDGA but I'm too lazy to look it up right now. The experts on the board, I'm sure, will know whether or not I'm just making this up.

 

[zenbot]

Was the call seconded by another player?

 

[jparent]

So did he get penalized? According to the rule posted above he shouldn't have right?

 

[zenbot]

So did he get penalized? According to the rule posted above he shouldn't have right?

That's what we're all here to discuss. Tom will reward us with the answer in about half an hour.

 

[cydisc]

Was the call seconded by another player?

This rule doesn't require a second.

 

[zenbot]

This rule doesn't require a second.

O RLY?

803.07 Interference

C. Any player who consciously alters the course of a thrown disc, or consciously moves or
obscures another player's thrown disc at rest or a marker disc, other than by the action of a
competitively thrown disc or in the process of identification, shall receive two penalty
throws, without a warning, if observed by any two players or an official.

 

[cydisc]

This rule requires a second.

 

[Roc1Time]

I say yes he gets stroked because there had to be enough time to move the bag. Yes he intended to do the right thing but intent isnt the issue. His stuff was in the way and because there was interference. It sucks but oh well

 

[TWO CROWS]

I said stroke him at first only because you can't prove the guy's intent but I guess he was trying to move the bag. I know i would'nt have been the one to call him on it thats for sure.