Sunday, August 8, 2010

New info on old rules- I wonder what else I don't know?

The PDGA website has an item on marking your lie, disc golf style, in its homepage rotation right now. I'm familiar with the rules discussed but the wrinkles they mention - and how they'd
come into play at courses in and around Santa Cruz - are new to me.

The first point they make is sensible, and I think I've instinctively done it before without even thinking about it. Basically, if you need to throw your shot in a direction other than straight toward the hole (playing a dogleg par 4, for instance) you can mark your lie with a mini in line with the direction you are throwing. It's a small difference of degrees in terms of where the marker is placed, but it also affects where the thrower's supporting point is placed. I can see this one coming up at Pinto Lake, on the last par 4 (I think it is #13 now?) It plays up a fire road fairway that curls to the left, with the basket above the road on the left. Many times players get half-way up the road, can barely see the basket from their lie, but are compelled to continue along the fire road to the right because the woods are too dense to take a direct route.

The they address something that comes up often at DeLa and Black Mouse: a disc is enough under a large fallen tree or log that the player is compelled to throw from either behind or on top of said tree or log. The player can throw from on top of the object, but they must mark their disc first. And speaking of that the story mentions that it has been legal to simply throw behind the disc used on your last shot, provided you don't move it, since the 1999 Worlds. The other instances when you MUST use a mini in tournament golf:
  • after throwing out-of-bounds
  • when your disc is above the playing surface
  • when your previous throw is a lost disc
  • when you're declaring your lie unplayable
  • when you're lie is relocated for relief
  • interference
  • repositioning the lie within 1 meter of the out-of-bounds line.

Here's the link if you didn't catch it above: http://www.pdga.com/marking-a-lie. It's worth it to see the diagrams.

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