At a PDGA sanctioned Ice Bowl last Saturday, and again at informal doubles yesterday, I heard numerous players talking about how the new OB rule was going to be so different.

Each time I asked why, I was entreated to the following reply:

Touching the OB line is now OB!

I did my best to spread the rules, so there are now a few more golfers that realize that this is really only a tiny change.


In any event, this kind of thing happens every time any rule changes. People hear something and run with it, instead o reading their rule book to see if how they heard it is really how it is.

I heard the same thing several times in the last 2 weeks. Even after it was discussed at the players meeting, and the baggie for every card had a new rule book in it.

The only change was that the line is now considered OB instead of IB. For a disc to be OB, it still must be clearly and completely surrounded by OB just as before.

The only change was that the line is now considered OB instead of IB. For a disc to be OB, it still must be clearly and completely surrounded by OB just as before.


Yup. Everyone was talking about what a "huge change" the OB rule was, when if fact it is hardly anything but a minor little tweak.

I kept pointing out that the Lost Disc rule change was major, and that the OB line change was really minor.

I made this same mistake. I even pointed out this big change on the NEFA discussion boards. Someone straightened me out and told me to read the rules BEFORE I explain them.

It is easy to hear something, assume something else, and be confused ever after. You are correct, rules changes need to be well thought out and be clearly beneficial to the game before they are enacted. This is going to be a fun year.

It is amazing, I have also explained this to several people and been told I was wrong. When I suggested the rule book be read before I was deemed incorrect there was no more discussion. I then heard the same player say the same thing at another time.

This past weekend I tried to explain the subtle difference and most people did not realize the OB line use to be in. They said they have always played it as out.

I did an informal survey a couple of years ago - of some pretty experienced players and TDs. They were split about 50:50 on whether the OB line was in or out. There truly was great confusion even before this change. Maybe the attention to this change will get everyone finally on the same page.

I too thought it would be a big change - after reading the new rules. Harold Duvall straightened me out.

This was my problem, and others may share my confusion for the same reason: When the rules talk about the line being out, they mean a literal line - a painted line, string, or rope. I didn't realize that the "virtual line" distinguishing "in" from "out" when they are different kinds of surfaces (for example, the virtual line between grass and concrete) is NOT considered an OB line.

Once I understood that distinction, the difference in the rules seemed a lot less significant!

So here's about the only realistic situation I can see this affecting...

At the Mr. Jim's Carrollton Open (Hi Pizza Man!), one of the courses has a creek affecting almost every hole. The creek has a retaining wall on both sides, made of large bricks, for most of the creek.

Scenario:
Hole 16 is about 300', and the creek is along the right side. Righties usually throw a hyzer over the water, attacking the basket, which is about 20' left of the creek. The water in the creek is about 8' lower than the playing surface, with the bricks all the way down. The bricks are the OB line for all holes where the bricks are between the playing field and the creek's water. Joe Cool throws his hyzer, and the shot is a tiny bit low, and hyzers into the wall (lower than the playing surface), then falls in the water.

Clearly, the disc is OB, but where the player takes his drop is the difference in the rule before, and the rule after (I think). The rule that has been used, which I believe WAS the correct rule, prior to the change for 2006, was that Joe Cool takes his drop a meter in from the point where the disc hit the wall (the OB line) since the OB line is in-bounds. Now, Joe Cool must play it from the last point at which it was in bounds. Is that correct, and if so, use this example, because for this course at least, it's a very common example of the difference in the ruling.

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You are correct and that is related to why the change was made. It was done more for fence issues but this is the same thing.

Yes Derek, that was mentioned on another thread.

They way I can get around it without much changing the way the course has been played is "special conditions rule".

The OB line will NOW be the point of where the wall and the either water or mud meet the wall. This puts the wall in bounds.

Now becaue the top edge of the wall is right at a meter, I call a "special condition" and have everyone play one meter in from the edge of the wall.

This in fact does not change the way we usually play the course. Just changes the definition.

Of course I could just call the wall the OB line and make everyone either ree tee, drop zone or play it whre it went out. Imagin the tin cups on #16 reteeing :D

Now becaue the top edge of the wall is right at a meter, I call a "special condition" and have everyone play one meter in from the edge of the wall.




I dont understand the need for a special condition out there. Doesnt the rule of verticality apply here? Just play 1-meter in and up on the playing surface.

1 meter up and in is STILL on the wall. The wall is like small stepps down to the water (about 3 feet)

You would have to throw with one supporting point on the wall which is a few inches higher than the ground around it (in most places) Then there are all the places where there is a small gap between the wall and dirt than can be 1 foot deep.

Yea I have played there a few times...i just didnt remember the wall being like steps.

The blocks in the wall are about a foot wide, and each layer steps away from the water about 2". Every 6 layers is a little more than a foot. Close to the bridge on 11, 3m won't even get you to the top of the wall.