So here I was thinking the other day how different people interpret noise levels during play. A lot of time at doubles or casual we talk a lot, some people don't mind others do. But once you get into a tournament scenario people get ridiculous some times, on both sides of the fence.

Anyways, it made me thing about what noises bother us and what we can and can not control. Cars, planes, other groups talking, cheers etc. Then tis came up:

So I finally get my New disc golf magazine, and what do I read but how two players are complaining about the noise of cameras. First off as a professional photographer I think this is going overboard. If we want to make our sport all the more attractive to sponsors, articles, and make it more in the publics eye, then some things are going to have to start being more tolerable. I have done sports photos for almost every major sporting event, from Golf, to tennis, Basketball to roller hockey, and many more in between like all the equestrian sports. Never ave I heard a player of any sport complain about a camera shutter going off, except during final rounds at PDGA events, where spectators don't know tat your not supposed to start clicking till after the backswing, and this is not from the photographers who know what they are doing but from Joe Smo whos right next to the golfer being a retard.

So the main question, are we being to over the top on our being quiet, where do we draw the line, whats courtesy and whats not. Discuss.. because there is no right/wrong IMHO

IMO, you've simply got t oblock it out. I know several players that won't even hear you talking to them because they just block it out. Easier said than done though.

On the flip side ... it is to be expected that people will get upset at it. Just look at Tiger. Best player in the world and one of the biggest [censored]es when it comes yelling at fans and photographers ...

On the other flip side, If I got spooked by a camera click on the final 9 of the world championships I'd be upset too.

When I started playing ball golf, it was quite a challenge for me to learn to deal with distractions that in disc golf would be a courtesy violation yet are commonly excepted in BG. People usually don't stop talking when you hit, and it seems the norm for everyone to walk around the green at will while people are putting.

There is something to be said for the basketball player's ability to block out the crowd during free throws. You'll never hear Chauncey Billups say he missed a free throw because the photogropher has a little red dot blinking on their camera.

During the Pro Masters final 9 at worlds, Jim Oates singled out a photographer over 150ft away for the red light blinking on this camera. He waited for the camera guy to move out of the way then shanked his shot. Not very zen for an old grasshopper...

Ask anyone who knows me... I am quite possibly the fastest player you will ever see. I walk to my lie, see the available shots, pick what I think is my best option, read the line, and then huk it. My philosophy, either you are going to make the shot or you arent. Anyway, this makes me susceptible to talking/movement because people dont expect me to be throwing so quickly.

Frankly, thats just the way I like it.

When no one is moving and all is quiet I feel like the world is watching. Sometimes that can be worse for me than yelling going on. When things get too quiet and stuffy the fun gets deflated for me. I think too much and my game suffers.

It all comes down to being respectful. Dont carry on a conversation for four holes straight. Dont talk ten feet from a person putting. Use "inside voices", which if you know me is hard for me to do, LOL.

If someone is 40 feet away and whispering to someone else on the card it should NEVER matter. If someone is 50 feet away in their bag it should not matter. If someone is 45 feet away strolling to their lie it should not matter. If these things get inside your head you have bigger things to worry about.

Just my $.02

A distraction occuring before a player throws and continues while the players throw is the players fault. If it was bothering them, they shouldn't have thrown.

That simple.

If you dont like people talking ask them to please refrain from speaking while you're taking your shot. Most will do so. My only gripe when it comes to noise is when cars drive through the parks without stopping or slowing down while you're trying to take your shot. This makes me so angry that I usually look straight at the driver and show my frustration by raising my arms in a manner like I'm saying "What the hell man?! Cant you see I'm playing golf?!" They usually give me a look back and drive on by but sometimes you'll notice they slow down if they're about to pass through another group like they finally got the message.

Great thread.

While I will often be the first to say, �hold up fellas, we got a shooter� ------- where did this need for "disc golf zen before I throw" come from??

Last week we watched 16-year-old girls do cartwheels and flips on a 4" beam ---- with the crowd yelling and moving. And Friday night I saw a 17-year-old QB thread a 40 yard pass to his WR while some really big guys were trying to hit him.

I wonder if they would be impressed with our professionalism and athletic ability if we insist that that the world stop turning before we chunk a Frisbee in a metal basket.

I am beginning to believe (as mentioned on another thread) that maybe exactly what this sport needs is more hollering and cheering.

Step up and throw Ladies & Gentlemen --- and do us all the �courtesy� of learning how to putt without the posturing and pretentiousness.

Thanks,
Ron Pittman



Sidenote:

Please be careful with your use of the "r" word. My teenage son is a DS kid with wired-in MR. He usually has a better day when that word stays in its box.



.....but from Joe Smo whos right next to the golfer being a r-word.

And its not because you're throwing a disc either...

I just got home from some playing some disc, and it was high stress... they only gave you like 10 seconds to throw and there's a guy standing in front of you counting right in your face...

And like 12 other people are moving around all within your field of vision...

They make you play with this huge lid, and you don't even get to change discs for long and short throws...

And worst of all, its stand and deliver!

Compare this with the guy who can't throw his RHBH drive with someone standing (not moving) 10 feet to the left of the tee box and even with the back of the box.

Maybe the problem is that the course is too quiet so its easy to be distracted... How about I just start counting the 30 second stall count out loud when you're on the tee? Will that help?

thank god i play with a bunch of jerks who talk and razz everyone during play. Noises dont bother me anymore because of that. most of the casual rounds we play, someone has their ipod jammin through speakers and when the song sucks it is very distracting. I use the anger produced by the crappy song to blow the chains up on my putts, then i sing the crappy song out of tune while everyone else putts and misses. Life is great when u dont take it too seriously.

As for movement behind the basket while ur trying to putt, ive been conditioned for that also. Playing at pleasure island in PAT you have huge supertankers pulling by 300 yrds from the course into the port of port arthur. Try putting when everything in the background is moving!!!! and on top of that they are escorted by coast guard boats with 50 cals mounted on the bow and lights flashing. Thats not to mention their air horns blowing as well.
so someone is distracted by a whisper 40 yrds away huh. Id like to play them in tourney play cuz i bet they really suck and use it as an excuse or as one of our players does uses the "noise" to buy more time on their set up.
:) :D :eek: :D :o:D

I'm the kind of person that tries to get the rest of the card to stop talking before the shooter throws. I move completely out of the line of sight of the putter. I try to never dig in my bag while someone is shooting...and I always turn my cellphone off in front of everyone at the start of the round hoping that they will do the same. However, when it comes to others around me while I'm shooting...I tend to care less about what they do.

This weekend in the Flying Pig I was shooting rather poorly. On Temp Hole C there was a 6 group backup and the talking was pretty loud while people were trying to shoot. It bothered me that people would talk VERY loudly over everyone else while someone was trying to drive on a very tricky and difficult hole. Estimated at 340ft...fairway drops down about 15ft in elevation to about the 200ft mark...then you have a hedge line that is about 15-20ft high...about even with your knee level from the tees...with two large trees 30ft apart bookending the hedgeline with the right hand tree being a mando....basket sits in the open field on the other side of the hedgerow well below tee level. It is a picturesque shot and very difficult.

After being perturbed about the noise of people while others teed off...when it was my turn...I thought more about not wanting to look like a complete donkey in front of 30 of my peers instead of thinking about the noise they were generating very loudly. 90% of those before me were throwing drivers and chunking them in the thick vegetation in the hedge or the woods to the left. I decided to turn over an FLX Buzzz and throw with my entire noodle arm. The noise was tuned out...until the disc was close to the basket. The crowd had a more side view of it and was screaming for the Ace as I saw it hyzering out but parked 15ft to the left of the basket pin high. The crowd pumped me up and I shot much better the rest of the round eventhough the remaining holes were quiet with the sounds of birds and insects...you could even hear the wind rustle the grass. I for one think I would shoot much better if I had a crowd on every hole where I would try even harder to not look like the bad golfer I am.

i think that the people that are worried about distractions around them cant focus there enery right.

as someone that has been diagosed with A.D.D. i can play in a park with people riding bikes cars driving by soccer games going boats with beautiful gals on them. i can focus on what i need to do with very little problem. if something does distract me i step away and refocus. and im easily distracted when im not throwing i see and hear things that other people dont see. but when it comes to my time to throw i focus on my line or my putt and very little can distract me

sometimes I think it is the "sudden" noises that can get to people

any kind of talking or other noise that is consistent can be tuned out - but when your concentrating and as soon as your ready to release, you hear a car honk, or something similar - this can distract quite a lot of people

if there was a lot of noise and car honks, etc, in the background, you just tune it out and go on - but when its dead silent, then bang, a loud noise right when you putt/throw, its an entirely different situation

More destructive is the excessively humorous comment, heard just before disc release.

haha, you know it - me and some friends use this to full effect in casual play all the time

exactly. I frequently have people on my card apologize to me, saying "sorry, didn't mean to be doing X -- I didn't realize you were throwing..." because I totally tune folks out. I learned to play disc golf with a bunch of guys who always heckle one another during shots. Making up stupid songs, flailing arms, cracking jokes, etc... I've been mooned before while trying to putt.

Add to that a lot of time playing Ultimate -- I still play ~ as much ultimate as DG -- and then nothing will phase you on the course.

The only thing that still gets in my head is trees/teesigns next the to the teeboxes that feel like they can affect my follow-through. I am amazed how many courses have a couple of teeboxes where they place the signs right next to the tee. Weirds me out. My best friend almost had to entirely stop playing (for life) after damage suffered from slamming into a tree on his follow-through, so I think I'm a little hyper-sensitive to it. But seriously, that's about the only thing on the course that will get in my head and cause me to mentally jack-up a throw before I even get started. All the rest of the throws I screw up are just the fault of inconsistency, not headgames or distractions.

For people who don't have concentration on the course, I have a prescription: play some Ultimate. It'll help your headgame for distractions.

801.01 B. Players should take care not to produce any distracting noises or any potential visual distractions for other players who are throwing. Examples of discourteous actions are: shouting, cursing, freestyling, slapping course equipment, throwing out of turn, throwing or kicking golf bags, throwing minis, and advancing on the fairway beyond the away player. Shouting at an appropriate time to warn someone in danger of being struck by a disc is not a violation of courtesy.


Here is the rule. Now it does say that you should take care not to produce any disturbing noises and then goes on to give examples. Shouting is NOT the same thing as talking, however, talking does not particularly bother me and I am careful not to talk. I have had people complain when someone was talking quitely 30+ feet away. Obviously we have seen from the prior comments that talking does not bother everyone. I know one player that will claim a disturbance if you take a step behind them.

Play some rounds with a 20 month old smooth collie girl with LOTS of energy. That will get you over being bothered by movement. ;)

Add to that a lot of time playing Ultimate -- I still play ~ as much ultimate as DG -- and then nothing will phase you on the course.



Ultimate, where the heckling can be more fun than the actual game. :)

Practice with kids around. Noise and movement no problem.

DG is a game of distraction management - the better you are at that skill - the fewer things affect you. That doesn't change the necessity of following the rules so that you do not create a distraction for another player. That is the common courtesy we owe each other - and shouldn't be a lot either to ask for or expect in tournament play.

My problem with noise is that my eyes are instinctively drawn to it and therefore I usually throw in that direction. Consistent noise doesn't bother me but if it is quite and then someone speaks I am going to look in that direction and usually throw in that direction.

The point I was trying to make earlier is the acceptable noise varies greatly amoung different players. Personnally, if you are talking quietly you will very rarely bother me, however I regularly play with a guy that even taking a step on dry grass will result in a complaint about the noise you made. The rule gives shouting as an example. There is a huge difference between shouting and moving from one foot to another. I personnally would like to see the term "acceptable" quantified.

Noises do not bother me in the slightest. What bothers me is when people are talking and then suddenly stop talking right when i go to throw. It's a sudden change in my environment that gets me. I'm completely in favor of cheering and heckling. Man up or go home!