I've always heard that you cannot add plastic to your bag during a tournament round once play has been started. I was specifically asked this last night and said it was against the rules and grabbed my rule book to quote the rule to back it up and for the life of me could not find the rule that discussed the issue.

So my question is, is it legal to add discs to your bag during a round, be it from your car, from a friend, or one found in the woods during the round? I know you cannot carry a broken disc unless it is declared to the group but if you find a disc in the woods can you carry it for the rest of the round to give it to the TD later? If you throw your two primary drivers in the lake during the round can you grab more drivers from your car during the round if you pass by the car? It seems wrong but I can't back it up.

Thanks,
Jeff Haydel

Yes, you can add plastic to your bag during a round whether borrowed or bought. You still need to have the disc uniquely marked or tell people in your group you're throwing Bob Jones' red disc. I lost three drivers in the water on the Cliff Stephens course in Clearwater back in 1996 during a tournament round. I had to sprint to the sales tent and buy a few discs during the round to make it thru. I had my Sharpie to mark them before using them.

There's no rule that says you can't use new or borrowed discs during the round. It also doesn't have a rule to limit the number of discs you carry. Both of these are non-rules that some people think are there.

i played with a guy at buckhorn a few years back who lost every disc in his bag to harris lake- we loaned him a few to finish the round.

One of the biggest non-rules rules.

My theory is that people think that because in ball golf you are only allowed 14 clubs once the round starts and cannot replace a club if it is broken during a round, so therefore a similar rule MUST exist in disc golf.

You shoud've given the guy the rule book and put the onus on HIM to find the rule.

I see no problems with this. I have found discs in trees , creeks that folks have lost and carried them back to the TD between rounds. People are grateful to get their plastic back.

I have changed discs between rounds. I have also taken plastic out of my bag that I didn't use and left them in the car between rounds.

Most golf tournaments now also follow the one-ball rule: you can only hit one brand and model of golf ball. Every ball in your bag has to be the same.

In disc golf we call this the One Disc Challenge!

Yes Jeff. This is a non-rule carry-over from an actual USGA rule. 14 club limit and no replacing broken clubs during a round. Also, if you start with less than 14, you cannot add to your bag during the round.

I think since the disc is analagous to both a ball and club, this is not a rule that we should incorporate into disc golf rules.

When I have played Disc Golf on a ball golf course , I have a max limit of 14 discs as the rules there state.

Each place is different. Don't play with broken discs in your bag , it's not worth the penalties given.

I start with 12-14 a round. Way more than plenty.

It helps to play each course once before any given tournament , this way your not carrying excess plastic and shot selection is not random victim. /msgboard/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

I look at it this way,ya know when you approch the tee with a putter on a fairly short hole and something like a tree or the wind makes you go back to your bag for a Roc,suddenly the Karma of not going with your first choich steers you into the first tree of the tee....................thats how i feel about changing/adding new discs to my bag after the round starts.

So i say "please grab something different if what you have isnt working" but i won't do it! :D

I only add discs to replace lost discs that I don't carry a spare for.

Yes Jeff. This is a non-rule carry-over from an actual USGA rule. 14 club limit and no replacing broken clubs during a round. Also, if you start with less than 14, you cannot add to your bag during the round.

I think since the disc is analagous to both a ball and club, this is not a rule that we should incorporate into disc golf rules.



This is not entirely the rule by the USGA. You can most definitely replace a broken club during play. As long as it was unintentionally broken (i.e. the head flies off or gets loose). The issue is that you cannot leave the course to go get it. This happened to Phil Mickelson last year as the head of his driver came loose after a tee shot and his dad went to his locker and got him another as Phil was out playing. If the club break was intentional, then no replacement can be added. Further, you have to remove the broken club when adding the replacement.

I think the appropriate rule to be questioning here is the PGA's rule limiting the number of balls a player can put into play. I believe the limit is 18 but don't quote me on the actual number. Once the ball is played and taken out, it can't be put back into play. If a player goes tin cup on a hole, loses all his balls, he's is DQ'd.

So i say "please grab something different if what you have isnt working" but i won't do it! :D



I did something like this during a tournament in February.

It was a high of 35degrees, so I opted for a soft challenger instead of my usuall hard white challenger. I figured I would get less slippage through the chains with the soft putter in the cold, and it would bounce softer off the basket if I missed.

Well about 1/4 through the first round, I was very uncomfortable with my grip on the putter. My thumb was not getting the familar resistance that I get from my hard challenger. So when we crossed the parking lot a few holes later, I took the soft putter out, and took the hard putter out of my trunk.

I felt the boost in confidence with my grip was worth the possibility of chain slippage and hard bounces.

It was.

I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing this out.

One of the biggest non-rules rules.

My theory is that people think that because in ball golf you are only allowed 14 clubs once the round starts and cannot replace a club if it is broken during a round, so therefore a similar rule MUST exist in disc golf.





I work with a bunch of stubborn, close-minded ball golfers and I blew their minds with this one.
They were riding me about only carrying 14 discs (they actually thought it ridiculous that I had more than one disc) instead of my tournament 18.
Basically, I broke it down this way and it was easier to digest for ball golfers: Only carry as many balls as clubs allowed (14) and when you lose a ball, take that club and break it. When you're out of balls/clubs, your round is over.
They finally accepted the fact that disc golf and ball golf are different.
Sorry for the drift....Call me strange, but I liked the "non-rule" of picking your bag before tee-off. Now that I can hit the trunk for a back-up to my back-up, kind of takes the competition out of it.
If I knew that there was a particularly tough round I was facing with lots of danger, I will carry extra discs, but it also makes me think twice about the "grip it and rip it" philosophy.
Or should I say now, the "Grip-it, rip-it, and forget it" mentality.

$.02

What is the reasoning behind the rule about announcing to your group that a disc is broken, but you'll be carrying it the rest of the round? Since the rules say no broken discs allowed in play, that seems to put the onus on others on the card to observe the broken nature of the disc, and if it's in play after that, a stroke. If adding discs along the way is OK, even if they belong to someone else, why the fuss over a broken one?
And, if I find a disc in woods, and it's ID-able to someone known to all (or a phone # etc) can I throw that without an etiquette violation? How 'bout if I find it, throw it, and then lose it again?

maybe silly questions, but maybe not.

--steve

The rule is there because it was formally a penalty to carry an illegal disc during the round. Now if you break one and desire to keep it at least you can.

You can throw any disc you find during the round, but it is in bad taste to throw a found disc on a hole where it is likely to be lost again.

Ok, I know we cannot use broken discs.

But what happens if you mini marker disc cracks, but does not break in half? Is using that mini in violation?

You are not allowed to throw it in competition. :cool:

Mini Marker discs are governed by 802.02, discs used for play are governed by 802.01 and 805.B.

Mini Markers only have to be of a certain size (7-15 cm diameter, <3cm high), no other restrictions are listed.

Thanks Gary