Player Steve is putting 15ft away from the basket and his disc hits the basket, catches an edge, roles 150ft down an embankment and goes OB.

Can Player Steve determine his lie unplayable from the OB spot and re-putt from his original lie? If so, would he receive one penalty stroke for OB and one penalty stroke for declaring an unplayable lie?

If Steve is OB, he does not need to take an Unplayable lie penalty but can simply rethrow from his previous lie adding the one throw OB penalty plus counting the throw into OB. If Steve rolled way down near OB but did not actually go OB, he may take an Unplayable Lie penalty and re-putt counting the throw plus the one throw Unplayable penalty. Thus, whether OB or not, he may continue from the same lie and his score is two more than before he putted from it the first time.

If Steve is OB, he does not need to take an Unplayable lie penalty but can simply rethrow from his previous lie adding the one throw OB penalty plus counting the throw into OB. If Steve rolled way down near OB but did not actually go OB, he may take an Unplayable Lie penalty and re-putt counting the throw plus the one throw Unplayable penalty. Thus, whether OB or not, he may continue from the same lie and his score is two more than before he putted from it the first time.

Ok, so basically on any shot, I could call an unplayable lie, count the throw and a one penalty stroke and re-throw from my original lie?

I had a case where I attempted to putt from 15ft away and it rolled into OB and then my new lie was 30ft away. So I have the choice to 1) reputt from the original lie taking one penalty stroke for an unplayable lie or 2) putt from the new lie taking one penalty stroke for OB?

Player Steve is putting 15ft away from the basket and his disc hits the basket, catches an edge, roles 150ft down an embankment and goes OB.

Can Player Steve determine his lie unplayable from the OB spot and re-putt from his original lie? If so, would he receive one penalty stroke for OB and one penalty stroke for declaring an unplayable lie?

There was a game show years ago where the celebrity panelists would give possibly bunk answers to questions then the player would have to determine was the celebrity answer is a made up pile of hooey or the god's honest truth. . . take 37 seconds to read the rules and then tell me: do you agree with the following or disagree???


Player doesn't have to invoke the unplayable lie rule in this circumstance since the OB rule permits the player to play from the previous lie.

In a similar circumstance, if the disc rolled 150ft down a hill and came to rest Inbounds, he could invoke the Unplayable rule and play from previous lie.

In either case, the score will be the original throw + one penalty throw + re-throw.

There was a game show years ago where the celebrity panelists would give possibly bunk answers to questions then the player would have to determine was the celebrity answer is a made up pile of hooey or the god's honest truth. . . take 37 seconds to read the rules and then tell me: do you agree with the following or disagree???


Player doesn't have to invoke the unplayable lie rule in this circumstance since the OB rule permits the player to play from the previous lie.

In a similar circumstance, if the disc rolled 150ft down a hill and came to rest Inbounds, he could invoke the Unplayable rule and play from previous lie.

In either case, the score will be the original throw + one penalty throw + re-throw.
Perfect, thank you for your help! I've been in positions before where I would rather take a penalty and re-shoot than take the shot from a very bad lie.

I had a case where I attempted to putt from 15ft away and it rolled into OB and then my new lie was 30ft away. So I have the choice to 1) reputt from the original lie taking one penalty stroke for an unplayable lie or 2) putt from the new lie taking one penalty stroke for OB?
If you go OB, then you do not use the Unplayable rule in your step 1) because the OB rule already allows you to play from your original lie as an option or to throw from where it went out. In fact, if you roll OB and state to your group that you are taking an Unplayable penalty instead of just using the OB rule, you would get a double penalty - one for going OB then one for taking an unplayable penalty unnecessarily.

If you go OB, then you do not use the Unplayable rule in your step 1) because the OB rule already allows you to play from your original lie as an option or to throw from where it went out. In fact, if you roll OB and state to your group that you are taking an Unplayable penalty instead of just using the OB rule, you would get a double penalty - one for going OB then one for taking an unplayable penalty unnecessarily. Good clarification :-), thank you!

This is the "unplayable lie" that I took at worlds. Let me know if I was with in the rules.

I made a blind upshot from the valley of hole 1 at Cliff Drive. I threw it to good, it didn't hit a thing all the way to the pin. My group and I looked for a while with no luck. Then one of the guys yelled down the cliff to the group below asking if they could see my disc. The answer was yes (not good for me). I could have taken a lost disc and rethrown. Then I would not have this eating at me since it happened. After looking at the lie I am pretty sure there is no way I could have made it to the top of the hill. I had to walk a quarter of a mile to get to my disc (3 fairways). When I got to my disc after the completion of the tourney I examined the lie. I would of had 2 options. Play all the way up the 3 fariways or play away from the hole then have a prayer of a shot up the overgrown cliff. I am not sure that a drive would ever had made it up the side of that cliff?

Seems like in the future the entire situation could be avoided by adding some OB behind the hole where something like this is possible.

Or educate the players that the rule applies to protecting the score from unexpected dangers as well as the player. The TD declares areas that are not dangerous to throw from as OB to prevent players having an easy shot at the basket. Areas that are difficult to throw from may be left in play so the player has to decide whether to attempt a shot or take the penalty.

May not be the case here, but it does apply in many courses I've played.

This is the "unplayable lie" that I took at worlds. Let me know if I was with in the rules.

...snip...

Then I would not have this eating at me since it happened.

Sounds to me like you used this rule exactly as it was designed. Re-throwing from your previous lie was not free. That shot that got away cost you two strokes. The throw itself plus the penalty, leaving you at exactly the same lie as before the unfortunate throw but +2 in score. Nothing should be eating at you, you paid a pretty steep price for that one throw that got through the woods behind the basket.

Whether you agree with it not, the Rules Committee thinks that you should never be penalized more than two throws for any errant shot. This has not changed in a long time, and is reflected in the 1997 version of the rules. Probably even before that, but I don't have any rule books older than 97.

It wasn't until 1997 that compound penalties mostly got reduced to an equivalent of 2-throw max. In the early 90s, if your errant shot landed above 2m in a scrub tree in a swampy casual relief area (North Valley in MN), you would end up with a 3-shot penalty if you had to come back more than 10m to the fairway no closer to the hole.

you paid a pretty steep price for that one throw that got through the woods behind the basket.


I think it cost me a place in the semifinals, so yes it was pretty steep.

This situation bit me earlier this year and I wish that I'd paid closer attention to this rule. I had a 35' putt catch edge and roll about 150' over a hill and then go OB. On top of that there was a huge tree between me and the basket. I could have played my 4th from the original 35' position instead of the 150' around the large tree. My 6 (after catching one of the many limbs and almost rolling OB again) should have been a 5 at worst(If I'd missed the 35' putt again but avoided the roll away) if I'd have stopped to think instead of being frustrated by the roll away.

Rotary Park in Huntington WV - Some locals call at "Rollaway" Park and I understand why!