The Official Rules of Disc Golf (ORDG), the Competition Manual for Disc Golf Events (CM), and the PDGA Tour Standards go through some level of revision each year. A critical part of this process is making proposed changes available for public comment by members. A list of the changes – first major, then minor, then a rundown of some clerical matters – is here for your reference. Please read the updates below carefully, think about their impact, and give us your thoughts. 

Members are asked to email their comments and recommendations regarding the proposed rules changes below to [email protected] by September 12th, 2022, where the replies will be read, considered, and cataloged. No other rules changes will be considered for the 2023 rules update.

Major Changes

Competition Manual for Disc Golf Events

1.03 Withdrawals and Refunds

These new sections outline player rights and TD responsibilities regarding refunds if an event is canceled or postponed.

J. If a Tournament Director cancels an event, all currently registered or waitlisted players must receive a 100% cash refund of their entry or waitlist fee. Only in the case of a disaster that prevents the event from taking place, and only with prior approval from the PDGA Director of Event Support, may a TD provide players registered for Amateur divisions with a player pack and a partial cash refund in the amount of the difference between the retail value of the player pack and the amount of the entry fee.

K. If a Tournament Director postpones an event, all players currently registered or waitlisted for the original date at the time of postponement must receive a 100% cash refund if they request it.  Once a new date is announced, all prior registrants who are still registered must be notified by email and given a reasonable opportunity to receive a 100% cash refund if they determine they are unable to attend the event on its new date.

1.05 Practice Rounds, Beginning Play, Late Arrivals

This revision adds language to reflect that more than two scorecards may be used, as well as clarifying penalties for players who do not provide their group with the opportunity to examine the scorecard.

G. The Tournament Director must provide at least two scorecards to each group, to be kept independently of one another. These scorecards may be of the same medium or of different media. The two scorecards must be reconciled by the group and submitted  Each member of the group should be given the opportunity to examine the scorecards and each member of the group must agree on an official scorecard and submit it by whichever method the Tournament Director has designated as the official scoring method for the tournament. Any player who denies the opportunity to another player in the group to examine and verify the official scorecard receives two penalty throws.

1.06 Grouping and Sectioning

This new provision creates minimum standards for tee time posting and states that adjusting a player’s tee time earlier in the day requires they affirmatively agree to the change.

L. At staggered start events with scheduled tee times, Tournament Directors must post tee times for all players no later than 10 hours prior to the first tee time for that division.  

1. If tee times must be adjusted after posting, no player may be assigned an earlier tee time without their affirmative consent. 

2. Events with multiple tee time rounds in a single day must obtain a waiver of this rule from the PDGA Director of Event Support. 

3. The PDGA Mid-Event Weather Suspension Guidelines supersede this requirement where it is necessary for player safety or to complete rounds in progress.

Tour Standards

Pass-Through Fees

To make it easier to provide a quality experience for all players, and to provide a baseline level of compensation for Tournament Directors, additional items will be added to pass-through fees that are subtracted from gross entry fees to make net entry fees. To ensure transparency, TDs are required to specify the amounts and types of all pass-through fees in pre-registration materials.

Pass-through Fees are: PDGA Per-Player Fee, as required by Tier level; Greens Fees, meaning the fees required to secure the course(s) and permit play; Series Fees, meaning a fee paid by an event that is part of a points Series under CM 2.02.B toward Series-end prizes or payouts; Bathroom Fees, meaning the prorated per-player cost of toilet rental; and TD Fees, meaning a per-player amount not to exceed the PDGA Per-Player Fee for that Tier. All pass-through items and amounts must be published in pre-registration materials. Other event expenses, such as player packs and prizes, trophies, line paint, staff compensation, or lunch, are not included in pass-through fees.

A-Tier Requirements: Warm-Up Areas and Underserved Divisions

These additions tighten up the requirements for the player experience at what will be, for many competitors, the premier event Tier of their playing careers.

Warm-Up Areas. All A-Tier events must have a designated warm-up area readily available to all players.  If sufficient throwing space is not available, the event must provide one or more practice nets. The event must also provide one or more practice targets.

Waitlists. All A-Tier and above events must use divisional capping to provide space for those underserved divisions offered by the event, and waitlists must be maintained by division so a drop from an underserved division is filled from the same division wherever possible. Only within three weeks of an event may Event Directors fill a vacancy in an underserved division without a waitlist from a different division (as allowed by course or other pool capping considerations). Event Directors should reach out to the PDGA Event Support Team ([email protected]) prior to opening registration if they need help setting this up correctly.

Minor Changes

Official Rules of Disc Golf

803.02 Relief from Obstacles

In the previous wording, the use of “as allowed above” could have been interpreted to only apply to parts A and B, and therefore any other type of relief was inherently penalized. Changing it to say “by rule” allows for non-penalty relief in other rules to be allowable.

C. A player who takes relief other than as allowed above by rule receives one penalty throw.

806.03 Casual Area

Similar to the explanation for 803.02, this change merely clarifies that relief from casual areas are not penalized if taken in accordance to the rules.

B. To obtain relief from a casual area, the player's lie may be relocated without penalty to the nearest lie which is farther from the target and is on the line of play, at the nearest point that provides relief (unless greater casual relief is announced by the Director).

C. A player who takes relief other than as allowed by rule receives one penalty throw.

804.01 Mandatory Routes

This change clarifies that mandatory routes restrict the path of the disc for the entire hole, regardless of the direction the disc is traveling.

A. A mandatory route restricts the path the disc may take to the target in the process of playing a hole. 

803.01 Moving Obstacles

This change adds additional clarity to what defines a casual obstacle. Casual obstacles are intended to be loose debris, not just any item that happens to be dead or detached.

B.1 A player may move casual obstacles that are on the playing surface where a supporting point may be placed when taking a stance. A casual obstacle is any item or collection of loose debris (such as stones, leaves, twigs, or unconnected branches), or any item as designated by the Director. Objects intentionally placed as part of the course or event are not casual obstacles. 

806.04.A: Relief Area

This clarifies that Relief Areas are treated exactly the same as OB areas in all aspects except for the applied penalty throw. This includes discs landing within 1m of a relief area. This update also aids in how to handle situations where OB and Relief Areas share an edge.

A. A relief area is an area designated by the Director from which a disc may not be played, or any in-bounds area that players are prohibited by law from entering. A relief area is considered and played as an out-of-bounds area, but no penalty throw is applied with the exception that no penalty throw is assessed to a player whose disc comes to rest in a relief area.

813.01 Illegal Disc

This update provides additional clarity that players may not throw a disc that is intentionally deformed such that it no longer complies with the technical standards for approved discs.

C. Other modifications to a disc after production make the disc illegal, including but not limited to: ... 

5. Intentionally deforming a disc such that it is not in a circular, saucer-like configuration.

802.03 Excessive Time

Using the phrase “remains clear” provides additional clarity that a player’s 30-second time window restarts if the playing area does not remain continuously clear. 

A.4. During which the playing area is remains clear.

Competition Manual for Disc Golf Events

1.03 Withdrawals and Refunds

The change in language here reflects the long-standing PDGA policy of how to evaluate whether a refund is due or not. The old language muddied the intent of the policy. The change also reflects that non-refundable items like DGS and PayPal processing fees are not included in a refund.

B. Players who have paid MORE than a nominal waitlist fee of $10 to be on an event’s waitlist who do not get into the event, or who officially request to withdraw from the waitlist prior to the event’s published closure of registration and waitlist replacements (within one week is recommended), will receive a 100% cash refund of their waitlist fee (minus the up to a $10 handling fee) waitlist fee. Waitlist players who ONLY paid a nominal non-refundable waitlist fee of $10 or less will not receive a refund.

C. Players who officially request to withdraw from an event at least 30 days before the start of the event will receive a 100% cash refund of their entry fee (minus up to a $10 handling fee). 

D. Players who officially request to withdraw from an event 15 to 29 days before the start of the event will receive a 100% cash refund of their entry fee minus up to a $10 handling fee ONLY if their spot in the tournament is filled through either the waitlist or a walk-up entry (if offered) by a player who is on the waitlist at the time of the withdrawal request. If the player’s spot is NOT filled, the TD has the choice to provide EITHER a 50% cash refund OR just the player’s pack the player would have received if they had attended (minus the cost of shipping). In the case of a player in a Pro division for an event without a Pro player pack worth at least 25% of the Entry Fee, the TD will provide the 50% cash refund.

E. Players who officially request to withdraw from an event within 14 days of the start of the event and prior to the event’s published closure of registration and waitlist replacements (within one week is recommended) will receive a 100% cash refund of their entry fee minus up to a $10 handling fee ONLY if their spot in the tournament is filled through either the waitlist or a walk-up entry (if offered) by a player who is on the waitlist at the time of the withdrawal request. If the player’s spot is NOT filled, the TD has the choice to provide EITHER a 25% cash refund OR just the player’s pack they would have received if they had attended (minus the cost of shipping). In the case of a player in a Pro division for an event without a Pro player pack worth at least 25% of the Entry Fee, the TD will provide the 25% cash refund.

1.05 Practice Rounds, Beginning Play, Late Arrivals

This change clarifies when players may practice at staggered start events with scheduled tee times, and defaults to no practice on the course while play is ongoing.

B. 2. Staggered Starts or Tee Times (rounds where groups start one after another on a certain hole): The player shall start at the time announced by the Tournament Director. Players are recommended to check in with the starter ten minutes before their tee time. At staggered start events with scheduled tee times, players may practice in any area designated by the Tournament Director until the starter indicates the two-minute signal for their group provided their practice does not distract players on the course. When tournament rounds are in progress at a course, that course is unavailable for practice unless the Tournament Director specifies otherwise.

1.12 Tournament Officials

This revision specifies who designates PDGA Marshals.

A. Only the Tournament Director, those Certified Officials that have been designated by the Tournament Director, or a designated PDGA Marshal as designated by the PDGA Director of Competition, are Tournament Officials for a given event.

1.14 Leagues

This allows children under 13 accompanying a playing group at PDGA Leagues to be supervised by a player in the group.

C. 5. Children under 13 who are accompanying a group may be supervised by an adult in the playing group (see 1.13.A).

2.01 General

The first change addresses players who request to change divisions after competition has begun, but before they have started their rounds. NOTE: This is inserted as a new 2.01.C, and current 2.01.C et seq. will move down a letter (C to D, D to E, etc.).

The second change clarifies how to limit offered divisions, corrects the misunderstanding that a division must have four players to be contested, and emphasizes the importance of offering underserved divisions.

C. After the close of registration, players may not request to change their division unless their division has three or fewer people, in which case players must request a change prior to the start of competition.  TDs may approve or deny this request in their sole discretion.

K. L. A Tournament Director may, by indicating it on the registration form, restrict the divisions offered in their event. Absent such notice, the Tournament Director shall offer for competition any division which has four or more players that are eligible and who wish to compete. Tournament Directors may offer divisions with fewer than four players at their discretion (see 1.03.I). A Tournament Director may limit the divisions they wish to offer at their event by listing only the divisions they plan to offer on their registration form.  If a division is offered and at least four eligible players register for that division, that division must be held.  If fewer than four eligible players register for an offered division or a division does not have four eligible players at the close of registration, it is at the Tournament Director's discretion whether to hold the division or not (see 1.03.I).  Tournament Directors are strongly encouraged to offer divisions which are otherwise underserved (see 1.02.C.2.c) and to hold such divisions even if fewer than four eligible players register.

3.04 Dress Code

This revision clarifies that players must wear a lower outer garment and opens up well-tailored sleeveless shirts with collars and tennis dresses that meet the requirements to any player who wishes to wear them.

B. All competitors and staff are required to wear a shirt an upper and lower outer garment, such as a shirt and pants.

D. 2. All players must wear a shirt covering their upper chest area and lower torso. A well-tailored shirt with a collar and sleeves covering the upper arm shall be considered acceptable. Tank tops are not allowed for any competitor, but women may wear sleeveless shirts with collars. Women may also wear well-tailored one-piece tennis dresses with minimum one-inch-wide shoulder straps. A well-tailored shirt with a collar is acceptable, with or without sleeves. A well-tailored one-piece tennis dress with minimum one-inch-wide shoulder straps is also acceptable. Tank tops are not allowed for any competitor.

3.08 Tournament Director Rights and Responsibilities

This revision sets the minimum age to serve as a Tournament Director of record at 18.

Any qualified, current PDGA member age 18 or over who is interested in running a PDGA-sanctioned event may be required to take and pass an online tournament procedures assessment test before being able to direct that event. That test will be based upon the Official Rules of Disc Golf and the Competition Manual. PDGA members under the age of 18 may not be Tournament Directors.

Clerical Items

Competition Manual for Disc Golf Events

2.03 Reclassification of Professional/Amateur 

This section was improperly structured, giving it two possible citations to 2.03.A. This edit fixes the problem.

A. Professional to Amateur

A. 1. Players registered with the PDGA as Professionals may petition the PDGA Memberships Manager or PDGA Director of Event Support for reclassification as Amateurs, but they must meet all requirements to reclassify.

2. Players must meet all requirements laid out in the Divisions, Ratings and Points Factors table in order to reclassify.

B. Amateur to Professional

A. 1. An Amateur wishing to change their classification to Professional may do so by contacting the PDGA Memberships Manager.

B. 2. An Amateur player is automatically reclassified as Professional when the player has accepted cash while competing in a Professional division (see 1.10.A and 1.10.B). 

3. Accepting cash for winning an ancillary contest such as an ace pool, top-of-the-card round prize, or CTP contest does not cause a player to relinquish their amateur status.

Tour Standards

The reclassification criteria for Professionals seeking to reclassify as Amateurs currently are enumerated in an FAQ document.  This change moves those criteria into the Tour Standards as part of the Divisions, Ratings, and Points Factors document. The criteria will not change, and can currently be found in the reclassification question in the FAQ.

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