Clear and precise course rules are important for fair tournament play. As a TD, you should write your course rules in a way that is understandable to all players and leaves no room for misinterpretation. A poorly written rule that can be interpreted in different ways can lead to misplays and penalties for your players.
TDs should follow these general principles when writing course rules:
The PDGA Board of Directors has approved an update to section 804.01, Mandatory Routes, of the Official Rules of Disc Golf (ORDG), effective as of March 2, 2022. This rule update does not change the concept of restricted routes as defined by the ORDG. It provides clarification of how restricted routes are intended to operate.
Revisions are periodically required to update PDGA rules and competition standards to keep up with the constantly evolving nature of disc golf equipment, courses, tournament management, technology, etc. These updates and edits can range from nearly unnoticeable verbiage alterations to complete rewrites of an entire section. Fortunately, the changes approved by the board of directors for the 2021 revision of the PDGA Official Rules of Disc Golf and the PDGA Competition Manual for Disc Golf Events contain mostly the former.
The PDGA is seeking one qualified volunteer to join the PDGA Disciplinary Committee. Committee members are tasked with reviewing player conduct issues.
Update December 31, 2018 — After listening to member feedback, the PDGA Board of Directors has drafted and approved language changes to Rule 803.01.B.1, CM 3.03.B.5, CM 3.03.C.3, and CM 3.03.C.4.
Crafting an official revision of the PDGA Competition Manual is no simple task. The PDGA Competition Committee put in hundreds of unpaid, volunteer hours on the 2018 revision, working to clean up and clarify the verbiage while simultaneously creating new items and editing existing ones. The 2018 revision contains updates and edits based on nearly five years of feedback (last revised on January 1, 2013) from PDGA members, tournament directors, Board of Directors members, PDGA staff, State/Provincial Coordinators, etc.
UPDATE: Any 2016 event with pre-existing qualifying criteria for Junior divisions based on the 2015 Tour Standards may request a waiver to apply the 2015 Junior division age breaks to their 2016 event by contacting the PDGA Tour Manager directly. Where possible, the event should also include the new 2016 Junior 8 & Under & and Junior 6 & Under divisions as well. The 2016 PDGA Amateur and Junior Disc Golf World Championships will use the original 2015 junior division age breaks listed below, as well as the new Junior 8 & Under & and the Junior 6 & Under divisions.
Our founder, Steady Ed Headrick, perhaps pondering, "Should a disc landing on top of a Pole Hole® count?"
Rules. There's nothing more fundamental to any sport. Rules define the game. The first time someone challenged a buddy to see how many Frisbee® throws it took to reach that tree in the distance, we had our first disc golf rule.
The first known disc golf rules in 1982 were rediscovered in notes kept in the files of our founder, Steady Ed Headrick. These original rules and the rules updates since 1982 have been digitized and analyzed to show how the competitive rules of our sport have evolved. The next rules update in 1986 was the first published rulebook provided to PDGA members. The remaining major rules updates were 1990, 1997, 2002, 2006, 2011, 2013, 2018, and most recently 2022, which is our tenth version.
