I thought I would throw out this topic to some of the more experienced players out there to see how everyone handles this. Here is some background on me and the group of people I usually play with. I have only been playing the sport for a few years, and started playing with the goal of having fun, and doing something healthier than sitting on the couch. When I started I didn't have a clue what I was doing, often throwing putters off the tee, and drivers on the approach. I threw multiple discs per lie, played the disc where it lied, used gimmie's etc... as things have progressed and my skill level has increased as well as my knowledge of the sport, I began playing more legit. By legit I mean, no mulligans, keeping score, etc... Naturally as my group also increased in skill level (we all started playing about the same time) we began getting more competitive, to the point now where we all have Bag Tags, play in tourneys, play 3-4 times a week, etc...
While I am by no means a professional disc golfer, I have joined the PDGA and the KCFDC and have read the PDGA rule book. Here is the 6 million dollar question:
Are PDGA rules generally to be applied during each round of golf, be it casual, league, or tournament? I.E. if five or six guys play regularly and we are playing competitively (Tags) should all the PDGA rules be enforced?
The following scenario developed during a recent casual but competitive round: Player 1 throws OB on the very first throw of the game. The other players note this is OB, enforce the penalty stroke and drop/re-throw. Later on during the round, player 1 notices the other players throwing out of turn. Player 1 gives a warning not to throw out of turn. Subsequent violations are also noted, and further warnings are given. Several holes later, player 1 throws into a tree and has to spend a few minutes looking for his disc. Instead of helping the player look for his disc since he is obviously the away player, the other players continue to play the hole ahead of the away player, thus throwing out of turn. Since multiple warnings had been given, Player 1 calls for a penalty stoke to be assessed to the players who had violated the courtesy rule of throwing out of turn. Instead of accepting the extra stroke, the other players decline this penalty stroke and bring up excuses such as "we are not PDGA members", "this is not a tournament", "the rules were not announced prior to the beginning of the round", etc... basically whining
Technically I could have actually enforced any number of other courtesy rules for "throwing minis", "advancing on the fairway beyond the away player", "practice throws" (throwing multiple discs from the same lie (non announced provisional throws)) or "shouting".
The way I see it, since we were playing a competitive round, PDGA rules should have been in effect (OB is always enforced, why not other PDGA rules).
Just curious how other players observe the rules. Does everyone announce that PDGA rules are in play? If they are not announced, are none enforceable; including OB? Again, I'm talking about competitive rounds where there is something at stake such as tags, not practice rounds.
