Disc Altering

[Rbuzz9]

not that im planning on it since it wont help me in the least - but was curious
I know you can use stickum to spray on discs (according to a discraft website video) -which sounds like a decent idea - is there a limit to that - or are some things such as pine tar banned - like going George Brett style or if you're disc looked like the top of Vlad Guerrero's batting helmet that could be a problem.

can one use a file or sandpaper to scuff the disc at all? seems ok since nature does it anyways. And are there ever points where a disc is so beat it would be deemed illegal? i doubt its very common but holes in the flightplate? etc

are there disccheckers at tourneys? overzealous ones who will toss out half your bag on lame technicalities? Checking for all those Wheels and Turboputts?

 

[garublador]

can one use a file or sandpaper to scuff the disc at all? seems ok since nature does it anyways.

Legally, to scuff to change the flight pattern, no. To smooth out sharp points and gouges, yes.

And are there ever points where a disc is so beat it would be deemed illegal? i doubt its very common but holes in the flightplate? etc

A perforated flight plate makes a disc illegal.

Section 802.1 at this link:

http://www.pdga.com/rules/index.php

covers most of what you're asking.

 

[Rbuzz9]

¡Gracias!

 

[PhattD]

One thing to remember with the disc altering rule is that it is completely subjective. Whether you altered the flight characteristics or attempted to alter the flight characteristics is irrelevent. The only thing that will get you or your discs DQ'd from tournaments is whether or not the TD thinks you altered it or attempted to alter it. In my experience if a TD see's marks on a disc that look like someone shaved or sanded the edge he's going to DQ the disc or the player mainly because he has no way of checking the flight characteristics and he's going to want to make sure no illegal discs get in. Now keep in mind I don't have a lot of tournament experience and I don't want to come off like I think I'm an expert just putting in my 2 cents.

 

[Three Putt]

I was the exact opposite when I TD'ed. What am I, a Pinkerton Detective? How do I know what your intent was? I've seen brand-new discs where the guy sanded the flashing off and left sanding marks on the disc, but sanding the flashing off is supposed to be legal. So did he over-sand and change the flight characteristics? How do I know? If you sand down a gouge, are you altering the current flight of the disc or restoring the original flight of the disc? There is a lot of gray in that rule. Unless you did something obvious like cut the bead off a brand-new Wizard, I'd let it go.

 

[Three Putt]

are there disccheckers at tourneys? overzealous ones who will toss out half your bag on lame technicalities? Checking for all those Wheels and Turboputts?

Nope. Unless somebody on your card notices an illegal disc and calls you on it, you are in the clear. If you play in a division lower than Advanced, chances are nobody on your card will even know the sport HAS rules, much less call you on one.

 

[PhattD]

Nope. Unless somebody on your card notices an illegal disc and calls you on it, you are in the clear. If you play in a division lower than Advanced, chances are nobody on your card will even know the sport HAS rules, much less call you on one.

Lol I overheard a conversation at the last tourney I was at where they were discussing whether or not a chewing tobacco tin was within specs to use as a marker in case you lost your mini. They determined that if the lid was snapped down tight it was legal and if not it was too thick. I asked them if they knew how to spell anal retentive.

 

[Three Putt]

Don't laugh, that IS a rule:

802.02 Mini Marker Discs
A. Mini marker discs shall be used to mark a player's lie as required by these rules. Mini marker discs must have a diameter of between 7 and 15 centimeters and a height not exceeding 3 centimeters.

 

[johnt1969]

are there disccheckers at tourneys? overzealous ones who will toss out half your bag on lame technicalities? Checking for all those Wheels and Turboputts?

No. They're aren't people that check those things but if another player brings an illegal disc go an officials attention than the official will check it and penalize according to the rules.

You would think that disc golfers wouldn't do that to each other but I was a rules official in an Am Worlds and a guy made a complaint that the leader of the tournament was playing with an illegal disc. I don't know if the rules have changed now but back then if you had an illegal disc in your bag you received 1 stroke penalty per every hole (per illegal disc) that it was in the bag during the round. The guy who called him on the unmarked disc knew it for the entire round but waited to call him until he was on the 13th hole because he had a huge lead in the tournament, if I remember correctly. At least that's what people told me after the fact.

He didn't tell the leader to mark the disc. Instead he came and got me and told me about it so I would have to penalize the guy. I had the player pull only the disc in question to show to me because if he emptied the bag and there were more I would have had to stroke him for those as well. He showed it to me and I had to give him 13 penalty strokes (something like that). It was horrible. I felt like such a @*&^ even though it wasn't my fault. Luckily the guy I had to penalize ended up not letting it bother him and he won the tournament by a landslide. I would have felt terrible if he would have fallen apart afterwards. I was secretly rooting for him the entire time after that happened.

 

[johnt1969]

Unless you did something obvious like cut the bead off a brand-new Wizard, I'd let it go.

Do you remember when Innova made "Factored" discs?

They took the regular discs and then would put them on a sander and sand the bottoms down a little bit. They had different levels of factoring. I think I still have some of them in my stash somewhere. They were funny things.

 

[Three Putt]

The factored discs was aware of were done by DGA. They would take Innova discs and sand them down to make them less stable. They are actually on the approved disc list because they had to have them approved to be PDGA leagal. I think they did Aviars, Vipers, Singrays and Whippets.

 

[Three Putt]

No. They're aren't people that check those things but if another player brings an illegal disc go an officials attention than the official will check it and penalize according to the rules.

You would think that disc golfers wouldn't do that to each other but I was a rules official in an Am Worlds and a guy made a complaint that the leader of the tournament was playing with an illegal disc. I don't know if the rules have changed now but back then if you had an illegal disc in your bag you received 1 stroke penalty per every hole (per illegal disc) that it was in the bag during the round. The guy who called him on the unmarked disc knew it for the entire round but waited to call him until he was on the 13th hole because he had a huge lead in the tournament, if I remember correctly. At least that's what people told me after the fact.

He didn't tell the leader to mark the disc. Instead he came and got me and told me about it so I would have to penalize the guy. I had the player pull only the disc in question to show to me because if he emptied the bag and there were more I would have had to stroke him for those as well. He showed it to me and I had to give him 13 penalty strokes (something like that). It was horrible. I felt like such a @*&^ even though it wasn't my fault. Luckily the guy I had to penalize ended up not letting it bother him and he won the tournament by a landslide. I would have felt terrible if he would have fallen apart afterwards. I was secretly rooting for him the entire time after that happened.

That's funny. I've heard that rumor for years that a guy got a bunch of strokes for having an unmarked discs and that a guy had waited most of a round to call him on it so the strokes would pile up. Which World's was that at? Was that at Augusta in '96?

 

[johnt1969]

That's funny. I've heard that rumor for years that a guy got a bunch of strokes for having an unmarked discs and that a guy had waited most of a round to call him on it so the strokes would pile up. Which World's was that at? Was that at Augusta in '96?

It's definitely not a rumor. It's 100% true. I was the guy who had to quote the rulebook and sign the scorecard with the extra strokes added. It was a terrible feeling to have to do and a really unsportsmanlike thing for the other golfer to do. But it is a rule and there was nothing that stated anywhere that I could give him a warning. I had to give him the penalty strokes.

I stopped him and made sure to tell hin not to get any other disc out of his bag except the one in question. After the penalty I told him to check all of his discs but make sure that it was out of sight of any player or official and to do it before he threw again. He walked away and checked the rest. I don't know if there were any more unmarked discs in his bag or not.

It was the 95 Am Worlds. I remember who got the penalty but I don't remember who it was that brought it up. I just know that he waited most of the round before he did it. I really hated being put in that position. It sucked.

 

[johnt1969]

The factored discs was aware of were done by DGA. They would take Innova discs and sand them down to make them less stable. They are actually on the approved disc list because they had to have them approved to be PDGA leagal. I think they did Aviars, Vipers, Singrays and Whippets.

Yes.... DGA. That sounds right. It's coming back now.

I know they did it with Stingrays because I have one around here somewhere. I think it's got a Pittsburg tournament stamp on it from the mid 90's.

It's funny that at some point someone thought.... "I really need a less stable Stingray".

 

[Three Putt]

Yes.... DGA. That sounds right. It's coming back now.

I know they did it with Stingrays because I have one around here somewhere. I think it's got a Pittsburg tournament stamp on it from the mid 90's.

It's funny that at some point someone thought.... "I really need a less stable Stingray".

It is funny to think back on. At the time in the early 90's you didn't have the really overstable discs yet. Just a few like the Viper. With everybody used to throwing Frisbees, everything was less stable back then and the Stingray did not seem so understable when compared to a 40 Mold. Back then a less stable Stingray seemed like a good idea, now it just seems silly.

 

[Disc Dog]

Stick'um, are you kidding me?

I remember that stuff in football. If anything it would detract from the snap by making it harder to let go.

 

[Omega SuperSloth]

Don't laugh, that IS a rule:

802.02 Mini Marker Discs
A. Mini marker discs shall be used to mark a player's lie as required by these rules. Mini marker discs must have a diameter of between 7 and 15 centimeters and a height not exceeding 3 centimeters.

let me get out my skoll and check , oh wait im not a freaking redneck .

 

[jb22384]

let me get out my skoll and check , oh wait im not a freaking redneck .

it's not just rednecks that dip "skoal". there are sophisticated people that dip too.

 

[Omega SuperSloth]

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sophisticated

 

[revmatty]

I believe the ruling for altering a discs flight means the way it was meant to oricinally fly (including breaking it in), when tossed level.
So if it's suppose to fade left at the end, and I see it always fading right, I would question it. Especialy if I noticed it was a drastic diffrence.

Now sanding a disc down for better grip, adding pine tar, etc, IMO would fall into the alter disc flight also. Why? Cause your grip, does make a diffrent. So by adding stuff to your disc, your altering the way it can be griped. A little tighter, or looser. Especialy adding chemicals. Cause you overspray one area, can cause that one side to be slightly heavier, and cause the disc to fly not the way it's suppose to.

Then again if there's a sharp piece of plastic that could slice off your thumb, and I seen the original before a tourney, and you said could I file this off. I''d let it slide more then likely. Unless while watching you I noticed the above aforementioned. Then I'd DQ only the disc.