Excessive Time Call

[fishballer06]

I played a tournament this past weekend and my division only had 4 people in it. So I had the same card for both rounds, for good/better/worse. With that being said, the card on the hole ahead of us was the MA60+ division. Needless to say, this card did move rather slow in regards to taking their shot, selecting a disc, clearing out the basket after putting, etc, etc...

It didn't bother me much because I knew they were being held up by the group at the hole in front of them a few times, but at other times it almost seemed blatant with the amount of time they were taking during their rounds.

However, one member on my card was downright annoyed by it. He complained or made a comment after every single throw that the group ahead of us made whenever we were having to wait for them to finish out a hole. He kept threatening throughout the day to call a 30 second violation on members of this other card at every hole. He never did so, but he lead us all on to believe that he was going to do it at any second.

So my question for DGCR is - can you call an excessive time violation on a different card?

My thinking is no, but this other player on my card insisted you could. Here's what I could find on the PDGA rulebook.

A player has taken excessive time if they are present and have not thrown within 30 seconds after:
The previous player has thrown; and,
They have had a reasonable amount of time to arrive at and determine the lie; and,
They are next in the throwing order; and,
The playing area is clear and free of distractions.
A player who takes excessive time receives a warning for the first violation. A player who takes excessive time after having been warned for it during the round receives one penalty throw. See 811.F.5 for a player who is absent when it is their turn to throw.

 

[IHearChains]

There is also Competition Manual 3.02 Pace of Play.

"All competitors shall play without undue delay and make every effort to keep up with the group in front of them. Players are expected to quickly move from the completion of one hole to the tee area of the next hole. Any undue delay should not affect the pace of play within the group behind them. Also, while advancing down the fairway, a player shall not unduly delay play by his or her actions."

The group is probably unaware it is an issue. I think the correct action here is to contact the TD, and a good TD will do something about it. One option is to send out an official to walk along with the offending card, informing them in some diplomatic way that there are time concerns and they have to try to keep up with the group in front of them.

I was once on a card that was being held up by a group going so slow that they had 5 empty holes in front of them. They weren't paying attention to whose turn it was, weren't watching throws to avoid lost discs, and were waiting til it was their turn to throw before deciding that it was time for a wardrobe adjustment, and on and on. This was on a course that was filled to capacity. It eventually blew up, and unfortunately there were some loose cannons in both of our groups, and it was not handled diplomatically by some players. But the TD took action as noted above, and things improved without any violations being issued.

 

[roblee]

Short answer is sure he can. If he was really annoyed & distracted he could add a courtesy warning too. If he's really lucky he may still be playing when he's 60 and he can school us age-protected players how it should be done.

My condolences for having to play 2 rounds with someone with that attitude.

 

[curmudgeonDwindle]

Were I playing with this complaining fellow, I would have considering giving HIM a courtesy warning for deliberately producing distracting sounds repeatedly...