The Disc Golf Guy - Vlog #364 - Step Putt Analysis for Ulibarri and Feldberg

[Aim For The Chains]

FOOT FAULT - or is it?

One of disc golf's most discussed rules is broken down here as I slow down the video of both Paul Ulibarri and Dave Feldberg during a few of their successful step putts from the 2016 Maricopa Meadows Open. What do YOU think about these putts? Legal or illegal? Let me know in the comments section what you think.

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[Aim For The Chains]

I agree with terry. even after breaking a few of them down the disc always comes out riiiiiiiiight b4 the foot hits. I slowed this one down to .25 and did some play/pause action trying to catch it but really way too close to ever call let alone be illegal.

 

[teemkey]

I thought Uli's 2nd putt was the most questionable. But the camera angle isn't the bast to catch his left foot hitting the ground.

Dave's all look good to me.

Frankly, Uli's putts I have the most question on are misses, usually to the right.

 

[Kodachrome]

Legal, but sheisty as ****. Hate step putts.

 

[Jowie]

Legal, but sheisty as ****. Hate step putts.

Agreed...reminds me of the more nitpicky charging fouls in college basketball. Within the rules, sure, but it hurts my aesthetic sense.

 

[Barefooter]

Bring on the 15 meter circle, so no one will care about step puts anymore.

 

[ToddL]

The clips Terry showed look legal to me. Uli's 2nd is hard to tell because of a bad camera angle, so I can't call it.

I agree with terry. even after breaking a few of them down the disc always comes out riiiiiiiiight b4 the foot hits. I slowed this one down to .25 and did some play/pause action trying to catch it but really way too close to ever call let alone be illegal.

View attachment 57280

That one was close.

This one is definitely a fault:

http://gfycat.com/EarnestGranularGoa

 

[discallday]

Bring on the 15 meter circle, so no one will care about step puts anymore.

Won't people still be step-putting at 15.5 meters out? Pretty sure I will be. And it's going to keep me quite a bit more accurate than if I were throwing from a standstill, so if anybody is going to challenge my stance, they'd have more reason to if I'm making more of these putts.

I don't see how changing the circle radius could resolve this dispute.

 

[Stardoggy]

It looks like Dave's back foot comes off the ground before he releases on the second one.

 

[HyzerUniBomber]

This one, courtesy of Searching for Silky is pretty clear cut.

 

[Stardoggy]

two feet behind the marker on release on all shots....problem solved.

 

[tomdizzlefizzle]

There is no problem. Anyone can putt like this if they would like.

 

[HyzerUniBomber]

There is no problem. Anyone can putt like this if they would like.

Exactly, if nobody calls it as a foot fault... Then it is not a foot fault.

It is certainly a callable fault if his card was so inclined and watching his foot like a hawk, but the vast majority of players don't want to get involved with the drama of calling faults. I don't. Last thing I would like to do during a tournament is lose my mental game by having to deal with that.

Personally, I love the step putt for outside the circle. I can put some stank on the disc and still keep it low. I like to keep my step putt very clearly not callable.

 

[hook_nuts]

All those videos prove is Uli might not have/might have foot faulted. I'm not convinced and it's only a couple putts. Feldbergs seem legit. I don't think it helps either become better putters anyway, just makes them look sloppy.

 

[Kodachrome]

I like how this stirs up a debate about whether or not it's a fault when the real problem is the rules allowing themselves to be skirted in such a manner. In a sport with no replay and self-enforcement, we need the rules to provide for as few situations like this as possible.

We simply can't tell without super slow motion, and I don't see how anyone could not consider that a major issue.

 

[hook_nuts]

I like how this stirs up a debate about whether or not it's a fault when the real problem is the rules allowing themselves to be skirted in such a manner. In a sport with no replay and self-enforcement, we need the rules to provide for as few situations like this as possible.

We simply can't tell without super slow motion, and I don't see how anyone could not consider that a major issue.

EXCELLENT POINT!!! Like next level insight.

Side note: I think Feldberg does it out of spite of the rule. Didn't he use to push for stricter rules on putting to keep things fair?

 

[Aim For The Chains]

It looks like Dave's back foot comes off the ground before he releases on the second one.

yeah, watching these it wasn't really even if the disc was let go b4 front foot hit but rather if they were airborne during the release which really gets tricky to see/police. . no different from jump putt vs putt jump....

SO many hideous jump putts that end up being some weird ass frog hop with a disc that flings out.

 

[rhatton1]

I've heard so many complaints but never a rule change that stops this without causing other issues.

Anyone got the wording?

And for stopping illegal jump putts as well?

I have no idea how you could word against either without causing other problems.

The problem with both is it is so unclear that to ask other players to regulate it is nigh on impossible fairly. I wouldn't be compfortable on calling a footfault on any of the instances I have ever seen in real time, alhtough a few I have felt were very questionable, the onus is on me to be sure they were illegal and I can't be sure without slow motion technology.

What do you do?

 

[Kodachrome]

I really only have two ideas - one, lengthen the amount of space behind the lie we are allowed to utilize. then we can still step putt behind our lie.

Or, define what a putt is not by how close to the basket you are, but by the motions and general positions used. I think we can all agree that there are certain mechanics involved that are present in everybody's putts to make them functionally distinct from drives and approaches, and I can't fathom how someone could try to gain an advantage by changing how they fundamentally putt to skirt the rules.

Then, if one chooses to use this style of throw, one must not allow their feet/supporting points/whatever to travel beyond their lie. Basically, stay behind your damn disc until the disc hits the ground.

I think it would be hard to draw up, but defining a putt based on distance or area makes no sense when you don't actually have greens.

 

[BionicRib]

EXCELLENT POINT!!! Like next level insight.

Side note: I think Feldberg does it out of spite of the rule. Didn't he use to push for stricter rules on putting to keep things fair?

I remember something along these lines with feldberg. I think that was why he started doing that step putt about 4 years ago or so.
Anybody remember the details?