String in the middle of an open field just doesn’t look right.

May 11, 2023 by Douglas Tyas in Opinion with comments

I step up to the tee and my heart starts pounding. A water carry is in front of me. I must execute my shot, or I can kiss my favorite driver goodbye. I need to give it enough power. These thoughts run through my head, changing a routine shot into the most challenging one on the course. The danger of the hole is evident, and it tests my mental game.

But when I step up to a hole with artificial out-of-bounds marked by a simple string, I don’t see any danger. Of course I know that my score card will suffer if I land on the wrong side of the line, but all I see is an arbitrary line in the grass. There is no danger if my disc lands in the middle of a nicely mowed field, even if it is marked as OB. The danger I feel when facing a water carry is also present when I am playing in the woods. If my disc hits a tree and kicks hard into the thick blackberries of the Pacific Northwest, I instantly feel my mistake. But when I miss a mando in the middle of a field, I just pick up my disc and stroll to the dropzone.

Our perception of OB is far more complex than the rules of disc golf tell us. According to the rules, the repercussions of landing in an OB water hazard and landing on the wrong side of a painted OB line are the same; however, our understanding of the natural features of a disc golf course convince us otherwise. This mental leap creates discontinuity that takes away from the professionalism of the game.

The Push for Spectator-Friendly Courses

As the DGPT has grown, there has been a push to host tour events at courses that allow for more spectators and better video coverage. This typically results in the use of courses that have fewer trees and more artificial OB. Out-of-bounds marked by stakes, flags, paint, or string is an easy way to create difficulty and scoring separation on holes that would otherwise be too easy for the pros. However, we must acknowledge that artificial OB can damage the fan experience of a course.

Water hazards and thick rough intuitively communicate the danger on a hole to the audience. When I see a player step up to the tee with these dangers in front of them, I understand what a good shot is without the commentators needing to tell me. But while watching DGN, I have often witnessed a disc land on nicely manicured grass and assumed it was a…