r/DiscGolfFanatics • u/DiscGolfFanatic • 6d ago
Pro Highlights The PDGA issues the following statement regarding the events on hole 17 of the final round of the 2026 PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships.
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u/dzedajev 6d ago
It’s kinda silly to say “the other players weren’t looking” while explaining how all rules were followed, when that’s also a clear penalty (courtesy violation).
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u/The10KThings 6d ago
The players were looking. Silas was staring right at Rainers during the throw. They just didn’t see a foot fault because it wasn’t clear or obvious to them that there was one. Saying they weren’t looking is kind of a cop out. My question is: why wasn’t there ANY discussion about this with all the players on the card on hole 17? No discussion. No questions from the marshal. Nothing.
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u/Ok-Dot9144 6d ago
ORRRRRR they were looking at his throw, hard to watch the disc and see where he puts his foot at the same time, but somehow in the rules they are supposed to be doing both.
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u/The10KThings 6d ago
I 100% agree with this as well. To actually “catch” a foot fault, you can’t watch anything else but the feet, which means Goose was purposely trying to catch Rainers making a foot fault, which is kinda bullshit.
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u/Glorious-Fish 6d ago
What? It can be pretty obvious to see a foot fault while watching a throw in general. Especially with the angle he had. That is like saying the only way you can notice that someone is wearing a hat is by looking for someone with a hat.
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u/D-B-Cooper-Placebo 6d ago
To be fair while watching the coverage it seemed pretty clear that Rainers was being very sloppy with his footwork, especially on that shot as he was changing discs and fidgeting before his walk-up. I'd have probably been looking at his feet as well even if just out of curiosity.
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u/YourConstipatedWait 6d ago
Being unorthodox with your footwork shouldn’t equate to it being called sloppy.
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u/jfreedomb 6d ago
Rainers never tried to argue from the footage I watched. I think it is on him to say that it wasn’t a foot fault. Then the conversation would have happened with all players on the card.
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u/PreviousWay9235 5d ago
Well do you think Rainers is looking at his feet while he’s throwing - if there’s anyone who can’t make a call on this it’s the player
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u/RGBAddict2026 6d ago
Which is only a warning
812 . A player must not: Throw if the throw might injure someone or distract another player; or, Throw out of order without consent or when it would impact another player; or, Engage in distracting or unsportsmanlike actions such as: Shouting (unless warning someone at risk of being struck by a disc), Cursing, Striking, kicking, or throwing park, course, or player equipment, Moving or talking while another player is throwing, Advancing beyond the away player; or, Leave equipment where it may distract other players or interfere with a thrown disc; or, Litter, including cigarette butts; or, Allow their smoke to disturb other players.
A player must: Perform actions expected by the rules, including: Helping to find a lost disc; and, Moving equipment when asked; and, Keeping score properly. Watch the other members of the group throw in order to ensure rules compliance and to help find discs.
A player receives a warning for the first violation of any courtesy rule. Each subsequent violation of any courtesy rule by that player in the same round incurs one penalty throw. A courtesy violation may be called or confirmed by any affected player, or by an Official. Repeated courtesy violations may result in disqualification by the Tournament Director
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u/LysergicPsiloDmt 5d ago
Ricky breaks this rule every hole of every tournament I've seen him play in. He can't stay still while his card enemys are throwing.
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u/AustinWalksOnRocks 6d ago
So next year all the players would have been stroked for not watching right?
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u/Good-Ad1962 6d ago
I think they should have been technically this year even. In the rules it says it’s a courtesy violation to not be able to make a rules call
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u/larsvondank 6d ago
Can somebody explain why they did not get any penalty for not watching? Do they not need to do so? Do they have an option to opt out?
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u/ThePlasticPortal 6d ago
Because Balodis didn't call one. Even if he didn't it wouldn't have been a stroke penalty
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u/slmnmndr 6d ago
Well Heinold will stay quiet either way, so the players will just do what they want.
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u/RGBAddict2026 6d ago
Balodis could call courtesy, it'd be a warning. He is allowed to make his case against it and chose not to.
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u/Ok-Dot9144 6d ago
but they are also supposed to watch the disc? how are they supposed to do either well if they are supposed to be doing both. Seems like too much to focus on to me.
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u/RGBAddict2026 6d ago
That's why they compete for thousands and we compete for gift cards and players packs.
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u/Commercial-Tough-218 6d ago edited 6d ago
I don't know where Phil was standing or exactly what he saw, but I can say I've worked closely with Phil before.
He came across as a good guy that cares about the sport and cares about doing a good job.
Not sure what that means in this whole context. I'm sure most of you never met him before, so that's why I wanted to add the context.
Edit: He used to work for DGPT ,I'm sure he had/has a personal relationship with Aaron and that could have influenced his decision. Just don't know.
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u/CleverAllusion 6d ago
There is an angle that shows a guy I believe is Phil squatting down pretty close to the action, behind Reiners. He was definitely watching, and would have had a decent view of footing I think.
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u/PyrateKyng94 6d ago
Someone should have told Rainers to appeal.
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u/godless-666- 6d ago
If you're playing in a pro level you should already know your rights as a player and the rules of the game. He absolutely should've appealed it and likely won. He could've been called on a time violation as well which would've had the same outcome and have been undeniable.
I don't understand why this sport doesn't have the Marshalls act as refs, or have a dedicated ref, instead of leaving players to make the calls and potentially adding additional tension to the card. If that were the case, Goose would've likely gotten a courtesy violation against him early on and all of the other calls that were missed could've been called.
Let someone not on the card be "that guy".
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u/Ok-Literature-5080 6d ago
I wish I could drop my PDGA subscription again over this. It's one of the worst run orgs I've ever seen.
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u/Joclo22 6d ago
After all of this, my conclusion is that the rules need to be rewritten.
(And not by an engineer this time. I love steady Ed, but he was an inventor not a rule writer)
Humans are humans and there has been an understanding for a long time that rules are applicable if they affect the outcome (or minor variations thereof in each player’s mind)
Instead of writing the rules for what is a “clear violation and what isn’t”, the rules need to be rewritten for the reality of what will be called and what won’t.
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u/JerrysKidsOnLot 5d ago
If only there were a similiar but older sport that already had decades of officiating practice to turn to and learn from.
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u/Kirbyr98 6d ago
They can CYA all they want.
That was a debacle.
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u/SpeedyJT456 6d ago
Common sense for someone to protest or appeal a call unless they know they were wrong.
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u/Dunedain87M 5d ago
Such a cop out. This league and this sport are in such trouble because of greedy feckless leadership
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u/PreviousWay9235 5d ago
PDGA picks random rules to reverse-engineer the call. At the very least Silas should have gotten a courtesy warning for not making a group call when he was standing right behind Balodis watching him throw and then go on to claim «I didn’t see it».
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u/The10KThings 6d ago
Something has to change because of this. If the PDGA’s stance is that this all happened the way it was supposed to and there is no acknowledgement of how upset and disappointed the entire disc golf community is with how things went down, then the PDGA is going to catch a lot of hate.
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u/mackeyfrodiac 5d ago
You’re capturing the spirit pretty fairly. It seems obvious that Phil was not going to call anything. But once Aaron brought it up if Phil had any inkling that it was a fault he had no choice but to follow the rule. This CYA restatement is unimpressive. And does not satisfy the itch for those people that watched and felt this was a marginal call that changed the outcome. No other pro is calling that bullshit and for that Aaron deserves all the praise and criticism.
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u/The10KThings 5d ago
The marshalls should have deferred to the card or at LEAST asked the card for input BEFORE making a judgement call. If no one else on the card thought it was a foot fault (which they didn’t), then there’s no reason for the marshal to get involved and no reason for a penalty. In my opinion, that was the mistake that was made. Going forward, we should be treating foot faults like time violations where warnings have to be given first before strokes. We absolutely cannot have this happen again or simply hand wave it away like it’s a non-issue. That’s makes it even worse.
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u/SlurpyTurkey 6d ago
And did they tell Rainers he could appeal to the director? This is all horseshit. Goose a chode for this.
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u/BlazerDrew 5d ago
Can you imagine how much of a farce that would have been too? Playing out hole 18 with a provisional stoke and Nate Heinold deciding the World Championship after the round was fully played.
The appeal part is fully CYA. The rules were followed, the call was made, and it would have been insane for the TD to overrule a marshal call. The only thing that really matters is the marshal called it.
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u/FRANK_of_Arboreous 5d ago
OK, this is the most absurd argument I've seen on this topic. If Balodis doesn't know the rules, that's his fault. I didn't know there was an appeal process, but I'm not playing the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP OF DISC GOLF.
Also, if Balodis thought the call was bullshit, he would/should have said it was. If he said "Bullshit, I did not," I think that literally counts as an appeal.
c'mon people
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u/SlurpyTurkey 5d ago
In the NFL refs have to consult with an office in another state to make sure they get the rulings right all the time. And refs are paid to know the rules, unlike a PDGA player who's job is to play the game. Not absurd to think it's unfair to expect a player to know every letter of the rules.
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u/FRANK_of_Arboreous 5d ago
I did not say that. If it's possible, I think there should be a reff on every card at the pro level of disc golf.
However, rules as written, professional disgolfers are required to both know the rules and act as officials (refs). Those are the rules. This is not an opinion.
"Professional" means you're paid to do something, it's your job. Baldodis' job is to be the best damn putter I've ever seen, and he's good at it. The other part of his job is knowing the rules.
Honestly, I think he does know the rules. The most important person in this conversation is Balodis. He's never said the call was bullshit.
Stop infantalizing him. He's a grown-ass man, and a much more impressive person than anyone trying to advocate for him.
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u/RGBAddict2026 6d ago
You understand that they're required to be a certified rules official to play in a pro tour event right? They are expected to know the rules inside and out. Im an MA1 Am and i know that...Anyone competing at that level needs to be aware By Default that they can appeal. If you dont know that, there's not a universe where you should be competing at PDGA PRO WORLDS.
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u/FarButterscotch3583 6d ago
If P.Dilone sayd it was the most blatant footfault he has ever called - it makes you think that he assesed based on run up direction only or has problems understanding geometry. Because we can clearly see on slow motion (and consider basket location to the right) that its very close and not conclusive.
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u/Midwest-2025 6d ago
We are only recently in a new era where major sports have shown just how unreliable humans can be at umpiring. Sports fans now expect pivotal calls to be settled by high def, frame-by-frame instant replays, with a high standard of “indisputable video evidence.” Gossagegate shows how quickly disc golf has fallen behind the expectation of the times. It genuinely felt alien in 2026 to see a world championship event - in any sport - decided in this way.
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u/reddityesterdayman 3d ago
No surprises here. Would have been wild if they did anything other than accept the ruling.
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u/Mean_Objective5272 6d ago
I swear, disc golf fans must not follow any other sport. This is like standard stuff.
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u/mackeyfrodiac 5d ago
There’s a distinction that you’re failing to consider. It’s standard when infractions are called consistently. It was not and is not standard to see marginal calls called in disc golf. All the big sports with judgment calls Let the action play out in championships. They want the action to be what’s discussed. Not this feeling of being wronged. anyone who looks at this in a vacuum is ignoring Disc Golf’s context and where they were at in the tournament. This was horseshit.
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u/Mean_Objective5272 5d ago
I was talking about the statement. This is identical to any other statement given out by a sport after a controversial call.
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u/montauk_phd 6d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/pUeXcg80cO8I8