If you paid for the tournament, prepared for the tournament and then got in your car and drove to the tournament with all of your gear in tow, you’d think you’d at least play each hole, right?
That’s usually the case.
But stuff happens, man:
- Traffic.
- Time mix-ups.
- Alarm-clock failures.
- Bathroom emergencies.
And a host of other things, too.
(looking at you, impending zombie apocalypse)
But for whatever reason, assuming you DO miss a hole at a sanctioned event, what happens? Fortunately, you’re not disqualified. But if you signed up for the thing heck-bent on taking home the top prize, you might wish you’d been, especially if you miss out on more than one hole.
Here’s PDGA Rule No. 811F.4:
“If a player is not present at the start of the round for their assigned group, the player is considered absent and does not play the hole. A player is also considered absent if the player has not played the previous hole and is not present when their group is ready to start on a hole. The absent player receives a score of par-plus-four on each hole not played. Par is determined by the director.”
In other words, if you miss a hole, here’s how your score’s calculated:
Par + Four = Score
For example, if you miss a par three, you card (3+4) a seven – that sort of thing.
Believe it or not, this happens. Not often, but it does happen – and even on the Pro Tour. Check out Jacob “Cupcake’ Courtis’ first six holes at the 2024 Texas State Disc Golf Championships:
Twenty-four up is a rough way to kick off a three-round Elite Series event. He’d proceed to finish the round with a score of 24 over par. Perhaps most tragic of all, though, he finished the entire event at 22 over par, meaning his tournament was (literally) over before it’d even started.
Woof.
Also, this formula applies to accidentally forgetting to play a hole, as well as randomly going missing after a hole has started. According to PDGA Rule No. 811F.5, in the case of the latter, if your cardmates can’t find you when it’s your turn to throw and 30 seconds have passed …
Congrats:
Par-plus-four.
* Note: No, an excessive-time violation doesn’t count, as a golfer’s still physically present.
I hate to be the guy who quotes your overbearing boss without even knowing him, but in the world of competitive disc golf, that thing he says all the time isn’t the worst advice to follow:
“If you’re not 10 minutes early, you’re late.”
Let the course beat you. Let the weather beat you.
Heck, let your own lack of disc golf ability beat you.
But don’t beat yourself.
Whatever the hole, be there.
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