Are You Committing A Disc Golf Foot Fault? Something a lot of newer players don’t think about when they are playing disc golf is where their feet are at when they are throwing or putting a disc.
I know when I started playing I didn’t give it much thought and I remember one time a guy I was playing with would jump forward from the tee pad and release the disc while flying through the air.
I didn’t give it another thought until I started watching professionals play. It was during one of these tournaments I was watching on youtube that player was called for a foot fault.
I remember rewinding the video and saying to myself “Did they say foot fault?”
After watching more tournament videos, listening to disc golf podcasts and doing research online, did I finally realize what a foot fault was? I created this article so you don’t have to do all the research on your own.
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Inside The Circle
While your inside of the putting circle, after you have released your disc you must demonstrate full control of your balance before you move toward the basket.
If you fail to do this, you have committed a foot fault and will receive a penalty. The important thing to keep in mind about this is control of balance.
For instance, if you are putting and lose your balance and step on your lie, you have foot faulted. Here is a great video that demonstrations this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkoVYAC2V5I
Notice how he gives examples of showing that you have balance after putting.
You can pause, reach for your mini or place your back foot down before moving forward, all of which will demonstrate you have balance before moving forward.
For more information on this rule read section 806.01 of the Official Rules of Disc Golf. You can find it here.
Teeing Off
Depending on where you are on the course the rules about where your feet must be while throwing can change. We’ve looked at putting already and now we’re going to transition to driving.
If you are throwing from the tee box, you must have at least one supporting point touching the tee box during the moment the disc is released.
You also must have all your supporting points within the tee area during the release.
So basically this seems that you must have one foot touching the tee area at the time the disc leaves your hand and that your other foot doesn’t need to be touching the tee area but can’t be outside of it.
Something else to note is that you are allowed to have one foot outside the teeing area before or after the release, just not at the exact moment of release. If you break this rule the result will be a stroke penalty.
For more information on this rule read section 802.04 of the Official Rules of Disc Golf. You can find it here.
Throwing From Your Lie
If you are always throwing from the tee box to the putting circle, you can skip this section. For the rest of us, we will be throwing from our lie after we’ve driven quite often.
In this case, you must have at least one supporting point in contact with your lie.
In addition, you can’t have any supporting points closer to the basket than the read edge of your disc or your marker (depending on if you use a marker).
This means that if you supporting foot is placed outside the lie during your throw you will receive a penalty stroke.
So if you were to throw your disc with your foot on or over your marker, you could be called with a penalty and receive stroke.
Likewise, if you were to throw your disc behind you lie (this might make sense if you were right behind an obstacle) you could be called for it and get a penalty.
For more information on this rule read section 802.07 of the Official Rules of Disc Golf. You can find it here.
The Lie
So far we’ve talked a lot about foot placement and throwing from your lie. If you aren’t sure what I mean by this, your lie is the place on the ground where you are taking your stance in order to throw your disc.
If we aren’t talking about the tee pad or a drop zone, the lie is an imaginary 20cm wide by 30 cm deep rectangle centered behind your marker.
Again, during your throw, if you don’t have one foot in contact with this area you can be called for a foot fault and get a stroke penalty.
For more information on this rule read section 802.05 of the Official Rules of Disc Golf. You can find it here.
Marking Your Lie
If you are throwing from you lie in the fairway, it’s perfectly okay to use your disc has the marker. Simply live your disc where it lies and take your next shot.
If you wish to use a mini to maker your lie, you must do it in a specific way. You must place your mini directly in front of your disc and it must be touching your disc.
In front is in reference to the basket. If you mark your lie incorrectly, the first violation will result in a warning but if you continue to do this you will recieve a pently stroke for each volitoion during the round.
Here a great video of Eric McCabe showing you how it’s done:
For more information on this rule read section 802.06 of the Official Rules of Disc Golf. You can find it here.
Final Thoughts
If you are playing casual rounds with your friends, you might not be concerned with the rules of foot placement.
After all, we’re playing disc golf to have fun but if you are interested in playing by the rules or if you want to start playing in tournaments you’ll want to make sure you aren’t foot faulting.
Adding unnecessary strokes to your score isn’t going to help you win. If you have further questions about the rules of foot placement or any other disc golf rule I suggested you check out the official rules of disc golf put out by the PDGA.
This is a great resource and you’ll be able to find any answer to your questions about the rules of disc golf.
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