What is the purpose of the "Casual Relief" rule? It is either to keep player's clothes clean and dry, or for their safety, or to protect the course, or some combination. If the rule is intended for player safety, then this absolutely should be considered casual, and Ricky should have been given relief. One should not judge if it is casual based on if the player can see that it is there or not, nor if the player should have thrown a better shot. Half of the guys I've played with would have landed on their butt if they tried to throw that shot from the mud. Some of them may have needed to be carried off the course. I've played on a lot of muddy courses. Seriously! Safety first! The problem is that this definition states "any body of water". This does not seem to include a mud bog. There isn't a puddle of water here. Last week's tournament had large bodies of water from the rain on one of the days. I saw players throwing from their lie in 6 inches of standing water. As fun as that is to watch, perhaps it is not the safest to play that way at an elite sporting event.

To me I think a simple addition to the rules could handle this. "In cases where the condition of the course changes during a round causing an area that is NOT marked as casual relief to be deemed dangerous to the player, they have the option to take casual relief on the line of play."

He shouldn't even need to ask. 100% casual.

I can see both arguments. Ultimately this is on the tournament directors. They probably need to be more specific with this rule as to what scenarios it applies. It would suck to land in the fairway and find your disc in a squish. For sure they should always look after the safety of the players and that puddle looks treacherous to throw from. However, Ricky could still throw a shot from that spot safely. He probably can't full send it from there but he can very safely pitch up farther up the fairway. Scenario: If my shot lands in a cluster of trees and I am unable to get a full swing of my arm while throwing then can I take my lie in a spot near my disc where I won't injure myself swinging my arm in the cluster of trees? Heck No. I gotta golf my way out of that situation which probably requires me having to pitch out. Why should landing in mud or a puddle be different?

All areas that the TD wants to be designated as casual relief areas should be marked as such (spray painted maybe) before the tournament starts. Were they? If they were this is a non-issue. If not, this is a good learning experience and has the potential to make future tournaments better. The foot fault was obvious and should have been called. It really doesn’t matter if he was trying to gain an advantage or not. I wouldn’t have called it if I was on that card, same as the players that actually were on the card, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t have been called.

I dont really understand why there is discussion here. The rule clearly states that Casual area is Casual water OR a area the TD has declared as casual beforehand. It does not say that the TD needs to say its casual to be so. It even states that casual water is ANY body of water in bounds, which must mean that you can take casual relief from a puddle even if the TD has not declred it as casual area before the round, or am i missing something?

I believe everything was handled as it should have been for Ricky on hole 8, given the circumstances. However. The TD should have declared that area as casual water, allowing for relief. He likely agrees, but missed the opportunity to make that call before the first card played through. Bogey on TD.

I would give grace and benefit to him and at most a warning. Ricky wasn't trying to get an advantage, he slipped.

Most likely should've been declared casual before the Rd started being on the fairway. That said, it's professional sport and also probably should've been called a foot fault by an official given the situation. Cardmates won't call that and ik I wouldn't either if I was one.

Bush league call. This kind of call is causing safety issues. Protect our players.

Dude go away!

There was rain and mud. The area was not pre-designated as casual. Unlucky lie. Foot fault. Sometimes this is disc golf, and that’s how it should be.