The regulations explained in this post are based on the Official Rules of Disc Golf and the Competition Manual created by Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) – the most widely-used set of disc golf rules in existence. Everything here reflects updates to those documents that the PDGA put into effect on January 1, 2025.
Most rules we discuss relate to the regulations under 806.02 in the Official Rules of Disc Golf, which you can find a fully searchable version of in the More tab of the UDisc app.
Get to know all the ins-and-outs of OB rules by reading the post in full or jump to the information you're looking for by clicking/tapping a section in the navigation below:
Post Navigation
- BASICS
-What is out-of-bounds (OB) in disc golf?
-Why does disc golf have OB? - IDENTIFYING OB AREAS & IF YOU'RE IN THEM
-How do I find out what areas are OB on a course?
-How do I know when I'm OB?
-Paths and paved areas
-Painted lines, strings, and other continuous markings
-Stakes, flags, and other non-continuous markings
-Water - CONTINUING PLAY AFTER GOING OB
-The most common way to continue play after going OB
-Rules for moving back along the line of play after going OB
-Missing an island
-Landing in a hazard
-The extremely rare 806.02.D.4 - WHEN OB & MANDATORIES COLLIDE
-I went OB and missed a mandatory. Which rules do I follow? - TAKING RELIEF FROM OB AFTER AN IN-BOUNDS THROW
-Moving up to one meter away from any OB area with no penalty - CALLING OB DURING COMPETITIONS
-Who can say I'm OB?
-We can't find my disc, but we're sure it's OB. Do we use OB rules or "lost disc" rules?
-My group can't decide if I'm OB – what now?
This is just one post in our series seeking to help players better understand disc golf rules. If you're interested, check out others on mandatories (mandos), foot faults/legal stances, relief, and the two-meter rule once you've mastered everything below.
What Is Out of Bounds (OB) in Disc Golf?
Some disc golf holes have areas that are out-of-bounds or, familiarly, OB. These areas are not considered part of the course, and when you land in them, you add one extra throw to your score.
For example, if your first throw is OB, the OB penalty would count like a second throw, and your next real throw would technically be your third.
There is no limit to the number of OB penalties you can take on a single hole. Every time a new throw lands in OB, you add a new penalty stroke.
Why Is There OB in Disc Golf?
OB can have many purposes, but these are the three main ones:
- To discourage players from throwing into or near areas where incoming discs could be dangerous for others (e.g., another hole's fairway or a busy area of a public park)
- To discourage players from throwing into areas that are likely to produce lost discs or slow speed-of-play as players search for discs (e.g., areas of thick rough)
- To make a hole harder
How Can I Tell What Areas on a Disc Golf Course Are OB?
When you play competitions, OB areas should be clearly explained in information distributed by the tournament director. If you don't get that information, ask them for it.
To find out where OB is on a course during casual play, read tee signs carefully. If you score rounds with UDisc, you may find hole rules and even images of tee signs that you can see in full by tapping text under the interactive course map on your scorecard. Keep in mind that this information is only available if a Course Ambassador – a course stakeholder who voluntarily keeps a course's information in the UDisc directory up-to-date – has entered it.
On courses without tee signs or notes in UDisc, sometimes the only way to know the location of OB areas is to get a local to tell you. If you're playing on a new course with a group that knows the course, make sure to ask about OB before playing.
How to Tell If You're OB in Disc Golf
You are OB if your entire disc is in the OB area. However, if even the tiniest part of your disc touches or hangs over an in-bounds area, you are not OB.
Though they are not always OB, there are a few types of areas commonly found on disc golf courses that often are:
- Paths (paved or not)
- Bodies of water – lakes, ponds, rivers, creeks, etc.
- Areas past fences (e.g., athletic fields, other properties)
Also keep an eye out for stakes and flags on courses during casual play. These are typically used to show where an OB area begins. During tournaments or on courses with diligent caretakers, painted lines or thin rope/twine are common OB lines, too.
The images and explanations below will help you better understand how to judge what's OB and what's not:
OB Paths & Paved areas
The left disc is in because its edge overhangs the in-bounds grass. This helps emphasize something important: It's enough for any part of a disc to hang over an in-bounds playing surface. It does not have to physically touch that surface to be in-bounds.
The right disc is out because the entire disc is in the OB area.
When an OB path is dirt, gravel, or crumbling at the edges, it can be a hard call to say where the path ends and grass or dirt begins. In casual play, just use your best judgement. In a tournament, your group decides whether something is in or out. In both cases, if the disc's position is unclear, there should likely be no penalty because the official rules say a disc must be "clearly and completely surrounded by an out-of-bounds area" (806.02.B) for a player to get a penalty.
A Continuously-Marked OB Line (e.g., String or Painted Lines)
The left disc is in because a part of the disc is in the in-bounds area.
The middle disc is clearly out because it is completely in the OB area.
For people just learning the official rules of disc golf, the right disc is probably the trickiest call to make because the disc is touching the OB line.
Like we said earlier, all of the OB line itself is considered part of the OB area. This goes for rope, a painted line, or any other physical line no matter how thick. Therefore, if a disc is on/over the OB line but not any in-bounds area beyond that line, it is out.
Non-Continuous OB Markers (e.g., Stakes or Flags)
When objects like stakes or flags are used to mark OB with no physical line between, it is up to players to visualize a line between the two markers closest to the point where their disc lies. This imaginary line is featured above in blue.
The stakes themselves are part of the OB line, so, like the twine earlier, some part of the disc must be completely past them for it to be in. This also means the imaginary line starts at the sides of the stakes closest to in bounds, not in the middle or back of the stakes. The same goes for any objects used to mark OB in the same way (unless the tournament director/caddie book states otherwise before the start of an event).
It's probably clear at this point, but the top disc is in because a part of the disc is in the in-bounds area.
The bottom disc is out because the entire disc is out-of-bounds.
Water as Out-of-Bounds
The left disc is in because it is hanging over an area beyond where the water line begins.
Though its edge is out of the water, the right disc is OB because it's completely surrounded by water and no part of the disc touches or overhangs a spot before the water line starts.
Make sure not to misinterpret "water line" here. What we mean is the outer edges of this water feature where they meet the fairway or other in-bounds area.
Essentially, remember that dry doesn't equal in bounds. Just like with any other OB area, your disc must touch or overhang a point beyond the defined OB area to be in-bounds.
Know, too, that your disc being under water doesn't mean it is automatically OB. Some water on courses – e.g., puddles caused by heavy rains or small creeks – is considered "casual," and you can continue play without any penalty after landing in them. Read all about that in our post on disc golf rules surrounding relief.
How to Keep Playing After Going OB: Basic
If you go OB in disc golf, the most common thing to do is play from any in-bounds spot within one meter (3.28 feet) of the point where your disc was last in-bounds. Yes, this means you can even move one meter closer to the basket.
The image below shows how this could work:
In the image above, a player could throw their next shot from any point within the blue relief area.
When you release your throw, no part of your body is allowed be in contact with an OB area. This is one reason for the relief rule.
Since most players don't carry meter sticks during their rounds, disc golfers typically take three heel-to-toe steps to measure how far a meter is.
There are other ways to take relief from OB, but they're quite a bit more technical, so we covered them in their own section (directly below).
How to Keep Playing After Going OB: Advanced
The rules we discuss here are somewhat lesser known because they don't appear in the rule book section related to OB (806.02) but in the section related to relief (803.02, sections D and E, specifically).
These rules allow you to back up as far as you want along what's called the "line of play" after going OB without taking any additional penalty. After you go OB, the line of play is an imaginary, straight line extending from the basket/other target to any single point you choose within your one-meter relief area.
Why would you want to move farther from the basket? It could be that the spot where you entered OB has obstacles you could avoid by moving backward. For example, if you went out at a point beneath a tree, you wouldn't have to deal with its low-hanging branches anymore if you moved back:
In the image above, a player could move backward along a valid line of play to have a better angle of attack around the tree. Importantly, this wouldn't cost the player any extra throw beyond the OB penalty they'd already taken.
Here's another visual example of how taking this optional relief could work:
Here are the most important takeaways from the image above:
- Though you can't play from an OB area, lines of play do continue through them.
- When OB areas don't extend infinitely, you can take optional relief behind them in an in-bounds area along a valid line of play.
One final thing to know about this rule is that your options to take relief farther from the basket/target end once a line of play hits OB that extends infinitely
In the above image, the amount of optional relief a player can take is very limited given the angle to the basket from where they went out of bounds. Notably, a player cannot back up as far as they like parallel to the OB line. They can only take relief along a valid line of play.
A final note here is that a player can take relief similar to what we talked about in this section at any point during their round. However, if they do it without going OB first (or violating the two-meter rule if it's in effect), they take the relief at the cost of a one-throw penalty. Read more in our full article on disc golf relief rules.
How to Keep Playing After Going OB: Special Cases
Yep. There are few more things about what can happen after you go OB we should cover.
Island Holes
Sometimes a course designer or person running a tournament may choose to limit the OB relief options players have or disallow playing from the last point a player was in bounds. A common place this occurs is on island holes.
An island hole has only a specific area around the basket designated as in bounds. See an example below:
Often, island holes have "drop zones." These are places where any player whose disc does not come to rest on the island must throw their next shot from. That means a player could cross in-bounds but come to rest OB and still go to the drop zone just the same as someone whose disc never entered the in-bounds area.
Drop zones can be marked lines, circular markers nailed into the ground, alternate tees, or many other things.
Just like with normal OB, missing an island results in a one throw penalty. Most often, players will continue throwing from the drop zone until a shot lands in bounds.
Sometimes there is no drop zone on an island hole. In this case, players replay from the tee with the OB penalty throw applied to their score.
Because the PDGA's Official Rules of Disc Golf don't include specific regulations for island holes, how they're played can vary widely. In casual play, read tee signs carefully if they exist or ask locals you see on the course for specifics on any island hole you encounter. In a tournament, check in the caddie book or with the TD for clarification.
Additionally, some non-island holes use drop zones, so, again, read tee signs, ask locals, look in the caddie book, or ask a TD if you're having trouble understanding the correct way to complete a hole.
Hazards
Occasionally, courses make areas hazards rather than OB. If a player lands in a hazard area, they receive a penalty throw as if they had landed OB, but they still throw from the spot where their disc came to rest. After throwing into a hazard, players don't get any relief and cannot move back along the line of play without incurring an additional penalty throw.
Though hazards can be anywhere, a common place to see them is on disc golf courses built on ball golf courses. Sand traps are often hazards rather than OB areas.
You can find hazard rules in the Official Rules of Disc Golf in section 806.05.
When a Tournament Director Opts to Use 806.02.D.4
There is another OB rule a tournament director can opt to use on a hole, but we can't emphasize enough how rarely it is used. Here it is in the words of the Official Rules of Disc Golf:
At the Director’s discretion, the player may additionally choose to play the next throw from a lie designated by a marker disc placed on the playing surface up to one meter away from the point on the out-of-bounds line nearest the position of the disc.
This rule, which is #4 among the add-ons to 806.02.D, means that if a tournament director wants, she or he can say that a player who goes out of bounds can opt to throw from a position relative to where their disc rests or from where they were last in bounds. Here's an example of what that could look like:
What To Do When You Go OB Before Missing a Mandatory (Mando)
If your disc misses a mandatory (i.e., touches the "restricted plane" created by a mandatory) at any point after you release it, continue playing by the rules for the mandatory or, more familiarly, "mando." This is true even if you entered an OB area before missing the mando. Get a better idea of what we mean in the image below:
The reason for this is that rule 804.01.C – part of the mandatory rules – says, "If part of a thrown disc clearly enters into a restricted plane, the player receives one penalty throw. The lie for the next throw is the drop zone for that mandatory. If no drop zone has been designated, the lie for the next throw is the previous lie." It makes no exceptions for whether or not a disc entered an OB zone before entering the restricted plane, which means mando rules trump OB rules.
Should you take a really deep dive into this and notice that 801.02.I says that you should follow whatever rule you break first, remember that traveling over/through an OB area is not a rule violation – coming to rest in it is. There's no way a disc could touch the restricted plane without being in motion, so you'll always have broken mando rules before coming to rest in OB. Again, mando rules win.
If all of this sounds like gobbledigook to you, check out our post explaining disc golf's mandatory rules.
Landing In Bounds but Taking Relief From OB
Because it's illegal to throw with any supporting point (like a foot) in OB, the rules allow players to take up to one meter of relief from OB even if they land in bounds.
The big difference here is that if a player lands in bounds, they do not have the luxury to decide which direction they'd like to take relief in. There are only two options:
- Taking relief perpendicular to the OB line
In the huge majority of cases, someone who lands in bounds but within a meter of OB can only take relief along a one-meter line that's perpendicular to the OB line. - Taking relief from an OB corner
On the rare occasions a player lands within one meter of an OB corner, they can take relief along a one meter line extending out from the corner through the disc.
You'll find all the rules discussed in this section under 806.02.E in the Official Rules of Disc Golf.
Who Can Decide If My Disc Is OB?
In tournaments, there are three ways a disc can be declared OB:
- By the majority of the group agreeing it is OB
- By the player who threw the disc saying it is OB (unless a majority of the group believes it is not OB)
- By a tournament official – at most events a tournament director or assistant tournament director – declaring that the disc is OB. Officials' rulings normally don't have to be confirmed by any players in a group.
The exception to this is when an official is competing in the same division as the person whose disc may be OB. In this case, the official can offer an opinion if asked but not make an official call unless they happen to be in the player's group, where their decision would carry the same weight as a normal player's and would need to be confirmed by a majority of the group.
You can read these rules in their original form under 801.02.E, G, and I in the Official Rules of Disc Golf.
Do I Need to Find My Disc to Call It OB?
In 2025, the PDGA made it clear that players do not have to find their disc before continuing play by OB rules as long as there is "compelling evidence" that it landed in an OB area (806.02.C). This is important because there are different rules for a disc that's OB and a "lost disc" (see 805.03 for lost disc rules).
The same way your group can agree that your disc is at the bottom of a lake without anyone diving down to verify it, they can agree that your disc is almost certainly at rest in an OB area of thick brush or high grass without needing to physically see it.
What If My Group Can't Decide If I'm OB?
If there is disagreement on the card about whether a disc is OB or not and opinions are evenly split, the rules (801.02.J) say "the ruling is based on the interpretation that is most beneficial to the thrower" – or, in this case, almost certainly that the disc is not OB. The same is true if opinions are evenly split about a more or less favorable position where the disc was last in bounds.
To be clear, players on the card must make a call based on their interpretation of the evidence available and not default to a beneficial ruling in the case of doubt. The "most beneficial" part of the rules only comes into play if, say, two players in a four-person group firmly believe the disc is out and two players firmly believe it is in – not when two players shrug and two others say it's out. Per the rules, the two shruggers need to make a call based on what they see and/or witnessed regardless of whether it's beneficial to the player affected by the call.
In the rare case where the group is unsure if a visible disc is OB due to unclear markings, vagueness in the caddie book, etc. (see the section above if you're wondering about the emphasis on "visible"), here are the best things to do to keep the pace of play and spirits on the card high:
- If no tournament official is nearby, take a photo or video of the disc's location making sure to have all relevant details in frame.
- If possible, send it to a tournament official immediately and clearly explain why the group can't decide if the disc is OB and ask for clarification (e.g., "There are flags planted in the middle of this painted line – is OB defined by the line or the flags?"). If they respond quickly, you should be able to make a call.
- If you can't send the photo/video to a tournament official or it's unlikely that they will respond quickly, you should play the hole to completion as if you are and aren't OB. Make sure your group knows you plan to play two sets of provisional throws.
If not being OB means throwing from a different location than if you are OB, make it clear that you want to play two provisional scenarios before you make any throw. Throw from both places and continue to throw from different lies until you've finished both scenarios. Keep a record of both scores. Do not sign or finalize your scorecard until your true hole score has been decided and calculated into your final score.
Once you tell your group you plan to play provisional throws, you must play through the entirety of both scenarios and note two different scores. You couldn't, for instance, state you want to play a provisional set of throws, make a miraculous throw-in from a spot that could work for both in-bounds and OB scenarios on your first throw, and then abandon playing a second provisional scenario. - Use the photo or video evidence to get clarification from an official about which score is accurate after the round and add it to your official final scorecard.
Before 2025, photo and video evidence couldn't be used to help clarify if a disc was OB. See the updated rules in the PDGA's Competition Manual under 1.12.H.1.
To see the rules about provisional throws, check out 809.02 in the Official Rules of Disc Golf.
What Else Would You Like To Know?
We've been overwhelmed by the positive response to this series and are excited to continue adding to it. If you have rules you'd like us to cover, let us know in a quick e-mail to [email protected].
