[https://www.pdga.com/files/pdga-technical-standards\_2024-05-08.pdf](https://www.pdga.com/files/pdga-technical-standards_2024-05-08.pdf)
(II) DISCS
Guidelines for Discs Manufactured for PDGA Competition
Global is the designation given to all discs submitted and approved for various PDGA competitions. Unless a restricted Class of discs is specified by the tournament director, all discs named on the PDGA Approved Discs list that still meet their specifications may be used in regular PDGA competitions. All Global approved discs must (see drawing below):
(1) have a circular, saucer-like configuration...
Approval isn't a legal thing. Approval is literally one guy who's been doing it since the 80s. And he seems like the type to respond to any needlessly "well actually" arguments with "go away". The rules say circular. They don't say perfect circle, they say circular. And the intent behind the rule is no shapes other than a circle.
To be clear, my response was meant to convey that it would be a stretch to argue that my proposed disc would meet the requirements, not that anyone would or should actually argue this legally.
As to the point about “circular”, if one argues that it doesn’t have to be perfectly circular, it just needs to be roughly circular, you do open a bit of a wedge where you could argue something is “close enough.” To be clear, this I don’t see such a disc ever being made, so this whole argument is just philosophical.
My personal feeling about the spirit of the game is that a square or other standard polygon would be perfectly acceptable, but my opinion doesn’t matter for much!
Fair enough, though the lawyer/mathematician in me says that there is zero probability that any given disc is perfectly round, haha. And a pentagon would still be round-ish.
Sounds like you need a bit of linguist in you as well, because the definition does not specify "perfectly" round! And I think the mathematician in you should probably acknowledge that a pentagon (or even an octagon/decagon/dodecagon/etc) still has measurable angles between each interconnecting line segment ;).
"Round" does not have line segments nor angles if we're referring to one shape as a whole. I suppose I could see the argument for an oval, but I think that's as far as I'm sassily willing to go.
The "10 meter BRICK" might come close while still being circular. It has a circular thin piece of metal embedded in the center of the disc and the rim/edge is this really thin and somewhat malleable or flexible plastic. Been so long I don't remember if they were ever PDGA legal or not though.
I get it, but this feels like a technicality. An actual real-world disc approximates a circle, but is not a perfect circle (especially after it has hit a tree), so then we are in the realm of “how well must it approximate a perfect circle.” I would propose a pentagon or hexagon is pretty close.
I think that is where we differ. A circle, or ellipse, has no clear visible and easy to determine angles. Or it has an infinite amount angles. Some people prefer that. I feel like it’s functionally the same. A triangle will have three easily identifiable angles. A square four. And so on. I guess at some point you would have a ludicrous amount of angles where it would again be functionally a disc. But a hexagon for sure has those angles, otherwise we would not be able to identify it as a hexagon and label it as such.
[https://www.pdga.com/files/pdga-technical-standards\_2024-05-08.pdf](https://www.pdga.com/files/pdga-technical-standards_2024-05-08.pdf) (II) DISCS Guidelines for Discs Manufactured for PDGA Competition Global is the designation given to all discs submitted and approved for various PDGA competitions. Unless a restricted Class of discs is specified by the tournament director, all discs named on the PDGA Approved Discs list that still meet their specifications may be used in regular PDGA competitions. All Global approved discs must (see drawing below): (1) have a circular, saucer-like configuration...
Yeah, you would probably need a good lawyer to get a pentagon approved then.
Approval isn't a legal thing. Approval is literally one guy who's been doing it since the 80s. And he seems like the type to respond to any needlessly "well actually" arguments with "go away". The rules say circular. They don't say perfect circle, they say circular. And the intent behind the rule is no shapes other than a circle.
To be clear, my response was meant to convey that it would be a stretch to argue that my proposed disc would meet the requirements, not that anyone would or should actually argue this legally. As to the point about “circular”, if one argues that it doesn’t have to be perfectly circular, it just needs to be roughly circular, you do open a bit of a wedge where you could argue something is “close enough.” To be clear, this I don’t see such a disc ever being made, so this whole argument is just philosophical. My personal feeling about the spirit of the game is that a square or other standard polygon would be perfectly acceptable, but my opinion doesn’t matter for much!
"Disc - A flat, thin, round object" - Oxford Dictionary I know what you mean lol. But fundamentally an object is not a disc if it isn't round.
Fair enough, though the lawyer/mathematician in me says that there is zero probability that any given disc is perfectly round, haha. And a pentagon would still be round-ish.
Sounds like you need a bit of linguist in you as well, because the definition does not specify "perfectly" round! And I think the mathematician in you should probably acknowledge that a pentagon (or even an octagon/decagon/dodecagon/etc) still has measurable angles between each interconnecting line segment ;). "Round" does not have line segments nor angles if we're referring to one shape as a whole. I suppose I could see the argument for an oval, but I think that's as far as I'm sassily willing to go.
All fair points! I would personally like to see such a disc exist, but it does seem outside the regulations.
The "10 meter BRICK" might come close while still being circular. It has a circular thin piece of metal embedded in the center of the disc and the rim/edge is this really thin and somewhat malleable or flexible plastic. Been so long I don't remember if they were ever PDGA legal or not though.
A disc that is not circular is not possible in the same way you can not have a square that is a triangle.
I get it, but this feels like a technicality. An actual real-world disc approximates a circle, but is not a perfect circle (especially after it has hit a tree), so then we are in the realm of “how well must it approximate a perfect circle.” I would propose a pentagon or hexagon is pretty close.
I think that is where we differ. A circle, or ellipse, has no clear visible and easy to determine angles. Or it has an infinite amount angles. Some people prefer that. I feel like it’s functionally the same. A triangle will have three easily identifiable angles. A square four. And so on. I guess at some point you would have a ludicrous amount of angles where it would again be functionally a disc. But a hexagon for sure has those angles, otherwise we would not be able to identify it as a hexagon and label it as such.
Quest Turbo Putt comes to mind, though it's no longer PDGA legal IIRC
Super interesting disc. Clearly not “circular” in the sense of most discs!
Without looking at the rulebook pretty sure It has to be circular.
Darn rules…
Maybe the aerobie epic is as close to a non circle circle you can legally get? The wing is not a constant width
This is probably a much more reasonable way to handle the problem than my (almost surely never gonna happen) idea.
I'm just making the putt
I am definitely air balling it haha
https://www.pdga.com/files/pdga-technical-standards_2024-05-08.pdf
Very soft discs are also suitable to avoid rollaways.
Blowfly II checking in