Rules & Etiquette

The Two-Meter Rule

When a disc above 2 m costs you a stroke.

Why it matters

This is the rule most often quoted incorrectly, because it used to be standard and no longer is. A disc stuck in a tree above two metres is NOT automatically a penalty — in PDGA play the rule is optional and off unless the event or the course declares it. Knowing that is worth a stroke and an argument.

How to do it

Default is OFF. In PDGA competition the two-metre rule applies only where the director has declared it, usually for specific holes or objects (PDGA 803.08).
Where it is in effect: a disc resting more than two metres above the ground costs one penalty throw.
Your lie in that case is marked on the ground directly below the disc.
Where it is not in effect, there is no penalty: mark directly below and play on.
Check the event notes or the course signage. In casual play, agree it on the first tee.

Common mistakes

Taking a penalty automatically for a disc up a tree.Check whether the rule is actually in effect. Most of the time it is not, and you have just given away a stroke.

Assuming it applies because it used to.It has been optional since 2018. A lot of long-standing players still quote the old default.

Measuring from where you are standing on a slope.It is the height above the ground directly below the disc. On a hill that is a meaningfully different measurement.

Key points

The rule is optional — only in effect if the course/TD declares it.
When on, mark directly under the disc and add one penalty throw.

The drill

Drill · Ask on the first tee — every casual round: 1 question before hole 1. Make it part of your first-tee routine to ask whether the two-metre rule is on. It takes one sentence, it settles the most commonly misquoted rule in the sport before it matters, and it saves the mid-round debate that otherwise always happens on hole 11.

Watch: The Two Meter Rule — Ted Loring