Optional Line of Play Relief: Paying a Stroke to Escape
Sometimes your disc lands somewhere perfectly legal and perfectly miserable: deep in nettles, wedged in a thicket, or sitting in a creek you’d rather not wade. The rules don’t owe you a free move there. But PDGA 803.03 Optional Line of Play Relief sells you one, and the price is posted: one penalty throw.
This guide covers what you get for that stroke, how it compares with abandoning the throw, and the one situation where the same backward move costs nothing extra.
Related: Obstacles and Relief · The Abandoned Throw · Casual Relief and Water · Hazards vs Required Relief Areas · How to Mark Your Lie.
The whole rule, in three moves
803.03 is a single paragraph. A player may elect at any time to take optional relief by:
- Declaring it to the group. Say it out loud before you move anything.
- Marking a new lie farther from the target, on the line of play. Backward only, and only along that line.
- Adding one penalty throw to your score.
That’s it. No Official needed, no group vote, and no requirement that the lie be dangerous or unplayable. You just have to want out badly enough to pay for it.
First, find the line of play
Optional relief only works along the line of play, so it helps to know exactly what that is. 802.05 defines it as the imaginary line on the playing surface running from the center of the target through and beyond the center of your marker disc. If that playing surface ends, the line continues on the nearest playing surface following that line.
In practice: stand at the basket, look at your mini, and keep going straight back. Your new lie has to sit somewhere on that line, farther from the target than where you started. Sideways steps toward a cleaner gap aren’t part of the deal.
How much farther back?
803.03 sets no maximum. Unlike casual relief, which stops at the nearest lie outside the casual area (806.03), optional relief only requires that the new lie be farther from the target and on the line of play. Go back one step past the thorns or ten steps to a clean stance and open window. Same one-stroke cost.
Optional relief vs. abandoning the throw
Both cost a penalty throw, so which is better? They send you to different places.
| Optional relief (803.03) | Abandoned throw (809.01) | |
|---|---|---|
| Penalty | 1 throw | The abandoned throw plus 1 penalty |
| Where you play next | A new lie of your choosing, farther back on the line of play | The lie the abandoned throw was made from, or an abandoned-throw drop zone if the hole has one |
| Penalties from the bad throw | Still count (it’s just a relocation) | Disregarded |
| When | “At any time” | Your most recent throw only |
The PDGA text for the abandoned throw comes from 809.01. The practical takeaway: optional relief keeps whatever distance your bad throw earned and simply moves you out of the mess. Abandoning erases the throw and starts that shot over. If your drive went 300 feet before diving into the brambles, backing out of the brambles is usually the cheaper reset. If the throw itself picked up penalties, abandoning wipes those out, which is why we covered it in its own guide.
Where the PDGA Q&A sends you
The PDGA Rules Questions and Answers keeps pointing to the same two exits, optional relief or abandon, each for one penalty throw:
- Poison ivy, poison oak, nettles. No free relief unless the Tournament Director declared casual relief for them. If you don’t want to play from there, take optional relief or abandon (QA-OBS-5).
- Sensitive or protected foliage with no special TD handling. Same answer (QA-OBS-6). If the TD made it OB or a required relief area, follow that rule instead.
- A casual creek you don’t want to stand in. You can’t build yourself a stepping stone. Take casual relief back along the line of play, play it as it lies, or pay for optional relief or an abandon (QA-CAS-1).
The free version: after you go out-of-bounds
Here’s the wrinkle that saves strokes. When your disc goes OB, 806.02.D.2 lets you mark up to one meter from where it was last in-bounds, and then says: after establishing that lie, you may subsequently mark a new lie farther from the target on the line of play without additional penalty.
You’ve already paid the OB stroke, so the backward move is included. QA-OB-4 spells out the order:
- Take your one meter from the last place in-bounds.
- Then go straight back on the line of play from that point.
- You can’t take another meter of OB relief after moving back, even if the new spot is near an OB line.
QA-OB-2 shows why it matters. A drive into an OB pond ringed with tall reeds leaves the one-meter spot in the middle of the reeds. You could go back to the tee, or abandon with the same result, but the PDGA’s own answer is that free line-of-play relief under 806.02.D.2 is “probably your best option.”
So after OB, don’t pay twice. The free step back is already in your receipt.
Don’t wander off the line
Relief taken other than as the rules allow is a misplay for playing from an incorrect lie (811.F.1), and 806.03 says the same for casual areas. “Farther back on the line of play” doesn’t mean “farther back and a little to the left where the gap is.”
Quick reference
| Situation | Rule | Extra cost to move back on the line of play |
|---|---|---|
| Legal but ugly lie (thorns, thicket, poison ivy) | 803.03 | 1 penalty |
| Want to redo the whole throw instead | 809.01 | Throw counts + 1 penalty |
| Casual area (water by default) | 806.03 | Free, up to the nearest lie outside the area |
| After an OB penalty, from the one-meter spot | 806.02.D.2 | Free (OB stroke already paid) |
Habits that keep the card quiet
These aren’t PDGA rules, just good sense:
- Declare first, then move. “I’m taking optional relief, one stroke” lets the card agree before your mini leaves the ground.
- Point the line out loud. Basket, mini, straight back. Two people sighting it beats one person hoping.
- Check for OB before paying. If the disc is actually OB, the step back may already be free.
- Compare with abandoning. If the throw picked up penalties, abandoning may come out cheaper.
- Unsure? Throw a provisional and ask an official later.
Where to read the rules yourself
- PDGA 803.03 Optional Line of Play Relief
- PDGA 802.05 Lie (line of play definition)
- PDGA 806.02 Out-of-Bounds
- PDGA 806.03 Casual Area
- PDGA 809.01 Abandoned Throw
- PDGA 811 Misplay
- PDGA Rules Questions and Answers (QA-OBS-5, QA-OBS-6, QA-CAS-1, QA-OB-2, QA-OB-4)
Rules checked on 2026-10-22 against pdga.com (803.03, 802.05, 806.02, and 806.03 last updated Dec 31, 2025; 809.01 Dec 31, 2021; Q&A Mar 18, 2026). The PDGA updates its rules most years, so check the current text before you settle a dispute on the card.