In Defense of Aaron Gossage

Rainers Balodis making the controversial throw on hole 17 at the 2026 World Championships.

The 2026 Disc Golf World Championship should go down in the record books as a particularly exciting and memorable event, thanks to the tight, see-saw battle for the lead in the MPO division.

The big story of the tournament, however, will undoubtedly be the fallout from Aaron Gossage calling a foot fault on Rainers Balodis during the 17th hole of the final round. In the immediate aftermath, Gossage has faced some tough criticism for calling the penalty. However, in the long run, he may have done professional disc golf a favor.

To start with, Gossage made an accurate call. Watching the footage live on DGN, the foot fault is clear. Balodis was throwing his second shot and faced something of a sideways incline as he moved forward. But the step itself was to the left of—and ahead of—his marker line. That is indeed a foot fault.

This video posted on Twitter provides a fairly clear angle to watch the throw. Not only do we see where Balodis’ foot landed, but it’s also evident that Gossage had a direct line of sight in order to make the call.

Some of the post-event coverage has focused on why Gossage would have the nerve to make such a call. But there’s a lot to consider here.

For starters, in watching several days of the tournament, it’s clear that other players made foot faults during the event. This writer watched one of the FPO players commit a glaring foot fault in an earlier round. (That foot fault was so obvious I actually paused and rewound the DGN feed twice—just to confirm what I had seen.)

So, yes, players commit foot faults. But they’re rarely called.

For Gossage’s part, as soon as he called it, he explained his position: “I don’t know what to say there, but he stepped right next to his mini. I went and saw it…I’m sorry, I don’t want to be that guy, but I saw that, I gotta call it.”

An immediate question might be—could Gossage have simply asked the other players to give Balodis a friendly warning, some kind of reminder to watch his footing? Yes, he could have done that.

But this was the final holes of the world championships. Players need to be impeccable.

If anything—and as just one example—watch Gossage throw his second shot on hole 15. It’s a good example of precise, accurate footing. Gossage is very clearly minding his position in order to make a legal throw.

Or, think of Paul McBeth’s second throw on the 17th hole during the final round of the 2022 World Championships. McBeth’s tee shot had clipped a tree, leaving him hundreds of feet short of the green. If you watch McBeth’s second shot carefully, it’s apparent how precise he is in placing his foot, so as to make a legal throw. (In that instance, McBeth—like Balodis—also stumbled after making his throw. But through it all, McBeth executed the throw with proper footing.)

For his part, Gossage was five strokes behind Balodis by the 17th hole of the final round. He were no longer competing directly with Balodis for the lead. So, Gossage could be viewed as a somewhat disinterested party. Calling a fault on Balodis wasn’t going to help him win the tournament. It’s more likely that Gossage, as he later explained, is just a “rules guy.”

There’s also the possibility that Gossage had observed other questionable foot placements by Balodis during the final round. For example, there’s a clip on Twitter of Balodis making a problematic throw on the 15th hole. Gossage may have seen some of this on the final day—and finally called a foot fault on Balodis when it was particularly glaring.

Consider also that Balodis may even have committed yet another foot fault, during his second throw in the playoff hole with Silas Schultz. If you watch his forehand carefully, he again appears to step to the side—and ahead of—his marker. No one called that foot fault, though, which was generous because Balodis’ throw landed out of bounds.

Overall, the whole incident hinges on human psychology. As Gossage said, “I don’t want to be that guy.” He knew it would be controversial to make such a call, and at such a key moment. But he stood up for what he believed in—which can be difficult in an age when the general public likes to bully others through social media.

Some conclusions:

—No one wants to be “that guy,” which is why foot faults aren’t called more often. But that needs to be reconsidered, since players should all adhere to the same standards.

—The PDGA—or tournament officials—should bear the responsibility of more thoroughly policing players, particularly in the lead cards.

Overall, Aaron Gossage may have done professional disc golf a service. The Balodis incident could force the PDGA to take more thorough responsibility in refereeing each round—so that players don’t have to take on the task of penalizing their competitors.

Balodis played a great tournament. And we can assume he didn’t mean to commit a foot fault. He’s not a bad guy. But neither is Gossage. And remember: the foot fault didn’t cost Balodis the tournament. He lost later in the day, during a playoff with Silas Schultz.

Gossage will likely take some flak for a while. But he should be commended for following his gut. He took a stand when many others would have remained silent. There was nothing malicious in what he did.

Ideally, the PDGA will now step up. It would be better to have tournament officials minding the players, not volunteer marshals. The goal should be consistent application of the rules.