Three rounds at the Cedarock Loop Practicing Resilience

On the weekends of April 26, June 29 and July 12 our league played the Cedarock Loop: White in the long pin (B) locations. I am happy to report a trend toward improvement. But I am especially pleased with the round yesterday, as I managed to make some progress on my goal of being more resilient, that is bouncing back from an error, maintaining discipline and not losing my cool. In this case, I immediately reaped the reward.

About the Loop layout(s): Cedarock park in Burlington contains three courses. The third course is Regulator, which I’ve written about before. The first course, the namesake, is mostly wide open and has some holes which are very challenging for me, distance-wise. The park periodically moves the pins from short (A) to long (B) positions. In addition, there are Red (short) and Middle (White) and Long (Blue) teepads.
The second, Wellspring, is a short, wooded and very technical (all except the par 4 bomber hole #17). I’ve performed well there. There are two pads, White (short) and Blue (long). I have never played the Blue.

‘The Loop’ combines the two courses (in a figure ‘8’ or infinity symbol manner) and in doing so provides a wide variety of shots. The loop starts at Cedarock #1 and then after Cedarock #8, you step into the woods on your left and emerge just past Wellspring #15 basket. You jump onto Wellspring #16 and then proceed through all Wellspring and after #15, step back out into the open and finish Cedarock from #9. There are variations of the Loop, all on the Cedarock side (Red or White teepads, A or B pins); Wellspring is always the White (short) pads.

April 26th: The First Round

On the April 26th outing there were five on the card. I believe for 4 members, including me, it was the first time playing this specific layout. My score card stats reveals I struggled to find any real rhythm, driving, scramble and putting all were problematic. I was +3 through 8, the Wellspring turn. I expect to make birdies in Wellspring, but going in with so much debt is not good. I got 7 birdies, but lost 2. I incurred a penalty on Wellspring #7, which is a 135ft 90 degree dogleg left, with the mando tree on the corner. The teepad and pin are below the corner. Being a lefty, I typically throw forehand hyzer stall, and this time I simply cut it to close, and went left of the mando tree. I emerged from Wellsping -2.

In the remaining Cedarock holes I managed to gain two but also lose two to keep that score. We all struggled, however, and I was the only one to finish under par, and emerged with the #3 tag.

June 21: The Second Round

On the June 21st outing the card was again five members, and all but one came out slinging, 4 of us finishing below par. And even though I improved my score, I finished in 4th place. I again struggled at the beginning. It is becoming more and more clear to me that I need to get better at warming up. I need to focus early on making the necessary adjustments.

I again entered Wellspring -3. I again gained 7, but loss 2, and so emerged -2. I managed to gain 3 more on the remaining Cedarock holes to finish -5. This is an improvement, but the winner of the round, my friend Nick (check out his work: DiscDyeAddict) shot a -10!

Even though I improved from the previous outing, sadly I walked away from this round discouraged. My general impression was that I was being outgunned off the teepad and my putting was not reliable. I am used to the former. And so have invested in putting and have seen progress. I’ve also investing in driving, and only occasionally seen results. If both driving AND putting continue to fail me, I’m not going to be in contention. I left with the #6 tag.

July 12th: The Third Round

That brings us the the July 12th outing. There were six on the card. I came out much stronger and was -1 through 8, the Wellspring turn. I gained 8, but lost 2 to emerge -7 at Cedarock. At this point I had managed to gain a two stroke lead over my closest competitor, Todd. My goal at this point was simply match play, as in our league, you must best another player to gain their tag. Sadly, I then proceeded to bork #9 Cedarock, foolishly throwing a putter far too understable off the teepad in tailwind, resulting in it turning too much, going afield and landing deep into a thicket/clump of low-limbed trees. I could only punch out, and so lost a stoke. But I immediately gained it back with a short forehand on #10.

Then it happened. Cedarock #14 is short (214ft) straightforward shot. The teepad is below the pin, which is on enough of a slope to risk a roll-away. There is a grouping of trees about 30 feet in front of the pin, on what is essentially the crest of the hill. My drive with my putter was too low and so skimmed the ground and came to rest about 20 feet short of the trees. My cardmates all landed within C1. I needed only to slightly hyzer around the tree to lay-up and concede a stroke, but I cut it to close and struck the left-most sapling, and my disc came to rest just outside of C1, giving me a 40ft downward putt. Should I run the putt, risking the roll-away, and potentially a long, uphill come-backer and most likely getting a double or worse? Typically I would. I typically elect to be aggressive. But many times the roll-away, missed come-backer scenario is exactly how things played out. And so I conceded the bogey (absolutely destroying the star-frame), and yielding a two-stroke swing.

There were now only four holes remaining, all of them long, and so for me a clear disadvantage. Oh how quickly I had squandered the padding I had worked so hard to build and lost the lead! And on the simplest of shots! Errors like this typically send me into a tailspin as I struggle to shake off thoughts of ineptitude that attack me. I have a stated goal to work on my resilience, to focus on what is in front of me, to bounce back quicker from mistakes. I want to not engage in self-loathing. And I am happy to report a better performance during this round in that moment. My next drive was not great, but I managed a good second shot to make par, and match.

Then it happened. Cedarock #17 White to B is a par 4 just under 500ft. From the teepad the ground dips then rises. The crest is about 300ft. Then the hill falls away significantly and the pin sits between two enormous tree groupings. To birdie, I need what is for me two great drives. The first one is purely for distance, to get as close to the crest as possible, so that I then might have a look and can aim for the basket, with the goal of at least giving myself a putt. On the April 26th outing I managed it; I had a great drive, getting about 260, and followed it with another getting me to edge of C1, from which I made the putt. On June 21st, my drive was only about 240. My second got me to C2, which I failed to make for par. On this outing my drive off the teepad was a disappointment. I threw my Heat nose up and so it stalled, fading far more right than I hoped and traveled maybe 240, but far closer to the road than to the crest and the pin. From my lie, I could not see the basket over the crest of the hill. Looking straight I knew I was right of the tree to the right of the pin. I elected to throw my understable Valkyrie to the right of this tree, trusting it to turn and glide downward as far as it could toward the pin. My cardmate Larry was in front of me and to the left (having outdrove me, again!) and he could see the basket. Even though my run up was upward, I slung the disc taking care to keep it nose down and watched it fly straight, barely hovering over the crest of the hill and then turn leftward and down, gliding out of my view. It felt good. I hoped it was. I looked at Larry and finally he turned to me and said, “Good shot” and I nodded my head in thanks, not yet knowing what that meant exactly. I waiting for everyone else to approach and then started walking, finally cresting the hill. The grass was long enough that I had to search to locate the card’s discs littering the field. And then I saw it. There was my Valkyie, 15ft short of the pin. Todd congratulated me on the shot. The birdie gave me the lead.

I had birdied Cedarock #18 the prior outing and so knew I could do it. After #17 I went into it confidently. I had a solid drive, followed by a 190ft uphill approach that I landed within 15ft. Todd also had a good drive, but his upshot left him with long C2. He had to go for it, and missed, going long. He then missed the come-backer for a tap-in par. The moment my disc came to rest in the basket I turned and Todd was next to me handing me the tag. And so it was finished. This time I came out on top. I left with the #1 tag.

Again, looking at my stats, my scrambling and putting were far better, the result being that I kept myself in contention. And when it came down to it, I shook off negative thoughts, kept my head in the game and executed a high pressure shot. Still lots of room for improvement… but a good round for me and reinforcement of some lessons I’m learning.
If you’ve managed to read this far, I thank you!