Bogey Free
Today I played a round of frisbee golf at Cornwallis Road Park for the 46th, 47th, and 48th time in the last 30 days. I am heading back to college tomorrow, which means that my month-long pursuit to perfect my game and completely over-analyze the same 18 holes has come to an end. It's been a fun routine: waking up early most days, hitting the course by 9am before the weather gets hot, entering my score on every hole into a spreadsheet, and designing graphics to analyze different aspects of my performance. To celebrate the conclusion of this project, I decided to document my first round today. I took pictures of every hole, and took notes on all of my shots. Let's go for a walk in the forest.
Hole: 3 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 143' ----- My Average: 2.52 ----- Difficulty Ranking: T-8
I always start on hole three since the tee is right next to the parking area. It's a short dogleg to the right with a lot of trees. My right-handed flick curves naturally toward the basket -- the hard part is getting the right amount of distance to put the fewest possible trees in play. On this occasion I hit the sweet spot. My drive landed five feet from the hole for a slam dunk birdie. One under. Starting strong.
Hole: 4 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 114' ----- My Average: 2.35 ----- Difficulty Ranking: 15
The shortest hole on the course is deceptively tricky. There are two sets of trees blocking the otherwise straight path to the basket. Get around both and you're golden. Get past the first and hit the second and you still have a decent shot for birdie. I got a little lucky on my drive -- glancing off the first tree on the left but not losing much distance. I landed slightly off to the right with a medium range putt. The key to putting is to get your whole body moving toward the hole. Transferring weight forward gives you power and control. My putt was all arm and clanged off the rim. Unfortunate. I settled for par.
Hole: 6 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 189' ----- My Average: 2.73 ----- Difficulty Ranking: 2
My worst drive on the day clipped a tree and kicked left. I use a flick off the tee only twice for the whole course, and this one got away from me. I navigated a tricky approach shot with trees in the way and clanged my disc against the basket pole to clinch a par. Still one under.
Hole: 7 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 157' ----- My Average: 2.60 ----- Difficulty Ranking: T-4
Hole seven is short and straight and it should be easy but it's really had my number lately. The fairway goes sharply downhill so I always worry about skipping past, and there are two reasonable paths through the trees to choose from. I always try different approaches, (low and and straight, curving around the right, etc.) but nothing has worked consistently. In this round, I tried going straight but bonked one of the trees down the right side, close enough to throw up a prayer but I ended up with another par.
Hole: 8 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 128' ----- My Average: 2.27 ----- Difficulty Ranking: 16
Finally a birdie! My drive wasn't great but the whole is one of the easiest -- pretty much anything that avoids trees gives a good chance for a bird. Unlike the relatively similar previous hole, I have a consistent approach that works well. My putt is around the same distance as hole four was and I managed to redeem myself. The forward weight transfer was on point. Two under.
Hole: 9 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 182' ----- My Average: 2.52 ----- Difficulty Ranking: T-8
This one was unfortunate. One of my favorite holes -- the drive has to snake around some trees and the "green" is open and flat. My S-curve backhand worked perfectly, curving right and then left and leaving me with a relatively short putt (see image). This time my motion was not the problem: I just missed it left! To make matters worse I whacked my big toe on a root while jogging to retrieve my frisbee. My streak of nine straight birdies on the hole came to an end and I remained only two under.
Hole: 10 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 205' ----- My Average: 2.58 ----- Difficulty Ranking: T-6
Hole ten is kind of like hole five except it's shorter and parallel to a pretty green field instead of a loud and ugly road. I still need to gauge the distance on my big curving backhand to get near the basket, and I failed to do so. After sailing long, I settled for a straightforward par.
Hole: 11 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 174' ----- My Average: 2.23 ----- Difficulty Ranking: T-17
Short, downhill, and sandy enough to stop runaway skips, this hole is extremely forgiving -- almost any drive will result in a birdie opportunity since there are basically no trees. I left my drive shorter than I would like, forcing myself to split a couple trees on the way down. It wasn't my cleanest putt and I second-guessed myself a bit after the screw-up on nine, but it rattled down. Three under at the halfway mark. Plenty of time left to shoot a low score.
These four holes belong together since they all demand the same drive -- long, flat, and tailing a little to the right at the end. At this point, I usually either catch fire or struggle to control my throw. This round was a struggle. Twelve is probably my favorite hole: a good drive arcs beautifully over a valley of rocks and into the clear. Today I bonked a tree on the right and landed well short. My second shot looked like it might go in but it bounced off the rim... I went right again on thirteen and had to scramble to save par, then on fourteen I hit a tree on the right and missed a long putt for birdie. Par par par. My drive on fifteen also went to the right of my intended path, but this time I got a friendly tree-bounce toward the hole. I pulled myself together and sank a birdie putt. Four under with five to play.
Hole 16 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 213' ----- My Average: 2.67 ----- Difficulty Ranking: 3
Hole sixteen is long and tough. It's a big curve left and has a narrow path between all the trees. Surprisingly, my tee shot ended up being my best of the round. I kept it low and cleared both the trunks and the low-hanging branches. I landed two feet from the basket for a "gimme." Five under after two birdies in a row. I love streaks, and the excitement of keeping them going probably makes me concentrate more. My best round ever (15 under par) ended on a fourteen hole birdie streak that was both lucky and unforgettable. I am curious if my results are streaky in a statistical sense and in the process of figuring out how to measure this.
Hole: 18 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 182' ----- My Average: 2.38 ----- Difficulty Ranking: 14
This hole is beautiful, with the open field on the right and big conifers lining the approach into the hole. A good drive must stay low to avoid the branches and curve slightly to the left. My target spot is a little left of the hole and that's exactly what I hit, converting a short putt to move to six under.
Hole: 1 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 158' ----- My Average: 2.23 ----- Difficulty Ranking: T-17
I used a high release backhand for this one and nailed it. Seven under.
Hole: 2 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 172' ----- My Average: 2.58 ----- Difficulty Ranking: T-6
This last hole is uphill and a little tricky. There are a few trees to dodge and some big roots near the basket which tend to knock the disc rolling down the slope. I fell victim to such a roll here, and landed decently far away. I miss a lot of putts on this hole because I'm tired from a long round, or because I put pressure on myself to finish with a certain score. This time I stayed focused and remembered to use my legs. Eight under. A solid result -- my average is 8.88 under and I knew that taking pictures and constructing narratives in my head would screw me over a bit. I decided to play two additional rounds and shot -10 and -12.
The red line shows individual round scores and the blue line denotes my running average. My results have slowly but steadily improved.
Comparing overall scores on each hole over time allows me to group difficulties into tiers. Hole 5 stands out as the most challenging by far, and holes 1, 11 and 8 play the easiest. Some holes, like 3, 9 and 12, have been easy for long stretches and then flat-lined, winding up somewhere in the middle of the pack.
I have birdied over half of the 672 holes I have played. I am averaging less than one bogey per round, and I have posted three double bogeys total.
This distribution of round scores looks a little right-skewed, with more outliers on the better (lower) end of the distribution. I wonder if this has to do with trending -- the tendency to score birdies in bunches and focus harder when a round looks really promising. Of course, pressure to break records could also have the opposite effect.
This was a longer post, so thank you for reading! Frolf is such a blast, and I'll definitely make a couple trips to the course near Princeton this fall.
I always start on hole three since the tee is right next to the parking area. It's a short dogleg to the right with a lot of trees. My right-handed flick curves naturally toward the basket -- the hard part is getting the right amount of distance to put the fewest possible trees in play. On this occasion I hit the sweet spot. My drive landed five feet from the hole for a slam dunk birdie. One under. Starting strong.
The shortest hole on the course is deceptively tricky. There are two sets of trees blocking the otherwise straight path to the basket. Get around both and you're golden. Get past the first and hit the second and you still have a decent shot for birdie. I got a little lucky on my drive -- glancing off the first tree on the left but not losing much distance. I landed slightly off to the right with a medium range putt. The key to putting is to get your whole body moving toward the hole. Transferring weight forward gives you power and control. My putt was all arm and clanged off the rim. Unfortunate. I settled for par.
Hole: 5 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 240' ----- My Average: 3.02 ----- Difficulty Ranking: 1
This massively long dogleg left is the beginning of the hardest section of the course. My best case scenario is to end up a little right of the basket after a huge drive; most of the time I land short and right with bushes in the way. That's what happened here -- no shot at a birdie but a relatively easy par. This hole parallels a 55mph road and I feel lucky that my disc has never been run over. My angled backhand curves naturally into the safety of the fairway.
My worst drive on the day clipped a tree and kicked left. I use a flick off the tee only twice for the whole course, and this one got away from me. I navigated a tricky approach shot with trees in the way and clanged my disc against the basket pole to clinch a par. Still one under.
Hole seven is short and straight and it should be easy but it's really had my number lately. The fairway goes sharply downhill so I always worry about skipping past, and there are two reasonable paths through the trees to choose from. I always try different approaches, (low and and straight, curving around the right, etc.) but nothing has worked consistently. In this round, I tried going straight but bonked one of the trees down the right side, close enough to throw up a prayer but I ended up with another par.
Hole: 8 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 128' ----- My Average: 2.27 ----- Difficulty Ranking: 16
Finally a birdie! My drive wasn't great but the whole is one of the easiest -- pretty much anything that avoids trees gives a good chance for a bird. Unlike the relatively similar previous hole, I have a consistent approach that works well. My putt is around the same distance as hole four was and I managed to redeem myself. The forward weight transfer was on point. Two under.
This one was unfortunate. One of my favorite holes -- the drive has to snake around some trees and the "green" is open and flat. My S-curve backhand worked perfectly, curving right and then left and leaving me with a relatively short putt (see image). This time my motion was not the problem: I just missed it left! To make matters worse I whacked my big toe on a root while jogging to retrieve my frisbee. My streak of nine straight birdies on the hole came to an end and I remained only two under.
Hole: 10 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 205' ----- My Average: 2.58 ----- Difficulty Ranking: T-6
Hole ten is kind of like hole five except it's shorter and parallel to a pretty green field instead of a loud and ugly road. I still need to gauge the distance on my big curving backhand to get near the basket, and I failed to do so. After sailing long, I settled for a straightforward par.
Short, downhill, and sandy enough to stop runaway skips, this hole is extremely forgiving -- almost any drive will result in a birdie opportunity since there are basically no trees. I left my drive shorter than I would like, forcing myself to split a couple trees on the way down. It wasn't my cleanest putt and I second-guessed myself a bit after the screw-up on nine, but it rattled down. Three under at the halfway mark. Plenty of time left to shoot a low score.
Hole: 12 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 187' ----- My Average: 2.48 ----- Difficulty Ranking: 11
Hole: 13 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 175' ----- My Average: 2.60 ----- Difficulty Ranking: T-4
Hole: 14 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 189' ----- My Average: 2.44 ----- Difficulty Ranking: 12
Hole: 15 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 216' ----- My Average: 2.52 ----- Difficulty Ranking: T-8
Hole sixteen is long and tough. It's a big curve left and has a narrow path between all the trees. Surprisingly, my tee shot ended up being my best of the round. I kept it low and cleared both the trunks and the low-hanging branches. I landed two feet from the basket for a "gimme." Five under after two birdies in a row. I love streaks, and the excitement of keeping them going probably makes me concentrate more. My best round ever (15 under par) ended on a fourteen hole birdie streak that was both lucky and unforgettable. I am curious if my results are streaky in a statistical sense and in the process of figuring out how to measure this.
Hole: 17 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 184' ----- My Average: 2.40 ----- Difficulty Ranking: 13
Alas, the streak did not last long. My drive on this straightforward hole drifted slightly and hit the one tree I needed to avoid. I tried to make a putt from 20 yards but didn't come particularly close. Par.
This hole is beautiful, with the open field on the right and big conifers lining the approach into the hole. A good drive must stay low to avoid the branches and curve slightly to the left. My target spot is a little left of the hole and that's exactly what I hit, converting a short putt to move to six under.
Hole: 1 ----- Par: 3 ----- Distance: 158' ----- My Average: 2.23 ----- Difficulty Ranking: T-17
I used a high release backhand for this one and nailed it. Seven under.
This last hole is uphill and a little tricky. There are a few trees to dodge and some big roots near the basket which tend to knock the disc rolling down the slope. I fell victim to such a roll here, and landed decently far away. I miss a lot of putts on this hole because I'm tired from a long round, or because I put pressure on myself to finish with a certain score. This time I stayed focused and remembered to use my legs. Eight under. A solid result -- my average is 8.88 under and I knew that taking pictures and constructing narratives in my head would screw me over a bit. I decided to play two additional rounds and shot -10 and -12.
I really love this course. It's gorgeous, challenging, and filled with variety. I've created a few charts to capture my play over the past month -- see below.
The red line shows individual round scores and the blue line denotes my running average. My results have slowly but steadily improved.
Comparing overall scores on each hole over time allows me to group difficulties into tiers. Hole 5 stands out as the most challenging by far, and holes 1, 11 and 8 play the easiest. Some holes, like 3, 9 and 12, have been easy for long stretches and then flat-lined, winding up somewhere in the middle of the pack.
I have birdied over half of the 672 holes I have played. I am averaging less than one bogey per round, and I have posted three double bogeys total.
This distribution of round scores looks a little right-skewed, with more outliers on the better (lower) end of the distribution. I wonder if this has to do with trending -- the tendency to score birdies in bunches and focus harder when a round looks really promising. Of course, pressure to break records could also have the opposite effect.
This was a longer post, so thank you for reading! Frolf is such a blast, and I'll definitely make a couple trips to the course near Princeton this fall.
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