The Golf Gypsy Gets Derailed

It is no fun to write about golf when the game plays havoc with the body, or perhaps it is the body that plays havoc with the game and the mind.

“The first thing golf teaches us is humility.”

spoken by every man and woman

Last spring my right shoulder gave out, teaching me to comb my hair, eat my food, and stir the cookie batter left-handed.  I tore my rotator cuff two decades ago, and yet thanks to therapy and perseverance I survived without surgery, and continued to play competitive and social golf.

This time the pain sent me to a doctor first (good idea!). When she explained that I needed rotator cuff surgery, and continued to explain in detail what it would involve and that the outcome might be limiting to my golf swing, I shed tears.  "NO," was all I could say. "I do not know how many more years I can play and I want to play well." 

"Then go to the gym and see if you can strengthen it. Know, that no matter how much you strengthen your shoulders, you will have lost distance because of the tear, and the years of overuse."

A vague memory crept forth through the brain fog, and I saw a young woman carrying a leather bag on her right shoulder through high school and college, and even well into her thirties. No wonder the doctor used the term “overuse.”

Within the week I was in the gym and found a trainer who worked specifically with me on my shoulders and core. Amazingly enough it worked. By May I felt sore but happy to be playing golf. The doctor was right. I have lost 20 yards and sometimes more with each club in my bag. (And I don’t like it one bit.)

Worse yet, the inconsistency I experience with my swing builds frustration in my soul. Water holes at The Trails Golf Club became my nemesis. Strength training gave me the ability to swing. Core training kept me turning. But confidence let me down and suddenly, water holes, trees, and Pampas grass derailed my thinking. 

I felt myself top the ball into the water; hit the ball high and watch it drop short of the bank; shank the ball into the Pampas grass; and scuzz the ball over my left toe and hit a tree that wasn’t in my line of sight. Still I persevered because I love the challenge of the game and the friends I meet. 

This course will take a bit out of you. 

When a lady at a golf tournament this fall asked me why I wasn't writing about my golf, it was easy to reply," because I'm not playing good golf." 

She laughed and replied, "Then that's a story in itself. I certainly don't play good golf every time I want to either." 

Point made.

"Have more humility. Remember you don't know the limits of your own abilities. Successful or not, if you keep pushing beyond yourself, you will enrich your own life--and maybe even please a few strangers."  A.L. Kennedy 

 

This last two months I have finally been able to generate some speed through the ball thanks to working with a trainer in the gym from March until August.  But I wasn't satisfied. I felt like something was still missing.

I turned to my good friend Dr. Beth Brown from SupHER Power Golf and have been shouting with joy and playing steadier golf since I heard her metaphor and followed her swing advice. 

"Keep the engine going through the swing. If the 

hips stop turning the arms collapse." 

Dr. Beth Brown 

Dr. Beth’s suggestions grounded me and reminded me of what I already knew but had lost.

One: Swing with the intention of swinging out to the target.

Two: Place a tee in the ground a few inches in front of the ball when practicing and swing the club through the ball and touch the tee. (On the golf course visualize this happening.)

Three: Create a smaller swing. (This worked better for me than to think about shortening my swing.)

Four: Keep the engine going. (Not as easy as it sounds when the body over takes us, but it is the goal with every shot.)

My husband and I enjoy watching college football. An article in the Boydstreet Magazine (October 2021, Issue 10, Vol.20) on Gabe Brkic, OU football kicker and current hero, caught my attention. The interview shares how Brkic enjoys playing golf in his free time. Brkic explains,

“I can translate some things from golf into kicking field goals and punting. In golf, I’ll pick a target line and make sure my club swing goes through my target line, same as with field goals. I’ll pick a target in the stands and as long as my leg swings straight through that I’ll hit a good ball.”

Gabe Brkic, kicker, pg. 46
Boydstreet Oct. 21

 How simple the game can be when it takes on a visual meaning that is attainable and visceral. Practice is necessary and it is one part of the sport I enjoy.

Now the Golf Gypsy is back on the tracks and moving through the ball.

 

** Dr. Beth Brown is now writing children's books with her favorite characters, Divot and Swish. If you have children or grandchildren please consider going to her website to learn more about the Confidence Divot and Swish learn through sports. Look for her second book to come out in December.  

The Adventures of Divot and Swish

 

 

Follow in my Footsteps by Murphy Doodle

BAD MURPHY. . . BAD MURPHY 

that is me, Murphy Doodle, dog, writer, fly boy, comedian, goof ball, puppy, k-oss, all disk-guysed like a sheepdog

* * *

a few days ago i was pretending to fly in the house, i love to run and jump then leap off the blue furniture and fly through the air, i never knock over any thing big so i don't know why flying is bad

now i can't fly anymore around the soft blue furniture because a few days ago letty moved the soft cushion couches away from open space, blocking me from jumping over it and scaring people when they come to visit, 

instead she moved her chair to the open space and i thought it was just for me, it wasn't

when i ran and jumped on her chair it moved sideways and i fell instead of flying and bumped my chin, i almost whimpered, next thing i knew she was beside me rubbing my head, i like that part of falling 

after i pulled myself up walked around the house looking for a new approach, i decided to run and jump from the other room, that didn't work either because her chair moved again and this time she chased me and scolded me about being bad, how can having fun be bad? i do not understand her and i do not like to hear that yellow can RATTLE next to me, it scares me

the morning after it rained and kept me inside, i spent the hole afternoon with jack the yard builder, he said i was like a cheerleader that i made lots of noise, jumped up and down all afternoon while he put stones down on the ground, i don't know why he covered up ground because i like to run thru the dirt and the flowers so i can listen to them crunch under my feet and sleep on a new green bed 

 

letty said that Jack's stone work looked mag nicent, big words confuse me

i wanted to help Jack all afternoon but he would not let me dig,  he said NO NO NO so many times that i finally went to the porch to lay down and howl

letty finally let me in the house with her so i would not get in trouble any more outside with jack

last night they went out of the house somewhere, i know because letty smelled different than normal and i was out after dark

i had the most funnest night of my life, it rained and i was left alone in the big back yard, i chased squirrels alone the fence until they were gone and i mean gone, no more ugly squirrel talk, sometimes they are mean and throw things at me from up above where i can not jump high enough to bite a tail

after i drank a lot of water and chewed on the plastic bowl,  i ate a hole in the soft cushion that i like to lay on, but i knew i was in trouble when the wind began to blow and all of the soft white fluffy stuff blew in whirling circles around the yard, now there is a hole in my bed and i am sorta sorry that i did that

when it stopped raining i had to go check the fence line and make sure the yard was safe for my family, that is when i found the new hole where a bush once lived, jack must have left it for me to play in

it was a circle of beautiful glossy slicky sticky mud where there used to be a bush, i am glad the bush is gone because now i can chase the squirrels all the way down the fence without running around the bush

i thought i was so lucky to feel the fresh sticky licky mud, i dug and dug and buried my nose in it, i don't know why i bury my nose in the mud because it sticks to me and i do not like a sticky nose, the mud even stuck to my ears and on my tail, i felt icky all over, but i could not clean it off, i rolled in the grass over and over trying to clean myself, it did not work

i was happy when they came home but not for long

jack opened the back door like a the gentle doggie dad that
he is and let me in, suddenly he grabbed me and yelled, HELP

i thought that was strange, i did not need any help

letty came running and screamed my name out loud

i think she even laughed, but i am not sure

 

the picture of shame

 

jack carried me to the shower and closed the door, after grumbling and putting on her bathing suit, letty stepped in the shower and gave me a bath, at first she mumbled words like THIS IS A WASTE OF TWO GOOD MOSCOW MULES, hear why she confuses me, we do not have mules here and i am not a mule, whatever is a moscow mule? 

anyway, i did exactly what she said and let her scrub me all over, mainly it felt good to be wet and clean, and she was nice to me, she held me and said GOOD MURPHY, GOODY MURPHY

she even laughed and said AT LEAST YOU DON'T SMELL LIKE SKUNK

hum, skunk, i do not know what that is, guess i will just have to learn that word

just before bedtime she cornered me with the blow dryer, but i was tired of being in trouble and she had treats, so i let her blow hot air on me until i was sorta dry 

this morning i found out that i am GROUNDED,

i thought that was good because i love to feel the ground, the dirt, the mud, and the wet green grass but i do not think this is the same ground because i have been in the house all day long

jack said that i can not go outside without adult super vision, neither of them have super vision if you ask me

i do not understand them sometimes

The End   

i think i will go eat some dinner

The crime scene filled in by Jack, the yard builder, the next day

.