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

 

 

Younger Longer with Confidence

"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves." Sir Edmund Hillary

The day came in my early 60's when I realized that golf would not be a sport I played till I aged because of my crooked spine.  The thought of giving up mornings filled with fresh air on a golf course, birds flying by, clouds rolling over, and the echo of friends laughing broke my spirit. My husband took me by the hand and said, "I think we can both take up fishing and it won't hurt our backs."  The smile of relief is hard to describe without a few tears falling. Just like that I could see a future.

"A naughty pickle is how I best describe myself. 

I think fun and laughter is the whole point of life." 

Celia Imrie

I bought fishing poles at a silent auction, proudly brought them home and promptly put them in the garage next to my golf clubs. The fishing poles are still in the garage, but some inner drive moved me to continue golf. Luckily, I took up yoga and Pilates gaining strength and flexibility over the next two years. When I played in tournaments I played with new zeal,  knowing each round could be my last.

"You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them." Michael Jordan 

During the fall of 2013 I pulled my right hamstring causing pain in my lower back, but thinking I could overcome I continued to push. During January-February of 2014 we packed all of our belongings, hired a moving company and moved from Hutchinson, KS to Norman, OK. I hurt so much I cried when I bent over, walked, slept, or sat down. I still played golf because this ugly voice in my head said that I could play through the pain, after all physical therapy would allow me relief. 

For the next four years I enjoyed intermittent relief from my back pain, and discovered that over the years many of my "butt" muscles no longer responded to my body movement. Atrophy is the word that describes what happens when muscles aren't used. By now my brains screamed, "How could my muscles atrophy when I worked them constantly?" The answer is, "a different set of muscles take over, and that does not mean it's a good thing." Most of all don't play through pain, fix it. Last fall I realized that my golf swing had become that of a little old lady. There was no power at impact. I felt limp and shrunken. New clubs couldn't help that. 

"I am not a has-been. I am a will be." Lauren Bacall

Besides having lost strength, power, endurance, I lost confidence. I lost a bucket load of confidence. When I came to a water hole on the golf course I found myself playing around it, instead of daring to fly a ball over it. Secretly, I cried. Openly, I smiled and said, "At least I'm still playing and this is a good thing." 

Go for it, or layup? OU golf course hole 13.

I accepted that my body and I were getting older together. Like watching our dog, Lucy, turn grey in the face, unable to hear voices, and walk with a left hip that sometimes drags or pinches her, I could feel a slower future coming.   

The difference between impossible and possible lies

 in a person's determination." Tommy Lasorda

The dead of winter is just that for my body. I tend to hibernate and write. January of this year a deep yearning and stirring came through me when I decided to write a monthly blog called YOUNGER LONGER. I believe deeply in myself and my fortitude.  It forced me out of the house and into Therapy in Motion (Cindy Merrick).  After four months of muscle by muscle being released and activated I knew I could play golf successfully again. WRONG! 

The Greatest Video Ever, Gary Woodland and Amy Bockerstette

I promise a smile that will never leave your face after watching this. 

Many bad habits had been created in these last few years and I felt stymied. I know the game inside and out and yet for all of my strength, stamina, and grit I could not improve my game. My scores ranged from 96--88. Thanks to a vigorous workout routine that I still follow five days a week, plus play golf in this heat, I knew that could swing the club with power. In one simple golf lesson with our pro, Alan Hager, I relief flow through my body. Darn those weak lazy hands and arms. Once I began to use strong firm arms at impact the ball went straight and farther, and best of all I felt my old dynamic swing return. Alan also adjusted my driver to a 9.5 face (more upright) giving me a chance to see that tiny white (sometime pink) ball roll down the fairway.

"Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.      e e cummings

Feeling the groove return I drove out to OU golf facility to practice, and it paid off with a victory. The confidence to know I can better take care of myself, through continued training and practice will continue, only if i continue to workout. 

Having confidence is showing confidence and acting on confidence. When there is no confidence on the journey life looks bleak.  Letty Stapp Watt