Unfinished Business

My bucket list is filled with goals to achieve and places to go, someday. Over the last few years I have been thinking of things not done, goals not reached, places not visited and concerns. Do I still have twenty healthy years left to finish everything? 

Last year the Women's Oklahoma Golf Association announced that Golf Club of Oklahoma in Broken Arrow would be the site for the 2020 Women's State Amateur. Pouncing like a cat on a mouse, energy and drive filled my body. I knew  I must find the stamina and strong back to play in the four days of competition in the Oklahoma heat and humidity of July, because I had some 'unfinished business' to take care of on that golf course.

In 1988 I played Golf Club of Oklahoma for a USGA Women's Mid Amateur qualifier. With three teenagers at home, and a golf coaching job at NHS I set out to qualify. I knew from the practice round that I must learn how to hit out of the sand and straight up an embankment of 19'. Thank you Tom Fazio, Course Designer, who found ways to challenge a golfer mentally on every shot.  That summer my husband, Jack, drove me to the sand banks of the Canadian River where he shagged balls for me as I practiced hitting.  My visual was to pretend I could hit the ball as high as the highway bridge. 

#17 a par 3 at Golf Club of Oklahoma

My plan was nearly flawless. When I teed off  The Golf Course of Oklahoma that morning in August 1988 against Susan Basolo Kennedy and Deena Dills Nowotny I lost all focus. Jack tried in every way to help me swing and hit the golf ball squarely, but my mind and body would not work together until I faced the 17th hole, a par 3 with water to the right and deep sandy bunkers to the left. I had practiced that shot. I knew that shot like the back of my hand, and I performed that shot to perfection. Instead of landing the ball on the green with my tee shot, I pulled it into the deep bunker on the left and found myself faced with the shot I had practiced on the river bank. My body sprang into action. The sand wedge lifted the ball up, onto the green, where it promptly rolled into the hole for a birdie 2. I failed to qualify but I did have ONE fantastic shot that day. 

*Dena Dills Nowotny is in the Oklahoma  Golf Hall of Fame

*Susan Basolo Kennedy was a talented dynamic golfer Herstory

Thirty-two years later, I grabbed the opportunity to play that course once again in competition. On June 6, 1966 I shot a 76 at Ponca City Country Club and qualified for Championship Flight. Never again have I played that well in competition, especially not in a qualifying round. So those two thoughts filled my mind and it became my driving force, even through the panic of Covid. 

hole #10, the climb toward my goal

I worked out in the gym with weights, focused on strength and balance with Yoga and Tai Chi classes, and swung the golf club in my backyard to keep my body in shape all winter.  Older bodies do not perform like younger bodies in anyway except we can still focus and persevere, like an old mountain goat.  

This spring Dr. Beth Brown, sports psychologist, introduced me to "SupHer Power Golf for Women." The mental focus helped me push ahead and set a firm pictures of how and what I planned to achieve. 

SupHer Power Golf for Women

Did I do what I set out to do? This became my driving question instead of scoring as I played in May, June, and July. Did I set out to play 18 holes in thirty putts or less? Did I set out to hit my Driver down the middle and at least 160 yards (I may not out drive you, but I will beat you around the green!) Did I set out to chip the ball within 10' of the hole? My scorecard this year has a scores and + or - if I played to my goal on a hole. 

The process of being mentally prepared paved the way. Every shot I performed the same routine: 

1) see the line vividly (take a snapshot)

2) stand over the ball and fully visualize the shot (the snapshot I took earlier)

3) slowly take my club back

Did I do what I set out to do? YES. On July 20, 2020 I set out to play my best qualifying round of golf since 1966 and I did it. I did it at Golf Club of Oklahoma where I didn't have any fantastic shots, but I hit only 84 shots on a course of 5,300 yards. My body and mind know that I climbed my Mt. Everest and have seen the view. It felt damn good. 

Earl Woods successfully taught his son, Tiger, to 'PUTT THE PICTURE.'

Letty has Literally learned to "LIVE THE PICTURE."

Footnote: My timer went off at 4:00 today so I would take a break, mix the meatloaf, and bake it 45 minutes while I wrote. I took the break outside, felt refreshed and walked back to my studio to write. I never glanced at the kitchen! So we are having spaghetti and meat sauce. Life, just like golf sometimes gets off track. 

Golf Gypsy: Shots of the Day

The Gallery South Course, Marana, AZ

For golfers, nothing beats the beautiful vistas created when a golf course and mother nature combine to show off their shared beauties.  Even more than sharing these shots, I wish I could share the warmth and heat from the winter sun over the desert.  My cold knotted muscles begin to relax, and my body moves with more grace than jerks and groans, when I'm in the desert sun. 

bearded grandfather cactus

Our friends, Jim and Kathy, invited us to play in Los Amantes, a couples golf event, at The Gallery Golf Course in Marana. We explained up front that we'd love to be their guest, but reminded them how erratic our winter golf can be, and sadly, how we might be a little stiff like the grandfather cactus! "Just come out and let's have fun," Kathy replied.  Fun and laughter were certainly the highlight of the event.

On the day we played the best, we also laughed the hardest. I'm sure there's a correlation between our shots of the day, laughter, and shooting the day's low team score. Crucial putts were made early in our

photo by Bert Fredericksen

round boosting our confidence, and then....Jimmy hit an electrifying chip shot on a downhill hole. Truly, when his club hit the soil all forward movement stopped, the club released and flew through the air toward the green like it'd been struck with lightning , Jim's arms and hands stretched outwards in disbelief, and the ball bounded a mere couple of feet forward. Three of us on the green burst into laughter, and with a snort and giggle Jim hit another chip shot onto the green. 

Cactus wren 

My eyes were occasionally averted to the beauties surrounding us, but then Kathy brought everything back into focus when she hit a low flying tee shot barely missing the tops of bushes and cactus until the fiercely struck ball hit the face of a rock and bounded upwards and backwards, over our heads and back toward the men's tee box. In her excitement and awe of the shot she hollered backwards, "Fore on the tee." This time the four of us doubled over in laughter and disbelief. She lost at least twenty yards on her tee shot, and had an unplayable lie in the cactus. Her second tee shot flew down the middle, of course.

jumping cholla cactus 

Jack gave us reason to applaud with awe, first when he even found his ball in the ravine off to the right of the fairway and secondly, when he managed to get a club on a nearly impossible lie; hit the ball squarely up and left over the trees, and land in the center of the fairway short of the water hole.   Applause Applause.  

Our great day gave us bragging rights for low score in the clubhouse on day one, but another story took place behind us that seemed even funnier.  Walking up a long par four the lady in the group experienced numerous penalties. Already laying eight 100 yards

The Gallery North Course

short of the green, she turned to her husband and asked his score.  "I'm only three in the bunker, go ahead and pick up," he replied. His skulled shot out of the bunker landed him in the desert behind the green. With great humility and humor he chipped several directions, adding penalties when needed, and eventually finished the hole with an eleven. The total team score landed them in last place on day one, but gave us reasons to laugh, and admire the ability of couples to remain happily married after couples golf. (Rumor has it that they drank a few beers the next day, relaxed to the music of Maroon 5, and had fun.)

Golf channel may not broadcast our humorous and amazing shots, but then we play for fun and memories, not a paycheck.  They awarded the trophy after day two to another team. Something happened

javelinas with babies up by the green

to our magic from day one, but we did enjoy watching the javelinas grazing on the golf course. 

In the end, perhaps the greatest shot of the day came from Mother Nature's approach shot to the beginning of the day.

Sunrise over Marana by Bert Fredericksen