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Being clear and committed to your goals

Lisa Longball · prairies

Lisa Longball

Episode

Lisa “Longball” Vlooswyk Founder & CEO at LisaLongball.com Lisa is an 8-Time Canadian Long Drive Champion, and has finished...

Key takeaways

  • Perseverance through failure is essential for success, as you learn far more from losses than wins and must be willing to dust yourself off and keep going after setbacks.
  • Surround yourself with people who support your dreams and believe in your potential, as having the right support system is critical when taking entrepreneurial risks.
  • Peak performance requires balancing both professional and personal drives, making time for activities that feed your soul even when busy with work and family obligations.
  • Success requires putting in the work with no shortcuts, as you must be prepared to outwork others and trust the process even when immediate results aren't visible.
  • Being open to unexpected opportunities can lead to career paths you never imagined, so avoid having blinders on and say yes to possibilities outside your comfort zone.

Transcript

Full transcript page · Interactive episode

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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_02: Hello, I'm Mario Tonigusi, managing editor of Canada's podcast.
[00:09] SPEAKER_02: Joining me today on Calgary's podcast is Lisa Bluswick, who is founder and CEO at
[00:18] SPEAKER_02: LisaLongball.com.
[00:19] SPEAKER_02: Thanks for joining us today.
[00:21] SPEAKER_02: Lisa, hopefully I got your name right.
[00:23] SPEAKER_01: Nailed it, nailed it.
[00:24] SPEAKER_01: But now you can see why I have a nickname Lisa Longball because no one can spell and
[00:28] SPEAKER_01: pronounce Bluswick.
[00:30] SPEAKER_02: Okay, let's talk about that.
[00:32] SPEAKER_02: Longball, what is that all about?
[00:35] SPEAKER_02: What you do?
[00:37] SPEAKER_01: This is cool.
[00:38] SPEAKER_01: Well, so I'm an eight time Canadian long drive champion.
[00:41] SPEAKER_01: I finished as high as second in the world.
[00:43] SPEAKER_01: I lost the world title by three yards to a five time world champion from Sweden.
[00:47] SPEAKER_01: The Swedes, the Swedes.
[00:49] SPEAKER_01: But that's how my career started.
[00:51] SPEAKER_01: It was actually local Calgary, Harold journalist John Downe that wrote an article about me
[00:55] SPEAKER_01: when I wrote my first, because I know you were with Harold as well.
[00:59] SPEAKER_01: Mario, and the title of the article was Lisa Longball.
[01:04] SPEAKER_01: And so that's just a moniker.
[01:05] SPEAKER_01: So he basically gave me my nickname because it's a moniker that stuck after that article.
[01:10] SPEAKER_02: Oh my good friend Downe's, he worked many years with him.
[01:14] SPEAKER_01: He just celebrated his 80th birthday this week, actually.
[01:16] SPEAKER_02: I saw that and he gave me what he was out on the golf course.
[01:20] SPEAKER_02: Of course.
[01:24] SPEAKER_02: So how far can you hit the ball?
[01:26] Speaker UNKNOWN: How far?
[01:26] SPEAKER_01: My longest drive in competition is 350 yards, 2 feet to inches.
[01:30] SPEAKER_01: So at the time it was the longest a woman had ever hit at the the world long drive events,
[01:35] SPEAKER_01: which was super exciting.
[01:37] SPEAKER_02: Okay, tell me how you got started and all this.
[01:40] SPEAKER_02: Where does this all begin?
[01:42] SPEAKER_01: Well, it's funny.
[01:43] SPEAKER_01: You know, I was my dad's last hope was a goal for I was in grade eight and my mom didn't
[01:47] SPEAKER_01: play my sister didn't play.
[01:48] SPEAKER_01: So he dragged me to the local junior night and there were 50 boys in me and the coach
[01:52] SPEAKER_01: kind of took what looked at me and said, at least I wanted you to hit your six iron at
[01:56] SPEAKER_01: the end of the range.
[01:56] SPEAKER_01: And he proceeded to work with the boys the rest of the evening.
[01:59] SPEAKER_01: So I pretty much gave up golf, maybe playing nine holes a year with my dad if he forced
[02:03] SPEAKER_01: me.
[02:04] SPEAKER_01: And it actually wasn't until my 20s when my boyfriend at the time now husband was just
[02:09] SPEAKER_01: graduating engineering at the University of Calgary.
[02:11] SPEAKER_01: And he was being invited to corporate and charity golf tournaments.
[02:14] SPEAKER_01: He didn't golf a lick and he realized that golf was a key business networking skill.
[02:19] SPEAKER_01: So we dragged me up to the local communities Maple Ridge McCall Lake Fox Hollow wherever
[02:23] SPEAKER_01: we could afford to get on and play.
[02:25] SPEAKER_01: And that's where I got the bug kind of got me.
[02:27] SPEAKER_01: But what really changed Mario in 1999, the LPGA came to Calgary at the time.
[02:32] SPEAKER_01: I was called the Demoria Classic back with cigarette companies, good sponsors sporting
[02:36] SPEAKER_01: events.
[02:37] SPEAKER_01: That's how long ago that was.
[02:38] SPEAKER_01: But watching I couldn't break 100 to save my life Mario, but watching the best female
[02:42] SPEAKER_01: golfers in the world play, I was inspired to say I want to compete in golf.
[02:47] SPEAKER_01: And luckily there's competitions for people who can't break 100.
[02:52] SPEAKER_02: So so you know 350 yards plus.
[02:57] SPEAKER_02: Do you think you can go further?
[03:00] SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, it's funny.
[03:01] SPEAKER_01: So I'm chasing that world title.
[03:03] SPEAKER_01: You know, I hit again, obviously, you know, my longest drive ever was at Capelua in
[03:09] SPEAKER_01: Maui, but that's downhill trade wins 417 yards.
[03:13] SPEAKER_01: So I don't doubt that.
[03:14] SPEAKER_01: I don't doubt that.
[03:15] SPEAKER_01: But it's pretty fun out there.
[03:17] SPEAKER_01: I do think that, you know, I do have more distance in me.
[03:19] SPEAKER_01: So I'm still chasing that world title.
[03:21] SPEAKER_01: I've been sideline with a rotator cuff injury for the past couple of years, but just playing
[03:26] SPEAKER_01: even just we can golf with my husband and son.
[03:28] SPEAKER_01: I'll hit it 323 just in a regular round of golf.
[03:32] SPEAKER_01: So I feel like I have more in me and I'd like to take one more one more crack at the world
[03:36] SPEAKER_01: long drive title.
[03:38] SPEAKER_02: So tell me what the key is to having a good long drive.
[03:45] SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's absolutely.
[03:47] SPEAKER_01: It's the ability to create coil and torque.
[03:49] SPEAKER_01: And so I would say 80% of women struggling hitting the golf all over 200 yards.
[03:54] SPEAKER_01: Why women tend to be arms lifters versus turners?
[03:57] SPEAKER_01: And so guys guys end up turning well.
[04:00] SPEAKER_01: They do a great job turning in their backswing, but they end up using their upper body strength
[04:04] SPEAKER_01: and start your downswing with their upper body.
[04:06] SPEAKER_01: So basically you want to wind up the upper half of your body, leave it and you need to
[04:10] SPEAKER_01: start that down with the lower body.
[04:13] SPEAKER_01: So that's the power leak that I'll see with women that they end up not winding up and
[04:16] SPEAKER_01: men will wind up, but they'll start that down swing with that back shoulder, which
[04:20] SPEAKER_01: I'm coils them too quickly and doesn't allow them to use all of that explosive power
[04:25] SPEAKER_01: and speed.
[04:25] SPEAKER_01: So I would say that's the ability to wind up and unwind.
[04:29] SPEAKER_01: That's the key.
[04:30] SPEAKER_00: Stay ahead of the game with our expert tips and strategies that will help your business
[04:34] SPEAKER_00: thrive in a digital era.
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[04:39] SPEAKER_02: So I guess there's probably a lot of misconceptions, right?
[04:44] SPEAKER_02: That somebody who can hit the ball long has got to be big bulky and strong.
[04:49] SPEAKER_01: Totally.
[04:50] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Jamie Siddleski actually another L burden, five with 10, a box 65 hit it 417, 417
[04:56] SPEAKER_01: yards at the World Long Drive Championships.
[04:59] SPEAKER_01: So it's going to show you that these a slender tall athletic, but again, flexible.
[05:04] SPEAKER_01: And what was cool was he played a high level.
[05:06] SPEAKER_01: I believe junior hockey and interestingly enough, he played that left hand in because
[05:11] SPEAKER_01: a lot of hockey players like to get down the with the stick in their dominant hand.
[05:15] SPEAKER_01: So he actually, which is right hand.
[05:17] SPEAKER_01: So he shot left in hockey, but he played golf right.
[05:20] SPEAKER_01: And I think that that helped him with that ability to create amazing,
[05:24] SPEAKER_01: twist and turn, foil and torque in his swing.
[05:28] SPEAKER_01: Wow.
[05:29] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[05:29] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[05:30] SPEAKER_02: How's the rest of your golf game?
[05:32] SPEAKER_01: You know what?
[05:32] SPEAKER_01: So I played about a four handicap.
[05:34] SPEAKER_01: So I actually, what was so cool Mario is in 1999 here, I was a 30 plus handicap,
[05:40] SPEAKER_01: couldn't break 100 to save my life.
[05:41] SPEAKER_01: I started, you know, entering golf competitions for high handicap golfers.
[05:45] SPEAKER_01: And I was hitting it 80 to 100 yards past all the other, all the other ladies.
[05:49] SPEAKER_01: That's what I thought, you know what?
[05:50] SPEAKER_01: Maybe I am long.
[05:51] SPEAKER_01: So I entered a long drive competition and I hit it 313 yards with a club, a set of clubs
[05:56] SPEAKER_01: I bought from Costco, if you can believe it.
[05:58] SPEAKER_01: But then for men, leapfrog a 10 years later, a decade later to 2009,
[06:03] SPEAKER_01: I was teaming up a Monday qualifier when the LPGA came back to Calgary.
[06:09] SPEAKER_01: So I didn't make the cut.
[06:09] SPEAKER_01: I shot a 74 in the practice round, which would have put me as the fourth place girl.
[06:14] SPEAKER_01: But on the day of I hit three balls out of bounds.
[06:16] SPEAKER_01: That's my issue as a long driver.
[06:18] SPEAKER_01: You know, I got the distance, but man, if I hit it out of bounds and you're laying three off the tee,
[06:23] SPEAKER_01: that's a rough day.
[06:24] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[06:25] SPEAKER_02: So you do a lot of public speaking.
[06:26] SPEAKER_02: When did that start?
[06:27] SPEAKER_02: When did that start?
[06:29] SPEAKER_01: This is unbelievable.
[06:30] SPEAKER_01: So once I was competing at a national and international level, my first foray actually came from Shaw,
[06:37] SPEAKER_01: Shaw reached out to me to say, hey, Lisa, any chance to come to our corporate and charity golf tournament,
[06:43] SPEAKER_01: come stand on a whole hit falls for guests, raise money for charity.
[06:46] SPEAKER_01: I didn't even think that that was a job.
[06:48] SPEAKER_01: And that has parlayed into, I've done hundreds of events all across North America for corporations
[06:53] SPEAKER_01: or charities, again, raising money for charity, standing on a tee hitting balls for guests
[06:59] SPEAKER_01: and MCing the dinner.
[07:00] SPEAKER_01: That's kind of where the public speaking first got started.
[07:03] SPEAKER_01: And then from there, I was actually, there was the oil mince.
[07:05] SPEAKER_01: The oil mince is an annual event that happens typically between Bap and Jasper each year.
[07:11] SPEAKER_01: And the chairman, Bill Lindberghardt of the oil, oil mince that you're saying, hey, Lisa,
[07:15] SPEAKER_01: would you come, we're going to do a ladies event this year for the first time on the golf course.
[07:20] SPEAKER_01: But we also want to do, we do a lunch where we hire a keynote speaker.
[07:23] SPEAKER_01: Would you come and do that?
[07:25] SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, absolutely, well, gosh, Mario, I had never done a keynote speech.
[07:29] SPEAKER_01: I didn't know what it was, but I thought, throw me in coach, I'll do this.
[07:32] SPEAKER_01: And I did a ton of research.
[07:34] SPEAKER_01: And basically that's where my keynote speaking career began.
[07:37] SPEAKER_01: And I basically share my story of how I went from a high handicap recreational golfer to ranked number two in the world.
[07:43] SPEAKER_01: And the title of my keynote is Drive Determines Distance.
[07:47] SPEAKER_02: Drive Determines Distance.
[07:50] SPEAKER_02: Hey, you're going to write that model.
[07:52] SPEAKER_02: Right.
[07:53] SPEAKER_02: I thought it was my computer.
[07:54] SPEAKER_02: Like, I didn't resist it.
[07:58] SPEAKER_02: Before I'm going to ask you some questions about public speaking, I just wanted to go back on the golf part of it for a second.
[08:06] SPEAKER_02: How much is the mental part of things play into like when you're standing at the tea ready to swing?
[08:15] SPEAKER_02: Like, can you go through that process?
[08:18] SPEAKER_02: Like, what are you thinking?
[08:20] SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
[08:20] SPEAKER_01: So we get six falls.
[08:22] SPEAKER_01: We have two minutes and 45 seconds to hit the six falls, which is obviously very different than a pro LPJ or PJ Tour of it, in which you have to stay relatively focused for four and a half hours.
[08:32] SPEAKER_01: Yes, mostly for your shots.
[08:33] SPEAKER_01: There's walking between shots, but that's a different mental toughness than on the tea on the tea.
[08:39] SPEAKER_01: You have, I guess I said, two minutes and 45 seconds.
[08:42] SPEAKER_01: So the mental process is when I'm, first of all, it starts back with training.
[08:45] SPEAKER_01: So when I'm practicing and hitting balls at the driving range, I time myself.
[08:49] SPEAKER_01: I have a time or going.
[08:51] SPEAKER_01: I imagine an envision, the grid in front of me, the television cameras, the whole nine yards.
[08:57] SPEAKER_01: Music, this is also different than full golf.
[08:59] SPEAKER_01: We have always music pumping in the background because it's kind of a pump up sport versus, you know, your very traditional golf type tournament.
[09:07] SPEAKER_01: And so I put music on and I all practice and rehearse so that when I get there that day, I've done this before.
[09:15] SPEAKER_01: And so part of that training comes beforehand, putting myself in that situation, timing, hitting a golf ball, you know, whether it lands out of bounds, in play, what's my next move.
[09:25] SPEAKER_01: And then on the actual day in terms of the mental toughness, as I'm going through one thing I found that it's really, really helpful, the breathing.
[09:32] SPEAKER_01: And I know that sounds so simple, but right before I start my takeaway on every single shot, I take a deep breath out.
[09:40] SPEAKER_01: And it's just a very calming, recentering way, relaxes the muscles because tense muscles are not fast muscles, lose supple muscles or fast muscles.
[09:49] SPEAKER_01: So that's very helpful.
[09:50] SPEAKER_01: And then I drill back to that training where I've imagined myself hitting thousands of balls on the driving range, picturing that grid.
[09:56] SPEAKER_01: I think the top part comes when I've hit one, two, three, four out of bounds and I'm staring down two balls left or one ball left and I don't have one in play.
[10:05] SPEAKER_01: So that's when I have to go back and try to mentally visualize another shot that I've hit in a competition where I absolutely nailed it to say Lisa, you can do this because it's really easy to beat yourself up in golf.
[10:17] SPEAKER_01: That's where golf can, can anyone who's a golfer, you can test.
[10:21] SPEAKER_02: I remember I used, when I stopped golfing and remember, no friend of mine used to have a little bit of anger issues and wrapping golf clubs around trees.
[10:34] SPEAKER_01: It can happen. It can happen.
[10:36] SPEAKER_02: I'm firing up a little glitch there.
[10:41] SPEAKER_02: Let me just deal with that.
[10:46] SPEAKER_02: Okay, we're back on.
[10:48] SPEAKER_02: They'll fix that.
[10:49] SPEAKER_02: They'll fix that.
[10:50] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and the other thing to you, so I'm firing a club into a pond or something.
[10:55] SPEAKER_01: I've seen it.
[10:58] SPEAKER_02: So drive determines distance.
[11:01] SPEAKER_02: All right.
[11:02] SPEAKER_02: Tell me what you mean by that.
[11:04] SPEAKER_01: So when I talk to my audiences about, I say, you know, knowing and being committed to what drives you and knowing that both personally,
[11:11] SPEAKER_01: profession and professionally determines how far you will go.
[11:15] SPEAKER_01: So basically, I feel that there's two types of drive that we have.
[11:18] SPEAKER_01: We have a drive for what we want to do,
[11:20] SPEAKER_01: appropriately, what we want to achieve in our work life.
[11:23] SPEAKER_01: However, often what we do, especially when we're crazy, busy,
[11:26] SPEAKER_01: corporate-wise, busy with families, whether it be young families, aging parents,
[11:30] SPEAKER_01: we often neglect our other side of our personal, also our personal drive.
[11:35] SPEAKER_01: So whether that be, what is it that makes you get up in the morning that makes you feel like
[11:39] SPEAKER_01: you could get up at five o'clock and it wouldn't feel like work.
[11:41] SPEAKER_01: For some people, it's running, biking, swimming, hiking,
[11:44] SPEAKER_01: photography, singing, whatever it is.
[11:47] SPEAKER_01: There's something that feeds your soul.
[11:48] SPEAKER_01: I find often as we're pushing ourself and trying to reach our peak,
[11:52] SPEAKER_01: appropriately, we sometimes forget, we'll skip that run.
[11:55] SPEAKER_01: We'll skip going, you know, the music, maybe the singing opportunity that we had
[11:59] SPEAKER_01: so that we could be there for our kids, our parents.
[12:02] SPEAKER_01: And so I'm, for me, I find that peak performance comes when you take care of both sides.
[12:06] SPEAKER_01: And I talk about goal setting, both personally and professionally.
[12:10] SPEAKER_01: And then, but being committed to that and many steps along the way, you know, that,
[12:14] SPEAKER_01: obviously having that big, crazy, hairy goal.
[12:16] SPEAKER_01: My big, crazy, hairy goal was to win the World Long Drive Championships.
[12:20] SPEAKER_01: I haven't won the World Championships.
[12:22] SPEAKER_01: I've come second in the World twice, but Mario, the experiences I've had along the ways and the
[12:26] SPEAKER_01: lessons that I've learned along the ways are just absolutely invaluable.
[12:31] SPEAKER_02: What do you, what advice do you give to people that, you know, they're struggling?
[12:39] SPEAKER_02: They're struggling in a lot of things, whether it's a personal life, whether it's a professional
[12:45] SPEAKER_02: life, you know, what would you tell them to get them back on track?
[12:50] SPEAKER_01: I think what you have to be committed to the process because it's going to be a bumpy road.
[12:56] SPEAKER_01: And I have learned so much more from my, my win, from my losses, should I say,
[13:00] SPEAKER_01: than I ever have from my wins.
[13:02] SPEAKER_01: So believing that there's, you're going to come through the other side.
[13:05] SPEAKER_01: But, you know, Confucius says, our greatest glory consists not in never falling,
[13:10] SPEAKER_01: but in rising every time we fall.
[13:12] SPEAKER_01: And that's something that I really have held true because you are going to fall.
[13:16] SPEAKER_01: You are going to, I think, in current, in current setbacks.
[13:18] SPEAKER_01: It's not you may or you, if you do, it's you will.
[13:21] SPEAKER_01: How do you handle them? How do you deal with them?
[13:23] SPEAKER_01: And then how do you roll from them?
[13:25] SPEAKER_01: So I think if I could give anyone who's struggling any advice, that was me.
[13:29] SPEAKER_01: My first year on tour, I had a last place, a third last place, I had a 15th place.
[13:34] SPEAKER_01: You know, I was just struggling to make it from event to event.
[13:37] SPEAKER_01: My next year on tour, I had a six place and then a 10th place, a 14th place.
[13:42] SPEAKER_01: You know, it's, and there was one time that I flew all the way to Atlanta, Georgia,
[13:45] SPEAKER_01: get six balls out of bounds, hopped on a plane on the way home.
[13:48] SPEAKER_01: I was this close to quitting.
[13:50] SPEAKER_01: And if I can share with anyone who's struggling, don't wit,
[13:54] SPEAKER_01: persevere, go through, you know, take the lessons that you've learned along the way.
[13:57] SPEAKER_01: And the other thing, there's no shortcuts you've got to put in the work.
[14:01] SPEAKER_01: You can, you can sit there and value who all you want at home.
[14:03] SPEAKER_01: But really, you have to be prepared to work, to outwork the other person and know that if you do
[14:08] SPEAKER_01: trust in the process, success will come.
[14:11] SPEAKER_01: And again, as I said, I never won the world, world title.
[14:14] SPEAKER_01: But the, the experiences that I've had have so far await my, might, might,
[14:18] SPEAKER_01: even possible imagination of what I could have, I could have possibly imagined that could have
[14:23] SPEAKER_01: happened because I persevered because I picked myself, and dusted myself off each and every time.
[14:28] SPEAKER_01: So again, it might not be the, the ultimate goal that you thought you were going to have,
[14:32] SPEAKER_01: but there could be a left hand turn in your life. There could be something magical that's going to happen
[14:36] SPEAKER_01: if you just keep going.
[14:48] SPEAKER_02: What does it take? Like, you know, what kind of a person, an individual, has the ability to do that?
[14:56] SPEAKER_01: Well, I think that first of all, it has, it has, that's where, that's where I talk about drive.
[15:01] SPEAKER_01: You have to, it has to be in you. This has to be something you can lead a horse to water,
[15:05] SPEAKER_01: but you can't make him drink. So meaning that it has to be something you want.
[15:10] SPEAKER_01: That it's in you that it excites you. If it doesn't excite you, you're not going to work for it.
[15:15] SPEAKER_01: So I think that's number one. So the type of person has to be someone that has something that
[15:19] SPEAKER_01: excites them in it. And whether that's, this is an entrepreneur podcast. Do you know how scary it was?
[15:24] SPEAKER_01: I was a former elementary school teacher. I was, and I can say I was a great teacher. I love my
[15:29] SPEAKER_01: students. I love the staff. I worked with, I have students that reach out to me this day, to this day.
[15:34] SPEAKER_01: But I had a pension. Who is a pension, Mario? I left that. I left that with the dream and
[15:39] SPEAKER_01: possibility to try to win the World Long Drive Championships. Every entrepreneur knows that when
[15:44] SPEAKER_01: you have to pull the ripboard and leave your safe job to go try to chase this dream. Well,
[15:50] SPEAKER_01: the dream is possible. The dream is there, but you have to have that motivation and positivity
[15:54] SPEAKER_01: inside. Because if you don't, then entrepreneurship isn't for you. Wow, that's true.
[16:00] SPEAKER_01: Well, any other thing is, Mario, if I could say, also is you have to surround yourself with people
[16:05] SPEAKER_01: who support you. There's people all over that will tear you down and tell you you can't know
[16:09] SPEAKER_01: that's impossible. You have to surround yourself with people who support you. For instance, my husband,
[16:13] SPEAKER_01: like how many spouses your, your spouse comes home on day and says, oh, sweetheart, I think I'm going
[16:17] SPEAKER_01: to quit my job and become a professional long driver. Well, that's to be leaving the thing. When you
[16:22] SPEAKER_01: have a job that's great and you're doing well, that, and that you have a pension, but my husband
[16:27] SPEAKER_01: said, you know, Lisa, you have a limited chance to be the best in the world and something do it.
[16:32] SPEAKER_01: And I sign my resignation letter the next day. Oh, wow. Right. So you have to surround yourself,
[16:37] SPEAKER_01: do for that success, surround yourself with people who support you.
[16:39] SPEAKER_01: So what do you do besides golf? Oh, wow. So this is, so I have so many different hats. So in
[16:46] SPEAKER_01: addition to competing, then I made the foray into golf entertaining where I'm hired at corporate
[16:50] SPEAKER_01: charity golf tournaments across North America. Then my foray into keynote speaking in which I
[16:56] SPEAKER_01: speak at conferences and conventions all across North America. Well, then I saw me when I was at
[17:01] SPEAKER_01: these conferences and conventions or at these tournaments, what I would notice on the golf course
[17:05] SPEAKER_01: is 75 to 85% of the attendees were men. And I thought, where are all the women? And so many women
[17:11] SPEAKER_01: said to me, Oh Lisa, I'm not good enough to say yes to that corporate charity golf tournament
[17:15] SPEAKER_01: invitation. Women don't like to do things poorly and we especially don't like to do things poorly
[17:19] SPEAKER_01: in front of our male counterparts, especially in a business setting. So I actually started the
[17:24] SPEAKER_01: Lisa Longbowl Golf School for Women. So it started here in Calgary and it's expanded. I've had
[17:28] SPEAKER_01: schools in Colona, Toronto, Montreal, Prince Edward Island, Orlando now, Phoenix, and I just
[17:35] SPEAKER_01: came back last week from Palm Springs. So all across North America helping women find their best
[17:40] SPEAKER_01: game. Cool. Right. So in addition to that, I was asked actually by the Calgary Hurl. The Calgary
[17:47] SPEAKER_01: Hurl reached out to me and said, you know, Lisa, we were looking for weekly column during the
[17:52] SPEAKER_01: golf season. So masters weekend to Labor Day, you know, would you consider? And finally,
[17:56] SPEAKER_01: enough, Mario, I actually turned it down. I said, Oh, thank you so much. I said, but I'm not a
[18:01] SPEAKER_01: journalist. And they said to me, so you're a former school teacher, right, Lisa? And I said, yes.
[18:06] SPEAKER_01: And they said, so you can read and write to a grade five level. And I said, yes. And they said,
[18:11] SPEAKER_01: so what's the problem? But have they not pushed me? That was an opportunity that I didn't even see coming
[18:16] SPEAKER_01: from that. I've now had my own column in golf digest Canada. I've been in golf tips magazine
[18:21] SPEAKER_01: cover story. I'm a golf travel journalist where I get to travel all around the world, Spain, Ireland,
[18:28] SPEAKER_01: Scotland, Hawaii, all writing articles about and reviews on golf courses.
[18:33] SPEAKER_01: Wow. So an opportunity and a job I never saw there because I almost said, oh, I had my blinders on
[18:39] SPEAKER_01: instead of being open to what that left hand turn could be. Yeah, exactly. Let's take the the
[18:44] SPEAKER_02: golf out of it for a second, but like, do you have any other hobbies interests? Oh, yes. So my
[18:51] SPEAKER_01: secret passion, I have two secret passions. My first secret passion is wake surfing. So if anyone
[18:57] SPEAKER_01: would follow me on social media, I started this over the pandemic. And so wake surfing is behind.
[19:02] SPEAKER_01: It's not in a set of boots that that's wakeboarding. It's wake surfing is behind your on a little
[19:07] SPEAKER_01: surfboard behind a boat. And there's no rope. And the boat creates a wave. And you basically only
[19:13] SPEAKER_01: goes about 10 miles an hour and you surf this wave behind the boat. Well, over the pandemic, I was
[19:18] SPEAKER_01: tired of seeing all this negativity on social media. So I wanted to do something just to make people
[19:23] SPEAKER_01: laugh and smile. So I always wear a life jacket. But under my life are over my life jacket. I put a
[19:28] SPEAKER_01: house coat on and a towel on my head and I had a golf digest in the cup of coffee. And I wake surf
[19:32] SPEAKER_01: with this. Well, this video went viral. People magazine picked it up, lays potato chips and Pepsi
[19:38] SPEAKER_01: for the Stanley Cup playoffs. So I've I've surfed in goalie gear. I did Toronto Raptors. I did a
[19:43] SPEAKER_01: Blue J's one, a golfing one. So anyway, so that's a secret passion. I find is I love wake surfing.
[19:49] SPEAKER_01: And then the other thing is I'm being a hockey mom. So my son Luke plays for the in the WHO
[19:54] SPEAKER_01: for the Red Deer Rebels. And this is actually his NHL draft year. So watching him from a little
[19:59] SPEAKER_01: timbit, you know, going through hockey and now to have an opportunity to potentially be drafted
[20:04] SPEAKER_01: in the NHL has just been this wonderful journey that I'm excited to go cheer him on.
[20:10] SPEAKER_02: So you give your son your your pat talk that you give and you're speaking?
[20:15] SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely. So he does. And what's really about what you really he sees he's he's
[20:20] SPEAKER_01: watching me at world long drive championships. He's watching me win. He's watching me fail. He's
[20:25] SPEAKER_01: watching me train harder and come back and succeed. So he's true. He's he's seen all of that.
[20:31] SPEAKER_01: And when he's been interviewed himself, he actually has credited having me as mom as a professional
[20:37] SPEAKER_01: golfer and watching me at the world class level and what it takes to compete against the best in
[20:42] SPEAKER_01: the world. And he said he's learned from that. And also I'm super proud of when he does interviews,
[20:46] SPEAKER_01: he's very well spoken because again, I he said that my mom's been a great role model for me. So
[20:52] SPEAKER_01: that's really cool as a mom's son because often it's the dads, you know, that maybe get that
[20:56] SPEAKER_01: get that opportunity to do that. But here my son gives credit to his mom.
[21:01] SPEAKER_02: I'm super cool. Well, thanks so much, Lisa, for joining us today.
[21:05] SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much for having me Mario. Love what you do. And being an entrepreneur,
[21:09] SPEAKER_01: it's the best choice I ever made. So I just can't say enough about it. And so for any of your
[21:14] SPEAKER_01: listeners who are are considering it or in it right now, he pushed it through because it's the
[21:18] SPEAKER_02: best thing I've ever done. Excellent. Oh, that was Lisa Longbow, the loose wig, who is founder and CEO
[21:25] SPEAKER_02: at leesalongbowl.com. I'm Mario Tone, Goosey, managing editor of Canada's podcast. Thanks for
[21:33] SPEAKER_02: joining us today.