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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.
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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.
