Grant Ritchie rose to introduce Lisa "Long-ball" Vlooswyk. After butchering and mispronouncing our esteemed guest's name, Grant went on to tell us about Lisa's career as eight-time Canadian Long Ball Champion. Her record drive of 350 yards, 2 feet and 2 inches was once a world record.

Lisa was a great motivational and interactive speaker with an amazing outlook on life and energy level second to none. She thanked President Karl for having her at our club and noted she has known Karl for many years through working at his Motive Action golf tournament and went on to tell us what we already know about Karl, a very professional, kind and wonderful person.

Lisa started off in ballet, but soon switched to gymnastics when she found the ballet a little to quiet and reserved for her. At the age of 13 her father introduced her to golf. But after one day on the links at a lesson she decided golf was not for her.

Several years later, her then boyfriend and now husband of over 20 years asked her to join him as he learned to play golf. She discovered she liked the sport. What is more, she found out she could drive the ball farther than anyone else.

In 1999, she volunteered at the DuMaurier Classic LPGA Tournament at Priddis and had the experience of her life. She then went on to be motivated through her volunteering with Special Olympics while being a school teacher. As she noted, she learned from Special Olympics that it wasn't the winning that counted but the journey to get there.

She then entered her first "long ball competition" with club from Costco. She lost! She was disqualified. She was heartbroken, but never gave up. After perseverance, setting goals and working hard, Lisa won the Canadian Long-ball championship and has held the title since! This year she came second in the Worlds! Today, she is a Nike sponsored athlete. She is also the only competitor to ever win (or compete) while pregnant.

Lisa's enthusiasm and amazing presentation wowed our members and guests. Finally, Karl had to "hook" her from the podium to end the meeting on time.

reported by Brent Barootes