No regrets: Irene Crowchild battles on to win her second long drive championship - CJWE
No regrets: Irene Crowchild battles on to win her second long drive championship - CJWE
Irene Crowchild with two championship cups from the International Long-Drive Championships, women's division. Photo by Travis Klemp, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
No regrets: Irene Crowchild battles on to win her second long drive championship
Irene Crowchild with two championship cups from the International Long-Drive Championships, women's division. Photo by Travis Klemp, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
“I don’t regret my past because it has brought me here today.” —Irene Crowchild
By Travis Klemp, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
“Without healing, getting sober must be hard as hell. If I didn’t have the opportunity to learn to love myself in treatment, things would be way different.”
In June of 2017, about three weeks into her treatment for her struggles with addiction, Irene Crowchild looked at herself in the mirror while brushing her teeth and for the first time in her life, loved herself, she told Windspeaker.com.
Today, she is the two-time international women’s Long-Drive Championship winner. In 2018 she was the first Indigenous woman to win the event, and she repeated that accomplishment this year over the Labour Day long weekend.
“It was a dream of mine since I was 16,” said Crowchild. “When I fell in love with golfing and realized I had some natural talent, it was all I wanted to do.”
Crowchild, 29, is a Dene woman who was born and raised in Tsuut’ina Nation just outside of Calgary. Growing up, she watched people around her struggle with alcohol and addictions and vowed to stay sober. And she did not have a drink until she was over the age of 18.
Things would ultimately change as she got older, she said, and her challenges with binge drinking led to her not touching her golf clubs for over two years. It also led to a suicide attempt in 2017.
In treatment, Crowchild learned that it was not the alcohol alone that pushed her to get help, but also years of abandonment and emotional issues that she learned she was dealing with.
Crowchild would unknowingly take her last drink in February 2017, four months before entering treatment. While there, she once again found her passion for golf and made it a goal of hers to compete in the competition when she was healthy.
Shortly after her grandparents picked her up from rehab, she won a fitness competition in Tsuut’ina and she used her winnings to travel south of the border and compete in a professional long-drive competition for the first time. Her grandparents also picked her up after she won that competition.
In 2018, Crowchild expected, or rather hoped for, a third-place finish at best. She did not have a coach, she was self-trained and it was difficult to figure out exactly how long her competitors were driving the golf ball.
“I knew I could hit it a long way, but it is tough to find scores online. I went in hoping for the best,” Crowchild said.
She won with a drive of 310 yards that year.
She was astonished by what she had accomplished and was proud of herself. But after she had won, she started to realize that her victory was much bigger than her.
“The support and response I got after I won was amazing. I started to think ‘This isn’t just for me. This is for Indigenous people and women everywhere.’ And that is a huge part of why I compete today. Everything I do is to represent my people.”
Everything is deliberate for Crowchild, including her choice of clothing to her Windspeaker.com interview, a brand started by her friend. The shirt she wears on competition day is a vibrant red to represent missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
“I’ve definitely learnt that everything happens for a reason. I feel like I have lost five or six years of my life and I am so motivated to make the most of it now and share it with the people who have been there for me throughout it all,” Crowchild said.
In 2019, Crowchild was sidelined from competition with a severe shoulder injury. The injury came from driving the ball, but also from her incredibly competitive nature that drives her to push through pain.
This year, there was no question that she would return to competition, hungrier than ever. She began working with a coach in 2019 for the first time at her home course, Redwood Meadows, and really worked on her swing and technique.
“I am so grateful for Mike. He trains me basically for free and I wouldn’t be here without people like him supporting me.”
Crowchild greets fans who want to congratulate her on her recent win or marvel at the exceptional force with which she hits the ball. She is humble and, in her soft-spoken way, laughs and says thank you to them before crushing the ball toward the horizon.
She won this year’s competition with a drive of 286 yards, despite 20 km winds and a range softened my rain and cold weather.
“I don’t regret my past because it has brought me here today. I’ve lost people along the way but the support I have now, the opportunity to compete, the chance to represent my people, is more than I could ever ask for,” Crowchild said.
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