So, I was tinkering in the garage yesterday, and my mind wandered back to John Daly. Specifically, him winning those two majors. It’s funny how things stick with you. The ’91 PGA Championship, him being the ninth alternate, just showing up and blasting his way to a win. Unreal.
Then there was the ’95 Open Championship at St. Andrews. Another wild ride. It got me thinking about times when you just throw the usual plan out the window and go for it.
My Own “Grip It and Rip It” Moment
It reminded me of this situation last summer with that stubborn tree stump in the backyard. It wasn’t huge, but it was awkwardly placed, right where I wanted to put a new flower bed. I spent a whole Saturday trying the ‘proper’ way.
- First, I dug around it, trying to expose the roots like all the guides say. Sweated buckets doing that.
- Then, I got out the axe and saw, trying to cut through the main roots. Tedious work, kept hitting rocks.
- After that, I tried leverage with a big steel bar. Just couldn’t get the right angle, the thing wouldn’t budge.
I was getting frustrated, covered in dirt, ready to just give up and plant around the darn thing. I sat there, looking at it, feeling beat. And somehow, the image of Daly just winding up and smashing a drive popped into my head. Not elegant, not careful, just pure commitment and power.
I thought, “What the heck.” I wasn’t going to blow it up or anything crazy, but the finesse approach clearly wasn’t working for me here.
Going Direct
So, I went back to the garage. Didn’t grab the axe this time. I grabbed the biggest sledgehammer I own. The one I rarely use because it feels like overkill.
I walked back out to the stump. Didn’t worry too much about the smaller roots I hadn’t cut. I just picked a spot on the main bulk of the stump. Took a deep breath, swung that heavy sledgehammer back, and brought it down hard. Not wild, but focused, putting my weight into it.
WHAM!
A satisfying thud. Did it again. And again. I wasn’t trying to be surgical anymore. I was just trying to break its will, loosen things up through brute force.
After about ten solid hits, focusing on cracking the main part, I grabbed that steel bar again. Wedged it underneath. This time, when I put my weight on it, I heard a crack. A real one. The whole stump shifted.
A few more heaves, and maybe breaking one or two more smaller roots with some direct hits from the sledge, and the thing just sort of ripped free from the ground. It wasn’t pretty. Left a bigger hole than I planned. But the stump was out.
Took me maybe 20 minutes of the ‘Daly method’ versus hours of the ‘proper’ way yielding nothing but sweat.
Sometimes, I guess, you just gotta stop overthinking, trust your gut, and hit it hard. Worked for John Daly winning those majors, and hey, it worked for getting that stump out of my yard. Rough around the edges, maybe, but effective.
