Best Putters Of All Time Brad Faxon. You Want To Putt Better, Have A Listen-Sunday, -Golf With Jay Delsing

This is golf with Jay Delsing, a two-time All-American at UCLA, a participant in nearly 700 PGA Tour events, seven professional wins to his credit, over 30 years of professional golf experience, a member of the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. Golf with Jay Delsing. I'm Dan McLaughlin. That's Jay Delsing, and we're presented by Darty Business Solutions. And as always, Jay Bird, great to see you.

Lots to get into. Danny, this is going to be fun. We appreciate Darty. Guys, remember, we give away a dozen golf balls each week. Reach out to me, Jay, at jdelsinggolf.com. Put the word balls in the subject line somewhere along the line, and we'll send you a dozen TP5 golf balls. Danny, they're not a bad ball. Not a bad ball. Can they help me hit it straight?

Probably not. We keep the straight ones. When Jeff Thorne, Thorne, he sends us the ones that go straight, we keep them.

They're the ones we keep. I like that. Coming up on the show, eight-time winner on the PGA Tour, three times he led the PGA Tour in putting. Widely considered one of the best putters in the history of the game. Brad Faxon, I cannot wait to hear what he has to say about the state of putting in the game today on the PGA Tour and what it was like when he was out there on tour and a guy that you know quite well.

Oh, yeah, absolutely, Danny. We've been playing golf against and with each other since we've been 16 years old. And what I'm interested in, you know, he's Rory's putting coach now. And so we've seen a lot of highs and a lot of lows with Rory.

And so it's going to be fun. You know, Rory's won the FedEx Cup a couple of times. And it almost seems like when Rory holds putts, he wins. He's unbeatable because you know he's going to hit it. He's going to hit it a mile. It's just a matter if he can find the hole. And that's coming down to putting. Absolutely. And nobody, I mean, when Fax putts, it just, everything looks right. Even when he misses, it looks right.

It's like something happened and, you know, you just can't make them all. So it's going to be a blast. And he's a fun guy.

He's working for NBC Golf now and he was on the team with me at or I was on the team with him and Fox. And so, yeah, a lot of fun. So On the Range is brought to you by the Gateway section of the PGA and also Family Golf and Learning Center located in Kirkwood. And say hello to Adam Betts and tell him that we sent you there.

Okay. It's the final day of the memorial. And I know this is one of your favorite tournaments to play in when you were on tour for nearly 30 years. This is a great tournament.

Danny, so great. First of all, Jack Nicklaus, what can you say that hasn't been said about this guy, what he's done for the game, he and his wife, the play yellow thing, you know, it goes on and on in this memorial tournament. Every year, they memorialize some great in the game.

And there's a ceremony there. It's really cool. When I play there, there's a memorial book that I have on my bookshelves in my office that are that's it's just a phenomenal place.

The golf course is in immaculate shape. It's fun to play. It's super challenging. And man, there's been drama from the time that Tiger Woods hold that shot long and right of the 16th green with all that water there to Justin Thomas being in a playoff with with somebody both of them holding super long putts was maybe it's Patrick Cantilever, but lots of drama, lots of fun. You have met many times, Jack Nicklaus, I had the opportunity to interview him. It's one of my favorite interviews I've ever had in sports.

I don't care what sport you're talking about. It was just incredible to visit with Jack Nicklaus. So I'm curious when you met him the first time, what was that like? And what was it like to play with him to intimidating just because I'm like, I'm standing in the presence of greatness.

You know what I mean? Just remember watching him as a little boy on this little 12 inch black and white rabbit ear TV, you know, and watching him hit that one iron out of Pebble Beach and hitting the flagstick on 17. And then I'm thinking I'm standing next to you know, it's so it's kind of a surreal moment. He's such a nice guy.

I mean, he's obviously a fierce competitor. I competed with Jackie, he went to North Carolina and played college golf there. And so that was kind of the Jack has always been super kind to me. I think I mentioned to you, his mom sent me christening gifts for the birth. Oh, he's one of my four christening gifts from Barbara Nicholas.

And so it sent me Christmas cards every year. So I've always had this felt like this connection, you just pinch yourself and all those situations just walking into Norwood a couple years ago and have jack sitting there. You're like, Oh my gosh, you know, that's Jack Nicklaus, the greatest of all time sitting right there. Pretty amazing.

Now he would wear yellow on Sundays as a way to say hello to a sick boy. And that is the inspiration behind play yellow, the charitable focus on children, and he and his wife have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for children charities. Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, we've say this every time, but the game of golf, societal powerhouse that it is it raises money, hell, you've got a golf tournament that raised over $5 million in the 20 some odd years that you've done it, among so many other things. And the game is just it just amazing like that it gets a uniter, it gets people together. I mean, you and I go after the show and go play and have a blast.

And you know what, you never know what might happen out there. So Wednesday before the memorial is when the guys are interviewed. A lot of the media interviews are taking place on that Wednesday. And Rory McIlroy was asked about getting to the Ryder Cup what that means to him, but then his thoughts on LIV players playing in the Ryder Cup. I mean, I certainly think Brooks deserves to be on the United States team. I think with how he's played. I mean, he's second in the US standings, only played two counting events. I don't know if there's anyone else on the LIV roster that would make the team on merit and how they're playing. But Brooks is definitely a guy that I think deserves to be on the US team. But I have different feelings about the European team and the other side and sort of how that has all transpired. And yeah, I don't think any of those guys should be a part of the European team. Very interesting from one of the faces now, the PGA Tour, Rory McIlroy, no Euros, he says, and Koepka, he understands.

I find it really interesting. Well, Danny, if one of the Euros, Sergio Westwood Poulter would start playing well, Rory'd support him too. But those guys aren't playing well. Brooks just went out. Remember, he led the Masters after Saturday and didn't close it on Sunday, led the PGA. So he's two for two with leading on Saturday night this year and wins, you know, half of the events. And so I mean, hell yeah. How do you know?

How do you take that away from him? I mean, LIV aside, I think you made a good comment either that I think it was last week where the Masters showed that, OK, things cooled off a little bit. Let's just chill out a little bit. I needed to chill out. LIV pissed me off.

You know what I mean? It just I wanted to see the best players playing against each other all the time. And that's not happening.

Let's move on. OK, golf stills played. The majors are awesome.

And you're going to see a lot of great golf. And look, what Koepka did at Oak Hill, Danny, what are you going to say? Yeah, and he probably should have won the Masters, too, with the lead going into Sunday. So he feels that Koepka should be in.

And the Euros, at least right now, should not. Danny, and here's something that I think is important to know. One of the real reasons that Koepka jumped to live was because of the two knee surgeries. And he if you watch that Netflix series Full Swing, he is a shell of himself because he was feeling lousy physically.

His game was in a shambles and he took the money because I don't think he had confidence that his body was going to hold up this past week. We'll wrap up the first segment here with Fred Biondi. Florida Gator wins the NCAA championship. He shoots a 367, erased a five shot deficit. And what's interesting about him, he didn't really emerge on the scene until his junior year. What that tells you is sometimes it just takes a little bit to develop in the in the NCAA ranks in the game of golf. Absolutely, Danny.

And hang in there, man. The game is fickle. I mean, a PGA Tour player. Remember this, a PGA Tour makes 80 percent of his money in six tournaments.

Even the best of the best six events. Break it down. Get into the money list. Prove me wrong. I know I'm right. I've lived this life.

It's a hot when you're hot. You keep your foot on the gas and you got to try to take advantage of your good play because it'll run away from you just as quick. So again, Brad Faxon is coming up on the range brought to you by the Gateway section of the PGA and Family Golf and Learning Center. And it leads us to our tip of the cap.

Yeah, the tip of the cap is brought to you by our friends at Dean Team Volkswagen of Kirkwood three one four nine six six zero three zero three and Colin Burt count. Thank you for the support of the show and the tip of the cap segment. And we're tipping our cap to Jack Nicklaus, the Nicklaus family, the Nicklaus Foundation, Barbara, Jackie, Gary, Steve, all the kids. These guys are dedicated to growing the game, raising, as you said, hundreds of millions of dollars for communities all around us, hospitals just doing anything they can. So we are tipping our cap to the number one family in golf. And it's the Nicklaus's. And I got to tell you, there's a king of that family and it's Jack and there's a queen and it's Barbara and they stand side by side.

She's every bit as important as he is. So we're going to tip the cap and thank Colin and Dean Team Volkswagen of Kirkwood. And if you need me to introduce you to Colin, just reach out to me, Jay at JayDelsonGolf.com and I'll personally introduce you.

Colin will hook you up with a vehicle. That's Jay Delson. I'm Dan McLaughlin. This is Golf with Jay Delson presented by Darty Business Solutions. And up next, we visit with Brad Faxon. That was On the Range with Jay Delson. For news on the latest golf equipment tips and to ask Jay a question, log on to JayDelsonGolf.com.

Coming up, it's the front nine on Golf with Jay Delson. Darty Business Solutions, the title sponsor of the Golf with Jay Delson show is a leader in our community in so many areas. Do they have over 2500 teammates in over 30 states and three countries? Yes, they do. Are they the largest IT consulting firm in our area? Yes, they are. Are they the largest software developer in the St. Louis region?

Of course they are. But here are a few other important things to know about Darty Business Solutions. They are the presenting sponsor of the Ascension Charity Classic. They are the presenting sponsor and we're the first presenting sponsor of the advocate professional golfers event at Glen Echo that will be held there this year as well. They are also the founders of Access Point.

This is a community game changer. It builds diversity in the IT workforce. Hundreds of mostly African American women are getting 50 to $60,000 a year jobs right out of high school.

That's right, right out of high school. Ron Darty, company founder, chaired the 2023 Heart Ball this year. It supported the local American Heart Association chapters and raised over $600,000 in one evening.

These are more examples of the many things that Darty Business Solutions does in our community. The legends of golf returned to St. Louis in 2023. You won't want to miss one of the strongest fields in golf. Ernie Els, Steve Stricker, Bernard Langer, John Daly and many more when they compete for the 2023 Ascension Charity Classic title September 5th through the 10th at historic Norwood Hills Country Club. All proceeds benefit area charities. Together we were able to donate over $1 million to those most in need last year.

Visit ascensioncharityclassic.com. The official vehicle provider of the Golf with Jay Delsing show is the Dean team, the Dean team Volkswagen of Kirkwood. They provide me, Pearly and our families with all of our cars. The reason we went with the Dean team is because we could trust them. We knew at the Dean team, they were going to take care of us.

And they have. They made the entire car buying experience so simple. It was more than just simply selling us a vehicle. The Dean team made our car buying experience seamless and enjoyable throughout that entire process. The Dean team has a complete car buying steps done before you head into their showroom. They're ready to answer all your questions and set your mind at ease. When buying a vehicle at the Dean team, they offer new pre-owned and all the services included with your Dean team purchase.

When you're with the Dean team, they become lifelong friends. The Dean team, Volkswagen of Kirkwood located on Manchester road in Kirkwood, the Dean team. Family Golf and Learning Center. No matter your age or skill level, Family Golf and Learning Center located in Kirkwood has something for you. They've got it all PGA and LPGA instruction, double decker driving range, par three golf course, track man simulators, a large short game green design to help you with all your shots around the green, bunkers, rough and zoysia fairway pitching.

And now open the Tahoma Bermuda grass tees, the best turf to hit from in St. Louis. It's all at Family Golf and Learning Center. To schedule a lesson or to find out more, visit familygolfonline.com. That's familygolfonline.com. Family Golf and Learning Center.

We make St. Louis better at golf. This is The Front 9 on Golf with Jay Delsing. The Front 9 is presented by the Ascension Charity Classic, September 5th through the 10th at Norwood Hills Country Club.

Find out more at ascensioncharityclassic.com. This is Golf with Jay Delsing and we move to The Front 9 and we're presented by Doherty Business Solutions. That's Jay Delsing. I'm Dan McLaughlin and our guest, Brad Faxon, eight-time winner on the PGA Tour three times. Remarkably, he led the PGA Tour in putting average and he's widely considered one of the best putters in the history of the game. Hey, Brad, thanks for joining us. We certainly appreciate it.

Let's jump right into it. Simply put, how did you become such a great putter? You know, everybody says to me, you know, after I played for a long time, oh, you were lucky. You're a good putter.

And it really offends me that phrase or that term of being lucky. I grew up in Rhode Island where I am now and was a caddie as a youngster at this Rhode Island Country Club, which is a cool course that had lots of movement, an old Donald Ross-styled course. And as a caddie, I was reading readings for members at 12, 13, 14 years old. And you know, I think the best players in the world, the best putters in the world in particular, but this stuff kind of happens organically. You know, I wasn't taught to putt. I learned to putt. And I think there's a big difference there. Specifically, remember watching the putts of these members and seeing the dew line the ball made on the early Saturday and Sunday morning rounds.

I visualize that all the time and seeing how much of all broke, particularly at the end of the lost at speeds. You know, that was one way to do it. And I was, you know, not a kid that was given lessons. I was out on the golf course with my buddies and always playing golf. You know, we had that rule that we used to have that you came home the street lights are on. It was a great way to learn to play the game.

We had Curtis Strange on the show a couple of weeks ago, Andy North and even Tom Watson. And there's this common thread, because I know you and I grew up so much the same way playing all these other sports. And so did they.

And it's interesting how, you know, Hogan coined the phrase, dig it out of the dirt. But we did that didn't really even know it. It was just like, we just do whatever we could do to kind of compete and have fun. When you spend your time outside, things kind of evolve. Isn't it funny, you know, if you looked at so many of the great players, they all did play different sports, they didn't play different sports. So they would become better human beings, or they would become more well rounded or better golfers, they did it because they like sport. You know, I was a guy that played a lot of different racket sports, I played squash, I played table tennis, you know, I played hockey and baseball, like a lot of kids up here would have some of those little sports turned into be great eye hand coordination. They help with short game, learning club face control, particularly table tennis. And you think about some of our great players today that were great short game players, you know, you talk about the Ryder Cup room and the table tennis, you know, Phil Mickelson, Zach Johnson, Matt Kuchar was great tennis player, even tiger. And I think there's something to that.

And now maybe I don't know if this is disappointing, or just the way things change or changing. You see all these young kids now they specialize so early, and they don't get enough of this skill development. And I like to call it early on. When I think about you and putting and we played hundreds of rounds together and had so much fun playing. I can never remember a bad time when we were together and and I sit there and think of watching Michael Jordan shoot a free throw or some of the greats do anything.

Albert Puholt, or even Stan Musial. There's a common thread facts and these guys are relaxed. I see so many guys that don't putt well look like they're so uptight. If you listen to most of the great putters of all time and you go back and listen to someone like Ray Floyd, you know, they talked about being comfortable at address Crenshaw comfortable at address. Crenshaw in particular said he never tried to stay dead still, where I think sometimes when you try and be still, it can tighten you up. So many of the great putters were like you said, not only comfortable or relaxed, but they weren't overridden with swing thoughts. I think that I don't know if this is the never ending fault I see. But it looks like so many players today look like they're trying to read an instruction manual on how to do this. And I certainly don't think there's any instruction manual on how to tell you to be great at this. I have a woman that has a son that wanted to come for lessons and she goes, I want my son to spend two weeks with you in intensive putting training.

And just that note copy scared. I go, what? When you decided to make this a profession and Jay mentioned earlier, the great guests we've had on, they've all said, if I could do it differently, I would spend maybe 90% after my round on the putting green and 10% hitting balls after my round. Were you one of those guys had spent more time on your short game, your putting after a round? Or were you one of those players that went and pounded balls after your round was done?

Jay and I have talked about this. We're the only sport that practices on a field that's different than the field of play. I wasn't a guy that practiced too much.

Now this is going to sound terrible. I didn't practice putting much when I was at tournaments. But when I was, I think you have to figure out like a great gambler has to feel out, feel it out when they're at the casino, are they comfortable leaving the table? You know, when you get up enough to keep going forward or can you walk away? And I think for the best players in the world, and I've talked to Rory McIlroy about this, are you comfortable leaving the driving range? You know, do you, are you always trying to figure something out? And that's when I think when players get in trouble and when you're always trying to solve the riddle, I think you're never complacent.

You're always trying to search and that search mode's not, it can be a very dangerous thing at times. You mentioned Ben Crenshaw. Was he one of your biggest influences in terms of learning how to putt because of the things that he talked about with you? Did you apply that and was he one of your big influences in that regard of the game?

He was a huge influence and I'll tell you how. In the late 80s, he had already won his first Masters. I was at the Disney World Tournament. We played two courses back then, the Magnolia and the Palm. And it was a Tuesday afternoon.

A friend of mine who was an instructor, Jay, you'd remember the name Gary Smith, an English guy who used to work for Ledbetter, worked for ABC Sports as well. He had a video camera and desperately wanted to get Crenshaw's stroke on video. And Crenshaw happened to be on the putting green on the Palm course.

And I'm like, oh boy. So he asked me to go up and ask Crenshaw if he could get videoed. And Ben was nice as he could be and said, sure, come on, get after it. And then Ben admitted to both of us, unbelievably, that he wasn't putting that well. And I go, what?

Because I wouldn't have thought that, first of all, that he would ever not be putting great or that he would admit it to us through. He said, look, I'm putting at it too much, not through it. That was kind of like hard to decipher.

What exactly does that mean? He said, and I said, what do you do when you feel like that? He goes, well, I try to like, let my backstroke be longer than my follow through, which was kind of opposite of what we'd always heard. And then he goes, I try to allow or let my head and my knees move when I putt.

And then I think Gary Smith dropped the camera at the time. And I'm saying allow. I said, so you don't worry about it.

He said, no. He said, the putting strokes are mini swing. It's like little tiny chip shot.

There's not a lot of movement, but I don't ever try and freeze myself. And that just, I have some detailed statistics from when I was first starting the tour and back then they were a little rudimentary. They were just putts per green in regulation or putts per round.

But after that conversation with Crenshaw, I think I'm pinpointing it for 1988, I believe. And my stats were, I was kind of an average, maybe slightly better than average putter. And from almost that moment on, I hate to say soundly, I never finished out of the top 20 in my career for another 20 years after hearing that. Jay Bird, three times, he led the PGA tour in putting average. So absolutely.

And you know, it's interesting facts. The PGA tour's got some, some places that can be real pitfalls for certain personality types. I know that if I hung out on the range too long or on the putting green too long, it didn't do me any good. And when I got myself out on the golf course, I was much better off. I was more kind of in the creative mode. I liked putting balls in the left rough and seeing if I could hook something around a tree and things like that.

What do you think about that? I love that. I would say that I was always a player that was much better on the course than on the range. Even the week of the bastards, I would love to go out and I'd be happier playing 18 or 27 holes a day than to just sit on the range and just beat balls and think about my golf swing. I thought it was much easier to be more creative on the golf course to see the shots you would see in the tournaments.

And that was really good for me. When I started looking at swings on video, that was a warning sign or a danger sign, especially. I wouldn't say that my way was the right way or it wasn't the right way for Justin Rose or maybe a Victor Hovland. I can see lots of players doing a different style, but you have to find your way and you have to be happy with your way. So were there times, though, Brad, that you had drills that you said, I'm going to do this every day.

You mentioned being on the course as maybe being the best way to do this to get creative. But there's always drills that you hear about, especially from the pros. Were there drills that you were specific with and you said, I've got to do this daily as part of my routine? You know, I don't even like to use the word. I hate to say this. I don't like to use the word drills. Just the connotation of the word drill is something that makes me feel like I'm in a dentist's chair.

I kind of like games or exercises. I don't know. I did things early on, like a hundred putts in a row from three feet or four feet. It seems like nobody does that anymore. They have all kinds of different gadgets out there. They're trying to work with them. The importance of start line becomes critical to so many of them.

And we didn't have any of those devices or gadgets. We got very early on, we started maybe seeing chalk lines or little kind of boards that you could put the heel of your putter on. I think most of the stuff was really learning to do stuff on your own. And any of your questions, if there's stuff that I had to do every day, I would say that what I did the most consistently throughout my career was, you know, I would end my warmup on the practice screen by trying to hit some putts from around the hole, you know, the three or four foot or right to left, left to right, up or downhill, right? Hit, hit those and really go through my full routine, lining up the putt, the ball down the way I like to see it on the course, you know, taking my practice stroke and going through that whole process. If I could do that, I knew that when I first got on the course, it wouldn't be the first time I felt that that day. If you get to the point where you're comfortable enough, you could hit those four putts before you go to the first tee and make one or two or three of them and still be happy and confident when you got to the range. And if I was going to really, I mean, I'm sorry, to the course, if I left the course, that was the feeling I wanted to leave is that my routine felt good. Nothing else was more important than that. I'd call it a rhythm that I like to feel as I left the course.

And it didn't change much for a long period of time. I could add to that as a player, you would know, sometimes when you got, you know, we both used a lot of help from Bob Rotella, that when your head got in that right spot, your mechanics could improve without trying to improve your mechanics. To your point facts, when I played basketball, I couldn't wait to get a feel for that game ball to get because it never felt the same. Once I get a little sweaty, once I get a little adrenaline, I felt like I putted my best and I watched you putt a lot and tried to emulate a lot of what you did is I felt like there was this rhythm almost like into you and I on a basketball court and you're shooting and going around the key.

I'm retrieving the balls for you and I one bounce, you kind of step into that shot and let the ball go. And that's kind of how I felt when I putted my best. I love the similarity in certain parts of certain sports with what I like to feel like and what you're describing on the putting green. If you could keep it instinctual, athletic, like a free throw shot or like getting a pass off the pick, you know, a good tennis serve was similar to that where you had to start the ball in motion and start yourself from being still, you know, golf, you're not reacting to something moving as you could get, if you could get better as if the ball were moving, how would you feel?

And a lot of times I felt like my backstroke already started and I don't know how it started. Putter had already moved before I knew what had happened. Brad, is there a guy, and you're a commentator so we hear you all the time, is there a guy that you watch now and you say, ooh, I'm going to watch that guy. He's a hell of a putter. I just love the way he goes about it.

Is there somebody out there that you like to watch? You know, when you define the greatest putters or great putters, you know, they have to make a lot of putts, of course, that's obvious, but they have to do it, I would say consistently over a period of time, not just one year. You know, I would have said Jordan Spieth and Jason Day were fantastic putters, 2015, 2016. We never saw players make putts like they did. And the guy that seems to be showing up the most is this guy, Denny McCarthy, and you watch him and he looks free.

He looks athletic, doesn't look scared. When you're watching a player, the true mark to me is when you see somebody when they're not putting their best or playing their best, but they're still, they still have their composure together. And you know, I've spent the last five years talking about and working with Rory McIlroy.

He had finished outside, unbelievably finished outside of the top 115 putting three consecutive years and last year he finished 16th. And if you have the ability to hit it like Rory does and finish top 16 putting nobody else has a chance. The part of the game around the greens, on the greens, the real artistry part, it's hard to find that player that has that mix, isn't it? That can understand the hitting flaws and the challenges of not being able to hit it all that great, but still shoot a score.

It's kind of lost out there. It really is. You know, there's another young kid, young player really named Taylor Montgomery, who's hitting in stride this year in particular. It's funny, you know, you can look at his stats and see how good they are. And one thing that's hard to do is if you just looked at a person's putting stroke and predict whether they're going to be great putters or not, you know, I would say for myself, you know, as I started to improve as a putter, it's not like my stroke changed a lot, you know, kind of an indicator to me. It's really the technique isn't as important as the mindset, the preparation, the situational preparation, and the attitude players could have. You know, how would you say when you look at Jack Nicklaus and the way he set up to the ball, how crouched over he was, bent over he was, had him so far behind the ball, you know, it's something that wasn't a style that anybody copied or would copy. Even Crenshaw, he was the opposite. He was a little taller. He was leaned way to the left, his shoulders were open, his eyes pointed to the right, his hands were way forward at his dress.

It's not like those are copyable styles, but what they did worked for them. I just I love that about our sport so much, particularly putting and trying to get that through to anybody that I talk to about the game, that you have to be satisfied yourself, not for somebody else. And that's a big trick at times. Brad Faxon is our guest. Brad, if you can hold on during the break, we would really appreciate it. This is such good stuff. This is golf with Jay Delsing. Up next, we head to the back nine. This is presented by Doherty Business Solutions. That was the front nine presented by the Ascension Charity Classic.

Coming up, it's the back nine and more of golf with Jay Delsing. This is Jay Delsing. Did you know that Marcona is the largest authorized appliance parts distributor in the world? That's right, the largest in the world. Did you know that Marcona is based right here in our backyard of St. Louis, Missouri?

Well, that's pretty impressive. What's more impressive is the way that they get back to the St. Louis community and our region. CEO Jim Sowers has donated service dogs to the wounded service men and women of our armed forces.

Suites at St. Louis Blues Games have been donated and auctioned off in which all proceeds were given to the backstoppers. Then there was the Marcona Police and Firefighters Viewing Deck at the Ascension Charity Classic this past year. It was a huge success, so much so that it's being implemented on other tour stops around on the PGA Tour. To Jim Sowers and his incredible team at Marcona, we want to say thank you. Thank you, Marcona, a proud sponsor of the golf with Jay Delsing show. For the best in Italian cuisine in St. Louis, look no further than Paul Manos located in Chesterfield. It's traditional Italian cooking and their best ingredient.

It's their tradition. It's cooking like Paul's grandmother used to make and like his mother still prepares today. There are no corners cut at Paul Manos from greeting you at the door to the pasta you'll share with your family. Paul Manos is committed to bringing you their very best anytime you share a meal at their place.

It's Paul Manos located in Chesterfield. Powers Insurance and Risk Management combines 200 years of experience and cutting edge products to deliver exceptional service, value and clarity to their clients. Powers Insurance will deliver the highest quality property and casual insurance programs and strategic planning consultation services in the industry. Insurance can be overwhelming and confusing.

It can be tough to understand. Powers Insurance simplifies it for you and your business. Powers Insurance and Risk Management will partner with you by providing ongoing assistance, consultation and service that will help you control your insurance expenses and your workplace safety. Find out how Powers Insurance can help you. Visit powersinsurance.com.

That's powersinsurance.com. This is Paul Leisinger and you're listening to golf with Jay Delsinger. Delsinger and since 1975 Tom DeGrand and his children have founded and run the top golf store in all of St. Louis.

It's located on South Brentwood. The DeGrants and Pro-Am golf centers have been helping all of St. Louis play better golf through better equipment, lessons on the indoor simulators and by getting you fitted using the state of the art technology. Call 314-647-8054 and set up your personal fitting with CJ. He's the best and he will help you find the right equipment that's perfect for your game. For nearly 50 years St. Louis has trusted their games to Pro-Am golf.

Don't you think it's time to take your game to the next level? Call 314-647-8054 or visit them on the web at proamgolfusa.com. It's Pro-Am Golf. This is the Back Nine on Golf with Jay Delsinger. The Back Nine is presented by Pro-Am Golf located in Brentwood.

See what Pro-Am Golf can do for you. This is Golf with Jay Delsinger and we move to the Back Nine. We're presented by Doherty Business Solutions. That's Jay Delsinger. I'm Dan McLaughlin. Brad Faxon is our guest three times. He led the PGA Tour and putting average eight-time winner on the PGA Tour and he's been kind enough to hold on through the break. Now Brad, you mentioned working with Rory. You're also doing some TV work for the PGA Tour.

I want to ask you, I'm assuming you have guys coming up to you all the time and they ask you, can you please help me with my putting? Well, it's a real compliment when it does. I've had a lot of nice phone calls. When I got that call from Rory five years ago, I got nervous. Here's one of the best players.

I don't want to mess this guy up. Because of that, it's got me some popularity. It's because he's improved, not because I'm a great instructor.

He got better. I think a lot of times the teachers get too much credit and too much blame. I don't really travel out on tour. I don't think I have time to be the full-time putting instructor, but when you're talking to friends like you guys or to other players that are really trying to achieve at the highest level, it's a real high talking to other people about it. We would be remiss if we didn't talk a little bit while we have you on the show. And again, thanks for joining us about the great charitable work that you've done. The CVS Charity Classic with Tom Ryan and Billy and just some of the other things. Talk to us a little bit about all the great work. I know you have your own Junior Golf Foundation, and some other things like that. Seems like, you know, every player, once they get out on the tour, they see each week what the tour does for the different charities and the communities where the events are played.

These guys are good. You know, our slogans have been fantastic. The billions of dollars that have been raised.

And I think it helps, Jay, when you grow up in a small place like Rhode Island, small towns like Andrade and I did, you know, I'm in Barrington, Billy's in Bristol, 10 minutes apart when we started. And it's funny you're asking that now. It's about the 25th anniversary of, well, it's more than that now. It's a 30th anniversary of the Andrade Facts and Charities for Children. We started doing a golf tournament for the Meeting Street School, which is a school Billy's brother had gone for underprivileged kids. We kept that going for a long, long time. We raised close to $10 million. We're having a big event this summer in July here at Billy's home for, you know, past donors and many of the celebrities that we've had play in our tournament. And in the middle of our great run, that's when CVS Pharmacy and Tom Ryan, you mentioned him, who was the CEO of the company for so long. We kind of mimicked Peter Jacobson's event, the Fred Meyer Challenge out in Portland, Oregon, and started one here. And that went crazy for 20 plus years until COVID came along. We raised over, you know, very close to $25 million for all different kinds of charities in our state.

So I hate to sit, you know, we never really brag about it. But I mean, it's really been something remarkable we've been able to put together. And I think this game of golf is really the only sport in the world that seems to be able to put these athletes together, these celebrities together, the successful businessmen around.

Everybody seems like that has any kind of a heart, wants to help out the needy. And we in particular, went after children's charities here. I mean, it's hard to drive down the street here and not see some place or something that we haven't had an impact to. And I think when you will hear in your final days, you know, you look at maybe all the great places you've gone or trophies you won playing golf, but at the end of the day, the other things mean so much more, don't they?

We've known each other for ever. And to think about how fortunate we are and how this game that we both love and had no idea it was going to be such a charitable powerhouse. I mean, you talk about the PGA Tour raising billions of dollars, the work that you've done in Rhode Island and in Florida and other places, tens of millions of dollars, and it didn't have to go this way. I mean, I had no idea when we got our cards. I think you got yours in 83. I think I got mine in 84 and had no idea that we'll be sitting here talking to one another too many years past thinking, look at some of the cool stuff that's happened. I think the great thing is we didn't really try to plan any of that, Jay, did we?

I mean, it just kind of happened. You travel this journey and, you know, you meet a successful businessman. We got lucky that CVS was in the top 10 fortune companies and just happens to be in Rhode Island. It was an avenue to raise money to have fun, really. It was a good way for them to continue to do business with the suppliers at CVS.

It was just something we never really, I don't know, we didn't, I don't know, we probably dreamed of it, but we never put a timeline on how long that might last and I think anybody else would have done the same thing. Brad, do you enjoy the commentary? Is that something that obviously keeps your hand in the game along with helping Rory McIlroy, but is the commentary something that you enjoy as well?

I have actually loved it a lot of different ways. You know, like Jay, we played for so long on the tour, you know, 25 or 30 years of traveling around, you know, trying to raise daughters. And I had gotten to the point where I just, I played a few years on the Champions Tour and said, I don't know if I want to play 25 weeks. It seemed to be the same guys out there that already beat me all the time anywhere. New guys that were more motivated.

And I think this was a different avenue to go. And this year having this combination of doing some work for NBC and golf team and Sky Sports, some as an announcer, some as an analyst, was just the right amount of work. It balances out with the amount of teaching that I'm doing, very little bit of playing that I'm still doing, you know, the other charitable work, family stuff, it's really rewarding. You know, when I when I remember facts when we were together at the Fox golf team was how hard you worked at getting next to the players trying to just get a little bit of a tidbit here at this that hit there when, you know, these guys get into competition and they get near the lead or something and you'll be able to draw on that and that comes through and the stuff you do. And I think it really lends a lot to the broadcast. I think, you know, everybody has a perspective that they can bring to the viewer. I learned early on at NBC my first year in 2010 that Tommy Roy are very emotional and extremely talented producer. Don't don't say anything on TV.

Obvious to the viewer, you know, and it's so easy to just, hey, there's the shot, there's where it landed, there's where it stopped, which, you know, the TV shows so well. And I think a lot of times you have to find, you know, talk to players, you know, what they're thinking, what their swings look like. I think one of the added benefits to being around Rory is not only being around with the greatest guys in the world, but one of the most talented players is I think there's a some respect from other top players. You know, a lot of times when you're in the media and, you know, you walk out in the range, players are just running away from the media. Guys, I don't want to talk to him.

And I don't think I threatened those guys. Maybe that's something that's been a benefit from being with Rory. That's been a good thing. I played with Rory last week. And yeah, guys who by 80 yards, it's nothing I've ever seen. You know, and I think I'm not one of these guys that the trees were bigger back when I came through and I think it's the coolest thing I've ever seen. I still like being out there and learning every single day.

And that's what gets me out of bed. When I had Rory at Oakmont, I'd never seen anything like it. Honestly, facts, I thought he was skying his driver. His driver launches at least 15 degrees, probably a little more now. And it's, in my opinion, he's the model driver as well as DJ can drive the ball and, and annihilate a golf course. Rory just seems to have that much more control. But I've never seen a ball fight like that.

Facts ever. No, it's funny you say that because I was playing with a couple of my buddies with Rory out of the Grove, you know, where he plays Michael Jordan's cool course. We watched him on the second hole. It's a 379 yard par for there's no wind and we watched this tee shot go up in the air. You almost lose sight of it.

It goes up higher than any window you'd ever imagined. You know, we hit our shots and you look 60 yards up there, 70 yards up there and his ball was eight feet behind the pin. For a two and you know, I have a 78 yard sandwich coming in after a nice drive and I'm like, what is going on?

It's just amazing. And you know, he's been, he's a freak off the tee. You know, he's five, nine or 10, he weighs 170, maybe a little bit more than that. But he's always had speed even when he weighed 150 pounds.

And some of that you're blessed to have some of it, you improve upon having great technique. You know, when I played, I looked at ways when I could go on a tee that I didn't have to hit a driver. He's got the driver, the head cover off when he's on the hole before. Facts, the drive he hit it.

I think it was this year down in, in, um, down in Texas for the match play. He drove it four feet from the hole on the 18th Austin country club is a pivotal hole in the match. Obviously we get to the 18th hole in the match play and what was so cool for me is I was doing the broadcast that day with, I was calling that tee shot and it was, um, I was with Steve sands and, and when you hit the tee shot, you saw the tracer and the traces are great innovation for golf broadcasting and viewers. And when that ball took off, you know, you could, you could see the flight and see it right online from having watched.

And it flew 350 yards in front of the green was three 49 at the end of the yard on the green. And then it was like he was playing the break as it came up onto that second tier Rory's really become in many ways, the face of the PGA tour and been vocal about the benefits of the PGA tour. And I think Brad, we'd be remiss if, if we didn't ask you about LIV and, and some of these guys jumping and you're obviously intimately intimately involved with the PGA tour. So what are your thoughts about these guys going to LIV? He has had a burden on his shoulders that I hope that other players, other top players, and I think they will, you know, Justin Thomas has been very vocal.

Um, I hope, I hope that John Ron steps up Scotty shuffler so that Rory doesn't have to be the only one doing this. I mean, the PGA tours response to this LIV golf tour is, has been remarkable. What would the tours put together so quickly for these players?

And you, you see these leaderboards at these elevated events. It's nothing like we've ever seen before, except for major championships. And I think if there was some way we could start this all over again, I would, I would hope that the Saudis would have said, Hey, look, we have a lot of money. We want to get involved in the game, but it always seemed to me that it wanted to be more of a hostile takeover.

It didn't seem that they were trying to work friendly with us. And, you know, I would say if you went back to Greg Norman's idea back in the early nineties at the shark shootout, I believe in 1994, you know, he had an idea to try and do some of these events. Uh, seven of them, I was hanging in the room there and Arlen was there. Jack was there. Nick Price's best friend was there.

And I'll never forget that day. And none of the players wanted to do it unless it had the blessing of Tim Finch and the new commissioner at the PGA tour. And, um, you know, Greg kind of walked away and the next morning, the paper said, Norman announces world golf idea and players unanimously agree.

And I'm like unanimously, they unanimously disagreed. And I think he's had to stand better against the tour for a long time. Even when he found this backing in some of the players that are on a live tour have said to some friends of mine, uh, that they play with that.

They're not sure whether there's going to be no live golf next year, if they're going to triple down and put another billion dollars into it. So it's interesting. It's really, really interesting. So appreciate your time. So appreciate the insights. Love listening to you. Love having you on the show, man.

Best of luck in Rhode Island. I know there's some heavy life stuff going on, but, but hang in there. Appreciate you joining us today.

You guys that's too quick, too easy. Um, hopefully we can do it again later in the season. That's Brad Faxon and there is a ton to get into our thanks to Brad. Very kind with his time, his comments there on LIV to putting, whether you're the average golfer or on the PGA tour, very interesting stuff. That's Jay Delsing.

I'm Dan McLaughlin. We'll head to the 19th hole and that's coming up on Golf with Jay Delsing presented by Darty Business Solutions. This has been the Back Nine presented by Pro-Am Golf. We'll make the turn into the clubhouse and head into the 19th hole. That's next on Golf with Jay Delsing.

Hey guys, Jay Delsing here and listen up. Remember this name, Redbird Heating and Cooling. That's Redbird Heating and Cooling 314-320-9507. This is a family owned and operated St. Louis business. Owner and CEO Jed Dickinson leads their apprenticeship program called the Veterans Vocational. He will teach and sign off on educational and mechanical work hours while you get licensed as you get paid working for the company. That's Redbird Heating and Cooling 314-320-9507 or RedbirdHVAC.com.

Start your new career as a licensed HVAC specialist with Redbird Heating and Cooling. Family Golf and Learning Center, no matter your age or skill level. Family Golf and Learning Center located in Kirkwood has something for you.

They've got it all. PGA, LPGA instruction, double decker driving range, par 3 golf course, track man simulators and so much more. This is St. Louis's premier practice facility. To schedule a lesson or to find out what they can offer you and your family, visit familygolfonline.com. That's familygolfonline.com. Family Golf and Learning Center. Hey, this is Jay Delsing for SSM Health Physical Therapy. Our golf program has the same screening techniques and technology as the pros on the PGA Tour use. SSM Health Physical Therapy has the Titleist Performance Institute trained physical therapist that can perform the TPI screening on you as well as use a KVEST 3D motion capture system. Proper posture, alignment, etc.

can help you keep your game right down the middle. We have 80 locations in the St. Louis area. Call 800-518-1626 or visit them on the web at ssmphysicaltherapy.com.

Your therapy, our passion. The Legends of Golf return to St. Louis in 2023. You won't want to miss one of the strongest fields in golf. Ernie Els, Steve Stricker, Bernard Langer, John Daly and many more when they compete for the 2023 Ascension Charity Classic title September 5th through the 10th at historic Norwood Hills Country Club. All proceeds benefit area charities. Together we were able to donate over 1 million dollars to those most in need last year.

Visit ascensioncharityclassic.com. This is golf with Jay Delsing and let's head to the 19th hole. The 19th hole were presented by Darty Business Solutions, Jay Delsing, Dan McLaughlin, Golf with Jay Delsing. What a visit there with Brad Faxon. I want to jump into this right away. What caught my attention and you know there was a lot especially in putting but what he said at the very end there about LIV and will it stick around even to the point of next year. I know Danny and you know hanging around Rory what'd he say for the last five years he's been his putting coach and what how about those results having Rory so many times stay out of the top 125 and 150 150 and put and then and then to have him you know finish inside the top what was it 20th or something like that i mean it's top 15 that's pretty impressive not bad at all but what's going to happen with LIV what's going to happen with the money are they going to dig back in and dig another what do you say a billion dollars out or is this thing gonna i mean only time's gonna tell but i just go back to the general murkiness of all of the information we don't know what the contracts look like we don't know i mean look at what happened with their tv deals with the cw it just it just all looks lame yeah you know it's not even moving the needle right now on television and essentially that's what's going to drive the bus is what kind of ratings you can get then going to your advertisers and drying up trying to drive up the the revenue in that way yeah and and so now they're talking about some sort of pay-per-view thing and that's not gonna fly i mean it's just so so there's a lot a lot that needs to be done there they're talking about some sort of relegation like how are they gonna how are they gonna supply new blood onto that tour like for the guys that aren't playing well and and so it's going to be interesting to see but i i think this summer watching that we got two more majors we got you know the us open at father's day and then we have the british open in july it's going to be really interesting around that july mark to see what is going to happen and and what what that all looks like all right is a guy that played a long time on the pga tour i'm assuming that even what brad factson had to say got your attention about putting oh man i want i all i all i can think of is going out to putt i mean the the the ben crunshaw angle and having ben say that he was putting kind of at it instead of through it and and we've all had that that time you know where it almost feels like the the putter just doesn't it's stuck or it doesn't swing through the putt and then to have ben say he was trying to move and just kind of the thing that i took away from it danny was to relax get those hands on the putter so that it feels good and and start from there and so hell i can't wait to putt right now so he said i don't like the word drills but at times he would make 103 footers in a row and i've heard you talk about drills maybe not necessarily like you don't like the word grind but there is a a way to do this in a way to get better and a way to practice your putting yeah there's no doubt and i mean the putting the the making the the 103 footers in a row and going through that is the discipline that it takes you do your routine every single time and you have some focus on there so that you set these goals and then you attain those goals and it builds confidence and i mean that's really what we're talking about here is how the heck do we build confidence so that we can stand over this putt and think we're going to make it 99 of what he said is between your ears and how he said what i took away from it danny was like it didn't much matter what sort of technique he felt like he implemented it was more about did i could i deal with the the fear of not making it and trying to putt to make every putt instead of not to miss huge distinction there's a lot of golfers obviously listening to our show and you still teach give us quickly some drills that you implement with your whether it's a young player older player doesn't matter what are some of the things that you do with putting okay so for a long putt one of the my favorite drills is to go through your routine and right before you get ready to strike a putt and this has to be from 30 feet or beyond is look at the hole and just stroke and then because when you take your eyes off the ball first of all it's alarming second of all all you have to senses wise is the feel of the ball and the putter connection and so it gets you plugged into that and it also lets you know that you don't have to be looking at the ball to hit good putts i mean think about this danny even the the problem with the the difference is the the putter and the ball aren't connected to one another but when we shoot a free throw we're looking at where we go we're not looking at our hand and when we you know so that's one of the one of the differences there and then i like for amateurs i've said this before but i love the clock drill from two feet from three feet and from four feet you take four balls around the hole symmetrically around the hole and you putt from two feet and you hold all all four two footers and then you go from three feet and you hold all three all four three footers and then you go from four feet and hold all four of those and at any point in time if you miss you have to start over and the best the best about that drill is that you're you're likely going to miss somewhere along the line and that puts pressure on you to keep your focus and to make you want to go on to do something else because you don't want to spend all day there this has been a lot of fun our thanks to brad factson and j uh i'm gonna re-listen to that interview because i gotta take in some of those things and i love the mental aspect of what he was talking about putting the mental side of it danny that's that's the key if you get your mind in that right spot you know the other athletes talked about talk about the processes all the time and this is what the process is as a putting you're gonna you're gonna putt to make every putt and you're gonna be able to get freed up in a certain way so that you can trust yourself and stroke freely through the ball and that's as good as you can do and then you have to then you have to be prepared that if it didn't go in you get to do it again and again and again until you start building some confidence that's the processes this is awesome thanks as always i love it i can't wait let's go putt and how do we end the show hit them straight st louis and let's knock a putt in now dirty business solutions the title sponsor of the golf with j delsing show is a leader in our community in so many areas do they have over 2 500 teammates in over 30 states and three countries yes they do are they the largest it consulting firm in our area yes they are are they the largest software developer in the st louis region of course they are but here are a few other important things to know about dirty business solutions they are the presenting sponsor of the ascension charity classic they are the presenting sponsor and we're the first presenting sponsor of the advocate professional golfers event at glenn echo that will be held there this year as well they are also the founders of access point this is a community game changer it builds diversity in the it workforce hundreds of mostly african american women are getting 50 to 60 000 a year jobs right out of high school that's right right out of high school ron darty company founder chaired the 2023 heart ball this year it supported the local american heart association chapters and raised over 600 000 in one evening these are more examples of the many things that darty business solutions does in our community for the best in italian cuisine in st louis look no further than paul manos located in chesterfield it's traditional italian cooking and their best ingredient it's their tradition it's cooking like paul's grandmother used to make and like his mother still prepares today there are no corners cut at paul manos from greeting you at the door to the pasta you'll share with your family paul manos is committed to bringing you their very best anytime you share a meal at their place it's paul manos located in chesterfield hey st louis delsing here call redbird heating and cooling or visit them on the web at redbird hvac.com to become part of their team they offer great pay and the opportunity to become a licensed hvac specialist while you work for them this is a fantastic opportunity to earn a great wage don't wait call them today 314 320 9507 that's 314 320 9507 redbird heating and cooling family golf and learning center no matter your age or skill level family golf and learning center located in kirkwood has something for you they've got it all pga lpga instruction double decker driving range par 3 golf course trackman simulators and so much more this is st louis's premier practice facility to schedule a lesson or to find out what they can offer you and your family visit familygolfonline.com that's familygolfonline.com family golf and learning center hey jay delsing here and i'm privileged to have darty business solutions as the title sponsor for the golf with jay delsing show every sunday 9 a.m tune in for all the latest in the world of golf and don't forget to send me an email jay at jaydelsinggolf.com to enter to win a dozen tp5 golf balls that we give away each week that's golf with jay delsing sunday mornings at nine you