Blues Defenseman Colton Parayko-Sunday, -Golf With Jay Delsing

This is golf with Jay Delsingh. A two-time college 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. This is Golf with Jay Delsingh. We formatted the show like a round of golf.

The first segment is called the On the Range segment. It's brought to you by the Gateway section of the PGA. I want to thank them for supporting the show again. There's over 300 men and women across this area that are working so hard to enhance our golf experience.

So we appreciate them. We're also giving away each week a dozen TP5 golf balls. Thank you to my buddy, Jeff Thornhill. To enter, just send me an email. Jay at jdelsingh.com. We will put you in that drawing.

TP5 golf balls. A dozen a week. That's pretty cool, bro. I'm waiting for mine, just for the record. I'm waiting for mine. Did you send me an email? No, but I'm your buddy. What the heck? What's going on here? I'm a rule follower.

I want to thank Bob and Kathy Donahue at Donahue. You're a rule follower. Wait a second. Wait a second.

I'm doing an ad. I know you are, but wait a second. You're a rule follower since when?

Oh my God. No, I hate rules. We have to stay hitting someone close to the freaking truth here. I hate rules.

I hate rules. No question about it. I was trying to slip that one past the goalie and you caught it.

Yes, I did. Anyway, what you didn't catch is that we skipped completely over social media, which I know you're delighted about it. I am too, but I am also delighted to have Bob and Kathy Donahue support the show at Donahue Painting and Refinishing 314-805-2132 for the inside or the outside of your home. These are great human beings and they do a great job. Alright, so John, first and foremost, our Gateway Spotlight this week is Brian Main. He's a professional at Whitmore Country Club. They're doing some great stuff at Whitmore.

Brian was very instrumental in the Gateway Hope program for the veterans. Really cool. Last week, we had David Farity on the show who incorrectly said that Jon Hamm was going to be playing when he comes to St. Louis on September 28th.

That is incorrect. It's going to be Marshall Faulk instead. We got a little Hall of Famer standing in.

Marshall Faulk will be playing for the group along with Brett Hull, Chris Pronger, the Wizard, Ozzie Smith. I've got an interview with Colt 55, hello, star defenseman for the St. Louis Blues, instrumental in bringing the first cup to St. Louis. Really a fun guy, good guy, big dude.

Six foot six, 230 pounds. Pretty fun. It was a great interview. It's so interesting that you know, these hardcore, tough hockey player guys that he just seemed like such just a nice guy, like a nice neighbor, nice guy.

And it was fun to listen to the story of how he got there. And I did do a little sleuthing about some of the things that are said about some of the hockey players, I don't know, by some media people. So I want to talk to you about that too. But I did some research on that because UCLA in the athletic department is absolutely dying on the vine financially. Dying on the vine financially.

In debt. I did, I read a couple articles and it's so interesting because we know what that was like when we were at UCLA. Pearl, we had, we got one golf ball per tournament. We didn't get shoes until like our junior year.

We got a pair of slacks and a couple of lousy golf shirts and maybe a sweater if we were lucky. We remember how that was. And it's interesting, John, because if they, the articles that I read said that if they didn't do something like this, they were going to start losing non rev sports and golf could have been one of them. Wow. Could you ever imagine UCLA losing their golf program? No, you know, that's where you just wonder who's watching the, the bank account.

Who's watching the shop back there with that, with that name, that brand. That's, that's just so sad to hear. Yeah. Anyway, I just wanted, that was a little, a little sidebar. All right. So John, um, where do you want to start? Let's start with LIV. How weird is it?

Okay, but we can't go. Everybody's going crazy on LIV. So as usual, you and I have to take a little different tack, but what do you got up your sleeve on LIV? I think the amazing thing is, is the, the, the biggest character in the room is also the only guy that's really telling the truth and it's Pat Perez. Yeah. And that's best like today's society. So who doesn't think this is all about the money?

Who doesn't think that everybody knows, except the players are not going to say it. Right. Wow.

Just absolutely brutal. And Paul Casey just defected and went over after representing UNICEF for all those years. So it's a pretty interesting situation, but you know, they had their second event in Portland last week, went straight up against the John Deere. Their, their numbers were poor again with their, with their streaming.

But it's interesting to see how this is going to play out. Phil Mickelson, I don't know if he beat anybody last week. He was absolutely awful. Some of these guys have read an article about Graham McDowell, who is shocked at how much backlash he's received from this. He had to skip the Irish open last week because he had to play in the LIV event in Portland. Cause it's all or nothing with LIV unless you're hurt. He got scathing social media responses from the Irish folks that he wasn't there to play in his native national open. Tour players heads are in the clouds most of the time.

So I'm not surprised that some of them are getting absolutely lambasted and surprised on this kind of stuff. You know, there's just another guy and I'd like Graham McDowell through the years for sure. But there's another guy is he's he's done way on the done anyway. So here's my trivia question for the week. Who's the highest ranked player, world ranked player on LIV? And what is his rank?

It's DJ, but I don't know. I think he when he moved over there, it was he was 13. So he's probably slid down some 16. So the best player they've got is 16. How many tournaments on the tour survive if you don't have anybody in the top 15? Anybody in the top 15 in the world playing in the year event. We know the tiger influence as great as the tour is. Tiger is the only one that really moves the needle. Then of course, the top couple of guys after that somewhat silly. We don't have any of that any of the top 15, you know, who are they kidding?

I'll tell you, Jay, I could play person after person that really doesn't know much about golf, that has heard this controversy with LIV. And their question is, what's in it for the Saudis? What? They're never going to get this money back.

It's not going to be successful that way. What are they keep saying the only thing I can think of is it's some kind of a PR thing and to try to change their, their their brand, if you will. I don't know what else what the heck else it could be. I don't either. I have no idea. I don't know.

I here's the thing that that irritates me about this. Every single thing about this tour is murky. You never know is are they getting their money? Are they not getting their money? How long are they playing for?

Nothing is Trent. There's so little transparency in this thing. And it's like, how long are the Saudis committed to this as long as they want? Right. And it might be tomorrow.

Yeah, it's strange. Hey, let's talk about something real positive. If you're done with that. I'm talking a little bit about JC Poston that really got it done. Really a great job really got his first win. I think that's his second win on tour. Correct. That was a huge win for him. wire to wire man.

Why are not easy to do. john wire to wire is definitely artists. I've been fortunate a couple of mine.

My bigger wins were wired to wire and you slept on the lead and you had it for three days. And I was so impressed with just his demeanor. He's he looked. I know inside he was probably is he was doing handsprings and cartwheels and with his gut, but he looks so calm and so relaxed. And he had a lot of quality shots down the stretch. You know, Johnny, I think he birdie.

I think he went to birdie in 17. He hadn't made a birdie from like the fifth hole on, you know, and to stay that steady and to stay that patient, you know, you've been with me before. It's easy to get jumpy and try to start forcing things. They make it look easy out there.

But yeah, when you're just a little bit jumpy. You can't make birdies out there. The setup is just too hard.

The greens is just too difficult to do that kind of stuff. He just has a great demeanor about it. I just thought it was cool.

I like watching afterwards. I'm sappy that way. You know, when they get the interviews, and you know, they talked about all the people that supported them and that kind of stuff. And what a big deal it is. It's just it's just an emotional piece.

And I don't know, I don't know if some sales guy that would be out there on the road for five years and finally get the Haymaker sale that he was trying to get for all these years. You know, if somebody put a microphone in front of his face, he'd probably be emotional about it, too. But it's just fun to see these guys. And he it was fun for him. One of my favorite things he said was something like I worked my ass off for this. You know, he's like, hey, I worked for this. And he felt good about it. It was just it was exciting to hear what he had to say in his perspective.

And he seems to be a well respected player out there. But he's got to keep working in to know that this wind gets him into the Masters, and does all of those things for him. JOHN, there's so much more to it than that money. So much more to it. And there's pride in the end and the record books and things like that. So much more to it. And the British Open from this event, too, I think I think there's two or three guys who got to go, you know, and I like to watch that.

I think unless you're into golf, though, you don't know some of those kind of subplots, those those smaller stories to the side. But that's one thing that John Deere has done for forever is kind of give that up and coming person that first opportunity for that win. So the other guys to get make some money where they can keep their card. Talk about that a little bit, Jay. Yeah, it's so obviously the john Deere does not have the strongest field on tour, right?

It was not a super strong field. And it gives these other players this opportunity in a full field event with all of the FedEx Cup points all he still made $1.3 million, I think for winning. I mean, our buddy Chris Nagel, shout out to negs finished tied 24th made $97,000 this week. Isn't that awesome?

Just absolutely fantastic. And he had a shot to over on Sunday, man, if he turns around and shoots a little. Oh, man, it's right there for him.

He could have he could have really done some damage, but good for negs. And you know, john, there's stories like that up and down the leaderboards on these events. And it happens all the time. This week, the boys are playing at the Scottish Open, which is the Genesis Scottish Open, which is now a PGA Tour, co sponsored event where you get FedEx Cup points and things like that for and there's an event opposite at barbers all in Kentucky. And it's another opportunity. The FedEx Cup points are slightly smaller, and a little bit of a modified version of the golf ranking points. But Jen, it's still some young man's career that something's going to happen to him and could change his life, his career trajectory, his confidence and the whole thing. Yeah, and it's not just the winner. It's the guy that gets the chance to play on tour to get his first rounds under his belt.

Maybe go out there like like Nagel did and have that one heck of a tournament and all of a sudden have a different inspiration to kind of work on his game and see things to see the potential, man, because I don't know how many people realize this. And again, we can always liken this to regular people in regular business. You're grinding away. And sometimes you need a break. Sometimes you need something to happen good for you get the big order, get the acknowledgement for the boss, whatever the case is. And that's the opportunity these guys have. And it doesn't it's not front page stuff often. But it sure is important to these guys. And so it's fun.

It's fun to to follow and see what the heck they can do. All right, we're gonna do the tip of the cap segment is brought to you by the Dean team Volkswagen of Kirkwood and my buddy Colin burn 314-966-0303 brilliant are both driving vehicles from count. If you need a vehicle, any sort of car, you could call Colin or you can just reach out to me J J Delson golf.com I'll personally introduce you to call and that's the sort of guy Yes, I'm tipping my cap today to the teaching professional. You know, Pearl, I walked over and I watched these guys long, long hours, super hot days right now. Out on that driving range eating slices and hooks and tops and all that stuff.

And they stand in there with good attitudes, helping Mrs. Haverkamp try to get the ball in the air and helping their members try to increase, you know, their enjoyment of the game and help with their golf game. Man, I tell you, and then I looked over and I saw, I saw Jody and Bobby over at Norway, they're two of the best in the business out on the range helping people every day. My hats off to the teaching probe my hats off to both the Jody and Bobby and, and I want to thank Colin Bert at the Dean team Volkswagen of Kirkwood 314-966-0303.

That was the tip of the cap. Don't go anywhere. Pearly and I'll be back for more of the front nine. This is golf with Jay Delson. On the range is presented by the Gateway section of the PGA Find out more at PGA.com I am proud to welcome the Gateway section of the PGA back to my show, whether you're pulling into your favorite driving range, public golf course or country club, there is an excellent chance that the staff there is part of the over 300 men and women PGA professionals at over 100 facilities that make up our Gateway section. I grew up watching so many of these fine men and women getting to the golf course at dawn, leaving at dusk, spending their entire day running events, giving lessons and growing this great game PGA reach drive chip and putt PGA hope and the fantastic PGA junior league are a few of the examples of the programs run by these same PGA professionals go to gateway PGA.org to learn more or to find your next PGA professional for your next lesson.

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The front nine is coming up. Folks, do you need a new car truck or SUV, then the Dean team of Kirkwood is the place for you to go 314 966 0303 and go see Colin Burke, he just got me into a new SUV and I love it, boy did they make the experience painless and super super easy. Most dealers don't have any cars in their lots, but a dean team of Kirkwood Colin has an entire parking lot full of new and used cars, you don't want to VW.

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Hey, welcome back. This is golf with Jay delsing Jay and john are here, and we're headed to the front nine and that's brought to you by the Ascension charity classic. That's right, North County, St. Louis mo, September 5 through 11 at Norwood Hills come check out the best field on the champions tour all year long, check this out to our sponsors Marcon are doing a first responder and military viewing deck on the 14th all you first responders, all you firemen, policemen, and men and women, military personnel, all can get in the tournament for absolutely free. We're gonna have a designated area for you. This is at the Ascension charity classic brought to you by Marcon.

This viewing area is really super cool. Also, don't forget about the advocate PGA event at Glen echo that same week, really, really cool stuff. We got an interview with Colton Pareko Cole 55 star defenseman for the stainless blues. Let's go listen to this interview, Colton. Thanks for joining me this morning. Yes, thanks for having me excited to be on the show. How many golf shows Have you been on man? That's my first question.

I like this hockey player thing. Not many. I don't know if I've been on many golf shows, I would say.

I've been did a couple like maybe interviews at golf tournaments or whatever charity tournaments, but no, no golf shows. So this is this is the first one right here. Right on. Well, you're in good company.

I've been privileged to have Bernie for Durko on Wayne Gretzky, some of the other greats in town. And so you know what, Colton, I just wanted people to kind of get to know a little bit more about you. So you grew up in St. Albert, Alberta, you've got three siblings. Talk a little bit about what you're doing. Talk a little bit about what it was like growing up in your house, your mom and dad, you've got a famous grandmother who, who can obviously drink. Tell us a little bit about some of the stuff that you did growing up.

Yeah, I know. Obviously, you mentioned I had three, three siblings, older sister, older brother, and then a younger sister. So we definitely had a lot of fun. No, no lack of fun and no lack of, I guess stories around the house just growing up and whether it be us doing stuff together, me and my brother having a fight or something or just anything. You get four kids in the house, there's always something going on. I'm sure it was quite, quite fun for our family and our parents, obviously.

But no, it's, it was a lot of fun. And I'm just lucky, obviously, to, to be close with my family. And we had, we had a lot of fun growing up, like I said, and think now with me being away for so much, it was good that we had a lot of a lot of those things that we did growing up together. And it made us so close, because obviously, being being in a different country and kind of across across the continent is a little different. So just lucky to obviously grow up with a good family and this good parent.

My parents, obviously, and good siblings. And you mentioned my grandma, obviously, she was a big part of my life, my grandpa, too, just kind of had one set of grandparents. So they were kind of almost my second, second parents, my parents were working all days, trying to get us kids in school and had hockey and one one kid might be playing in a different state and another kid might be playing in a different province. So kind of they were all over the place trying to schedule our hockey, we all played hockey. And so our grandparents were a big part of us kind of growing up as well, just trying to get us to different different parts and, and whatnot. I remember going to a lot of different hockey tournaments with my grandpa, just obviously good memories. So yeah, I mean, you mentioned my grandma, and we lost her. And for the year of the Stanley Cup, so we we had a little toast, and she always liked to drink peach schnapps every time I scored a goal. So it's kind of fun. So we we had a little toast. toast to her and the day that we won the cup with the family and had a little peach schnapps for you know, Colton, it's interesting because I hear so many other athletes talk about their families and talk about the sacrifices that you get to a certain age and you can kind of look back and go Damn, you know what mom and dad did and now your grandmother and your grandfather and what they did. It's pretty significant. It couldn't have happened without an entire team that you may not have known was going on when you were a kid.

No, exactly. And basically, you're just jumping in the car, and you're just excited to get to the rink. And that's it, you wake up early in the morning, you go to practice or whatever. And it's definitely a lot of work.

And I mean, even just looking back now, I mean, it would be tough with almost just one kid. Like I mentioned, we had four of us in hockey, and it's a lot of work, but we all love it. I mean, in Canada, basically, you grow up in in hockey skates. It's basically a thing we had, I would walk to the outdoor rink every single day, pretty much there's an outdoor rink, maybe a five minute walk to my house, it was connected to my junior high school actually. So pretty much after school, you you go and meet your buddies at the rink. And like, back in the day, obviously, you know, no cell phones or anything. That was just the meeting point is you go to the rink, throw your sticks in the middle, chuck the stick to each side and start playing.

So and yeah, I mean, obviously a little bit off topic there. But yeah, a lot of sacrifices for from the family and just super appreciative of obviously everything that they've done. And not just my family, but just a hockey family and sports families in general.

That's it's tough. And just looking back from from all of us, we we got to say thank you. Of course, Colton, one of the things that I was interested in, because this kind of happened to me, I'm six foot five, a little shorter than you are, and a hell of a lot older than you are. But I read in part of the research that in around 2009 2010, you experienced a huge growth spurt where you grew almost six inches, because the same thing happened to me. And I can remember trying to figure out my body and like, what in the hell is going on? My feet got big, you know, and I, my legs got long. I mean, what was that like for you hockey wise?

It was different. I mean, I was what we call a late bloomer. So kind of all my friends and in hockey, they were already kind of matured, and they matured way before me. So I was like, five, eight, I was a small guy, which is kind of funny to say, when I was playing when I was about 14 or 15. One summer, I mean, I grew about six inches, maybe throughout the year.

And it was kind of difficult to learn, learn everything. I mean, I was basically Bambi on ice to kind of put it in terms. I was just what are these long legs? What are these big feet?

Like, I don't even know how to operate these things. But it's been really beneficial that that that have had that growth spurt, I guess, just what you would call a late bloomer from from my side, I guess, the way that you skate now, it really belies someone your height, man, because your strides are so long, and you're fast, and you just don't see a combination like that. And then you put your stick length on there. And hell, you can cover half the ice in a couple of strides. Yeah, I mean, that's definitely a benefit of being big and having a nice, good, long, long twig and being able to as a defender, that's kind of, it's helped out a lot.

That's for sure. So I know that you got passed over the first goal, your first opportunity to get drafted in the NHL, that had to be kind of an odd thing, because it had to be a dream come true. And then you went to University of Alaska Fairbanks and played up there for three years.

Yeah, no, it was good, obviously. I mean, I don't know, obviously, you want to get drafted. And I had a lot of good friends from back home that got drafted that year and stuff. But I wasn't committed to a college or anything like that. I was still just playing junior A and it was still my first year of junior A. I talked to a few teams that year, but I wasn't really expecting to get drafted for sure. Just, I mean, based on just getting into junior A that year, coming out of midget double A, I kind of just flew under the radar out of nowhere. So like I said, talked to a few teams that year. And then the next year, I'd had another pretty solid year, kind of like we touched on earlier, I was just starting to get more into my body and like, learn my skating a bit more and things like that and get stronger and whatnot. So after my first year, that's the year that I committed to Alaska, University of Alaska. And then that's also the year that I got drafted after my second year of junior. And then the year I was going into Alaska.

So it's good. And then obviously, I don't know, I had a lot of fun, definitely a different experience, a lot of cool different things. I mean, I'll never forget, first time I went up there and it was in the summer and literally light for 24 hours. It was crazy. But then on the flip side, when I got to school, and we started playing and the hockey season started rolling around. It was really cold and we had barely any sunlight. So you kind of get the best of both.

No, I shouldn't say the best of both worlds. The best of the summer is when it's all light, but in the winter was tough because obviously it was just super dark out, super cold, walking to class and whatnot. But we had a lot of fun. I think our teams were always really close because being in Alaska, we traveled a lot.

So every two weeks or so we would travel, we would leave on a Tuesday and we get back on a Sunday. So we were actually gone from school quite a bit playing in Alaska just because our travel was so difficult. But I think it brought our teams close, obviously. And I think still to this day, a lot of my best friends are still from that Alaska program. So overall, hockey wise, I had a lot of fun. We had some good teams that definitely developed a lot there.

Great school, good opportunity for me and good, good chance to get better. So you were a two time all first team Western Conference Hockey Association player there and then you you move down and only played 17 games, I think for the Chicago Wolves after your college season ended. Yeah, we actually were banned from the playoffs my last year of college. I thought that was possibly the best team that we had while I was up there, too.

We were sitting in a good position. I feel like going into playoffs, but I can't remember exactly what happened. I think we had some sort of recruiting issues or I don't know exactly. I'd have to look into it a little bit more, but I have honestly almost benefited me personally, just in the sense that I got to go to Chicago.

Usually, if you go into the playoffs in college, you go to another week or two longer or whatnot. So I had the chance to play some more pro games. It was just nice to go there and play some pro games and playing some guys that have been in the NHL.

Some guys that are trying to get to the NHL and whatnot and just learn the game a little bit. Chicago was a really good city for the team. We had a really good team and then we had some playoff experience, too, some pro playoff experience, which was nice. I thought it got me ready for coming into camp next year and just kind of being ready.

Colton, that had to be amazing, though. If you think about it, you're playing in college and then you go play 17 games, which is, depending on how you look at it, I'm sure you played a hell of a lot of hockey that year. But 17 games in terms of a minor league schedule is not all that much. But, man, you came right back to the Blues and made the roster in 2015 and 2016. What a rookie year you had finishing eighth in the Calder.

It's kind of funny you mention that because sometimes I joke my full three years of college. I can't remember exactly how many games I've tallied up, but I played more games my first year in St. Louis with the playoffs and whatnot than my whole three years at school. Because you only play Friday, Saturday when you're in college for hockey. Even when I went to Chicago for the American League, it was different because you were playing on the weekdays. It wasn't just weekends. School, you basically had your rhythm where Mondays was your skill day. Tuesdays was usually your day off or whatever. And then Wednesday, Thursday was your prep for the weekend. And then Friday, Saturday you played.

Then Sunday off, Monday skills. It was just kind of like a routine, I guess. It's kind of funny that you mention that because I did play probably half of a college season in like a month when I went up to Chicago. But yeah, I think obviously my first year here I wasn't sure going into camp where I was going to land. And I honestly, if you want to make the blues and whatnot, that's kind of obviously your goal. But just coming in, obviously coming out of college, I wasn't sure what to expect or whatnot. Trying to work your way up and kind of that's where your headset is or your mind is, is starting there. And trying to work your way up, have some good games and get to do whatever. And I ended up just having a really good camp.

And yeah, you end up sticking at the beginning. And just as that season went on, I just felt like I got more confident and confident and then just tried to help out as much as possible, I guess. You mentioned the magic word confidence. I mean, going from the level that you played college to Chicago Wolves and then in the NHL, what is the biggest difference? I mean, the level of play for golfers from college to the PGA Tour is like night and day. I can't imagine it's the same way in the NHL.

No, 100%. I would say number one would be just the way that the guys think and the way that the game is played, more or less. I still remember coming up and these guys were passing the puck so fast and on the tape and so hard, struggling to keep up with how fast the puck was being moved.

I'm like, what is going on here? And then, obviously, once you get to play more and whatnot, it took me a few games, but once you get it, you obviously get adjusted. But I think just the way that the guys in the pros, like AHL even, that jump was just how fast that they moved the puck.

Boom, boom, boom. They always know where they're going to be. The puck is always on the tape. It's always hard.

It's always crisp. I think, obviously, moving up to the NHL, it's the exact same thing. NHL, the guys are sometimes on the same team for a really long time.

If you have certain power plays within the league, if you look at Washington, for example, they've had those same five guys for, I don't know, five to seven years, probably on that first power play unit. It's almost automatic when they get the puck. They just don't even have to look.

They just know where those guys are going to be. It's just that much more of a difference. The guys just think the game just that much quicker. Skating-wise, I would say skating is not that much. Everyone is kind of fast in college, and I wouldn't say they're faster. But I think the work that people can do with the puck while they're skating fast is also another thing that I've noticed some big differences.

I'm going to step up a level. If you watch a Connor McDavid, that guy can stick handle a million miles an hour while he's skating a million miles an hour. When I read about some of you guys and some of the guys that play in the NHL, they were 30 and 40 goal scorers as kids and things like that. Then they come into the NHL, and they're third or fourth liners. You're thinking, my gosh, the pool that you guys are dealing with in the NHL is so deep because it's a world league now.

For sure. I think when some teams obviously get certain guys within those first two lines, it's hard to make that jump into the NHL. You see a lot of teams with close to the same core, same defensive group. If they lose someone, they're picking up a veteran from another team almost. I think there's a little bit of luck somewhere along the way of jumping into the league and onto the team and into the NHL as well. I think the Blues lost one or two D-men to free agency the year that I poked my head in.

Now it's just a lucky bounce for myself. Obviously, you've got the guys that are world class that are going to step into the NHL right away. Alright, that's going to wrap up the first half of the interview.

Don't go anywhere. John and I will be back with more of the back nine and the remainder of that Colton Perenko interview. This is Golf with Jay Delson. Hey, this is Jay Delson 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.

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We're creating a better future one swing at a time. The Ascension Charity Classic returns September 6th through the 11th and provides critical dollars for area charities. Once again, St. Louis will host golf's greatest champions. Tickets at AscensionCharityClassic.com. Powers Insurance is a family owned agency right here in St. Louis that specializes in providing personalized coverage for the client who has a lot going on. At Powers, they understand that you and your life do not fit in a simple box.

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This is a family friendly atmosphere and they have a wonderful staff. If you get out there, you got to poke your head in the golf shop and say hello to my friend Bummer. He is a terrific guy and he will help you with your game and show you around. And don't forget, there are golf leagues, skins games, members tournaments and couples events available all year round. Visit WhitmoreGolf.com. That's WhitmoreGolf.com. This is golf with Jay Delsing. To learn more about the game of golf, latest equipment and golfing tips, log on to JayDelsingGolf.com. The back nine is presented by Pro-Am Golf.

Welcome back. This is golf with Jay Delsing. I'm your host Jay. I got Pearly with me. We are headed to the back nine and it's brought to you by my buddies over at Pro-Am Golf Center.

3-1-4-6-4-7-8-0-5-4. The DeGrands are unbelievable people. Ryan's working there. Todd's working there. And Tom, the dad, is working there. And I know their sister's working there. It's a family business. It's fantastic. But call CJ and get fitted.

3-1-4-6-4-7-8-0-5-4. Call CJ and get fitted. Folks, it will be the best money you've spent in your life. Ask for the Delsing discount to give you half price off on that.

Typically, they usually charge a double when you mention a Delsing discount, don't they, Pearl? Yeah, I would mention it lightly. Just softly. Yeah, throw it out there and see what happens. And then pull it back. Walk it back if something bad happens. Alright, so guys, we're going to go listen to part two of my interview with Colton Pareko.

I hope you enjoy it. What a thrill for a lifelong hockey fan and a St. Louis long-suffering St. Louis Blues fan. I mean, what was it like to go through that and then have Coach Berube come in who just seems like the perfect coach for this team? We all knew we had such a good team and the players we had, we knew we were going to be good.

We had confidence in our team and then we came and it just wasn't clicking and we were obviously frustrated as a group that season at the beginning ourselves. It's never fun showing up to the rink when you're not winning. It's easy to say, but when you're winning, it's that much more enjoyable to go to the rink, obviously. It's just so much better to be on a winning team and I think that's good. I've been on a lot of good teams here in St. Louis just my years prior to winning the Cup. We went to the semi-finals, won the other quarterfinals. So we've had a lot of good teams that have had good chances and with that team, we made some good additions in the offseason. I was like, oh, this is probably one of the best teams, if not the best that we might have had here in St. Louis since I've been here and we've had some really good teams and put ourselves in a lot of good positions to do some damage in the playoffs. So I was definitely excited. I know a lot of other guys were too.

I don't know. Just things started to click. You mentioned Coach Brube. I think he didn't really change anything. Honestly, the only thing that he really wanted us to do a little differently was my work ethic and working for each other, basically. We thought we were so good on paper that we could really just go out there and win hockey games and we did have a really good team on paper. So as soon as we kind of got in our mind, we've got to work a little bit for different things, work for each other a little bit more.

That was just the thing that I think set off, didn't change a lot of the systems, which is really funny. When you kind of look at sports in general, when you don't even change a system and you just put a little work in or change up the lines a little bit or something like that, it can just make such a difference. So I think that was the biggest thing for our group is just working for each other and working on the ice. It made the world of a difference because we knew how good we were.

Maybe we just thought we could go out there and win just because of the team we had on paper. But it just showed how good our team really was that year and going from last place to first is pretty cool. Yeah, I think overall crazy year, a lot of rollercoaster ups and downs and a lot of things that I'll never forget and cool way to do it, I guess, if you want to put it in that words, I don't know if it was the most, the greatest way to do it.

Start going to from last place to first, but if it's a way to do it, I guess it's kind of cool to have that story. When did it hit you that you finally, your name's on the Stanley Cup because there have been literally hundreds of players that are great players that never get to do that. Yeah, I mean, probably the first time I really saw it on the Stanley Cup, really when it hit me. There was a lot of cool just moments throughout that, that whole summer I feel like that we enjoyable. You go from just the different festivities just right after we won. We had the parade, which was incredible. The people of St. Louis that was so cool to be a part of so many people showed up and I'll never forget that day, obviously. But I think one of the coolest days for myself was bringing the Stanley Cup. You get a day with the Cup when you win it. So went back home to my hometown St. Albert and just spent the day with it and everyone else was more impressed with the Stanley Cup. Almost just like how cool it was and just growing up from Canada, we had the chance to be with it for a week or two, whatever, when we won. So when you get the chance to bring it back to your family and your friends or just whatever, aunties and uncles and stuff that have never, never seen it or whatever, that's kind of when it hits you and like how cool it really is. It's like when you see them just that excited and just like when you show someone like what you do for a job and I think it's like super cool and then you find like you regain the appreciation for like what you kind of are doing or whatever. So the day with the Cup, showing everybody around my family and friends and whatnot, that was probably one of the best parts of it all. Oh, I bet because you've been sharing that experience.

I mean, they're going, holy smokes, look at what my brother or look at what my son just did. And you're kind of going, I don't even know exactly how to process all this yet, but I get to have the Cup in the house that I grew up in. That's nuts.

Yeah, no, exactly. So that was cool. Yeah, just bring it to certain places around your hometown, parents' house, grandparents' house, things like that. Just was a lot of fun. A lot of lifelong memories that day for sure. I know how much the St. Louis community means to you, but I also know this community's embraced you and you're involved now with the Ronald McDonald House.

No, yeah. I mean, obviously love being in St. Louis. I mean, the fans have been amazing to me since I got here.

So that's been great. My old teammate, actually, he had his sister moved from his leg and it ended up being a cancer assist. And then when he was in Alaska, he had to transfer to Seattle. And when he was in Seattle, he stayed at the Ronald McDonald House. Kind of when I got to St. Louis and finally got a little bit established and I wanted to kind of jump on board with something and be kind of a part of something a little bit more.

Dan Harbo, we kind of got connected and he was from the Ronald McDonald House. And I was like, wow, this is super cool that kind of everything that was lining up and whatnot. And kind of got to see what they do here in St. Louis and all the hard work and visiting the houses and whatnot. I've just really enjoyed it and getting the chance to meet different families and try to put some smiles on some kids' faces. And I've met a lot of different families throughout the years now that I still actually do keep in touch with. So it's been a lot of fun and I've definitely enjoyed it a lot and want to continue doing it.

Yeah, absolutely. On September 23rd, you guys are going to be at the Legends. It's going to be a double shotgun, a 7 a.m. and a 1 p.m. shotgun.

So anybody that wants to be involved can go to the Ronald McDonald House stl.com website and jump in for a great cause. Colton, you've got to give us a little bit of background about your golf game, and I bet you can crush it if you get a hold of your driver. Yeah, the only problem is that I don't really know which way it's going sometimes.

Same here. I can definitely swing it hard, but I'm praying it's going down the middle, I guess. I have fun going out and golfing, obviously. I'm not great, I'll be honest. I just enjoy going out and just being with friends and good company and whatnot. It's a good opportunity to play.

Yeah, what's wrong with having a couple of cold ones and listening to some music and being on a beautiful golf course and taking some reps? I mean, it's a hell of a good deal. It can't be that, right?

No, what's wrong with that? You were onto something when you were playing golf there. I got lucky, man.

I started off as a caddy, and now I'm getting to talk to you. But one of the things that I noticed, though, is how similar the lower body motion. Obviously, we're not on ice, thank God. But how similar the lower body motion, and I try to tell people, they're like, Why do these hockey players, I mean, obviously you're strong guys, but strong guys don't necessarily equate to being able to hit the ball well or hit the ball far. And Hulley's a great golfer, but the lower body motion of a slap shot and a golf swing are really similar.

Yeah, no, I think so. It's definitely like my whole motion is definitely very close. The only difference, I would say, is the hand position. Obviously, in golf, your hands are together, slap shot, your hands are kind of like halfway down your stick.

And one day, actually, I'm going to jump in here kind of randomly. Some hockey players that shoot left, golf right, or if they shoot right in golf, they play hockey left. I have no idea how they do that.

That's actually crazy to me. Because like you kind of say, in hockey, if you have the same motion and you're shooting left, they put a golf club in their hand and they start shooting right. I can't understand how that works. For me, I'm right and right. Basically, it's almost the exact same kind of motion, and it's all right in your lower body trunk.

Colton, my dad played Major League Baseball and batted left-handed and played golf right-handed. I mean, the whole thing is upside down. That makes no sense. It's so weird.

I don't understand how that even works. I really want to thank you for jumping on with us. We love having you as part of this community. Ronald McDonald House and Dan Harbaugh, I know, are delighted to have you supporting them. And like you said, bringing smiles to some faces that really need some help. Keep doing what you're doing, and man, I hope we can get another cup to the community in the St. Louis Blues sometime soon.

Oh, yeah. Thank you very much for having me, Holly. It's great chatting with you. And just looking forward to many more years here in St. Louis. We definitely need to get another Stanley Cup here.

We're going to put the work in and make it happen. Okay, Pearl, not often do we get an NHL star, current player in the NHL, to jump on the show. It's pretty neat.

Absolutely. I love how soft-spoken he is, how appreciative of his family that he is. He just caught me with just his level of, I don't know, sincerity and low-key approach to the interview with you. I just was caught off guard by that. It was interesting, very interesting. It's almost as if there's so much kindness in the way that he talks. You're like, wait a minute, you play in the NHL?

How do you do that? You know, it's pretty neat. Well, I think that's some of the coolest stuff, you know, some of the things I'm reading lately. It's great to be able to have this fierce competitiveness and this fierce ability to kind of be out there and put yourself out there.

And then, at the same time, not have to display it all the time and be able to just be low-key, kind, straightforward, sincere the way he was with you. I thought it was just great. I did get a kick a couple times, but he corrected himself on the same things that he said. It was just funny.

It would be a fun guy just to hang out with a little bit, I think. Absolutely. All right, so that's going to wrap up the Back Nine. Folks, don't go anywhere. We are going to bring you the 19th hole brought to you by the loading dock up in Grafton. So, John and I will be right back with the 19th hole. This is Golf with Jay Delson. I am proud to welcome the Gateway section of the PGA back to my show. Whether you're pulling into your favorite driving range, public golf course, or country club, there is an excellent chance that the staff there is part of the over 300 men and women PGA professionals at over 100 facilities that make up our Gateway section. I grew up watching so many of these fine men and women getting to the golf course at dawn, leaving at dusk, spending their entire day running events, giving lessons, and growing this great game. PGA Reach, Drive Chip and Putt, PGA Hope, and the fantastic PGA Junior League are a few of the examples of the programs run by these same PGA professionals. Go to GatewayPGA.org to learn more, or to find your next PGA professional for your next lesson, go to PGA.com.

The Gateway PGA, growing the game we love. After my knee replacement, I was able to swing the golf club again without any pain. SSM Health Physical Therapy guided me through the rehab process, and when I was ready, one of their specially trained KVEST certified physical therapists put me on the 3D motion capture system.

It was awesome. They evaluated my posture, alignment, and the efficiencies of my swing. They gave me golf specific exercises to help make my swing more efficient and repeatable. Call 800-518-1626.

Tell them Jay sent you for special pricing. Your therapy, our passion. The Ascension Charity Classic returns September 6th through the 11th. Once again, St. Louis will host golf's greatest champions. Players like Bernard Langer, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, John Daly, and returning champion David Toms.

But no matter which legend wins this year, the real winners will be North County charities, because all proceeds from the tournament stay right here in St. Louis to benefit our communities. Tickets available now at AscensionCharityClassic.com. Folks, are you in the market for some additional protection for your ride? You need to call my friends at Vehicle Assurance. Their number is 866-341-9255. Sherry Fain is the owner and president, and she and her team are committed to helping you with your unexpected auto repair bills. They are committed to finding the right protection for you, your budget, and your family. They only work with the top vehicle service providers in the country.

Get the protection and the peace of mind you deserve. That's Vehicle Assurance 866-341-9255 for a free quote. 866-341-9255. I've been looking for over three years for the perfect place to be the official 19th hole of the Golf with Jay Delson show, and the search is over. Please welcome the loading dock to the show. What a great place it is.

It is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers in beautiful Grafton, Illinois. Their patio is killer with seating for over 800, and every weekend the loading dock has the area's best live music. There's no reservations required. They have overnight lodging available, and they also have an ice skating rink in the winter months. And don't forget about the super cool Riverside Flea Market, which happens the fourth weekend of each month from April through October.

If you're into antiques and collectibles, you've got to check it out. The Grafton Ferry runs directly from St. Charles County to within steps of our parking lot. Go check out the loading dock and say hello to my buddy Peter Allen. He is a great guy, good golfer, and a lover of the game. Call 618-556-7951 or visit them on the web at GraftonLoadingDock.com for more information on their live music schedule, the Riverside Flea Market, and more. The Loading Dock, the new official 19th hole of the Golf with Jay Delsing show.

Hey, welcome back. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. Pearl is with me, and we are headed to our favorite part of the show.

Pearl, open one up. The 19th hole. It's brought to you by the Loading Dock in beautiful Grafton, Illinois. It's right where the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers converge in.

You can reach out to them at 618-556-7951 or visit them on the web at GraftonLoadingDock.com. Great spot. I'm headed up there this coming week. Can't wait to see my buddy Peter Allen. They're great guys, great people.

It's a beautiful spot. All right, Pearl, I've got to just throw this little nugget about Colton Varaco. Man, this is a kid that gets into the NHL. He's 6'6", and what was really interesting to me and similar to something that I experienced is that 6-inch growth spurt. He said he experienced a 6-inch growth spurt when he was like 15 or 16 or 17 years old, and, Pearl, I did the same thing. And I can remember going, I cannot figure out my body right now.

Everything just seems so weird, and, you know, Pearl, I haven't figured it out yet. But Colton obviously has because the guy is an absolute stud in the NHL and was instrumental in shutting down. He was a defensive shutdown pair with Jay Baumeister when we won the Cup in 2019. It was impressive.

Absolutely. Hey, I got a question, though. I started kind of doing a little research on Colton and went online and read some of the things different people, sports news people talk about and stuff, and they're pretty hard on him. Maybe they're hard on all the players and everybody's got their opinions. But he was instrumental, and I just don't get it. I guess it's just the haters or something like that.

Pearl, the number one, let me guess what the knock was. He doesn't play physical enough. Yeah, that's exactly what I meant. Oh, that's all they say. You know, here's this. He's just, you know, John, the game's changed. And some of these writers, they can't get over it. Some guys still have that sandpaper disposition, but a lot of people, they don't hit any NHL like they used to.

Yeah, it's definitely a different game and a faster game. And the other thing is when you said he's 6'6", he's 6'8", or something like that, I'm not near the hockey fan you are. But there was a day where there wasn't hardly any guys over six foot, and if they were, they were really pointed out. Now, a ton of these guys are over six foot tall. Over six foot tall, right, but not nearly as tall as he is today. No, Charo is six foot nine without skates on. And I believe he's maybe going to play one more year or maybe just retired, but there's a few. But to watch him skate, you know, what it's like being kind of built like he is, it is just impressive.

Because the guy can take two strides and his stick is so long, probably can cover half the ice. Fun guy, great interview, and hopefully get some more of the hockey players down there. They're always good guys.

Oh, they're great people. All right, so what do you got? You got some nuggets to throw our way here? Jeez, well, my golf game is getting a little bit better. The lesson you gave me on kind of doing that step drill is starting to help finally.

I played a couple of these in rounds in a row. Let's talk about that a little bit. We're going to do a little recap. Folks, we're trying to talk about how to load up for more power. We're right-handed golfers now. To load up on your backside or your right side without swaying off the ball and how to use your lower body to help generate more speed. Right, John?

Absolutely. Not swaying off the ball is just a huge deal. I feel like I'm making a completely different swing. I feel like I'm falling forward four or five inches. I know I'm not.

Who knows? There's nobody to be swaying an inch or two. But it's fun to start having a couple balls come off the club feeling like I got half of a chance. I think I've told you, and this is something I wish you could even do a video on. The putt is still finally coming around because I've done that yardstick drill now for about three or four months. It is really, really paying dividends relative to seeing my line, having a sense, walking up to it.

I just hadn't seen that for years. It was so bad that I didn't even remember hardly what seeing your line was about. I hope another show you talk about being able to see your line.

My guess is most people don't really have much of a sense of what that's about. And it's critical if you're truly going to be a good putt. And we'll tease it just a little bit because what's so hard about golf, and especially putting, is that you're looking down at the ball, but your target is out. And again, we're right-handed putting. Your target is out to the left of you in some spatial area over there. And so if your perspective with where your putter is aimed is not correct, you are going to have one hell of a tough time hole in anything.

Yeah, absolutely. And you and I have talked about this. Where do the yips come from? Do the yips come from some nerve disorder that we get when we get older or some scar tissue from playing? Or does it come from just having lost the sense of fundamentals, lost your north in your putting, lost the ability to see your line?

And I have to tell you, I was thinking it was a neurological issue for the longest time. And I'm starting to realize that it's really about just having lost some of the basics, some of the fundamental, solid things to have a good putting stroke. And so in other words, there is hope for us out there. And I think there's something that we could even do little tidbits here and there to help people over the hump that have that jittery feeling out there.

And I'm going to say something to the listeners that I told you several times. If it doesn't feel weird or completely unusual, then 99.9% of the time, pro, you're not doing it right. That's so hard to accept. And especially if you're out there and you're not playing well. And now we've got you in a position where now you're super uncomfortable and you're missing shots. It's a tough place to be. But you know what? That's where you've got to go if you're going to end up getting better. You've got to head down that path of discomfort and missing some shots.

All it takes is you and I identify this many times. I'd be kidding for Jay. He wouldn't have his feel whatsoever. But we knew if he could just get one or two solid shots, normally for him it was out to the right. We knew one of the next ones was going to be good. And as soon as you get one or two solid shots to the right, one or two solid shots is more or less at the target. All of a sudden, all that discomfort starts going away and kind of you start clicking into it.

But if you're not willing to kind of go down that road, you can't get there. We have Colin Luft as the winner of the TP5 golf balls. Not John Perlis. Perli, you did not win this week.

Folks, thanks for listening. And we will be back next week with more of Golf with Jay Delson. Hit them straight, St. Louis. Boy, is this housing market tight right now.

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