Ben Crenshaw-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. Hey good morning this is Golf with Jay Delsingh. I'm your host Jay. I got Pearly with me and welcome to the Golf with Jay Delsingh show.

Alright so let's do this backwards. I usually give you a bunch of trouble. So you caddied from me on a hundred tour events. You're an author, you ran, very successful company that you've sold.

You're doing some consulting now. Man, of all of those things, Pearl, what gave you the most satisfaction? I think I've been pretty lucky. I've been able to enjoy things along the way. So I think they built on top of each other and I think each one was very satisfying. You know what Jay, I'm 62 years old. I love being 62 years old.

I think the things that I've learned and getting to work with people now and sharing a little bit of what I've learned is about as satisfying as it gets. They've got carbon fiber, carbon made woods. Now you've got to check them out. Also, you've got to check out their golf ball.

Many, many, many tour players are playing this ball. It's the TP5. And if you want to check it out on purpose and intentionally, you can go send me an email. Jay at jdelsingh.com. Be entered to win.

We're giving away a dozen TP5s each week. Pearl, this is Master Sunday and in honor of Master Sunday, can you please give me just a little bit of social media? It's too pure of a golf day. I don't want to be talking about the ups and downs and the craziness of social media. So let's just move on. The Masters is anything but social media.

It's pure traditional golf. Let's skip that and go right to Bob and Kathy Donahue at Donahue Painting and Refinishing 314-805-2132. Kathy Donahue is just now getting her color certification. And so we're going to have her on the show and talk about the colors and how important that is in your home and how she can take this beautifying your home experience to the next level.

314-805-2132 for Donahue Painting and Refinishing. All right, John, Master Sunday. Okay, here's what happened, folks. About 10 days ago, I got on the phone with Ben Crenshaw and recorded 42 minutes of what I would consider pure golf gold.

This is one of the kindest people I've ever met. His nickname and moniker, Gentle Ben is no, it's not an accident. It's spot on. And somehow or another, the interview got lost. And I'm sure it was my fault. I just don't exactly know what I did wrong. But I did something wrong. And the interview was lost.

Let's get into that a little bit. Did they get lost or just the half where he responded got lost? It got lost. So what happened, folks, is somehow or another, I'm talking and I could not hear Ben. And I know that you guys would tune in and rather hear Ben than me. So got on the phone.

He was unable to jump back on. What I've done is I was taking all these notes while I was doing the interview. And so we captured some of these notes. We're going to we're going to reminisce about great Masters memories that we have. And some of the things that happened maybe give you a couple inside stories here and there. Ben Crenshaw has won 19 tournaments on the PGA Tour Hall of Fame member to Masters tournaments 1984 and 1995 in the one around 95.

It's just amazing because he was playing absolutely awful. And on the Wednesday of that week, he flew from Augusta to Austin to attend his longtime mentor and instructor Harvey Phoenix funeral. Before we jump into Ben, what do you have when you think of the Masters tournament? What jumps into your mind first?

Which memory? What do you have for I had the opportunity to go to the Masters one year, and just just the beauty of the property. I've also been fortunate enough to play the golf course, not during the Masters just for the record. I want to make sure you know, Jay, I'm not suggesting you're playing in the Masters, but I have played Augusta National phenomenal and going to the Masters absolutely gorgeous.

I think two reasons worth going is there's got to be a bucket list for anybody really into golf. It's so different when you're there. The undulations, the elevation changes throughout the property, the grandiosity of the trees and the whole property, the way the sound echoes throughout the whole property. You do feel like you're on hallowed ground. And just the subtlety of the clubhouse. Great, which are nice.

Masters is very subdued. So much is been same way for years after years after years. So I think just the overall atmosphere and experience what I think of when I think of the Masters and I feel so lucky to have been there.

It's just fantastic. And by the way, the crowds even act differently. Everything's a little bit different. And for my eye, most of it's a little bit better than pretty much anywhere else you can go.

Yeah, I would agree with that. What I think of is the back nine and all of the crazy things that have happened on the back nine in 1997. Tiger Woods wins his first championship. I think he shot 40 the first nine and finished at 30 the back nine and went on to win by 12 strokes from that point on without a three putt. I think of Jack Nicklaus's putt on 1746 years of age and 1986 when he won. I think of the incredible hole out from Tiger long left of 16 where it looked like a Nike advertisement where the ball sat on the lip with the logo right glaring right into your television set. And then falling into the hole. And then I also think about Bob Golby, John.

Here's a guy that shot 66 in 1968 to what he thought at the time was to tie, catch and tie Roberto DiVincenzo only to have Roberto DiVincenzo make a mistake on his scorecard and sign for a four on 17 instead of the birdie three that he made. And so Bob Golby becomes a champion and all of the backlash that followed Bob Golby around for the rest of his life. You know, we had him on the show. It was awesome to go over and celebrate Bob Golby's life with Kevin and Kyle Golby. I was, they were kind enough to invite me over for the celebration of life. And he had his master's trophy out there, Pearl, their green jacket, the letter that Bobby Jones wrote to Bob saying, you won the tournament, you played a great round of golf, the things that are being written, the things that are being said are completely inappropriate undeserved.

And those sort of things. How about Fred couples never went amazing. Fred couples never won a major championship except Augusta and gets perhaps the best golf break and all humanity for anyone that's ever played golf. I dare you to find a better break than what happened to Fred couples on 12 where his ball stays short of the green and doesn't go in the water. He chips the ball up a couple inches and winds up winning the tournament. Absolutely pivotal, made an incredible difference in this guy's life and his career.

Absolutely. That was that was phenomenal. We've seen so many crashing burns. I think that same shot a couple of years ago when all those players who were kind of coming down the stretch in the hunt, like three or four or five of them hit it in the water there. And then once you once you've done that once it's in your head, because then you got to go play 13, 15 that have those water type shots with the fall fall front. And so once it's in your head, it's like a knockout punch. It's a tough thing to get you get past. And by the way, maybe a tough thing to get past the rest of your career. Once you've kind of burned up on that hole. Every year when you come back to that, you know, this is the little shot that could absolutely undo you.

And it's amazing. We're not talking about a three iron from a hanging lie. We're talking about a teed ball on a perfectly flat team surface.

That's no more than a nine hour. A lot of guys are hitting pitching wedges these days, and it in absolutely tear you up. Jay, another thing I don't want to miss on this and it's I'll even tease it with a bit of a trivia thought process. Do you remember? One of the greatest wins out there was was overtime extra holes. And it was by Larry Mize when he made that great chip on number 11. Do you remember who he beat in that playoff?

I sure do. Greg Norman. Greg Norman was out on our Chevy Ballesteros was out on hole number 10. And Greg Norman is was who he beat on hole number 11. So he not only won the Masters, he won it on 11. What he chipped in after he outlasted two of the greatest players of all time. Absolutely stunning. And just just to pair on that. Do you also remember I was caddying for you?

I believe it was already served in Orlando. We were teeing off. And as we walked off the putting green, Larry Mize was chipping onto the putting green in front of the clubhouse. When we made the turn, Larry Mize was chipping from the same spot. He was chipping actually onto a towel for some reason that would release onto the green. As we made the turn, he was still chipping. When we finished, if you remember, he was still chipping from the same position.

And after we hit balls and had lunch, he was still chipping from the same position. I think one guy knew he might make that chip. And it was probably Larry Mize. I mean, the guy who knew how to chip the dang golf ball. Oh, it was absolutely a really popular win because Larry's from that area of the country and couldn't be a nicer guy. It was one hell of another heartbreaking moment in the long line of heartbreaks for Greg Norman as well.

It sure was it. But it also brings to mind Larry couldn't hit it as far as anybody. A lot of those guys couldn't keep it in the air as long as anybody. But he can kind of chip and putt and pitch most people out of out of their money. And a good example of because that's your guy, Kevin Kisner, too, from the previous week. You know, he certainly has some shortcomings in this game, but he makes up with it in the in the scoring clubs.

He absolutely does. Let's go to the tip of the cap segment. The tip of the cap segment is brought to you by Dean team Volkswagen of Kirkwood and my friend Colin burn 3149660303 send me an email j at j delson golf.com. If you want me to personally introduce you to Colin, I am glad to do that because he's helped john, my buddy Pearly here get a car and I've bought two or three different vehicles from him and he is a terrific guy. Today, we're thanking Ron Doherty of the Doherty business solutions company who is the presenting sponsor of the advocate PGA event coming to Glen echo this fall.

It's going to coincide with the Ascension charity classic. It's companies like Doherty that invest in there in our communities that we want to thank and show our appreciation to run. Congratulations, and thanks for supporting golf and thanks for supporting our community. The tip of the cap is brought to you by Dean team Volkswagen of Kirkwood and my buddy Colin 3149660303.

That's gonna wrap up the on the rain segment. Don't go anywhere, john and I'll be back for the front nine. This is golf with Jay delson. On the range with Jay delson is brought to you by tailor made.

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He is terrific. If you call them now mentioned my name, Jay Delson, you will receive a discount on that already low club fitting price. Their number is 314-647-8054. Ask for CJ or you can visit them at pro-am golfusa.com. That's pro-am golfusa.com. This is golf with Jay delsing. The front nine is presented by the Ascension charity classic, September 5, through the 11th at Norwood Hills Country Club. For tickets, Ascension charity classic.com Hey, welcome back. This is golf with Jay delsing.

I'm your host Jay. I got Burley with me and we are headed to the front nine that's brought to you by the Ascension charity classic Burley this September, and we'll see you next time. Remember, fifth through 11th, Norwood's going to be the place to be again.

Absolutely. It was a blast last year. We can certainly count on it happening again this year, and especially when they've got that first year under their belt. I just want to know which of the two days is going to be planned because I think there's going to be some damage done this year out there with one of the J's and I'm planning on it being you.

Am I can't eat in the playoffs too, or am I just can't eat in the tournament? You got to bring your a game this year. I mean, you held me back last year. I was trying to hold you back from from drowning yourself in the lake after a couple of sideways.

That's true. So guys, here's what we're doing. I got these notes from the Ben Crenshaw interview and I know it's going to be my voice and not Ben's, but this is really some fun stuff. I truly believe Ben will get back on the show started playing golf with his mom's clubs and he recounted right about that age right around 12 or so when the game bit him and never let go. One of the things as I move forward with these interviews is I want to talk to everybody about how the golf bug has bitten them and what they remember about it. And he said there was a difficult part for and he was not a long hitter at the time. And at that particular day, he said he hit this ball and it felt like it stayed in the air forever and went around the corner and it just did something to him. It stuck out in his mind.

And all he could think about was, wow, I wonder if I can ever do that again. And that was at the Austin Country Club where he grew up. Harvey Pinik was his instructor. And he told a funny story about how, you know, he grew up with Tom Kite. Tom Kite moved in from, I think, New Jersey and his dad worked for the IRS.

So everybody wanted to play golf with Tom and be nice to Tom because they figured that if they would, their dad could give him a break on their taxes. I thought that was just absolutely really, really funny. One of the things that I thought was really interesting was Harvey Pinik said to Ben and to Tom, I want you to wear out the pitching, chipping and putting green and I want you to do it one ball at a time. I don't want you to grab your shag bag and I don't want you to just keep pitching a bunch of balls and pitching a bunch of balls. I want you to pitch a ball. I want you to go up and get it.

I want you to know where it is and then I want you to go back and do it again. And I thought that was really, really interesting, John. I think it's a great point is what we talked a little bit about earlier in the show with Larry Mize being focused on that short game. But I think the discipline of that difference right there is a big deal. Whatever we can do to make it have some level of importance. So we get this one shot and we have to walk up there and go get it again.

Maybe that's that level of importance. But we don't just stand there and hit shot after shot after shot. You've talked to me about that for a long time because I'm so undisciplined in the driving range in particular.

And you're always like, hey, you got to back off. And we've heard stories about Tiger hitting with his wedge and then hitting a driver, then a wedge. You know, playing holes, if you will, and not just whack 30 drives in a row. Because you can kind of groove just about anything on the range. And I'm certainly proof of that because I can hit it awfully good on the range I get on the golf course and it's nothing like the same. So we want to practice the way as close as we can to how we play it. That's probably what he was saying, don't you think?

Yeah, no, absolutely. And Harvey used to talk about being really slow and smooth with your putting stroke. And I mean, towards the end of the interview, I asked Ben about this putting stroke and nobody was very much smoother and slower than Ben with that stroke. It was awesome. I can remember watching him a little bit at Oakland Hills one year.

I think US Open when I was working for NBC. But they had big undulated sloping greens. And this guy was just absolutely out there filling it up with other guys with three putt all over the place. He just had a pace and a rhythm about him. There was a lot of arc arc in that putting stroke. There was a lot of actually he kind of had that that blade opening and closing quite a bit, too, if I remember. I don't know that it was quite square to the path that may have been beyond that. So he kind of had his own way.

But the smoothness and the timing obviously worked for him. Ben wins the Masters in 1984. We go to the 95 Masters where I said, Ben, take us through that. I know you weren't playing well going into it. And he said, I was playing lousy. He goes, I was duck hooking every other shot. And I just felt awful about it. And I felt awful about my game. And he said, but there was always something special for him when he drove down Magnolia Lane.

Especially getting to be up in the Champions locker room. He said his long time caddy Carl, you know, he watched him hit balls for about 15 minutes. And he said, Ben, this just doesn't look at all like you. He goes, you're swinging so fast. And one of the things when I said to Ben, I stopped him right there. And I said, Ben, swinging fast. And he said, Jay, I can get my, and John, this will really sound familiar. I can get my takeaway off the ball so quickly, he goes, that I never have time to complete my backswing.

John, that is exactly what you and I think. When I get get really off, my club gets snatched away from the ball and my backswing is never set up to be any good. Yeah, that first couple of feet is absolutely huge. And I can remember pretty much every time because it's tendencies, right? So Ben's talking about one of his tendencies to get quick away from the ball.

And I knew caddying for you. There was a couple of things. One was alignment.

Fair enough. The other was that first two feet away from the ball. A little bit on the alignment and a little bit on the pace.

If I had to choose one or the other, it would be the pace. That there's just a little bit more feel, a little bit more deliberate, a little bit more club head swing and not quick. Because, yeah, you lose your touch. Everything's kind of out the window at that point. And you're playing catch up and you're just trying to throw the club at it at that point.

So I think that's awesome advice. And how much fun is that for his caddy to have seen that and for Ben to have the confidence in his caddy. I guess when you're at the end of your rope and you can't play, you're going to listen to just about anything. But Carl knew him, knew his game and certainly knew his swing. And I think it's also awesome that Ben Crenshaw to this day gives his caddy as much credit as he gives him.

Because it would be easy to not make that big of a deal of it for a lot of people. But Ben has given him credit just for their relationship and for Carl's capability and how important he was in that tournament and his career. Yeah, and Carl is the only guy that caddies for him ever at Augusta. And he got hooked up through the great Jackie Burke. And Ben talks about that story and he just absolutely loves him. So Carl says to him, Ben, you're just swinging way too fast.

We've got to slow this thing down. And he goes, and I don't know what's happened to your ball position, but your ball position is so far forward. You just can't seem to get the club to it. He goes, so let's get the ball pushed back in your stance a little bit. He immediately started hitting a lot better shots.

And he said, slowing it down to your point gave him so much more feel. They played a couple practice rounds and Ben was, you know, getting a little bit fired up about his game. And then his friend Harvey Penick and longtime mentor instructor had died.

So Tom Kite and Ben hop on a plane, fly to Austin on Wednesday, and they go through the service. Comes back in place on Thursday and he said it was just kind of weird. He said he never really thought that much about Harvey while he's playing until that last putt on 18 went in. He said, Jay, I had a special hand on my shoulder that entire week. Harvey was helping me from above.

And when I tapped that last little putt in on 18, the entirety of it hit me like a tidal wave. He said he could not stop crying and was shaking uncontrollably on the 18th green in front of millions of people on TV and the entire Masters crowd. And he said Carl came up to him and put his gentle hand on his shoulder and said, Ben, are you okay? Ben said he looked at him and said, no, Carl, I'm not okay.

I'm not sure I can even walk. Jen, there's something about those moments in sport that are just magnificently special, aren't they? I think it's hard for a lot of people to relate just in general. How can you get so emotional over a golf game or making that putt or whatever the case is? So much goes into anything of excellence.

And when you go around and you win the Masters, that means that you've met excellence, at least for a weekend. And so, there's just a lot to that. There's just so much commitment in life and that kind of thing.

I've got to believe that's where it came from, let alone on top of that the memory of his teacher, Harvey Panick. And all of that just probably came flooding in at once. But you see, every week you see the guys often get very emotional. But there's just so much to it that goes in.

It's just not going out there and playing golf. It's a whole life thing. Telling you that you're on the right track. There's just a lot to it when all that indecision comes together and questioning ourselves. It comes together and it's successful. And people can relate it to other things in business and other aspects of life when things get emotional.

It's just different pinnacles. It's different markers in our life. And I think it's fine.

I think it's awesome. And some people push against it. It's just golf. But it isn't just golf. It's about their life at that point.

But wait a second, John. It's so much more than that to me. This is about achieving a lifelong goal. And people can relate to this. And maybe the push backers are the people that have given up on their dreams because they felt like they couldn't do it or they were unattainable. But this is a guy that was down and struggling and he still managed to beat the best players in the world for a week in a major championship setting.

When you're able to cross off these bucket list types, this is even bigger than bucket lists. This is a goal that he's probably had in his mind. Of course he did since the time he was a little boy. And now at this later stage in life, winning that tournament at 40, I think he was 43 years old. I mean, at least in my mind, where all that emotion and all that energy comes from.

It's awesome stuff. You know, back to for a second when, you know, finding your swing, finding a better ball position, getting rid of him a little bit better. But when you've been missing it as bad as he said he was missing it, you know, something I think that's unique about Augusta National that may have helped him a little bit. There's some wide open shots for sure.

So if you're not quite sure, you can kind of get going a little bit. But I'll tell you what, man, there's also some shots where you better be precise with your distance in your line or it's going to come off really, really ugly. So I think it's interesting that apparently there was enough of the, if you will, easy shots or less technical shots that he could maybe get some confidence in the shots. But man, there's still a dozen plus out there where you better hit it just right. The fact that he went from playing horribly and hitting it horribly and having no confidence all of a sudden turn it on at least a dozen times a day to be able to do that for four days. That's pretty impressive. That's pretty interesting.

No, it absolutely is. Now that's going to wrap up the front nine, but don't go anywhere. John and I'll be back with more on Ben Crenshaw and the Masters. This is golf with Jay Delson. Hey, St. Louis, the Ascension Charity Classic presented by Emerson is back this September.

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Hey, welcome back. This is Golf with Jay Delsing. I'm your host, Jay. I got Pearly with me and we are headed to the Back Nine. The Back Nine is brought to you by my friends at Pro-Am Golf. Man, you got to go see CJ.

We're getting fitted here at the Golf with Jay Delsing show. Let's get back to the Ben Crenshaw. The interview that wasn't was, that never was, is what I'm calling it. The Ryder Cup was at Brookline. Were you working that event, Pearl, at Brookline? Yes, I was. Yes, I sure was.

Okay, so this is going to be really fun. So was Callie Lou. You know I played the U.S. amateur at Brookline and you know how quirky that golf course is. It's just there's a lot of blind shots. It's just oddness to that golf course is the way I'm going to put it. And, you know, he said it took a while for the team because the team was really playing well, he thought. It took a while for the team to figure out the golf course, figure out the dos and the don'ts.

And I think that's really legit, Pearl. I think there's a lot of areas out there at Brookline and they're going to play the U.S. Open championship there this year. So we'll get to watch that this June. But there's a lot of ins and outs and ups and downs at Brookline that are not easily understood until you've been around there a few times. And by the end of the week, Ben said his team started trying to figure, started figuring it out. And they were really frustrated in the team room, he said on Saturday, because they were four points down.

They didn't feel like they were playing poorly, but they just didn't feel like they were maximizing enough on the golf course. Ben's famous quote, I have a very good feeling about this. I'll never forget him, Pearl and his presser, shaking his hand, shaking his finger and saying, I've got a very good feeling about this.

Boy, was he right. What was interesting, John, as I said, Ben, when it comes to the strategy on how you laid out, you know, your team for Sunday, give us a little insight into that. And you know what he said, John, he said he realized that on the European side, there were three players that had not played much. They had to be playing in the singles matches. And he felt like there was that was a really good opportunity for the U.S. to kind of turn the tide because those players, besides being extremely nervous, they weren't really accustomed to that kind of pressure that that match was going to present. He said that Tom Lehman led the charge on Sunday and the wave of momentum took over from there.

And he talked a lot about Justin Leonard. You know, you're not playing well. It's very possible because the Ryder Cup formation and the way it works will be qualified. They may not have been all for six or eight months for all that really matters. Now they're going to get thrust out into the limelight like that onto this, quote, Quirk golf course or this unique golf course. A great observation on his part. But that's that's what's so interesting about the Ryder Cup. You can be on a team, but you made great a year ago to earn your points to be on the team. And maybe you didn't play well the last time, you still have to play.

So there's a lot of strategy to that. Mentor plays a huge piece of this and I got to watch I think I had Tom Lehman in the last day, as a matter of fact, and I can remember it's a 20. The ball coming off of his iron shots in particular. He was just absolutely spectacular with the control that he had, the determination. And you could tell he was just a force out there. He obviously picked the right guy to lead him off that last round.

And this is what's so interesting about Ben Crenshaw. How about because he's such a golf historian and he's so connected to the history of the game. John, he said, I just had a feeling that something special was going to happen on the 17th green. He said, Francis, we met hold a spectacular putt on the 17th green to cap his first U.S. Open title in 1913 at the age of 20. He made another crucial putt some years later on that 17th green. And Ben said he just had some sort of sense that the 17th green was going to be special for the team.

And look what happened. The putt that Justin Leonard made playing against Jose Maria Olathabal. Madness ensued from their pearls, something that you never see in golf. And Ben said he felt terrible about the celebration.

The U.S. team ran across the green. They mobbed Justin Leonard. All of these things were going on. You don't see stuff like that very often, John, in golf.

What do you think about that? Because obviously that's been discussed and played on and played off of a little bit. Do you think the players did that on purpose as an intimidation or a momentum factor? Or they just got caught up in the moment?

I think they just got caught up in the moment. There's a lot of games get played out there, though, Jay. I agree. There's a lot of little games, especially back in the Seve, in the Seve years, forget some of the other players. Olathabal, Olathabal, and Faldo, and Langer.

Yep, yep. I honestly, though, John, I don't think guys like Tom Lehman, I don't think some of the other folks who were on that team would do that. David Duvall, I just don't think they would have done that. And I know Ben Crenshaw would have never, never done that. And it was, that's just my take on it.

Maybe it's a little Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farmish. Maybe it's, I don't know. I just, I want to believe in the sportsmanship of the game above and beyond all things, even though the Ryder Cup match was hotly contested that week for sure. There's a lot of on the edge of all that with the integrity of the game, with the fans, the amount of heckling that can go on out there, the noise that goes on. It's just a very, very different environment. So I think you've got to be ready for just about anything as a player.

I give the Europeans personally a lot of credit for that because, you know, they didn't necessarily pile it on a different time when they had the opportunity. It's been talked about. I think everybody agreed.

It kind of went over the edge. And so let's not do that again for the sake of the game and for the sake of the Ryder Cup event itself. Pearl, I want to wrap up the Ben Crenshaw stuff with a putting lesson from Ben Crenshaw. Who the hell doesn't want to get a putting lesson from Ben?

And this is what he said and he sees. He wants everyone to stand over the ball and be as relaxed as possible. How about that? When you're not putting well, how relaxed are you over the ball, Pearl?

I'm not relaxed when I'm putting well and not putting well, but I know what you mean. I actually tried that the other day. I loved it, but I wonder if I could do it when I'm really trying to make a putt.

I don't know. He wanted to use all four sides of the hole. The front right, the front left, the right door, and the left door is what Ben called it.

And I said, man, I've never heard that before. And he was a lag putter. He wanted his ball to just barely be falling into the hole when it got to the hole. He felt like that was the safest way to putt and that you'd get more putts liping in that way than liping out. When he was reading a putt job, he would always take the highest line he thought possible and try to use that with the softest amount of speed to get that ball to go in the hole.

It's interesting when you say that. Do you see interesting though, Jay, because I think statistically now it's Ben in his heyday, don't they have a little bit more statistics about what speed goes in and it's more 10, 11, 12 inches past the ball that passed the hole where the ball goes in more, or has that been discounted? I think Dave Pels came up with the 17 inches past the hole, and I think that's kind of been dispelled. I mean, the best putt is the putt that goes in is what most of the players will tell you, not that it goes 17 inches past the hole.

But there's a lot of that, John, and I didn't really pay much attention to that. I will tell you this, Ben had a special putter. It was called Little Ben. It was a Wilson 8802, and he said, I'll never forget, this was so embarrassing, we were talking about the Ryder Cup just previously. And he goes, I'm playing in the Ryder Cup at Muirfield Village in 1999. And he goes, I just three putted the sixth green, and there was a Buckeye on the ground, you know, because they were playing in the fall. And he said, he just tapped the Buckeye with Little Ben and Little Ben broke.

What reminded me, Pearl, I started laughing because my daughter, Joe, called me, oh, about a year ago and said, Dad, I tapped the car in front of me, and her Volkswagen was told. Ben said he's never been more embarrassed. He putted with his one iron. He putted with a sandwich. He putted with all sorts of different stuff to no avail for the rest of that day. But even the best get a little tick and break the putter every now and again. That's tough.

We've all had those situations. And, yeah, unfortunately I've tossed one or two lightly through the years that somehow splintered into three or four parts. So I'm not sure how that happened. Some of the clubs are just more brittle than others. I can remember one time at St. Albans I was putting so poorly, and I had my favorite ping answer putter.

This was in like 1996, I think, 97. And I'm playing by myself. I hit a really nice iron shot to about four feet from the hole, and I hit this god-awful putt. And it didn't go in. I gave out a little primal scream, and I threw this thing two-handed into the rock wall that was about 20 feet behind the green, the 12th green. And I go there, pick up my beautiful putter, and it is bent horribly. So I take the putter, and I throw it over the rock wall 30, 40 feet up in the air into the bushes and trees up there. And I walk down quite a ways down the hill and get in my cart to go to the next hole. And I realize I've got to go get that putter. So I get out of the cart, up the hill, climb the rock wall, find the putter, and I take the putter, and I break it into five pieces.

And I find a well up there. I stick all five pieces of that putter in the well, and I find the 40-pound boulder and stuck it over the top of the well so I knew it's never going to putt again. Maybe a tiny bit extreme, John.

I don't know, I might have been a little pissed off that day. I think there's a little therapy session or tree that might be needed for something like that. John, this is the way I'm going to end our talking and considering Ben Crenshaw. This is a quote from Ben.

If we preserve the integrity of golf as left to us by our forefathers, it is up to all of us to carry on the true spirit of the game. And I read that to him, and he said, Jay, that just makes so much sense to me, and that's what I'm trying to do. And, John, he did that.

Yep, he sure did. That's awesome. That's an awesome tribute way to finish talking about gentle Ben. All right, Pearl, that's going to wrap up the Back Nine, but we'll be right back with the Mick LeBoltre 19th.

Oh, Pearl, he's got some fantastic jokes and trivia coming up. This is Golf with Jay Delson. Get this date on your calendar June 13th at Norwood Hills Country Club.

Why? Because it's the annual SSM Health Foundation Open. SSM Health has been supporting the St. Louis community for nearly 150 years. There are so many ways for you to get involved. You golfers can tee it up at Norwood Hills Country Club.

This is the same course the PGA Tour champions played last year and will play again this September. And you can support the great cause this way. You can also join the SSM Ambassador Program, or you can sponsor your own event, or set up a corporate partnership for you and your team. Go to GiveToSSMHealth.org and help support this fantastic local foundation.

That's GiveToSSMHealth.org. The St. Louis The Ascension Charity Classic, presented by Emerson, is back this September. Don't miss the excitement when the PGA Tour champions best compete again. All for charity September 9th through the 11th at Norwood Hills Country Club.

Pro-Am spots, hospitality packages, VIP tickets and more. 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. To learn more about Jay and the services he can provide any golfer, visit JayDelcineGolf.com. You'll see the latest in golf equipment, get tips from a PGA Pro and you'll learn more about the game of golf. That's JayDelcineGolf.com. How would you like access to 90 holes of golf? Well, that's what happens when you join at Whitmore Country Club. You get access to the Missouri Bluffs, the links to Dardeen and the Golf Club of Wentzville.

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So if you're tired of drinking wine that's been open for a few days, come into Wild Crush for the best and freshest wine selection in the area. Go to WildCrushSTL.com and come have one with us. This is golf with Jay Delsing. To learn more about the game of golf, see the latest equipment, get golfing tips from a PGA Pro. Log on to JayDelsingGolf.com. The 19th hole is presented by Michelob Ultra. Hey, this is golf with Jay Delsing. I'm Jay Jones with me and we are headed to the Michelob Ultra 19th hole. Pearly, are you ready?

I sure am Jay. That was a little better than last week. You were a little tardy with the sound effects machine last week.

All right. So I want to thank the guys at Michelob Ultra for supporting the show and the Michelob Ultra 19th hole is absolutely the way to travel. Gosh, the Ben Crenshaw stuff was just spectacular. I know it wasn't quite as good as having Ben's voice on, but we will get his on. But I just wanted to have Ben in something special to talk about during the Masters week because that's going on right now.

This tournament is so awesome. Absolutely. And it was a fun way to do it, Jay. And I appreciate the different stories about him. He was definitely one of the guys, wasn't he, with you and I growing up. So many years, him with Curtis Strange and that whole group of guys out there, just seemed like they were just going to play on the tour for absolutely forever. And they really set the tone on the tour taking the next level before the Tiger Woods era.

We called him the Young Lions Pearl and it was Tom Kite and it was Lanny Watkins and it was all those guys. And they were up and at him. And he was so complimentary, and I left all this out, but he was so complimentary about my swing. He talked about my swing. He remembered my swing. He talked about my putting stroke and just talked about when we were reminiscing about his Masters and things like that, how he was getting back to his own authentic swing. It was really fun. Just a phenomenal career and still an ambassador and a story into the game going forward.

So it's pretty cool. One of the reasons that this week at the Masters is so important because they have that Champions Dinner and you get to see these guys and you get to kind of touch base with them again, at least on a yearly basis. Another wonderful tradition that the Augusta Nationals, the Masters, has put together. You know, you mentioned something earlier and I want to go back and talk about this for our listeners because maybe they'll be able to pick up a little more from watching. But the undulation, John, and the ups and downs of the tenth hole, of the eighteenth hole, of the ninth hole, they just kind of go unmentioned and it's really amazing what that looks like in person.

Absolutely it is. And that's the hills and the largest part. But, Jay, just the severity around the greens. You know, you normally have different tournaments and they'll have a false front. Well, that false front might be six, eight, ten feet. Their false fronts here end up in Ray's Creek and then give you a position where you've got an often drop the ball behind the creek from a downhill lie back over this stuff. It's so severe where there is the undulation and where the shots do matter. Like I said, there's a lot of open tee shots and some fairly open shots. But when it gets right down to the nitty gritty, there's a dozen landmines out there that if you miss one, often it can be far more than a bogey, let alone it's in your head at that point. There's just this mind screw that Augusta has over the players.

Because, John, think about this. This is the only place that doesn't change. When you play the U.S. Open, I played the U.S. Open at Wingfoot. I played the U.S. Open at Hazeltine. I played the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

You play Masters at one place. And every single player in the field knows where the flag sticks are going to be, John. Every blue moon, they'll come up with a new hole location. They know what to expect. It's that tradition. It's that history that makes you feel that next step. I can tell you when I stood up and got to play number 12, just the amount of energy and interest and focus that was running through my head, that's all I thought about the day before when I knew I was going to get to play Augusta, is I want to hit that 12th green. I want to stand up there and I want to see what these guys are talking about all the time.

It's just interesting. And you know, then if you remember, and I think it's the year Tiger won, or certainly the year all the other guys were hitting the ball in the water when the pin was that front right pin, Tiger did just what Nicholas said he always needed to do. Hit it over the bunker, hit it in the middle of the green, just pass pin high, get your three and get off the hole. But apparently it's just, it's hard to hit away like that.

And by the way, you can say, yeah, you need to do that, but you better have the right distance there as well because you're in that front or back bunker, switch that back one. Hitting towards the water, you've got another tough shot in front of you. So yes, you want to hit it left, but you still have to get that right distance for sure to be able to catch that skinny part of the green. The front right part of the green is about an extra four yards of carry. Then the front left of the green is two pearl. And any of those balls for right-handed golfers that are hit meekly never carry over there. Let's throw this out there. I'm assuming from the way you just said, and you toss it out there, that you hit the 12th green when you played there. Well, you assumed right. You know me.

I'm not going to chill myself in those corners there. Nice eight iron right in the middle of the green, right where Jack said to hit it. And I two-putted and it just felt fantastic.

Where was the flag on 12th? I hit it right where Jack said to hit it. It was probably with the left side of the green. But I hit it where Jack said to hit it. That's right. That's why I wanted to hit it, that's why I hit it. Anyway, the next call, I bombed the tee shot, thinking I'm going to knock it out in two, thinned my second shot, went into Ray's Creek and made a quad. So there you go.

There you go. Missed one shot and got in a position where I didn't know what to do from there. There's a lot of severity. And as TV gets better and better, being able to show the angles and doing the different graphics, people can see it. But if you can go see it for yourself someday, go see it for yourself because I think it'll amaze you. You know, John, when we had the great Wayne Gretzky, the great one on the show, he talked about Dustin Johnson, instead of knocking his ball that had a bunch of mud on it on the green at 13, he took a three iron and beat it into the grass so that the grass and the dew and stuff for the morning round would clean his ball for him so he could get up there and made a birdie with his wedge. It makes a lot of sense. Otherwise, I'm telling you, you get in places out there and then I'm not sure what you can do. You really need to control your ball. It's pretty straightforward what you need to do.

It's just a matter of whether or not you can do it in those conditions. Absolutely. All right, Pearl, what do you got for us for trivia and what do you got for us for a joke? Well, let's get through some trivia here and maybe we can talk a little bit about each one of these.

So here's my first one. This is Masters trivia. Name the only player to complete the career grand slam at the Masters. Gene Saracen, Gary Player, or Ben Hogan? So he won the Masters and it completed the career grand slam for him.

Well, there's only, what, six players that have done that. So, hmm, Gene Saracen. You got it. Gene Saracen. You sure did, Jay. Good one.

Good one. Name the first player to win the Masters in a sudden death playoff. I know Fuzzy Zeller won in a playoff. I know that Larry Mize won in a playoff.

I know Angel Cabrera won in a playoff. Three options I'm going to give you here. Fuzzy Zeller, Nick Spaldo, or Ian Rosen. Oh, Fuzzy.

That's right. Fuzzy Zeller. Very good. Okay.

Who was the only player to lose the Masters in a playoff twice? Ooh, that's a good question. That is a good question. Let me give you the choices. Let me give you the choices.

I got to be fair about this. Chris DiMarco, Ben Hogan, or Greg Norman? Greg Norman. Ben Hogan. Hogan lost twice, huh? Ben Hogan. Unbelievable, isn't it? You got one more?

I got lots more, baby. Which player recorded the highest score on the par three 12th hole at the Masters? Oh, give me some clues. Tommy Nakajima, Tom Weiskopf, or Jordan Spieth? Nakajima made like a 10-0 at the rolled hole because they call the bunker on 17th at St. Andrews the Sands of Nakajima. I'm going to go with Tom Weiskopf. You got it right. That's great deduction.

Tom Weiskopf, absolutely. I just want to get to one mailbag question, Pearl, before we go. We had a struggle that was a little slow over there. Pearl, I got a mailbag question, and I've got a question from, this is perfect for you and for me.

This is a question from Mary, and Mary comes from Chesterfield. Mary said, my husband tells me that I need to get a bigger-headed driver because the driver that I like, and it's the favorite club in my bag, is about 15 years old. Can you help? And I hate to tell you this, Mary, but your husband is absolutely right, especially because your current driver is that old. The newer heads, Mary, will help you hit the driver so much better, I promise. The biggest thing, Mary, if you like that current driver that you have, get the same shaft. Get the same shaft in that new driver with the bigger head. It'll be more forgiving.

You will absolutely love it, and you've got to please stay in touch with John and I. Jay at jdelsongolf.com, and let me know how it's going because it will absolutely help you, Pearl. Could you imagine if you were hitting a driver that the head was 15 years old compared to what you're using now? No, no. We've talked about this a lot.

We've got to keep up with the technology. It makes the game so much more enjoyable, let's put it that way. It's still a very, very, very hard game, but it makes it more enjoyable. And, Mary, just like when you're getting a new swing groove, as soon as you hit one or two good tee shots with it, you're going to love it. So just give yourself that time to get a couple balls launched in the right direction, and you will never want to give that one up either. Pearlie, that is going to wrap up another show. Man, I cannot wait to see the conclusion of Masters Sunday. It's one of my favorite days of the year. It's a great way to just sit around and enjoy some snacks and just watch the beautiful sprouting of the Augusta Nationals.

I love it. Yeah, all right, so we'll talk to you next week. We're going to have an interview with Chris Zimmerman, who is the president and CEO of St. Louis Blues Hockey Operations. But in the late 90s when Tiger Woods was at Stanford and then turning pro, Chris was running Nike golf.

Really fascinating stories about Tiger Woods and Nike getting into the golf business. But that's next week. Enjoy Masters Sunday, St. Louis, and hit them straight today. Get this date on your calendar June 13th at Norwood Hills Country Club.

Why? Because it's the annual SSM Health Foundation Open. SSM Health has been supporting the St. Louis community for nearly 150 years. There are so many ways for you to get involved. You golfers can tee it up at Norwood Hills Country Club.

This is the same course the PGA Tour champions played last year and will play again this September. And you can support the great cause this way. You can also join the SSM Ambassador Program. Or you can sponsor your own event. Or set up a corporate partnership for you and your team. Go to Give2SSMHealth.org and help support this fantastic local foundation.

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