Port Interview--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. Welcome to the show. We formatted the front of the show like a round of golf.

And the first segment is the On the Range segment. And it's brought to you by TaylorMade Golf. Man, TaylorMade has got so much great new innovation coming on.

I cannot wait to hit my new stealth driver. But we are giving away a dozen TP5 golf balls every single week to anyone that emails me. Jay at jdelsinghgolf.com.

Put the word balls in your subject line somewhere along the line and we will enter you into this drawing. Pearl, you got a quick report on our social media? We're going to come up with our own network. I'm tired of trying to deal with all the big shots.

Nobody seems to pay attention to us and all the big shots are canceling everybody else out. We're going to go our own direction, baby. Okay. All right. Good. Good for us.

And it could take a while just for the record. Once we figure out what that means, we'll get back to you on that. I do want to thank Bob and Kathy Donahue at Donahue Painting and Refinishing. 314-805-2132. First of all, these are great people.

They do exceptional work on the inside of your home or the outside of your home. So give Bob or Kathy a call. I want to thank The Next Step. Folks, go to thenextsteppstl.org and get in on this golf raffle. These are our new sponsor for our interviews on the Golf with Jay Delsing show, and we really appreciate their support.

But most importantly, get out there and check out these raffle packages. They are terrific. All right, so we take a look at this show. I've got an interview with the great Ellen Port. It is really fun.

This is super, super human being. Very positive, great golfer, owner of eight USGA titles. But before we jump into her interview, John, we had the bloodbath at Bay Hill. The weekend at Bay Hill, man, did the tour players whine a little bit. We needed to give them a little cheese with that whine.

You know, you and I talk about this all the time. I love when they're put in situations that they're not comfortable. And that's what Bay Hill did. Often, Bay Hill doesn't quite do them. They do that to them.

There's a couple holes that get them, but it's windy all the time this last week. Green's got firm, really, really, really firm. Rough got long, really, really long. And I love to see who can kind of stand that.

And it's interesting to me, some of the top, top guys crumble. Scottie Scheffler is emerging as a new star on the PGA Tour. Lots of guts. Great short game.

Love to see him come out with a victory. But what happens is the golf course changed dramatically. Thursday scores, Rory's at seven under.

I think Horschel's at seven under. The golf course was receptive. And then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the thing changed. And they were not able to make those adjustments. And that is really surprising for as accomplished as these guys are. But that's what I love about it. I think it was so unexpected. You know, you go into the British Open, you expect that. You go in the U.S. Open, you might expect that.

But you're not necessarily expecting it down there. It was just so interesting that all of a sudden, one over, two over. Who the heck shot 43 on the front side? Gooch. 43 on the front side and comes down if he makes a couple putts.

He's in a playoff. Yeah, it's amazing. But when you start thinking about the house and the course that Arnold Palmer built, the great king, you would expect it to be tough. You'd expect it to have some teeth.

And it fits. Why is it holding up to the test of time, Jay, with all the new equipment? Have they been able to lengthen it out there? Are they making changes?

They have. He was insightful enough to have room on some of the holes to make them difficult. And he's also rearranged some of the greens and put some angles on them, firmed them up. You know, there's a couple things that make the scores go up on the PGA Tour. Wind, firm greens, and a little bit of rough. And John, basically we're not seeing that being sold on the PGA Tour. We're talking about slugfest birdies. Bomb it, gouge it, and birdie every hole.

Okay, so that was Arnie's tournament. What happens if those types of conditions, if other places would have done that type of changes to their golf course, I think they would have been screaming ten times what you heard. Because out of respect, they're not going to say that much against Bay Hill and the course and stuff like that.

But I think you go to your average tour stop, if you will, and that type of thing happens, they'll absolutely lose their minds. I get a kick out of it because there's multi-gazillionaires out there that the conditions aren't quite what they had planned in practice for. They get their dander up. And they don't like it. Let them get their dander up. I think it's fun to watch.

Oh, I've had my dander up a lot. But anyway, speaking of that, we're going, this Sunday is wrapping up, as we speak, the Players Championship. And what a great event. I gotta tell you, first year there, I'm playing this golf course and I'm thinking, I'm in a world of trouble. Why did you say that to yourself? Because I was. You drove into the parking lot and were you actually on the golf course? Well, I was on the golf course, but had I known, I was uncomfortable the entire week. The first couple years of playing that event, just the golf course was so demanding. And John, from a betting perspective, this is the most wide open event on the tour all year. For example, when you go down to Augusta, 80% of the time the winner comes out of the top 16 players in the world. From this tournament on, it's the widest range. Anybody in the field ranked, no matter what, can win. This is the strongest field, by the way, in golf. Right here.

This one right here. I love that you said that because I don't think people follow that very easily on some of these different tournaments, the strength of the event. Masters versus this tournament, that kind of stuff. The boys, you win this. That's why these guys regard this so highly.

They understand it's the best of the best. Yeah, John, and this golf course demands so much ability to move the ball both ways off the tee, into the greens, and then you have to, obviously, your short game needs to be superb to win at the players. And the other thing is moving the tournament from May down to March is a huge deal in terms of what the golf course will be like.

Agronomy-wise, grass-wise, you can get cool temperatures in March in Jacksonville. That's not a lot of fun. Now, this is the second year they've done that? Yeah. Well, when I first played on tour, we only played it in March.

Okay. And then they moved it, and I didn't ever get to play it when it was super warm. When they moved it into May, you're talking about 90-plus degrees temperatures already down there.

This is, oh man, it's something. It's a lot of golf course. When you get a little bit of wind, you will see high scores like crazy down there. Well, talk about coming down the stretch. I think TV does a good job on 16 kind of to say, hey, you're going to have to hit this drive a certain way, and then it's kind of a little bit of a scary shot.

You can bail left, but then you might not be able to get it up and down and that kind of stuff. Seventeen is very self-explanatory, world-famous. Talk about 18, because I don't think TV gives... How do you feel walking up to the... Not good. That's not any easier than 16 or 17, is it?

No, not at all. Well, 16, so 16 is really demanding because it demands a right-to-left shot off the tee. It really does. You can try to hit some cuts. You can hit a baby fade or something really straight. You've got a chance of holding the fairway, but not a good chance. And then the second shot is usually something that's staying away from the water on the right. Seventeen is the island green. It's pretty self-explanatory.

Eighteen, at least for me, when I stood up there and had the water line right on my left and following all the way down along the left side of the fairway, it was super intimidating. How far right do you think I hit it? Okay, granted, then you can hit it right, but then... No, it's not good over there. Then you're looking at the water again. It's not good over there. It's not good over there. And how many times do you see these guys try to chip it out, pitch it out, slice it out of the right trees, thinking it's going to be okay in the water? No question, John. I mean, there's a cart path over there, which I got pretty familiar with.

There's a hillside over there, which I also visited several times. So it's one of those tournaments where you've got to have control of your golf ball at a super high level or else it's just going to chew you up. But that's perfect. That's perfect.

That's why there's different winners every year. Yeah, absolutely. Folks, we have Ellen Port. We're going to get to Ellen Port on the front nine. Before we do that, I'm going to do the tip of the cap segment. The tip of the cap segment is brought to you by my friends at Dean, Team Volkswagen of Kirkwood, Colin Burke. Give him a call, 314-966-0303.

He is a terrific guy and has just helped me get into a new SUV that I absolutely love. We are tipping our cap today, and we are thanking Ron Doherty of the Doherty Business Solutions, who is now the presenting sponsor of the Advocate PGA Tour event that's coming. It's going to coincide, Pearl, with the second year of the Ascension Classic. It's going to be held right down the road at Glen Echo Country Club, and this Advocate Tour is fantastic.

It's giving less represented, underrepresented folks a chance to earn some money playing golf and give them a gateway onto the PGA Tour and into the golf space in general. My money is on Christian Heavens. I love this guy. I love him as a person. I love him as a man. He's a great guy. I hope he does well there. But I'm excited to be associated with this, have this event associated with us.

Christian's got to be jacked up for that coming up. Now, is this a spectator encouraged? Yes? Oh, absolutely. And it's free. It's absolutely free.

Absolutely. So it's going to be September 8th and 9th at Glen Echo. But that's the tip of the cap segment, and it's brought to you by the Dean Team Volkswagen of Kirkwood.

314-966-0303. Thanks, Colin, so much. That's going to wrap up the On the Range segment, but don't go anywhere.

Pearly and I will be back with Ellen Port on the front night. This is Golf with Jay Delson. On the Range with Jay Delson is brought to you by TaylorMade. This is Golf with Jay Delson.

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For tickets, AscensionCharityClassic.com. This is golf with Jay Delsing. I'm your host, Jay, and I'm sitting down this morning with the great Ellen Port.

When I say great, not only is your golf game so good, but you are one of the neatest human beings I know. Ellen, thanks for joining me. Well, thanks for having me, Jay.

I don't know where to start, but let's just talk about you. You grew up in northern Kansas City. My mom is from Kansas City. I have such an affinity for the Kansas City area.

Talk a little bit about your young life and sport and what it was like growing up in Kansas City. Yeah, well, I was in north Kansas City, and I call it the good old days, you know, just such fond memories, just being able to be a kid with not a lot of stress in our lives. You know, we had a mom and dad, and then my brother is a year and a half older than me and lived in a great neighborhood. You know, it was the good old days when you would just go out the door and you wouldn't come back home until we had a bell in our backyard, a big old bell on a big pole, and that was when that would ring. We would know all the neighborhood kids and say, okay, it's time for everybody to go to dinner.

You know, everybody ate dinner at the same time, you know, around the table and just always outside. I mean, I was just your Tom. I don't want to say tomboy, especially after I sat on a panel. We celebrated 50 years of Title IX yesterday, and I was on a panel with some prominent women athletes and movers and shakers, and we talked about we don't want to compare ourselves to men.

We want to be women, so I don't even want to say tomboy anymore. I was just a girl who just loved sports, and I would be shooting baskets. I'd be throwing the football.

I'd be the quarterback, and then I'd run after it and catch it and beat a wide receiver and score the touchdown and ride my bike and swim and dive. And so it was just, you know, sports was always, and I gravitated to that. Growing up, I played sports for North Kansas City High School, had a really wonderful high school experience of playing. I was a tennis player. We didn't have all of the sports. I would have loved to have played soccer. I didn't play soccer until I came back here and started teaching. We played in an indoor soccer league, but played tennis, basketball, ran track a little bit. And actually, I did get hurt playing track, and people say, when did you start playing golf?

And I always say 25 because that's when I started competing, really, and had my own set of golf clubs. But I did play for like four weeks on the boys' golf team when I got hurt during track season, and the coach knew my dad, and he knew I was a good athlete, and I said, have Ellen come play with us. So I don't really tell that story very much because it doesn't register. I never touched a club again after that. I didn't know what I was doing, but I did it.

Oh, my gosh. So anyway, I had a great – yeah, it was pretty funny. And then I went to college, so play golf then or do any of that until I came here to teach school. That's when my golf career started. Did you play tennis in college? I played. It was funny. Yeah, I walked on a Missouri tennis team.

It was right before. And speaking of Title IX, I remember sitting down, there wasn't a whole lot of recruiting going on then. That was – that was 79, 78 and 79. K-State recruited me for tennis. That's the only coach I really talked to, but my parents both went to Mizzou, and so that's where I went. And I played – I only played a semester. My love was basketball, and I was all – what was I – all-state and all-metro basketball, and although I was all-state tennis too, but I loved basketball and probably could have played college ball, but I was going to try out for that and then had an injury right before tryouts and didn't. But had a great – you know, played intramurals and took part of all the other fun. I'm really kind of glad I didn't play college sports for being such a good athlete and playing all these sports. It's strange that I didn't play, to be honest with you. But when you look back – you know, Jay, we're old. You're a year older than me. But now that you look back in life, there's things that you go, you know, I'm really glad that I did not play and I got to do so many things that I would not have gotten to do, which then means I met so many other people that I would never have met.

But then the flip side is, you know, if I did, I would have had wonderful relationships and great experiences too, but I have no regrets about not playing anything in college. Ellen, you're the sort of person that's building – taking these relationships with you, man. I could see you at the grocery store. You're making friends all the time. This is the way you roll. I'm friends, and I'm mates and enemies too probably. You see that you're positive.

There's 99.9 percent I usually am able to navigate things well. But you know what? I've made a few mistakes along the way, but I don't want to remember. It's like bad shots. It's kind of like let's not talk about the bad shots.

Let's talk about the good shots and learn from them. And yeah, as you know, that's what you do. You learn from all your mistakes. That's why I'm getting old enough. I've learned a lot. I know.

Absolutely. It's so interesting, Ellen. I had Mike Shannon on the show a couple months ago, and he talked about being basketball player of the year in St. Louis and the football player of the year in St. Louis as a senior year in high school. And what does he go on and do?

He plays professional baseball for a living. You're like that. You're such a good athlete. You had all of these doors that were available to you.

That's just unheard of in our world today. Yeah, I am very fortunate. I do say that I'm probably with the last person that will really pick up our sport that we love at 25 and still have an opportunity to play for the United States on the Curtis Cup team.

Because I got in right before. Matter of fact, I was working through a mutual friend who you know, and many of your listeners will know Jerry Waitulovich. Dear Jerry, who was the PING salesman here forever. He hooked me up, got me to go down when I first started playing to take some lessons from Hank Haney. And I was down there enough to see a couple good players, one of his students with Kelly Keeney who ended up winning two U.S. amateurs and two British amateurs and had a short professional career. But she was a high school kid, you know, this little. And I watched her play and then I'd watch a couple of those other girls on the range and I'm like, these little junior players are so good.

And I was just starting. I mean, I had to make up for lost time because I didn't play junior golf. I didn't play high school golf. I didn't play college golf. So I was like, now that I look back, I'm like, man, I just got in under the wire before just the boom hit where the kids just, so many more events came available for them to play. It became really the thing to do. When I played, not many women were playing golf.

It just wasn't on the radar screen. So anyway, I'm very, you know, very fortunate to have started when I did and had the success that I did. Oh my gosh, in the success, Ellen, I looked over your stuff and I had the double take. I mean, 16 times you've won the Metro amateur championship, seven times the Metropolitan Amateur Golfer of the Year.

Nine, is it nine Missouri amateur titles. If I screw this up. Yeah.

Jump in. I mean. Well, I think I was 24 times St. Louis women amateur player of the year. The only reason I know that is I had to rework this stuff and I'm like, oh my gosh, that's that's four different decades.

I'm really getting old. Oh my gosh, from 94 to 20, 21 and 69 US amateur champ USGA championship events with more to come in 2022. I mean, you got to play on the Curtis Cup. That's let's talk a little bit about that, because you talk about a late start and then you jump on and play for the country in the Curtis Cup, which is the women's the men's equivalent of the Walker Cup for those that aren't familiar with the Curtis Cup. And then you got the honor of captaining the Curtis Cup here in St. Louis in 2014.

Unbelievable stuff, Ellen. Yeah. Yeah. That was really, you know, really neat deal. And the funny thing about the Curtis Cup was because I was so new to golf. I'll never forget when I even learned about it. I can I know exactly where I was.

And you'll you'll get a kick out of this. I was at Riverside Golf Course, of all places playing. And I would.

Terry Houser was one of the first I started going down to his range because I lived down at Sunset Hills. And we struck up a relationship and teach your coach. He was kind of like a dad and a coach and a mentor.

And he was the one who saw the talent because he knew I hadn't played much before I'd done anything. I don't think I'd won a thing. And he said, you know, you should try for that Curtis Cup.

You could you could be on the Curtis Cup. Maybe I had been to a national event. I cannot remember. I wish I would remember exactly what the date was. And so it's so neat to see the people that and I always attribute everything not to just chance, but to the Lord orchestrating and bringing people into my life in timely ways. And I'll never forget when I heard, well, what is the Curtis Cup?

And then I was like, yeah, yeah, I need to go do that. And, you know, I think I played Carol Semple Thompson, who is the the career amateur of all times. Carol is the standard. I think she's played in 30 U.S. Open as an amateur.

I mean, her resume. And I played her and I played her in a match when I first started playing national tournaments. And I was like, oh, God, I get to play this amazing woman. And I think I got beat six and five. I'll never forget this.

And six and five. And she we had lunch afterwards, whatever. But but the competitor in me after we got done, my thought was, I think I can get as good as her. I can be someday, you know, I can.

That's it. You know, it's because until you get in and play, I didn't even have a frame of reference of who is my competition. Why do I need to do who?

How good do I have to be? You know, who are these people? And so I always remember that that story here, I get drum six and five and I'm like, well, I can be her. Oh, my gosh.

It's so exciting. That story made me laugh. I was like, I've told her that story.

She just kind of shakes her head and laugh. But, you know, Ellen, there's such value in what you're talking about. You know, some some parents are like, oh, gosh, I don't want my my kids to go up there and play in these tough competition because, oh, you know, they're they're going to get depressed or it's sad because they're not going to do well. There's so much positive you can take even from that experience that you had. Oh, yeah.

I mean, you think, yeah, we lose a lot more than we win in this game, don't we? So it's a lesson you have to learn. I think when you're a good athlete, that was one of the lessons I had to learn that golf is just I mean, it's just such a different beast. And yes, I agree.

I mean, you're exactly right. You've got to kind of do both. You've got to get beat up a little.

I always tell kids and parents when we talk about this topic, I said you have to do both. You need to get complete it completely and over your head a couple of times. But then you also need to play in something you can win.

And that usually means playing up around your local golf association events. There's a there's a recipe for success. It doesn't always mean you're going to have success.

But I mean, like top, top success. But I have firm beliefs in certain ways to go about things. Of course, everybody's a little different.

You have to know, know the person. I was given some advice by a teacher once that, you know, I was trying to decide whether to go to a national event. And this is on down the road.

And I was getting a little more seasoned or local event, but really hadn't had a breakthrough. And he said, which one can you win? And I and he I said, well, I have a better shot.

Which one do you have a better shot of winning? And I said the local and said, go to that because you need to win because winning breeds confidence. So you could flip that around, you know, and look at it that way as well, Jay. You know, Ellen, it's so true. And, you know, when you sit there and think about winning and the events you've won, it's almost a remarkable feeling.

The resilience that you showed the week because your golf always punches you in the nose. I tell people you'll learn so much in the valley, so much more in the valleys than you do. But at the at the highs, but that high, it's so addicting, isn't it?

You just can't wait to get back. Yeah, it's really true. And and if you don't have that, you know, one time.

Yeah, you're right. I mean, it's nice to know. I don't know how wide it's going to be like for me when I realize I don't have that next event to play in. I keep thinking about that a little bit because, you know, now I'm 60. I mean, I'm still going to I get one more U.S. amateur. You know, I'll be the oldest lady in the U.S. amateur this year. And I'm like, but there's going to come a day when these things aren't going to happen again. You know, I won't go to another U.S. amateur and then it'll be I won't go to another mid am. And then I'm not going to go to another senior amateur or open or I'm not going to play in another metro.

St. Louis Metropolitan, things like that are going to happen. So I seize the day because, you know, we might not ever get back there again. But it is nice. It is nice to have another opportunity. It's something to look forward to and to set your goals and to work towards, you know.

Absolutely. Talk a little bit about your mindset. I've read about you. I've talked to you before about this.

I know you absolutely are super positive, but you are a way of dealing with the processes when it comes to the tension and the anxiety, you know, that we feel when we play. And talk a little bit about how you deal with that, please. Well, I think you've got to know your tendencies. And I have a certain swing that appears when I'm tight.

When you get in a situation, whatever your tendency, and sometimes it rears its ugly head. And so what I have to do now, and I'm kind of born again with my golf swing the last actually as of July, I feel like I tell people I was in a 15 year old, 15 year slump. I just feel like I have not really played.

I just haven't. I just everybody, you know, your game and people laugh. Well, yeah, you won this when you write. I know, but I'm not I'm not where I know I could be. I'm not where I've been before.

And so I just back to your question. I know my tendencies. I have to just make really good under pressure. And you know, this is so boring, but you have to stay in your routine. And I got a little lazy with some fundamentals, just impact and past. And I've had to make some really good rehearsals before I pulled the trigger and work on my product.

I'm working that into a pre shot routine. A quality rehearsal and impact position because I was not very I haven't been very consistent. So I had to figure out what my problem was. You know, what was I doing wrong? And then I had to work hard on the practice range.

But then I had to not check out. Put my mind in it, you know, neutral. I'm the kind of player that I've had success when I'm thinking about stuff, feeling it, you know. And I know people say, oh, you can only have one swing thought. And I was so glad when I finally heard Jack Nicklaus say that he has about six or seven.

I think I heard him say that once. And I've read some things about Jack. And I said, I am a lot like Jack Nicklaus, not in although I am chasing him for those USG titles.

Yes. But I think I'm like more like a Jack Nicklaus than an Arnold Palmer or a you know, I think we all have our ways and tendencies and sometimes they're good and bad. But I have to think about stuff and I have and now I have to make a really good rehearsal. And there's just this fine line between thinking too much on the golf course and then letting it happen. And I'm kind of rebuilding my swing a little not in the way that I like had to completely reconstruct.

But when you make a tiny change in golf and something, it feels like it's a total rehaul, doesn't it? Oh my gosh. Do your grip a little bit. You're like, oh my gosh, are you kidding me?

That feels awful. You know, stand a little. The last thing was stand a little closer to the ball. You know, I'm like, are you kidding me? I feel like I'm on top of it.

But just that kind of game. And I've always been the kind of person, Jay, that always feels like I can get better. And I pick a couple of things each year that I want to do better. And I think that keeps me tenacious. It keeps me tough. It keeps me, you know, positive.

So those are little things that have helped me along the way. OK, that's going to wrap up the first half of the Ellen Port interview. But don't go anywhere on the back nine. We'll give you the second part of that interview.

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This is The Back Nine. It's brought to you by the folks at Pro-Am Golf. Let's go to the second half of my interview with Ellen Port. I think about the way you started, and you love sports. You grew up in the Midwest.

We grew up so similarly. And to think that you won seven USGA championships, you've been 24 times St. Louis Women's Metropolitan Amateur of the Year. You won the damn Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association Senior Men's Championship last year, and the list goes on and on.

Ellen, this is really something that you've done. Well, I've been fortunate and blessed, and like I said, I've had a lot of people helping me along the way. Tons of support. My husband loved golf, and then I raised two kids and worked at Kirkwood starting out. John Burroughs School was super supportive where I worked for like 30 years. I didn't have a lot of events to play in. A couple of them came in May and September, and they were always able to find a way to accommodate my schedule so I could go a week in the fall and a week towards the end and pursue my own personal passion. They were always super supportive. I couldn't have done that, you know, and Andy is just my husband's of 36 years.

I mean, he's been the key, really. I mean, everything we've been through together with golf is just... Somebody told me to write a book, and I'm like, I'm so mad that I don't have a better... I don't think anybody would read it, but number two, I don't have a very good memory. I have a really bad memory. I wish I could remember half of the stories that have happened, just funny things along the way, whether it was putting the heater up in our little porch so I could swing and, you know, and the St. Louis winters and just caddied a little bit for me. And, you know, one time I was so mad when I lost because I thought I blew my chance to be on the Curtis Cup. I didn't say a word for 10 hours in the car driving home.

He read a book. And I just, you know, this journey, it's been so much more than about, you know, just me. It's just the, you know, that I've been very fortunate to have the, you know, be able to have a job that supported me, my family, to just still have the passion, you know, to keep going, great instruction along the way, you know, help. You know, there's a lot of things that have to work for you, you know, and I thank the Lord and that he's been... He's blessed me with my talent and he's put whatever this strange... I don't do many things well. I really don't, but I can compete and I can't play sports. I'm working on my cooking.

It's getting a little better. And it's so funny, Jay, I feel I had to fill out a questionnaire for some golf magazine and they're like, well, what are your interests outside of when you're not playing golf? And I, gosh, I sat there and I sat there and said, I am really a very one dimensional, a boring person. And there's nothing I would rather do with the handier than to go play around the golf. Oh, my gosh, it's so funny. I dabble in a few other things, but I'm not... I love the game.

Ellen, I read something where Andy said you don't do anything, whatever it is you're involved in, it's 110%. And the passion that you have and the joy that you have, you have this unusual ability and it's such a gift and it's so contagious because you mix this competition with joy. And I've never...

I don't know many people that do that. You're joyful when you're out there playing. And it's so true.

I really think it's true. You haven't seen me enough. I could tell there's a few people listening. If they were listening, they'd say, oh, wait a minute, I've got a story I'd like to tell you on this girl. I'd like to tell you about this time.

She wasn't too happy. But I think I hopefully, you know, I've always said sports can bring out the best and the worst in a person. And I think everybody has moments when they know, oh, man, I let my emotions get the best of me, you know.

And I hope what I... The one thing I do, I hope I learn from my mistakes. You know, I even had two times today I had to apologize to a rules official this year because I really felt like it was our own ruling, actually, where my match play was a tight match. It was an important match and the drop wasn't where I thought it was. And I was over busy worrying about myself and I didn't speak up and get involved at the time. And I waited till after the match to kind of vent. And I shouldn't have done that.

And, you know, it brings out a lot of emotions. I will tell this one story. And I talk a lot, so tell me this. But I was in the U.S. amateur in 2018. Yeah, I was in the U.S. amateur in 2018. And I really, really was not hitting the ball well. I mean, I honestly did not hit one quality shot, maybe one. And it wasn't even that great of a shot. In golf, you know, you have to manage your misses. So I was really not striking the ball well.

So it was just, okay. I wrote in this note, this little journal, sometimes I do this, sometimes I don't. But I said, what I'm going to do, I said, I know that my game is not near up to snuff. And I said, but one thing I can control is I can have more fun and more joy than any of these 154 competitors in this field.

And I'm going to have the best attitude of anybody in this tournament. Well, come to pass is I shot two of my best scores in the U.S. amateur. My 21st attempt made the cut, was the second oldest to ever make the cut. Anne Sanders, a friend who's won seven USDA titles back in 92 or 93, 1992, she was one month older than me.

And it went at 57 or something. And so that just to your testimony is there's been times I've had a terrible attitude on the golf course. And I actually didn't play in a couple of events because I'm like, Ellen, you are not full of joy. You are not playing the game in the spirit intended. You are getting too negative. You're too down on yourself.

I kind of stepped away for a little bit of time, just I mean, a couple of months, just go to a couple of tournaments. So all that to say, your attitude has a big, big, big bearing on how you play. And I've kind of been all across the board with it. But I hope what characterizes me is that, Jay, you know, the easy to be. You know, when things are going good, it's certainly easier to have a better attitude in that.

Oh, my gosh. But, you know, like I said earlier for myself, I've learned so much more in the valleys. I learned more about myself. Some of these things are such life lessons, aren't they, Ellen?

I mean, they are such they mirror so much of what life's like. Exactly. That's that's what sports sports are all about. You know, we were talking I was on a couple of phone calls about. I think I mentioned, you know, Title nine, the 50th anniversary was yesterday and had some neat women on a on a podcast.

And they said, what do you want? You know, where you want the women's sports to be in the future? Just like just get kids involved, no matter what they're doing, because there's so many lessons to learn through sports. You know, so it is great. Just terrific.

It's been so great. And golf has such a provider. It's a societal powerhouse. I mention this all the time with the monies that it raises for sick kids and families and things like that. And I'm so fortunate.

Yeah, I just I can't believe how lucky I've been. Exactly. It is. It's an it is the greatest game. I mean, I really do. I mean, we will you have tons of sports and success in your family history and you play multiple sports. And I I can genuinely just say that golf is the greatest game ever played.

And if you take everything down that's associated with the game, I just don't think there's another sport that compares compares to it. I do feel the same same way as you do. Total gratitude. It's so much so as we wrap up, Ellen, if you had one tip, you have competed.

You have seen a lot of this world. If you had one tip for our listeners, they love the game. Everyone asked me if there's a secret and there is no secret. I think Gary Player said the more I practice, the luckier I get. You know, I was wondering, what would you think if there was one thing that you could tell our listeners that would be significant for you? What would it be? I think feedback in golf is so important.

Good feedback. And because you can and so it could be a lot of ways. You just have to be honest with yourself and evaluate. I'm a big I probably even too tough on myself and I'm too critical. But I think some people think they're better than they are. They don't identify their weaknesses and then practice those. And so you're only as good as your worst shot. And so what I do is I would just encourage people that are going to be more competitive if they really want to improve.

You don't have to be competitive if you're just starting the game or you're 35 handicap and you want to lower it. You have to have a plan. You know, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. So you have to mix it up and some figure it out on your own.

There's a lot. I mean, all the people, all the teachers that have helped me in golf and people would think, oh, she must run and have a lesson every day and do this and that. Well, no, I do so much on my own. But I always I. But I also respect a great teacher, you know, and someone that's helped me along the way. And I merge those two. I do a lot of work on my own.

But I need the help of people. I've had a great guy, you know, Brian Fote helping me local. I've kind of gotten back to to Hank Haney was a good helper for me. And his assistant has been helping me.

I kind of grew up with Hank Steve Johnson down in Dallas. It's kind of got me back on track and feel like I wasted 10 years because I wasn't really identifying what I needed to do correctly. And and sometimes someone can tell you what to do. And I just couldn't do it. You know, I just did not execute. And then someone would tell me basically the same thing. And I get a different feel and I get it. So I'm rambling a bit. But I would just say, have a plan.

Pick one thing. You're only as good as your worst shot. And so if you're not a good putter, if you have trouble out of the bunker. I remember I was an awful bunker player. Awful.

I mean, I would go and I'd hit him fat. I was in a U.S. amateur. I didn't even know how to come out of bunker in my first U.S. amateur and pioneers, literally. So I said, I'm going to be a better bunker player.

And fairway bunker used to bother me. And I came down to the wire in a medium that I know the senior that I was defending. And I had to hit a five iron out of a really difficult bunker lie and out of the fair and hit a narrow landing area.

And I'll be darned. I did it. But I practiced that shot so much. So practice your weaknesses, figure out what they are and tackle them.

And you can until you don't really have a major weakness in your golf game. You know, that's kind of how I've tackled things and will continue to tackle things. Ellen, thank you so much for the time. I look down and we've already been chatting for over 30 minutes.

It just seemed like we were just flying by. I could listen to these stories forever. And congratulations on such a great career and keep going. It's so fun to watch and root for you. Well, let's play golf together and then you'll see and see me some of my bad shots.

You'll go, how did he ever win all those championships? But you'll help me make that get better. So let's play golf sometime this summer. I would love to do that, Ellen. Thank you so much for the time. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Hey, I hope you enjoyed that interview with Ellen Port. She is really something. That's going to wrap up the back nine.

But don't go anywhere. Pearly and I are going to break down that interview on the Michelobalter 19th hole. This is Golf with Jay Delson. Boy, is this housing market tight right now? Are you tired of having the second best bid on your dream home? Call my friend Joe Schiezer at 314-628-2015. Joe's been helping my family and I for over 30 years. He closes millions of dollars of business every year, and he will help you understand the importance of a preapproval letter, inspections and pricing your home or your offer just right. If you need to buy or sell your home, Joe is your guy. 314-628-2015.

That's 314-628-2015. You're listening to Golf with Jay Delson. For golf tips, news on the latest equipment and everything golf. Log on to Golf with JayDelson.com. Attention golfers, do you want to improve your game? Of course you do.

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That's Powers Insurance and Risk Management. Again, sign up for these great blues tickets at powersinsurance.com slash go blues. This is golf with Jay Delson. To learn more about the game of golf, see the latest equipment, get golfing tips from a PGA Pro. Log on to jaydelsongolf.com. Log on to jaydelsongolf.com. The 19th hole is presented by Michelob Ultra. Hey, welcome back. This is Golf with Jay Delson. I'm your host, Jay.

I got Pearly with me and we are headed to the Michelob Ultra 19th hole. You ready? You got it.

I jumped all over you. Do it again. All right. Now you got two open. All right.

Perfect. So, John, Ellen Port, first of all, what an accomplished golfer. She's in this conversation for the people that have won the most USGA championships. You've got two people that are holding nine, Bobby Jones and Tiger Woods. And then two people holding eight, the great Jack Nicklaus and Joanne Carner. And then seven comes Ellen Port.

How about that? It's thrilling that you brought her onto the show. She was fun to listen to.

And what an accomplished player. One of the amazing things to me, Jay, is how long she's kept her passion and her competitiveness up. And she's still going because she's talking about the years to come.

Yeah. She doesn't seem to be wanting to slow down anytime soon. And why would you? Well, I didn't hear her talk about my back, my knees, my this, my that. Somehow she just keeps on going. She didn't ask me.

She didn't ask me. I so agree. And one of the things, when you're around this woman, it's remarkable how much positive mojo she exudes.

Oh, my gosh. You just want to be around her. You just want to talk golf with her. You want to ask her about, hey, how do you handle this situation?

How do you handle that? And she won a tournament this last year, John, against the men. The men's senior championship. And she said, I was playing the golf course. I wasn't playing the men. Well, that's what it's all about anyway.

So that's that competitor that never goes away is teeing up for the golf course. Well, it's just interesting to hear her talk about the support of her husband, support around the friends that she's gotten to her life, playing the tour and the different events that she's playing with and all the other accomplishments. It's just it's fantastic. Have you ever played with her? I have not. I've done some I've done a couple outings with her.

I've done a couple of little clinics with her and just watch some of the stuff that watched her explain the way she sees certain things. And it's it's it's really fun. It's refreshing.

It's and as you would imagine, it's extremely on the upper side of positive. I mean, she just looks at things and like, gosh, I birdied this hole before. Why can't I, you know, birdie it again? You would have to. How do you otherwise how would you maintain this much interest in this much high level of play? What was also fun? What would she say?

Five or 10 years? She hasn't been hitting the ball well, yet she's still winning and competing and things like that. So as you and I know, hitting the ball is great and it's a lot of fun and it certainly helps. But you don't have to hit the ball well to compete to really when she really understand the game. And this this lady certainly understands the game.

Well, she's figured it out, right? I mean, when we start talking about decade golf and some of the things that they've broken down from a statistical standpoint, we talked about the Tiger five, which is taking care of the par fives. You're making your birdies on the par fives. No bogeys from one hundred and twenty five yards in and no three putts.

Getting the ball up and down for your easy up and downs. And there was one other component. And that's basically what Tiger just tried to dominate with. And he did.

And it worked out pretty well for him. How did that line up against how you played? I mean, I obviously knew three putting was bad. And I would say that I didn't I was for the most of my career, I went through some extremely low points with my putting.

No question. But for the most part of my career, I was I felt like I was a good putter. I felt like there were times where I was a great putter and then I felt like there were times where I was I was extremely off until you and I got together and definitively defined what I needed to do.

It helped a lot. So we knew the three putty was bad. The par fives, I could do anything on the par fives. I remember mostly destroying so much of my own personal momentum on par fives by by either going after too heroic of a second shot just because I could reach the green into always, you know, firing at the pin to try to make that eagle and bringing in all sorts of problems. I can remember several times looking at you and going, what's over there? And you're like, I don't know.

I've never been over there before. Well, certainly we had many conversations. I remember you going through tour school when you were down in Houston and there was this one par five that if you really busted your tee shot, you could get it down far enough and be able to hit a shot.

You know, it's kind of an island greenish type of a thing. And we just really had a good plan that if you don't get to a certain point and if the lie is in a certain way, you're laying the darn thing up. As painful as that was. And I remember how well you played it in coming down the stretch the one time you had to lay it up and you hit it in there about six inches and tap that thing. And I remember thinking, this is huge because it's easy to say, hey, I have to destroy. I have to do great on the par fives. But it's got its own game within the game on playing those par fives. You can't just say I'm going to destroy them and make birdies all the time. You really have to, I don't know, what do you have to do to tackle them?

Because you made the wrong decision, go for the wrong thing. You can make bogeys as easily on a par five as you can anything else. Well, yeah, because you know what the courses are like on the PGA Tour.

They're penal. I mean, they're razor's edge. I mean, that's what the guys were talking about at Bay Hill last week that you miss by a little bit and it is going to hammer you. So you have to really make sure you miss in the right spots. And I mean, that was never really that much in the ballpark when I played, you know, I was exceptionally well you remember I was exceptionally long when I first got on tour. And what I did was back way off, got a one iron hit that, you know, 60 70% of the time trying to get my ball in play to try to figure it out and decade golf is saying you should have done the exact opposite get it down there as far as you can.

Whether it's in the rough or not doesn't matter. And go get them. You were close. You're the exact opposite of what you should have been doing. Exactly.

Exactly. It's kind of like if you said take a left or right and I took a right you go well you were almost there. Except you went the wrong way.

I went the wrong way. When I got Scott faucet in the room together. We I screamed a little bit Adam Scott faucet is the founder of decade golf, I was like, man, I did this the exact wrong way and he's like, Yeah, he did. Well, I know it was crazy, you know, bro, we got some giveaways to talk about. First of all, folks, don't forget about going to the blues game with the voice of the Cardinals Danny Mac. I'm actually caddying for Danny Mac at that these events for so for 10 bucks, folks, you can go to backstoppers.org slash delsing and Mac raffle slash and make a donation to this great charitable organization the backstoppers and get a chance to go to to a hockey game and watch the blues hone their playoff chances, we're going to do this twice, Monday, April 4, and Tuesday, Monday, April 4 is against Arizona Tuesday, April 19 is against the Boston Bruins.

So get in on this thing is going to be really fun. We've also got some golf balls to give away. So this week's winner of the golf of the TP five dozen golf balls is Jeff Julian.

So Jeff, hang by the mailbox. Don't tell pearly you're getting these because he doesn't get any. But we are sending you a dozen golf balls. That's what we got going on. We got giveaways here on the show. We've got oodles and oodles of information to share with people quality information That's right.

Our content is really, really high. And that's gonna wrap up another show. We're gonna have another show in the books, bro.

That's unbelievable to one unbelievable thing after another happening on the golf show. I'd imagine we're still on the air. We are coming up next week. We've got the president of the Gateway Section, Brett Mumey, great guy just got a new job over at Algonquin, and a bunch more. So we will talk to you next week. This is golf with Jay dulcie.

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