Golf With Jay Delsing - - Jon Lester

Jay Delsing spent 25 years on the PGA Tour, and is a lifetime member of the PGA Tour and PGA of America. Now, he provides his unique perspective as a golfer and network broadcaster. It's time to go On the Range with Jay Delsing. On the Range is brought to you by the Gateway section of the PGA. Good morning.

This is golfer Jay Delsing. Pearly, what's up? Good morning this morning. Chop and wood, carry water. Ready to roll. Chop and wood, carry water.

Meat? What does that mean? You guys wouldn't know what that means. That means work. That means work. You guys have no idea what that means. I'll explain it to you off the air.

Here we go. This show is formatted like a round of golf. This first segment is called the On the Range segment. And the On the Range segment is brought to you by the Gateway section of the PGA right here in St. Louis. And that section is compiled of 300 men and women that are helping to make our golf experience better. So, we had a great day with those folks today working on our short game a little bit.

So, we really appreciate them being part of the show. Pearly, our social media outlets, we don't have any time. No time. The Zuckerberg Report will have to wait for next week. He's getting his co-opments.

Oh, it doesn't sound good for Zuck. And we want to thank Bob and Kathy Donahue as they help us sponsor the show each week at Donahue Painting and Refinishing. 314-805-2132. They do spectacular work on the inside of your house, on the outside of your house.

Anything you need, these are the people to call. Bob and Kathy. All right. So, Pearl, I got a really interesting interview with Jon Lester. Really one of my favorites. You know what a baseball geek I am. But talking about and making the transition to talk a little bit about golf and baseball and pitching and the mental side. And I love the mental side of it.

It's really fun. Well, I think you're enamored with him as a lot of people are. I know I am.

Because he's such a competitor. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know if you want to talk about it now, maybe later on, but who is talking about, well, you should talk about some of the best competitors we've ever run into. You know, maybe names we never heard of, people never heard of. Maybe when we were kids, who was that one kid on the block. Right. That kind of stuff. Because he seems like that one kid on the block that even then probably intimidated everybody a little bit.

Yeah, it's kind of like you get your teeth sunk into something and you just won't let go. You know. Yeah, let's talk about that a little bit on the back end.

What I really want to get to, I'm really excited about. Earlier this week, on Wednesday, there was a check presentation made by Nick Ragon, Steve Spratt, and the Ascension Charity Classic team. And are you ready for these numbers? $200,000 to each of the three North County charities, Marygrove, Boys and Girls Club, St. Louis, and Urban League. So that's $600,000. And then $30,000 each to PGA Reach and the First Tee of St. Louis. Wow. And a total of, give or take, a little more than $800,000 was raised this year in the inaugural event. That's fantastic. Was there a goal behind the scenes that they were talking about?

You know, we really didn't have anything to judge that by, at least when I was around. So, gosh, when we started putting this thing together, I was like, man, I wonder how much we can make. But, oh, man, I'm just delighted to be a part of that. That's a huge deal, especially year one.

Who knows where that's going to go. Yeah, so, hey, Pearl, this week, earlier this week, on Tuesday, I did this little thing called Teachers Teaching Teachers. And the Gateway section, Dan Politis was kind enough, Ed Schwint was an iconic guy in the section that's a teacher of the game, asked me to come over and talk to, I don't know, 15 or 20 of the local teachers and stuff.

And we worked on the short game, and it was a blast. These guys, first of all, are gracious, and their hearts are in such great spots. I mean, they care so much about this and trying to learn different ways of helping people with their games.

And it was just awesome. So what did you feel you brought to the table? Is that some new information for them? Did you see kind of in their eyes that, oh, man, I don't teach this necessarily?

Because the stuff you're at is different. I'm a pretty good chipper, but you had to teach me this whole other method to kind of take it to the next level. Is that what you were talking about? Yeah, I gave them the full monty and told them, you know, this is for more of an advanced guy.

I'm not sure a 15 handicapper or so can handle something like this, but, you know, it's just spectacular. And I was telling them, I said, guys, 95, 97% of this you can verify on YouTube, on the Internet, things like that. I said, there's 3 to 5% that it's like magic dust. It makes zero sense to me in my field that some of this path and club face thing work, and it works like magic. Well, the best players do it, and it's that finding that bottom. And especially with you guys on the tour, you normally play a whole lot tighter lies around. And if you don't use this method, you really can't use the weekenders country club method if you plan on shipping it on the greens on the tour. Because it's not going to stay on the greens. And that's one of the things, bro, I think one of the first things you noted years and years ago when you first came out and caddied on the tour, you're like, I didn't realize how hard and fast the greens were. And that just accentuates how precise and good you need to be with your landing spot, your trajectory, and your spin.

Yes, I agree with that on the greens, but I'm saying where your ball's lying, how firm and how short that grass is. You know the old, I couldn't get under it. No, no, you're not going to get under it.

It's really not the way it works out there. Right, it's interesting. So that was some of the questions, and I said I'd much rather have that super, super tight lie, because I'm going to clip the heck out of that ball, and I can see everybody kind of get a little anxious. It makes my hands sweat when you just talk about that.

It wasn't always like that, though, somebody. I used to get those lies in my hands with sweat, and I'd have a club minute. But I need to give the tip of the cap segment today, and the tip of the cap is going right to these guys that I was with today, Dan Politis and Ed Schwinn, and the golf instructor. The tip of the cap is brought to you by the Dean team of Kirkwood, 314-966-0303.

That's Colin Burton, his team over there. I just want to thank those golf instructors, the teachers, the teaching professionals, who their job is to help. They eat these hooks and slices for lunch, and they're trying to fix it. And it's, you know, there's some tops and shanks. It's just tough, tough, tough to do. And the other thing that I realized today, and we talked about a little bit, is how when you're a teaching pro, Jon, you need to be able to say the same thing in so many different ways because our brains interpret the information in such a way that you and I can hear the same sentence and go opposite directions with where we think it was meant to take us.

Well, and be patient and understanding and thoughtful. There's a lot of that kind of stuff. Yep. So the game needs and thanks all these guys. Love the day that we had today out at Old Hickory, or I mean last Tuesday at Old Hickory. And I want to thank the Dean team of Kirkwood, specifically Colin, the right-hand person, Brandi out there, 314-966-0303.

That was the tip of the cap. Don't go anywhere. We have Jon Lester on the front nine. Golf with Jay Delsing. This is Paul Azinger, and you're listening to Golf with Jay Delsing. I want to thank the Gateway section of the PGA of America for supporting the Golf with Jay Delsing show. There are over 300 men and women, PGA professionals, and over 100 golf facilities in the greater St. Louis area supporting us. They're experts in the game. They know the business of golf. And at this point in time, this pandemic, the golf courses are jammed.

These folks are working 10, 12-hour days and just doing great stuff and really appreciate them. Every time you pull up to a public course or a private course, a driving range, there's a really good chance that that facility is run by a member of our section. Some of the examples of the programs that are run by these PGA professionals and the Gateway PGA section include PGA Reach, Drive, Chip and Putt, PGA Hope, and the PGA Junior League.

To learn more about the Gateway PGA, go to GatewayPGA.org. To find a local PGA professional coach for your next session, go to PGA.com. The PGA, growing this game we love. Marcon Appliance Parts Company needs to recognize the sponsors, staff, and volunteers who made the inaugural Ascension Charity Classic in St. Louis a huge success. Without the tireless effort of hundreds of dedicated people this past year, this PGA Champions Tour event could not have achieved the success it did. The winner in golf is the person with the lowest score, but the big winner of this event is the people and communities of need in the St. Louis area and the tremendous boost to the St. Louis economy as a whole. Well played by everyone who put in the time to make this a wonderful event. It's great to live in your community.

Marcon Appliance Parts Company is based in St. Louis, Missouri and is the largest distributor of major appliance parts in North America and a proud distributor of General Electric parts. I am delighted to welcome Marie Davila to the Golf with Jay Delsing show. I'm sure you know where it is, but in case you don't, Marie Davila is a landmark out in West St. Louis County. It's located on the corner of Clayton and Weidman roads. It's also on 21 beautiful rolling acres right on the way out to Queenie Park. It's a country club like atmosphere.

It's iconic and it's absolutely gorgeous. When my dad died and my mom decided she didn't want to live alone, Marie Davila was the first place we called. When we pulled up, we were greeted at the front door by the owner and he took us around on a tour of the facility. We learned that there are one, two and three bedroom villas that you can live in. And there's also a 24 hour care in the east west and the Waterford buildings. So Marie Davila had everything that my mom wanted. One of the things that stood out in my mind as well was the way the family owned business treats their guests.

That's right. They refer to them as guests, but they treat them like family. So if you're in the process of trying to make a tough decision for this next part of life, you got to visit Marie Davila. This is local. This is family. And this is St. Louis.

This is Marie Davila. Come be our guest. Thank you, St. Louis, for making the first annual Ascension charity classic presented by Emerson a record breaking success. The golf was incredible.

Your enthusiasm unmatched. And the only thing that will last longer than the memories is the impact you've made on North St. Louis County charities to our sponsors, volunteers and fans. Thank you for welcoming golf's greatest legends and bringing professional golf back to St. Louis with record attendance.

See you next year at the Ascension charity classic. When things come out of left field, having a game plan matters. Farmers Insurance has over 90 years of experience helping people play through every stage of the game.

We've seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. Talk to farmers agent Ed Foglebach at 314-398-0101 to see how they can help you stay in the game. Ed Foglebach at 314-398-0101.

We are farmers. Hi, Jay Delsing here for SSM Health Physical Therapy. Our golf program has the same screening techniques and technology as the pros on the PGA Tour use.

That's right. SSM Health Physical Therapy has TPI, Titleist Performance Institute, trained physical therapists that can perform the TPI screen on you as well as use the KVEST 3D motion capture system. It is awesome.

Proper posture and alignment can help you keep it right down the middle. There's 80 locations in the St. Louis area. Call them at 800-518-1626 or visit them on the web at SSMPhysicalTherapy.com. Your therapy, our passion. One thing I've learned over the years is that many people don't realize that standard insurance policies aren't robust enough to handle their accomplished lifestyles.

Ensuring your personal success adequately. That's serious business. At Powers Insurance, they don't believe in treating clients like policyholders.

They treat them like friends and family. Tim Davis at Powers Insurance can offer more than a policy. He has the knowledge and experience to properly protect your busy lifestyle. Call Tim Davis at Powers Insurance today. 314-333-4913 or find them online.

Visit their website at PowersInsurance.com. Grab your clubs. We're headed to the front nine on Golf with Jay Delsing. The front nine is brought to you by the Ascension Charity Classic. 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 front nine which is brought to you by the Ascension Charity Classic. Man, what a cool week. Just announced over $800,000 raised in our inaugural year and I can't wait to try to do it again next year and help those guys out. So, PGA Tour Golf here in San Luis Pro for at least another three years and Ascension is our guys. That's fantastic. Those guys are pretty competitive and you are too. So, my guess is they're going to want to up that charity number every year would be my guess.

Yeah, I think so for sure. Alright, so let's just go right to this Jon Lester interview. Three-time World Series champion. Five-time All-Star. Big game pitcher Mike Maddox who's a buddy. We played golf together.

Described him as a warrior. So, let's enjoy this interview. Strikeout starts the second and Molina reels his way out of there as Carpenter strikes out and that's four on the night for Jon Lester. Lester's finished and they'll let him hear it here at Fenway. Jon Lester is brought to you by Golden Tee.

Oh my gosh, Jon. So, you came to the Cardinals this year and I said to your pitching coach Mike Maddox, I'm like, oh man, now I'm going to have to root for Jon Lester. I've really not liked this guy for so long because he won the World Series with the Red Sox against the Cardinals. He won for the Cubs and they're kind of our rivals and he said something that is so cool. He goes, yeah, a lot of people don't like him but he is an absolute warrior. I mean, how did you like your time here in St. Louis?

Oh, it was great. Obviously, kind of the same feelings you had towards the only reverse towards the Cardinals for so many years, just going to battle against those guys for so long. You have kind of that hate, respect relationship with those guys. So, to be able to come over and when you're on the other side and that goes for any organization, you always kind of wonder, especially organizations that are good for so long, how they do it. Is it something different?

Is it like a trick or whatever they do? So, to be able to come over and see how this awesome organization was run, starting from the training staff all the way up to the front office and obviously the players was pretty cool. It opened my eyes a lot. The guys are awesome to get to know those guys and like I said, you compete against them so you have that kind of barrier or whatever when you come in to the clubhouse against these guys. But everybody is great, very welcoming. Like I said, awesome, awesome organization to be a part of. Take us back to the way you grew up.

I'm always fascinated to see guys. I'm sure you're going to be a Hall of Famer. I hope you're going to be a Hall of Famer. But to think of you as a kid, you know, take us back to that because I'm sure you watch your boys and your daughter and you start thinking, God, I'm not that old that I can remember having those kind of dreams and hopes and desires. Yeah, I mean, I grew up, I think just like really anybody else. You know, I grew up playing a lot of sports. You know, and being in the Northwest, I think that helped me because, you know, you can't play baseball year round. So I had other interests and I actually enjoyed playing basketball more than I did playing baseball as I got older. But, you know, baseball obviously kind of chose me and moved me in that direction.

But I mean, I grew up, like you said, I grew up in the Northwest. I grew up, you know, with three, three of probably the better players of my generation with Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr. And then, you know, Edgar Martinez now with the DH and, you know, getting into the Hall of Fame and all that stuff. So I grew up watching those guys and really, you know, love playing baseball. Like I said, I played soccer, played basketball, played a little golf as a kid. But, yeah, I mean, just always moving, always running around as an only child. So, you know, my parents let me really do whatever I wanted when it came to sports. And, you know, two practices a night, you know, don't from a basketball game to a soccer game to a baseball practice or, you know, this stuff like that.

Being busy, being a kid, riding bikes, doing stuff like that. I think just kind of a normal childhood, you know, growing up up there and getting to enjoy, you know, like I said, being a kid and playing a lot of sports. You know, John, nowadays, because I'm a hell of a lot older than you, my kids have gone through the sports and they're making, because I grew up kind of the same way you did. Living in St. Louis, when the weather got cold, we didn't play golf. We were playing football. We were playing soccer.

And then inside we played basketball and I played high school basketball. And they're just not letting kids do that much these days. And I had Jack Nicklaus on the show a couple of weeks ago and he said it's one of the worst things, in his opinion, you could do for young athletes. Yeah, I agree. I mean, you're trying to, you know, just like with your kids in school and as a person, you're trying to raise the most well-rounded person you can.

Right. So I feel like if your kids want to play sports, you try to raise the most well-rounded athlete you can. And, you know, like I'm trying to convince my oldest to play basketball. He doesn't want to play basketball.

And that's fine. Like I gave him or we're giving him the choice to do it and he's making the decision and he wanted to play fall baseball. So we're in the fall baseball. But I think you need to raise, you know, if your kids are into sports, you need to raise athletes. You don't need to raise a baseball player or a golfer, you know, whatever, because I feel like at 11 years old or even eight years old, where my two boys are at, they can get burnt out with this stuff. And, you know, like you don't want to get burnt out when you're in high school, you know, and you do have an opportunity to maybe go play basketball or soccer somewhere. And you're like, I don't really want to do that because I'm tired of it. You know, so I feel like I feel like if you if you allow your kids the opportunity to make the choice, then that's all you can do.

But yeah, I mean, now everything I mean, you see it, you know, at the higher levels to everything is so specialized. You know, I think all kids, if you play baseball, all kids should play, have an opportunity to play all positions. You know, if you know, and then you see you see that to now where you've got 11, 12 year olds that are just pitchers, they don't hit, they don't do anything like that.

You got plenty of time for that. And later in your life to decide, I think everybody should hit, everybody should play and let kids be kids. And then, you know, as they get older into high school, into college now, OK, let's let's start picking and choosing, spending a little bit more time on on, you know, like I said, the possibility of maybe getting into college or maybe moving on to the next level.

Spend a little bit more time on that. And, you know, like the biggest thing, man, is I've always said, let kids be kids, let them play, let them have fun, stay out of the way. And, you know, you're not going to make a professional team at 11. You're not going to make you're not going to get a college scholarship at 11.

So let them be 11 year olds, let them be and see what happens and let them just grow as whether it be an athlete or musician or whatever it is, let them grow, let them pick and choose what they what what makes them happy. All right, that's going to wrap up the front nine. But don't go anywhere. We're going to be right back with the back nine and more from Jon Lester on golf with Jay Delsing.

Hi, this is Peter Jacobson and you're listening to golf with Jay Delsing. If you have a car and you're struggling to get some protection for that car, let me recommend Vehicle Assurance 18663419255 is their number. They have been in business for over 10 years and have a 30 day money back guarantee, which is one of the reasons why they have over one million satisfied customers. They are known for their painless claims process and their premium vehicle protection. So whatever that car looks like, they can help you. You can find them at VehicleAssurance.com or call them again at 866-341-9255 for a free quote.

Get the protection and the peace of mind you deserve. Thank you, St. Louis, for making the first annual Ascension charity classic presented by Emerson a record breaking success. The golf was incredible.

Your enthusiasm unmatched. And the only thing that will last longer than the memories is the impact you've made on North St. Louis County charities. To our sponsors, volunteers and fans, thank you for welcoming golf's greatest legends and bringing professional golf back to St. Louis with record attendance.

See you next year at the Ascension charity classic. Hey, I know you've heard a lot about club fitting, but I need you to go visit my friends at Pro-Am Golf. They're a family owned and operated golf discount shop in St. Louis that's been operating for over 40 years. They have a top quality fitter in CJ over there and a very qualified staff with the most up to date state of the art technology in the industry at all. They've got a really cool ball program coming that will help you fit your swing speed to the right ball. But most importantly, they have the lowest prices in town on this fitting. And you know what's really special? They take the price of the fitting and roll it into the new clubs that you purchase over there.

So basically the fitting costs you nothing. Visit Tom DeGrant. He's been in the business for over 40 years and a great guy. And they'll watch you hit balls in their simulator.

So stop by and ask for the delsing discount and they'll give you even more money off their already low price. That's Pro-Am Golf, a family owned business here in St. Louis. I am sitting down this morning with Gideon Smith, who's the head golf professional at Quincy Country Club. Hey Gideon, thanks for joining me.

Thank you for having me. Hey, so Quincy Country Club is a real sleeper in the area. Congratulations on being the head golf professional there. And tell us what's going on with some Northern Illinois golf. Well, Quincy Country Club, we're two hours north of the St. Louis area.

It's a club that's been established in 1898. We're kind of unique in the sense that we're all bent grass up here in the north. So even though we're in the transition zone, we still are able to have success with having the bent grass fairway, obviously teas and greens. Oh my gosh, it makes for a real challenge for your superintendent, doesn't it? Because, I mean, imagine trying to manage the green complex throughout the whole facility.

Yeah, absolutely. Anytime that you're dealing with a cool season grass that is probably two hours south of where it would thrive, they definitely have their hands full. And I can't imagine what it's like down in the St. Louis area with the courses that have the bent grass as well. Right, we know that St. Louis Country Club is one and Fox Run comes to mind another.

So Gideon, talk to us a little bit about what our listeners might not know that you have going on that you're involved with. Because I know you have the Secretary of the Gateway, PGA Board of Directors, and you're just involved in a lot of golf-related things. Yeah, so you always love to give back to your section, but the Quincy area is pretty rich in golf tradition. We've got quite a few good players that have come out of Quincy.

D.A. Wybring, who played regular tour, champions tour. We've had Luke Guthrie kind of on the Corn Fairy tour.

We've got a couple of kids who I think are starting to get ready to go to Q school that went through Quincy. So we're really rich in golf tradition. We enjoy playing golf up here, as everybody does, but we've had great success. I've enjoyed my time working with the section and obviously stepping up and being elected as Secretary. I've had a great time with that and look forward to serving even more. Well, we appreciate. So one of the things that the spotlight I'm trying to do is give folks an idea of someone like you who has these responsibilities as the head golf professional at Quincy Country Club and is also the secretary of our section of the board of directors. I mean, there's a lot that you guys, you men and women do that goes kind of unnoticed behind the scenes. But I know you guys love the game and you're growing the game. And so it's all worth it.

Absolutely. I think the biggest thing is you're working on your structuring your your schedule to be able to attend meetings, phone calls, a lot of phone calls now that you're involved with. But it also comes down to having an amazing staff. And I do have an amazing staff that allowed for me to head down to St. Louis multiple times to go to meetings or whatnot.

And also having a board of directors at the club here who are behind me 100 percent in doing what we do for our section. This is Gideon Smith. He's a head golf professional at Quincy Country Club. He's also secretary of the Gateway PGA Board of Directors. And this was the Gateway Spotlight. Gideon, thanks for joining me.

Absolutely. Thank you for having me. You've seen it and played it in bars over the past 30 years. And now you can bring Golden Tee to your home. Complete your basement or man cave with the popular arcade game, the ultimate virtual golfing experience. Over 80 courses, unique game modes, and you can even challenge a buddy in online tournaments.

However you play, you will be the talk of your neighborhood. Visit home.goldentee.com to learn more. I want to give a shout out to my friend Colin Berndt over at the Dean team of Kirkwood. Folks, if you're looking for any sort of vehicle, I know it says Volkswagen of Kirkwood. Colin has a parking lot full of new and used cars.

I was just over there the other day. I bought a used VW Passat for my daughter, Jo, who just totaled it in an accident. She texted me, by the way, and said, Dad, I tapped a car in front of me. She tapped it so well that the cars totaled. Anyway, I talked to Colin, and he is working out a new vehicle for us.

But we went over and looked. There is a huge selection of cars over there. My buddy, Pearly, that does a show with me had bought a used Toyota truck from Colin and just loved the service and loved the vehicle.

314-966-0303. This is like dealing with family over there. These are great people. Colin's there. His right-hand person, Brandi, is there to do anything they can to get you in the vehicle you want.

Give them a call today. We're halfway there. It's time for the Back Nine on Golf with Jay Delcey. The Back Nine is brought to you by Fogelbach Agency, with Farmers Insurance.

Oh, welcome back. Hey, this is Golf with Jay Delcey. Pearly is with me, Brad Barnes. Meet, he's taking good care of us here in our ESPN Studios. We're headed to the Back Nine that's brought to you by the Fogelbach Agency, with Farmers. 314-398-0101. If you need any type of insurance for your family, for your business, for any sort of product, call Ed, and he and his family will help you out today. All right, so we are going right back into the Jon Lester interview.

I hope you enjoy it. Ground ball right side. Goldie there.

A flip. Garcia there. Nine in a row for St. Louis. Eleven games above the.500 mark. And win number 200 in the career of Jon Lester. Jon Lester is brought to you by Golden Teeth. I want to talk a little bit about the mental side of the game, Jon, and how we can relate it back to golf. But let's touch a little bit on 2006 when, man, you had to have just such an odd, scared feeling when you wound up having to deal with a cancer that you had to deal with.

Yeah. Obviously, nobody wants to hear those words brought to them or mentioned to them or anything like that, especially at 22. And then you add everything else that was going on in my life to that as well with getting called up, getting my first chance and all that. And I was very fortunate, and I tell this to everybody that asks me about this, I was very fortunate to meet the people that I met along the way and the doctors that I got to meet and the guys that took care of me, the organization I was in, because they eased my mind more so than I think anybody could. So the doctor comes in and tells me, hey, you have lymphoma and this is what it is and yada yada. He basically said at the end of all this, my parents are there and I'm in a hospital bed and all this, and at the end of it he says, hey, listen, if you had to pick a cancer, this is the cancer that you would pick because the success rate, the cure rate, all this stuff is really high. Now, I've been going in, there's still the 3%, 4%, whatever that wasn't cured or whatever, so there's still that chance.

But that's something I didn't really look at. He said that and I kind of tuned everything else out and we went forward, kind of the same as a game plan pitching, like, okay, what is my game plan going forward, what do I need to do, and then let's go attack it and get it done, kind of one of those deals. Well, the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center in Seattle, they are the folks I think that you're referring to, as well as the Red Sox organization, just did a great job. I can't imagine just at the front door of your career having to deal with that, but it sure as hell didn't hold you back at all. Yeah, there was also the people at Dana-Farber in Boston that I dealt with that were awesome.

They got me started with everything and then I went to Fred Hutch and finished up there in Seattle. But yeah, I try to compare it to, obviously it's not the same and I have to watch my words on this, but the analogy that I use is it's not like a cold. So you get a cold, you take Tylenol, you take Seraflu, you take whatever and you feel better and you see how the medicine works through the day and the next day and so on. Well, with cancer there's no feeling better. So you get your treatment, you feel like crap for however many days and then you kind of recover for, mine was every 21 days, so you recover for 16 days, 15 days, whatever it may be and then you're back at it again. You lose your hair, you lose weight, you feel tired all the time. So there's no real like, hey, I'm feeling better until you go and get a scan and find out, oh, is it gone or is it not?

So there's a lot of unknowns, a lot of questions. One thing that really helped me with it was I had an outlet. I had fishing. When I could work out, I would work out. When I could throw, I would throw.

When I could play golf, I could play golf, type thing where sometimes I would just get in the car and go drive. But I wasn't going to sit in the house and feel sorry for myself or start questioning, hey, is this working? So I would tell people that that's something that really helped me keep my mind off of, you know, were the drugs working? Am I going to get through this?

Am I going to be ready for spring training? You know, all these questions. And that really helped me kind of get through that whole kind of unknown period.

Oh, my gosh. I can't imagine. And then you and your wife started this Never Quit organization to support children with cancer.

Talk a little bit about that, because that doesn't get nearly enough play, and it really should. Yeah, it's pretty cool. It's obviously really special to us, you know, having the history that I had and going through that and obviously meeting the doctors and seeing organizations like PCRF, pediatric cancer research, that have helped people like me, Anthony Rizzo, other guys that were young and kind of the beginning of their career or even just kids in general.

So, you know, I got to see it firsthand. So my wife and I were like, well, we want to start something. We want to be a part of something and try to give back. And I don't think the kids, the pediatric side of cancer doesn't really get talked about enough. It doesn't get brought up enough. And it really lacks support.

It really lacks research and technology and all the stuff that we need to not allow this to happen to our kids. And so we dove all in. And luckily, I had some help along the way. A guy named Rob Quish actually helped us start this whole thing back in 2012.

He approached me with his son who left cancer and had this whole awesome idea about never quit. And we were sold. We wanted to be a part of it. And from 2012 till 2019, well, we did some stuff last year, but obviously with COVID is a little hard. But we we we had kids out at at all 30 ballparks. We got that done in 19. We raised over, I think, over a million, million and a half dollars over that amount of time for PCRF. And I got to meet a lot of the same thing as going through my treatment.

I got I got to meet a lot of cool people in Chicago and around the country that unfortunately were going through some tough times. But hopefully we were able to put a smile on their face for just a little bit when they were able to come to some of these games. Just want to shift gears a little bit, John, and talk a little bit about the mental side of pitching. And I know you love the game of golf and this is a golf show.

So we want to kind of segue into that. One of the things that used to drive me crazy, John, is if I would have one one mental lapse. I never seem to ever get away with it. I'd always hit the thing in the bushes or hit it in the water or something like that.

Every single time I let my mind just get away from me a little bit. And it's got to be similar to you on the mound, I would guess, because if one pitcher, if you know what, what is that? I should just shut up and let you talk about that. But are there similarities like that? I think so. You know, I think this is my theory on why pitchers, I think, are good golfers. I think it's very similar to pitching where, you know, you're not always, you know, just like what you said. Let's just say you throw one hundred and ten pitches in the game. You're not going to be locked in for one hundred and ten pitches. You're going to have a mental lapse. You're going to have a question.

Should I throw this or is this the right pitch or whatever? And I think there's ways to get around that. There's there's trying to think of the words.

But anyway, like what a guy told me a long time ago, he's like, you got it. And the reason why this came up was because umpires not necessarily pitching. I would get so frustrated with umpires that it would carry into the next pitch and then the next pitch and the next pitch.

And next thing you know, I've walked a guy and now I've given up a hit and there's that mental lapse. So what he used to always harp on me is, you know, hey, you've got to you've got to win every single pitch. You've got to take one pitch at a time and win that pitch, whatever it may be.

And if it doesn't go your way, you need to figure out a way to move on to the next pitch and win that pitch. And so he came up with this this program for me with these cards and their three by five cards. And they've got no one zero zero through ninety nine all jumbled up in there.

And it's a five minute process. And you go through and, you know, each one is different. The first one is, you know, from zero zero up by two. You kind of get the idea. You have to you have to try to find each number as an individual.

And so that would really help me kind of hone in on each pitch. So I'm trying to find each number. So I'm going zero zero. OK, where's two? Now I got to find two.

You got to do that within a minute. And then you have other ones that have distractions in them and the other ones are silent. So you have to kind of play this game with yourself and really focus. So that was something that really helped me with with the pitch to pitch of the game. And I think that helps with golf because it's very similar. Right.

Right. You hit a bad shot. That's your that's your pitch. Now you have to try to focus on that of accomplishing or winning the next shot or winning the next pitch.

So, yeah, I mean, it's very I think it's very similar. I think golf is way more of a mental because it is just you. It's way more of a mental grind battle out there than when you say you're pitching. Because I have you know, I got seven other guys behind me that when I screw up, they're hopefully running it down or making a diving play or, you know, doing whatever. Whereas golf, you screw up, it's magnified. It's you. It's not, you know, not anybody else. Nobody else swung the club for you.

So a little bit different, but I think very similar kind of mindset. So you have to take from shot to shot. And that's going to wrap up the back nine.

But don't go anywhere. We have the 19th hole and just a little bit more. Jon Lester on golf with Jay Delsing. It's great to live in your community.

Marcon appliance parts company is based in St. Louis, Missouri, and is the largest distributor of major appliance parts in North America and a proud distributor of General Electric Parts. Hey, guys, I know you've heard golf is booming and it really is. There are more people playing golf today than ever before.

And you know who else is doing great? My friends at Whitmore Country Club. I don't know if you know about their membership, but if you join it with more country club, there's 90 holes. They give you access to the links of Dardeen, the Golf Club of Wentzville and the Missouri Bluffs. And the cart fees are included in the membership.

So you're not going to get deemed for a cart fee. There's no food or beverage minimums, no assessments, no nothing, just great golf, great places to eat. They have a large pool complex, three tennis courts. They've got a kids club. You can drop your children off you and your significant other. Your wife can go out, play a little golf.

You can call them at six three six nine two six nine six two two. And when you go over there, poke your head in the golf shop and say hi to my friend Bummer. He is terrific.

He wants to help you with your game and he'll show you around. Thank you, St. Louis, for making the first annual Ascension charity classic presented by Emerson a record breaking success. The golf was incredible.

Your enthusiasm unmatched. And the only thing that will last longer than the memories is the impact you've made on North St. Louis County charities to our sponsors, volunteers and fans. Thank you for welcoming golf's greatest legends and bringing professional golf back to St. Louis with record attendance.

See you next year at the Ascension charity classic. Hey, Jay Delson here for SSM Health Physical Therapy. Do you want to have a more consistent golf swing?

Hell, I know I sure do. SSM Health Physical Therapy's golf program has Titleist Performance Institute certified physical therapists trained to assess your movement patterns, your mobility and your stability to help make your golf swing more efficient and repeatable. They can help your golf game. There's 80 locations in the St. Louis area. 800-518-1626 or visit them on the web at ssmphysicaltherapy.com. Tell them Jay sent you for special pricing.

Your therapy, our passion. Let your local farmers insurance agent, Ed Fogelbach, put his experience to work for you. Ed Fogelbach proudly serves St. Louis area families and businesses and is ready to review your existing policies or provide a no obligation quote today. Call the Fogelbach agency at 314-398-0101 to get smarter about your insurance. Again, that's the Fogelbach agency at 314-398-0101.

We know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. We are farmers. I'm with my buddy Joe Scieser from USA Mortgage. Hi Jay, how are you?

Doing great Joe. Thanks so much for the support of the show. I really appreciate the opportunity. Congratulations. This is your third year and we're really proud to be a sponsor all three years since the very beginning. It's a great show and we look forward to it every Sunday morning.

Well thanks a bunch. Tell us just a little bit about USA Mortgage and what you can do for people. Well USA Mortgage is a ESOP. It's an employee owned company. So over a thousand families here in St. Louis work for the company.

So if you want an opportunity to patronize a local company, please call USA Mortgage at 314-628-2015 and I'll be more than happy to sit down with you, go over your options, discuss all the different programs that are available and give you an opportunity to support a local company. That's awesome Joe. Thanks so much. Appreciate it Jay. Thank you. That would be fantastic. I need it bad. Absolutely. We both do. And they are a great company.

314-647-8054. First of all they have all state of the art equipment and all of the major technologies that we need but they have the lowest prices on their fitting. And if you buy something from them, they just roll the price of the fitting right into the club so it's like the fitting's free. Plus you said they absolutely know what they're doing. I appreciate all the technology and stuff and that's important.

But you still need a guy that knows his stuff. Absolutely. Absolutely. So they've got CJ over there. He's terrific.

You can ask for the Delsing discount and you're going to get a little more money off of that already low price. Alright, so we've got to jump right back into just the finish of the Jon Lester interview. Here it is folks. One ball, two strikes, two outs, ninth inning. Glasgow strikes out. Jon Lester's thrown a no hitter at Benway.

He no hits the Kansas City Royals. Jon Lester is brought to you by Golden Tee. Jon, one of the hardest things for me was when I'm in the middle of contention and trying to win a tournament and hit a bad shot. The time my internal clock wanted to speed up and then more adrenaline gets kicked in and you know when I was younger I was like damn I'm all fired up now. And then I could hit this 9 iron 170 instead of basically 150 and then they happened to make decisions on where do I drop this ball, how do I do it, things like that. Did you experience stuff like that on the mound too? Or maybe you made a great pitch and you just got beat by a little dinker out to right field or something.

Yeah, I mean yeah it's all the same. I think one of the things, and this resonated with me for a long time, I heard it a while ago, Mike Tyson said everybody has a game plan until you get hit in the mouth. So I think that really applies to pitching where yeah I got a game plan until, for lack of a better term, she hits the fan. Okay I know what I'm doing, I know what I'm doing, now I'm second and third with one out. I got to figure out, we got a one run lead, I got to figure out how to get out of this without giving up the lead. And then you give up the lead, now it's about how you come back from that. And like I said I think pitching is a little bit different than golf where if I give up that lead I still have my team to hopefully pick me up. So there's still that hope where golf is so deflating when you do screw up. Like I said, there's nobody else but you so you just keep the whole way up to your ball after you hit it in the water, you're beating yourself up.

And like you said you're talking about well I got to drop it, what I got to do, am I doing this right, am I doing that wrong? And like I said in baseball I feel like you have the ability to come back after giving up the lead. You know say that happened in the third inning, now all of a sudden I'm pitching the sixth and seventh inning and I've kind of redeemed myself for that time. So I think you know that baseball can be maybe a little bit more forgiving than golf can.

But yeah I mean I think you can judge a lot by a guy that, and I think this is a cool story. So I'm in Boston early in my career, I think it was like 07, 08. Kurt Schilling was there, Beckett was there, and Beckett was kind of big into my career as far as helping me get better.

And Schill was the veteran guy that did his thing and he had some stuff for me here and there but you know kind of more or less just pitched and did his deal. First inning I go out and give up four runs, boom just like that we're down 4-0 in the top of the first. And you know there was a buzz in the park, now there's not, you know I'm kind of deflated out there. I come in the dugout and I'm pissed and I'm throwing my stuff and I'm sitting down. We get one out, guy on, we score two runs. So now it's 4-2 in the first, going back out for the second. Schill comes down as I'm putting my hat and getting my glove on, he looks me dead in the eye, he goes that's all they get. You keep them there, we win the game. It's 0-0, go back, like let's go.

Kind of one of those like young guy, pump me back up type deals. And I ended up going out and pitching really well and I think we ended up coming back and winning the game. But that just like really resonated with me where we were down 4-0 and now I got a guy in my face saying hey look it's 0-0, like let's go clean the slate, give us a chance to win.

I think that for me really resonated is okay I screwed up the first but now I kind of redeemed myself. I got punched in the mouth, we made an adjustment and now I ended up pitching the game and we got a W and that's the ultimate goal. So that was kind of like one of those stories along the way that really helped me when those bad times kind of hit early in the games. Yeah there's something about having those teammates that can kind of help you when you need a little boost or a kick in the butt or something like that is really something.

John, did you do anything special? Your big game prowess was just, I mean that's one of the reasons we didn't like you here in St. Louis because you were always pitching game 7 and whipping our ass. But did you do anything to focus more? Or what I would tell people is the great athletes know how to get themselves to relax so they can get in that space where they perform their best.

I think that's part of it. I think because of early in my career I had Bob Tewksbury and Donnie Coxstein who were two great mental skills coaches that I got to run into and be a part of kind of their tutelage early in my career. And I had some minor league coaches that always really harped on routine. And as a starting pitcher you have four days in between your starts where you need to have a routine and then that leads into your start day. And like I said earlier, when I was younger I'd show up two hours before I put my equal arm right out there, throw my bullpen, go pitch.

There's really no routine involved there. And as I got into the game and more comfortable around the game I developed these routines of the day after I pitch I do this, the day after that you do that and so forth and so forth. And then when you get into your start day you show up, I'd eat the same thing the day I pitch, I'd show up at the same time if it's a seven o'clock game or I'd show up the hours before the same time whether it's a day game or a night game. I'd do the same stuff when I get there.

I'd have my routine where I'd go and I'd do this and then I'd go do my cards and then I'd take a little 20 minute nap or just a rest time. Then now I'm going into stretch. So the long winded side of that is I feel like when you have something to fall back on in big games or in pressure situations to relax your mind, I think that's when you go into the game knowing, okay, I've done everything that I can to be ready for this game regardless if it's game one of the season, game 60 of the season, game seven of the World Series, whatever it is.

I've done everything to prepare for this start or to prepare for this situation. Now it's just about trying to execute. I feel like when you clear your mind of all the worries of am I prepared or don't screw up or all this stuff, you clear your mind of that. Now you're focused on, okay, I'm throwing this fastball down and away to this guy or I'm throwing this cutter into this guy. So now I'm pitch to pitch and now I'm focused on that as opposed to, well, I skipped my leg workout this week because I was just being lazy. I'm not really prepared for the start.

I start questioning this, stuff like that. So I feel like that routine that was hammered into me at such an early age prepared me for bigger games. And then I honestly think one of the other reasons that that really helped me early is I'm 23 years old and I'm pitching game four of the World Series for the Red Sox with the potential of sweeping the Rockies. And I'm starting the game and I got to go kind of pitch with no expectations of winning that game. You know, kind of the outside, you know, they're like, well, hopefully this gives us a good start and we can get to Beckett game five and then we'll definitely win that game, you know, kind of one of those. So I think having that experience early in my career had been helped me, you know, go forward into some of these other games as I got older. All right, so Pearl. Okay, so first of all, I loved what he said.

Same thing as Jack Nicholson. Don't let your kids focus on one damn sport our whole time. Let them play a bunch of different sports for the season.

How do we get that message out in a big way? I'm down in Texas with my grandkids. Love the grandkids.

They're soccer fanatics, but they're doing the thing that Jack and John say not to do. And I talked to the parents, my daughter and son-in-law. I can't get through to them. They look at me like, no, not like you're old. You don't understand.

No, I think I do understand. And I happen to be getting to talk and be around some of the goats and greatest players in different sports. And they're saying the same thing.

It's a mistake. Plus, Jay, I see the attitudes. I see the way those kids are carrying themselves. If you were to the level of passion and interest and having fun, they wouldn't be doing the things they're doing on the field a lot of times.

No doubt. And they get so, they're forced to get so invested when they're not really, they shouldn't even be that, they shouldn't even know what's important. They should just be chasing a ball around.

And they should be chasing a bunch of different balls around the soccer ball. And then it's great. And then go play some hoops. And then go do something else. I mean, that's what they need to do.

But the other thing about the lesser interview that I just loved was listening. First of all, think about this. They just call you up and you get cancer. I mean. I don't want to think about that.

That has to be like you're getting hit with a two by four or the proverbial bus. Absolutely. But what about some of the mental prep things that he did to get himself ready for the big games. And this dude's won over 200 games.

He's, I got to believe he's going to be a Hall of Famer. And he, I said to him, and I've said this on there. I'm like, dude, I don't want to like you. Because you absolutely spanked the Cardinals in World Series with the Red Sox. And then you guys went in the Cubs. You know, that just kind of rubs us all the wrong way in St. Louis. And he just laughed. But man alive, he said he had so much hate, respect for the Cardinals.

Not hate in the certain terms, but just love to compete against them. Because he knew when you were going to compete against the Cardinals, you were going to go up against a great organization and a team that was going to work hard. Well, the thing that stuck out for me was his routine. And he talked about the routine a lot.

You and I know that now, finally, right, in our age. Not just for our golf games, but for life. For really whatever we're doing. I love that he quoted the Mike Tyson, you know, it's a great plan or you have a plan until you get hit in the mouth.

Let me tell you something. If you do have a great plan, and you do have a routine, and you do get hit in the mouth. Because by the way, you're going to get hit in the mouth, and you should know you're going to get hit in the mouth.

You're going to be okay. But if you don't have that great routine, you don't have a plan. So the idea behind that Mike Tyson quote is not to not have a plan. It's to realize you're going to get hit in the mouth and then we'll see how good it is. But also stick with it. It probably goes back to having something to fall back on.

When you get knocked down, what helps you get back up? If you don't have that stubbornness, that big time desire to succeed. That overriding sense that the fear is not going to win. A lot of the things that you talk, you know, you heard Michael Jordan talk about.

I wasn't going to have that feeling anymore. That feeling of what it felt like to be cut from my high school freshman basketball team and things like that. These guys, they're so similar, John.

Some of their motivational techniques and what they use. And I love how he started talking about the sports side of it. And then we related that to golf, and it's so similar. It's such a big deal, and we need it.

Everybody needs it. You know, we always talk about how do we integrate your golf show to business and other sports and things like that. I'll tell you, one way is that mental prep.

And I don't care if you're a CEO or you're a basketball player or a hockey player or trying to get through college grades. That prep, that routine, that type of stuff. And by the way, it's no more fancy than that. There can be very interesting, fancy efforts within that. But it's still the basic foundational of a routine, sticking to a plan, sticking to that routine for quite a while. And then identifying certain exercises to get you over the hump as you go.

That's as fancy as it gets, but you know what? That's hard to do consistently. Real hard. It really is.

It takes a tremendous amount of discipline. One of the things that I loved, and then we've got to wrap this up. But one of the things I loved is I said, what did you do to get up for these big games?

How did you do that? And he said, I just made sure that I covered my bases in all of my prep and all of my routines and all the things. And he's like, I couldn't do anything more.

Now just get back and see what I got. I tell my grandson, everybody wants to win on game day. Who wants to win the day before, the week before, the month before, six months before? He wants to go play in Europe. Who wants to play in Europe and show it when they're 14 years old that they're going to be there when they're 19? Everybody when they're 19 that still plays wants to go.

But the guy that started when he's 14 has a half a chance or a quarter of a chance or an inkling of a chance. Right. Absolutely. Well, Pearl, that's going to wrap up another show. I hope you enjoyed that Jon Lester interview as much as I did. Thanks for being here with me. And Meat, thanks for taking care of us here. And we will be back next week with more of golf with Jay Delsing. Time's great St. Louis.