Golf With Jay Delsing - - Wayne Gretzky

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 Vehicle Assurance. Hey, good morning, St. Louis. This is golf with Jay Delsing. I'm your host, Jay. I got Pearly with me. Pearly, how are you this morning? Hey, I'm good, man. I've been dolphin watching and pelican watching, and I am ready to do the show.

Me? Seriously? How many vacations does this guy get? This guy's a permanent vacation. Where is he at? Where's Pearly? We talk about, you know, we've got this beautiful map up in the studio from all of our whacking chasers.

We need to have like a honing device here. We can't find Pearly. The where's Waldo back in the day? Where's Waldo? Where's Pearly?

All right. We formatted the show like a round of golf. And this first segment is called the On The Range segment, and it's brought to you by my friends at Vehicle Assurance. 866-341-9255. If you need coverage for your car, anything, any kind of car, they've got it for you. They've been in business for 10 years. They do a great job. Check out our social media outlets. We're not going to tell you what they are.

It takes up too much time. I want to thank Bob and Kathy Donahue at Donahue Painting and Refinishing for supporting the show. 314-805-2132.

If you need any sort of refreshing for your home, anything inside, outside, man, they do great work. All right, John, cannot wait. I got to sit down this week with the great one, Wayne Gretzky.

I'll tell you, Jay, it blows me away. That's a goat. Until you said you had him and you haven't had a goat before, I know you got another one coming, it's the greatest of all time.

That means there's one of them in that sport and you got them. Yeah, so excited. I can't wait to share this with the listeners and just this humility. Oh man, it was just really terrific. Some of the stories, his family life, how important his mom and dad, the things he talked about, the stability they provided and the examples was just really fun. Well, and you tied in the golf to that and how important golf is in his life and kind of their family life right now. It was just a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to hearing what people think of the interview.

Yeah, me too. We're going to run the tip of the cap segment right now because my good buddy Jordan Spieth just won the Texas Open. So the tip of the cap, it's brought to you by Dean Team of Kirkwood, 314-966-0303. And Jordan Spieth wins after four years, massive struggles. All props to Jordan and his team.

It's great to see him back in the winner's circle. Call our buddy Colin Perley. You experienced Colin and probably you experienced Colin and Brandi is a big, his kind of right-hand person over there. She helped us a lot with when we bought the car for Joe.

So any sort of vehicle, you just got a nice truck, a Toyota truck, any sort of vehicle, Colin is your man, 314-966-0303. It's a Dean Team of Kirkwood. All right, so John, I read this excerpt, shared a little bit of that with you about from Jackie Nicklaus.

You know, we played college golf with Jackie when we were at UCLA a hundred years ago. He played at the University of North Carolina and man, the name of his book is called The Best Seat of the House. And it's a memoir and it was really, really awesome. The parts that I was able to read. Give us some feedback on it.

I haven't read it. I want to hear what impressed you the most. Well, one of the things that was interesting is that how Jackie said that his dad was never gone for more than two weeks in a row playing the tour. And he would, once he was home, he was home. He was there with the family. He was doing things. He wasn't out, you know, doing a bunch of golfy stuff and things like that.

He was there as his dad. He also said that it was interesting when, you know, Jackie turned pro and was going to try to play the tour and unfortunately never made it. But he went and saw our buddy, Bob Ratella, because he needed some help with sports psych stuff like everybody does, except for probably Jack Nicklaus, because when Jackie came home and he said, Dad, you know, I talked to Bob Ratella.

I have some homework. He wanted me to ask you a couple of questions, you know, and most of them were based around Jack's ability to concentrate so well when the pressure was on, when he needed a couple of birdies, it always seemed like Jack delivered. And Jackie was like, how do you do that, Dad? And he goes, I just do it.

I don't know. And he goes, Dad, it's not helping me. He goes, look, Jack, I don't know how else to say it. When I want to shout, I shout.

When I want to concentrate, I just bear down a little more. And Jackie's like, oh, man, that's really not going to help me much, Dad. And he talks, John, about how not only did Jack, he could tell that his mom and dad committed service to one another were his exact words. And that example to he and his brothers and sisters was just massive as role models, as part of a team where they knew that they were, you know, those guys were joined a joint friend. He also said, this is pro you can totally relate to this. He also said that his mother believed firmly that when Jack came in off the road, he needed to come into a happy house. His mom did that for her. That's gonna wrap up the front nine.

So don't go anywhere. We've got our interview with a great one. Wayne Gretzky coming up on the front nine. This is golf with Jay Delson.

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Welcome back. This is golf with Jay Delsing. I'm your host Jay.

I got Pearly with me. Brad Barnes is keeping great care of us here at the ESPN studios. We're headed to the front nine brought to you by the Ascension Charity Classic. Man, this is going to be spectacular. First week of September, September 6 through 12, Norwood Hills Country Club.

I'm saying best field and on the champions tour all year and best tournament on the champion schedule in year two. It's going to be spectacular. Okay, I thought maybe say something there Pearl. We're good. We're good. We're good. All right, so let's just go right to this interview with Wayne Gretzky.

Wayne, the great one, 60 owner of 61 NHL records when he retired from the NHL. Hope you enjoy this interview. I got to catch my breath so I can slow down a little bit.

I'm very excited to get this to you folks today. There's something about blue I feel good and blue. The great one. Wayne Gretzky is brought to you by Golden Tee. I have the honor of sitting down this morning and talking to Wayne Gretzky. When I look back at your career playing 20 years in the NHL, you were inducted in the NHL Hall of Fame the year you retired.

You're the last player that they, you know, they waived the three year waiting period. Gretzk, would you ever look back at what you've accomplished and just kind of shake your head? That's nice of you to say, but no, I'm more looked back and think how lucky I was to play in the NHL.

I look back and feel how fortunate I was to meet the people I got to meet, have the memories that I got collected throughout my career. I was telling my kids the other day that when I grew up, the world was such a big place. There was no internet. We used to look at maps and we had globes. The world seemed to be such a big place. Today, it seems to be such a small place. For me, I knew that through the game of hockey, I was going to get the opportunity to travel and see some cities that I would never get to see. I'm not talking worldwide.

I'm just talking going from Ontario to British Columbia, or going east to Newfoundland, being able to go to the province of Quebec. Just so many great memories. It all came because we came to hockey. I pinch myself more on the fact that I feel so fortunate that the game of hockey opened so many doors for not just myself, but for my entire family. I feel very lucky, actually.

Oh my gosh. Wayne, speaking of family, I know you just lost your dad just not long ago and from another person that's lost their dad. It's such a difficult time. The way you grew up in Brantford and your family was such an important part of all this, wasn't it?

Your humility comes through, Wayne, in all these interviews you do. Well, I was lucky. The most important people in your life, obviously, are your mom and dad. But it's an extension from your grandparents.

Then you have kids. For me, I'm so fortunate. My parents were just truly wonderful people.

We weren't rich as far as financially the world goes, but we were rich in love and compassion and closeness. It's always tough when someone passes. We all go through it. But the good news was we had a great life. We had some wonderful memories together with some wonderful times. Those things don't go away. Those are things that last forever. I always tell people when I meet them, the one thing in life that we all know is that we have one dad, we have one mom.

That's the bottom line. I was lucky my parents were wonderful people. You know, Wayne, I love the tribute that they showed. I think it was on TSN with your dad and her rolling down the street and all of these people lining the street. It's almost emotional for me. They all had hockey sticks and were tapping the pavement in honor of your dad.

Yeah, it was pretty unique. You know, COVID has been such a hard thing for everyone. The pandemic has been awful. There's no way around it. It's just been horrible for the entire world and Canada and the US.

It's been bad. The one thing that we got to do because of it was we pretty much had sort of a private ceremony. I was teasing my brothers that, you know, if there wasn't a pandemic, I don't know where we could have held the funeral because dad had so many friends and so many people that he spent time with and he helped and he loved. So from a family point of view, from a selfish point of view, it was pretty private. But when we left the church, we didn't anticipate seeing what we saw. It was pretty emotional.

I was staying in the car on the ride to the cemetery. Dad would be smiling right now because, you know, he did so many good things for so many people that went under the radar. He had this little blind boy that he took to church for 25 years every Sunday. And to see him at my dad's service and see the people how they kind of honored my dad. It was it was truly only fitting because he you know, that's the kind of man that my dad was.

And Wayne, those stories are just incredible. And it's too bad. We're in our world, you know, doesn't put those on the news like they should not that your dad did it for any sort of recognition. But there are so many good things that go on unnoticed because we'd much rather hear about, you know, lousy things that are happening and then something like that.

Yeah, you know, that's life right now. You know, by the end of the day, the bottom line is there's so many good people out there. So many people have done so much for so for people that are less fortunate and not as lucky as we all are. And my dad was definitely one of those people that just truly loved helping people. And he would serve dinners to the homeless twice a week and went to church every Sunday. It's that strong faith. I would tell my kids a couple weeks ago that, you know, his faith was so strong and yet he didn't eat or have anything to drink for over 20 days. He didn't want to pass. He loved life and want to be around his family.

But on the other side of it, it's faith and so strong that I know he's in a good place right now. Yeah, yeah, that's that's terrific. We let's talk a little bit about the modern game of a modern game in the NHL compared to when you played. I was looking at some videos the other day when you guys played in and, and even a little bit when you first came into the league. The one thing that stands out to me besides, you know, you guys basically played in a wrestling in a boxing league that that was on, you know, skates compared to what they're doing now. But the goalies in the NHL are these monster men with massive pads.

It's it just stood out like a sore thumb. Well, the game has changed. You're so right about that. You know, first of all, the equipment and the technology itself is so much better than when I played. You know, the size of the athlete has changed tremendously. Athletes of today's era in every sport are so strong and so dedicated. My goodness, just the the the the off season training and the nutrition that they go through compared to what we we made back in the 70s and 80s. So, you know, the athlete of today's era is just a better athlete. And that's okay. You know, that's the way it should be because I really believe 20 years from now the athletes would be better there then than they are now.

So it's it's progression. You know, I'm not saying that the goalies weren't good back when I played, but today's goalies are great athletes. Grant Fear was one of the first goal tenders that really was more than just a goaltender. He was an athlete. He was probably the best athlete on that team that I was with with Edmonton all those years. So the goaltenders of today are good athletes. The equipment is lighter for them.

It's bigger. And that's when you see guys like Ovechkin doing what he's doing at Crosby and Connor McDavid. It's truly remarkable because they are playing in a tougher sort of scenario than when I played and Brett Hall played and Gordie Howe played. But that's okay. You know, that's a positive for the sport. And it's hard.

It's hard to compare eras because things change all the time. But that's what makes sports fun. People sit around and they debate who is the best team ever, who are the best players ever. And that's what makes sports so entertaining that we have these conversations. But I'm the first guy to tell you that the athletes of today in hockey are better than when I played.

It's as simple as that. And that's that's no knock on anyone because at the time we were the best athletes that they could find in those days. And today they're just they happen to be bigger, stronger and faster.

And that's that's a good thing. You know, you know, Wayne, it's that's really well said when you played the game, it was obvious you you saw the game differently. It almost was like the way that you played revolutionize it. It certainly revolutionized the game, posting up behind the net like you like to do the Gretzky office, those sort of things. How much of that influence was that was what your dad used to tell you and how did you how did this evolution come from you this ability to see the ice, read the ice, avoid getting your head taken off every night?

How did you do that? Yeah. Partly because of fear. Survival, right? Yeah.

matter of being safe. But no, you know, I try out for my first hockey team when I was five. And in those days, the first league that started was 10 year olds.

There was no seven year old league, there was no six year old training sessions. It was like, all right, there's a 10 year old travel team and anybody who's 10 or under come and try out. And so I made the team as a five year old. And the coach came to my to our house to get my birth certificate to sign me up for the league. And when my dad handed him the birth certificate, the coach kind of laughed.

He goes that he can't play only five. He can't be on the team. I remember the coach left and I couldn't play. So I didn't play on the team. And the next year, when I was six, I made that team. And of course, being six with 10 year olds, I was the smallest player in the team and smallest player in the league. So right from a young age, at the age of six, I had to learn how to utilize my skills, which were my hockey sense, my knowledge of the game, my belief in what I did, skating and shooting and passing. At the age of 14, I signed the play with a team that was basically 18, 19 and 20. So the point of the story was, you know, my game really didn't have to change throughout my whole life, because I was always playing against bigger players and stronger and faster.

So I had to come up with ideas and ways to compete against those athletes. And I had a junior coach when I was 14 that told me, you know, watch Bobby Clark play. Bobby Clark plays behind the net, in the corner.

He's changing the game. So I studied Bobby Clark a great deal. And I practiced it from a young age of 14. And I think it was something new that defensemen and defense and team defense had never seen before. And so for a few years, I was able to, you know, sort of surprise opponents. And so I just sort of mastered and utilized my knowledge of playing behind the net, using the net as sort of a decoy as a defense mechanism. And, you know, I carried it throughout my career. So it wasn't like when I turned pro and said, okay, I got to play behind the net.

And how do I do this? I'd kind of been working on that for years before I got to the NHL. And I never really ever changed. I wasn't the size of the Los Mizzitos. So I couldn't stand in the middle of the ice.

And I would have gotten knocked over and then on my butt more times than not. So I just sort of perfected playing behind the net. And I just continued throughout my whole career.

This is golf with Jay Delsing. I'm visiting with Wayne Groski, owner of 61 NHL records when you retired in 1999. Hey, Wayne, can you tell us this story? I do in the prep for this interview, I was fascinated by this WHA story in this this fella named Scalbania, who I guess is the story about the private plane and you and your your goaltender and, and other forward Peter Driscoll.

Is that a true story? Yeah, it was really, I was really lucky. Nelson had signed me, even though I was still playing junior hockey. And actually Nelson and I are still friends to this day. I still talk to him every now and then. He changed my life. And I always tell him that it's something I'll never forget. You know, he took a chance on a 17 year old, 148 pound kid that people weren't sure to play professional hockey. And he had the sort of foresight to step up and say, you know, I want to have him and I think he can be a professional hockey player. So I always tell him he changed my life forever, change it for the better. He was really developed a friendship between not only him and I, but my family. And so when I was in Indianapolis, I probably at that time, it wasn't a huge hockey city. And you take this 17 year old kid and try to build a sort of fan following. It was tough for everyone.

And it was probably, I probably wasn't quite ready for that. And so Nelson asked me, you know, I'm going to sell you. I didn't even say trade, so I'm going to sell you.

And where do you want to go? Winnipeg or Edmonton? We chose Edmonton because at the time my agent, Gus Badali had said, you know, one day there is going to be a merger between the WHA and the NHL. Edmonton's got a brand new 16,000 seat arena.

They probably have a better chance than anybody of getting into the NHL. So that was really the reason that we chose Edmonton. I was kind of a throw in in the deal.

Eddie Neal at the time was one of the best goalies in the WHA and Peter Driscoll was an all-star left winger. And so when we got on the airplane, the pilot asked who was paying for the flight. Of course, I was 17. I had about $80 in my pocket and wasn't old enough to have a credit card. Eddie Neal handed him the credit card and said, I got a $700 limit, but here you go.

The pilot took it. So we ended up in Edmonton and you know, they say the rest is history, but I remember getting on the plane. I was so excited, but I had to sort of contain myself a little bit because both Eddie and Peter loved Indianapolis and played there a couple of years. They were a little bit caught off guard. Things work out that that's life and pro sports.

But when we did get on the plane, it was a kind of a little bit of a funny feeling because I was so excited about going and they were not overly pleased, but it seemed all worked out for everyone. Well, I read something, Wayne, and I don't know if it's true or not, but Nelson offered, you know, you guys as a package to both Edmonton and Winnipeg and offered to play a game of backgammon with the Winnipeg Jets owner, Michael Gobati. I don't know if that's true or not, but I just thought I've never heard of such a thing.

I don't know if that's true or not. Ironically enough, Michael Gobati and I are still friends today and we periodically see each other and chat on the phone. He lives here in California, so we've tried to get to the bottom of what happened in Winnipeg. Bobby Hall really wanted me to come to Winnipeg. He was a small percentage owner but was still playing and he wanted me to come and play with him. From what we've sort of uncovered, the general manager at the time, Rudy Pillis, wasn't overly sold on a 17-year-old young skinny kid playing professional hockey. Listen, I mean this sincerely, Glenn Sather took a chance on me.

He really wanted Peter Driscoll and Eddie Neal, but he took a chance on me and fortunately everything worked out fine. OK, so that's going to wrap up the front nine, but don't go anywhere because we're going to complete the second portion of the Wayne Gretzky interview on the back nine. This is Golf with Jay Delson. Hey everybody, it's Vince Gill.

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Visit ascensioncharityclassic.com. I am 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.

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Visit home.goldent.com to learn more. We're halfway there. It's time for The Back Nine on Golf with Jay Delcie. The Back Nine is brought to you by Fogelbach Agency with Farmers Insurance. And welcome back to Golf with Jay Delcie. I'm your host Jay.

I got Pearly with me. We're headed to The Back Nine that is sponsored by the Fogelbach Agency with Farmers. 391-398-0101 for any of your insurance needs. Personal, your business, call Ed. He's got a couple of his children working at the agency.

They're great people to help you. We're going straight to the conclusion, the second half of the Wayne Gretzky interview. Gretzky, looking, Gary Curry, McSorley, to Gretzky, scores! He did it!

He did it! The greatest goal scorer in National Hockey League history is Wayne Gretzky! Wayne Gretzky, The Great One, is brought to you by Golden Tee. I've had the pleasure of meeting you in person several times, but you had a tournament up in Toronto. I think you were in conjunction with Ford.

I think you were doing some business with Ford. And you had all sorts of NHL alums and current players. I know Holley was up there. You know, Holley likes golf more than any tour player I've ever met. He just loves the game and plays it probably as much as well. But you have a real affinity for the game of golf, don't you? Yeah, you know, when I was 16, my dad told me that he should take up golf. I remember asking why and saying that, you know, if you become a professional hockey player, the hockey guys are, I guess, say it best, they're wonderful people and they all try to help out local charities and do things for the positive. And he said, you know, you might be invited to play in these tournaments and you don't want to embarrass yourself. So that's kind of how he started playing golf. My summers were filled with box lacrosse and track and field and baseball.

So anyway, I did take it up. Through that, through the game of hockey, I've hosted many tournaments. I had the good fortune of playing in Greenville, Carolina, in a Pro-Am event that's similar to that of Pebble Beach.

And I really loved the format. You know, helping raise money for charities and more importantly, or just as important, these kids who are trying to get on the tour were really, really, truly good people. And I just felt, you know, okay, I can maybe pull this off and have an event where, you know, it's sort of the corn fairy tour, sort of like AAA players, American League hockey players, they're the next level down trying to get on the PGA tour. So we had an event for five years with a lot of work. It was a huge commitment by our people that volunteered to help make the event special. The players themselves are wonderful. And the other side of it, the hockey players that I had come to the event really enjoyed it. And then, you know, your corporate sponsors, it's so vital to have that and Ford was nice enough to step up to the table and be a huge part of the success of the event.

So I did have a lot of fun with that. It was unique, but it was very much time consuming, but something I really enjoyed. And Wayne, I know last November was really special for you and your family where DJ knocks off the Masters. It's his second major championship. He's, he went through a, I'll say a Tiger esque type run where man, seven, eight, 10 weeks in a row, he was never outside the top five and it was really great to see him put the green jacket on.

Yeah, I don't even know where to begin because it was so overwhelming. And, you know, like you said, the sort of topped off by winning the Masters, but he had been on such an incredible role for a few months in all the tournaments that he was playing in. And ironically, we had gone to Columbus, Ohio in early June of last year.

I have a friend that has a membership there in Columbus at a course called Double Eagle, which is a wonderful place. And so we got a chance to play with the young man, Maverick McNeely on the Monday. And then Dustin had flown in Monday night with our grandkids and his brother. And so we got to play with Dustin and his brother on Tuesday before the Memorial tournament. And that was the beginning of sort of a tough stretch where, you know, I think he shot 80, 80, 79, 80 back to back tournaments. And then from there, he just seemed to skyrocket and go to another level to a point where I think he won in Boston at 30 under, which is pretty remarkable. And then to win the FedEx and then heading into Augusta.

I'm not sure if people know, but he kind of grew up in that area, Columbia, South Carolina. So he's always, any golfer wants to play in the Masters. That's the sort of their Stanley Cup, I guess you would say. Although every major is wonderful and every tournament you win is great, but there's something unique about the Masters. And so we got to spend the week there. My wife Janet was filming a movie in Georgia the week before. So we were there and then just drove over to Augusta and spent the week there. And I tell people this all the time, Monday practice round, Tuesday, Wednesday practice rounds, and then leading Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, his demeanor didn't change one iota.

He was the same person Saturday night at dinner as he was Monday night at dinner. And so he was so focused, so driven to be successful there. And that was, as any golfer would tell you, the dream is to put on a green jacket. So when it ultimately happened, obviously it was overwhelming for all of us.

And I know for him and his mom and dad and his family being from that area. And it was exciting. We got on the airplane and flew back to Florida for a couple of weeks. And I remember telling them this is the one thing I never got to do, the NHL player winning a championship on the road. And I just felt so honored to be around everyone on the plane from Claude Harman, his golf coach, and Joey, his fitness guy, and his brother, Austin, his caddy, and of course, her family. It was just like I won the Stanley Cup on the road. And that was the one thing I never forget, that flight from Augusta back down to Florida.

It was pretty overwhelming for all of us and so unique and so much fun. So I know he's focused this week. It's hard to win back to back in any sport. But I know he feels confident. He'd flown up there a couple weeks earlier to play a few days to get some practice in and as a whole lot of the guys do so he's focused and he's ready to go and we can't wait.

Jen and I are going to be there and we're going to get to walk around this year and we're very excited about it. You know, Wayne, I've never met I've had the pleasure and opportunity to play with some of the great ones but I have never seen an attitude like his that is, I'm gonna say perfect. He's able to shrug things off and to move on from what what what happened with the USGA and the US Open and Oakmont in 2017 would have knocked anybody's head off their shoulders. And the way he handled it, I just had I had so much respect.

Yeah, I he's definitely special and unique. Claude Harmon and I talked about this a lot at length that athletes in every sport, not just golf. That's the sort of the mindset and the attitude you want to have. Because in sports, you're gonna fail, you're gonna have bad days, you're gonna have bad games. I know myself, I played as many bad games as anyone. You don't try to play bad games, but it happens.

And the same as golf, you're gonna have bad shots or bad days, bad holes. But he has this ability to focus and regroup like I've never seen. But that's him as a person. He doesn't let a lot of things bother him. He doesn't try to control things that he can't control. He doesn't overly worry about things that are out of his hands. And he's smart. He's so intelligent that I think people are starting to realize what kind of a savant that he really is in the game of golf.

I had asked him. He hit in the rough on Sunday on 13. It was kind of rainy and wet from the night before. And he sort of, on the second shot on 13, he chunked a sort of a three or four iron.

It got about four feet off the ground and ran about 220 yards. I remember I said to him, I said, did you miss that shot? Because I've never seen you do that. And he said, No, no, I did it on purpose. I had mud on my ball. And I was trying to keep the ball low to let her run and get all the mud off the ball. When I hit my third shot, there'd be no mud on the ball.

Unbelievable. And I'm sitting there thinking, who thinks of that? I mean, we all get up to the ball and we all say, Okay, I gotta hit it 200 yards.

And we hit it right. And those are the little things that he does that people don't understand. That's how smart he is. And his knowledge of the game is at a number one player in the world level.

That's why he's number one. So I remember saying to him, well, I never thought of that. I didn't know. I wouldn't know that you do that. And I'm more amazed that the TV broadcasters didn't talk about that.

Because obviously, they didn't know either. So it's pretty special to hear him say something like that. Oh, my gosh, it's, it's obvious that he is taking his game to the next level.

He's got the ability to dominate when he plays well like that, like the exhibition he put on in Boston last year. We one of the things that was so impressive for me to watch about DJ is how he improved his wedge game, and also his partner, because I did notice that he used to have a tendency to kind of cut his putts off a little bit and have put a little bit of left to right spin on him early in his career. Did you have anything like that in hockey that you had a tendency to do that you didn't like that you worked on continually or can you relate to that with your game?

Oh, 100%. You know, I had this coach for years and became one of my best friends and closest confidants and john muckler in Edmonton, john muckler used to always say we're creatures a habit, every athlete the same you work on, you work on what you do well. And it's just that's where sports are that we want to get better at what we do good instead of improving what we're doing poorly.

And I would say, like if you notice hockey players, when they step on the ice, the first thing hockey players do is they all turn to the right, and they start skating counterclockwise, because that's what we're used to and that's what we're comfortable with. So as an athlete, to be successful, you have to improve on and get better at what you're weakest at. Now listen, we're the top five players in the world as as Dustin was over for the last six, seven, eight years, you're good, you're good at everything. There's a reason you're number three or number four. But then there's a different level of going to number one.

That means, you know, you have a target on your back, everybody wants to knock you off, everyone wants to beat you. But you have that mindset that you're going to work harder than anyone else to stay number one. And that's what, you know, great athletes from, you know, jack Nicklaus and tiger in the game of hockey, Crosby and Ovechkin, they just, they want to stay number one. And Dustin has that mindset now that, okay, here's what I'm going to keep working on. Here's what I'm going to get better at. That's going to keep me at being number one. And now, with that, when you become number one becomes sort of a confidence booster that you believe in yourself even more than people think you believe in, that you you're not going to lose in tiger had that mindset and Dustin has that mindset now. And so you work on everything, but you also mentally become stronger because you don't want to lose that mantle.

It's so true, isn't it? Wayne, people don't understand how difficult it is to work on this stuff that you're not as good at with the stuff that you're more efficient at comes so easy. Yeah, I, I heard an interview from a golfer one day on the radio and he was, I think he was rated like 155 in the world. And you know, top 155 in the world, you're a pretty good golfer.

You know, it's pretty, pretty special to be in that category. But he was saying in his interview to the guy, to the commentator that I'll tell you how good those top four or five guys are. If you're a six handicap, you're probably closer to me as a player than I am to them who are the top three or four guys in the world. That's how good they are. And so, you know, like I said earlier, sports is just getting better.

The equipment's better, the technology, the training, practicing, it just gone to another level in every sport. So to be in those top four or five golfers, top 10 golfers, that's tough. Those guys are good. And, you know, we all aspire to be those guys. But obviously some of us were never going to get there. But we all aspire to be that that good. Yeah, it was a thrill for me.

I never even approached that. But it was a thrill for me to think that I could, you know, to toss it in, toss my hat in the ring. And, you know, I got my teeth kicked in a bunch. But it's still I still had a blast trying. Yeah, and that's, that's what makes golf unique. You know, you can't jump on the ice and practice or play with the St. Louis Blues. You can't go out there and take batting practice or play with the Cardinals. But we can all get on a golf course and compete and try to be Jack Nicklaus or Dustin Johnson. And that's what makes golf so unique.

Greske, I just want to just give you a few more props. When you came to St. Louis, I can remember that first game you played, and I had never heard any sort of noise inside that arena like that. Not for me, at least it was awesome. Yeah, you know, I look back at it.

Get a chance to play with Brett and obviously Grant Fuhrer and guys like Al McGinnis. St. Louis is a great city. It really truly is. And we spent a lot of time there, my wife's family's from there. And we spent a lot of time in St. Louis and have a lot of good friends. It's one of the best sports cities in all of North America. And people ask me all the time, where do you spend time? And I always tell them we have a house in St. Louis.

And everybody always says the same thing. Why do people love St. Louis so much? I said, well, you have to kind of go there to understand that it's a big little city where nobody gets mad at anybody. It's just nice people.

And we're truly blessed that we get to spend time there and we love it. All right, that's going to do it for the Wayne Gretzky interview. Pearl, man, I've finally caught my breath. I've been so jacked up to have Wayne on the show. I love the fact that we finally had, you know, the greatest of all time in some sort of category. And I can't wait to break this down with you. It's so much fun, Jay.

I thought you did a great job. And what a what a thrill for for us to have him on the show. All right, so that's going to wrap up the back nine.

But don't go anywhere on the Michelob ultra 19th. So we're going to break down the Wayne Gretzky interview. Golf with Jay Delsing. This is Bill DeWitt, the third president of the St. Louis Cardinals and you're talking to Jay Delsing.

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Grab your friends, a cold one, and pull up a chair. We're on to the 19th hole on golf with Jay Delcey. The 19th hole is brought to you by Michelobultra. All right, this is golf with Jay Delcey. Welcome back. We're headed to the 19th hole ball, blah, blah, brought to you by Michelobultra.

Man, an ultra grab one, Pearl. And let's open it right now and talk a little Wayne Gretzky. What a fun interview. What stood out to you?

I got one or two I'm dying to talk about. Well, first of all, his general humility. It was just the general humility. But second of all, I really loved when we got to start talking about DJ and how he's watched him progress and watch him grow. I mean, Wayne called DJ a golf savant, Pearl. Yeah, I love that.

I love that. He sure is supportive of him, isn't he? I mean, he even goes right at addressing how smart he is because some people were trying to hang a label of he's not so smart on him, which was complete garbage.

And Wayne just tackled that straight on. I've heard him say that in other interviews. I think it's absolutely fantastic.

And I think he's very much being proven right. Oh, I agree. And I love the master story, Pearl, when he was talking about him hitting that low three iron in order to get the mud off the ball. I mean, what the heck, Pearl? Who does that? I got to tell you what I was caddying for a guy that kind of taught me the game is up in Backwood Golf Course up in Winnipeg, Manitoba. And my pro, my buddy who taught me the game, I don't remember some par five.

He had a really cool drive and he's right in the middle of fairways. He's got this huge chunk of mud on it. And I'm like, what are you going to do?

I was young. I had no idea what was going to happen. He says, I'm just going to smash this thing. And that was going to come flying off like nothing.

You get out there and smash that thing and that ball went absolutely sideways. So did you hear this story on how Dustin did it? Have you ever heard of anybody doing that? You probably would have.

I've never heard it. And I played a lot of golf. Yeah. You know what, John, the thing is, is this is a story that the other players won't repeat.

You know what I mean? But hearing it from a third party like Wayne, like, like, Hey man, why did you play that shot down 13? He goes, Oh, I had a huge chunk of mud on it. I wanted it to roll.

So it would get off. I'm thinking, Whoa, that is different. Have you heard of that though? No. You heard of that before?

No. That's amazing. I mean, there's, there's a guy that's just doing well, he's number one in the world. He's doing a couple things differently than anybody else.

One by being number one and another one by cleaning this ball with a three yard on a 200 yard roller. Yeah. You know, it was, it was just, I thought it was great listening to Wayne talk about how he and Janet got to celebrate the masters win with he and Paulina, the kids, you know, the, the family Wayne was saying it was like winning a Stanley cup on the road. I mean, you could tell, you know what, do you know what, John, I'm going to say this, his, he was as genuine as anyone we've ever had on the show. Well, you and I talked about it a little bit. Now here's the guy who has been interviewed, I don't know, 10,000 times.

And look at the amount of energy. I thought you did a great job and ask some questions that I thought he was having fun with, but look at the amount of energy he gave golf with Jay Nelson show. I just thought that was cool. That that's pure professionalism. And what, what great stories. And I, I know for me a couple of stories I've never even heard.

Oh bro. The story about him getting the owner of the Indianapolis Pacers throwing, he and their goalie, Peter Mayo and their, their left, their all star left winger on a private plane. And the guy's not known whether they were going to fly into Winnipeg or fly into Edmonton is the owner negotiated a deal on the ground over trying to do it over a backgammon game. Oh my gosh. Just, just, just incredible. And, and paying for the flight, you know, he, the owner didn't pay for the flight.

The guy with the, the $600 limit on his credit card paid for the $4,000 flight. It was funny. I'll tell you the one that really caught me because I happen to have a seven year old grandson, but when he talked about at the age of five, he made a 10 year old team. You know, Jay, when kids are five, six, seven, eight, nine, if there's another team that it's got a player that's one year older than them, it's normally an Epic issue for all the kids to deal with. Oh my gosh, we're all seven and he's eight. How are we going to play against an eight year old? Here's Wade at five competing with 10 year olds.

That is certainly in this day and age, completely unheard of. And that was just awesome. That that story was one of my favorites from the interview. Yeah.

Pearl. And if you think about it, look at the way Wayne played in his NHL career. It mimics that's that whole idea. He said similar to a couple of weeks ago when Brad Thompson said he was never the best player on his team. Wayne didn't say that, but he said he was always a smallest guy on the ice.

And so a lot of his moves and a lot of his deceptiveness and his, his ability to, to, you know, stay out of phrase was probably, you know, born when he first started playing at five and six years old. Well, you'd have to, if there's a gosh, dang, Jay, if you're six and there's a 10 year old trying to take their head off, you've got to be careful out there. Well, did you hear what I said to him?

What I said is, especially in your era in the NHL, when if you weren't careful guys were going to remove your head from your shoulders and he laughed and he said, yeah, I really developed it out of fear. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. What a different, what a different world.

Well, you know what? That's going to wrap up another show, man. I just really enjoyed getting to listen to Wayne Gretzky and, and talking golf. And maybe this will open up the door to get DJ on here. And we can talk a little bit from world number one, one day, but Pearl, thanks for joining me, me.

Thanks for taking such great care of us. And we will see you next week. We've got 1968 masters champion Bob Golby coming on next week.

So don't miss that show. This is golf with Jay Delsing hit them straight, St. Louis. Hola, soy Andres Cantor y dos invitó a ver la copa mundial de la fifa. Viva cada jugar y emocionate con nosotros porque el mundial, lo es todo.

Tenempre al 10 yo te disiembre en Espanol por Telemundo y Peacock. Peloton let's go. This holiday with the right music and the right motivation from world class instructors. We're going to pick it up a notch.

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