Jay Delsing loves golf. And baseball. And his hometown of St. Louis. And, most important, his four daughters.
His passion for both games, a city and four people emanate in “You Wouldn’t Believe Me If I Told You,” an autobiography he authored with help from St. Louis-based writer and musician Will Saulsbery.
The book reminds us of why we love golf and cherish the stories the game produces.
Delsing is a damn good golfer. He made 565 PGA Tour starts and 276 cuts from 1985 to 2010. His longevity, consistency and persistence created opportunities to interact with Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Sean Connery, Stephen Stills, Charles Barkley and Lawrence Taylor, and compete against Tiger Woods, Nick Faldo, Greg Norman, Phil Mickelson and dozens of other major champions.
Delsing never won a PGA Tour event. But a career of solid play, good deeds and genuineness earned him abundant respect. Nicklaus wrote the book’s foreword; David Feherty contributed the introduction.
“Jay is emblematic of the people and personalities who make up the majority of the PGA Tour,” Nicklaus writes. “They are all talented, willing to put in the work, and grind over a long career to find the key to success. And at the same time, they realize how much the game of golf has given them and are inspired to find ways to give back.”
The book proves championships aren’t a prerequisite for great content. Delsing humbly recalls his close call at the 1995 FedEx St. Jude Classic. Delsing loved Memphis, 243 nautical miles south of St. Louis along the Mississippi River, and the intricacies of playing TPC Southwind each summer. Delsing relished nearly every tournament, and he played during an era when the PGA Tour annually visited staples such as En-Joie Golf Club in southern New York, Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club in industrial Michigan, and Glen Abbey Golf Club in sprawling suburban Toronto.
The PGA Tour needed community engagement and reliable presences like Delsing to build its brand in the pre-Tiger era. The professional game grew and changed with the emergence of Woods. Delsing provides inside-the-ropes perspective on what separated Woods from his peers. TOUR TIP: The next time you visit the range, you might want to intersperse wedges and short irons into practice sessions.
Delsing-like stalwarts are becoming forgotten in today’s professional game, as the PGA Tour and LIV tussle with exacerbated star-driven narratives. Supporting characters, though, produce the most authentic, relatable and colorful stories.
Now in his 60s, Delsing is positioned to share all of them. Some are comical, like the time he combined with college friends and UCLA teammates to plant a fake hibiscus plant on the eighth hole at Bel-Air Country Club. Yes, he executed at prank at that Bel-Air Country Club, where Delsing’s successful UCLA teams frequently practiced. For we golf course junkies, Delsing heaps significant praise on Bel-Air: “I’ll say it again: Bel-Air Country Club is the raddest place you’ll ever go. In my opinion, it’s a top-thirty course in the world.”
Delsing also shares perspective to help us in our own careers and lives. Representing UCLA in the late 1970s and early 1980s meant interactions with renowned leaders such as Peter Ueberroth and John Wooden. Delsing received a scolding from Ueberroth for neglecting to sit at a table and discuss golf and life with corporate leaders attending a function at Bel-Air Country Club. Delsing was just 21 years old, but Ueberroth’s reprimand left an indelible impression. While playing on the PGA Tour, Delsing established a side hustle, becoming the founder and CEO of a company offering clients and potential business partners world-class golf experiences.
“I’ve always tried to live and conduct myself in a manner where I never take a day off from treating people the right way,” writes Delsing, who co-hosts Golf with Jay Delsing, a Sunday morning radio show in St. Louis. “You don’t take anything for granted. You have to be grateful every day.”
Demonstrate passion toward a few things. Treat people well. Share time and stories with others.
The elements for a terrific book and impactful life intersect more than we think.
Guy Cipriano is Golf Course Industry’s publisher + editor-in-chief.
