Dennis Walters - Part 6 (In My Dreams I Walk With You)

Intro Music 0:10

It went straight down the middle. Let it start it up. It's a little bit more.

Mike Gonzalez 0:15

It's a little bit about and we have been adaptive golf field. I think most would consider you one of the pioneers of that. So from that rudimentary start that you had in trying to figure out how do I hit a golf ball with my condition to where we've come today, just give our listeners an appreciation for the progress that's been made and what you think is yet to come in terms of giving people uh access to the game.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Well, when I when this first started, when this first happened to me, and I started to play golf, I played golf all the time because I didn't have any shows. I was just starting. And I one shot 32 for nine holes sitting in my cart. And I people say, Well, what'd you shoot on the back? I said, in the eighth hole, it was dark. Yeah, it was pitch black on the eighth hole. And I and I hit it was a par three, and I hit a three-wood, and we waited, and we waited, and it hit the pin. We heard it hit the pin. And I get up there, I'm about a foot away. So I tapped it in, I go four under. And the ninth hole is a par five. And I I hit it on the green in three and two putted. I really wanted to play the back, but um, they paired me up with one of these young assistants. He was working there for a week, and I I beat him out of eight dollars, and the next week he quit. And I said, I saw him one time in a grocery store. I said, Why'd you quit? I said, I gave you the greatest lesson in golf for eight bucks. That was a bargain.

Intro Music 1:46

Right?

SPEAKER_00 1:47

And so I I did play a lot, but as I started to get busy, I didn't play that much, and it wasn't that important. It was more important for me to try and build my business and do my shows and get as good as I could. And um, I went 48 years between playing in golf tournaments, I went 51 years between going through USGA appearances. And so three years ago, they did the USGA, which I give them a tremendous amount of credit and foresight, that they had a national open for people with disabilities divided into eight categories. And the only real disability category that I know anything about is seated golf. And so I called up the first day and I said, I have one question, can I bring my dog? And they said, Is it a service dog? And I said, Yes. And they said, I said, he's legit too, he's not a faker.

Mike Gonzalez 2:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

And then I said, I said, I I want to bring him on the course with me. I know I can bring him to the tournament. No, you can do that. So I said, I'm filing an entry. So I I I had no idea how to play golf. Zero. I couldn't make it from a foot. There's no putting, chipping, or bunker play in my show. Anyhow, I I got a little better. I was still pretty bad the first year. I got a little better. I actually was fortunate to win the first year in the seated division. So that was cool. I won the US Open for people with disabilities in my category. And so the next year I tried to get a little better. I came in, I my scores were better. I came in second. Uh, and this year I came in fifth, and my scores were, you know, I shot 83, 85. Now, on a good day, I've broken 80 four times in in tournaments, and on a good day, I can break 80. My putting is still not great, it's horrible. But I've I'm I'm I'm working on it, and all I have to do is putt decent and I break 80. 36 putts, I could break 80 every time because I hit the ball really good. My drives are all good. The last year I hit 42 out of 42 fairways. And I was gonna call Calvin Pete, but he was he wasn't available. And so I tried to call Mike Reed. I left a message for radar read. I said, I'm taking I'm taking your title, Mike. And so this year I hit, I think I I think I hit, I think I I didn't go back and count it, but I can't remember being in the rough more than once or twice. And um I figured after 42 out of 42, where are you going? So I drive the ball good because that's my show swing. That's my driver swing in the show. I use that swing for almost every shot. And but you know, I had to adjust getting hitting the ball off the ground. I've adjusted to that. Um, they let you move if you're in the seated division, you can move the ball six inches in any direction. So that solves the driving up to the ball process. You still have to get reasonably close, but it's my putty. I take 40 putts, 42 puts, and shoot 82. You know. Um I uh but that's you know, that's golf. It's it's it's not just hitting the ball. It's it's it's all the money is made on the greens, and I and I have to get a little better at that. And I've got a couple new ways to try. So I'm I'm fired up about that. And then um I'm planning on playing next year. And uh this year they had qualifying. They got so many and they had 500 entries. This year they had qualifying, so I had to go qualify, even though I won the first year. I had to go qualify, which was okay. I'm okay, I'm good with that.

Mike Gonzalez 5:35

Yeah. Have you have you picked up any ideas, thoughts, new gizmos that you see out there just from all these others that are not playing the game?

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Uh well, they're they're they're picking them up from me.

Mike Gonzalez 5:49

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

There's two young kids that play. They're 22 years old. These are my opponents. They're 50, they're 52 years younger than me. That's who I'm playing against. And it's not that they hit the ball way by me. They hit the ball a little bit by me, but they they beat me on the putting and the chipping. So if I'm telling you, if I if I learn how to do that and I play my game, I still think I can beat them. Yeah, and that's gonna be someday when I beat these two kids. And but listen, I am thrilled that they're playing well because the first in the beginning, if you broke 80, you would win. Now they're shooting 75s. One kid shot under par twice. And so, which I think is one of the most remarkable feats in all of golf. Shooting, tying yourself to a golf cart and you're shooting under par. Wow, my uh my my hat's off to them. And uh so that's adaptive golf. I think in the future, more more young people will get involved, and hopefully more older people too. The last two shows I did, and this happens all the time, that um people come in wheelchairs, no interest, young kids, no interest. Then they go and they they're fired up to try it. So five, ten years down the road, all the categories, the scores in all the categories are getting better. And uh I think that's important, but it's more important for the exposure that people get to see A, that it is possible, and then why don't you get your butt out there and try it?

Bruce Devlin 7:30

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

And it's for exercise, it's for hanging around with friends, new friends, making new friends, fresh air, sunshine. There's so many wonderful attributes that I want people who are non-golfers to at least try.

Mike Gonzalez 7:46

Yeah, yeah. So uh this will become uh a Dennis Walters ebook, I believe. But uh, you have a real book out there that you wrote, your autobiography entitled In My Dreams, I Walk With You. Tell our listeners a little bit about that and then and then touch on the documentary that was made about you as well.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Well, I got a D in English and wrote a book, which is keeping with our theme of the day, that almost anything is possible. You too can get a D in English and write a book. I'm not proud of the D, but I'm proud of the book because my sister and I wrote this book. I I would I wrote it on long hand, in long hand on a yellow legal pad. And I sent after I did that, I found out that that's how Herbert Warren Wynne wrote all his articles for uh Sports Illustrated and Golf America and all the the whatever article thing he that's how he did. I said, good enough for him, good enough for me. And so I would send the I would fax these these yellow pages over to my sister, chicken scratch handwriting and stuff, stuff crossed out. She figured it out. She was like the editor, and then we talked about different things because she had the advantage of going with me for three years on the road, she knew this stuff cold. And it's it's I I I would say it has a very, very little BS factor. You know, 99.8% is true. I couldn't make this stuff up, it would be impossible. My imagination is not good enough. It's all true. And uh so uh Jack Nicholas was nice enough to write the foreword. Um it has uh it tells about the places I've been, people I've met. There's a chapter on each one of my dogs, and uh we have uh I was at the PGA show one time. This guy came up to me and he said, Have you ever thought about writing a book? I said, Who would buy it? He said, Don't worry about that. He said, I I have a book publishing company and I'll I'll I'll do it. So I actually got paid to do it a little bit, and we we wrote the book, and uh then he got out of that business, and we ended up getting all the materials you need to like to print a book. And so we ended up printing the book. We found another publisher who would print the book for us, and I think we've had about eight or nine reprints, and every time I reprint it, I put it like an addendum on the back. What has happened since the last book up until the present? And so it's a good book. It's you know, I've I learned that in order to sell a lot of books, you have to be pretty famous, otherwise, people in most cases won't buy it, or you can't get on all these TV shows. But my book is good. I get a lot of nice comments on it. I didn't enjoy doing it, but I was very happy to have it in my hand at the end. And so I sell them at the show, but I sell them as our fundraising uh project for uh the rescue group. I I as I've gotten other dogs, I've I like I usually give the money to the current dog that I have. And so I got Gussie at the Big Dog Ranch, which is in West Palm Beach. And if you ever get to West Palm Beach, it's the greatest rescue of all time. I I've been to I haven't been to every rescue place, but I've been to many, many, many of them. I know where every dog pound in Florida is, and this place is really special, and I'm I'm thrilled to be helping them. And uh it it's a great place to visit. I uh yeah, I'm happy with the book. I was approached uh one of my friends who I mentioned before, Wayne Worms, gave lessons to this guy. Um and uh I was at the PGA village and I was during COVID and I was hitting balls on the back of the range to stay away from everybody, plus the wind was blowing out of the right and uh in my face and out of the right, which is the wind I like to practice in. And so um I went to uh take my I always take my dog for a run alongside the golf cart, and I just happened to run into this guy and he said, Have you ever thought about m being in a movie, making a movie of your life? And I said, I said, you know, uh no, I I really hadn't. It's not one of my wasn't on my radar. So anyhow, we ended up making this movie, and again, it it came out really nice, it's terrific. And it was premiered on the golf channel, and uh now it's on NBC Peacock. If you go to NBC Peacock and either type my name or get a new dream, that's uh that's the title of the movie. It's also a phrase I use in my show because I think this is really the bottom line in my life, and it can be the bottom line in anyone's life, and uh and the and the way it goes is if you have a dream and it doesn't work out, that's okay. That's perfectly fine. That's easy because the solution is easy. Get a new dream. And that's exactly what I did. And uh it's a good, it's a good movie. It's it uh Jack Jack Nicholas is in it, Barbara Nicholas, Tiger. Uh we have film clips from Arnold Palmer. Uh he was he was in my he's in my videos on my website.

unknown 13:47

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

And uh he's also there's also a really, this is really good to look up too, is if you go to uh YouTube or my website and you look up 2008 PGA Distinguished Service Award Ceremony. It's got Arnold. This was one of the coolest things ever because um Joe Staranka, who was the C CEO of the of the uh PGA, called me and he said, Dennis, we're you're gonna be the the recipient in 2008. He said, Who would you like to have in it? We make always make a video. Who would you like to have in it? I was joking around. I said, Well, Arnold Palmer, Jack, Nicholas, Gary Player, and Tiger Woods. So who's in the video? Arnold Palmer, Jack, Nicholas, uh Gary Player and Tiger Woods. So we did this at the PGA was at Oakland Hills, Podrick Harrington won. And we went to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, which is like a little Carnegie Hall. It's got the Muppet boxes on the side, and uh the four tops performed, and uh it was great. And and they they had me in the first row and they put me in the orchestra pit. Oh, I they they told me at noon, they went the all the officers for the PGA went to watch it, and I said, How was it? They go, everybody was crying. I said, Is that good or bad? He said, Oh, that's good. So the four tops, right? They put me in the orchestra pit, they raise it up to the stage, I go on a stage, I'm in my wheelchair, my buddy's got my crutches, and I stand up on my crutches out of the wheelchair, and I go over to the podium. Every it's like a standing ovation just for doing that. And then I had a really cool speech that I gave, and uh it was nuts. It was that's the video, in addition to the movie, yeah, because it's got Arnold Palmer, the stuff he says, it's unbelievable that he says. He goes, uh, I marvel when I see Dennis do his work, when I see him swing a golf club. Oh my god, I cry every time I see that. And uh it's uh it's just you know, it's it's I don't know, you can't make it up. It's but if you're gonna watch any video, the movie and the distinguished service, my my my world golf hall of fame speech wasn't bad either. That was pretty good. Uh can you believe I'm in the World Golf Hall of Fame before Tiger Woods? And and and that's that was the line for my speech. And the director, the director, he said, I want you to go first. He said, I've been in show business for 50 years. He said, I want you to go first. He said, and I want you when you're giving this speech. Everybody said, Did you memorize that? I said, No, there's a teleprompter in the back. You can't see it if you're in the audience. Because but he said, I want you to look at that, and I want you to just soak it all in. He said, Look at the audience and just take your time and soak it all in. So one of a kind. So I said, Okay. And the lady in the back says, I'll go as fast or as slow as you you want. Okay. So I get up there and I look out in the first row. I said a few words, then I looked out there. There's there's there's Jack and Barbara, it's my sister, and then I started reading again. I looked up, I go, Oh man, here's there's Trevino. Trevino's there. He gave me when I got there, he gave me a big bear hug. And uh the first person I we were staying at uh we weren't staying at the uh lodge, but we were at the other place down the street. Uh I forget, you know, it's a big, big resort there with the golf and everything.

Mike Gonzalez 17:38

Yeah, Spanish Bay, maybe, huh?

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Yeah, that's it. So um Gary Plair opens the door for me like he's the doorman. And I get in my wheelchair, Trevino comes over, gives me a big bear hug. And uh so I'm looking out there, oh, there's Hale Irwin, there's Tom Kite, Crenshaw, all these guys. And I'm going, there's Annika and uh Pat Bradley. Every every few lines, I'm looking out there, and then I looked over and I said, you know, nobody's sleeping. This is good. And it was fabulous because the guy gave me a real advice, he gave me good advice, and it made it that much more enjoyable. And uh it was listen, uh, I was unlucky in life in a way, but I was lucky because I had great parents. I had a love of something that never has extinguished, a burning passion for golf that even today, I can't wait to get this over with so I can go practice my putting, you know, and hit a few balls.

Mike Gonzalez 18:43

We're not gonna we're not gonna take that personal.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

I must be I must be nuts, but I mean, I just that's the way it's inside of me, it's in my DNA. And what I try to do in these shows is I try to show people this, what this, what's possible, what's possible in golf, but in life itself. And you know what? I want to get better at this, you know. That that's the other crazy thing. And I just want in in these shows, I want people to know how special golf is and what joy it can bring to your life. And you know, you're not gonna go overboard a hundred times over like me, but still, maybe you will. Who knows?

Mike Gonzalez 19:26

Yeah, yeah. Well, Bruce Devlin, you know, having had the privilege now of listening to Dennis Walters' story, it's no wonder that the list of awards and accolades uh take almost a full page on our outline.

Bruce Devlin 19:39

Yeah, it started back in uh 1978, the Ben Hogan Award. Uh think of that now, folks. That was what, f 46 years ago? First award?

SPEAKER_00 19:54

It was actually in 1978. And this this is the funny story. This is funny too. It was in 1978. Bob Rickey was the president of the Golf Riders Association. He called me up. I had met him. He called me up and he said, Dennis, you're the golf writers of America are presenting you with the Ben Hogan Award. He said, It's a it's a an award named after Ben Hogan for the person who's made the greatest comeback from injury or illness in the in the reasonable future, uh, the near future or the near past. And I said, Oh man, that's great. I love Ben Hogan. And he said, I said, who came in second? He said, some guy with a hangnail. So I got the award, I got the award in in uh New York at a dinner in New York. I still have the program, right? And uh so I I went to do a show at Shady Oaks, and one of my friends said, Why don't you take that Ben Hogan Award with you and get a picture with Ben Hogan? It'll look like he's giving it to you. So I I did, and I went there and I said, Um, I met him. This is the first time I met him, I met him six times. First, this was like one of the first times I met him, and I said, uh Ben Hogan, Mr. Hogan was here, and Valerie Hogan was there. And so I said, Mr. Hogan, I said, This, you know, would you take a picture with me? Oh, yeah, no problem. So um his wife said to me, we said, Come on, Mrs. Hogan, why don't we want you in a picture? She goes, No, this is Ben's moment. Okay. And then she goes, Where'd you get that? Where'd you get that? He poked her in the ribs and said it's the Ben Hogan Award, silly. And so then I said, I said, Mr. Hogan, would you watch, would you watch me hit some balls? And he was kind of noncommittal. And then he goes, uh, at the old Shady Oaks, you could sit in the lot in the Grill room where his table was, and you could see the range. So I was out there hitting balls for two hours. I hit every club I had multiple times. Never came out. So when we we were leaving, we met him almost at the same place where we met him going in. And I said, Oh man, I said, I'm disappointed that you didn't get to watch me hit some. He said, I've been watching you for two hours. He said. And then he said, he said, you know what, kid? He said, you might be the best golfer of all. And I said, nah, but I kind of knew what he was talking about. You know, the things that he had to overcome, plus the things I had to overcome. And then he, I don't know if you can see this, but he went like this. He crossed his fingers and he said, I hope our paths cross again.

Bruce Devlin 22:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

And they did. They did. And I said, he took a picture with my dog. I said, could you sign my Ben Hogan book? He signed my book. Sign my hat, Mr. Hogan. Oh, sure, no problem. Could you sign this ball for me? Of course. He was so nice to me. And uh I did get to meet him six times. Every time was a memorable experience. Yeah, that's cool. So I've done a lot of things that I never even thought were possible. And I and I don't say this in a bragging way, but I've met five presidents, movie stars. I've met or worked with every single famous golfer in my lifetime and uh generation before that. And um I I just think that if it wasn't for for golf, I wouldn't have done any of that stuff. I I I never when this happened to me, I didn't know what I was gonna do. What in the world could I accomplish? And I couldn't think of anything, and I just went out and started hitting golf balls.

Mike Gonzalez 23:52

Yeah. Well, uh, if you've listened to any of our podcasts, Dennis, you know that Bruce and I always like to wrap things up with our guest with three very simple questions. Okay, and I always defer to the elder member of our team, I give him the honors for the first question. So you ready, Dennis?

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Yes, sir. And then I have a question for you.

Bruce Devlin 24:21

Okay. So my my question is that uh if you knew what you know now when you were twenty years old, is there anything that you might have done differently?

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Well I would say if I was in the same situation, I probably wouldn't have done a whole I can't think of many things that I would have done differently. If this never happened to me, I would have liked to uh have seen how good I could have gotten it golf, and I wish that we had some of these things that the newer players have, but I I think that's about it.

Bruce Devlin 25:21

I uh it's a great answer. Do you want to ask me a question you said?

SPEAKER_00 25:29

Yeah, I want you to tell me myself and and the audience in a in a in a uh maybe you know however long you want to talk about it. You could talk to me all day about it. But I want to know what it was like to play in the CBS golf classic.

Bruce Devlin 25:44

Oh well, it was very nice and it was quite rewarding too, as well. But uh yeah, my Bob Charles and myself got to play in it in uh I guess it was 1965. It was a long time ago. And uh we we we went through and got to the finals and we had to play uh Bobby Nichols and Tony Lemer. Uh you know, uh I I think we were the underdogs by a long, long way. But uh it was it was a remarkable experience for me because I I played exceptionally well in it and made a lot of birdies and Bob Charles did the same thing, and we we dusted them off, I think, seven and six on the 36-hole match. And uh who was the other one? Tony Lima. Tony Lima. Tony Lima.

SPEAKER_00 26:38

Tell me about Tony Lima. Talk to me about Tony Lima.

Bruce Devlin 26:41

He was uh he was a fantastic guy and uh one hell of a player, and of course uh we did we didn't have him around long enough, unfortunately, but uh he he would have had a one fabulous career. As a matter of fact, I'll give you one quick story. After the PGA championship in uh Ohio, uh I had arranged to take he and his wife to Australia, and my wife Gloria and I were gonna meet them Monday after the PGA in San Francisco and fly to Australia. Uh he was coming over there to play a couple exhibitions and some golf, and of course, you know what happened that Monday. We never did get to see him, and it was uh it was a tragic day for golf, really. Anyhow, my partner has a question for you too.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Well, I I got one more for you.

unknown 27:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

Do you remember do you remember the time that Arnold Palmer didn't play, he didn't go to St. Andrews, even in the people wouldn't even believe this today, but it was it was someplace in the 60s uh or the yeah, probably. Um and he Arnold Palmer didn't go to the British Open, even though it was played at St. Andrews, and he gave him gave Tony Lima his putter and his caddy, Tip Anderson. I can tell you when it was, and he and he won the tournament won the tournament. Yeah, and but why wouldn't Arnold Palmer go to that?

Bruce Devlin 28:20

Uh uh well, you know, back in those days there was no money there.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

I mean I know, but he won it twice before that. And yeah, I don't know. And it's at St. Andrews.

Bruce Devlin 28:30

Yeah, which was Wow.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

People wouldn't believe that today.

Mike Gonzalez 28:36

No, they would not. Yeah. Probably a lot of reasons, but uh, I don't remember. Um well let's get let's get to our second question, which is maybe somewhat related to the first. You know, typically when I ask this question, it guys have to think about uh something and happen in a major championship or whatever. But uh the question is this I give you one career mulligan, it could be a golf shot, it could be something else.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

Oh, that's easy. One dual. I don't want to go down that hill in a golf cart. There you go.

Mike Gonzalez 29:06

There you go. That's that's there you go.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

That's the easiest, that's the easiest question of all time.

Mike Gonzalez 29:12

There you go. All right, and that's the best answer of all time. Let's go to question number three.

Bruce Devlin 29:17

Dennis, it's been a pleasure for both Mike and I having you today. And I want to ask you a question that that I think we'll get a uh quite a remarkable answer for, and that is how would you like to be remembered?

SPEAKER_00 29:35

Uh well I think I would like to be remembered as the person who got this started, got the game of golf started for people in my situation who are in a wheelchair who you would think have absolutely no shot at all the joy that golf can bring to their life and all the the fun and the way it expands your horizons and how it uh makes you a better person. And just think of all the people that I've come into uh contact with, or a Bruce Devlin. How many people have you come into contact with that you either loved or you learned from? Because I think one of the secrets to life is who you hang out with. If you hang out with good people, chances are I think you're gonna be a good person. Because you can learn so much just by you know keeping your your two ears open and your one mouth shut. And and the if you're hanging with good people, look at all the good information that's gonna come true, and vice versa. So I think that um I think it was Charles Price who said that the the one of the keys to life is to finding something and leaving it a little better than when you found it. And again, I I'm not bragging about this or whatever. I I just think that well, maybe if I didn't do it, somebody else would have done it. Uh try to figure it out for other people. Because listen, I I I as I said before, I was very unlucky that this happened to me. I I wasn't doing anything wrong. I I wasn't driving recklessly or or speeding or anything. It just happened. It's one of those things that happened. So that was very unlucky. But I was lucky because I had the help and the perseverance to hang in there and do this. But look at all the people I've met, look at all the places I've been. I mean, I've done a show off the first tea at Augusta National, St. Andrews. I mean, I I never would have got to do any of this stuff. So in that way, I was lucky. And uh I think if if I if people thought of me as someone who loved golf and and tried to make it a little better, I'd be real happy with that.

Bruce Devlin 32:25

Well, we're real happy that we got a chance to listen to your story, Dennis Walders. It's quite a quite a remarkable story, and uh from for me personally, it's been fun to have you on board. And I know Mike uh Mike had looked forward to this for a long time too, so I'll let him tell you how he feels about it.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

Well, I appreciate the fact that you guys thought I was worthy to give a story like this. It's probably too long because I'm telling you, I have a million stories. I I'll sit around with my friends and they'll name a topic. I got a story on it. Something happened at that place or that person or this or that. And uh, you know, a lot of people know who I am, but most for the most part, no one knows who the heck I am. I'm I'm just some guy out here who's doing this, doing his thing. And I honestly believe that this is this is the last of the barnstormers. There, there's not going to be any anybody uh, and I'm talking about able-bodied uh people. No, no one's gonna barnstorm across the country. You can you can go out to the range and try and hit a shot a hundred times and you pull it off, you bounce it off here, over here, comes back, hits, and it goes in the cup. I mean, that's one in a in a hundred or one in a thousand. When I do it, there's 500 people there. I'm doing it live. You know, but the guy that does it once, he puts it on the internet and he makes money doing that. Why would you want to spend a hundred, 125, 140 days in a row on the road? It it it doesn't make any sense to people now. Everything is fast, everything is instant gratification. It's not near what what I do. Do a show, pack up, drive 300 miles, pack up, drive 400 miles the other way. It's just no one's gonna do that anymore. No one, no one, I don't think. I'd love to meet the person that does that. And that's it, but that's just the world is different today. And uh I don't know. I th I really believe that people my age were lucky enough to watch the golden age of golf, starting with Hogan and Nelson. I mean uh I was a little be after Nelson, but Hogan and Sneed. I mean, I I got to see them not exactly in their prime but close. And then Palmer Nicholas player, Tiger, all the other players, the great players that you could name. And to me, that's the golden age of golf. And all the foreign players who came over to America, like Bruce and Bruce Crampton and Bob Charles, all these guys from South Africa. I mean, look how they made golf better and and broaden the whole horizon of it. It's not just America, it's it's it's uh, you know, it's it's the English players, it's the Tony Jacquels, it's the Greg Norman from Australia, it's um all these guys, Woozy and Sevy, and look how much better they made golf. And I'm glad I got to see that. I also think it was kind of the golden age of America, where you could your mom would would greet you at the door with the cookies and the milk and give you your baseball glove, go play for five hours and come in and have dinner. Everybody sat around the dinner table. Uh, what'd you do today? What'd you do today, you know? And uh, you know, uh it's you know, every every house wasn't Ozzy and Harriet and uh leave it to Beaver. But I'm telling you, it was it was it was a good time to grow up in America. And I and I'm happy I got to see the golden age of America, again, my opinion, and the golden age of golf. And I I I'm I'm grateful for that, very grateful.

Mike Gonzalez 36:32

Well, we're grateful uh that you've been so generous with your time, Dennis. And uh Bruce and I are both pleased that we've been able to add you to a list of golf greats who have been able to tell their story on For the Good of the Game. We appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 36:48

Well, I I appreciate you guys thinking of me, and I look forward to meeting you guys, and I hope our paths cross again.

Mike Gonzalez 36:55

You got it. There you go. You got it, buddy. Thanks for being with us.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

Take care.

Mike Gonzalez 37:01

Thank you for listening to another episode of For the Good of the Game. And please, wherever you listen to your podcast on Apple and Spotify, if you like what you hear, please subscribe, spread the word, and tell your friends until we tee it up again for the good of the game. So long, everybody.

Intro Music 37:25

It went smack down for it, it's mid offline. And it's as long as you still in the stage you're okay.