Faith Beyond the Fairway

0:01 Welcome to the Wayne Watson Podcast, where Grammy nominee and multiple Dove award-winning artist Wayne Watson engages in lively conversation with remarkable people from every walk of life. Artists to healthcare professionals, athletes and leaders to everyday believers whose stories reflect the power of faith at work in the world. Join us as we go beyond the spotlight and into the heart of what it means to live with purpose and conviction, diving into real conversations about the moments that shape us, the faith that sustains us, and the God who inspires it all. Now, here's your host, Wayne Watson.

0:41 My guest today for episode two of the Wayne Watson Podcast, which I have to say, what a clever name. My guest for my second episode is a dear friend I've known for a long, long time, 30-plus years. His name is Steve Jones, Steven Glenn Jones, winner of 10 events on the PGA Tour, eight on the PGA Tour, two on the European Tour, golf tour. In 1996, he won the US Open from a regional qualifier, which means he went through Joe Blow, a local golf hotshot, and got into the US Open at Wingfoot that year and won.

1:34 And so, this conversation with Steve is about his athletic journey and about his faith journey. Steve is married to his wife, Bonnie, and they have two children and at least one grandchild, I think we talked about that. Steve played in the Masters a couple times. I was with him at one of those. Very memorable, but I hope you enjoy this episode with Steve Jones. Let me see it again. Let me see it again. Yeah, I know that, but did you write that down in there or did somebody, is that a printed book and you just highlighted?

2:14 No, I wrote this whole book. I wrote the New Testament. I didn't know you wrote the New Testament. I need to change my whole line of questioning if I'm talking to the guy that wrote the whole New Testament. This is, hold on, I need to contact the news media and talk about... Okay, so you said you highlighted the good verses. Now, that's implying that there are some that aren't so good or not so relevant. What are you talking about? What they are, they're more for unsaved people and also for encouragement of believers.

2:57 And I told the Lord, I said, Lord, I would have to underline the whole New Testament and copy the whole book. But that's not what this book was about. It was about me studying and learning. And it was amazing going through the New Testament, how you regurgitate it two or three times before you figure out what to underline in your Bible, then put it on paper. And then after that, you regurgitate it and you highlight specific, like if I just open it up, there's 1 John, whoever confesses that Jesus, Son of God abides in Him and He in God, boom. But I didn't put by this as love perfected with us, because I wanted whoever confesses that Jesus...

3:44 Anyway, it was just an idea I had. That's good stuff. Every winter, I mean, last winter was poems for three or four months. It was for my own study. And this winter for three or four months, I was just copying this. I'd do it two or three hours a day or whatever. My hand was cramping up. I'm like, oh yeah, all right. Well, man, it is great to see your faith. I don't know how long has it been since we've been in the same room. It's been probably a couple of years at least. A couple of years, yeah. You've been busy with life.

4:24 Well, all right. Did you watch the Olympics? You know, we were hosting people for the last two weeks, and Bonnie had her 60th birthday, and we just had so many people around. We just didn't hardly watch it. We watched some of those bobsleds and all that stuff, you know? Bobsled and the luge, which Jerry Seinfeld calls bobsled, but just Bob, no sled. Just Bob. Did you watch hockey yesterday? Now, were you a hockey fan? Are you a hockey fan? Well, I am during the Olympics.

5:06 Yeah. Did you see the game? Did you see the gold medal game? And the Stanley Cup? No, because it was an hour before I got up, and I forgot about it. And then we went to church, and then, of course, they announced that church, the US won. I'm like, oh, okay. But I did see the goal. That was pretty cool. It was this guy that got hit with a stick and teeth, right? He made the goal? The kid that earlier in the game got one to the face and knocked his teeth out. And in the post-game interview, I mean, he had blood on his face, and maybe two teeth knocked out. Couldn't have cared less. He had trouble talking, but he couldn't have cared less how he looked.

5:47 They were so happy. And we watched some of that. You know, my wife has been to the Olympics back in Japan during the COVID year where there were no fans and no families. And as I'm watching that, and I knew you and I were going to talk, people just don't realize how hard it is to get there. I mean, you've been a professional. And I was watching, and the Canadian team was awarded the silver medal. All of them got silver. And it occurred to me, I wonder if to them it's gold or nothing. It's like silver, silver, much less bronze.

6:30 Keep it. So do you think that's the mentality? Or are they happy that they got there and got close? What are they thinking? Yeah, I think so. I mean, they could have won in overtime, but obviously the greatest players such, you know, Nicholas Tiger, you know, they're thinking, yeah, second's not good. I want to win. And that's the drive to win. And I've never had that deep desire that all or nothing, I have to win. And it meant the world to me. So I'm going to do everything I possibly can to physically be ready. Mentally, I just was never built that way.

7:13 I'd rather be sitting on a porch with a glass of iced tea, rocking, right? And looking out and waving at the neighbors or whatever. But some guys are just built, built that way. And I was built a little bit that way, just enough to have a career, I think. Apart from all my injuries, but yeah, I mean, it's a lot of dedication. And I wanted to spend more time with my kids. I didn't want to go out and spend an extra two hours at the golf course. I already spent two. I don't want to spend four, you know. Tom Hanks How many players are on, when you were playing on the tour, I mean, on a baseball roster, there are what, 26 or so on the bench and on the team playing in the NFL, there are what, 62, 63 man roster.

8:06 How many people were on the tour when you played? How many were actually on the tour? Yeah, there was probably close to 200. The top 125 was all exempt. Tom Hanks Who were some of your best friends on the tour? I know we did some Bible studies together. When you came to Houston, I would sometimes do the Bible study with you guys on Wednesday night. And I did a couple in Dallas. And I remember some of those guys. I remember Loren Roberts was in most of those Bible studies. Justin Leonard was in some of them later on.

8:46 I think he came to it a little later. I met a guy named Joel Edwards, who I remember him sitting by me at a Bible study. And I played a song and he just stared at me the whole time. And Joel, pretty poker face, cold stare. And we became pretty good friends. I've lost touch with Joel. But I remember doing those Bible studies. And so who were some of your close friends on the tour? Yeah, Joel, I saw him a couple of years ago at Las Colinas Country Club in Dallas at a champions event. And he had had some health problems. And then now it seems like he was doing a lot better.

9:29 So he's there. Larry Mize was a pretty good friend. Sometimes we would hang out. Some of the older guys, good friends with Don Pooley and those type of guys, Larry Nelson. And then some of the younger guys that came along with Zach Johnson and guys like that. And yeah, it just keeps rolling along. I get pushed out and somebody else comes and they'll get pushed out. It's crazy how that is. There's always somebody there to take your place, whether it's in a Bible study or your place on tour, if you don't make the top 125, which now I think, what is it, top 100 or something?

10:16 Wow. Yeah, there's always somebody waiting to take your place in everywhere, it seems like. You think you're expendable. You're not expendable. And all of a sudden, yeah, that's very evident today to me. What year did you qualify? What year did you first play on the tour? So right out of college, um, the year before qualifying school, 1980 and 81 at college, I, and all summer, I said, for the next year, I'm going to try to top 10 in every tournament and act like it's qualifying school.

10:58 So I prepared myself for a year before qualifying school. And I pretty much, uh, did, I think I missed a couple early on in college, but I ended up winning two in a row in college in April, BYU and Arizona State. And then in the summer of June of 81, I played all the amateur tournaments in Colorado, the Colorado match play, I think I won. But my mentality was, look, if you can top 10 in everything, you can do that at tour school, which I didn't know. Well, yeah, obviously they're a little better players at tour school, but it worked mentally for me. And when I went into tour school, I qualified in, uh, like October 1st in Florida, they were taking some people and, uh, like 25 people.

11:49 And then unfortunately I went to visit my brother and his five-year-old daughter. I was playing with her and she just, she hit my thumb and, and broke my thumb. And then it took almost a year before I was playing many tours and started having some success. And so, uh, November, um, 86, I went back to tour school and I won tour school. And then in 1987, when I got married, uh, to Bonnie, um, she, I had already gone through all the hard stuff. And so it was kind of, she was out on tour like, wow, this is, this is pretty cool.

12:29 You know, and then I ended up, we ended up winning the JCPenney of December of 87. And then we won Pebble Beach, February of 88 for my first win. So she hadn't even, uh, she hadn't even been, we'd been married for what, eight or nine months and she'd won two tournaments and now I'm all exempt and, you know, life was pretty good. Yeah. Talk, talk about, uh, qualifying school, Q school. I've heard it's just really stressful, but you don't let things get to you. You're not a stressful guy. If you are, it's not visible. And like you said, it's not like you're going to go out and grind for six hours a day, every day, play every weekend.

13:11 You had other priorities. We'll talk about those later, but talk about Q school. What was it like? Well, back in those days, obviously it's a lot different now. They can't, they're qualifying to get on a corn fairy tour. Um, but I really liked it because it was six days and you could just go all out and there was a lot of pressure. And so you had to play pretty consistent. You didn't want to blow yourself out with a 75 or 78. Um, but I, I just, I don't know what it was, but I liked it. I got my card, I think three out of five times that I tried. Yeah. So the last one I won, which in 86, I didn't have to go back because I kept my card after that.

13:55 But, uh, it's very interesting. It's, it, you don't, a lot of people don't talk to each other and I like to talk and, you know, try to, that helps relax me. Kind of like Trevino, Trevino would make jokes and talk with people. And I learned that early on that I needed to do that. So if I was in a bad situation, I might hit it over the green and say, eh, it's only money or it's only my tour card. Big deal. People would laugh and everybody would loosen up. And a lot of times I'd get it up and down and, uh, it would help me. So that's kind of how I went through my career. When I, when I clammed up and just tried to be serious the whole time, it just didn't work for me.

14:37 So I had to get away from golf while I was walking down the fairway, maybe wave at somebody or whatever. And then when I got to my shot, I needed 20, 30 seconds to hit it. And then I'd kind of get out of that. Again, I'd go in and out of golf mind. And that's kind of what helped me. Your biggest win was the U S open in 1997, 1996, 1996. Okay. 1996. What was that last hole? Where was that tournament that year? Where was the open that year? That was in a Bloomfield Hills, Michigan at Oakland Hills. Oakland Hills. Tell me about the last hole. We, you and I've talked about this before, but tell me about the last hole of the U S open.

15:20 Were you in a big lead? Were you tied with your buddy, Tom Lehman? You guys were playing together in the last group, right? Yeah. And tell me what that was like going down that last hole. Yeah. I, uh, hadn't made a birdie all day until number nine. I parred the first eight holes and then I birdied nine, 10 and 12 and all of a sudden I had a two shot lead and I bogeyed 13 and 17. Uh, to tie it up, to make it exciting. And, uh, Davis love and Tom, we're all tied at two under going to the last hole. And Davis was up ahead of me. I didn't know, but he was, he three putted and, um, Tom and I played together.

16:04 Tom hit his tee shot and then he pulled three without hooked it in the left bunker. I hit my driver down the right side six days in a row, two practice days and all four tournament days. I hit my driver down the right side with a little draw. Perfect. Right down the middle. So it was pretty far. I'll never forget that feeling of the sun setting a little cloudy and, and I hit this shot and just dead solid. But as soon as I hit it, it's like the nerves just went like, like the yips after I hit it, it was a weird, really strange. I watched the video. Um, but yeah, it was, and I walked off the tee and I looked at Tom and I said, Hey, this is what it's all about.

16:44 And he kind of looked at me with this, just kind of looked at me. He didn't really say anything like, oh, okay. So later on, I, uh, he told me, he said, uh, yeah, I remember you made that comment. This is what it's all about on the 18th hole. I said, yeah, he says I was in the bunker. You were in the middle of the fairway. What do you mean? This is what it's all about. Um, so yeah, that was, uh, you know, sometimes you say stuff you don't even think about you're thinking, this is it, you know, us open, this is what it's all about. And he had been in like the final group and like five majors in a row or something. He was, he just hadn't, he hadn't won one yet. And then a month later he won the British open and then Davis won the next year at wing foot with the PGA with the rainbow and his dad had died, uh, before that.

17:37 And it was pretty cool to watch that. Is that your most memorable tournament? I would say, well, here's the thing. How do you guys, I mean, I don't remember what I had for lunch yesterday or if I had lunch yesterday. Anyway, how do you remember? I mean, maybe you don't remember because like I said, you've you, um, like you said, golf has never consumed your life. I know what has. And, um, how do people like Nicholas? Yeah. In 1963, I hit an eight iron on the blah, blah, blah. And it came within six. Do you remember stuff like that?

18:19 Do you remember your best shot? Your favorite tournament? What? Yeah, I remember a few things, but I think it's just like anything. If you, if you tell a story, you'll remember it. Like I've forgotten 40 or 50 really funny things that's happened on the course of players and incidents because I don't repeat them. So you just, I just let things go. And golfers supposed to have short memories, right? You Ogie a hole. You got to go to the next hole because the next shot's the most important. Um, but guys like, uh, Paul Azinger, um, Billy Andre, obviously Trevino, those guys, they will, they regurgitate stuff and they will tell you story after story for, you know, for a year.

19:05 Yeah. But this never was that guy that to repeat stories. And I have a couple of funny ones, but, um, even those sometimes I almost forget if I don't talk about it. Yeah. I remember meeting you, uh, the first time we met and you know, we've run across different people in different walks of life. I remember, uh, a mutual friend said you wanted to meet me and you came to Houston to play in the tour championship. And at the time the tour championship ping pong behind, uh, back and forth from Atlanta to Houston. So the champions club in Houston. So you were in Houston playing the top 30 champions, uh, tour championship at the, at the end of the year.

19:50 Then I don't know what it's like now, but 30 winners came and played. There were no cuts and just played. And I tell people all the time, you guys know where your wives are. You know what she's wearing and you know where she is and she's walking right along with you. Sometimes she goes ahead to be there when you land your next shot or when you're ready to hit your next shot. So you knew where Bonnie was and I'm standing there and you catch her, uh, her eye and she points to me and you came over there and embarrassed the heck out of me. You fell on your knees and did the, this thing. I'm like, what? Oh, he's a man. Cool. Your ball was in the fairway. You're like, go hit your shot.

20:31 You were just being you. And I realized this guy is a different guy and you, I think you and Bonnie and Tom layman came to my house that night or one of those nights we had dinner. I'll never forget that. And we have, we have been together a lot. We followed you in a lot of tournaments. We walked a lot of tournaments. Uh, we were at double beach with you. Uh, one year, I think the year that maybe tiger, you were playing that year that you're the tiger one by 15 or 17 shots or something. Yeah. Yeah. I remember. And that was pre nine, things were different then. Uh, I went in a lot of locker rooms with you. We'd go in there and hang out or, and boy, after, after nine 11 things, things really, really changed, but we've been through a lot together.

21:18 We've talked through some very difficult times for, uh, on my side and on your side. I remember, uh, things we don't have to, we don't need to share with everybody, but, uh, those kinds of things make lifelong friendships. And even though you and I haven't seen each other in a long time, uh, conversations like this are like, yeah, yeah. We talked yesterday. We had lunches. Uh, I know what's important to you. Tell me about your childhood real quick, your early life. Uh, I know you came to Christ, uh, later in life later than me because, uh, uh, my parents, it was small town and it was all about, um, all about that.

22:00 Tell me about your early life. Did you grow up in a church? Did you grow up? Eh, whatever. What was it like? Yeah. Um, I, I do remember that day at Houston. I met you cause we had been at Scottsdale Bible church in the eighties when you came with your acoustic guitar and was up on stage. I'm like, look at this guy with a long hair. And that is a coolest sound guitar. I can't play it. I love it. And I'm like, wow, that would be cool to know him. Uh, I didn't think much past that, but it was like many years later, I don't know, six or seven years later when we finally met. Um, so it was like, oh yeah, he lives in Houston and then so-and-so knows him.

22:44 Oh, he's coming out. Oh, he is. Okay. I love to meet him. Um, but that was a start of our friendship. Uh, and you get, you know, golf is like that. You're, you go all over the world. You meet a lot of people, you know, I've hit a golf ball off the Great Wall of China, you know, been to Korea, been Japan, you know, Europe, wherever. Um, it's been very good to Bonnie and I, and we've been able to do all of our traveling while we were young and we could walk as we get older and not able to walk as good. We don't have to go anywhere because we've already been to most places. So that's been a blessing. But yeah, I was, uh, I lived 10 years in, in New Mexico and never played golf, but played sports.

23:27 My mom was a little league baseball coach. My mom and dad both were very athletic. So I had five brothers and everybody was athletic. Everybody could shoot a basketball, everybody could run. Everybody could hit a baseball. Uh, my dad was a coach and a history teacher. And then in 1970, we moved to Colorado, which is where I first started playing golf at Yuma, Colorado, a little nine hole golf course. And it was a hundred dollars a year for like the next 20 years for the whole family. They didn't increase the price. So it was pretty cheap. And I would go out there and spend eight, 10, you know, maybe even 12 hours a day sometimes, and just played three or four or five times around that nine hole course and do a little bit of practice and, but not much.

24:13 And then, um, I just, I fell in love with the game. I learned how to teach myself through reading golf magazines and trying different things. And the next day I'm like, Oh, I'm going to try that technique. You look for everything, a space age putter and all these things. And now I see what amateurs go through. Oh, you got to have this new driver every year. You got to have this new putter, new wedge, space alien wedge, you know, to help you get out of the bunker. And then in 1977, went to university of Colorado for four years, which I tell a lot of kids, look, you don't have to go someplace warm because what it did for me was I had a break from golf in the wintertime. And what that meant was I didn't get burned out on it.

24:55 And a lot of guys that were a lot better than me went to Arizona state or Houston or Florida, and they just played year round nonstop. Right. And for me having that break playing bad tournaments during the winter. And then by the time June came around, I'm back to my good game. And then about October, November, my game would suffer. And that probably helped keep me in the game. And in 1981, I turned pro and then had my own story with my injuries and different things. I've actually, I'm 67 now, and I've been hurt since I was 22 years old.

25:40 So the last 55 years, I've been hurt 15 years of my career. And that's a career for some people, 15 years. And there's just, some people break down. I break down doing, some of it was my own fault. Some of it was like the motorcycle wreck in 91. I didn't know how to stop very quick. So I needed to stop quick. That's wrong. Yeah. Front brake, slide, flip over, whatever. The first time I went down on a motorcycle, I was very new at it. My mom and dad were like, don't look at, my cousin had a bike, don't look at it.

26:23 Don't touch it. So when I turned 30, I bought my first bike and I'd ridden a couple of hundred miles and I'm going down this road and I'm still kind of getting, and I'd never ridden anything and I'm getting the feel of it. And I decided to turn left and there were some rocks piled up in the middle of the road and I caught too much front brake and went down and I mean, just shocking. And thank God there was no car coming or anything like that. But yeah, uh, your, your life changed quick. I didn't realize your, was it your niece that broke your thumb? Your, your. Yeah. Yeah. It was my, she was. I didn't know that. Yeah. I didn't. I thought it was the motorcycle thing. So what happened? The motorcycle broke your little digit, right?

27:03 My ring finger. Yeah. Oh, look at that. It more actually, I had already dislocated this thing in sports when I was in high school and I dislocated this one that way and this one up and I put it back. Um, but yeah, I've had a lot of hand problems. I I've never had a broken bone and I, my back has always been really good. Um, I've, I've had, you know, three or two, a rotator surgery, three elbow surgeries, two knee surgeries, um, um, open heart surgery, uh, gallbladder. Um, I can't even think what else would I have other things, but you know, a lot of everybody has pains as they get older and arthritis.

27:48 Uh, I, you know, I don't turn as good as I used to cause of the neck and the shoulders. And so you take it back shorter, you don't hit it as far, right? So there's a lot of injuries that come along with golf, but you, if you can stay halfway healthy, you can play till you're 80 or 90. You know, I see guys doing it all the time that are 90 years old playing. And of course they had this shorter, but golf is a fun game. And, um, it's given me a lot. I remember you were playing, I think you were playing in new Orleans and you called me and you'd had a, uh, an AFib, uh, episode. Yeah. Your heart started at 200 plus a minute or whatever.

28:31 And you came over here and we got you in to see someone at St. Luke's. Houston's not a bad place to be sick. And you came over here and we got you an appointment. And, uh, that was another, one of those things had nothing to do with golf. It was just about, uh, being friends and, and making it happen. Um, I know that, I know for a lot of people and I hear these, these young athletes talk about, uh, what's important to them. And it seemed like a lot of NFL players are now, uh, giving, um, testifying to their faith in interviews.

29:12 I know the most important thing to you, uh, is not golf. It's not even maybe in the top four or five, but, uh, your faith in Christ is the top. Your, your long, let me just emphasize your long suffering wife. First of all, just from being married to you is one thing, but what she's, she's been through and she's, she's like mine. She's a rock man. And when it comes time for to dig in, we're kind of going through that right now. Uh, they can either noodle out or they just dig in like, well, I'm here. We're going to, we're going to work through this.

29:52 So tell me about your kids. I sang at your daughter's wedding. I'll never forget that. I came out and sang at your daughter's wedding. Beautiful. And I don't know how many, it had to be 10 years ago, right? What year was that? You know, I, I, some reason I have years, I don't know. You think I look at, okay, my grandson's six. So yeah, I'm thinking, uh, well, she just, he's turned my, my daughter turned 33 on, uh, Saturday, a couple of days ago on the 21st. Okay. So she's 33 and she got married at 21. It was 12 years ago. Wow. Yeah. I remember I came home and you had been very generous with us.

30:36 We had a nice trip out there. I came home and there was a big, uh, cardboard box on my front door. It was full of Titleist, uh, Pro V1 golf balls. And I think I still have one sleeve. The rest of them were sprayed all over the country, but it was just great, man. It was, uh, it was a great time. It was my daughter and obviously the, my daughter's, um, mother-in-law. Absolutely. You were like her favorite singer. When she heard that you were coming in to sing, uh, she was just thrilled beyond belief. And a lot of people were, you did a great job and it was, it was pretty cool to, um, to have you there and be a part of it.

31:22 Um, and now my son being a worship leader, the last three or four years here in Arizona is just, you know, thrills a mother and dad's heart beyond belief. Um, my daughter's walking with the Lord with her husband and teaching the kids scriptures, which is just so important. And our kids, you know, train up a child the way you should go and he will not depart from it when he gets old. And that's both of my kids are, you know, walking with the Lord and that thrills a parent more than anything. Uh, but God is good. I mean, and it was crazy story. I tell my testimony. I've told it many, many times in front of a lot of people around the tour, different.

32:06 Uh, so we had a big one there in Houston. It was like 800 people and I got to share my testimony. I think FCA put that on maybe. Um, but anyway, since 1980, November 11th of 84, uh, that's my spiritual birthday. And I was going to Asia in October. I was planning on going to Asia and I'd been going to church for six months because this girl asked me to go. And so here it is, uh, two weeks before I'm supposed to go to Asia for two months. I, uh, accepted Christ and Scottsdale Bible church and Dr. Layman Strauss came in and he gave a little, gave a sermon and said, you're either a son of God or your son of Satan.

32:56 You can't be in between, you can't ride the fence. And that's what I needed to hear at the time because I'd been hearing the gospel for about six months and couldn't make a decision. And then I said, that's for me, I want Christ. So I accepted the Lord and it, I didn't even know what was going to be in store for me. I didn't know I would stop drinking and stop cussing because I was the biggest cusser and I was the biggest drinker and literally I stopped both of without even trying. It just, I had no more desire to do it. And I was like, wow, that is crazy. And some of my friends were like, you're crazy. What'd you do?

33:36 What'd you do last week? Who's this Jesus guy? And other people would give me hugs and they were like, oh my goodness, we've been praying for you. I said, what? And so I said, Lord, if you want me to go to Asia, I'll go to Asia. But we had tour school. So I had tour school and I went to tour school in Palm Springs and I got my tour card. So I did not go to Asia. So he kept me in the United States and he's kept me here playing the regular PGA tour and the champions tour ever since. And the only other thing I like to add is in 1988, when I won my first tournament, Jim Nance was actually, I knew him in college with Fred Couples and Blaine McAllister, they were roommates.

34:22 So I knew Jim since college and Jim Nance interviewed me on the 18th hole after the playoff at Pebble Beach. I birdied 17 to beat Bob Twain in the playoff and then came to 18 and he just stuck the microphone up to me and he kind of knew I was, you know, followed the Lord and he said, you know, why did you win? How did you win? Or something like that. And I just said, hey, if it wasn't for Jesus changing my life, I would not be here right now. So he threw me a softball and every time he quit doing those interviews later on, but it was really fun to be able to say that to him.

35:08 Things like that, you know, add up in your life and you're like, wow, what a blessing. I didn't know what was going to lead that week. I had a friend, his wife told me on Friday, hey, you're going to win the tournament. I'm like, what? I've never won a PGA event. She goes, yeah, I had a dream you're going to win. And my buddy said, hey, she doesn't have these dreams very often. Like she's had two or three and every one of them's come to pass. I said, okay. And I won the tournament. Whether that helped me believe it, I don't know, but it was pretty cool going good. And it's an interesting time. I mean, you look back in your life, do you wish you could change a lot of things and you can't.

35:49 So it's this day forward, right? What are you going to do this day forward? I try to tell people. And who are you living for? You're living for yourself, for your golf game, for your business or whatever, but you have to live for the Lord from this day forward. So I really try to encourage people to do that. You know, not everybody that comes to have a relationship with God through Jesus goes through that immediate transformation. First of all, a golfer that doesn't drink or cuss, let's see who, yeah, I'm not going to even go there. Anyway, that doesn't happen that quickly for everybody.

36:31 Some people take God's hand and have to walk through some muddy pitches and it's a process. And I remember reading the Scripture, you must be holy even as I am holy. Oh, no, no, no, no, I'm misquoting. You shall be perfect even as I am perfect. And as a young person reading that, that scared the heck out of me. How am I supposed to do that? Right. I can't do that. You can't do that. We know how that happens. That perfection comes in pieces. That perfection started with you dramatically, but sometimes the perfection takes a lifetime.

37:12 And at the end of the game, we are perfected not because of anything we've done, which was a big revelation for me because I grew up in a very performance-oriented faith. I think God's hand was drawn back to take me out if I made one more wrong move. But you have exuded grace and joy. And I know, like you say, some golfers grind every day, every day. You'd rather be up in the mountains with a bow. I remember you told me a story one time. You're in Arizona, live in Arizona now. You lived in Montana for a while. We visited you in Montana. Talk about your practice barn.

37:55 You built a barn. The barn was, you know, we could have just built, we built the barn first and we could have just left it like that and lived in it. Pretty cool. I had two basketball goals, one for the kids for the lower one and one for the higher one for me. And put a little putting green in there and had the stereo cranking and couches. I remember hitting in there, but ultimately you said it's, I think you said you thought you could go up there and maintain your game by hitting in the barn, but it just didn't work out that way. Not quite the same as being out on the grass. Yeah. Yeah. I was hoping, hoping that that was a fact that I could maybe even get better by hitting in the barn, but it didn't work out.

38:41 And we eventually moved back to Arizona when I was rehabbing from another. But it was a fun time in our life. I married a Bozeman, Montana girl back in 1987. And we had a summer up there two to three months now, um, stay in different places. But, uh, uh, I fly fish a lot. So I love fly fishing and I still, I still golf a little bit. Um, I'm retired, officially retired from golf, but as a, when you're retired on the, on the champions tour, you can play four tournaments. So you can get full, full pension and you can still play four tournaments. And I have, uh, another company I've been working for called the sharks, sharks plan.

39:28 And we help people with their, uh, high cost medications, but I've been doing that for a little over three years now. I'm an ambassador for sharks. It's a, it's a wonderful company. Godfrey and man who runs it. And it's great to be a part of it. So between golf and that and, you know, fishing and the kids and grandkids, it's, uh, you know, everybody has something to do. You know, we're, we're no different than anybody else. Uh, but, uh, the weather is pretty nice here in Arizona, so I can't complain. Well, I, uh, I've always reminded what, again, what's important to you and how golf and, and the Lord has really blessed you with talent because the rest of us that try to play always, I'm very sound oriented.

40:15 Obviously what I do is a lot about sound. And I, I tell people all the time, the, the way the ball sounds when these guys hit the ball is different than it sounds when anybody, even a low handicapper hits the ball, the way it sounds when it leaves the golf, when the, when the club, it's just different. But I've always appreciated the fact that that did not consume you. And I'll just leave it with one little other thing. Then you can share whatever else you want. The most obvious, uh, golf is not the first thing on Steve Jones mind was when we were with you in Augusta for the masters. We were staying, you had rented two houses.

40:55 That's where, uh, I met Jerry Colangelo from, uh, people, but no sports, no Jerry Colangelo. And he said something to me on that trip that I've never forgotten and will never forget. Jerry, uh, he's still the head of USA Olympic basketball. He's done that forever. Um, still a part of it in some way. I know for sure. Jerry, uh, was part of the, maybe he brought the Chicago bulls to Chicago. He, he was the owner of the Phoenix suns for a while and the Arizona diamondbacks. We were at the world series and after nine 11 with the diamondbacks. Uh, but Jerry and I are, I just met him and we're sitting in the grandstands at the driving range at the masters watching you warm up and other golfers warm up.

41:44 We sat down, I knew who he was, but the first thing he said to me was, tell me about yourself. It wasn't, I'm Jerry Colangelo. Let me tell you about me. Yeah. Tell me about yourself for anybody watching. Uh, and it might be difficult for you to put yourself back on the back burner. And Steve, tell me, tell me about yourself. That is a great relationship starter. We were friends for a long, long time. We've kind of lost touch, but I remember we were driving from the house that we were staying in, in Augusta. And we got halfway to the golf course to the masters with all the birds tweeting and gym naps.

42:27 Hello friends. This is Jim. You know, all we're driving and you forgot your clubs. We had to turn around and go back and get your golf club. And I'm thinking, what is wrong with you? And you were like, Oh, I forgot my clubs. It was no big deal. I forgot my club. Got to go back. Well, anyway. Yeah, that was not a good start. Obviously, uh, the most important thing in your life is your faith and your walk with the Lord. And, uh, I always loved that about you and thankful for what you're doing now and what you've done and how you've impacted people that you'll never realize your impact on them.

43:08 And, uh, I hope that and pray that for, for both of us in this different chapter of life where we're not as visible as we used to be. Uh, but doesn't mean we're having less of an impact. Sometimes it's just one person. So, yeah, I, it's, it's definitely a transition time for me. Um, I enjoy the last couple months helping out at our church and, um, get more involved in the local church, which I've never really been able to do because I'm gone all the time and, uh, use that as an excuse. Oh, I can't help out cause I'm gone all the time. But, but yeah, you're home 20 weeks a year. Why can't you? I got to practice, you know, I got to do, but, uh, it's interesting how that's really, uh, changed my focus, I guess, about the Lord and how I identify with believers more now at the local level, the local church.

44:07 Yep. Now we're kind of the old people that volunteer at the front door, you know, when you walk in or whatever. You have, you have a little vest, like ask me, it says, ask me on it. Yeah. Oh, well, I was talking to a friend last week and, uh, one of the challenges of, uh, getting a few years on us is managing losses and, uh, how you manage losses and mentally how you cope with it. And you've, you've dealt with loss of ability over injuries and setbacks and this and that. And I admire you so much for your, for your fortitude and you're just sticking to it.

44:48 And when one season is over, uh, you are such a doer and, uh, I'm so glad you guys are comfortable in your home and, and happy to be involved with the church. I remember those days too. If you didn't go to church on a Sunday, if you just wanted to stay home, people assumed you were out playing or I was out playing. You just don't tell anybody. Yeah. To be, to be around and accountable and to have relationships locally that do not accelerate your career or your business, just people that love you and you want and want to be loved. That's very precious time. So I love you, my friend, and thank you.

45:28 Thank you for spending time with me. Well, I appreciate it and, uh, all the best, continue prayers for you and your family. And, uh, thanks for your time. Thanks, brother. God bless. Thanks for listening to The Wayne Watson Podcast, where stories of faith, purpose, and everyday life meet and continue to uplift hearts around the world. Be sure to follow, leave us a review, and share this episode with a friend. To learn more about Wayne's music, ministry, and upcoming projects, visit Waynewatson.com. Every journey of faith begins with a story and every heart finds its rhythm in the Lord. Until next time, go well, and may you keep walking in step with His song flowing through you.