In this episode, Kevin Walsh and Jim Roy discuss Jim’s illustrious golf career dating back to 1970s. Jim is still hitting the links on the Champions Tour. He regales us with some great stories that golfers and non-golfers alike would love. Golf is like lie and if you play golf, you are my friend! This episode is well worth watching and we hope you enjoy the show!
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[Music] it’s party time my golf story brought to you by party drinks classically designed golf drinks for golfers by golfers and the golf Real Estate Pros Gan Walsh and Vince vacaro for your Southwest Florida real estate needs check them out at Suncoast dreams.com now here’s your host Kevin Walsh hey welcome to the program we got a good one for you today we have Jim Roy professional golfer who is he’s an older gentleman but he’s a younger guy that is Ed with shooting his age a couple of times play the PGA Tor has stories about Lee trino Gary Player and Jack Nicholas Freddy Couples as well and and his son Kevin has played on the PJ tour he’s on the corn fairy tour this is almost I think the Roy family in a lot of ways might be the first family of golf at least professional golf in all of its experience a fascinating fascinating uh interview coming up big thanks to our title sponsors party drinks if you’re looking for an alternative golf beverage on the golf course if you’re tired of beer the hard seltzers then party is for golfers by golfers I know for a fact that you would absolutely love it for a list of drink locations where you can find it log on to our website at drink party.com and a big thanks to the golf real estate professionals Gan Walsh and Vince visicaro from fine properties on Florida Sun Coast if your dream is to own a house in Southwest Florida on a golf course or if you already live in such locations and you’re looking to sell and a good time to sell because it’s U the Market’s pretty high then Gan and Vince can take good care of you check them out at fine Properties sunos dreams.com or you can also check him out at 94122 4000 hey one other thing uh please like the podcast And subscribe to it if you haven’t done it already if you’ve done that I really appreciate it for those who are new to the podcast please do that that helps us on the back end with being counters at YouTube and other places all right Jim Roy welcome to the program I’ve been uh looking forward to talking to you well it’s kind of a I just can’t believe that it took us so long to meet one another because we live in the same neighborhood at Lakewood National and it took a block party for us to finally break bread so to speak let me ask you did you take any throws at me when I was in the dunk tank on that 58 degree day you know you challenged us I was sitting I was standing um with a friend of mine in the driveway but these little kids were having some success against you Kevin and they they a couple times you got dunked and then you did challenge us and I said gez I don’t really know this guy he’s hosting a party but I was ready to get my left arm a little loose and uh send you in that water but nope I never I never took a shot at you I I didn’t know that you were Lefty I knew that you were a baseball player and so you must have been in the group of guys that I was falling out now with the children I I was encouraging them to come along and I was it was positive encouragement for the guys I was probably calling you guys’ names and uh and and those that partook including one of my neighbors Fred candy arm candy arm yeah I saw a couple soft efforts but no you did good you were a good sport it was a little chilly so um oh um yeah you were a brave soul to uh let the kids have some fun and uh and you get wet that was that was a great party we’re we’re lucky to live where we do at Lakewood National in uh on Florida Sun Coast we’re lucky that we have golf in our live in our lives in in such a profound way maybe to get a little momentum take me back to your rookie year on the PGA tour and maybe some Lee Travino stories because he has never disappointed me or stories about him in any way well this even happened before uh I got my tour card so back in Syracuse um they had a great tournament as an amateur you would it was called The Herald am at that point after after the newspaper and you would play 72 holes 18 holes on four different courses and back then if you won the tournament you were going to be participant in a golf exhibition that the American Heart Association was putting on and that year Lee Travino and Nancy Lopez were going to come and do an exhibition in Syracuse and I was fortunate enough to win that tournament so I played I think this was probably in 1979 1980 I played with Lee trino and Nancy Lopez in exhibition in Syracuse and as you might imagine I I was playing I was a freshman maybe freshman or sophomore in college so you know had some golf experience obviously but never this kind of an experience with four or five thousand people came to watch us play and so I was pretty nervous but was doing all right in the on the first nine trino was uh very nice Nancy Lopez was the best player in women’s golf at the time and she was a really sweet lady and she could really play she played from the same te’s as us she hit the same irons as we did on the par 3s um just a really nice lady Travino was non-stop talking as you might imagine um the only time I’ve ever played with anybody that had no numbers on their irons they were all filed off uh and he had dimik sweet spots on on almost every iron including a two iron um so anyway after nine holes I think Travino was one under so we got going on the back nine and he birdied the first seven holes on the back nine in this exhibition and we’re standing on the the 17th te and people were running across the Fairway and you know beverages were being served it’s 80 degrees and sunny and they’re yelling Lee’s name and he came up to me and put his arm around me on the te on 17 while we were waiting to hit and he said you know Jim I hit it like this every day of my life if I make any putts at all there’s no man alive that can beat me and I’m like wow and he used a little more colorful language than that but um he drove it down the middle on 17 he hit a wedge that’s five feet he had a five-footer to go make eight birdies in a row he missed that and then 18 he hit a driver down the middle and hit a six iron that hit the flag and stopped a foot from the hole so he birdied eight holes out of nine holy smokes which I you know I had really never seen before so this was like so now in 1983 I have my PGA Tour card and it’s Saturday morning at the Houston open and I I’m on the putting green and some of the greats of the game back then you know Nicholas and wisoff and I see trino on the putting green and I’m a rookie so I you know I’m you know not running up to these guys you know saying hi it’s a little intimidating right so I go you know what I’m going to go up there and say hi to Mr trino so he I go up to him and he’s putting and I kind of standing about maybe 10 15 feet from he probably noticed I was right there and he looked up to me and I said hey Mr trino my name is Jim Roy I played with you a couple years ago in a golf exhibition for the American Heart Association and without me saying another thing he looked right at me and goes I birdied eight out of nine didn’t I and uh I go yes you did so it was kind of funny that even the the Hall of Famers know when they have a special day and they never forget it right I I guess you’re right that that that’s an incredible story and um man you told that almost as well as maybe he could tell it it sounds like you have all the the Vivid details still in your mind but let me ask you as it’s unfolding um and you saw their games I mean he was the top player in the world at the time Lee still had it yeah were you thinking hey I I got something here or were you thinking I got a lot of work to do um probably somewhere in the middle I I didn’t I didn’t really think like I could compare myself to those guys to to both of them Nancy and and Lee I mean I tried to compare myself just but trino never missed a shot and really Nancy Lopez really didn’t miss a shot um I shot even par that day which I didn’t think was bad it wasn’t a particularly hard course the backside was kind of tight but I had never played in front of that many people before so that was that was a little unnerving but um and there were a couple shots where you know the first time I had to hit through tunnels of people I was more concerned with not taking somebody’s head off uh with a with a quick pull or something but um it was probably right in the middle you know I don’t think I was at that stage I’m sure I was dreaming Maybe being able to play on the PJ tour but I don’t I you know it wasn’t like I was some college All-American or something that um was really compar I was just I was just enjoying it and um so that was that was a great time and if let me fast forward because there’s actually another uh um nugget to the story so I got my there always is let’s hear it I got my Champions Tour card in 2000 and I played 2010 and my first tournament was down in Naples and um I’m walking into the locker room and I see off to the right that Dave Maher Jr was giving it about to give a live interview with Lee trino and Gary Blair and um so I wanted to stop and listen to the interview and there was you know a number of people there maybe 20 30 people around waiting for the interview to start and Dave Mar saw me now he had just interviewed me a month before when I got my card for the Golf Channel so he saw me and he wanted to wave me into the interview and I said no no no no no I I’m not you just do your thing so they interviewed them for a while and apparently they went to a commercial break or something so he calls me in and and introduces me to Travino Gary Player and I said to Travino I said you know you and I have played golf together and he looked at me like what are you talking about so I I rehashed the story to him and uh of course he remembered it right away and he he said isn’t that something two Mexicans playing golf in Syracuse New York I birdied eight out of nine you so was what uh 30 years uh 30 years earlier so um um yeah that was I mean obviously I’ll never forget that story watching him in the following year Kevin I won the same tournament and I got to play with Arnold Palmer in the exhibition um oh and the great Ernie Banks from the Chicago Cubs wow oh oh my gosh so Palmer of course um yeah tell tell tell me about that what was uh I I have an Arnold story for you but um everybody it seems like everybody else has one and theirs are just just incredible tell me about yours this one was incredible um I played you know with Palmer same thing big crowd the first hole I had about a five or six foot pper par and I’m squatting down ready to line it up and Arnold comes walking up and he Taps the ball to me and he says Jim we don’t putt those today and I was going oh great my score is going to be good today um so he was um everything you’ve ever heard about AR Palmer you know about as charismatic as you can get drove it down the middle of every Fairway with a little tight draw but the best part of that day was afterwards there was a big dinner and I was sitting next to Arnold Palmer at the head table and he started asking me some questions um uh I was uh not married this just like this was the following year so I’m in college but I am dating my wife at the time uh and her mom was um battling breast cancer and going through her second uh bout with it and just finished up chemo treatments and she was in this big Banquet Hall she she came and she was at the end table and and she was a huge Arnold Palmer fan so we got talking and I mentioned that to Palmer um that she was here she’s a big fan and you know he get he got up he he asked me where she was and I pointed her way out I mean he had to walk the whole way he got up from the head table and walked all the way to her table and introduced not like introduced himself but um mentioned to her that you know he knew what she was going through and uh she was a fan of ary’s Army and she and he wanted her to know that he was uh rooting for her and to hang in there with good attitude blah blah blah blah blah which is amazing that he did that but was even more amazing is two weeks later she got a personal note from Palmer saying how great it was to meet her and to play with me and uh always know that arie’s Army is behind you and um my mother-in-law is since passed away but she she lasted about 30 years after that so none of great Arnold Palmer story it sure is but they’re they’re they’re all good and they’re they’re all real and I think what was really special about Arnold is he made you really feel like your story in your life was important because like you said he asked you about your life listened intently acted upon it that’s who he was right for those that don’t know I mean I no one would have thought less of Arnold Palmer if you didn’t write the letter afterwards I mean can you imagine this guy like the biggest Sports icon you know Wonder of you could still almost say that right um and and that but but that’s why he’s Arnold Palmer you know the the the extra step and um uh yeah he was he was very cool um really good guy and um you know I I’ll never forget what he what he did there for uh for my mother-in-law I met him in P at Pebble Beach in 2000 and he just pulled up in a car he it was like he fell out of the sky and I started talking to him and then people started coming out of store and by this point he was in his early 70s and he was um particularly hard of hearing so as I was talking to him he kept like saddling up next to me and he was cocking his head and tilting his ear so I could talk right in his ear and I mean it was so close we were he was almost stepping on my shoes and as I’m talking toir a couple thoughts are going through my head I’m like I can’t believe I’m talking into Arnold Palmer’s ear right and I can’t believe how hairy his ear are and then people are coming out of stores and like as I’m like talking and z and trying to think of questions i’ occasionally look up and people are like staring right at me I was so nervous until he diffused me and then I felt like I was talking to an old friend is that how it was for you like at some point did you like this guy’s really cool I’m really comfortable yeah he you know inside the ropes he was he was talking to me all the time um he was uh you know he was the king you know I mean everybody wanted you know he had that ability to connect with people there’s four or five thousand people foll him around and and it’s almost like everyone had an AR Obama experience right I mean walking from T to te you know giving a high five or signing an autograph and you know he had the best autograph ever and um his penmanship he he took his signature like you look at people’s signatures today you can’t even read them right like his like always looked good because he took pride in his signature yeah he never rushed an autograph he he he signed it perfectly and uh um you know he was just he was the King right I mean um so yeah that was that was a great experience you know U for me and um you know obviously my parents got to meet him and and the whole thing so it was great yeah miss him greatly the game misses them greatly too Jim Roy is our guest today on its party time my golf story he has a very fascinating golf story big thanks to our title sponsor party drinks if you’re looking to an alternative to the tired old seltzers or whatever it is on the golf course try a part te and for a list of the places where it is sold Golf Course especially on Florida Sun Coast but all over the country check out drink part.com and also uh big thanks to our golf Real Estate Pros the big Pros Jee Walsh and Vince ficaro from properties on Florida Sun Coast if your dream is to own a house on a golf property or you already doing it’s time for you to sell for whatever reason it is they can help you out check them out at sunos dreams.com or you can call 94122 4000 Jim take me back um well first of all how old are you I am 64 65 in August when did you start playing golf where does it all start you know I think you know I dabbled with it maybe from maybe 11 years 12 years old um you know back when I was growing up we we kind of did everything all the sports you know in the neighborhoods we’d be playing outside basketball and we play baseball and um you know my parents belong to a course called bellw Country Club and I just remember my mom you know playing on Tuesdays she’d go and play with the women and uh maybe occasionally nine holes on on another day and and then I I went with her a couple of times and um you know liked it um I I I don’t remember struggling terribly when starting out like you know I mean I wasn’t any good but I mean I could hit the ball at least make contact and um so you know baseball was really My First Love growing up and I played that through Babe Ruth so that I think is what 16 years old um so probably around 15 is when I really kind of got serious about um really loving Golf and really wanted to try to get good at it and so after I was done with the um Babe Ruth baseball um I kind of got into golf and but for the first two or three years I just played golf with my mom’s clubs and and with some buddies you know and and as it turned out some of those buddies got same the same interest as me so um ended up playing golf like every day you know after that you know it was uh it was either nine holes or when know as many as we could get in so we didn’t have a driving range when I first started playing so it was just constantly playing golf or chipping and putting on the putting green waiting till 4 in the afternoon when the kids could go out and play oh you have one of those places where you had to wait um yeah I grew up at a similar Place Huntington Valley Country Club in Suburban Philadelphia Belleview is Upstate New York Central New York yeah Syracuse New York an Old Donald Ross course oh love it um short very tight tough greens um and I was very fortunate to you know I’m still a member there and actually I teach golf there now in the summertime but um um it was a great place to grow up and like I said my best friend was a good golfer uh actually uh um beat me one time in the Syracuse Junior districts which uh really didn’t sit well with me but uh uh what it made me work a little harder it’s not good when you get your there you go you you know I said I remember my mom actually driving me home from that match and and she and she goes man you’re really grumpy I go well Mom you know I mean Spence just beat me and that that’s and so I told her to actually stop the car and let me out because I wanted to go practice because I didn’t want to have that happen again but um but we were fortunate to have some kids that were really good my high school team was great um we didn’t lose a match for four years so it was uh I it was a good situation where I was you know I had some who whoa whoa back that up you guys didn’t lose a match for four years we didn’t and the odd thing is we never won the State title um so we never lost a match and we lost the State title my senior year by three shots um and I think I finished third maybe third or fourth in the individual but um uh you know we played against like Joey sindelar and Jeff sluman and Mike hbert and Tom patry you know from different areas of New York State um but we had we had we had a good high school team I’d say so if you haven’t lost a match in four straight years that’s it’s better in my high school team we had a good one not not not as good as as yours when did you know um so you ended up going to University of South Florida but what in your hard Hearts were you like I I’m good because all competitive golfers uh I’m convinced are massively internally cocky they have to be the trick is just to to be humble about it and and graceful on the outside you know I remember sitting in my bedroom writing letters to like Wake Forest and you know the the University of Florida and kind of knowing deep down I was never going to be on those teams um coming from Syracuse New York I mean I was a good player but um you know when I compare myself to kids today I was like holy meckel I mean these kids now when they’re when they’re freshman in high school um they’re shoot some of them are shooting in their 60s and and are really good so and hitting at 300 plus which yeah yeah so I had I had uh received a partial scholarship to University of Maryland to go play golf and I thought that was big ACC division one actually went down and looked at the campus and it was July of my I was about to go into freshman in college in July that summer a friend of mine asked me if I knew had ever heard of South Florida and I said no I really hadn’t and he said well geez I know the coach there you want me to call him and I go okay so he calls the coach and the coach you know I guess trusted my buddy and said yeah if he wants to come down we’d love to see him but I was so I did I flew down in July and um a gentleman named bo ball picked me up and Bo played the tour six or seven years and his his nephew Eric Cole is one of the stars on the PGA tour now um has had a great year so picks me up great player we go to the University of South Florida golf course which was named the claw it’s 100 degrees I’m wearing a navy blue shirt and plaid pants think I looking good but I it didn’t look too good now that I look at it but I played nine holes with these guys and the coach wasn’t allowed to watch me play or anything and after nine holes Bo went in to talk to the coach the coach came out and said uh he’d love to have me down here but he didn’t have any money to to give you know to offer me me but if I could make the starting five starting in January um he would give me a full scholarship so I went home my dad and I told him and he said well you know do what you do what you think you want to do so I went down to South Florida and um got on the got on the starting five um in the fall and uh and I got a a full scholarship starting that January so that’s how that’s how that story went wow and and a good college career and then you went to tour school right away right after that yeah right after that so I I graduated and uh went to the tour school was the first year it was just when the stadium course opened up um and we all Stadium Course at linta right in California Stadium Course at panra oh oh we’re talking like TPC Saw Grass yeah saw grass oh okay okay go ahead it was the first year it was opened up and I remember playing a practice rounds with Brad Faxon and and we were going how the heck do you shoot under 80 at this place this is this is the hardest course I’ve ever seen in my life and we played four rounds there and we played two rounds across the street to Saw Grass Country Club which was a very difficult Golf Course too so um yeah I mean to that was you had to go through 272 whole qualifiers to get to the finals so right and you’re you’re in the finals and and it’s go you got your card your first try right yeah yeah okay take me to the end where you’re really sweating it out cuz that those are the good parts where guys are are almost about to lose control of all bodily functions what was it like for you yeah it was it was you know it was nerve-wracking um I was just I think I was really I was either on the number or just outside the number and the last day was you know mid-50s windy uh occasional you know rain not down poor but just kind of nuisance rain and um you know I played I was playing pretty well I thought I was doing pretty good and I remember birding the 16th hole the par five um it’s fun you know how golfers memories are I remember hitting a driver and a three iron about 10 10 yards short of the green and chipping it close and I made a birdie and then we had to go to the famous uh famous island hole and they had the pin they had the pin over there on the right hand side you didn’t you didn’t go for it it’s into the wind the gentleman I leave I won’t I won’t give his name out but the gentleman in front of me chunked it and the ball got halfway to the green and went in the water and so it was my turn and believe it or not I had six iron out so that’s that’s what the conditions were like and holy Ho Holy wait a minute because that it’s only like so that’s a three Club wind almost yeah it was blowing pretty good and my my shot at the time it’s a shot that I really love to hit is kind of this little low fade you know the wind was was into me I was going to aim it at the middle of the green I wasn’t trying to be a hero uh and I remember standing over the ball and I remember my eyes watering a little bit um don’t know if you know either I was about ready to puke or um or you know the wind I don’t know I but I remember saying to myself don’t hit it so I stepped away and got up over and I hit the shot and I hit it really good and I looked up and I was staying that week with another great golfing family the matis family um and matis he almost won it we remember the story with his mom right in her final days with can oh my gosh so I played college golf with his two brothers uh K and Bob matis and so I was staying with the matices that week and their dad Lou Who has since passed really really nice guy and a big golf F he followed me every hole the final round and he was up by the green you know where that walkway is into he was he was standing on the car path near there so the ball landed like in the middle of the green but it had a little cut Spin and it caught the rig and it rolled down to a foot from the hole and I tap in for a two so I’m now walking to 18 and I know if I can just finish I’m gonna get my tour card what was that like all right so sometimes just like well I mean were you thinking seven iron seven iron seven the the only thing I was thinking is don’t hook it the problem is you know as a good golfer um don’t hook it means you’re going to probably hit it way right right and and that’s exactly what I did and back then that Hill that you see on TV was were high weeds I mean they were they were wispy but it was high grass so I hid it in there and I had to chip it out and I still had another three iron and I hit it in those chocolate drops front right of the green and the ball was like IH High in the pins back left and I’m my mind’s racing a little bit but I’m like okay let’s just get this on the green make a five we’re fine right so I chip it and I give it too much and it hits and over spins and goes into the back bunker so now now now you’re really spinning now I’m going now I’m trying to remember what I lie so I’m going okay one two three four oh my god I’ve hit my fifth shot um but luckily I hit the bunker shot to about two feet so I made I made a uh six on the hole and one two three four yeah made a six on the hole and I may ended up making it by like three shots so it wasn’t you know we didn’t have leaderboards and back then and scoreboards you didn’t really know where you stood but um you kind of have an instinctive feel for where you what you got to do but U yeah so that was obviously really exciting to um you know to to to make that and another thing I remember is Donnie Hammond beat Everybody by about 15 shots yeah Donnie Hammond was a guy back in the day he kicked everybody’s butt that week yeah he he was the guy he used to te balls up on pencils and I think he played Titleist DT I which I couldn’t believe an elite player was using a a non-bat ball or at least at certain times in his career so when you when year were on tour was there a welcome to the PGA Tour moment where you’re like holy smokes well um you know the first year the first year the first tournament I played in was the Phoenix Open and I didn’t know I was in until the day before and I was actually in Syracuse New York because it didn’t look like I was going to get in I got a phone call and I got on a plane I got to Phoenix at like 1 or two in the morning and had to Tee It Up at like you know rookie tea time at like you know 7:48 or something so uh I remember my very first hole in the tour I popped up my t-shot it was a driver you know seven iron power four I had a fourwood in and I hit it over the green I chipped it to about 8 feet and somehow made the pot for a par so that was a that was my beginning on the PGA tour but I do remember missing the cut and then the next week I played with uh it played in the Bing Crosby Clan bake at at the C at Pebble Beach and was paired with Tom Layman and um uh and I think I don’t know I want to say I finished maybe 28th 30th something like that so it was I mean to me it was hey that’s pretty good right I mean I play Cypress Point spy glass and Pebble um got paired with Tom Kite I think on the third round of that tournament so that was exciting and um you know my my year was um close call year I think I made nine or t cuts um I probably missed six or seven other Cuts uh or I missed I know I missed 10 cuts by a shot and maybe three or four others by Two Shots so of all the tournaments I played in I think I was really out of it maybe four or five times um I qualified for the US Open that year so I I got to play at Oakmont in the US Open so yeah I mean I was disappointed obviously I lost my card and and you know back then you didn’t have U corn fairy and you know tours like that so you know it was uh a year kind on the mini tours in Orlando the JC gooy tour and uh went back to the finals a few more more times never quite got my card back so um decided to get my Amer status back I was a mortgage broker at the time didn’t play really any competitive golf for almost four years and then I got my Amer status back was still basically uh you know married and we had three kids Cheryl and I and um so I would play maybe two or three tournaments a year that was it I’d play in a state tournament maybe or or try to get in usam and um you know I did that for 17 18 years still you know still love to practice you know I live right near the golf course so um I didn’t play as much because of the young kids I’m coaching them in basketball and baseball and that kind of thing yeah Dad yeah yeah and really you know I mean I always had golf in the back of my mind but it but it wasn’t my life anymore I mean I love practicing I love I’ll be hitting balls today I love practicing I I just uh it’s kind of spiritual for me and it it kind of helps my teaching you know I like to experiment with things and see what I can do maybe help help some other people but um you know and then I turned 50 and my kids actually encouraged me and my wife to try the champions tour which you know the odds are pretty tough there you get five exempt spots uh you have to go through a 72 whole qualifier just to get to the finals um and I did that and I went to the champ went to the finals and um got the fifth spot in a playoff and suddenly I I’m like okay now I turn pro again and and and go play a year on the champions tour well just just stop for a minute so your two shots at tour School you made it through first first try on the PGA tour and your first shot at it on the senior tour now the champions tour yeah you got through yeah I I don’t know if anybody else has done that um you know a friend of mine back home in Syracuse who really follows golf he has said the same thing I I never really thought about it but he’s he he goes I I bet you there’s nobody that’s ever done that and he might be right I don’t know especially as an especially since I went as an amateur right I mean I I wasn’t playing you know professional golf at the time so yeah you had a pressure pack putt though you were in a playoff tell me about what’s going through your mind I want I want to feel it so make me feel it okay um so I started the final round uh two shots off the top five so I was playing well um I had a tough break the third round my I had a seven iron that that hit a sprinkler head on The Fringe of a green and ricocheted 40 yards out of bounds and I ended up shooting 73 that day and it took me out of the top five I was around eighth place or something but I was playing good so anyway fast forward I I shoot 66 the final round and I’m there’s probably five or six groups left to finish so when I finished I was I was leading sweating it out sweating it out yeah I was leading in the clubhouse but I knew you know there was a lot you know five or six more groups so you know yeah um but I had a feeling that you know it 66 is pretty good in the final round and I think I that put me a 12 under and so I remember telling my caddy you just stay right here I it was right near the scoreboard I wanted him to be in one place in case I needed them and then I want I just shut my phone off because I didn’t want to get a bunch of Texas and and all that stuff and I remember taking a nine iron and I went to the driving range and of course there’s no one on the Range I mean I’m by myself because it’s the last round but I needed to kill some time so I just I was hitting like you know 40 yard nine irons and then I’d take a a full nine iron you know just kind of kill time and I’m noticing how many groups finish so after a while I walk back into the Pro Shop but now I’m trying to kill time I’m going to buy a shirt to bring home to Syracuse and all of a sudden I think I hear my name the scoreboard was just outside the pro shop so I walk out and I said you know excuse me I did you just say something about Jim Roy or something he goes yeah and I go well I’m Jim Roy he goes well you’re in a playoff for the last spot you’re on the first te and I go when is it and he points over to the first te and um there’s two guys Bruce vaugh and Kurt hanfeld and Bruce just won the senior British Open the year before um and they’re on the te and so I tell my cad he was right there I go let’s go we got to go so back then you know they let us use a cart and um so we draw names and I’m the last guy to hit it’s a short par 4 it’s not a driver hole there’s water left Fairway bunker you don’t want to be in down the right hand side and they both hit I think they both hit three Woods down the middle and I had a utility club that I used all all week and I hit that and um down the middle and had a nine iron left and thank God I never thought of this but about every nineiron I hit on the driving range I I just kept Mish hitting I mean I was hitting the ball good when I played but maybe it was just I don’t know what but I kept Mish hitting them on the Range you know trying to kill time and um I hit a nine iron it was into the Sun so the sun’s setting and the pin’s back right and I just remember you can’t miss it right because it goes down this B and you got to shoot at it it’s a playoff and it’s a nineiron so I mean I’m aim you know I’m trying to hit it close and I hit it and I remember seeing the ball take off but I couldn’t see it land because of the Sun and I remember when I saw it take off um I knew it was online and it landed and there were some players that had come out to watch the playoff and and and they clap so I’m figuring okay that’s got to be pretty good so they they both hit Bruce missed his missed missed his shot to the right down this bank and Kurt hit it about 20 feet pin High left and we got up there and uh I had about eight feet yeah eight or nine feet for birdie what what kind of a putt is it is it a is it a tough I mean if it wasn’t the pressure it was the putt You’ just love to have I mean okay good the greens were quick so I didn’t have to worry about how hard to hit it or anything um it was a if it was going to do anything it might move a little left um so Bruce gets up and hits his Chip he had no shot really and he hits it at 25 ft so now he’s got a putt and he makes it he knocks it in for a par so now I remember telling my caddy that if I have a chance to make this putt I’m gonna make it to win and but what I didn’t know I didn’t know if I’d make it if Kurt made his you know what I mean like so I had to get by Kurt’s putt like and obviously he’s playing well so I I didn’t know whether to watch him putt or not to pretend that not going to watch him putt I don’t know so anyway I just remember kind of staring at the ground and he hit his Putt and I kind of looked at it and it looked real good and I’m just watching it and he hit a beautiful Putt and it it just massaged the high side on the left side and it didn’t go in so now all of a sudden I got a putt to to get my card and um and I felt good I mean I I was I was nervous but I but I wasn’t you know it was a good nervousness I mean I I was playing well right so I and I was you know I figured I was going to hit a good putt um and I remember making my practice strokes I usually make two practice strokes and when I got up to make my practice strokes man nerves hit me like I can remember what do you mean like are your hand shaking it kind of elevated you know what I mean like yeah like this is a big Putt and I and I told the story before and and I don’t know why you know it would have been easy for me you know or any golfer to think you know don’t leave it short or you don’t want to pull it but for whatever reason it came into my mind you’ve made a million of these in your life this is going to be 1 million in one right here and it was such a it was such a weird thing it’s not like I’m a you know sports psychologist Guru but that’s what I thought about and I hit the Putt and it went right in the heart couldn’t have missed it it was as soon as I looked at the ball on its way I said that’s that can’t that can’t miss and it went in and U wow so now now I’m like now what do I do you know I I have a job in real estate and now you know uh suddenly I’m being interviewed by the golf channel and um it was exciting I remember borrowing a phone from one of the camera ladies uh because I knew i’ better touch base at home with my wife and she answered the phone and neither of us could talk you know she was crying all of a sudden it hit me and I couldn’t even talk and I said I’ll I’ll try to call you back when I can so it was it was uh and I didn’t know that there was like 40 people at my house back in Syracuse staring at the computer and my sons they were all you know nervous and they they were all being uh uh nervous about changing anything like no you got to sit in that chair you can’t move you know we can’t supers superstitious and um so it was that that was a that that was an exciting time for sure that that’s cool I feel like I was with you on the buttter maybe on the bag now you have your son Kevin is kind of living the life that that you lived what’s that like to see it all unfold and is I’m sure you’re proud as hell but it is it hard to watch your your son play pro golf when there’s not much you can do he’s just got to do his thing or can you help him um yeah I’m trying to I’m learning I’m bet I’m way better at it okay so now you know uh because you can follow every shot you know if you’re if I’m not there personally and so I try not to I try to keep myself busy and occasionally check and see how he’s doing but no you know I think um you know I certainly know what he’s going through uh you know and I just remind myself there’s nothing I can really do um he’s a good player you know I he wouldn’t be out there if he wasn’t a good player uh you know I think think I think his best golf’s still ahead of him I think he’s um you know he’s a little bit of a late bloomer you know he you say you know we’re a little bit alike man I tell you what it’s we’re kind of a lot alike as far as how the the career U aspect of it uh he’s he’s a better player than than I was I think that’s easy to say as you know as Generations I mean we both had different strengths my strength was short game he’s he can really strike the golf ball um you know you know he played out there last year on the tour he missed unbelievably he missed nine cuts by a shot like I did um he had a couple of good finishes at the end which I think has given him some confidence and then um he’s back on the corn Fury and he got second this year um in the first tournament and if he can get in the top 30 he can get back out there so he’s he’s got some goals um he’s uh knows what he has to work on uh I love when I have an opportunity the caddy for him it’s easier for me actually because I’m I’m kind of in the in the arena with him um and so I’ll I’ll probably caddy a couple times I’ve CAD for him I cadd for him when he got his tour card I cadd for him just this past December when he had to go to the final stage to get corn Fairy status so um we have a good time when he’s when I’m Cad and he’s the boss I don’t really say much unless I’m asked or if I really think he’s about to mess up um with a decision so um yeah it’s I I mean I love I love Cad and for but I understand you know this is his gig it’s not my gig um and I I think he’s he belongs on the PGA tour you know but that doesn’t mean you’re G to make it and you’re you know G to have a career out there it’s tough It’s well you you would know um having play the tour and then yeah yeah and there’s a lot of good players out there but he’s one of them you know and I think all he needs is probably what I need you know needed is the confidence to know that you’re already good enough right because I think it’s easy to get on the tour and now you think oh my God I got to get way better these guys are really good but I don’t think that’s necessarily the case I think you just gota you got to take your game and and believe that that’s good enough not somebody else’s game you know I think you’re right about that Jim Roy as our guest here on it’s party time my golf story brought to you by party drinks and also the Real Estate Pros Jean Walsh and Vince visicaro Suncoast dreams.com and you can uh call them at 94122 4000 uh Jim I told you I was going to talk to you for a half hour We’re 45 minutes in you don’t mind if we keep going and maybe break it up in two parts okay great that’s great great two golfers talking and by the way we’re going to follow up our interview with Jim with his son Kevin Roy who’s playing the corn fairy tour right now so just bring everybody up to speed uh where we are that’s that’s kind of how uh it’s all unfolding um Gary Player stories you got some for me well yeah it’s not a it’s not a super great story but I mean it’s it’s Gary Player you know World Hall of Famer so this when I was a rookie on the tour I played with him in the final round of the Canadian open and of course back then you know I kept seeing engulfed dig just you know Gary Player is a great bunker player best in the world blah blah blah and he had that big caddy rabbit Dyer I think his name was big like 6’8 guy huge guy and so I got paired with him and a a gentleman named Jim nelford who was a Canadian so we had like big crowds we weren’t threatening to win the tournament but it was Gary Player right so uh the very first hole he hits it in a bunker and he has his caddy take the pin out and I’m sitting there going oh my gosh watch this and he he doesn’t he hit the hole it almost goes in so long story short he he was in four bunkers he got everyone up and down really didn’t even have to putt and uh I had a flop shot on the 17th hole I had no shot basically and I take this big swing and I flop it up in the air and it comes out perfect and it you know rolls down to a tap end and he comes up to me and he puts his arm around me he says Jimmy you’ll have to show me that shot after the round you know and I’m going I’m thinking to myself you know there’s Gary Player like he doesn’t have that shot I think I think he was being really nice but again if I fast forward and this is 1983 so in 1989 I qualified for the US Open at Oak Hill which is right down the road from my house 80 miles down from the house and I played a practice round with Steve elington and Brad Faxon and I hadn’t played much competitive golf at all and so I went back out to play nine more holes by myself was my goal and just hitting shots with people watching cuz you know there’s there’s a pretty good Gallery um just in practice rounds and I teed off on number one and I I’m walking off the tea and all of a sudden I hear somebody yell oh and I turn around it’s Gary Player and he said do you mind if I join you so I’m like oh my gosh this is you know again I haven’t played much competitive golf in five or six years and now Gary player’s joining me so these are great stories what do you mean it’s not that great well so then I so I and I had hit a great t-shirt shot on the on the first hole and he hit one and I was like 50 yards past him so he goes he says Jimmy is that your t- shot down there and I go yeah he goes man you’re a long hitter my man you know and so anyway we play two holes and I can see on the third hole it’s a tough part three at o kill and I I can see a backup and you know and I’m you know I’m nervous like you know this is not the arena that I’ve been used to right I mean I’m playing golf with my buddies back home at Belleview and now playing with Gary Player and I can tell that we’re going to have to join the group in front of us because there’s uh two guys on the fir on the third te and I know we’re going to walk up there and they’re gonna say uh Why Don’t We join them because they’re gonna know Gary Player because the two guys are Ben khaw and hail Irwin ah so we walk up to the third te and of course they see Gary and hey Gary how you doing blah blah blah he’s good good good he’s say he goes and so I introduced myself I knew k Shaw’s caddy Tony Navaro who Stills caddy P tour Tony cared for Jeff sluman a lot when we were rookies so he recognized me and and so we I knew them I got introduced to cran Irwin and Gary’s like oh you should see Jim hit the ball he hits it so far you know and I’m like oh my gosh you got to be kidding me so anyway I play the next seven holes with those guys and um the the first round is the next day and I’m getting my golf shoes on and my locker is against the wall so you have to walk down the whole aisle to get to my locker and I can sense somebody’s as I’m tying my shoes I can sense somebody’s at the end of the row and it’s hail Irwin and he walks down to me and says hey Jim I enjoyed yesterday uh good luck out there today and I be a Hal Irwin fan like he didn’t have to do that I wouldn’t have thought anything less of Hal Irwin um for not doing that so that’s kind of my Gary Player story that you know I you know of course I told him I had played with him you know six years earlier at the Canadian open and you know he pretended oh yeah sure you know like like he remembered that event but um they were just great K Shaw was great irin was great Gary Player was great um your imitations of those guys guys are are pretty good too the Gary Player spot and the hail Irwin was was sneaky good too is is this a an unknown Talent of Jim Roy well it’s definitely unknown uh but I mean player player you know I mean he’s an amazing guy he’s not a really big guy and to to think what he did in the game of golf um talk about positive attitude and of course he he was all about Fitness even before tiger came around right um so so um yeah really fun I mean in the US Open the energy and and all that and the play in one um near your home was was really cool oh it’s fantastic Freddy Couples um how many rounds have you played with him or you got a couple stories about Freddy well Freddy so I’m a rookie on the tour and we’re playing in the keer open at Congressional and this is um the first this is Freddy couple’s first win on the p tour uh he wins he wins in a playoff and I finished you know middle of the pack you know played all right but the next day we had a 36hole qualifier to get in the US Open at Oakmont and it was a Bethesda Country Club and Fred had to play in the qualifier even though he won the keer open so I got paired with Lee Elder in tusum we all played in Tums and um so I played 36 holes with Lee Elder and I’m on the 36th hole and it’s a dog leg right I don’t know how I stand I know I’m playing all right and I see this figure out in the distance walking towards the tea I hit my t- shot it goes just in the right rough and by the time I get up to my ball it’s a friend of mine from Syracuse New York that was in the Washington area and knew I was playing and he came out to the course to see how I was doing and I said to him hey I’m playing pretty good but can you go on up to the green and find out what what score is going to be needed you know and so he does he he runs up there but you know and I had I remember hitting like a six L and it came up short I was playing for a flyer comes up about 10 yards short so by the time I get up to the my ball he comes down and he says to me you need birdie to get into a playoff and I got to chip it I mean Kevin you can’t make this up I got to chip up a ridge to a back left pin and I hit this little wedge that hits into the hill so it hits into the hill gets up to the top and kind of checks and it goes right in the hole oh so I birdy it and I end up getting in a playoff Five Guys Five Guys seven guys for two spots um now are you guys all going out in a seven some cuz sometimes they they do that sometimes they do that but what happened was a thunderstorm storm came in big storm and they moved the playoff to the next morning so we had to get to the go there about 7even o’clock in the morning so I show up and they tell by the time I get there I’m playing in the first group it’s going to be a threesome me Freddy Couples and Bobby Watkins is we’re going to play number one and then we’re going to let the other guys come up and see what happens and um go from there now so couples just won and and I didn’t know Freddy you know um so he gets up I don’t even think he hit a warm-up shot because I remember seeing his car pull in and he just gets out of the car and he he and I had I had to hit first and I hit a three-wood down the middle of the Fairway and couples gets up with a one iron and just sends the sink straight in the air it was just unbelievable no warm up hair perfect just unbelievable and and we all make par and one guy Bogey’s in the group behind so now we all go to the second hole which is this downhill par three like 25 now this is old equipment right I mean so I’m hitting like a three iron and I hit it right of the no left of the green and couples hits a five iron the highest prettiest shot you ever want to see eight feet from the hole and I’m like uh oh here comes a birdie here and I chip it seven feet past he misses I make it and one other guy bogeys it so now we’re I don’t know five we’re gonna play now it’s a fome going to the next hole and it’s a good hole hard hole and Fred Couples and I are the only two guys to par it so I you know it was like a Big Thrill for me I never played in a in a Maj I mean I was a rookie so you and Freddy are in that’s it so so Freddy Freddy and I win the playoff to go to Oakmont now this is the funny thing about golf as this has got to be 15 years ago so so 15 years ago I was an investor in a company and as it turned out so was Fred Couples and Phil Mickelson and a couple other golfers or something and and they had a they had a golf exhibition this company put on a golf exhibition in uh in just outside of Syracuse and they asked me if I wanted to uh caddy for Fred Couples I go yeah that’d be a riot you know so we’re in the locker room beforehand and the guy we go in there and uh uh Freddy is talking with Phil mikkelson and the other the guy cading for Phil I knew and he was a golfer and so uh Phil says to me like hey you guys play golf and I go yeah yeah we play and so mikkelson goes well maybe we should maybe we’ll have a caddy you know a caddy match you know I’ll take a I’ll take my guy Freddy and you can take your guy and so couple says uh to uh so Fred it wasn’t Joe laava back in the day or or was it no this is just an exhibition so flew in to do an exhibition so yeah so it wasn’t her standard asked me if I was any good you know are you any good and I go I don’t know you and I want to play off to get in US Open in 1983 and he goes holy oops sorry he goes no that’s fine it’s podc he go tell tell it how it unfolded don’t worry I go yeah and so Freddy’s like all right I got my partner you know so it was uh it was just kind of a funny exchange and then you know just the talent of couples on the second hole that day again big crowds I mean five six thousand people following nichelson and couples and I’m cading for couples and he misses the green on the second hole and he’s waiting for Phil to hit and I see couples he’s practicing chipping cross-handed right you know making practice strokes and I’m like geez I didn’t know Freddy chipped cross-handed you know I mean I I I watch golf all the time and so he chips this shot it was like he used like a nine iron it was like a long chip like 40 50 feet and he chips it right in the hole cross-handed and M we’re walking the next tea and Michelson gets on the tea and goes Freddy how long you been chipping crosssand he goes that’s the first time I ever tried it just sounds about right because he’s one of those guys that yeah he can he can just do things like that special guy so the first time he ever Tred it he chips it in in front of you know five six thousand people I’m like whoa you know that’s just a different level right there rare air but he was he was a great guy and man he he just hit some incredible looking shots when I C for him oh I bet have you ever shot your age or Come Close came close last year uh missed by a shot um I shot a 64 shot 64 just be just be was actually two years ago now I shot 64 when I was 63 um and that’s obviously the closest um I did shoot a 61 when I was 58 um so three shots is obviously a lot but it seemed like it was close put it that way so um maybe this year we’ll see it’ll be fun yeah what’s the state of your game are you are you going to get back and compete um it is that an option or or are you just chasing the scores and just and just the Love of the Game you you you stay involved I there’s a part of me that would still love to you know try to play good in tournaments um what was it maybe three years ago I played in senior Us open so I I I qualified there in Pennsylvania and shot a 66 to qualify um and I also qualified for another Senior Open uh maybe five years ago now um so I still enjoy it I’ll probably try to qualify for the senior Us open this year uh but I I don’t chase um well I take that back this is how hard it is Kevin uh there’s a senior event in Bingington New York uh and I tried to Monday qualify for it this past summer I had to do a pre-qualifier which I made it through and then I shot 66 in the Monday qualifier and um got in a five for one playoff and didn’t win the playoff so 66 wasn’t good enough well there’s still the joy in shooting low scores and yeah I I just I I got a great feeling that you’re gonna you’re going to shoot your age or or beat it because uh I mean what would it take I mean The Game’s real solid right now you how much time do you spend working on your game now I I still love practicing it it’s it’s always been something that’s never been hard for me to do I just I just like it uh I like the Solitude of it I think and I and I still think I can get better I’m realistic I mean I I think the biggest thing that I’ve noticed as you get older and playing is um at least in my case is concentration I don’t think um you know I think there’s more lapses in concentration uh that I notied physically I feel really really good um you know I I work at it I I try to stay in pretty good shape and when I feel like I’m swinging good you know distance isn’t a problem um nerves are still pretty good chipping and putting so the thing that I I lack is consistent competitive rounds you know of of playing consistently in competition because you know there’s a big difference between playing with your buddies and and playing in a tournament we like to thank we like to think we can make it the same but it’s just not the same right oh it’s not even close social Golf and competitive golf are two totally different totally different animals um so you’re doing some more teaching now what does that do for you do you feel like um seeing the AA moment in people how does it how does it fill you up and make you feel good um I think you that’s a good way that you express it right there you know if if I can get somebody to play better uh I think it’s great I mean is what they do in their spare time so it’s important to them this is what they’re trying to do to have fun um I think I can give them um you know I have a couple lessons this afternoon and I I feel like if I can make their time of having fun better then then I think I’m giv back to the game um and I just uh like kind of sharing what I think I know about Golf and my golf experiences with somebody else and if if that works out for that’s great I think what you’re sharing is your love for golf and you’re trying to help them find it within themselves and playing better certainly helps with that final question for you here What would life be like without golf how profound has golf been the role that it’s played in your life well it’s been huge in my life you know it was it was big in my life in the business World um it was great to take clients or prospective clients to the golf course um I think golf as you I think would agree teaches you uh humility it teaches you it gives you confidence uh it teaches you have to have some character I don’t think neither of us have met a lot of jerks in golf right I don’t think you last in the game a long time if if you’re if you’re really just not nice to people right I mean I got to see a lot of things my kids have caded for me in major championships I’ve caded for my son in Big Time tournaments um my wife came from a golfing family so my brother-in-laws have CAD for me in big tournaments um you know I and it’s my my family has been with me in some great tournaments when I was an Amer in the porter Cup in us amers we we’ve gone to some great places so without golf I I mean I I am very fortunate I’ve married a great lady almost 40 years ago it’ll be our 40th winning anniversary coming up up um so if I’m not playing golf my life is still going to be great uh my family’s great I have four grand we have four grandchildren now I hope um God willing um we can introduce him to the game um and so yeah if golf was taken away it would be a void in my life for sure but my life will still be great because uh I’m i’ I’ve got a lot of great friends and uh and my family’s great yeah well it’s great to have you as a neighbor um yeah I know right down the street and next time you’re in that dunk tank I’m going to give you my fast ball okay well then then maybe I’ll find somebody else because I I know you’re a good athlete and you would actually hit the target on like Fred or neighbor who has a candy arm um listen Jim uh let let’s keep in touch and uh wish you nothing but the best and uh at some point you and I are going to have to get out there okay absolutely and Kevin thanks for asking and uh I really enjoyed it all right if you golf you’re my and you’re my friend Harvey P said I’ve said it before uh stay with me here as I just do some final wrapping up uh Jim Roy’s been our guest here on it’s part time my golf story his story is H is a great one and uh coming up a little bit later we’re going to hear the story of his son Kevin Roy who will be our next guest on the program so you want to stick around for that big thanks to Jim big thanks to party drinks the title sponsor and a big thanks to Jee Walsh and Vince vacaro from Suncoast dreams.com a division of fine proper properties if your dream is to live on a golf course or if you live on one and you want to sell your house they’re the golf Real Estate Pros for Jim Roy I’m Kevin Walsh we’ll see you again next time on its party time my golf [Music] story you’ve been listening to it’s party time my golf story brought to you by party drinks classically designed golf drinks for golfers by golfers and the golf Real Estate Pros Jean Walsh and Vince bizar tomorrow for your Southwest Florida real estate needs check them out at sunos dreams.com or call 94122 [Music] 4,000 this is Vince ficaro and Jean Walsh with the Suncoast dreams.com real estate team at fine properties we’ve helped hundreds of families find their dream homes in Gulf and Resort communities in Liquid Ranch bring Sarasota Parish Venice and the surrounding areas let us be your guides to finding your dream home here as well learn more at sunos dreams.com or call us at 94122 4000
