Hall of Famer and one of the greatest players to ever play in the NFL, Tim Brown, was kind enough to speak with Essentially Sports about his upcoming Fresh Start Surgical Gifts Inaugural Celebrity Golf Classic, his love for the game of golf, and all things Las Vegas Raiders in a wide-ranging two-part interview.

Brown opened up about what’s in store for the Celebrity Golf Classic, which takes place on Nov. 9-10, and all the good work Fresh Start Surgical Gifts is doing for kids born with cleft palates. He also shared some interesting insights on the challenges of the game of golf, including who the best golfer among former professional athletes is, and much more from the Raiders legend’s perspective.

Q: So you got a golf tournament coming up. It’s the first one, apparently, right? The inaugural one?

A: Yeah. The inaugural one. We’ve done golf tournaments before, but it’s going to be the first one for this group.

It’s Fresh Start Surgical Gifts. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with them, but they are the organization that supports children born with cleft palates and related conditions.

They donate these surgeries to these kids. It’s pretty remarkable to see what they do.

Q: Pretty commendable. So that’s November 9th and 10th at Stonebriar Country Club, right?

A: Yes. Yes.

Q: Who is coming to this celebrity golf tournament?

A: So, you know, the usual suspects, man. Marcus Allen, Jerome Bettis, Vince Coleman, and Eric Dickerson. We’re trying to confirm Emmitt [Smith] here in town.

He lives right here, lives two miles away from the golf course, but he’s extremely difficult to confirm. So DeMarcus Ware would be there. Spud Webb would be there. So we should have a nice little crowd.

Q: Sounds like you got some Hall of Famers there?

A: Got some OG Hall of Famers, you know, Cliff Harris from back in the day.

Cowboys back in the day. So yeah, Charles Haley will be there. Tony Dorsett, I think, is going to come.

He doesn’t play golf, but he’s going to come to the event. And Ed “Too Tall” Jones will be there. So we should have a nice little crowd, man. Cowboys for all the Dallas folks, you know.

Q: So how’s your golf game? How would you say you are as a golfer?

A: Well, let me tell you this, man. I’m a leisure golfer, I believe, but I play pretty well in tournaments and things of that nature. But something has happened here over the last year, man, that, I mean, I’m 59 years old, so I’m not getting any younger, but these young kids who are coming up now, they got so much money to make, brother.

They don’t have to do anything but play golf, right?

Q: You mean like Steph Curry?

A: I’m talking about football players. We have a group of young guys, man. Well, there’s a group out there called Pro Rivals, right? And they’re putting on all these tournaments. They have one tournament, 48 football players. There is a three-day walking tournament here in Dallas. We had a Ryder Cup event in Tampa, football versus baseball versus hockey versus basketball, which was an incredible event.

And we just had another event where they only had 20 football, 20 hockey, 20 basketball, 20 football, right? And I’m telling you, man, these young kids, they are playing golf. If you didn’t shoot 72, 73, brother, you didn’t have a chance. So I say all that to say this, that I’m telling myself, look, bro, this leisure golf stuff is not going to cut it.

If you’re going to be in this thing, you’ve got to get in it for real. So I’m going through my game. I got a teacher, man. I got all these gadgets and all this stuff. I’m trying to get my three or four strokes better, brother. So we’ll see how that goes.

Q: It’s a tough game. I think that’s why a lot of athletes, after they’ve played their respective sport, jump into it because it’s such a challenge, right?

A: Yeah. So my guy tells me, he’s like, ‘Tim, look, the problem is this. You’re a Hall of Fame, Heisman Trophy receiver and all that stuff.’

And he said, ‘How many practices did you miss while you were playing?’ I said, ‘Oh, man, I went 15 years without missing a practice. I practiced every day.’ He said, ‘You went 15 years in the NFL without missing a practice.’

But he was like, ‘How often do you practice golf?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, I warm up and hit 45, 50 balls.’ He was like, ‘That’s my point.’ He said, ‘You guys come out here, you’re hitting 50 balls before the round, and you think you’re going to go out and shoot 72? It ain’t going to happen.’

He said, ‘You can become a Heisman Trophy, Hall of Fame quarterback by not practicing, but you think you’re going to become a great golfer.’

It’s mind-blowing. It’s so much truth to it because his whole point is, enjoy the game, man. If you’re not going to practice and put the work in, when you go out, you’re going to hit bad shots, and you ought to expect to hit the bad shots. If you hit a good shot, be happy.

Q: There’s a really small margin for error with golf, isn’t there?

A: It’s such a tough game. It really is, man. It’s a damnable game, is what it is, because it’s those putts, man, that barely don’t… A happy inch away from the hole, you know what I mean?

Lip in, lip out, and roll around, but don’t go back in. When that happens, I say, ‘It’s not going to be my day because that putt should have gone in for sure.’

Q: So it’s a short game that you’re worried about then, huh?

A: Yeah. I can get the ball to the green now. I have to get better because when I’m in the fairway, I’m still not getting in that circle that I need to be in. I’m still 25, 30 feet away.

And if you’re going to make putts, you’ve got to be within 15 feet to have a real chance to make. True that.

Q: So who’s the best athlete or well, ex-athlete golfer? And then who would you say is the best Raiders golfer?

A: Well, I’ll answer that last one first because that would be me.

Q: That’s you? I had a feeling you’d say that.

A: Well, I mean, if we’re going to count all four sports, obviously, this guy Joe Pavelski, who’s a hockey player, is just killing this little league that we have right now. He’s winning every tournament that we have for the most part.

But yeah, so I think that has been… He’s probably the best. Hockey players are usually pretty good players. Baseball players are… The pitchers are incredible players.

I’ll tell you what’s happening now, man. And really, we had the Ryder Cup, and basketball sort of got lapped by everybody, right? They came in dead last. We beat hockey.

Football beat hockey. So we were second behind baseball. But these basketball players, brother. They have gotten so much better in less than a year. I mean, it’s really remarkable. Eddie Jones, Ray Allen. J.R. Smith.

I’m telling you, these guys… Steph is probably the best of them all, but he wasn’t there.

Q: Was Austin Reeves there?

A: No, he wasn’t there. He wasn’t there. I heard he’s pretty good. Yeah.