Long Island Golf Beat
 Mark Herrmann covers the local golf scene in his weekly column. | E-mail
Judging only from some of the open, emerald fairways, you
might think you were in Ireland. Judging from the views that encompass both tall trees and water, you might think you were at Pebble Beach. Judging from the general ambience, as Champions Tour player Loren Roberts recently did, you could say you were in heaven. (Aug 10, 2008)
Who says nobody's perfect? For one shot, any golfer can be.
On one hole, an 88-year-old man, a 10-year-old boy or a neophyte golfing grandmother can be sure that Tiger Woods or Ben Hogan couldn't have done any better. That's the appeal of the hole-in-one, one of the most exhilarating feats in sports. (Aug 7, 2008)
Golf still can pull young people. It can tug them away from
video games and faster moving sports, it can nudge them across the country for tournaments. It can draw them even when their inclination is, as 16-year-old Kelly Shon of Port Washington put it, "At first, I was like everyone else, 'This is just a boring sport.' " (Aug 3, 2008)
Every player in the tournament this week at Bethpage Red
was thrilled to be involved in such intense competition on such a good course, even though every one of them wishes he or she weren't eligible. (Jul 31, 2008)
The golf equipment marketplace is so tough that almost no
one can say it fits them like a glove. Still, Rita and Chris Terris have a decent enough grip on their niche to report they are holding their own. (Jul 27, 2008)
When the Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce scheduled a
function last month to promote business during the 2009 U.S. Open, it chose to hold it at Harbor Links in Port Washington. The location was both practical and symbolic. (Jul 24, 2008)
Those parched brown patches on your lawn are enough to make
you appreciate the lush, green grass on the golf course. No one appreciates it more than the course superintendents who really feel the heat this time of year. (Jul 20, 2008)
No one playing in the New York State Open at Bethpage Black
this week doubts reports that the rough has been cut at a height of 4 1/2 inches. They just aren't sure how many months it has been since the last time they cut it. (Jul 17, 2008)
On a free day during his week at the Commerce Bank
Championship, which begins tomorrow at Eisenhower Park, Chip Beck drove to Southampton and played the National Golf Links of America. David Ogrin was hoping to sneak out to play Bethpage Black. (Jun 26, 2008)
Considering how Phil Grella began his golf career, it is a
wonder he still has one. Now a retired math teacher living in Rockville Centre, Grella was an 11-year-old caddie at Nassau Country Club, shagging balls on the practice range without a helmet. (Jun 22, 2008)
The talk mostly was about the heat and about the storm that
had brought down about 200 trees and temporarily closed three other courses at Bethpage State Park. That is to say, U.S. Open week at the Black Course was calmly ordinary - this year. (Jun 12, 2008)
A question for golf fans: In 1979, two Spaniards played on
the newly expanded European Ryder Cup team. One was Seve Ballesteros, who was the other? a) Jose Maria Olazabal, b) Antonio Garrido, c) Manuel Pinero, d) Jose Maria Canizares. (Jun 1, 2008)
Let's play nine. (May 29, 2008)
It must be more than just coincidence that hockey players
are such good golfers. Note, for instance, which celebrity won the Nationwide Tour's BMW Charity Pro-Am last week: Wayne Gretzky. (May 25, 2008)
A golfer usually believes that the front arm has to be
straight, the other elbow has to be pinned close to the body and, by all means, the head has to be very still and pointed down in order to make a good swing. (May 22, 2008)
This is the 100th anniversary of a bunker shot that didn't
make it out of the bunker. It is a tribute to the great golf figure and Long Islander Walter Travis that people still remember the 1908 U.S. Amateur at Garden City Golf Club. The deep, difficult and controversial bunker that Travis built alongside the 18th green trapped one poor fellow and cost him the semifinal match. (May 18, 2008)
What a dream it would be to feel like a member at a private
club, to have someone take your clubs from your car, to have your own locker in the clubhouse, to be able to bring a foursome and play a manicured club - even if you're not a member. (May 15, 2008)
What would benefit the average golfer more - hitting a
300-yard drive or chipping in from around the green? Here's the follow-up question - which of those shots does the average golfer spend more time trying to achieve? (May 1, 2008)
Necessity really was the mother of this invention. Vic
Valdez had moved from southern California to Seattle and quickly realized that if he wanted to play golf, he'd better learn to play in the rain. (Apr 20, 2008)
Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak designed Sebonack Golf Club in
Southampton to look natural, to fit seamlessly in its surroundings. The people who run and maintain the course apparently have picked up on that trend, having recently earned the Metropolitan Golf Association's Club Environment Award. (Apr 17, 2008)
Doug Mauch, the head professional at Wheatley Hills Golf
Club in East Williston, sets a very high standard for his pro shop. It is a standard he learned at one of his previous jobs, at Augusta National Golf Club. (Apr 13, 2008)
It was not as if Ann Liguori needed something extra to do
or some internal voice kept telling the veteran broadcaster there was a media venture she hadn't undertaken. (Sep 20, 2007)
What comes through in the end is these guys have the
greatest wives out there. (Sep 13, 2007)
Matt Dobyns knew what was next. (Sep 6, 2007)
Jeff Conine stood at his locker in the Mets clubhouse on
the afternoon of Aug. 21 greeting some of his new teammates. (Aug 30, 2007)
Kevin Smith recognized the long-shot nature of what he was
proposing. (Aug 16, 2007)
Michael Bohn found the contradiction strange. (Aug 2, 2007)
It seems real enough by now, though Jack Druga is still a
bit awed by landing what he tabbed nearly two decades ago as his "dream job." (Jul 19, 2007)
Perhaps a group of Nassau County politicians experienced
one of those plodding, when-will-it-end, six-hour rounds of golf. (Jul 12, 2007)
Playing the Champions Tour full-time has become a dream
deferred of sorts for Darrell Kestner and the Deepdale Golf Club head professional is just fine with that. (Jun 28, 2007)
One way or another, whether looking back or glancing ahead,
the U.S. Open is never far from Dave Catalano's mind. (Jun 21, 2007)
Kyle Brey is 11 years old and has been playing golf since
he was 4. (May 24, 2007)
Greg Kennedy, an amateur from the TPC of Sugarloaf in
Georgia, won the 97th Walter J. Travis Memorial Invitational on Sunday, by
defeating Kenny Bakst of Friar's Head, 2 and 1, in the championship match at
Garden City Golf Club. Kennedy, the medalist in Friday's qualifying round, shot
a 2-under 71 on the 6,911-yard layout. (May 24, 2007)
At a championship week news conference before last year's
U.S. Open at Winged Foot, an out-of-town reporter, obviously not happy about
making so many treks to the East Coast, asked USGA Executive Director David Fay
a question about course selection for the Open. (Apr 19, 2007)
It wasn't that Steve Locke believed he had a bad golf
course at Colonial Springs, it was just that the club president decided he had
one that needed work. Especially after Locke determined several years ago he
wanted to take the 27-hole layout private. (Apr 12, 2007)
Gene Contino has been in the golf course business 31 years. (Apr 5, 2007)
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