Saladino's 63 at Nassau CC officially the record

No one is denying the sports axiom, "Records are made to be broken." Proud golf club members just want to make sure records aren't broken very easily.

A course record is an honor for whoever holds it and a family heirloom for the course that confers it. In golf circles, it is believed that both the record and the holder say something about the club.

"Sometimes you gauge the golf course by it, you look at it and think how tough a golf course is," said Paul Glut, whose 63 is the record at Island Hills in Sayville, where he is head pro, and who was paired with Craig Thomas when the latter shot 64 to tie the course record at Bethpage Black.

What's in a record? The issue came up last Saturday when Joe Saladino of Huntington went low at Nassau Country Club. He shot 63 in the first round of the prestigious and venerable Nassau Invitational (est. 1897), on his way to the championship. There was no question that it was a spectacular round. The question for the club - and one taken up by interested golf observers throughout Long Island - was whether it should qualify as a course record because the lift, clean and place rule was in effect.

That rule is used when the grounds are especially wet, to make it fair for golfers who might otherwise be subject to soggy lies and mud on the ball. What Nassau had to decide was whether it was fair to history to declare it a record, or sustain Jerry Courville's 64.

The U.S. Golf Association says on its website that course records are not covered by the rules of golf. USGA policy recommends that a course record should not be recognized "if a local rule permitting preferred lies is in operation." But people involved with golf point out that Al Geiberger's 59 at the 1977 Memphis Open occurred under lift, clean and place rules and that score is one of the most renowned in the sport - without an asterisk.

Club members decided during the week that Saladino's round is a record. "It was unanimous," club manager Tom Sperandeo said.

Saladino was gratified, and still mystified. "It was just one of those few days in golf where everything clicked," he said. "I had good yardages in the fairway, felt great on the greens and managed to stay relaxed the whole way around. Few times in golf do you walk off the course and can say that you really didn't leave any shots out there. It was nice time to have one of those rounds."

Bob Rittberger, who holds the competitive course record at Laurel Links with a 67 in a U.S. Open qualifier, and the record at Hidden Creek in Atlantic City with a 64, said, "It's a nice accomplishment to know you have gone someplace and had a round better than anybody else ever played."

Rittberger has never shot 63 at Garden City Golf Club, where he is the head pro. That record score belongs to George Burns of Port Washington, before he joined the PGA Tour.

Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton is relatively new but it has distinguished co-record holders, tour pros Luke Donald and Daniel Chopra. Each shot 68, according to club pro Jason McCarty, himself holder of two course records in New Zealand and New Caledonia.

Some courses have multiple records. Laurel Links head pro Steve Haggerty said, "When someone asks me what the course record is, I give them Bob's." But he unfailingly adds that Dennis Lynch, the two-time Met Mid-Amateur champion, shot 66 in a round with friends. Engineers Country Club lists Thomas' 63 as the record before course renovations (lengthening, addition of bunkers), and member Ed Gibstein's 64 the post-renovation record.

Other courses never have set a record in stone. Hempstead Golf & Country Club pro Larry Refvik said he asked around at the club after he shot 64 and found that no one ever remembered a lower score, so he figured that was the record.

Tom Patri, teaching pro at Friar's Head, said that to the best of his knowledge, he shares the record of 68 at Spring Lake with former club pro Loring Hawkins and that he holds the record at Swan Lake with a 64. "It's a great feeling, especially since both places were where I grew up among friends," Patri said, noting that both are public courses. "Public golf was my roots."

"You never know when it's going to happen," said Glut, who recalled that on June 6, 2001, he wanted to try out his new set of irons so he coaxed three Island Hills members to play with him. He knows the date because it, along with the number 63, is on a plaque in his office.