Jeff Conine stood at his locker in the Mets clubhouse on
the afternoon of Aug. 21 greeting some of his new teammates.
The veteran infielder was traded the afternoon before from the Reds to the Mets, a likely postseason participant. When talking to reporters, the 41-year-old talked baseball; from his expected role as an extra righthanded bat for manager Willie Randolph, to his excitement of joining a title contender.
Later, when the reporters had dispersed and Conine was relaxing on a clubhouse couch, he was overheard sounding just as excited discussing a round of golf he played last season on an off day while a member of the Orioles, who were in town to play the Yankees.
"There's incredible golf courses here," Conine said to a Major League Baseball equipment supplier who was in the clubhouse. "Last year, I played this great course, Sebonack, way out east ..."
Naturally, this begged for follow-up.
"A good friend of mine is the director of communications for Nicklaus Golf," Conine said in the clubhouse before Sunday night's game against the Dodgers. "He set it up."
Sebonack, co-designed by Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak, opened in June 2006 and recently came in at No.76 on Golf Magazine's Top 100 list. It has quickly become a popular stop for the famous and not-as-famous, but still well-to-do. Ernie Els warmed up the week before this year's U.S. Open at Sebonack, and Frank Gifford, Mike Schmidt and John Starks are among the sports celebrities who have ventured out to owner Michael Pascucci's jewel. Phillip Morse, a vice chairman of the Red Sox, was one of 10 founding members at Sebonack.
Conine, a 10 handicap, is not surprised. He spent two different stints of his 17-year career in Florida and said while many people think of the Sunshine state ahead of the New York area when it comes to golf, the regions don't compare.
"Florida golf is terrible compared to up here," Conine said. "There's no topography. All you can do with Florida is water and sand. There's no trees, no elevation. I get spoiled playing up here."
Area golf turned Tom Glavine from a not-so-big fan of New York, into a de facto Chamber of Commerce spokesman.
"The first five years of my career, I hated coming here because I never left Manhattan," Glavine said Sunday. "Once I started playing a lot of golf and got out of the city, I was like, 'this place is pretty nice.' It was a trip you looked forward to because there's so many golf courses. You have your pick of either tournament courses or U.S. Open courses. There's so many to choose from."
Among the Long Island courses Glavine has chosen from over the years are Bethpage Red, Deepdale, National Golf Links and Shinnecock Hills. He recalled an off day when he was with the Braves when he made a trek out east with John Smoltz to play National Golf Links and Shinnecock on the same day. The two sampled National's famously filling lobster lunch, which Glavine said with a laugh was, "a mistake."
"Oh my God, it's unbelievable," Glavine said of the lunch. "We played National in the morning, but then you have the lobster-fest and we tried to play Shinnecock in the afternoon. I mean Shinnecock is hard enough when you're going to have just 18 holes for the day. When it's your second 18 and you've just had an hour's worth of lobster, the second 18 was not pretty."
Glavine, a 6 handicap - "though not right now" - lives in Greenwich, Conn., giving him even more access to top-rated Met Section courses. Like Conine, his profession has allowed him to play golf all over the country. Like Conine, he said the Northeast is second to none.
"The courses are way better than the courses down south," Glavine said. "I can't say I've played a bad golf course here."
Today's tip
Swing down, not up
"For every action there is an equal but opposite reaction. The golf ball goes up because the club swings down. To be swinging toward the ground, the grip end must swing down before the club head. The club should have a crash landing, creating a divot, not a safe landing, scooping up the ball."
Henry Kilroy, PGA teaching professional, Smithtown Landing Country Club
Aces
