LI Pulse: The Top Nine Holes

June 1, 2010

Long Island Pulse magazine Top Golf Holes June 2010 issue.

Long Island Pulse magazine Top Golf Holes June 2010 issue.

Title: The Top Nine Holes
Publication: Long Island Pulse magazine
Author: Jason Molinet
Date: June 2010
Start Page: 49
Word Count: 1,451

Want to play world-class golf? Go east. Some of the best holes anywhere can be found on courses snaking along the East End of Long Island, from Friar’s Head in Riverhead to the wind-swept dunes at Montauk Downs State Park.

The concentration of golf courses is remarkable. Nassau County features 47 clubs and the expanse of Suffolk holds another 77 courses. In fact, there are more golf courses than McDonald’s drive-thrus on Long Island. Chew on that.

“Eastern Long Island, there’s no place better in the world. And I mean by far,” said Mike Meehan, 41, winner of the last two Long Island Opens and the first assistant pro at Nassau Country Club.

And for those who don’t have guest privileges at one of the famous and fabulous private courses, there’s always Bethpage State Park. The Black and Red courses are widely considered among the best public links in the US. So is Montauk, a destination in its own right.

“Long Island is a destination for people who want to play great golf courses,” said Steve Smith, executive director of the Long Island Golf Association. “The diversity of courses on Long Island is noteworthy.”

All those well-manicured greens got us thinking: What are the best holes on Long Island? Call it a quest. Great courses are plentiful. Memorable holes? Even more so. We cherry-picked nine favorites from locals in the know. Here is our highly subjective, but eminently playable list:

Atlantic Golf Club No. 11
1040 Scuttle Hole Road, Water Mill

Status: Private
Pro: Rick Hartman
Signature Hole: 128-yard, par-3 11th
The Skinny: The Rees Jones course was built in 1992 and has routinely been listed among the Top 100 courses in the US. Atlantic will host the USGA Mid-Amateur Championship Sept. 25-30. Like all East End courses, the wind is a factor. Last year’s Long Island Open was decided on No. 11. In the final round, the golfer chasing Meehan saw his demise there, where anything to the left bounces off the green and into the hazard. “He was a yard off from the perfect uphill put,” Meehan said. “It landed on the left side, hopped off the green, down the slope and into the hazard. I couldn’t believe it. It’s one sick hole. Of all the holes, that’s a really cool par 3.”

Deepdale Golf Club No. 15
Horace Harding Expressway, Manhasset
Status:
Private
Pro: Darrell Kestner
Signature Hole: 410-yard, par-4 15th
The Skinny: Built on the grounds of the William K. Vanderbilt II estate in 1924 and redesigned by Dick Wilson in 1954, this private course is home to one of Long Island’s top golfers in Kestner, 56, winner of 1996 PGA Club Professional Championship with a record 17-under-par. We’ll let him break it down: “It’s a very demanding golf course,” he said, noting that fairways are always cut tight and the course plays firm and fast. “You have to hit the tee ball straight and the targets are small with deep bunkers. And you have to have great touch and feel around the green with a good short game. It’s the ultimate test. A lot of our members will shoot a lower score at Shinnecock than Deepdale. Deepdale is just so much more demanding around the green. It’s a very underrated golf course.”

Friar’s Head No. 15
3000 Sound Avenue, Riverhead
Status:
Private
Pro: Adam McDaid
Signature Hole: 485-yard, par-4 15th
The Skinny: Designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw in collaboration with Ken Bakst, this masterpiece in the dunes became an instant hit when it opened in 2003. Golf Week ranked it ninth among modern courses. Nos. 14 and 15 combine to form among the best back-to-back holes in the world. And No. 18 is another classic. The stairway to No. 15 reveals a challenging downward par-4 with great vistas. “It’s a straightaway hole going downhill,” Meehan said. “It looks so natural. The whole course is impressive.” Added Kestner: “Friar’s Head is one of the prettiest golf courses on Long Island, very scenic.”

Montauk Downs Golf Course No. 12
50 South Fairview Avenue, Montauk
Status:
Public
Pro: Kevin Smith
Signature Hole: 228-yard, par-3 12th
The Skinny: This course has a beguiling past and to golfers who have battled the wind, it still confounds. Master builder Carl Fisher birthed the course as part of a grand development in 1927. Robert Trent Jones Sr. redesigned it in the 1960s and the state took control in 1978. It’s a relaxed atmosphere, but be prepared for the swirling wind blowing in from the Sound and the Atlantic. No. 12 features a well-bunkered green. “You’re not going to find your ball if you miss-hit to the left into bramble. And to the right are a couple of lateral water hazards,” said longtime pro Kevin Smith, who has never seen a hole-in-one at No. 12. “It’s a green you either knock it on and have a shot at par or miss it and take bogey and possibly more.”

National Golf Links of America No. 17
16 Sebonac Road, Southampton
Status:
Private
Pro: Jim Morris
Signature Hole: 360-yard, par-4 17th
The Skinny: Scottish links-style course, which opened in 1908, was laid out by Charles B. MacDonald and later redesigned by Perry Maxwell and again by Robert Trent Jones. The old windmill is an ever-present landmark. So are the bunkers. Everyone agrees the visuals are stunning. “The 16th hole they call the punch bowl,” said Steve Smith, a 20-year member. “The green is in a crater. You can’t see much else. When you walk up the side to the 17th tee, you are looking at a downhill par-4 hole with a 180-degree panorama of Peconic Bay. This hole is worth the price of admission.” Another classic is No. 4. The National will host the USGA Walker Cup in 2013.

Sebonack Golf Club No. 18
405 Sebonac Road, Southampton
Status:
Private
Pro: Jason McCarty
Signature Hole: 560-yard, par-5 18th
The Skinny: Sebonack, designed by Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak and opened in 2006, is a stunning course with several great holes along Peconic Bay. Golf Week ranked it sixth among modern courses. No. 2 gets a lot of raves. But the closing hole is special. “The hole is all about the wind,” Meehan said. “If there’s none, then the hole is not difficult. But a breeze changes the entire matter. It’s not a hard hole if there’s no wind. But when it gets into the wind, man what a different golf hole this is.” Sebonack will host the 2013 USGA Women’s Open Championship.

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club No. 11
200 Tuckahoe Road, Southampton
Status:
Private
Pro: Donald McDougall
Signature Hole: 158-yard, par-3 11th
The Skinny: The history is undeniable. Shinnecock is the oldest golf club in the US, established in 1891 by a group which included William K. Vanderbilt. Four US Opens have been contested among the dunes, the last in 2004. Golf Digest ranks the course third in the nation. The uphill No. 11 hole is admired for the challenge it presents, called the “shortest par-5 in the world.” The green offers a small target buffered by bunkers. “Their par 3 really is a unique hole,” Steve Smith said. “It’s one of the memorable holes on Long Island.”

Village Club of Sands Point No. 14
1 Thayer Lane, Sands Point
Status:
Private
Pro: Steve Suarez
Signature Hole: 170-yard, par-3 14th
The Skinny: The club, built by IBM in the 1950s, sits on 210 acres, which once belonged to the Guggenheim family. Purchased by the Village of Sands Point in 1994, the course underwent renovation in 2001. The signature hole runs along Hempstead Harbor and features a tee shot over a ravine. Suarez said you have to hit the hole because hazards surround the green. “It’s very underrated,” Kestner said of this gem. “No one really knows about that one. That will surprise a lot of people.”

Bethpage State Park, Black Golf Course No. 4
99 Quaker Meeting House Road, Farmingdale
Status:
Public
Pro: Joe Rehor
Signature Hole: 522-yard, par-5 4th
The Skinny: No Long Island course is as well known or widely played, with a history dating to 1923. Bethpage Black is the signature course, ranked 26th in the US by Golf Digest, and host to the US Open in 2002 and ‘09. Designed by A.W. Tillinghast, Tiger Woods was the lone golfer to finish under par at the ‘02 US Open. That’s one tough course. While the entire hilly, back nine is exceptional, the par-5 No. 4 is legendary. Its strategic crossing bunker and sheer yardage are epic. “Demanding tee shot. Demanding second shot,” Kestner said. “And one of the best par 5s in the world. It’s a classic. It’s really, really good.”

Selena Moberly’s Search For The Perfect Wave

May 3, 2010

Living in the home of a friend in the middle of a Central American jungle filled with spiders, scorpions and snakes – all for the sake of surfing the legendary waves of Costa Rica. That’s Selena Moberly’s life right now and the 13-year-old from Water Mill wouldn’t want it any other way.

Moberly is the Eastern Surfing Association’s No. 1 girls shortboarder age 14-and-under in New York for the second year in a row.

She’s also currently the No. 3 girl (ages 12-15) in the Costa Rican Circuito Nacional De Surf. Which is why she is living the jungle life. She relocated with her mother, Janice Moberly, to the Costa Rican town of Nosara, which features miles of white sand and roiling surf along the Pacific Coast.

Janice calls the year in Costa Rica a social experiment and not motivated purely by the sport. But we’ll see how far her teenaged daughter has developed on a shortboard at the Northeast Regional Surfing Championships May 21-23 in Hampton, N.H.

“The surf here is pretty good, but surf was not the main reason for this trial year,’’ said Janice, a registered nurse, who left her husband home on Long Island. “We had an opportunity to give Selena the unique experience of living in another country, so we went for it.”

Selena Moberly grew to love surfing ever since jumping on a board at 7, and calls Ditch Plains in Montauk her home. Now she spends five hours a day riding Pacific waves.

“I am a goofy footer, which means that waves that are going left is my frontside,’’ Selena wrote via e-mail, probably using a palm tree to shade her laptop screen. “I like waves to be overhead, which would be about six-to-eight feet. In my last contest the waves were 12 feet and heavy. A little big for me, but I still rode them.”

Surfing is not without consequences, especially for someone so young. Selena has suffered a black eye, a slight concussion, punctured an ear drum and collected all manner of cuts and bruises.

Then there is the cost of travelling. Her mother sold her car to help finance the year in Costa Rica, including the cost of a school tutor and surf coach, which is approaching $30,000.

“Selena is unsponsored,’’ Janice Moberly said. “As a young girl she represents a healthy down-to-earth lifestyle. She does yoga once a week, pilates three times a week and surfs every day. We would welcome a good fit for her in sponsorship.”

And there it is. The Moberlys unplugged from Long Island life to give their daughter, the youngest of three children – a brother and sister in their 30s – a once-in-a-lifetime exposure to a world beyond strip malls and MTV reality shows.

Nosara happens to be home to a renown yoga school and Selena hopes to be fluent in Spanish by the end of her excursion south of the border. So mother and daughter will deal with the spiders, scorpions and snakes in exchange for a mind-opening experience – and rad waves.

“It has already taken me to so many places and I have met so many new friends,’’ said Selena Moberly, who plans to join the National Scholastic Surfing Association and extensively surf the New Jersey shore this summer. “I hope to be able to continue my surfing competitions and go where it leads me.”

Blog originally posted at LI Pulse.com

LI Pulse: Softball’s Dynasty

May 1, 2010

Jim McGowan and Bay Shore Softball. May 2010 issue of Long Island Pulse Magazine.

Jim McGowan and Bay Shore Softball. May 2010 issue of Long Island Pulse Magazine.


Title: Softball’s Dynasty: Bay Shore softball coach Jim McGowan has a legacy beyond more than wins and championships
Publication: Long Island Pulse magazine
Author: Jason Molinet
Date: May 2010
Start Page: 36
Word Count: 966

Jim McGowan leaned against the chain link backstop, surrounded by reminders of his championship past, his gaze trained on the promising present but his words focused on the future.

Billboards adorn the dugout at Fifth Avenue Elementary, where McGowan built the Bay Shore High School softball program into a dynasty. These monuments to seasons past tick off accomplishments so long they read like the nutrition label on a cereal box.

On this sun-drenched Saturday, the players warmed up in the outfield for a scrimmage as the coach paused for an interview. Yes, the Marauders have high expectations after losing in the Suffolk Class AA championship series a year ago. So much promise lay ahead.

But so does the finality of a decision the legendary coach made long ago. When his daughter Taylor McGowan graduates, he’ll move on.

“I’m done after next year,” said McGowan, 58, also a social worker at the school. “I just want to go out on top. It’s time.”

Taylor McGowan literally grew up in the Bay Shore dugout. The youngest of four children sat in a stroller behind home plate as mom Robin McGowan filmed games. And when she was old enough to stand up straight, Taylor McGowan assumed the role of mascot before growing into the job of team manager.

She finally stepped into the pitcher’s circle as an eighth grader, fulfilling what she was destined to do—pitch for the Marauders. She was the Suffolk League II pitcher of the year and a Newsday All-Long Island pick as a sophomore.

“I’ve been going to games for as long as I can remember,” Taylor McGowan said. “This is something I’ve always wanted to do. I could not wait to be on the team.”

At the start of her junior campaign, she has just one goal—win.

Bay Shore has come frustratingly close the last few seasons. It lost in the 2006 state title game. In 2007, the Marauders fell to Long Beach in the Long Island championship game. The 2008 team lost to West Babylon in the county semifinals. And last year Brentwood beat Bay Shore in the county championship series. Long Beach, West Babylon and Brentwood each won state titles.

“We’re getting closer each year,” Taylor McGowan said. “This is our year. Each year we lost to the eventual state champion. It’s our turn.”

The numbers are astounding. Jim McGowan has won 609 games, 23 league, 11 Suffolk County, nine Long Island and six state championships in 27 seasons.

Yet his greatest legacy has little to do with wins, titles or accolades. Look around Long Island and you will see a softball landscape redefined by the in-your-face taskmaster. He’s tutored pitchers for rival schools. Two sons are successful high school softball coaches. Two former players coach (and countless others are assistants, coached in the past or are mainstays in different sports). And when McGowan steps aside after the 2011 season, another former Bay Shore pupil will succeed him in Jackie Pasquerella.

“My [players] are my judgment,” McGowan said. “I love my kids and respect my kids. That’s my legacy. Hopefully I made a difference in their lives.”

It’s a living legacy that says more about the man than any plaque ever could. His influence will live on long after his accomplishments become forgotten clutter in the trophy cases at Bay Shore High School.

Truth is, no one has won more high school softball games in state history than McGowan. And he’s done it his way—equal parts motivational speaker and drill sergeant with a dash of Martha Stewart perfectionism. His gruff act has drawn plenty of critics over the years.

“A lot of times [the criticism is] unwarranted,” said son Jimmy McGowan, in his 10th season as the Hauppauge softball coach. “If he was 12-10 every year people would say he gets the most out of his talent. The fact that he goes 25-2? People like winning but they don’t like winners. That’s a big part of it with him.”

“Jim is a tremendous student of the game and really works at it,’’ Hofstra coach Bill Edwards said. “He always has the kids’ best interests at heart. He’s old school and uncompromising in his values, which kids today need.”

The supporters are winning out. McGowan will be inducted into the Suffolk County Sports Hall of Fame on May 6.

“It’s about time,” said son Jason McGowan, a third-year softball coach at Plainedge. “I don’t know why it took this long. It’s a huge accomplishment. But he deserves it.”

Back on the field, McGowan gathered his team in a circle and went over a mental checklist before the scrimmage. Preparation is an important ingredient to his success. Little wonder why he owns an incredible .888 winning percentage and the longest winning streak in state softball history (54 wins from 1994-95 with Pasquerella in the lineup).

“Practice makes perfect,” Taylor McGowan said. “That’s what he’s been telling me since I was 7.”

Oh, Jim McGowan has a saying for every occasion.

“Our motto this year is: No better time, no better team,” the elder McGowan said. “The name of the game is pitching and we have two All-Long Island pitchers. I feel good about this team. ”

The coach knows the clock is ticking. After three decades of kicking clay, taking on umpires, developing talent and hoisting championship plaques, the end is near. He’ll tackle it on his terms.

“I try to emulate what he does and hopefully I can be half as successful,’’ Jimmy McGowan said.

He’s already there. Hauppauge reached the Suffolk Class A championship series last season while Plainedge advanced to the second round of the Nassau Class A playoffs. So long as a McGowan is on a softball field somewhere on Long Island, past, present and future remain perfectly aligned.

Zara Northover’s Olympic-Sized Determination

April 6, 2010

The road to the 2008 Beijing Olympics was a difficult one for Zara Northover, filled with injury and financial hardship. The Sewanhaka High School graduate grew up in Elmont and realized her dream competing for the Jamaican National Team.

She qualified for the Olympics in the physically demanding shot put despite a bulging disc in her back and a torn meniscus in her knee. Northover, whose parents are Jamaican, only had surgery once she returned from China.

But when you hear her words, you realize it was a transformative experience.

“It was all worth it stepping off that plane into China,’’ Northover wrote via email from Arizona. “It was all worth it as I walked in the Opening Ceremonies shaking hands with other athletes, coaches, officials from different countries all over the world. It was truly an amazing and breathtaking experience that I will never forget.

“There was a serenity in knowing that I am standing in a place with people from countries who are constantly at war with each other but yet we’re all in one stadium, living in one village and competing for the same goals. We were happy and we were sharing an experience of a lifetime together. It was nothing to be taken for granted, but a moment to be remembered for the rest of my life.”

For two weeks of bliss, Northover endured years of deprivation. The life of most Olympic-caliber athletes is not the jet-setting one of snowboarder Shaun White or the celebrity endorsement machine that is swimmer Michael Phelps. No, it is of daily struggles to hold down a job and pay bills while finding the time to train. To compete you need to constantly fundraise.

So the midpoint between her last Summer Games and the 2012 London Olympics finds Northover, 26, still fighting to remain in the sport. A 2007 graduate of Northeastern University, Northover could be living comfortably and close to friends and family. She’s had offers to coach.

She gave up a job at the University and ventured far from her comfort zone to train with renown field events coach Mohamad Saatara, the throws coach at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Ariz. That’s where she is now, training hard to remain relevant in an unforgiving sport.

When she moved to Flagstaff in September 2009, the job in the school athletic department fell through. Northover was forced to sleep on a friend’s couch and live out of her Ford Focus. She applied for public assistance. This was as far from Olympic dreams as you can get.

“I hit a rock bottom,’’ Northover said. “ I was getting offers from schools to come and coach and offers to work full-time at different places. But I knew that those offers wouldn’t enable me to train the way I need to in order to truly compete on the next level.”

Then she reaggravated her back injury, halting her training. Northover landed a job in December and has been working as a community organizer for A league of Neighborhoods. President Obama worked a similar job out of college. Now her back is better and she is training once more. Things are looking up.

She is on pace to compete at the Jamaican National Championships from June 26-28 in Kingston, Jamaica. And then she hopes to join a mission to Europe in conjunction with Christian-based Athletes in Action.

“Though situations may be tough, even though you may have paralyzing doubt, if you believe in yourself and you keep moving in faith, then anything you set your heart and mind to will come to pass,’’ Northover said. “I hope from this mission I will be able to continue to inspire those whom I come in contact with while also learning a great deal from others and myself. Every day I strive to make a difference in the world. Even if it’s just by helping one person, then it’s an accomplishment for the day.”

“Moving in faith” is Northover’s credo. And when you learn how she came to pick up the shot in the first place, you appreciate her spiritual message all the more. She only joined the track team in high school to lessen the load. Basketball was too much of a commitment for Sewanhaka’s junior class president. So she changed sports, threw the shot on a lark and suddenly found her path.

Help Zara Northover take her inspirational story overseas. She is looking for help financing her mission. Go online at http://www.give.ccci.org and enter Northover’s tracking number CCC#: 5534030 into the “Give a Gift” box. Or send a check. Make checks payable to “Athletes In Action” and do not write Northover’s name in the memo line of the check per IRS guidelines. Send it to:

Zara Northover
901 S O’Leary Street
Apartment 23
Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Blog originally posted at LI Pulse.com

Shante Evans: Hofstra’s Game Changer

February 15, 2010

Shante Evans may be the most heralded recruit in the history of Hofstra University. And midway through her freshman season, she’s playing like it.

The 6-foot forward from West Chester, Penn., has transformed the Pride women’s basketball team into a must-see attraction and lifted the program into the thick of the Colonial Athletic Association standings.

The high point came Thursday when Hofstra (14-11 overall, 7-6 CAA) downed then-first place Virginia Commonwealth, 74-66. The Pride has won six of its last nine, dating back to an overtime win over UNC-Wilmington on Jan. 17.

Evans is a rare game changer as a freshman, leading the team, averaging 13.4 points and 8.9 rebounds. She’s shooting 50 percent from the field and has collected more rebounds (223) and double-doubles (10) than anyone else in the CAA.

“I keep hearing from folks who have been around here a lot longer than I have –
folks who have been around 30 years – she could be the best player who ever put on a Hofstra uniform,’’ Hofstra coach Krista Kilburn-Steveskey said. “That’s really exciting.”

It’s no surprise. Evans, a 2,000-point scorer and shot put champion at Henderson High School, was the 54th rated prospect in the nation by ESPN, and on Kilburn-Steveskey’s radar since her sophomore year. That long courtship paid off when Evans chose the Pride over Seton Hall, West Virginia, Temple, Drexel, UMass and Penn State.

“Hofstra had everything I was looking for in a school. I was close to home, I loved the team and coaching staff and I would get a good education,’’ said Evans, who is majoring in physical therapy.

And she’s just what the fourth-year coach needed to help take the Pride to the next level. Hofstra, two seasons removed from a 20-loss campaign, went 16-14 a year ago and was upset in the first round of the CAA Tournament.

“Her actions speak more than anything I can say about her,’’ Kilburn-Steveskey said. “She’s the most coachable kid I’ve ever coached. Her eagerness to learn is one of her biggest attributes. She’ll review something on film and you’ll see her work on it that next day in practice or in a game. We haven’t even touched what her ability is going to be by the time she gets out of here.”

The Pride reached the WNIT in 2007, its first Division I postseason appearance. And with Evens already owning the low post and getting better by the day, Hofstra has the foundation laid for another postseason run.

“We are playing good basketball,’’ Evans said. “And on defense [we’re] causing problems for our opponents. I can say we are headed in right direction and we’re only going to get better.”

With five games remaining in the regular season, including a home date Thursday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. against George Mason, there’s still room for improvement. The Pride has already proven it can run with the pack. How long will it be before Hofstra leads from the front?

Blog originally posted at LI Pulse.com

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