Dan's Papers - July 25, 2008 - The Sebonack Story: A Jewel by Any Standard

Jason McCarty's home course, the Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton, is located on the old Bayberry Land, where Charles and Pauline Sabin built their country home in 1916. What a jewel. The 300-acre, $46 million price tag for the land alone reflects the passion of the developer, Mike Pascucci, and course designers Jack Nicklaus and Tom Doak. There is a pedigree evident in the property as soon as you enter the restored, massive entry gates. The sheer development cost of $100-$120 million seems almost insignificant.

With Long Island National and Shinnecock as neighbors, Sebonack glistens as a golf course unique in its European character and breathtaking water views. Nicklaus and Doak, an unlikely pairing of golf course designers, each with different styles and tastes, attempted to create a course that would look as if it had been there for decades. And they did just that.

Local historian William S. Pelletreau wrote in 1893, "The chief business of the Hamptonites is pleasure," and was he ever correct with that statement. One tour of the Sebonack property and you must pinch yourself for a reality check, because if the aura of the property doesn't move you, certainly the price tag to be invited to join will jolt you. If you're lucky enough to be one of the 140 members to date, you've plunked down some serious money to tee up the ball, and if you find yourself on the invitation list to become a member, you'll be witnessing over seven figures deducted from your ATM account. That's just for the membership alone. At that price for joining, all the other charges associated with a membership become chump change! Sebonack's membership cap will only allow 150 privileged members.

Nothing has been left out in the totality of the property, including a magnificent 20,000 square foot clubhouse with a rotunda 50 feet high upon entry, providing enough natural light to assist any golfer in checking their scorecards.

While the information is readily available about the difficult permitting process with the Town of Southampton, Pascucci has received kudos from the community for his efforts to work within the strict building guidelines and present one of the first ever eco-friendly golf environments. Keenly sensitive, Pascucci made a responsible commitment to the environment. Sebonack is now recognized as a one-of-a-kind project in the country. Difficult as it may seem to comprehend, what that means exactly for a golf course is that Garret Bodington, head superintendent of the property, has enforced the limited use of chemicals, enabled a massive water filtration system which pumps water back for the property, and left much of the natural plantings, sand dunes and environment intact. A distinguishing trademark for Sebonack is its drainage system, which collects all the water runoff from the golf course, directs it to holding ponds on the property and prevents any spill-offs into wetlands or natural waterways.

It's not difficult to get comfortable in these surroundings, whether to play a round with someone fortunate enough to be a member or to have instruction readily available from McCarty. The sheer geography of Sebonack reminds him of many of the seaside courses in New Zealand.

Eager, passionate and enthusiastic, McCarty offers his students an opportunity to understand the "whys" of the golf swing. "Adding small changes unique to each student according to body type, muscle tone and capacity, sets the stage for guaranteed improvement and a solid practice program," he said. "In addition, my students leave a lesson with one simple swing thought which they can easily apply out on the course." He is quick to point out that so many amateurs are over processed with too much information from magazines, the Internet and other technological resources, giving golfers way too much to process and not enough focus on key principles, which will inherently provide results to make a golfer's game more well rounded.