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Ted Fass, 58, of Rockville Centre, poses for a portrait...

Ted Fass, 58, of Rockville Centre, poses for a portrait at Middle Bay Country Club. Despite being blind, he has become an accomplished golfer since first playing the game approximately six years ago. (June 11, 2010) Credit: Photo by James A. Escher

Like many golfers, Ted Fass of Rockville Centre took up the game as an antidote to a stressful job. Also like many fellow golfers, he grew more serious about it once he found that playing baseball was getting harder. "It takes me three days to recover," the 58-year-old said.

Unlike most golfers, though, Fass entered national competitions and set big goals only five years after he started playing regularly. Fass will be at Mount Kisco Country Club today, playing in the Guiding Eyes for the Blind's Corcoran Cup, which is billed as the Masters of Blind Golf.

"I would like to come in third or fourth. I've been practicing three times a week," said the Middle Bay Country Club member who plays to a 33 handicap and has shot as low as 53 for nine holes. Not bad for a blind man.

"Every day is a challenge," he said. "I like challenges."

Fass always has been an athlete, going back to the days when he was a kid at summer camp. One summer, when he was 11, he experienced headaches. He was diagnosed with a tumor that severed his optic nerve.

Still, he kept competing. He founded the Long Island Bombers, a beep baseball team for blind athletes, in 1997. Seven years after that, he was honored by the Nassau County Sports Commission with its Differently Abled Athlete Award. He did all that while he and his wife Gail were raising two daughters and while he was developing a thriving business, Entertainment Unlimited, which books comedians and musicians for events worldwide.

"I just wanted to try something new," he said, explaining his interest in golf nearly 10 years ago. He started by taking lessons at Lawrence Country Club and Muttontown Club from pro Craig Thomas. "Craig went through a lot of the regular lessons he would give to sighted players," Fass said. "The only thing different was that I had to put my hands on his shoulders and hips when he was demonstrating the follow-through."

Thomas moved on to Metropolis Country Club in Westchester while Fass grew more enamored of golf. He was directed to Ron Wright, teaching pro at Middle Bay, five years ago and really got the golf bug.

"Have you ever seen a kid's face when he walks into Carvel? Well, that's the face he makes when he hits it solid, in the middle of the club face," Wright said.

Wright worked with Fass on all the basics: stance, turn, tempo, course management. The pro tells Fass what kind of shot he has, aligns him, sets the club behind the ball and lets him rip. "I've learned a lot from him. He has made me a better instructor. I use him as a reference with my other students," Wright said. "He has a huge advantage that most of us never have: He never anticipates contact."

Sighted golfers know that they often take a beautiful practice swing, which turns rushed and anxious when there's a ball down there. Wright, who coached Fass at the U.S. Blind Golfers Association championship in San Antonio last year, said his pupil doesn't get flustered like that. The hard part for the teacher is that he can't demonstrate with his own swing the way he does with other students.

The frustrating part for Fass is that he has to be dependent. "That's where I'm a little different than a lot of people," he said in an interview. "If you want to go play right now, you can hop in the car and play. I can't."

He has found a good coach/caddie/companion in Dave Santucci of Wantagh, who is Wright's cousin and is in the process of becoming a club pro. "He's my eyes," Fass said.

Once Fass reaches the green, Santucci walks with him from the ball to the hole so he will know the contour. Santucci, who will be with him today, aligns him and tells him how hard to hit the putt.

"People see it and they say I've got to be patient, but it's fun for me," Santucci said. "And it goes pretty quickly. He can play nine holes in less than two hours." The caddie/coach sometimes won't tell Fass when there's a bunker in his way on an approach shot, so as not to get him psyched out. He added that he never saw such happiness as when Fass sank an 80-foot putt on No. 18. "He heard it go in," the coach said. "You know, I've learned a lot of stuff about how he has got to lead his life. When he's golfing, he's happy."

"I love it, it's relaxing. It takes my mind off work," Fass said, like many other golfers.

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