Eye on the Ball: A life-long passion for the game

I would like to tell you a story about an 8-year-old boy who came into my life about 50 years ago.

He was a chubby little kid who hurt his head at the beach club and had to do something else for the rest of the summer. With parents who loved golf, that would be going with them to the golf course.

Funny how things change the direction of our lives. That bump on the head changed forever the life of Jay V. Sessa. From the first day he played golf it was the game for him. Over the next few summers, I played a lot of golf with his dad, Francis X. Sessa. Always right behind us while we played was this little kid golfing by himself, hoping to someday be good enough to be invited to join us.

Jay was different from the other kids. He was self-assured and genuinely enjoyed it when people watched him, relishing the opportunity to show how well he could hit a golf ball. I believe it’s one of the reasons he’s played so well for so many years. When things got tight and others would feel the pressure, young Jay would get even better.

This Brooklyn boy attended Poly Prep, the same school where his father was the golf coach. He went to the University of Miami and continued his education at the American Academy of McAlister, where he earned a degree in mortuary science.

Why not? His father and grandfather had a funeral home in Brooklyn and Jay worked there from the time he was 14 years old. In 1977, Jay became a licensed funeral director.

Golf time became rare when he met a friend of the family’s daughter, Paula Anderson. They soon chose the Island’s “Kissing Rock” to get engaged and married in 1979.

For the next 25 years, golf took a back seat as he worked running funeral homes and raising a family. He and Paula raised four children: Courtney, Dana, Reid and Samantha. It seems every one of them inherited Jay’s golfing gene.

Around Gardiner’s Bay Country Club, his mom was affectionately known as “Auntie Kay” and his father was always “Cheech.” Auntie Kay was the junior golf chairwoman for an unprecedented 40 years and was adored by all the children she helped raise. Cheech was the kind of character the club may never see again. He not only served on the Board of Directors of two clubs where he was a member, Wheatley Hills and Gardiner’s Bay, but he served on every committee in both. Sadly, Cheech passed away just before his son started playing the best golf of his life.

He would have been so proud of him and I would have fancied listening to his rationalization of how this all happened.

Jay had many victories, as you will soon find out, but when you speak of his favorite, he would say, “My dad and I won the Long Island Father-Son Championship when I was a boy, and now, 25 years later, I won it again, but this time with my son, Reid.”

Reid put things in perspective when he told his father, “Dad, you sure know how to pick partners.”

Jay has managed to do what every young golfer wants — he lived his life, took care of his family and then as a senior golfer amassed an unbelievable tournament record.

He’s won the Long Island Tournament of Club Champions, senior division of the Havemeyer (twice), the Richardson Memorial at Seawane, Long Island Senior Golf Championship (five times), low amateur in the MGA Senior Open, low amateur in the Long Island Senior Open, Club Champion at Gardiner’s Bay (14 times), Cherry Valley Country Club champion (twice), Richmond County Country Club Champion, Long Island’s George Sands Memorial Tournament (twice) and the 2015 Medalist Richardson Memorial.

Jay has also represented Long Island in the popular Stoddard Cup for the past five years. The Stoddard is a team competition that has been going on for the past 80 years. In this event, Long Island competes against New Jersey and Westchester/Connecticut.

What amazes me is that this grandfather has been voted Long Island’s Player of the Year for the past three years and this year he’s in a battle for the top spot again. On Saturday, October 17, Jay won the prestigious senior division of Southward Ho Country Club’s Havemeyer Trophy again. As I followed his matches via computer, it was a pleasure to see that all his rounds listed him playing out of Gardiner’s Bay. In his bid for his fourth Long Island Player of the Year award, last Saturday’s victory should be a huge boost.

As Jay said, when a sport has been good to you, you should give something back. He’s been on the Long Island Golf Association’s executive board since 2012. Since 2010, he also sits on the Metropolitan Golf Association’s Tournament and Rules Committee.

I asked him about his other hobbies and he allowed he has a passion for real estate and likes to study the stock market on a daily basis. As for childhood idols, his favorite golfer was Jack Nicklaus, favorite boxer was Muhammad Ali and in basketball, it was Earl ”The Pearl” Monroe.

His goal and dream is to play in a United States Senior Open at least once.

Although he has qualified as an alternate in this event twice, he was never lucky enough to have someone drop out. He said, “It would great to play next to the guys that I watched on TV all of my life.”

If I were a betting man and looked at his tournament performance, my money would say that his dream will come true.

I look at Jay as a superb senior golfer who has attained goals in this game that I’ve never been close to achieving.

But remarkably, I also still see him as that chubby, little 8-year-old boy.