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"The Sleepovers"
Anyone for a round of golf?
My assignment the night before Fathers Day, was to illustrate a Metro
story on public access golf in Westchester County at Mohansic Golf Course,
one of the county's five public golf courses. I was to photograph between
the hours of 11 pm and 4 am, "dedicated duffers who sleep in their cars
to get a coveted early morning tee time..." the assignment sheet read...
"photos should illustrate the extreme measures (i.e. beery carloads of
suburban men sleeping in a parking lot) people endure for a round of cheap
golf."
Sounded like fun to me. Not that I golf much. Pitch 'n putt, miniature
golf and the occasional golf assignment are the closest I've ever gotten
to the green, but this assignment was tailor-made for me. I knew my being
nocturnal would come in handy one day.
I called the writer to touch base. The assignment sheet was vague about
whether he would be there. He never got back to me, but I figured I'd
see him later on that night. The clubhouse manager suggested that I arrive
a little early because most of the "sleepovers" as I learned they were
called, generally get there earlier than 11 pm. "They might be asleep
already," he said.
| Asleep at 11 pm??? Didn't sound like much of a rowdy
bunch to me. I had family plans most of the day, so I didn't have
a chance to rest up before I had to start work. Mohansic is about
45 minutes away. When I drove into the parking lot of the golf course,
at 10:30 pm, there was a row of 14 cars parked neatly in order on
one side of the lot. There was no sign of life in the complete darkness.
I got out of my car and walked back and forth behind the vehicles
hopeful that someone would get out of their car and talk to me. They
didn't. |
12:00 Midnight 6/20/99 Gary Magliari of Mahopac,
Ronald Bucci, a chiropractor from Tarrytown and David O'Hare, a plumber
from Tarrytown, talk to Camille Nickerson, manager of Arturo's 19th
Hole at Mohansic Golf Course. All photos(c)1999 Susan B. Markisz for
the New York Times |
1:00 A.M. 6/20/99 David O'Hare beds down in
his van for the night at Mohansic Golf Course. |
I wondered exactly how any of them would
feel being awakened from a deep slumber by a photographer. Did they
have weapons? Around 11 pm, another car pulled up in the line. I approached
the driver and asked him if he was waiting for a tee time. I explained
that we were doing a story on the "sleepovers." Soon, I heard laughter
from adjacent cars. |
"We've been doing this for years," said a nearby voice in the dark. Several
men were sitting in their cars reading, waiting for elusive sleep. I took
some pictures of one fellow reading, and another whose station wagon was
made into a bed.
| To my surprise, the clubhouse was still open. Inside
were three men sitting at the bar, flirting with Camille and Nadya,
the manager and bartender of Arturo's 19th hole. I'd found my "beery
carloads"....at the bar. They invited me to have a drink with them
but I politely declined, indicating that I had to be taking pictures
when the cashier arrived. |
1:10 A.M. 6/20/99 Still chatting: Gary Magliari
and Ronald Bucci |
| "Well, that's not happening til around 4 am, so why
don't you have a beer with us," suggested Ronald Bucci, "and then
get a few hours sleep, because we're all going to be sleeping soon
and there's going to be nothing to photograph until the cashier gets
here." |
 1:15
A.M. 6/20/99 Ronald Bucci says goodnight to his wife and kids, from
his jeep at Mohansic Golf Course. This picture ran on the jump. |
4:00 A.M. 6/20/99 Joe Stagliano, the cashier
at Mohansic Golf Course, gives out numbers to "The Sleepovers" in
order of their arrival the night before. |
I sat with the threesome until close to
1 am. Ron Bucci, a 7 year veteran of the tradition, and David O'Hare,
a more recent golf devotee, explained the sleepover protocol. For
some 20 years, the only way to get an early tee time, was to get to
the golf course when the cashier arrived, around 4 am. Since golf
has had a resurgence in recent years, people have been arriving earlier
and earlier at the golf course, until they started sleeping in their
cars the night before to sign up at dawn. When the county went to
an automated system, it became virtually impossible for the regulars
to get early tee off times, so after much protest, the county allowed
the tradition to be grandfathered in for the first 2 hours. The thing
is, they weren't signing up for the next morning, they were signing
up for the following weekend! |
The first 15 people/cars to show up get the first tee times. Some arrive
as early as 6 or 7 the night before, play some twilight golf, have a few
drinks at the bar, jockey their cars into one of the designated spots,
and sleep until the cashier arrives sometime after 3 am, to dole out the
numbers. Since each car represents a foursome, the people who sleepover,
only have to do it once every four weeks.
After Camille closed the bar, I took pictures of David O'Hare in his
truck, and Ron Bucci, relaxing in his jeep, talking on his cell phone
to his wife and kids, who were "down the shore" in Seaside Heights, NJ
(that's Jersey for "at the beach"). Ron made himself comfortable and suggested
I get some sleep. For the next two hours, I alternately sat in my van
and walked around the perimeter of the golf course.
In the dark, there was nothing much to photograph. There was no ambient
light to speak of in the parking lot, aside from a lone flood at one end
of the long asphalt parking field.This was not going to be lesson in creative
lighting. I felt I'd be lucky just to get a few pictures in focus. I shot
some available darkness photographs and then covered my bases with the
blast of my flash on slow shutter sync, hopeful of getting some movement
to make the pictures a little interesting.
4:15 A.M. 6/20/99 Dena Lempert, the only woman
to sleepover at Mohansic, signs up for a 6:32 tee time for the following
Sunday morning.
|
Around 2 am, I saw a shadow on the golf
course, thinking it was a deer, coyote or wild turkey, until I realized
it was a guy strolling around on the green. I watched, in amazement,
as he tiptoed back to his car, barefoot, as if not to wake anyone.
I thought, these guys are really nuts. Then again, it was kind of
a nutty assignment. |
| There was no way I could sleep; It was an unseasonably
chilly night and I was freezing, despite the blanket I'd brought along.
I figured this was payback for a comment I had made to one of the
guys who had remarked earlier that it was a little "cold" to be sleeping
out. I'd said it was perfect working weather. The writer still hadn't
appeared and I wondered where he was. Around 3:15 am a car drove up
into the next parking spot in the line. Figuring it was the writer,
I went over to him and introduced myself. |
4:30 A.M. 6/20/99 George Policello of Ossining
has some coffee in his truck after signing up for next week's tee
time. He waits for the rest of his foursome to play same-day golf.
|
"Hi, are you Paul?" He said "Yes, hi, nice to meet you," as I shook his
hand. "Looks like I've got the last spot," he said.
"You mean, you're not the writer?" I asked him.
"No, but I'm happy to meet you just the same," he said.
A little before 4 am, the cashier arrived; he drove through the parking
lot, honking his horn loudly several times, waking up the fourteen men
(and one woman), who then emerged from their cars . It looked like a scene
from "The Night of the Living Dead." After the doling out of the tee times,
and the sign up in the office, most stayed around to play golf with their
other buddies, who were arriving in their natty golf attire, well rested
and smelling of expensive after shave.
|
Even though I'd already gotten my assigned shots, I figured none
of it said golf, so I stayed until the first foursomes tee'd off,
to get some first light and detail shots. That paid off, because
a week later, one of my "first light" shots made the front page
of The New York Times, a first for me. My Ron-Bucci-in-his-car shot
made the jump inside to Metro, where the story continued. If the
assignment didn't exactly yield portfolio material, it certainly
proved to be one of the funniest assignments I've ever had. Or maybe
I'm still punchy from sleep deprivation.
Only problem is, I owe my husband big time. I had to cancel plans
for brunch on Father's Day, because I didn't get home until 10 am
and I slept until 8 pm. 'Course, I don't think he minded all that
much. You know all those golf tournaments on television? He had
control of the remote that day.
|
"Firstlight" Jeff Miller of Briarcliff, in a
morning stretch at Mohansic Golf Course, just before his tee-off.
This picture ran on the front page. |
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