Golf In The Clubhouse -- Pitch & Putt -- Pitchers Make Baseball's Best Golfers

It's no secret that the Seattle Mariners have a hard-hitting ballclub. There are players who can drive a ball a long way, in almost any direction. And that's just the pitching staff.

Mariner pitchers, or for that matter, pitchers on any baseball team, invariably are the ones with the best swings - on the golf course.

Starting pitchers in particular have crafted single-digit handicaps mainly because of all the time (and money) on their hands between starts. The Mariners have some of the best golfers in the league: Bill Swift, Jeff Fassero, Randy Johnson.

"The Atlanta staff, those guys are all scratch golfers," said Swift, who plays to an 8 handicap. "There's a tournament every year, usually at Pebble Beach, and probably 90 percent of the baseball players there are pitchers."

Swift is probably the best player on the team now, but that wasn't the case when he was here in the late 1980s and early 1990s. That team had a slew of excellent golfers such as Scott Bankhead, Scott Bradley, Mike Blowers, Mike Moore and Mike Morgan.

Swift said that besides time, pitchers might have an advantage in golf that is intrinsic to their position.

"Guys like Junior (Ken Griffey) can crush it off the tee, but when you don't play for a few weeks it's hard to have a feel," Swift said. "Jay (Buhner) knocks the heck out of the ball, but he doesn't get a chance to work on his chipping and short game. That's all feel.

"As pitchers, we feel the ball all the time. We're always throwing it, we work on our release point. As pitchers, we feel the ball all the time. It's the same thing with golf. We work on that certain touch."

Manager Lou Piniella, who plays to an 11 or 12 handicap, has played golf all his life, including during his big-league career. He sees a problem, however, when his players indulge in the game too much.

"We don't allow clubs on the road at all," Piniella said. "I told the players, in a nice way, `If you want to play golf for a living, go play the PGA Tour.'

"I know on an off-day, they'll play. That's fine. But it takes a lot out of you. You get up at 6 in the morning, play for four or four and a half hours, then you have to play a game that night. When you play too much golf, it tires you out."

He probably shouldn't be reminded, then, of the legendary story of Boston pitcher Roger Clemens. Supposedly, on the day he struck out a major-league record 20 Mariners on April 29, 1986, he played 36 holes of golf. Randy Johnson has twice fanned 19. Just imagine what he could do after a couple of times around Sahalee.

Again, Clemens is a pitcher, with three or four days of virtually nothing to do but throw on the side and chart. The position players don't have that luxury. They have to perform or be ready to perform every day.

"I don't play during the season," said Buhner, who along with Johnson hosts the team's annual golf benefit for cystic fibrosis at Bear Creek Country Club. "It's just too tough getting up early. I like to get to the ballpark by about 2 p.m. That means you have to go play early, have lunch, take a power nap. It's just too long of a day.

"Now when I go on the road, I'd rather wet a line. If we go to a golf course I'd rather take my rod and fish the golf course rather than play the golf course."

Buhner joined an Issaquah plateau country club last year but has yet to play there.

Utility player Rob Ducey agrees with Piniella's golf restrictions, even if his golf game suffers.

"I play four times a week during the offseason. My wife won't allow me to play on the weekends," Ducey said. "Once spring training starts and I start hitting, I put the clubs away. Then I start again from scratch (when the season ends). It takes me another month to get to an 11 (handicap) and another two months to get down to about a 7."

One thing all agree on is that golf can be good therapy. After a tough outing, getting outside and hitting a stationary ball can soothe a savage beast, or a ravaged pitcher.

"It takes your mind off the game of baseball. You don't stew about your job all day long. You go out there and hit the white ball around," said Fassero, an 11 handicap who never plays the day before or the day of a game he pitches.

"There's also the feeling of competition, but it's not baseball competition. As an athlete, no matter what game you play, even solitaire, you have that competition, you have that drive. You don't want to lose."

Swift added that golf "tones you down a little bit."

"There is nothing wrong after you've had a bad game to go out and play and forget about it," he said. "A lot of managers and coaches don't think it's the greatest thing for your swing. It's hard to say. But when I'm on the road, instead of sitting at the hotel or spending all day walking around malls, it's a great way to play with a bunch of guys and relax.

"It's also competitive and I take it onto the field with me. You want to do well when you're pitching and when you're playing golf."

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. Celebrity golf handicaps .

. Chuck Armstrong, 17.6 . Mariner president .

. Jay Buhner, 11 . Mariner outfielder .

. Tom Couples, 2.4 . Fred's brother .

. Ron Crockett, 18.8 . Emerald Downs founder .

. Bob Ducey, 7 . Mariner outfielder .

. Ken Easley, 2.9 . Former Seahawk .

. Dennis Erickson, 13.7 . Seahawk coach .

. Jeff Fasero, 11 . Mariner pitcher .

. John Friesz, 10.5 . Seahawk quarterback .

. Bill Gates, 23.9 . Mr. Microsoft .

. Bill Gates Sr., 25.7 . Bill's well-known dad .

. Ken Griffey Jr., 10 . Mariner outfielder .

. Barbara Hedges, 18.1 . UW athletic director .

. Randy Johnson, 11 . Mariner pitcher .

. George Karl, 16 . Sonic coach .

. Bruce King, 14.3 . KOMO sportscaster .

. Don James, 13.1 . Former Husky coach .

. Carol James, 35.4 . Don's wife .

. Duke Moscrip, 5.1 . Restauranteur .

. Jim Nordstrom, 7.4 . Best golfer of clothing clan .

. Lou Piniella, 11 . Mariner manager .

. Detlef Schrempf, 12.7 . Sonic .

. Jack Sikma, 9 . Ex-Sonic .

. Bill Swift, 8 . Mariner pitcher .

. Curt Warner, 6.9 . Former Seahawk .