Hitting their shots in Lawrence

Circling the grounds of the Village of Lawrence owned and operated Lawrence Yacht & Country Club at 101 Causeway is akin to visiting all five New York City boroughs.

There is the 18-hole, 6,367-yard golf course which is like being in the Bronx at Van Cortlandt Park. Now being overseen by golf superintendent Adam Thomas the course has never been greener, according to Leo McMahon, the club’s General Manager, who pointed to the 4th-hole green. “For the past three years there was no grass on this green, but Adam did it, he knows his stuff,” McMahon said.

Within the past year, not only have the greens improved, but club membership, which was dropping in the past few years, has climbed steadily to where weekday memberships are sold out, McMahon said, and 20 spots were open for other membership packages.

“Especially in our area, lifestyles have changed and we have to fit into that to have the best chance of succeeding,” McMahon said. “Our industry is changing and we have to figure out new ways to do things,” he added, referring to the variety of memberships the club offers.

Membership is 90 percent residents of the Five Towns with the remainder coming from Long Beach, Rockville Centre, Lynbrook and Oceanside, along with some from New York City, McMahon said. A younger junior executive crowd — 21 to 35 — is mixing with the older players and there are 90 women and 90 children members.

Tennis doesn’t get short thrift at LY&CC with its nine Hard-Tru tennis courts and in-house pro Mark Harrison, one could gain a feel for play at the U.S. Open in Queens that uses a similar surface.

Harrison, a 24-year veteran of the club, serves up his knowledge through instructional clinics. “It’s something I’ve been doing all my life,” he said about his love of tennis. “It gives a variety for families, there is not only golf, but you can use the marina,” Harrison said about the club.

A 135-slip marina on Bannister Bay that easily could be the waterfront of Staten Island is managed by dockmaster Dave Sarnelli, who emphasizes he is a “working dockmaster.” “We make all the floating docks and rebuild in-house,” he said, adding that a “mixed crowd” inhabits the marina from Five Towns residents to others from surrounding communities.