Sayville Top 20

Sayville's Gamboli Top HS Golf Coach with 681 Wins

Coached for 42 years and established Sayville as a premier program.

Every sport has its great coaches. Basketball has Red Auerbach, baseball has Casey Stangel and football has Vince Lombardi. High school golf has former Sayville coach Tony Gamboli, whose 681 wins ranks as the top in high school golf history. Gamboli attributes the success he had to the student athletes he had the privilege of coaching during his time at Sayville, who helped establish one of the country’s best golf programs. “Having good relationships with a lot of the kids, a lot of the kids started to come out,” said Gamboli, now retired. “I started to get some good athletes coming out for golf, and I could teach the game. I continued to get good athletes playing the game.” Golf, though, wasn’t always Gamboli’s plan. After graduating from…

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Anything But Par For the Course

Julie MacDonell heads to Harvard as State Golf Champ.

For Sayville's Julie MacDonell, success has not only come in the classrooms of Sayville High School, but also on the greens of the golf course. MacDonell, the Sayville Class of 2010 Salutatorian, is heading to Harvard University after both outstanding academic and golf careers. After helping Sayville win the Suffolk championship and Long Island championship with the help of teammates Jenn Clinton and Cynthia Cheng, MacDonell competed in the state championship as one of the top nine golfers from the Suffolk County championship. On  June 13, as the days of summer were rapidly approaching, signaling the end of her journey as a high school student, MacDonell was surprised to find herself tied with two-time defending state champion Suzie Lee of…

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The Putting Doctor Talks Golf

Joe Bermel explains the keys to consistent putting.

Joseph Bermel Jr. is well known in the Sayville community as he has lived there for many years, but not everyone knows him as he is known in the golf world – he is The Putting Doctor. Bermel, who is one of 15 children raised in Islip Terrace and a Chaminade High School graduate, was first on the golf course as a caddy in eighth grade. He spent a summer making tips as a caddy and then a college friend, at the University of Dayton Ohio, got him interested in playing golf. He quickly realized that he had a gift for putting and considering that putting is 40 percent of the total golf game, Bermel realized that he should share his gift. Approximately 30 years ago, Bermel started teaching golf. He offers private and group putting instruction all…

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