Little Time for Steinberg’s Other Practice

A peaceful silence falls over Encino golf course late one afternoon and the setting sun’s beams cut through a light haze that has settled over the seventh fairway.

Dr. Craig Steinberg tees up his ball and momentarily disrupts the silence on the course with a sweeping whooosh of his swing and then the clink of titanium launching his golf ball into the twilight.

It is a rare moment of calm and relaxation in Steinberg’s life, a life filled with the chaos of two careers, a family and maintaining a golf schedule to keep him worthy of his reputation as one of the area’s top amateur golfers.

Steinberg, who has had an optometry practice in Van Nuys for 10 years, received his law degree from the University of La Verne last June and passed the bar exam on his first try earlier this year.

So now, to his six days a week as an optometrist, his 24-hour-a-day role as husband and father of two, add in a couple of law cases and well. . . .

“I haven’t had a lot of time to play,” he said.

The 38-year-old Van Nuys resident won the Southern California Golf Assn. Amateur Championship in 1988, 1991 and 1992. Today at Santa Maria Country Club he attempts to become the second player in the tournament’s 96-year history to win a fourth title.

Despite his past success in the tournament he readily admits that he is not among the favorites this year, especially with the way state amateur champion Mark Johnson of Helendale has been playing.

“It’s no secret who the favorite is,” Steinberg said. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that one out. No one other than Tiger Woods is playing better than Mark in the entire Western United States.”

Johnson, attempting to become the first player since Johnny Dawson in 1942 to capture both the state and SCGA titles, is not the only obstacle Steinberg must overcome.

He has been nursing a sore left shoulder since October that his doctor finally diagnosed as bursitis in February. He played sparingly during that span because of the injury.

“It hurt to play,” he said. “I played a couple of scramble tournaments this winter and sometimes I’d hit a shot I just couldn’t believe. A five-iron would go about 40 yards right of the green and I couldn’t hit long irons because it hurt too much.”

After a cortisone injection, Steinberg has been able to swing without pain since March. But even with the injury behind him, his busy schedule has made it difficult for him to play.

This year at the Pasadena City Championships, a tournament he won in 1994, he said he felt good after a first-round 77 considering it was his first tournament since the shoulder injury.

But he was forced to withdraw from the tournament at the start of the second round because of a conflict with a court date. It was the first time he has withdrawn from a tournament in 23 years of competitive golf.

“I couldn’t get out of it,” he said. “The real pain of [having to withdraw] was that I lost three rounds of competitive golf that I normally have to get me going.”

Even on the course, Steinberg can’t escape from his professional life.

On a recent afternoon, one of his playing partners--a stranger before they met on the first tee--asks him to look at his red, irritated left eye. Steinberg patiently examines it, explains that it is probably a virus and goes on with his game.

The week before, a player asked about contact lenses. But Steinberg says the discussions about optometry on the course are usually quite short.

“It isn’t a casual conversation piece,” he said. “People usually don’t have a lot to offer on that subject.”

As far as law goes, he said that people usually steer clear of asking advice.

“People tend not to ask that too much,” he said. “I think they know better because with law you get what you pay for.”

Steinberg’s hectic schedule may have reduced the time he spends playing golf--he hasn’t played a full 18-hole round since the State Amateur championship June 17-22--and he may be coming off an injury and facing a tough field. But he isn’t counting himself out of the running for this weekend’s tournament because he says Santa Maria Country Club is his type of course.

“I love it,” he said. “It’s fairly short, very tight and it’s got quick greens. It’s the type of course that people probably won’t score real well on in an amateur tournament.”

Which, Steinberg says, plays to the strength of his game.

“It’s not the nature of my game to shoot really low scores like eight-under or 10-under,” he said. “I’ve always played my best on real hard golf courses where scores around 70 are good scores because I don’t shoot 78 or 80 either.”

Steinberg received a five-year SCGA exemption after winning the 1992 tournament and has just one exempt year left, yet he does not feel any pressure to win again.

“I just want to be able to play well enough to have a chance to win at the end,” he said. “That’s the fun of playing, that’s the reason I tee it up: to be nervous and playing well.”

*

Joining Steinberg are 11 golfers from the area in the 84-player SCGA field at Santa Maria Country Club. Among the prominent names are Jason Gore of Valencia, the Pepperdine senior-to-be who won Pacific 10 Conference titles in 1993 and 1994 while attending Arizona.

Notable local players absent from this year’s SCGA event include 1995 champion Charlie Wi of Westlake and 1995 state amateur champion Jeff Sanday, a Cal State Northridge graduate.

Both players now play professionally, Wi on the Nike Tour and Sanday on the Hooters Tour.

Tim Hogarth of Van Nuys, the Los Angeles city champion, was scheduled to play but withdrew after advancing to the fourth round of match play at the U.S. Public Links Championships this week in Hawaii. Hogarth defeated John Zitkovic of Toledo, Ohio, 2 and 1, in Thursday’s third round.

*

Golf hackers who moonlight as computer hackers will be able to double their pleasure beginning today as the SCGA unveils its comprehensive regional golf site on the Internet.

The main feature of the site, which can be reached at https://www.scga.org., is its listing of the address, phone number, yardage, rating and green fees for every golf course in Southern California. Directions to each course also will be included.

Articles from FORE Magazine--the SCGA’s official journal--as well as SCGA tournament results and information on the rules of golf also will be featured.

“Through this site we expect to provide helpful information to thousands of golfers,” SCGA President Tony Cossa said.

Members of the SCGA will be able to access their own files and can view--but not change--their handicap indexes and their last 20 posted scores.

Future plans for the web site include information on golf products and travel packages.