INSIDE STORIES
By A.J. Carter
September 18, 2006

Good evidence for value of golf.

Further proof of the business value of playing golf: Its how Mitch Pally found his new job.

When Pally, the Long Island Associations longtime vice president for government relations, announced last week that he was leaving for the Melville-based Weber Law Group, it was the culmination of discussions that began in July in a golf cart at the Cherry Creek course in Riverhead.

Pally and Morton Weber were paired at Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy's annual outing, and the longtime friends got to talking about each other's lives. "All of a sudden, I hear Mitch say to me something to the effect that he was thinking of a career change, of going into private practice and changing his professional life," Weber said. "As soon as he said those words ... my golf became very unimportant to me.

"For the next two or three hours, we talked about issues, about what he could do here, we talked about my vision for the firm and what he could do, and I was selling him," Weber said.

"It was an interesting concept. I hadn't thought about it before," Pally said. They continued talking. After exploring other options, he said, "we came to the conclusion that this was the best fit."

Neither remembered who shot the better round that day, but the move does carry one added benefit for Pally: a partner he can beat. Pally usually shoots about 10 strokes better than Weber.

Not so Pally and Matt Crosson, who is president of the LIA. "When I play with Matt, he always beats me. He's a much better golfer than I am," Pally said.

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