Bada-Ping! Johnny 'Sack' talks about his golf addiction

A Sopranos icon talks about his passion for golf, and what really happened in that infamous finale

As the Waste Management Phoenix Open kicks off, who better to talk golf than a (wise)guy with ties to (ahem) waste management: menacing chain-smoking mobster Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni, brought to vivid life on The Sopranos by Vince Curatola. The 56-year-old character actor has become a golf addict since the show went dark in 2007. He called Flyers World Headquarters from the set of his new movie Peril—he plays a serial killer, naturally—to discuss whacking range balls instead of rats. 

CONNELL BARRETT: Golf turns up in several Sopranos episodes. I remember one where you and Tony [James Gandolfini] are on the tee when he has a panic attack. 

JOHNNY SACK (aka Vince Curatola): I took up the game after the show ended. Back then, I didn't play at all, and Jimmy doesn't play. On The Sopranos, [the actors] couldn't change anything in the script. If it says you play golf, you play golf. But Jimmy and I were terrible. We just didn't look like golfers. We had collapsing alligator arms when we would swing. One of the camera men gave us a lesson right there to show us how to swing, so we didn't look so bad. 

CB: You're now a golf addict. What hooked you? 

JS: I was watching the Golf Channel and became fascinated. I'm a pistol shooter, a target shooter. I said, "I have to try this! I have to go to the range to see if I can do it." Well, I hit the range, and the only club I could hit at all was a driver. I had to get better. Golf is all about the quest for perfection, which you can never achieve. If it was easy, no one would play. I'm nuts for it. Just nuts. I'll be on the range and have a breakthrough, and I'll call my wife Maureen with updates. [Laughs] I have a problem! 

CB: Sounds like you play a lot.

JS: I once played or hit balls 65 days in a row. I live in New Jersey, and there's a range that's open 365 days a year. If I want, I can go hit balls on Christmas. I just can't get enough. I hit 200 balls a day, three days a week, minimum. I practice more than I play, though. I'm one of those range guys. I play nine holes, not 18. I don't like to do anything for five hours. 

CB: Do Sopranos fans come up to you on the range or course?

JS: Sure, and I don't mind at all. It's a nice break from hitting 200 balls. There are a lot of golfers from Korea where I play, and even with their limited grasp of the language, they'll see me, walk up, and say, "Oh, Sopranos! Oh, gangster!" It's amazing the reach that show has

CB: Why did golf find its way on to the show so often?

JS: I think the writers used golf as a way to legitimize these guys, to show how they were killers and criminals but also normal in a lot of ways. But if you have enemies, golf isn't smart. Anyone could be assassinated on a course. 

CB: The series finale was controversial. Tony and his family are in a diner, and the screen goes black. Set the record straight. Was Tony whacked? Is he alive and well and chilling at the Bing? We want answers!

JS: [Laughs] You think [creator and executive producer] David Chase would tell me?

CB: You were critical of the finale. What did other cast members think?

JS: Here's a story. The cast watched the finale together at the Hard Rock [hotel in Florida]. It was a big event, with myself, Jim, Tony [Sirico], Steve [Van Zandt], Michael [Imperioli], Lorraine [Bracco], everyone. We watched the show along with everyone else. When the screen went blank, I was shocked. Jim didn't make any comment about [how it ended], but the look he had on his face that night was perplexed. We all walk into this ballroom, and 1,200 fans look at us like, What was that? I don't think they got closure. It wasn't like Dallas and "Who Shot J.R.?"

CB: So David Chase never took you aside and said, "Ok, here's what really happened..."

JS: No. But I think Tony was killed in the diner, with his family sitting right there, by the guy in the jacket who gets up and goes from the counter to the bathroom. That's my opinion. Then, two weeks [after the finale aired], I get a call. Hillary Clinton's campaign wants me to appear in a parody ad, with Bill and Hillary. I'm the guy at the counter in that one. 

CB: Bill's a huge golf nut. Did golf come up?

JS: No, but he asked me about the show. There was talk about a Sopranos movie, and he said, "Are you guys coming back?" I said. "No. Are you?" [Laughs] 

CB: You're way more laid back than Johnny Sack. I'm only mildly terrified talking to you. What would Johnny be like on the course?

JS: When he hits a bad shot, forget it! He'll go quiet. He'll fume, break every one of his clubs, and say, "I'm never playing this game again! My clubs are hexed!" With Johnny, it's always someone else's fault.

CB: And if his caddie gives him a bad yardage? 

JS: Dead. The kid's dead. There's a mark on his forehead. Not right away, though. Johnny will file it away for future extermination. These guys never forget.

(Photo: Abbot Genser/HBO/AP)