PARTNER POINTS HIM IN RIGHT DIRECTION : MAN GOLFS DESPITE LEGAL BLINDNESS.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

Felix ``Mac'' McClish whacks his golf ball down the fairway and then asks his pal Tony Marik how he did.

``Not far, but straight,'' Marik tells McClish.

That pleases McClish; he is legally blind and wholly depends on his friend to help him continue their golf rivalry.

As they walk up the fairway, Marik points out where the yellow ball has landed and gives his friend a tip about how to get it up to the green on his second shot.

``The hardest thing without Tony would be finding the ball,'' said McClish, 79. ``If it wasn't for him, my golfing days would have ended last year.''

McClish's blindness has not gotten in the way of the golf games he and the 69-year-old Marik began in 1974 at Brookside Golf in Pasadena.

Back then, they were just a couple of middle-age guys who liked to play a round of golf a few times a week, with McClish the better golfer of the two.

McClish had been golfing since he got his first caddy job in 1928, at the age of 11, in Amarillo, Texas.

``He's a natural golfer,'' Marik said. ``You can tell by his swing. He's got a groove.''

Recently, as McClish started to line up his shot, Marik took his place as his pal's eyes. ``Not yet,'' he said softly. ``There's a guy out there. You have to wait.''

He did, and then McClish's club arced through the air and whacked the ball, sending it squarely down the fairway.

Over the years, the two have seen each other through the challenges of growing old, through Marik's two heart surgeries and McClish's two knee replacement operations.

What McClish brings to the union is his natural golfing ability. Twenty years ago or so, McClish was a mail carrier in La Crescenta and was done with his route by 3 p.m. Marik was a baker at Pepperidge Farm in Burbank and was finished with his shift by 2:30 p.m.

Marik needed a mentor, because he was just getting serious about his game.

``I was hitting everything as hard as I could. My timing was bad,'' Marik said. ``He'd always tell me in a nice way.''

But last year, McClish lost sight in his left eye due to retinal deterioration. He has very limited vision in his right eye, which until last year he considered the weaker one.

He knew he couldn't golf without help anymore.

``I need a good friend to find my ball and to tell me where the pin is,'' McClish said. ``God sent him to me.''

McClish is frustrated that he's added about 10 strokes to his game, but other than that he still enjoys the links as much as ever.

As they walk up the fairway, Marik points out where the ball has landed and gives his friend a tip on how to get onto the green.

``I think most people would give it up,'' Marik said. ``But it would kill him if he had to give up golf.''

While his game has suffered at the same time that Marik's game has improved, McClish said golf has always been about spending time with friends like Marik.

``I've made all my best friends in life either on golf courses or in church,'' he said.

McClish insists he'll never give up golf.

``Only when they throw the dirt in my face,'' McClish said. ``When they put me in the big sand trap.''

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3 Photos

Photo: (1) Despite being legally blind, Felix ``Mac'' McClish enjoys a round of golf at age 79.

(2) Buddies since 1974, Tony Marik, left, is Felix ``Mac'' McClish's eyes on the golf course.

(3) Tony Marik shoots out of a sand trap.

Myung J. Chun/Daily News