Evening star., 1916-11-26
GOLF NOTES
FROM THE LOCAL CLUBS

Jack Burgess, the pro at the CheVy
Chase Club. has had set of clubs
made up and sent to the British bazaar
in Boston. The set includes all the
weapons used in the royal and ancient
game, and when they put up at
auction there will probably be some
spirited bidding, for fe2v dyed-in-the
wool golfers can resist the temptation
of purchasing a set of cudgels as ship
shape the ones now on their way
to the Bay state town.
Samuel Dalzell and Allan Lard de-
feated Donald Woodward and George
James of Columbia in a match over
the Chevy Chase course last week.
None of the players had good medal
round account of the keenness of
the greens and the fact that strong
wind was blowing. DalZell sank three
long puts to win. Jack Burgess is
very fine player under any sort of con-
ditfons, and this is particularly en-
phatic when he is playing in a wind.
His mashie shots, which he plays with
one of the famous Jock Hutchinson
clubs, have great deal of stop on
them One day last week he pitched
ball to the third green at Chevy
Chase, which is usually fast. and the
ball actually jumped back on account
of the back spin which it had. On
any shot with mashie down to 70
d
quired. he takes the club back'around
his shoulder and pushes his right hand
under the ball. thus getting an i'm
mense amount of spin.
The method would hardly be recon-
mended for the ordinary player, how
ever. for the chances for failure are
slightly too great. For instance, il the
ball is just a little half-topped 1t
shoots an amazing distance away from
the spot on which it was intended to
nf
around the nineteenth hole at one
| Of the local clubs last week were dis
cussing the remarkabl bic feat of Chick
| Evans at the last amateur champion
| ship, held at the Merton Cricket Club.
Evans is said to have stationed a cad
die forty yards away and pitched
ball into a hat held in the boys hands
without the caddie moving from his
tracks. The occurrence illustrates the
| champions wonderful skill with the
| mashie. 1t was said that years ago,
when Evans was a very young player
and then caddie at the old Edgewater
| Club of Chicago on his way home
from the course in the evening he prac-
ticed pitching balls over the telegraph
poles and such hazards. all of which
| improved his management Of the club
| which to most golfers is the most diff
hcult of any in the bag. Along with the
pra actfce obtained in this manner he
! went out on his spare afternoons with
a boy companion and fifty balls and
worked hard with both his midiron and
mashie. There are some who decry the
Importance of intelligent practice, but
1t has undoubtedly brought proficiency
to the open and amateur champion. 1t
is now claimed that Evans has the best
| midron shot to the hole side OF any
amateur in America, and he Is without
doubt one of the greatest with the
mashie.
| Now that Chick has overcome the
bogie club of his earlier golf years-the
putter-and has topped the barrier of
| the amateur championship, he stands
pre-eminent as one OF the greatest II
not the best, titleholder who ever
pitched ball to a putting green.
Extensive changes are now in process
| of being made at the Columbia Country
Club The thirteenth green has been
terraced and narrowed and the bunkers
| on the left-hand side drawn closer and
| widened out. AS 1t stands now the
| pitch will have to be much straighter,
| but will have more room to run. 1t Is
| not planned to build anything in the
nature Of traps in the rear Of the green.
| but simply to permit the grass to grow
| about six inches in height, which, on
| the whole, makes a sufficiently difficult
| hazard, emphasized by the fact that
| the player who overruns the green will
be forced to play down the slope. which,
| although a slight one, when the green
| is fast, as in the summer months, be-
comes a factor to be reckoned with.
| The seventeenth green is being radi-
| cally changed. The whole back OF the
| green has been elevated about four
feet and a two-foot cut made in the
front, eliminating the sand bunker. The
left-hand corner Of the green has been
| reduced in size and two large mounds
put on either side Of the entrance from
| the front. 1t will be possible next
! summer to drive the green. as the slope
- the -. -, e-en reduced. and with