The Washington herald., 1918-01-06
GOLF AND TENNIS NOTES
tnstrsctien ss Given BY Johnny iSiibane.1

There has not been a time for at
least twenty years. according to DIR.
Walter Harlan, chairman of the
green committee Of the Columbia
Country Club, that the local golf
courses have been frozen up as they
have been for the past month or 50.
For the past few weeks the greens
at all Of the courses have been 50
frozen that real golf has been out Of
the question. and, as a matter of fact,
only q few rabid. "dyed-in-the-woow
players have even attempted to play.
During the past fortnight not more
than ten or twelve have braved the
elements at Columbia, while at tho
other clubs less than this number
have attempted to play. Usually all
of the clubs have held holiday events
on Christmas and New Year. but
these two holidays passed unnoticed
recently. only a few rounds being
played at the nineteenth hole" DIR.
Harlan is planning to leave Washing
ton on January 10 for Bellair, Florida.
where he will remain until about
April 1. and his friends claim that he
is leaving on account OF climatic con-
ditions, as the doctor does like to be
around where the game Is played.
This means that for the FIRST time in
several years he will not attend the
annual meeting of the United States
Golf Association, which will be held
at Philadelphia on January Is. At
this meeting he Is scheduled to be
elected to the vice presidency of the
national body. and perhaps modesty
is keeping him away from there.
Within the next two or three years,
members of the Bannockburn Golf
Club expect to be playing over an
course which will COM
pare favorably with the best of the
local ones. When the new course was
laid out in 1872 under the supervision
of DIR. Thomas ]. W. Brown, the plans
called for the inclusion of the entire
eighteen holes inside Of four years.
This project has been held up largely
on account OF lack OF funds, but now
that the club has been given strong
financial backing. it expects to branch
out and to enlarge the course in ac-
cordance with its original specifica-
tions. Work on the additional holes
is going along steadily. timber Is be-
ing cut, stumps pulled. etc. and it
will be continued until the job is
finished. In the meantime, the club
plans to improve the nine holes now
in use with the idea Of making them
as near perfect as conditions will
allow. The greens are being enlarged
and improved, the fairways smoothed
out, a new water system is being
planned which will adequately care
for every green. while the roadways
and clubhouse are not being over
looked.
The work of clearing the land of
stumps and small trees and planting
grass is necessarily long and hard and
needs the constant supervision of an
experienced man. The location of
trees and green's for the new holes
has been ascertained and. with the
lessening of play this winter. work
has been started In earnest. 1t is
quite possible, however. that there
will be some changes in the original
plans for the layout of the course
as the club realizes that. mistakes in
this connection are costly and is seri-
ously considering bringing Walter
Travis or some other experienced golf
course architect to Washington to go
over the plans and to suggest changes,
and to make an entire re-arrange-
ment, II necessary, in order to get the
best results. Bannockburn has great
natural advantages in its favor, the
contour of the land being such that
few artificial hazards will be neces-
sary. There is not a bunker on the
present nine-hole course and plans
for the additional nine do not include
A. Ian ST fxuA NR hn
greens have been found to be on too
much of a slope as in the summer
when the ground Is hard IL is diff
cult to make a pitched ball stick
These are being changed. The sec
ond green Is being leveled while the
ninth will be widened and enlarged.
The present nine VIII not remain in
tact under the new layout when the
holes now under construction are
ready for use as in some cases new
tees win be built while in others
there viii be a change in the order
Of play.
With this progressive program now
being pushed strenuously, the club
expects a much larger membership
and sees no reason why within a
very short period of time it will not
AAofC oS 80 anu as euInQSlaSl1C
personnel as any of its local rivals.
At its last meeting, the constitution
was amended so as to permit nom
members in the associate
class; heretofore these out-of- town
members being classed as active,
which required that they hold stock
In the club. This step will no doubt
Increase its nonresident membership
Walter J. Travis. who Is known
wherever golf is played, was in WASH
lngton recently in connection with
The Potomac Park CMunicipaD courses
which are being laid out by the gov
under his supervision. The
'old man" also acted IN, an advisory
at Columbia last year and
while here went over that course
with DIR. Walter Harlan, chairman
of the green committee. He was
much pleased with the Columbia
course and had no further sugges-