Evening star., 1924-06-01


Oakland Hills has just completed
an extensive grooming for the open
championship in the course of which
many thousands of dollars have been
spent 10 bring the course up to it's
peak of conditMn for the S0-,-ld play-
! ers who Will battle for the champion
ship now held by Robert T. Jones. jr.
of Atlanta.
While Oakland Hills is only four
years old, 1t already has been hon
ored by the holding of the western
open championship and this year
OF American golf-the open cham
plonship. The course has been so
constructed that the ninth hole brings
the ,playe~ back to the clubhouse-a
system of construction that finds fa-
Nor with the player as well as the
spectator and means much from the
standpoint of general satisfaction.
Ross Proud OF His Conrse.
ROSS, one of the master course
architects of the nation, claims Oak
land Hills is one of the finest courses
he ever has built, and declares that
hoies 10 and IL are masterpieces. He
built Oakland Hills with the idea
that each hole should be laid out for
individual club play rather than as
testsb for the golfer-ranking shot
making as the ideal for the scoring
game On Oakland Hills he has con-
structed two fine iron shot holes: a
nibiIck hole and a full brassie hole
ali par affairs that require accur-
acy and judgment of distance.
he mas built four holes, only one
OF which Is a real par in point of
pure distance, but any one of which
can cause endless trouble to the play
er off the line.
The real diffifficulty at Oakland
p
standpoint. lies in the nusnber of par
holes that demand two very long
shots. Eight of them are over 4O0
yards, and are well trapped around
The greens. The golfing gent who is
hitting his long iron or spoon shots
Wen is the man who will win the open
championship of the United States
this year.
Description OF the Holes.
No. is a drive downhilI from an
elevated tee-436 yards, Probably a
drive and a midiron. or a drive and
spoon shot to a well trapped green,
where the second shot must carry all
the way up or find serious trouble
on either side.
The second hole is the first of a
series of par affairs, a distance of
4S0 yards from the tee-not so far
for the tremendous distances modern
goIfers get. But after the tee shot
= O7ACt hO NOuIu T6dCn the green
IN two must play uphill and from the
tee must carry a wide sand trap with
great. wide and deep bunker ready
TO catch hooked second shot just
at the left of the green.
NO. Is the first short flole-a 1913
afralr FOR the accurate midiron, player
with nothing but rough and bunk
between the tee and the green. Three
traps guard the front Of the mitten-
SNAPPED green, while traps guard to
the left and right. A par 5 affair,
and tough one for the best player.
The fourth is a dog-leg affair,
where the accurate long second shot
again comes into use. 1t is AIS yards
In length, with the second shot TO
sunken green, requiring ample back
guarded on both sides by traps and
high mounds.
Long Tee Shot Needed Mt 9Th.
The tee shot at the fifth should carry
a high ridge goo yards away to put
the ball in position to carry a ditch
to the green for the par on this 437-
yard hole. A weakly hit drive will
nece cessitate play short of the ditch,
while deep bunkers guard the undu-
lating putting green.
The sixth may be called a resting
hole--a 353-yard par 4 affair, where
drive and a mashie will do the work.
It is one of three holes on the entire
find too much to, do with his second
shot. But the fairway is narrow and
the green well trapped, as are all the
greens at Oakland Hills.
The seventh finds the most irregular
layout of any hole at the Detroit
course 384-yard affair, with ZOO
yard carry from the tee over a creek,
and another carry over the same creek
for the second shot. The par should
be fairly easy. but the ball must be
hit up all the way.
The eighth Is another Furnishing two
shotter of $50 yards with the creek to
carry from the tee, and a. second shot
into a saucer shaped greeh. The fair
way Is uphill all the way from the
tee, and again the ball must be hit up
all the way to the hole.
Fronted by chasm of sand and
roughs from an elevated tee, the man
who would get a par on. the ninth
at Oakland Hills-a 237 7-yard hole
must hit a fine high brassie shot. The
green Is very undulating and will be
keen enough to cause trouble.
Tenth Is Ross Classic.
The tenth Is one of the Ross clas-
sizes, of $50 yards. again demanding two
fine shots for the par {. Six bunkers
from, the tee are Just q few of the
hazards the player nustf surmount,
while the unusual ground formation ts
the Important consideration. Anything
snort of the green spells trouble. for
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