Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-17
TITLE MEETL|NK
FOR LONG H|TTERS
Lengthy Carries imperative
on Many HoIes-RebuiIt
Part Difficult.
RY FRANCES J. POWERS.
-HE course nobody knows!
That's a becoming description
Of Brae Burn. in West Newton,

That a QfGGUIlElA dESNtlhAtNh
Of Brae Burn. in West Newton.
Mass. where the national anna
teur golf championship will be
niava6 next month. The premier event
az American golf goes back to New
ENGLAND. after a six-year absence, ana
no better site could have been chosen
for il than Brae Burn.
Numerous bits of reconstruction, bold
revision OF several old holes and the
complete elimination az others have so
radically changed the character Of the
ruSsed playground where Walter Hagen
won his second national open CHAM
nionship in 1919 that few would recog-
nise IL.
Even the home green, where the con-
fdent Hagen sent his caddy 10 the
clubhouse to invite Mike Brady out to
see him sink long putt. that caused
the famous tie. has been changed.
Brse Burn always has been regarded
a. one Of New Englands foremost and
most exacting courses. When Hagen
beat Brady in the play-ofT of the 1919
open, after they had tied al sol for -
holes. he could not better a -. A 70 by
Charlie Hoffner was the low round in
that championship. although the great
est marksmen Of the Gay were in the
field
Only once In all the years has 10
been broken there, and then II was ac-
cornplished by RAY Gorton, club
member. whose only other bid for fame
vas in the national amateur Of 1914
a. EkwsnoS. where he tied for the
qualifying medal with Bill Fownes
This Is evidence Of the perplexing
problem Brse Burn always has been.
And nov they have stiffene6 IL up con-
gsderablv. Competent observers declare
the improvements. made especially for
the championship have added at least
TWO strokes 10 the layout,
Not Unduly Long.
The reconstruction has been super
T1sed by Herbert Jacques. q member of
the United States Golf Association ex-
ecutive committee. and he has no hest
tation In declaring the course will meet
with the approval of the severest critics
A fair course. il Is difficult without be-
ing unduly long. 1t will measure 5.eo4
yards Ia length. but Is guarded by both
natural and handmade hazards.
One of the odd features Of Brae
Burn Is found on the first hole, where
the long hitter must use an iron from
the tee. A brook rambles across the
fairwsy some $50 yands from the ele-
waited tee, and with es1y sort Of roll
the sluggers are likely to land In the
water If . wood is used. In q medal
play tournament at Brae Burn last Fall,
Phil Finlay. the long hitter from Har-
ward. put his first tee shot into the
Tar bank of the brook and thereafter
used an iron.
Long carriers win be imperative In
the championship. and short hitters
may expect an unusual amount Of
trouble. regardless Of how straight they
may be.
There are two three-shotters that
are everything the phrase means. No
one ever has carried the fifth green In
two, and Jesse Guilford. the famous
siege gun, Is the only one who can boast
81 ever getting home with his second
on the fourteenth. The gun per-
formed that prodigious feat a year ago
when playing IN an exhibition match
against Johnny Farrell and Joe Turnesa.
Farrell was So for the first Is holes
that Gay and wound up with II.
Jones Did Not Like Links.
When Bobby Jones was a student at
Harvard several years ago he had occa-
SIGN to play Brse Burn few times and,
according 70 Bostonians, was frank in
his dislike for it. He held no particular
grievance for any one hole: his detesta-
ton was for the general layout It was
Just not suited TO his game at that
time However, il may have a different
reaction for him in September for
there are few courses that now trouble
the amateur king.
Neither Francis Ouimet nor Jesse
Guilford has played the course recently.
II is o stranger To Jess Sweetzer. George
won Elm and dozen other prominent
players never have seen It,
Tournaments staged in New England
always have been history makers. and
with Brae Burn the test 1t is, there is
every reason to expect the 1923 amateur
viii be record breaker in many WAYS.