Evening star., 1929-12-08

can lay out golf course and say
men, there is a finished golf courS
bunker or a putting green. 1t is Il
Changes in the length of the
ball have been the chief factors
which have resulted in complete
revolution of golf course archi-
lecture and the upheavalS on the
Columbia course have reflected
this change in methods of play.
But along with this change came
another matter of radical nature.
Columbia was awarded the ma
tional open championship Of 1921.
The course was not stiff enough
and something had to be done to
stiffen it up. And how it was still
ened up. Out of that champion
ship came the Columbia course
much at it is today, for the major
changes since 1921 have not been
many.
Chief among them is the new green
for the first hole, which is not to be
used as a permanent green, as some
members seem to think the present
green is not to be abandoned, but Will
be used as an alternate with the new
green. The pin may be placed on
either green, depending on green and
weather conditions.
Before Brown Patch Days.
The oldtirner, coming back after q
iapse of q decade and a half, Woulont
recognize the second, fourth and hfth
holes at Columbia. For the second mole;
in those DAYS Of 1914 and 1915, could
be reached by long tee shot, even IN
those DAYS when the ball couldn't be
driven so far. The fourth, which now
is q one-shotter, was then two-shotter,
with a green located very near the To-
cation of the present spring on the
fifth fairway. And the fifth was a lar
different hole.
We we'll remember with what pride
DR.. Walter S. Harlan, then the most
active worker on the golf course and
the man whc rebuilt it for the open
championship, pointed to the flfth
green of 1915. It was called Taylor"
green and was constructed OF layers OF
tile and cinders, designed to give per-
feet drainage. In those days brown
patch was unknown, and was stll 10
be unknown for six years or more urt1
Columbia'S course gave a per1ect DEM
onstration in June of 1921 of what
that inSidious fungus growth could and
still can do,
To 90 back little bit, we recall that
two weeks before the open champion
ship of 1921 Columbia's putting greens
were as perfect as putting greens can
be. Almost overnight the brown patch
came, following closely on few mugsy
nights, perfect for the propagation of
the fungus. And the greens vanished
from the ken of man. From perfect
putting surfaces they became spotted
with ugly brown patches, large and
small, until the Columbia greens COM
niittee. as much Inystified by the phe-
nomenon as the scientists of the De-
partment Of Agriculture, almost gave up
In disgust at the unkind stroke Of fate.
New Fifth Hole Built.
But to get back to the nth hole. In
his preparation work for the open DR..
Harlan made a one-shotter out of the
fourth, after building new green for
the third, and then proceeded to stretch
out the fifth to what was then an enor-
nous length, calling for. three shots
from all but the experts. In the middle
Of this lengthy hole he placed what
was then termed "Hells Half Acre"
tangled mass of sand bunkers and long
grass, which ruined the hopes of many
q player In the championship to come.
Back in the old days of Columbia's
history the first green was not elevated.
It was on surface level and very hard
to keep drained. When the brown
patch hit it, it gave up the ghost and
died an unhappy death. And along
about 1916 DR.. Harlan built a new
second green across the ditch, making
the hole a drive and pitch affair, which
Jim Barnes proceeded to demonstrate
in the championship was an easy
eagle g. For Jim holed his second shot
out of trap, and came back to win
the title.
The third green, which was back in
q corner of the woods, and was an easy
victim of brown patch, was taken out
Of the cover and raised, and today is
a far better hole than the old affair.
The change at the fourth has been de-
tailed. 1t sufices to say that it is
tough one-shotter of more than 200
yards to an elevated green.
The fifth hole, back in 1915, played
about 410 yards. When the open
championship was played. it measured
$40 yards, and we remember how Bobby
Jones and Joe Kirkwood foundered on
the rocks of pressed braSsie shots in
the attempt to pick up brides at this
hole II memory serves, Bobby had
started in some such fantastic fashion
as 3. 3, f. 2, being 3 under par going
TO the fifth. And in the attempt to
collect another birdie at the fifth, he
hooked three balls out Of bounds, wind
ing up with CHASTITY Q. We draw the
curtain on CnaU one, lOI bOD never "dS
The same after that.
The sixth is longer than it used to
be. We can recall when the sixth was
a drive and mashie hole-possibly a
drive and niblick-with a green just
beyond the cross bunker which cuts in
at the right. But today 1t takes two
long shots to get home, for the green
has been moved about rs yards back
of the old location and is well fianked
by hazards The seventh, for length
is much the same hole. But because
of the peculiar shape of the green. cut
up by indented traps, it is no easy mat
ter. That green also was rebuilt for
the open. but is in the same location
as it was back in the pre-war days
The eighth gretn has not been changed
but the bunkering at the green has
been changed, and many came to woe
there in the open.
At the ninth the old fiat green, 2C
yards short Of the present green, has
been replaced by a modern green built
up at the back. There is talk now o1
changing that ninth green because oi
its skyline construction and the fact
that fluctuations in it prevent placing
the cup in more than three spots or
the surface.
Tenth Little Different.
The tenth hole is much the same
although the trapping is slightly differ
ent and length has been added by con
struction of a new set of tees. But a
the eleventh the changes are profound
Here the green is is yards back of thu