Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-24
Congressional Nay Split 10Th Hole Bo,ve1s Are Urged Be
MAY MAKE APA|R
OUT OF 61OYARDER
Present 18th May Be Done
Away With if Proposed
Plans Go Through.
BY WALTER R. McCALLUM.


been perfectly correct when he
laid out that elongated tenth
H. hole at the Congressional
Country Club and thereby
brought tears of dismay to the eyes OF
countless buffers, but there Is a lmger-
ing doubt in the minds Of the powers
that be as to the possibility the dis
tinguished course architect may have
streached the job out to a little too
much length.
So lingering is the doubt and so
cogent is the urge of the players VINO
average between eight and nine strokes
for the hole that the board OF gov
errors will pass within a few days on
proposal to abandon the present tenth
hole entirely and cut 1t up into a pair,
which will go far toward making the
scenery at Congressional more pleasant
for scores of those who use the course
That tenth hole at Congressional is
about 6lO yards in length and its par,
according to the score card, is 6. But
If the testimony of many CT the men
who use the course be not perjured by
their efforts to knock the ball mile
or more in two shots, the par for the
duffer may be anything between z and
10. with the bulk of the testimony lean
ing toward the latter figure. So 1t APP
pears that the majority opinion re-
garding that tenth hole Is that Dew
ereux Emmett must have had a weak
moment.
Have Plans for Changes.
Peter jackson and Sandy Armour
and many others have been cogitating
over Just what can be done to improve
the situation and have hit upon So
luton Of the tenth hole and an allied
problem that has had considerable
sixteenth green. The green at this
sixteenth hole is tucked away in a
corner of the property and always has
been a pain In the neck to greenkeep-
ers, chiefly because it invites that
dainty fungus known as brown patch.
Not that the hole is not good one,
for 1t is, but the job of keeping a salts
thing to figure on In the Summer
time that sixteenth green usually has
about as much grass on it as a ball
room floor, even though Peter Jackson
sleeps with 1t, nurses it and lives with
it. Jackson has not had an easy time
with the sixteenth, and the main idea
Is that the sooner 1t is out OF the way
the better for all concerned.
So it now Is proposed to enlarge the
new tenth tee just off the eighteenth
green, which was used for experimental
purposes last Summer, pull out few
trees which grow over the little dam
below the present tenth tee and play
the present eleventh green. On the
hillside at the left and short of the
eleventh green in a line from the club
house a new green will be constructed
to make hole about 440 yards in length,
a par 4 affair, which will be played
In theory-with a drive and lusty
wallop with an iron club. Then tee
will be built near the new green, from
which hole will be played up the val
ley of a little creek that runs at the
left Of what now it the tenth fairway
TO the present tenth green, which will
become the eleventh.
The eleventh hole, which now is one
OF the outstanding one-shot holes about
washington, will become the twelfth,
and play win then continue in the usual
way to the present sixteenth, which will
be eliminated in its entirety.
The present plan is to build tee for
the seventeenth on the site of the pres
ent sixteenth green, which will lengthen
the seventeenth by something like 80
yards and make it into a dog-leg hole
to be played to the left and then up to
the right to the green.
VIII Be Dog-Leg.
The new tenth also will be a dog-leg
affair, for the tee shot will be played
out to the right and then in at the left
to the new green. The new eleventh is
planned to be drive-and-pitch hole of
about $50 yards, with the tee shot to
be played out to the right to avoid the
quarry, which now catches hooked
shots to the tenth. No change is
planned In the construction of the
present tenth green, which will become
the eleventh.
The beautiful part Of the scheme, &C
cording to those who will have charge
OF the construction job-if the board
authorizes the changes that the cost
OF the work viii be comparatively low
and that not q great deal Of dirt win
The textbook primer tells US that it
costs considerable money to move dirt
something like $1.25 or more q cubic
yard, depending on the terrain. That
change viii leave Congressional with
only one hole Of considerable length
tne nrst-and that hole no longer is
the terror it used to be.
Tommy Armour drew the teeth Of the
nrst hole when he recommended the
construction of the present green, a
change which brought the hole down to
little more than 500 yards in length
and reduced the par to S.
The par Of the last nine. under the
proposed changes, will remain as 1t
now is-at IS, and the par for the
course will remain at 70.
Dave Thomson, popular little pro at
Tile washington NTOlI ana country
Club, has found that constant practice
is not necessary to retain a good game
of golf. Dave learned it recently when
Comdr. c. T. Lynes was his partner
in a four-ball match, and stole the
professionals thunder with a scintiI-
lating rs, even though he had just
returned to Washington from an eX-
tensive trip by airplane along thS
Atlantic Coast
Lynes had not played in several
weeks. but he got out in 40 at Wash
ington and came back in IS.
Well back in the woods behind the
present tee a new tee for the twelfth
hole is being constructed at the Chevy
Chase Club, which will lengthen ou
the hole and convert it from drive
and mashie niblick affair into drive
and medium iron hole. The new tee
is expected to be ready for play in tins
Spring.
Meanwhile construction work is COINS
ahead on the new tee for the first hoI'
at Columbia below the tournament tee
which will not increase the length o
the hole, but will merely enlarge tn
surface of the tee which is regularl.
used during the Summer.
HOCKEY STARS ON U. S.
TEAkAc EAO CN0PEP(