Evening star., 1932-12-04
BY w. r. McCALLUM.

~ YER at the Washington
| Golf and Country Club,
~ where you must say it
with straight flying shots
and we'll cut irons if you are to
score fairly we'll on this rugged
layout in the Virginia hills, there
are two or three two-shot holes
that take rank with the finest on
any golf course around Wash
ington.
So good are two of these, in fact, that
they would rate along with the best of
the two-shotters on any golf course in
the land. But there is slight difference
of opinion between DR.. James T. Nc
Clenahan. chairman of the Greens
Committee Of the club for more than
IS years, and Dave Thompson, the little
Scottish professional, who has been at
Washington for a decade, and Is one of
the most popular professionals around
the Capital, as to the best of the drive
and iron holes on the course.
DR.. McClenahan, Of the iron-gray
hair. wise in the ways Of golf and golf
erS through his experience Of more than
two decades in the game, holds that the
eighth is the best two-shotter on the
layout, and places the twelfth as the
next best. Thompson, the wee Scot,
who has scored below 10 on the course
more than any other man, believes the
eighteenth is the best two-shotter, and
places the eighth next among the bet
ter holes on the rolling course. But
hi rN0nntino NJ an
the best one-shotter. Both McClenahan
and Thompson agree that the fourteenth,
whether played from the upper Or lower
tee. is the best one-shot hole on the
golf course.
THAT eighth hole, which Dr. Nc
i Clenahan favors, Is a real test of
golf. No doubt of that, for it
stretches out to distance of something
like AS yards 1t used to be par 5,
of 459 yards, but now is par 4 affair.
only 420 yards, is harder hole to reach
in two shots, in Thompson's opinion,
than the eighth, even though the dis
tance is greater at the eighth. For the
eighteenth demands not only extreme
distance from the tee, but the second
shot must be high with big carry. The
green sits on hillside l8 or 20 feet
above the fairWay level.
The eighth is a cinch for the big hit
ter who knocks the ball straight. For
out there on that hillside. about 2l5
yards from the tee, sharp slope runs
down toward the green. II a ball is
hit hard enough it will run over that
slope and come to rest on level fair
way $50 yards from the tee, leaving a
short iron shot to the green.
In the Summer this hole has been |
played many times with a drive and
maShie niblick from a tee shot that |
carried to the top of the hill and rolled |
far down toward the green. But no |
such thing can happen at the eight |
zenith. You play for all you get at that |
hole, for the fairway slopes gently up
to the green, from point 200 yards |
second shot is a mashie or No. iron. |
but for the big hitters the hole usually |
plays a drive and long iron.
This eighteenth at Washington stands |
out as one of the best Of the many |
testing finishing holes on golf courses |
around Washington. Many score has |
been wrecked on this hole, either by |
hooking behind the trees at the left
or by slicing into the traps at the right.
But many a score has been knocked
into cooked hat on the eighth, too.
Here ball hooked into the woods at
the left means a sure S and perhaps
more. Likewise a ball hit to the right
means that the green Is not open for
the second shot. And at the green it
self sharp slope to the left has caused
plenty Of trouble. Neither hole Is a
cinch, and both men are right. These
two holes are among the finest two
shooters around Washington.
THE fourteenth stands out among the
i one-shotters around the Capital
not only because of its length, but
because of the ample trouble around
the green It would be better hole
if trap were placed in front of the
green at the right side. but even as it
stands now it is tough enough. 1t
plays 230 yards in length from the back,
or upper tee. and about 215 yards from
the lower tee. bitches flank both sides
Of the fairway and the green drops
of sharply at the left There probably
are far more IS than IS on this par 8
affair
Washington has number Of fine
holes. as matter Of fact. The twelfth,
from the back tee, rates as one Of the
best two-shotters. So does the sixth,