Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-03-03
PRIVATE CLUbMEN
BAT AWAY IN Vain
Former Pay as You Play
Aces Dominate Top Strata
of Game Here.
BY WALTER r. McCALLUM.

DA NNA1A AAM Ass 4sASSrAAAOIsAs
DUBLIC links golfers, as is
- eminently fitting, hold most
l. Of the existing course rec
ordS at the larger public
courses in Washington.
Although public links golf in
the National Capital is only a lit
tie more than a decade old, the
municipal courses have developed
q host of men who have gone
forth from the pay-as-you-play
layoutS to become dominant fac
tors in the game at the clubs near
Washington. Indeed, one of the
men who developed his game at
East Potomac Park is today the
District champion and top-liner
of the amateurs of the Capital.
Harry G.. Pitt, in his early golfing
years, learned the game at East Poto-
mac Park. So did AL Houghton, Page
Hufty, George Voigt, John Shorey and
a good many other men who have since
gone into the ranks of the private clubs
and made good in big golfing way.
Although the public courses are played
often by members of private courses,
the public links golfers have had and
still have things their own way in the
setting of records. No player at pri-
vate club, with the exception of George
Voigt. has been able to set q course rec
ord at a public course which stands to-
day.
nOWN at East Potomac Park, where
- most of the public links golf
around Washington is played, Mel
Shorey, who has held down the profess
sional berth at the park for a number
Of years, is the holder of all the course
records. Shorey has played course B.
the Oldest course on the four layouts at
East Potomac-in 81 strokes, score
which has not been matched officially
by any other player. Par for the course
is SO. He also has played course c in 80
strokes, which may or may not be the
record. Attaches at East Potomac Park
say they have recollection of an anna
teur making that nine in 80, but they
cannot remember who it was. The par
Is 81. Last May new nine-hole layout,
called course G, was put in operation,
and on this course also Shorey holds the
record. One day not long after the
course was opened Shorey blazed his |
way around In 66 strokes. scoring the |
f1rst nine in 80 and the second nine in |
"a Tor Sc, mark that never since has |
been equaled. Par for the nine is So.
Up at Rock Creek Park, on terrain |
much more rugged than that at East |
Potomac Park, George Voigt's 81 still |
stands as the best mark recorded by |
my golfer for consecutive play over |
10Th mines QIth01Iuh hCf1 ,,fx |
been played in lower figures than Voigt |
made. One day last year Arthur Urban. |
who has gathered more fame as |
bowler than as golfer, took AL Price |
the professional, out for a little practice |
spin around the first nine. Now Price |
Is good golfer. and fine workman |
around the putting greens. That day |
he spun around the first nine In "a |
strokes, which is exactly par for the ,
distance and when the match ended on |
the ninth green Price was down to |
Urban.
THE bowler-golfer with the smooth
= swing had worked himself over
that stretch in 81 strokes, to set |
record for course A that stands today.
catching and passing par with an eagle |
2 on the 336-yard fourth hole, where |
he dropped mashie niblick shot into |
VAC 4AO1C 1OI tiie deuce.
Here are Urban's figures, against par
for the course:
Par ........... 4 4 3 4 3 "a S 4-34
urban ........ 4 3 2 3 3 4 4 4-31 |
Not a single hole over par, and an |
eagle and birdie. That's quite a bit |
OF golf. And by the way, your Uncle |
Nick Altrock, coach and comedian of
the Mats, has played that stretch in 80 |
STROKES &c 1y@1n
the fact that Nick knows what a golf |
club Is supposed to do.
over the newer nine at Rock Creek |
Park, the best recorded score is the 80 |
made by Luther Florine. 1t may have
been done in lower figures, but Flor
ines 80 Is the best that is remembered |
py Harry Graham, the course man
ager. That stretch has in it a lot Of |
tricky holes, holes like the uphill If
teenth, which takes two real shots to
reach the green; the fourteenth, where |
a long hitter can cut off as much of the
oogieg as he dares, and the tricky |
twelfth, where none but a straight hit |
Ter can keep out of the woods. Ted
Burroughs, the municipal links cham
pion, has played Rock Greek Park in 10.
and without question, according to
those who have watched his game de-
velop is the top liner of those who play
their golf at Rock Creek Park.
GEORGE LOOSE, a Milwaukee boy
~ who formerly was in the golf shop
at Indian Spring, is coming back to |
that club as assistant to George Diffen-
baugh, who will take over the profess
sional berth March Is. Loose was one
OF j. Monro Hunters assistants in the
golf shop until two years ago.
Whether or not the Columbia Coun-
try Club will hold an invitation tour
ney this year will be made known Sat-
urday night at the annual meeting
OF the Middle Atlantic Golf Associa-
ton. If the Middle Atlantic cham
pionship, scheduled to go to Columbia.
is set for date in June the club NAV
abandon its invitation event this year
and concentrate on the championship
event in which Billy Howell of Rich
mond, present holder of the sectional
title, undoubtedly will defend the
crown he. has won for the past two
years.
If Columbia decides not to hold an
invitation tourney this will mean that
there will be only two invitation events
held about Washington during the
coming Spring. These will be the
Army-Navy Country Club affair, sched-
uled early in May, and the Chevy
Chase Club tourney, listed for the mid