Evening star., 1932-07-05
FIVE FARMS LINKS
HAS NO EASY HOLES
Its Maximum Distance Is
1000 Yards, but $500
Win BE Used.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.


tons amateur golf stars
will battle next September
for the simon pure crown which
now graces the classic brow OF
Francis Ouimet of Boston. And
the Five Farms course of the Bal
timore Country Club, familiar to
many Washington golfers, is one
of the youngest courses over
which a national championship
ever has been staged; also one Of
the longest golf layouts in the
East
Built back in 1925 by Arthur Tilling-
hast and opened in 1926, only two years
before the Professional Golfers Asso-
citation title chase was staged over its
rolling tairwsys. the Baltimore Country
CliIb course. out at Five Farms, in the
Green Spring Valley, can be stretched
out to a maximum distance OF nearly
aoO0 wards If distance is needed. But
the championship probably will be
I1laved over q layout with a maximum
length of about $500 yards. Different
sets of tees. set back in echelon fornla-
tiori. account for the difference in yard
age between the maximum possible
length and the probable length
of the course as it will be played
in the amateur championship next Sep
tember. But, under any circumstances,
and whatever the wind and ground con-
ditions Five Farms will be a course on
which the shggers will be truly in their
element, for the fairways are watered
and the ball gets little run.
UOUR national championships Of
i these days take lots Of organiza-
ton work and plenty of prelimi-
nary committee work before the first
ball Is rihed of the tee in the cham
pionship. That enthusiastic crowd Of
BaItimoreanS, oentered chiefly in the
Maryland State Golf Association, have
laid their plans we'll and fully for the
major amateur event of 1882. Not a
detail has been overlooked in the prep
aration for the title chase, and we are
certain that the 1882 championship will
20 down in history as one of the better
organized championships.
Getting back to the golf course over
which the Nations stars viii contest
for the amateur crown, this Five Farms
layout has on it many holes where the
WEdks Al4ttC&.sMA1t BC db - QlSGu1Cb QlS-
advaf4tage.ss But it also has that merit
Of most truly great golf courses. which
is that the tee shot must be placed to
open up the hole for the second shot.
While there are at least four holes on
the layout which are Of the drive and
pitch variety, not single one Of these
holes can be claSsed as set-up unless
the tee shot is placed in the proper
spot.
TT also has seven holes of real par 4
i distance, stretching from 410 yards
up to $50 yards, which require not
only d real tee shot but q very well hit
second shot TO get home in two. Both
the long holes on the layout have been
reached In two shots, but they are not
set-ups by any stretch of the irnAgina-
ton The lengthy sixth, around the
corner of q barn, has been reached In
two waIiops, but the green is so small
and so well trapped that none but the
boIdest golfers win dare make q bid TO
get home in two shots The long four
teenth has been reached in two BY
Tommy Armour and Philip Perkins, but
that green also is so well trapped, that
i is almost hopeless to try to get home
in two shots Per Tor the course Is 20,
and that also Is the official course
record. set IN the 2. @. A. champion
ship by Al Espinosa and tied once or
twice by Maryland amateurs.
LOLES Ike the fifth, eleventh and
i sixteenth are real par Is, where
none but the best hitters can ex-
peet to get home with two well placed
shots Likewise there is sure to be
plenty of fun around the seventh hole,
which measures only about 800 yards
aud VfO11ld 70 IN drfrso and YfifHh
affair normally. But the prevailing
wind from the West makes this cute
little hole a terror 1t is played as
dog-leg to the left and the green Is
hardly as big as good-sized postage
stamp. The tee shot must be placed
well to the right, and the pitch shot
must be high and well hit to stick on
that small green.
The amateurs also will have a lot Of
fun at the tenth, hole of only
about 375 yards, with q green almost
entirely surrounded by water. Here a
high pitch shot must be well struck to
remain on the small green. There will
be lots Of 5s and IS at this hole. The
Five Farms course has two great fin
ishing holes. The seventeenth measures
only l55 yards, but the shot must be
high and straight to stick on the green,
which falls away on three sides and is
wel trapped The eighteenth also is a
beauty, demanding a long and well hit
tee shot o0t to the left to avoid a row
OF apple trees and open up the small
green for the second shot which should
be pitch after a fairly hit tee shot
We've been to a good many cham
pionshi-,s and have seen lot of cham
pionship golf courses, but we never have
seen one which calls for more real shot
making and finer play to the greens
than that magnificent Five Farms