Evening star., 1933-03-25
FINEST HOUGHTON
EVER HAS VIEWED
Others Also Readily Award
Palm to Professional at
Burning Tree.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.

/ l Of 20 games he will hole
more 8 and 10 foot
ers than any man I know, and
he will hole plenty of the 20 foot
erS, too. Yes, sir, Red Cunning
ham Is a wizard on the green"
The speaker was Al Houghton, king
of Maryland professional golfers, re-
formed amateur, who turned pro and
who found the professional game so
much to his liking that today he stands
as the leading scorer among the local
professionals. Al Is no slouch as q
putter himself, a bold stroker Of the
bali. who gets his share OF lengthy
puts every time he leaves the first tee
Of any golf course. But he willingly
and graciously awards the putting palm
to his sorrel-thatched pal, Red Cum
ningham. the stocky little former caddie
at the Washington Golf and Country
Club, who is making such success Of
his job as professional at the Burning
Tree Club.
And Houghton is not alone in his
designation of Cunningham as the king
of putters among the local professional
brigade. Mel Shorey, who is some
shakes as putter himself; George Dif-
fenbaugh, Arthur B. Thorn and even
Sandy Armour, the gallant Scot who
has quite a reputation for holing 'em,
admit that Cunningham is just about
as smooth piece of machinery as they
ever have seen on a putting green.
CUNNINGHAM used to tote golf bags
~ over the rugged hills of the Wash
1ngton course, caddying for such
old-timers as Dorie Gruver. Dr. T. D.
Webb, DR.. j. T. McClenahan and other
members of the club. Then he went
over to Burning Tree as a youngster in
the golf shop when Ralph Beach was
the assistant to Bernard Thompson.
Beach later became the pro and, when
he went to Baltimore, Cunningham
stepped into his shoes.
On those magnificent putting greens
at Burning Tree the elder of the three
golfng Clnnlnghams developed the
putting touch and technique that has
made him one of the most feared men
on the green anywhere in this section.
Red isn't lengthy hitter from the
tee and he isn't as good with the long
Irons as some men We could name. But
put him with a mashie- niblick shot 80
yards from the pin and he is almost
certain to get the ball down in two
strokes.
Just because he leaves his pitch or
chip eight feet away doesn't mean
anything to Red" For he knuckles
down to that ball, feet close together.
left elbow out, body braced against any
possible sway and stroking the putter
blade through the line IN groove, he
H. ;,.x-
cup. He Goes it SO consistently that
there can't be any question about the
excellence Of his stroke CT of his conf
dence he will do just that.
Cunnlngham's finest putting exhibi-
tlon came year or two ago at Burning
Tree on a day when the red-head wasn't
hitting the ball so well from the tee
and through the green. But he got
around In "a puts and II. Consider
that that inf1exible foe of golfers-OId
Man Par-glves two puts to each green
Tor total Of Sc per round and you
see what Cunningham did, when he
played the course in II below its putting
par and below its total par.
The six and eight footers are as simple
as pie to the confident red-head. Where
others quake and fear puts of this
length, Cunningham steps up to the
ball and confidently strokes it in. Like
all fine putters Red" hasn't the slight
est sign of a push or jab in his putting
stroke. 1t is just stroke in which the
meeting of the clubhead with the ball
is an incident and not the main objec-
tive as it is in iron shots of some
types
The other day "Red" played the
washington course in "A strokes. In
this "a he had only 90 puts, with
seven 1-putt greens and one of 3, when
he went too boldly for a 20-footer on
a slippery green and slid up a tricky
slope five feet past. He holed so many
six-footers that the men with whom
he was playing considered the ball as
good as in whenever he got that close
And SO it turned out. He only missed
one putt of reasonable length during
the round. Yes, sir, this lad Red
cunningham is quite master of the
most difficult part of the game.
A CTIVITIES of the Senior Golf As
IA sociation of the Chevy Chase Club.
one of the liveliest of the club or
ganizations about Washington, may be
curtailed this year.
Gen. D. C. Shanks, the spark plug
Of the association. who served as chair
man last year after expressing a de-
sire to get out of harness, has made no
move to organize a schedule, and the
senior association has lost good many
members.
Without the magnetic personality of
ShankS running the tournaments the
association will have lost a colorful
leader
Between Shanks and Bill Hardy of
the golf shop staff. the senior Journeys
have been run off in good order and
without confusion, although some of
their match play events overlapped
during the season.
The Washington Golf and Country
Club has naugurated a policy of one
free guest day for women each week.
week as womens golf day.