Evening star., 1933-01-11
VARIETY Of SHOTS
OFFERED BY LINKS
I
Third, Seventeenth Holes
0utstanding-Semi-Pu Pub
lie Plant ThriVes.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.
ToNY SYLVESTER, the ro-
tund, likeable professional
l. at Bannockburn, has def.

'N1 ot6NGO 1kt, td4C 1O~
tund, likeable professional
Il at Bannockburn, has def
mite ideas about the hilIy
course out near Glen Echo, where
he has held down the golf shop
berth for four years.
"a good golf course?" asks Tony.
"Sure this is good golf course.
It's one of the best. You could
search for a long time and not
f1nd a course which affords a
better variety of shots than this
old layout. You've got to hit 'em
all here, and If you miss one you
are going to have trouble getting
it back. Brides don't come easy.
You've got to earn 'em. IS
Furthermore" AYERS the little sage
Of Bannockburn, one of the survivors Of
the days when the plant was a private
golf club, when business was booming
and when the course was thronged with
members daily, ut won't be so long be-
fore Bannockburn comes back. It's on
the road now. ia
I'VE are holding our own, paying our
bills, our membership is increasing ana
our course Is In better shape than ever"
Tony Is an tncurable optinist. II he
can't md something good to say, he
doesn't say anything. That's his whole
creed, that and the building Of fine golf
clubs.
LIE looked out over that rolling
L L ing country up In the hills where
so many fine golfers have played
in the club tournaments which were g.
feature Of the old days when Bannock-
burn was private club and hospitality
supreme reigned in the club house
Gould you find a better hole than
the seventeenth? Gould you have q
better test Of long hitting than the sec
ond?" And Tony chuckled. "I think
that seventeenth Is the finest one-shot
two-shotters, the third hole, right UP
there on the hill, is one Of the outstand-
ing two-shotters of the East
I've played lot of golf courses and
don't know Of any better holes In their
class than these two. The third and
seventeenth holes could At into any
mans golf course and stand out as ex-
cellent tests Of shot-mahng." a.,
THE third Is comparatively new To-
i Bannockburn. It Is only about six !.
years old. It was one of the holes
built by Bill Comedian when the New
York Trishman went up above the old
club house and blasted seven new holes
out of that rocky hilltop. Blasted"
Is the word, for on the site where stands
the present fifth green Bill took out O
rock as big as q house.
But he built good golf course and
of ell the holes he constructed the
third certainly Is beauty. Three hun-
dred and ninety-two yards In length, 10
probably would be hard enough II laid
out over fiat terrain. But the fatrway
tee, tucked away In grove Of trees on O
hilltop, to the green, lying on another
hilltop.
Usually that third hole plays two fun
shots. Under abnormal conditions it
can be reached with drive and Q
nlashie. But In any case it's real
tough affair, one Of the kind where
there are more 6s than As. Tony hirn-.
self has made 1t in 8 several times. but :
every time he has done so he has given
himself figurative pat on the back,
considers this the toughest.
THE seventeenth is q survivor Of the
i days when Bannockburn was
nine-hole layout, those brave old
days when DR.. Bruce L. Taylor. DR..
T. j. w. Brown, John T. Harris, Lee
Crandall, DR.. Waldo r. Pearce, Daniel
and Dick Beattie were among the stall
warts Of the club. .
In those days It was the eighth hole
Of the nine, and played much the same
as 1t plays today as the seventeenth
Of the revamped layout. It plays 184
yards In length. from tee high UP on.
hill to a green down in q valley,
f1anked on the left by O. wide and deep
ditch and on the right by deep trap
Normally the hole plays No. 2 or
No. 5 iron, and, regardless Of conditions,
1t Is good test Of iron play. 8
PACK in those early days of Ban
- nockburn, shortly after the club
moved over from the old course
near Chevy Chase Circle, there was as
much club spirit as any other club about
the Capital. We remember how Ban
nockburn, never q wealthy club,
couldn't spare the money to hire men
to pick up loose stones In rough and
IalrWay ana now the members (moSt
Of them) pledged themselves to police
the ground while playing golf
How John T. Harris, his usual happy
smile lighting his benevolent face, held
the stone-picking record. Good old John.
He has been dead now for two years,
but his memory is green In the minds
OF hundreds of old-timers who remem-
Der him for his sunny smile and hisc
cheerful disposition. At the last, he
had to quit Bannockburn and Join
another club because the pull Of those
hills was too much for his aging
muscles.
Only some 80 odd Of the old members
still adhere to Bannockhurn. Most Of the
others pulled out when 1t crashed as
private club more than two years
ago and now are scattered through the
other clubs around Washington. Mid
dleton Beaman, former Bannockburn
president, now plays at Columbia. Otto
Thacker and Eddie Doyle are at Wash
ington. Many others are at Manor,
while others have gone to Indian
Spring and Congressional. The old
club isn't what is used to be, but the
golf course Is the same, q good test
OF the game, and semi-pubiic course
from whose revenues may come a new
and better Bannockburn. s..