Evening star., 1936-03-08
SEENAS BUGAbO0
IN NATIONAL TEST
US. Amateur Tryout Almost
Certain to Be Held at
District Club.
BY w. r. McCALLUM.

Aug lSG % 1OUl live d1Aeo
for the national amateur golf
- championship are going to face
the eighteenth hole at Columbia Gf
Columbia gets the sectional tests) with
a par to get into the big title tour
ney. Some of 'em will pound out a
lengthy tee shot. plop an iron shot
onto the green and get their pars, and
get into the tourney One or two
of 'em will hook one out of bounds,
or wallop a second shot into one of
the big bunkers that stretch out
fingers of sand for just such a shot.
They'll fail because they couldn't play
one of the better finishing holes to
be found on any golf course about the
Capital.
For that eighteenth hole, innocent
as it looks, without extreme length.
with a big green, and without any
particular trouble off the tee, is one
of several very fine finishing holes
on golf courses around Washington.
And when you come down to the final
test, the fellow who can finish is the
one who can win championships and
golf tournaments. At every tourna-
ment and every championship you
see 'em, those matches that come to
the last hole with everything. possibly
a title, depending on the roll of
crisply hit iron shot or the minute
roll of slowly moving ball around
the cup. The lad who can't meet the
test and bag par on the final hole
doesn't deserve to be up there in the
championship.
Almost Sure of Tourney.
NOV Columbia hasn't been notified
that it will be chosen as the scene
Of the sectional trials for the amateur
championship. But the chances are
1o-to-1 that it will be- And if it is
that eighteenth hole. which has seen
many a dramatic finish, is going to
see more of en, come next August Is,
when there will be about 10 or a
dozen of the boys out there winning
spots in the big championship and
five times that number failing because
they couldn't meet the test.
The eighteenth at Indian Spring.
the same hole at Washington. Beaver
Dam, Burning Tree, Kenwood. and
most of the other clubs around Wash
ington, are holes where many golf
matches are decided. There isn't
weak one in the lot. barring possibly
the eighteenth at Congressional And
although some courses have em,
for the stoutest-hearted golfer if he
fails to connect with tee shot and
leaves himself lengthy pitch to the
green. All in all they are the finest
collection of finishing holes around
any town. those final holes on the
golf courses around the Capital. and
the best part of it is not one of em is
par S. They are all par As and
good ones, too.
For the par S hole as a finishing
hole is bust. You will find some fel-
lows who can pole out big wooden
club shots and little else, winning from
a better golfer on the par IS. A par
8 finishing hole isn't considered much,
although some courses hame 'em.
notably the Garden City Golf Club
course, where the amateur champion
ship will be played in September.
Burning Tree No. 1s Is Tough.
THE best finishing hole of all, in the
- view of all golf authorities, is
tough par 4, around AS yards in
length, sufficiently trapped, both from
the tee shot and the second shot to
make it a tough test for both shots
And strangely enough, that is almost
the exact length of the eighteenth at
Columbia. And both shots must be
hit and hit right.
OF all the finishing holes around
Washington, the eighteenth at Burn
ing Tree seems to us to be the tough
est. 1t isn't so long in the mere mat
ter of yardage, for it measures 435
yards from the back tee. But artful
Marshall Whitlatch built that green
SO that the second shot is a nerve
Wrecker, and the tee shot alone must
be hit for a carry of around 200 yards
to get over the hill and open the hole
for a second shot to the green. An
other little trap at the right edge of
the green would make it severe golf
hole, but as it stands it is, in our
opinion, an outstanding finishing hole.
What a hole for championship fin
1sh, where only the stout of heart
would find the narrow pathway to the
cup?
One or two other clubs are bidding
against Columbia for the sectional
tests, among them the Country Club
OF Virginia at Richmond and Hillen-
dale of Baltimore But the U. S. G. A.
considers Washington the golfng GEN.
ter OF this sector and with Columbia
the only local bidder it is a fair guess
that Columbia will get it.