Evening star., 1936-01-05
Columbia Has a Set,


A MOTHER set of presidential driv-
"A ers hangs on the wall of Column
bia. These are drivers used by Hard
ing and Wilson, but, strangely enough,
neither Of these men played very
mucn at Columbia. Harding was a
golflng cosmopolite. He played every
where. even in East Potomac Park,
where many a Summer morning he
went down, accompanied by Dick
Jarvis and other Secret Service men.
to play nine holes before swinging into
work at 1900 Pennsylvania avenue.
He played at Washington, Columbia.
Chevy Chase and Friendship. but most
of his golf was divided between the
latter places. In those days he played
most frequently with Mclean. Henry
P. Fletcher, then Undersecretary of
State. and with Senators Freling-
huysen and Hale. And he played
fairly we'll, too. He was the best
golfer of the trio, for Harding scored
in the low COS. with an occasional dip
into the high 80s.
Wilson played most of his golf at
the Washington Golf and Country
Club, out in the hills of nearby Vir-
ginia, where he could be free from in
terruption. for in those days, 18 years
ago. when he left the first tee he
didn't see a habitation until he got
well around toward the twelfth hole.
He played regularly with Admiral Cary
T. Grayson, and occasionally Mrs. Will
son went along OF course, President
Wilson was an honorary member OF
several other clubs about Washington,
but he didn't use their golf courses.
He played at Washington. In the
main room of the Washington club
today hangs print of golf scene
which was given to the club by him.
Game Meant Much to Taft.
TO PRESIDENT TAFT, jovial and
= good-natured. golf was at once
q pleasant diversion and medium of
companionship. In the days when
he graced the White House, Chevy
Chase, where he played, was far out
in the country. Automobiles were
rarities, and he drove to the club be-
hind a team of spanking bays. Back
in 1911 Taft and Vice President Sher-
man. whose sons were good golfers
themselves. donated to the Chevy
Chase Club the two trophies which
are the main prizes In the Chevy
Chase invitation tournament. Taft
and Sherman Trophies. big silver cups
whose replicas go to the winner and
runner-up in the club invitation tour
nament each year, are among the
most-sought- latter prizes in this
country.
The Taft driver is one of those old
fashioned implements with a small
head, shallow face and big grip.
1t has the characteristic insert in the
face, of ivory, for in those days golf
balls were not the resilient and fast
flying spheres they are today. Chick
Evans was the boy wonder and Bob
Jones and Lawson Little hadn't been
heard of.
But priced as these ancient imple-
ments are at Burning Tree and Co.
iunbia, the Congressional Club has a
pair of wooden clubs which really are
trophies worth while. Bob Jones won
his first amateur championship at
Merton in September of 1924, after
seven long years of struggling for the
chief prize Of amateur golf He gave
his driver and brassie to his friend.
Tommy Armour, shortly after he won
the championship, and Tommy gave
'em to the Congressional Club in 1928.
Today they repose in a glass case in
the Congressional grill room, highly
priced trophies of the greatest Roman
of them all. Stiff of shaft, bulky of
head, they are typical of the power
weapons of the Jones that was, be-
fore the days Of universally used
steel shafts. It Is an anacronism.
too, that the name Robert T. Jones,
jr.. today graces one of the more
popular sets of golf clubs, for Bob is
on the staff of one of the bigger golf
manufacturing companies and Jones
clubs are standard equipment, all with
steel shafts.