Evening star., 1939-02-04
Face-Lifting Starts
Al East Potomac
Within Week
Revision Of Anucostiu
And Rock Creek Links
Also Is Scheduled

And Rock Creek Links
Also Is Scheduled
BY WALTER McCALLUM.
Any day now, probably Monday
morning, If the rain lets up and the
ground absorbs some Of the heavenly
perspiration, q flock Of G. G. G.
boys will descend on East Potomac
Park with a load Of shovels and
little cedar trees, and the face lifting
program for the Loef1er operated
public courses will be on.
The process Of construction may
take several weeks and may run
into months, but when 1t is finished
the boys who perpetrate their links
mayhem on the fiat reaches Of
Washington's pioneer major public
course will have something pretty
good on which to test their skill.
"It's all set to start Monday, II
the rain holds up and the course
dries out a little" said Tommy
Doerer, manager at East Potomac.
Thirty-six cute little cedar trees
will be planted-two at 200 yards
from each tee-to mark the distance
a well-hit tee shot should carry.
They will be in the rough, of course.
but some day those little trees will
be big trees and will become real
hazards. Then the boys who plant
tee shot behind them won't think
they are so cute.
Greens to Be Rebuilt.
Major job Of the Civilian Con-
servation Corps lads, who will be
temporarily diverted to golf course
construction, will be to completely
rebuild a lot of the putting greens
at East Potomac Park and to re-
construct all the tees.
I'VE want to change around lot
Of those greens that were built as
two-Way greens" said Doerer They
are bumped in the middle and the
trapping is obsolete They get so
hard in the summer that you can't
pitch ball to them, and all In all
they are away behind modern golf
course construction ideals. We want
to see most of the old ones rebuilt
and we want to do some trapping
around all of them. Personally Id
like to see two of these nine-hole
layouts made into a really rugged
18-hole course, one that would come
pretty close to country club stand
ards"
After the c. C. C. boys finish at
East Potomac Park-which may not
be until May-they will move over
into Anacostia Park for some re.
construction work there. Three
holes on that layout will be out Of
use when the time comes for putting
in the spans of the new bridge over
the Anacostia River and new club.
house is projected for the Fairlawn
layout.
Work at Rock Creek Park.
Then the lads in dungarees will
move up to Rock Creek Park, where
they'll proceed to rebuild most of
the putting greens of the hilly little
layout in the uptown park. They
need 1t badly enough, for with few
exceptions they haven't had a new
surface since the course was laid
down around 1926.
In the summer, when there isn't
much water around, it becomes quite
a problem to pitch to those green's.
That course also could stand some
trapping, but it is so infested with
enveloping woods and the terrain is
so cut up that perhaps some modern
trapping would make it too tough
Tor the players who use it regularly.
Down through the years since he
first obtained control of the nine
hole course in East Potomac Park
and started on the links ventures
that have swept him to the over
lordship of all the municipal lay
outs in the city, Leoffler hasn't been
idle. East Potomac Park now has
50 holes; the new nine-hole course
Tor colored in Deanwood, D. c., will
open in the spring; another new
course Is being built at Fort Dupont,
Good Links in Prospect.
ALI In all. the Leoff1er enterprises
have become big business. But the
reconstruction program to get under
way next week marks a new mile
stone In public course Improvement.
AT the end of it Leoff1er will have
some good golf layouts. But thew
are badly needed. Washington hasn't
anything in the public links line to
compare with Baltimore's Mount
Pleasant layout.
IL might be good idea for Leoff1er
TO brush up two of his nine hole
courses at East Potomac Park and
convert them into really fine law
outs-courses which would be dif-
1erent from the routine pitch-and-
run formula Of past years.
Public links golfers, right down
the line, haven't done anvthinn ",
private club tournaments In wears
Ihat's because the type of shot-
making is entirely different. Yov
can't use the pitch-and-run shot to
lightly trapped green's. But If
Leomer built up the greens at two
OF MS courses, kept them fairly soft
ana trapped them Adequately the
standard Of public links golf would
snow quick upturn.
The boys soon would learn In n,av
tne type OF shot such courses would
taKe. They don't need it now. The
runup shot works just as well and
always works better when the greens