Evening star., 1941-04-10
Popular Pro Returns
From Swanky Job
AT Indian Creek
Bob, Little Giont Among
Paid Golfers, Helps
Others to Success
BY WALTER McCALLUNf.

BY WALTER McCALLUM.
Back from five months in Florida.
and one Of the sWankiest club jobs
anywhere in the United States is
Robert Thompson Barnett, the little
giant of the Chevy Chase Club. Sum-
tanned Bob, partnered by immacu-
late Horton Smith, clashed with Dis
trict Open Champion Al Houghton,
who spent the winter with him at
Miami Beach, and Amateur George
Dawson of Chicago, in one of the
three matches at the Chevy Chase
Club for British War Relief.
When a fellow becomes so we'll
liked that his friends and en-
ployes (and every member of
country club IL one sense is the
employer of the pro- call him by
several nicknameS. go out OF the
way to tell him they are glad he is
back, rap him heavily between the
shoulder blades and hope he had
good winter, it's a pretty definite
sign that he is popular. And Bar
nett was holding informal reCep-
tions all over the staid old Chevy
Chase Club today. For "Pinkie," as
he is familiarly known around
Chevy Chase, has made a lot of
friends. If he has one member of
the club who isn't friend he hasn't
shown himself.
Is Golf Institution.
Bob Barnett is an institution in
golf around Washington. He has
been here, for one thing, longer than
any pro except Fred Mcleod who
came to Coli mbia in 1912. Bob came
to Chevy Chase in 1920, red-haired
young pro, ambitious and full of IRE,
Just out of the Army, and ready to
sink his teeth and his energy into
a big club golf job. Bob and the
Chevy Chase Club made the perfect
combination. He has grown with
the club, and the little giant of local
golf today holds an enviable spot,
not only in the hearts OF his mem
bers. but in the friendly feeling c:
his brother pros.
His achievements in golf have been
many. But they aren't as notice
able as his achievements in the field
of human comradeship, and service
to his club and its members. Bob
has won the Philadelphia open title.
He won the Middle Atlantic P. G.. A.
championship, and he was for years
one OF the top playing pros OF this
sector. At one time he spent hours
a day on the practice tee, keeping
his game in shape. Those days are
behind him. He is too busy now to
give much time to practice. Yet
whenever he steps out on the tee he
will hold his own against any COM
pany. He has played Chevy Chase
several times in "a, which is 5 below
par.
Has Helped Young Pros.
But the likable little fellow has
done much more than that. Bob
has explored the fields of human
companionship and found them
good. Some of the bypaths in those
fields he also has explored. and
found them even better. One of
them is the matter of helping young
professionals along the road to sue
cess. You could go down the roster
of the local pros, and the men in
pro golf in this sector, and find
many man who owes his first real
break to Bob Barnett.
Lewis Worsham, pro at Burning
Tree: Allan Burton, pro at Army
Navy; Gene Larkin, pro at Wood
mont; George Diffenbaugh, pro at
Kenwood: Ralph Beach, pro at the
Baltimore Suburban Club; Buck
Worsham, Middle Atlantic P. G. A,
assistants champion. All of these
owe a debt of gratitude to "Pinkie"
Barnett Of Chevy Chase. He helped
them over the first two or three
tough hurdles. 1t happens to be one
of Barnett'S real loves that of aid
ing a younger man on the road to
success. "All of us need nudge
at one time or other" says Bob. If
I've helped any one to get along 1t |
was my pleasure" That's the kind
of a fellow he is,
Holds Two Big Jobs.
Today Bob Barnett holds two OF
the fine professional jobs in the
land. He is the seven-month pro
at the Chevy Chase Club, one of the
finest clubs in the United States,
and the fve-month pro at the In
dian Creek Club of Miami Beach,
where millionaires hourly rub elbows
with the little redhead and count
1t an honor to do so. Those two
jobs are big jobs for any pro golfer.
yet Bob holds them down, and is
a friend to every member. That
happens to be big test.
He is a power among the pro
golfers here and anywhere in the
land. They listen when Bob Barnett
arises in the annual meetings OF
the national p. G. A, for he doesn't
rise unless he has something so
say. So today at Chevy Chase, II
YOU see a little red-haired, sun
burned fellow holding receptions on
practically every hole, that will be
Barnett. Sheer power Of person
ality, and graciousness, have won
him an enViable spot among golf