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Lawrence Largent

  • Karma: +0/-0
Burning Tree Club
« on: May 23, 2006, 09:17:47 PM »
I had the honor to play the Burning Tree Club in Bethesda, MD this past Sunday on my way home from  Philadelphia. I can say without a doubt what a delight this experience was. I had alot of expectations from the stories I had heard about the club and the course. First of all from the caddies which mine was 75 and had been there for 66 years to the Locker room which is one of the sleepers in america. If I was gonna start a club this is the one that I would try to copy. I asked our host if the design was a Flynn he stated that it had been done by Colt and Allison. If I had closed my eyes with the bunkering and green contours I would have thought it was a Ross course. The fairways were excellent with their contours and the routing was supurb in using the land to create distance on a relatively short course. At the Burning Tree Club there are no rules except for no women and there only one set of tees. Now on normal days you can tee off anywhere you would like I was told by one member but we played in the Sunday Morning Foursomes one of the longest running games in the country. Since 1922 they have had this foursomes game with the cost of five dollars and its still five dollars.  I guess now my question is if anyone has done any research on the course I would like to know who the design work is credited too. Everywhere I've looked I'm turning up Mackenzie

Lawrence

Dale_McCallon

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Burning Tree Club
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2006, 09:22:39 PM »
I know nothing about the design at Burning Tree, but the five dollar entry fee for the match being the same since 1922 is one of the coolest things I believe I've heard.

Tommy Williamsen

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Burning Tree Club
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2006, 12:41:04 AM »
Lawrence, Colt and Allison did the original work.  Flynn made some modifications.  RTJ lenthened it a bit and turned a couple long par fours into shosrt par fives.  Ed Ault, who worked, at some point, on half the courses in the DC area also did some reshaping.  It seems to me that the course lost some land when the Beltway was constructed.  

The course is good but the experience of being there is great.
Most guys show up for lunch and sit at one table.  The food is very informally served and when lunch is over players jsut go to an empty hole and tee it up.  
Where there is no love, put love; there you will find love.
St. John of the Cross

"Deep within your soul-space is a magnificent cathedral where you are sweet beyond telling." Rumi

wsmorrison

Re:Burning Tree Club
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2006, 06:48:00 AM »
Lawrence,

While Flynn is credited with some design changes, I haven't found anyone or anything that can detail what that might have been.  We do know that Flynn's construction company, Toomey and Flynn Contracting Engineers, built the course according to Alison's plans.  A few years before Alison proposed going into partnership with Flynn.  We're not sure if it was a design partnership or design (Alison) and build (Flynn) partnership.  I suspect it was design because Flynn was apparently offered the partnership and not Toomey and Flynn.

Whatever redesigns Flynn may have made are less apparent today.  The greenside bunkering and fairway bunkering has been redone by Arthur Hills as I recall and is rather systematic in look and placement.  A 1937 aerial looks a lot different than it does today.  There were very few bunkers on the course, perhaps AW Tillinghast was hard at work there or the club decided they had to reduce maintenance costs.  The bunkers that are seen in the photo are not typical of Flynn bunkers.  Perhaps Flynn's work, if any, was done while he was doing work in the area on other courses a few years later shortly before he died.

Steve_ Shaffer

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Burning Tree Club
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2006, 06:55:08 AM »
It is interesting to note that the club attributes the course to Mackenzie and Alison in the private club directory of Executive Golfer magazine.
"Some of us worship in churches, some in synagogues, some on golf courses ... "  Adlai Stevenson
Hyman Roth to Michael Corleone: "We're bigger than US Steel."
Ben Hogan “The most important shot in golf is the next one”

Paul Carey

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Burning Tree Club
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2006, 07:51:19 AM »
Your recollection is correct.  Arthur Hills did do the most recent renovation.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2006, 07:52:00 AM by Paul Carey »

Martin Del Vecchio

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Burning Tree Club
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2006, 08:27:45 AM »
A 1937 aerial looks a lot different than it does today.  

I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to see that photo, if possible.  Thanks!

wsmorrison

Re:Burning Tree Club
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2006, 08:29:44 AM »
Martin,

I'll try and get permission to do so, or ask him to post it.

Martin Del Vecchio

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Burning Tree Club
« Reply #8 on: May 24, 2006, 10:09:12 AM »
And for those who can't resist an aerial photo, there is a new web site that provides some unique views:  www.zillow.com.  This is a real estate site that purports to give current values of most homes in America.

To peek at Burning Tree, look up the home outside its front gate, 8201 Burning Tree Road, Bethesda, MD:

http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?city=Bethesda&state=MD&zprop=37166711

You should see a "bird's eye view" picture of the house, which is right across the street from the 16th green (flanked by four bunkers).  You can grab & drag this photo, but only within certain limits.  For a better view, click on West, and you can navigate your way up to the clubhouse, and the 18th green.

So what is that boomerang-shaped green to the right of #16?  The green just below the practice tee is #2, but I remember #3 heading back in the opposite direction.  Is this a new practice green?
« Last Edit: May 24, 2006, 10:10:50 AM by Martin Del Vecchio »

david h. carroll

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Burning Tree Club
« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2006, 10:42:19 AM »
that's a short game practice area....the 3rd tee is just to the right of it and the hole plays nearly perpendicular to #2, not parallel going in the opposite direction

Scott_Burroughs

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Burning Tree Club
« Reply #10 on: May 24, 2006, 10:59:20 AM »
Wayne,

Craig posted the 1937 aerial in the AOTD #184 thread of Burning Tree, but his photo-hosting site from then NLE.  In that thread, Tom MacWood said that the Beltway construction only changed holes #10 and #11 (mid-left of aerial linked in this post).
« Last Edit: May 24, 2006, 11:00:05 AM by Scott_Burroughs »

SPDB

  • Karma: +0/-0
Re:Burning Tree Club
« Reply #11 on: May 24, 2006, 03:18:05 PM »
Martin - Those images are taken from local.live.com, where you can get birds eye views of the whole course. I posted about the new service a couple of months ago, and some of the views you get are out of this world. check it out.

wsmorrison

Re:Burning Tree Club
« Reply #12 on: May 24, 2006, 06:38:55 PM »
Scott,

Since you say Craig posted the photograph of Burning Tree, I guess he won't mind if I put it up for a couple of days.  Mine are lower resolution than his and won't be good for anything other than looking at on a computer screen.


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