Burning Tree – Makes Augusta National look like a women’s club
There’s an exclusive club in Bethesda MD that makes Augusta National look like a women’s club. This high end club, just a couple minute drive from Congressional Country Club is called Burning Tree.
Burning tree is a very exclusive club for many past presidents, congressmen, lobbyists and very well to do’s. Through a connection which will remain nameless I was able to play a round at this club which has virtually a closed guest policy.
When I drove by Congressional on my way to Burning Tree I silently wished I could play there instead of BT. Congressional is obviously very well known and the home to many Open championships.
Amenities
The first thing you deal with at BT is the parking lot, or lack thereof. The members park their Bentleys, Rolls Royces, Porsches etc on the grass behind the 9th green and on the driving range. While on the range I watched a member blade his approach shot over the green and the ball beaned a Rolls Royce parked there. I wouldn’t want to cover that repair bill.
I got to the course fairly early and my “connection” was busy dealing with “international matters” so he told me to make myself at home on the range and get some lunch. No problem!
Above: See my caddy left of the fairway?
For more images of Burning Tree, click here to go to my Burning Tree Gallery.
I hit the range for two hours. Sitting on the range hitting balls and listening in on other member’s conversation was interesting. These two guys were both complaining about the problems they’re having with their airplanes! One guy was complaining about his Lear’s windshield wipers not working correctly. Rough life.
I’d gotten up very early to drive there from Philadelphia so I was very tired after pounding probably 200 balls so I decided to take my host up on his offer and get some lunch. I haven’t been to Augusta National but I’ve seen pictures of the grill room and BT’s grill room looked very similar. I ordered a ham & cheese with and a beer. Strangely enough they told me there was no beer. In fact just about the only drink available was lemonade. What the?
The Course
My connection arrived and we quickly got some caddies and we were off to the course. Burning Tree is a very salty old course. It was actually designed by Alister MacKenzie! The course is lined on both sides with dense trees. The fairways were pretty wide. But if you missed a fairway you’d be in the deep forest.
The forest around the course was so dense that a couple of the greens actually had giant fans which blew air on them to keep the grass alive.
I found the course to be way too short for me. I could have easily played the course with irons only and still been able to reach the par 5’s in two. There were some decent elevation changes on a few of the holes but for the most part it was a short and easy course. I’d call it…ahem, an “old man’s course.”
My Caddie
I managed to shoot a 74, no thanks to my caddie. He was pretty young and he was working hard. Well not really since our bags were on carts. But were it not for his complete inability to read greens I might have shot a few strokes better.
On one hole the caddie told me to play a putt two feet left. Looking at the putt myself I asked “are you sure?” He confirmed so I knocked it two feet left and watched it break…. two more feet left. At that point I no longer asked him to read the greens for me.
The poor guy. He looked right at me on one green and I tossed my ball to him for a ball cleaning. At the split second I tossed it he looked away. Then he looked back just in time for my ball to bean him right in the nose. I apologized and asked if he was OK. He held back the tears.
No Women
After the round we hit the 19th hole. Once again there was no beer, just lemonade. In fact there were NO alcoholic beverages at all. I thought to myself, “what did the Mormons buy this place too?” It was at that point that I heard the reason.
Burning Tree is a “men’s club” exclusively. There are no women’s tees. In fact, women aren’t even allowed on the grounds. I’m not kidding. There’s a men’s locker room, no women’s. There are NO women’s bathrooms. If a woman were to wonder onto the course or into the pro shop, she’d be escorted away.
How does that tie into the missing alcohol? As it turns out the state of Maryland has been trying to get BT to change their policy. Perhaps Martha Burke is from Maryland? 
But the members of BT have refused to change their men only policy for years. The state imposed fines and the members of BT were so rich they just paid them. The members said they can just keep fining them forever because they’d rather pay the fines than allow women.
After giving up on fines, Maryland yanked Burning Tree’s liquor license and that’s way they only serve lemonade. They’d rather just drink lemonade than allow women.
There’s even a story about when a small prop plane had engine trouble. The pilot, a woman, landed on one of the fairways. She was promptly escorted off the course.
Women do get to visit the course though, one four hour period every year. They’re allowed four hours on Christmas eve to shop for their husbands in the pro shop.
Conclusion
My host could have gotten us a round on Congressional and I have an open invite for next time I’m in the area. I’d much rather play there next time. The BT course itself wasn’t that much to write home about, but the ambiance of the salty old club was very fun.
Along with being a great host for a round of golf and lunch, my “connection” treated me to some great items in the pro shop. I got a couple of hats, couple of golf shirts, logo balls etc. Then to top it off, he mailed me an actual flag from the course!
Update 12.19.09, 3.5 years after this piece was posted…
I finally dug up my photos from this day for those who seem to think I didn’t play the course. Here’s one of me and my uncle George (may he rest in peace). We had to bust out the cigars to keep the bugs away. It worked:
Below is me (when I was much heavier) teeing off. I don’t remember what hole it was:
Clubhouse:
For my whole Burning Tree gallery click here.
Wow! Very interesting. That just sounds bizzare that it’s a mens club with no beer
I also think it’s crazy how segregated some of these courses still are with women. There’s a local provate course that I used to play at, and the men’s locker room has a huge cigar/alcohol bar that’s bigger than the main bar upstairs, and the women’s locker room has nothing.
Who could possibly be your source for this one? Very intriguing, indeed. Particularly since you’ve played there and not me!!
I’m afraid I can’t reveal my source. It’s a matter of national security…
Hey, you took a while to find this by the way. And there are some courses out in the desert somewhere calling our names… What gives?
I worked at Burning Tree for a number of years surrounding the time your article was written. And that is why I can say that your trip report is highly dubious.
First of all there is a parking lot, albeit small. I have never once seen anyone parked on or near the 9th tee. On busy days, mostly tournaments, cars line the driveway adjacent to the range, the 2nd green, and the chipping green.
Secondly, at no time during my tenure did we stop serving alcohol. And of course there are always sodas and gatorades available.
Additionally women are allowed in the shop for Christmas shopping and on the course one day in May for the Spring blooms.
I am a member of Burning Tree and was at the time of your visit.
I agree with the previous comment and wonder if you really visited the real Burning Tree.
All of the above previous comments accurately correct your false representations with one modification. We have a Ladies Day Cocktail Party once every two year in the Spring during May.
Enjoy your round at Congressional. It is a great world class course and I’m a member there as well.
(Where in God’s name did you ever get the information that Burning Tree had no liquor license? I reviewed my bills for the time you visited and liquor was served everyday.)
I wrote this thing in May of 2006, but I played the course a few years prior. It was the year my best friend got married. I can check the date later….
Ok guys. I’ve attached some photos now and updated the bottom. This was back when I had a ONE megapixel digital camera so sorry for the crappy quallity.
No Beer! What are you talking about. After playing for the first time this past summer, I had a delicious glass of Burning Tree Lager, made at the course, while enjoying a Romeo and Juliet cigar on the patio outside the full service bar!! Oh, and I’m sure you shot 74 on your first trip around the course!!!
Funny. Even though I’ve posted pictures of myself ON the course, and posted a gallery of over 20 course photos, you still don’t believe I played it. Like I said, this piece was written in 2006 and I played the course many years prior. I’m trying to figure out what year, but judging from the file names of the photos in my Burning Tree gallery, it was 1997.
74? This is a SHORT course. Sorry to hurt your feelings guys, but this is not a hard course. I could reach all the par-5’s (the LONGEST which is 481) with irons. 74 (three over par) for a 1 handicap isn’t out of line for a par 71 with short par-5’s is it? Hell my home course is 6400 yards and it is a par-70, and it has TWO par-4’s longer than two of BT’s par-5’s. I shot 73 at Edgewood Tahoe from the back tees the 2nd time I played it and that is a MUCH tougher course than BT.
I give up…