Golfers tend to be loyal to the game and to their favorite courses.Therefore, it's no surprise that Temple residents J.C. Scott, Melvin Pitts, and Gar Bridges were concerned when they learned last month that the first two holes and the practice areas of the Temple College Golf Course would be eliminated so that TC could construct apartments for its students, faculty and staff.Scott, 87, began playing the nine-hole course 40 years ago with war veterans from the nearby McCloskey Army Hospital (now the Olin E. Teague Veterans' Affairs Center), for whom the course was built in 1945. He still plays TC two or three times per week with Sandra Barfield of Rogers.Pitts says "The Old Nine," as the course is known, is where he learned to play 50 years ago, and he continues to frequent it to this day.Bridges says he plays the course as often as four times per week.Basically, the course's longtime patrons didn't want to see one of their favorite places messed with. A letter from Temple World War II veteran Richard E. Goodwin published in last Sunday's Telegram indicated that TC's encroachment upon the golf course was unappreciated by area veterans.Alas, it seems that a tough situation will be resolved and that all sides will be happy in the long run.TC will build its apartments (72 units are slated to open next spring), and the golf course will offer nine holes, a putting green, and a chipping green by the time the $60,000-70,000 project is completed around Sept. 1. by Greg Wille