A lot has changed in 30 years, but one thing remains constant at Chartwell Country Club. It is still one of the very best private clubs in the Mid-Atlantic area bolstered by a very friendly atmosphere.

The golf membership fee has risen from $250 in 1961 to about $12,500 these days, but the congeniality among members and guests never has wavered. In fact, that "at-home" atmosphere seems to have risen.

This weekend they are conducting a gala 30th anniversary celebration at Chartwell Country Club, and please, excuse the members if theypop their buttons and beat on their chests. They've scored a hole-in-one for 30 years.

Some 16 charter members, including the club's first president, Bill Dixon, will hit the links Monday in the highlight of their homecoming at Chartwell.

"We are very proud at Chartwell that we still have 30 active charter members and since day one, we have never discriminated against anyone," said John Irvine, presidentof Chartwell and veteran golf coach at Chesapeake High.

"Many private clubs across the country don't accept women and minorities, but that's not so at Chartwell. We have mainly professional people, but at the same time it's a family-oriented club, and even educators such as myself are welcome there."

Irvine, a physical education teacherat Chesapeake where he has been the only golf coach the Cougars havehad (15 years), started at Chartwell 20 years ago as a part-time bartender. He worked his way up to bar manager and finally joined the club.

"Everybody there is so friendly, and they used to agitate me about joining the club. So, 18 years ago I did," said Irvine. "Some clubs look down on educators, but not Chartwell."

Under the 21-year leadership of golf pro George Jakovics, who unfortunately resigned this Tuesday to pursue another project, the club has grown to 650 members.

The golf membership is full, but openings exist in the tennis and swimming programs the club offers. It's all part of the family theme at Chartwell, and Irvine is a good example of what the club is all about.

As a physical education instructor for 21 years in the county school system, Irvine doesn't fit the stereotypical country clubimage of the pompous corporate exec rolling in the big bucks.

He is so well thought of that he has been elected president an unprecedented two successive years. In the past, those elected only held the office for one year, but with the anniversary celebration coming up, the members saw fit to keep Irvine in place.

Irvine is excited about this big weekend and the chance to welcome back the charter membersof 30 years ago, but disappointed that none of the three pros the club has had will be on hand to join in the celebration.

Steve Tobash was the first Chartwell pro 30 years ago and was followed by Dick Slickner and Jakovics, who took over in 1970. Tobash had open heart surgery recently and won't be able to make it while Slickner died of a heart attack at the age of 76 about 10 days ago.

Jakovics has decided that it would be in the best interests of the club if he didn't attend, although some members are hoping he changes his mind and stopsby.

Nonetheless, the party goes on with 28-year-old Joe Wilkinsonas the acting pro. Wilkinson, an All-County baseball and soccer player at Meade High who after graduating in 1981 played the two sports at Anne Arundel Community College, has been an assistant pro at Chartwell for the past seven years.

While in high school, Wilkinson, a self-taught golfer, began working on the links at the Laurel Pines Country Club in 1980.

"I taught myself to play, and I'm left-handed,"said Wilkinson, now a teaching pro. "After a few years at Laurel Pines I decided this is what I wanted to do.

"And when an assistant position opened up at Chartwell, I applied for it and George (Jakovics) hired me. I love it here."

Wilkinson said he is really looking forward to this big weekend but knows it's going to be a busy one.

The celebration started with cocktails and dinner Friday night, yesterday's Ernie Swanson Oldsmobile Scramble, today's mixed couples tournament and tomorrow's old-timers tournament of 16 charter members.

Four foursomes will be out on the well-manicured Chartwell links tomorrow morning, and the guys will be playing to win just as they did that very first day back in 1961.

"Oh yeah, we still take it seriouswhen we get out there to play," said Howard Wheeler, a semi-retired architect from Severna Park who now resides in Florida. "This is a great weekend, and it's great to see everybody come back. It's kind of like old home week.

"It's always been a very sociable group and obviously that has continued through the years."

Wheeler, sometimes called "Wheels," will team up with Jim Wilson, former president Dixonand Tom Baldwin. That foursome with Wilson, a former two-time club champion, is the prohibitive favorite.

Lee Smith, Charlie Snyder, Joe Rodgers and Brian Brandon make up another team. A third team consists of a couple of doctors in Dr. Andy Sosnowski, Dr. Brady Smith, plus Charles "Buck" Hartman and Bill Anderson.

The final foursome ismade up of Bob Eby, Roger Mathieu, Dick Renoff and Ray Wheat.

"Weall played that first day back in 1961 along with another 100," saidWheeler, who said the club started out with about 250 members the first year and that about 16 additions have been made to the clubhouse and main building making it "about three times as large as it was in 1961."

The old-timers have remarked about the obvious care on the greens taken by course superintendent Tom Murphy over the last decade. Murph, a former Severna Park High football player, started out as apart-timer at Chartwell while still in high school.

When it comesto keeping a golf course in tip-top shape and as green as Augusta (well, almost), few do it better than Murphy, who is still another who exemplifies the homey atmosphere at Chartwell.To Murph and many otherkey people who have worked there, coming into Chartwell is like setting foot in his house.

Tobash, the first pro, only stayed about a year before moving to the Army-Navy course in Washington but was wellliked.

The late Slickner, a former football player at the University of Tampa, followed Tobash and stayed nearly 10 years before Jakovics moved from the Country Club of Maryland in Baltimore to Chartwellin 1970.

Slickner, who also was the pro for President Dwight D. Eisenhower at Gettysburg, Pa., before coming to Chartwell, used to like to tellthe story of the time Ike called the clubhouse one day.

"President Eisenhower called one day for Dick and a kid answered the phone and asked who's calling," Wheeler recalled fondly. "When the president answered that it was Ike, the kid asked him, 'Ike who?'

"Hesaid it was Ike Eisenhower, and the kid hollered to Dick that some guy named Ike was on the phone. When Dick didn't answer right away thekid went back to the phone and Ike told him to tell Mr. Slickner to get off his fat butt and give him a call."

Wheeler echoed the sentiments of many of the other charter members who say the club was veryfortunate to have had three outstanding pros such as Tobash,Slicknerand Jakovics. Jakovics is rightfully given a lot of the credit for building the club into what it is today through long hours and hard work.

"Chartwell has come a long way and has become one of the best clubs in the country, and George has to get a lot of credit for that," said Wheeler, who along with many of the charter members has playedmany clubs throughout the country.

Their opinions on country clubs are educated ones.

Yes, the fee has soared from a modest $250 in'61, but it doesn't cost a dime to be nice and friendly. That never has changed at Chartwell. It's still on the house.

That's what makes this weekend so special to the members.