Amarone Golf Connection

Bobby Jones, The Complete Golfer With Lessons For A Complete Life

Written by James Ellsworth Sunday, 18 April 2010 21:09

Bobby Jones was a child prodigy no less gifted in golf than Tiger Woods. But he focused on a balanced life with a drive to give back to the game he loved.

Bobby Jones, from Atlanta Georgia, grew up in a well-to-do family who lived by a golf course, the East Lake Country Club. At 5 he watched the course pro and developed an incredibly smooth swing, winning the club junior title at age 9. There was no doubt that he was phenomenal. By 14, he was playing in national tournaments and doing well enough, but he wasn't perfect.

Jones was not a particularly heathly man and his nerves were not helped by chain smoking and not eating enough during tournaments. He also had a temper. He threw clubs and once at a British Open he picked up his ball and left the course. However, by 1923, when he was 21, he seemed to have conquered many of his demons.

For seven years, from 1923-1930, Jones went on a tear in the golf world. In that time:

• He won 13 out of 21 national tournaments he entered and finished second in three others.
• In all he entered 52 tournaments in his career and won 23 of them, an incredible 44%.
• Tiger Woods by comparison wins 27%.

And then at age 28 he retired.

Jones' Golf Accomplishments

Jones was in a golf league of his own. Bearing in mind that he never turned pro and rarely played more than a few months a year, Jones was a testament to perspective and balance. Among his golf highlights, he:

• won the British Open 3 times and the British Amateur once
• won the U.S. Open 4 times and the U.S. Amateur 4 times
• in 1930 won all 4 of the above tournaments, considered the Grand Slam at the time, in the same season, the only player to have done that feat.
• in 1928 and 1930, also captained the U.S. team in the biennial Walker Cup for Great Britain, Ireland and American amateurs, and he was undefeated in singles play.

New York City threw two ticker-tape parades for his prowess, in 1926 and 1930. But Jones was more than a golfer. James Calviezel, the actor who played Jones in the 2004 movie, "Bobby Jones-Stroke of Genius", said of Jones in the book, Bobby Jones: The Man and the Movie. " He was a guy who embraced the idea, who said, 'Yes, I am a role model. I'll take that responsibility.' His pureness drew me to him." Jones was aware of the responsibility of adulation and also gave back to the game and to his country.

But golf was not his life. He like opera and Cicero and valued education. Jones worked hard in the other months when he wasn't golfing to get three degrees- Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, English Literature from Harvard, and Law from Emory. While establishing a very successful law practice in Atlanta he also tried to help others in golf by writing four books and newspaper articles. He used the media too, making Hollywood shorts on golf that were shown at the movies. During World War II, Jones served as an intelligence officer in Europe.

Rob Rappaport wrote in the recent biography, The Immortal Bobby- Bobby Jones and the Golden Age of Golf (Wiley, 2005) that there is a certain aura of myth surrounding Jones. With Jones though, "the legend has the virtue of being the truth. (p. 7)"

Although an amateur, he did earn lots of money from golf through writing and making films, $300,000 in 1931. He was integral to developing Augusta National golf club in 1931 and turning it into a major tournament, The Masters. Some of Augusta's racial prejudices also attached to Jones but by and large he was a man of rectitude, humility and charm. As Rappaport said in the introduction, Jones, although not a saint, never succumbed to the temptations of fame like other sports stars, preferring the serenity of home and work. As with much in his life including the crippling spinal disease that struck in 1948, Jones expressed no regrets, oft using his favourite line, "we have to play it where it lies."

Jones made the best of what life can offer. When the anxiety and exhaustion of competitive play proved too much, he opted for law and family and making films where he coached movie stars.

Note: In February 1927, Jones dedicated a golf course in Sarasota, Florida named in his honour. It has a British and American course commemorating his victory sites and a memorabilia case including his scorecard from Hoylake and his putter Calamity Jane. He shot 73 in his round, a score this author equalled by the fourteenth hole.

by James Ellsworth who also contributes to www.suite101.ca