Bobby Jones at St. Andrews, 9th July 1927. Kirby/Topical Press Agency/Allsport/Hulton/Archive
Long before Tiger Woods or even Jack Nicklaus, Atlanta’s own Bobby Jones stood atop golf’s Mount Rushmore. A cross between Happy Gilmore and Atticus Finch, Jones mastered the world’s hardest game, using equipment that looks like firewood compared to today’s space-aged technology.
Son of Robert “Colonel” Jones, Bobby remains the only person to win golf’s “Grand Slam,” taking all four majors within a single calendar year. He did so as an amateur before eventually graduating from Harvard and becoming a successful lawyer. Here’s the impressive life of golf’s first superstar, Bobby Jones.
Jones played in 31 championships, placing first or second more than half the time.
A Prodigy
Despite a sickly childhood, Jones’ talent shone from an early age. He won his first tournament at 6, practicing at the prestigious East Lake Country Club which coincidentally doubled as his backyard. At nine he earned the Club's Junior Championship. At age ten he shot 90; a year later 80, and before he hit his teenage years, he broke 70 at East Lake. That Club annually challenges pros vying for the PGA Tour Championship today.
American golfer Bobby Jones drives off from the first tee during a practice game on the Old Course at St Andrews. Getty Images
Temper Temper
Despite Jones’ unmistakable talent, his even more prodigious rage kept him from ultimate victory. As famed sports columnist Grantland Rice wrote in 1940, "Bobby was a short, rotund kid, with the face of an angel and the temper of a timber wolf. At a missed shot, his sunny smile could turn more suddenly into a black storm cloud than the Nazis can grab a country. Even at the age of 14 Bobby could not understand how anyone ever could miss any kind of golf shot."
For seven years Jones battled his inner demons. As he later put it, "I was full of pie, ice cream, and inexperience. To me, golf was just a game to beat someone. I didn't know that someone was me."
The Scottish loved Bobby Jones so much they called him their Bonnie Bobby.
Undeniable Talent
In the face of those fiery internal struggles, Jones’ talent couldn’t be denied. Although, during the 1923 U.S. Open at Inwood Country Club he would self-combust again. Finishing bogey-bogey-double bogey, Jones opened the door for Bobby Cruickshank to force a playoff. As Jones later said, "I didn't finish like a champion. I finished like a yellow dog."
Nevertheless, during the 18-hole playoff, Jones displayed his full genius in a single shot. Sitting 190 yards away with perilous water and a terrible lie, Jones took out what amounted to your grandfather’s walking cane and belted it within 8 feet of the cup. That win opened the floodgates to nine major championships over a six-year period, an unprecedented run at that time.
After losing the US Open due to a self penalty he refused all credit stating, “you may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank.†Allsport Hulton/Archive
A Different Era
Jones managed that incredible run of success despite using clubs made from handsome tree branches and rubber balls. Players today call on a vast array of golf weaponry tailor-made for every conceivable scenario. Jones had so few clubs they had actual names!
His most famous stick was undoubtedly his prized putter, Calamity Jane. Her partner in crime? His driver, Jeannie Deans. Together they dominated the field until Jones’ retirement at the precocious age of 28. To put the truly antediluvian nature of golf clubs at the time into perspective, they didn’t label them as 9-irons or 4 irons but rather with names like niblick, jigger, spade mashie, or a spoon. A spoon!
Jones also founded and helped design Augusta National Golf Club.
A Year Like No Other
Early in 1930, Jones played with familiar rival Cruickshank who watched Bobby take the event by 16 strokes. Afterward, he told Jones, "I know what you are going to do this year, Bob. You are going to win all the major championships in one year." At the time the idea was so inconceivable, the term “grand slam” hadn’t even been invented. However, Cruickshank backed his bold statement by betting on Jones to do just that at 50-1 odds!
Cruickshank looked like Nostradamus when New York City held a ticker tape parade after Jones took the first two legs. After winning his fifth U.S. Amateur in a rout, the accomplishment still remained beyond his comprehension. As Herbert Warren Wind wrote, "In the clubhouse, after a talk with his father, he began to digest the reality that the Grand Slam was factually behind him and with it the ever-accumulating strain he had carried for months. When he appeared for the presentation ceremonies he looked years younger."
He retired with 13 majors as Wind noted, "There were no worlds left for him to conquer.” Still, Jones managed to become an instrumental part of creating the Master's Tournament, a magnificent capper “unlike any other” to an already sterling career.
