Bobby Jones: Golf’s Greatest Amateur

Posted on March 8, 2017

Bobby Jones was born Robert Tyre Jones Jr in Atlanta on March 17, 1902. As a young boy he was encouraged to play golf to improve his health and strength. He quickly developed an affinity for the game and honed his skills at East Lake Golf Club. There he won his first junior tournament at age 6. At East Lake Golf Club the club professional was Stewart Maiden, from Scotland, who helped Jones but provided only basic instruction as to not overwhelm or detract from his natural talent. At 14 Jones won the Georgia State Amateur Championship, his biggest win of the time, at the Capital City Club in Brookhaven.

Bobby Jones in 1917.

While he did experience early success on the course for Jones there was more to life than just golf. He was highly focused on school and earned multiple degrees. He studied Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech earning a B.S. in 1922, after which he went to Harvard and received an A.B. in English Literature in 1924, and then he went to Emory University School of Law in 1926. At that time there was a stipulation that students were able to take the Georgia bar exam before graduating, which Jones did after three semesters and passed thus earning the right to practice law.

Jones putting with Calamity Jane.
(Photo from Atlanta History Center)

Bobby Jones earned his first U.S. Open victory in 1923 with the help of his famed putter ‘Calamity Jane’. Calamity Jane was named after a popular female sharp shooter and was Jones key to victory. There was an incident where Jones misplaced Calamity Jane and the whole city of New York assisted in locating it. Jones eventually had to have replicas made as the original Calamity Jane’s clubface became untrue after helping him win his first three majors.

The Match of the Century: Bobby Jones, their Referee, and Walter Hagen.
(Photo by AP)

Later in 1926, Jones became the first player to win both the U.S. and British Open Championships in the same year, dubbed ‘The Double’. To celebrate his achievement the city of New York held a ticker-tape parade in his honor. Jones continued to dominate the next few years winning more Amateur and Open championships.

Jones after his Grand Slam.
(Photo from augusta.com)

Jones went to the Walker Cup five times representing the U.S. and captained the team twice, in 1928 and 1930. He won nine of his ten matches and helped the U.S. win the trophy all five times he competed. He also won two other tournaments against professionals; The Southern Open in 1927 and the Southeastern Open in 1930.

In 1931, at the age of 28, Jones retired from competitive golf and began developing the first golf instructional videos. He created short movies entitled ‘How I Play Golf’ which featured the big movie stars of the times and were shown in theaters. The instruction and insight provided by Jones in his videos and books still remain relevant today. He also assisted in designing the first set of matched steel-shafted clubs for Spalding.

The USGA Bob Jones Award for Sportsmanship.
(Photo from zenosfrudakis.com)

Jones matured to become known as a consummate professional on the golf course and a big advocate for sportsmanship. One example came at the 1925 U.S. Open when Jones called a stroke penalty on himself because the ball moved upon address, a penalty both his playing partner Walter Hagen and the USGA official tried to talk him out of taking. The penalty lead to Jones losing that year by a stroke. In his honor the USGA now annually awards the Bob Jones Award to the player who demonstrates great sportsmanship. In 1971 Jones passed away at the age of 69. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame with the inaugural 1974 group.

Categories: Legends of Golf