The Common Golfer

Throughout the incredible history of golf, no one person has encapsulated the title of “the common golfer” as much as Bobby Jones.  Born Robert Tyre Jones Jr. in 1902, Bobby was immediately a natural talent at golf, learning to golf at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club (site of this week’s Tour Championship) and winning his first tournament at age 6.  He then went on to leave an impressive mark on the game of golf, that still can be felt today.

After winning his first competitive tournament at 6 years old, Jones went on at 9-yrs old to defeat a 16-yr old to win the junior title at East Lake.  He early successes continued as a junior, and earned him the nickname the “new kid from Dixie.”  He also set a record that still stands today, as the youngest person to ever qualify for the US Amateur at 14 years old.

After his successes as a child, it took Jones a few years to win the tournaments everyone expected for him to win…mostly because of the pressure he continually placed on himself (Jones sometimes lost as much as 15 pounds during a tournament due to stress).  However, from 1923 to 1930 Jones won 13 of 21 major tournaments that he entered (at that time, the four majors were the US Open, British Open, Us Amateur, and British Amateur).  He set a record in 1926, becoming the first to win “the double” – the US & British Opens in the same year.  After that, he left the most impressive mark in the history of golf, winning the “grand slam” of all four major events in 1930 – a record that still stands today (and probably always will).  Shockingly, a month after winning the grand slam, Bobby Jones retired from golf at the age of 28 having never turned pro during all his successes.

What is so amazing, is how Jones’ life was never defined by golf.  In a given year, he played less than 80 times a year and was known to put his clubs away during the hot months of the summer.  Other than the majors, Jones rarely played in other tournaments.  To only play the game as frequently as an average golfer, and to still dominate the sport, is truly remarkable and it’s often said that Jones had more natural talent than any other golfer ever will.  Harvey Penick tells a story from playing with Jones.

“The weather had been nasty, and suddenly hailstones as big as marbles began falling.  The whole green was covered with hailstones.  Jones had been down in the grassy hollow, but had pitched the ball just to the crown of the hill where he could hardly tell a golf ball from a hailstone.  From there, he chipped the ball among the hailstones and it rolled right into the cup – for a par.”

Bobby Jones truly was “the common golfer,” because of the way he approached the game.  His main focus off the course was his education, and later his law practice in Atlanta.  Later, in 1942 he enlisted in the army and served overseas, wanting to do his part for his country.  I mean no disrespect towards today’s PGA Tour pros, but you certainly don’t see any of them leaving the tour to join the armed forces in Iraq or Afghanistan!  Jones’ priorities were family, education, law, and his country; golf was just a favorite past time he just so happened to be ridiculously good at.

Even though Jones retired at age 28, he later on left two everlasting marks on golf.  The one he’s widely known for is his design of Augusta National Golf Club, leading to the creation of what I believe is golf’s greatest major tournament – The Masters.

Another accomplishment Jones is rarely known for is the numbering system used for our golf clubs to this very day.  In golf’s early days in Scotland, each club had a name (like a mashie or a niblick).  Jones worked closely with Spalding and developed a set of clubs in his name, with each club being numbered (like a 9-iron).

Another “common” quality Jones had, that at least I can relate to, is a temper on the golf course.  His putter, nicknamed Calamity Jane, was repeatedly glued and/or taped together because of being frequently broken.  Jones was once quoted as saying, “competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course, the space between your ears.”  Obviously, over time Jones learned how to play that five-and-a-half-inch course with ease!

In my mind, Jones is the greatest golfer to ever play the game.  But playing only when the mood suited, and never turning professional, he was also golf’s common man.  If golf’s other greats had only played once a week, they wouldn’t have nearly as many wins.  This week at East Lake Golf Club will be a great reminder of the lifetime and accomplishments of golf’s greatest talent.  Bobby Jones – The Common Golfer.

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Since this is the week the Tour Championship makes its annual return to East Lake, the course where Bobby Jones grew up and learned to play golf, several members of the golf blogging community decided to pay tribute to the legend. Ten different blogs are featuring posts devoted to the life and legacy of Bobby Jones, each focusing on an aspect of Jones’ life related to his or her blog; you’ll find the complete list below.

Before you watch the tournament, learn a few new things about the man who inspires it.

Gayle Moss over at Golfgal has posted My Favorite Bobby Jones Golf Tips. She writes, “His swing was a bit unorthodox, but no one can deny his amazing talent. Here are some of my favorite swing tips from the self-taught legend – Bobby Jones.”

Art Murphy from LifeandGolf gives us …We Play the Ball Where It Lies, a collection of miscellaneous quips and quotes about golf and golfers from Bobby Jones.

Mike Southern at Ruthless Golf wonders Could Bobby Jones Have ‘Cut It’ Against Today’s Pros?, and shows us what science and Jones’s own notes have to say about the debate.

Vince Spence from The One-Eye Golfer writes about An Affair to Remember – Bobby Jones and St. Andrews, as he looks at the affection of the champion golfer for the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland which started in 1921.

Greg D’Andrea at From the Rough talks about Golf’s Proper Place. “Bobby Jones played competitive golf only three months of the year, always keeping in perspective the game’s original intent – ‘a means of obtaining recreation and enjoyment.’”

Charles Boyer from Me and Old Man Par has chosen Bobby Jones’ Competitors: Many of Them Were Good, One Was Great. “It is often thought that Bobby Jones showed up and crushed his competition on the way to another victory,” Charles says. “The truth is that he had many worthy competitors and one, Walter Hagen, stood above all the others as Jones’ most worthy competitor.”

Michael Green at Aussie Golfer tells about Searching for Bobby Jones, where a search for Bobby Jones in Australia finds remarkable similarities to modern day golf.

Apryl DeLancey at Women Like Sports features in her weekly Wild World of Wednesday post about how good friends Alexa Sterling and Bobby Jones continued to play golf during WWI in order to raise money for a good cause.

And Ryan Ballengee from Waggle Room sends us a vlog from East Lake about how Jones’ spirit influences the club and community today.