Best known as the only golfer to win all four Major Championships, the (pre Masters) “Grand Slam”, in the same calendar year, Bobby Jones is one of the game’s greatest ever players. The American may have retired from playing competitive golf at just 28 years of age, but he left a lasting legacy, winning the US Open four times and the Open Championship thrice.
The man from Atlanta claimed his first Major Championship, the 1920 US Open, at the age of just 18. Ten years later he completed the “impregnable quadrilateral”. What made his achievements all the more impressive was that he continued to study whilst he competed, and he earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech. He later converted to law and passed the Georgia bar exam in 1926.
Bobby Jones stands beside the trophies he won to complete the “Grand Slam”
(Image credit: Getty Images)
In all, Jones won 34 tournaments in what was a short playing career. As well as his 13 Major Championships, he claimed six Amateur titles – five US Amateur Championships and one Amateur Championship.
It was only in 1930 that the great man turned professional, and he did so in order to make money from instruction and through co-developing the first set of matched steel-shafted irons. Perhaps his greatest legacy, however, was that together with his friend Clifford Roberts, he established Augusta National Golf Club and The Masters Tournament.
Even now, over a hundred years after Jones won his first Major title, watching grainy, old clips of Robert Tyre Jones Jr. hitting a golf ball is a sight to behold. It’s hard not to imagine how that swing of his would have performed in the modern game. With today’s clubs, we suspect he’d have done Ok.
Back in the 1920s, of course, Jones and his peers played with wooden shafts, and they didn’t have the luxury of large sweetspots and forgiving clubheads. Still, by the age of 14, Jones could drive the ball a healthy 250 yards.
Bobby Jones in the perfect finish position
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Bobby Jones What’s In The Bag?
In Jones’ era, golf clubs were not numbered – they had nicknames instead. His driver was named “Jeanie Deans”, and the rest of his clubs had various names and nicknames, a combination of “niblicks” and “mashies”.
Jones’ driver was made by one of the most…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Latest from Golf Monthly in Features…