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Bobby Jones

Selected Writings By Jones:

(With O. B. Keeler) Down the Fairway: The Golf Life and Play of Robert T. Jones, Jr., Minton, Balch & Company, 1927.

Chronology

1902	Born March 17 in Atlanta, Georgia
1907	Begins playing golf
1911	Wins junior championship cup of Atlanta Athletic Club
1915	Wins East Lake Country Club and Druid Hills Country Club championships
1916	Wins Georgia State Amateur Championship; competes in U.S. Amateur at Merion Cricket Club, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as event's youngest competitor
1917	Wins Southern Amateur
1919	Is runner-up in both Canadian Open and U.S. Amateur
1921	Disqualifies himself during third round of British Open
1922	Receives degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology
1923	Wins U.S. Open Championship
1924	Receives degree in English literature from Harvard University; marries Mary Rice Malone on June 17—they will have three children
1926	Wins U.S. and British Open Championships, first player to do so in same year
1927	Publishes first book, Down the Fairway; receives degree from Emory University Law School
1928	Is admitted to the Georgia bar and begins working in his father's law practice in Atlanta. Jones will continue to practice law after retirement from golf and will head the firm until his death.
1930	Wins Grand Slam: U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, British Open, and British Amateur Championships; retires from competitive golf on November 18 and surrenders amateur status
1930-34	Makes a series of motion picture films demonstrating his golfing techniques
1931	With broker Clifford Roberts and golf architect Alister Mackenzie, purchases Fruitland Nurseries property in Augusta, Georgia, and begins design and construction of Augusta National Golf Club
1932	Designs first matched set of golf clubs for A. G. Spalding and Company
1933	Augusta National Golf Club opens
1934	First Augusta National Invitation Tournament is held; Jones plays four rounds
1938	Name of Augusta tournament is changed to Masters Tournament
1948	Plays in last Masters Tournament and plays final round of golf in Atlanta; has back surgery and begins to suffer pain and atrophy on his right side
1956	Ailment is diagnosed as syringomyelia
1958	Receives Freedom of the City and Royal Burgh of St. Andrews, Scotland
1968	Attends final Masters Tournament
1971	Dies December 17 in Atlanta; is buried in Oakland Cemetery
1972	Inducted into Southern Golf Hall of Fame; 10th hole at St. Andrews Old Course named in his honor
1974	Inducted into World Golf Hall of Fame
1989	Inducted into Georgia Hall of Fame
2002	Atlanta History Center hosts tribute to Jones on March 17, the 100th anniversary of his birth.sidebar text

(With Harold E. Lowe) Group Instruction in Golf: A Handbook for Schools and Colleges, American Sports Pub. Co., 1939.

Golf Is My Game, Doubleday, 1960.

Bobby Jones on Golf, Doubleday, 1966. Reprint, Golf Digest/Tennis, Inc., 1986. Rev. ed., edited by Sidney L. Matthew, Sleeping Bear Press, 1997.

Awards and Accomplishments

Winning all four major championships-the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, British Open, and British Amateur-was known as the Grand Slam. Today the Grand Slam consists of the Masters Tournament, the Professional Golfer's Associ-ation (PGA) Tournament, the U.S. Open Championship, and the British Open Championship.
St. Andrews, Scotland, is home of the Old Course, said to be the founding place of golf.
1911	East Lake (Georgia) Junior Championship, at age 9
1916	Georgia State Amateur Championship; qualified in National Amateur Championship
1917	Southern Amateur Championship
1919	Runner-up, Southern Open Championship; runner-up, Canadian Open Championship; runner-up, National Amateur Championship
1920	Southern Amateur Championship; tied for eighth place in National Open; National Amateur Championship, medalist
1922	Southern Amateur Championship; tied for second place in National Open Championship
1923	Won National Open Championship after play-off; National Amateur Championship, medalist after play-off
1924	National Amateur Championship; National Open Championship, second place
1925	National Amateur Championship; National Open Championship, second place after play-off
1926	British Open Championship; U.S. Open Championship; U.S. Amateur Championship, medalist and runner-up
1927	British Open, won with new record score of 285; U.S. Amateur Championship, medalist and winner
1928	National Amateur Championship; U.S. Open Championship, second place after play-off
1929	Won National Open Championship in play-off; National Amateur Championship, co-medalist with Gene Homans
1930	Savannah Open Tournament, second place; won Southeastern Open; Golf Illustrated Gold Vase Tournament; British Amateur Championship; British Open Championship; U.S. Amateur Championship; U.S. Open Championship
1950	Associated Press poll judged Jones's Grand Slam "the Supreme Athletic Achievement of the Century"
1955	U.S. Golf Association's highest honor named the Bob Jones Award
1958	Received Freedom of the City and Royal Burgh of St. Andrews at St. Andrews, Scotland
1966	Named president in perpetuity of the Augusta National Golf Club
1972	Inducted into the Southern Golf Hall of Fame; 10th hole at Old Course, St. Andrews, Scotland, named in his honor.
1974	Inducted into World Golf Hall of Fame
1989	Inducted into Georgia Hall of Fame, Augusta

Bobby Jones on the Basic Golf Swing, Doubleday, 1969.

Additional topics

Famous Sports StarsGolfBobby Jones Biography - Child Prodigy, Winning Streak, Personal Style, Contribution To The Game, Augusta National Golf Club And Final Years