Conference 7.286::golf

    Hi,
    Do not forget that Bobby Jones played in the 1935 U.S.Open at Worcester
    Country Club while using his hickory shafted clubs.
    Tom

     I thought the only U.S. Open at Worcester was 1926, but I could
    be wrong. I believe Willie MacFarlane beat Jones in that one.

    
    	RE: .1 AND .2
    
    	According to DOWN the FAIRWAY, the "national open" at Worcester
    	was in 1925 and Bobby lost in the play-off to Willie Macfarlane.
    
    	DOWN the FAIRWAY was published in 1927. The book I have is a
    	reprint and has an "Afterword" in it by Francis M. Bird, the
    	following info is from that. Bobby was only a part time golfer
    	during his championship years, he was also going to school.
    	He got his B.S. degrees from Georgia Tech and Harvard by 1924
    	(the same year he got married). He also went to Law School at
    	Emory University preparatory to admission to the bar in 1928.
    
    	Bobby retired from tournament competition in 1930, which was
    	the year he won the British Amateur, the British Open, the
    	U.S. Open, and the U.S. Amateur. He was the first and only
    	golfer to pull off the feat known in those days as the Grand Slam.
    	He retired from competition golf at the age of 28...!
    
    	He went to work in his father's law firm and part time course
    	architect. He, along with Dr. Alister MacKenzie designed and
    	built the Augusta National course in 1931 and 1932. In 1934
    	Bobby and Cliff Roberts established the Masters tournament.
    	It was originally called the Augusta National Invitational
    	it was changed to be called the Masters in 1938...

    Sorry about that!
    
    It was 1925 and not 1935 as I had typed in NOTE 537.2.
    Sorry about that.
    
    Should have known better, since steel shafts won their first tournament
    in 1929.
    Tom

from article in may/1986 golf digest, without permission
--------------------------------------------------------
	I have paraphrased portions of the article here, anyone wanting
a copy of complete article send me mail at CSS::GORDON including your
internal DEC mail stop and I'll send a copy. Dick Gordon



		How Good Was Bobby Jones Really?
			-----------
			    by
			Charles Prince

From the book: A GOLF STORY-Bobby Jones,Augusta National,and the Masters 
	       Tournament.





>	Jones' mere presence on the first tee had a way of disarming most
of the amateurs and even some of the professional opponents he was paired
against or just with.


>	Professional Tommy Armour, after playing numerous friendly matches
with Jones and never winning, started accepting a stroke per 9 holes from
Jones and when asked how he could accept strokes from an amateur replied:
	"Because, that's how goddam good he was."


>	Jones was the first man to hit the par-5 16th hole in two, at 
Olympic Club in San Francisco, all 604 yards of it and this with hickory
shafts and a ball that was easily 30 yards shorter than todays.


>	From 1923 through 1930, Jones won 13 of the 21 major national
championships he played in.

>	Jones never took a formal golf lesson in his life.

>	While in Chicago for the Walker Cup Matches in 1928, he set 
a course record on a course he'd never played before then proceeded to
break it two days later. Someone added up Jones last dozen rounds of
golf he had played and they were as follows:

		69, 71, 69, 68, 68, 68, 67, 68, 67, 70, 69, 67

	again all with hickory shafts and a ball that was 30 yards 
shorter than todays.


>	What was the best part of his game? All of it.! Damm, he was long!
He was the greatest putter who ever lived. Nobody could do with the irons
what he did with them. And he's the only man I ever saw who could back
up a 3-wood on a green.

>	In the 1925 Open Championship at Worchester, Mass. he insisted
on penalizing himself a stroke when his ball accidentally moved slightly
as the blade of his iron touched the grass. No one else could have
possibly seen the ball move, not even his caddie. That stroke cost him
the title as he lost in a playoff with Willie Macfarlane.

>	In 1934 he appeared in his own Masters Tournament but no longer
had the competitive fires...Jones finished 76,74,72,72 tied for 13th.
He would play in 10 more Masters but never finished as high as his
13th place finish in 1934.

>	Men might hit longer and straighter shots, sink more puts, win
more championships even. In short, play better golf than Bobby Jones
had, but nobody would ever play "like" him.


side note: Nicklaus goal as a youngster was to break Jones' record of
	   13 wins in the majors...I beleive he now has 20...!!!

    	Also a good book on general concepts of the game:
    
    		Bobby Jones on Golf
    		Doubleday & Co. 1966
    
    Can be obtained as part of Golf Digest Classic series which includes:
    		Golf Fundamentals by Seymour Dunn
    	The Complete Golfer by Harry Vardon
    	Five Lessons by B�en Hogan
    	Swing the Clubhead by Ernest Jones
    
    all excellent books...

    I once read that he hated to be called "Bobby" and always preferred
    "Bob". It is ironic that every reference made of him is always Bobby
    Jones. I believe the media dubbed him Bobby and thats what stuck.
    If you here of him referred to as Bob, it is probably a close friend
    or a historian of the game.
    
    Crenshaw said his video that's out these days is the best instructional
    tape available. Bar none.
    
    Ken

    There are two B. Jones videos.  The two tape set with accompanying
    book at $200+ is absolutely the greatest instruction/entertainment
    you can buy.  What a swing!!  And his concepts are solid today.
     The single tape version is in the $70 range.  I haven't seen it,
    but understand it is made up of some of the spots from the two tape
    set.
    
    Closs

    RE: .8
    I thought CBS said they had EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS to Bobby's tapes. 
    How can these be purchased elsewhere?
    
    Stu,

    
    	RE: .9
    
    	Stu, I think they were only referring to rights as far as being
    	shown on TV goes. I heard the same thing when I was watching
    	the tourney this past weekend, but I do know the tapes are for
    	sale through various sources, including the USGA...
    
    	This is just my impression of what I have seen and heard...
    
    
    	Gene

    confirming gene's comments in .10, they said they had the rights
    to broadcast the tapes and would be doing so during telecast this
    year....if what they are doing are as they did this weekend...well
    I suppose something is better than nothing....
    
    I been dying to get my hands on these tapes of Jones but REFUSE
    to pay the outrageous prices they are asking....I wish more people
    would wait as I do to force the companys to stop gourging the public
    enough is enough.....
    
    my 2 cents...

    Re:< Note 537.11 by TONTO::GORDON >

    I second the motion.   I  can't  see why tapes like Nicklaus "Golf my
    way" are still priced at $60-$70  reflecting the price videotapes had
    when it was introduced, I guess about  3-4  years  ago.    Now filmed
    videotapes average $30.
    
    I have seen some of the short broadcasts  of  Jones's  tapes and they
    look fantastic, but I won't pay $200+ for them.
    
    Tavo

    This last weekend I watched a fundamental lesson given by Bobby Jones.
    It was on out local HSE(Home Sports Entertainment). I don't know the
    age of it, but one of the students was Joe E. Brown.
    
    He taught the interlocking grip and a smooth two part swing consisting
    of a takeaway in one motion followed by the weight shift and swing.
    When asked about adjusting your grip to compensate for a hook or slice
    he answered by saying the grip should NEVER be altered. There are
    fundamentals you must always be able to return to. You should be able
    to see three knuckles while sighting down your right arm(right-handers)
    and your left hand should hold the shaft across your palm, not just
    your fingers.
    
    He was told by one of the students that if he took lessons from many
    instructors he would have as many diverse instructions. Bobby replied
    that the PGA was currently committed to teaching a uniform instruction
    process and he would receive the same from any of them.
    
    Interesting, I don't know how often they run these or if they have the
    entire series. BTW Joe E. Brown played left handed.
    
    Bob