Bobby Jones: Hero Enough for Me

Finding myself with time on my hands, unable to play because of the weather, and resorting to writing about golf instead of playing, my thoughts turn to Bobby Jones; not only Bobby Jones the golfer, but also Bobby Jones the person. Bobby Jones probably did as much to put golf on the map and in the minds of Americans, and the rest of the world for that matter, as anyone before or since he burst on the scene as a fourteen year old prodigy.

To just imagine; this was a man who was by far the greatest player of his generation, winning thirteen major championships by the time he was twenty eight years old. But if that wasn't enough, while forging that incredible golfing record, Bobby Jones remained an amateur and played less golf than almost all of his contemporaries. While beating all the best players in the game, he managed to somehow find time to earn a degree in mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech, a degree in literature at Harvard and attend law school at Emory before dropping out to go practise half way through his second year because he was able to pass the state bar exams. 

His golfing accomplishments won him the admiration of the entire world. He was given two ticker tape parades in New York City and awarded the Freedom of the City of St Andrews, the only American to have received this honour and privilege before him being Benjamin Franklin. I don't know if any American has received the honour since, but if you ever get the opportunity to read about and/or see film of the ceremony, do so. It is incredibly moving to see just how much loved he was was by the Scots, who were the founders, and remain the caretakers and overseers, of the game.

After winning the Grand Slam and essentially having no more mountains to climb, Bobby retired from competitive golf at twenty eight years of age and at the peak of his golfing powers. He had the wisdom and the ability to essentially quit while he was ahead, while at the pinnacle of the game. 

After retiring from competitive golf, Bobby not only practised law with his father, but also found himself making instructional films in Hollywood, hob-knobbing with the greatest Hollywood stars. He was befriended by many of the richest and most powerful men of his generation and imagined, then helped design and build perhaps the second most famous golf course in the world after the old course at St Andrews, the Augusta National. He then organized and started the Masters, which is now arguably the most famous, and probably the most watched, golf tournament in the world. He also managed to find the time to write some of the most insightful, timeless golf instruction to be found.

Bobby Jones had it all, it seems. He was handsome, charming, and obviously incredibly intelligent. Because of his golfing genius, the world was his oyster. Yet he was probably the least likely person to achieve golfing immortality. He started on his path to greatness as a very sickly child whose parents moved from Atlanta to East Lake in large part to provide Bobby with a healthy environment in which to spend his summers. It was this move that placed Bobby in proximity to East Lake Golf Club and the game he grew to love and then conquered like no one before or since.

Bursting onto the national golf scene as a fourteen year old prodigy, Bobby was known, at least initially, for his displays of temper on the golf course, and despite his prodigious talent had to endure seven lean years before he really broke through and began winning major tournaments. However, once he learned to win the big ones, he won them with abandon, winning sixty two percent of the time in his last eight competitive seasons. A statistic and record that will surely never be duplicated.

And to think, after this incredible rise to fame, and fortune, Bobby Jones was stricken with a crippling disease at forty six that left him unable to play golf and eventually unable to walk. Rather than indulge in self pity after being laid low by this disease, Bobby continued to stay around and ponder the game he loved and gave us the gift of his golfing knowledge by continuing to write about the game.

Having heros in this day and age is probably deemed a bit naive. After all, we have the paparazzi working full time to try to expose any chinks in the armour of our modern day heros. But Bobby Jones is a hero of mine. He is a hero in part because, in spite of his golfing greatness, he seemed to still manage to be so humble and genuine, and above all an absolute gentleman. He was no saint. He never claimed to be. He smoked, he liked a drink, and he probably cussed a bit as well. I don't know if he had skeletons in his closet. Quite frankly, I don't want to know. All I know is that as a golfer, a teacher and a gentleman he seems to have no peer. That's good enough for me.

Tiger Woods: Paralysis by Analysis

Is it just me, or has Tiger Woods just left the building. Whoever showed up for the first two days at Isleworth looks like Tiger Woods, but surely it's just a brilliant disguise. This imposter chips like a twenty handicapper and can't make a putt to save his life. It just can't be the real Tiger Woods.

I have listened to the talking heads and assorted experts on the golf swing from the Golfchannel droning on ad nauseum about the swing changes he's trying to make and how he hasn't played for so long and how it's a long walk from the practice tee to the first tee and all the other excuses for his abysmal play. But let's be real. Tiger has played this course hundreds of times. He was a plus ten on this course and now he's dead last in the field?!

It has nothing to do with his back injury. If his back wasn't suitably healed, he wouldn't be playing, and besides, injuries didn't used to stop Tiger. I seem to remember him winning a US Open on one leg. It's got nothing to do with rust. He's been hitting balls in preparation for this event, and Steve Stricker was injured and hasn't played in just as long as Tiger. He isn't flubbing chips like a duffer out there.

There are two reasons why we are looking at someone who just looks like TW out there. One: he's suffering from paralysis by analysis. He is so caught up in the mechanics of his golf swing he isn't playing golf. Two: he's lost his confidence with the three most important clubs in the bag, the driver, the putter, and now, it seems, the wedge.

Actually there are other reasons for Tiger's decline, but the first two are the important ones. He just isn't the guy he was in 2000, and injuries have little or nothing to do with it. There are lots of guys with bad backs, knees, wrists, necks, etc., who are finding a way to put a score on the board. Tiger just needs to forget about his swing and start playing golf again. He needs to follow Bobby Jones' advice and learn by playing. He needs to stop working at it or on it and start getting into playing the game again.

I've suffered from paralysis by analysis myself. It's no fun. The only way around it is to get off the range and go play. Stop working at it. It's a game. Play it. Compete. Seriously, Tiger, do you really need a teacher? Did Picasso? Did Rembrandt? You were an artist with a golf ball. You were the best. Go play. Go paint beautiful pictures on the course. Have some fun.

Don't Worry Jack: Tiger is Still Working on his Swing

Tiger's back for another run at Jack Nicklaus' record of eighteen major championships. While I may not be a fan of Tiger as a person, you have to be in awe of what he brought to the game in 1997. He clearly arrived on tour with a game with which no one else was familiar. He did things with the golf ball that left you speechless.

Fortunately for the rest of the tour players, somewhere along the line Tiger stopped playing golf and began playing "golf swing." Instead of being totally focussed on where he wanted to hit it, Tiger got bogged down in how he wanted to hit it. He stopped playing golf the way only he was capable.

When he ended his relationship with Sean Foley, I thought perhaps he was finally through with the mechanical approach and was ready to just start playing golf. But, good news Jack Nicklaus and your legion of fans and well wishers, Tiger has hired a new teacher. He's still working on his swing. That being the case, Jack, your record is safe.

The Wisdom of Bobby Jones: Striking the Ball

In golf, as in life, there really are no guarantees.  Every time you read a golf advertisement guaranteeing you anything, run Forrest!  Of course, there are some things in golf that are guaranteed if you play the game long enough.  For instance, no matter how good you are, you're going to hit some bad shots at the worst possible time, and get some bad bounces.  Conversely, no matter how poor a player you are, you're going to hit the odd really good shot when you least expect it that keeps you coming back, and you're going to get some good bounces--maybe even a hole in one off a bunker rake.  That's life, and that's golf.   

Bobby Jones, however, claimed that the specific knowledge he was imparting in his book Golf is my Game regarding striking the ball could literally transform your game overnight.   Bobby was not given to hyperbole, or making promises he couldn't keep.  He definitely believed that learning how a ball needed to be struck was the most important thing we all need to learn in this endlessly complicated, and deceptively simple, game.  He didn't offer a money back guarantee, but then, he wasn't that kind of guy. 

Concerning this information, Bobby wrote: 

"This will be the most important chapter of the book. It will describe the most useful learning you will ever acquire as a golfer.  You may gain knowledge from the mere reading of this chapter that will help you in the playing of every golf shot you make for the rest of your life.  This knowledge can make you a better golfer overnight."

This information contained no advice, or information involving swing mechanics.  Therefore, it is completely safe for general consumption.  It can do no harm; only good.  

Golfers are always looking for "the Secret." Many thought Ben Hogan possessed it, and that this secret was some sort of mechanical move that guaranteed a good shot every time. There is, however, no one mechanical secret, no "magic move" that, once learned, will make every shot come off as we planned it. That is just a dream. But if there is a true secret to golf, it is the information Bobby Jones presents in this chapter. It is not, of course, really a secret at all. It is just something either not generally understood or, if understood, largely ignored by the majority of players and teachers alike as they often search for the mythical perfect swing, instead of the perfect strike.

In 1927, after Jones had shot a near perfect round of sixty six in the Southern Open at East Lake, a reporter referred to him as the Mechanical Man of Golf. Jones found this amusing and wrote: "How I wished it could have been made to fit!" 

When offering the real reason for his superior play, Jones wrote: "I have always said I won golf tournaments because I tried harder than anyone else and was willing to take more punishment than the others. More immodestly, I will say now that I think a large factor in my winning was a greater resourcefulness in coping with unusual situations and in recovering from or retrieving mistakes."

Jim Barnes had offered Bobby some sage advice when he was in his seven lean years as a golfer. He told Bobby he would never win tournaments until he learned how to score when he was playing badly. Concerning this advice, Bobby wrote: 

"I think this is what I learned to do best of all. The most acute, and yet the most satisfying recollections I have are of tournaments won by triumphs over my own mistakes and by crucial strokes played with imagination and precision when anything ordinary would not have sufficed. And I think I was able to do this because I had learned so well what a golf ball could be made to do and how it had to be struck to make it perform as I wanted it to... Of course, I learned these things by playing. I kept on hammering at that pesky ball until I found a way to make it behave... I didn't try different swings. I probably didn't know there were such things, or even a swing at all for that matter.

A kid growing up without a teacher but with a golf club in his hands may be under a handicap, but he has some advantages too. No one is trying to teach him to play. If someone should try to explain the golf swing to him, he would be completely baffled. Even more bewildered would he be by even the most elementary discussion of why a golf ball acts as it does. But he has plenty of time to learn these things for himself."

Bobby pointed out that it is easy to identify someone who began playing the game as a youngster by their "appearance of naturalness." He believed they look this way because they first thought of the game in terms of striking the ball. So, Bobby went on to explain, "they set about doing this (striking the ball) with no more self consciousness than we would associate with chopping wood, throwing stones, or beating rugs." Bobby was confident that "the adult golfer should approach the game the same way... In a few minutes study of the material in this chapter, he can learn as much about the possible means of controlling a golf ball as a boy can learn in years of play."

When commenting on how "uncomfortable, strained, unsure, sometimes even unhappy" the average golfer looks, Bobby thought "a great measure of his discomfiture is derived from his conscious efforts to follow prescribed routine, to look and move like someone else, or as he has been told." Bobby thought the average golfer, or indeed the golfer just learning the game would "present a more natural appearance if he should put his mind upon striking the ball, rather than upon swinging the club." When one considers the extent to which other teachers stress to their pupils the importance of the mechanics of the golf swing, rather than how to strike the ball, this is very different, even ground-breaking advice. Or, it would be ground-breaking if it hadn't already been written in 1959.

I think the following statement by Jones is vitally important to remember: 

"No one can play golf until he knows the many ways in which a golf ball can be expected to respond when it is struck in different ways. If you think that all this should be obvious, please believe me when I assure you that I have seen many really good players attempt shots they should have known were impossible."

The following, admittedly very amateurish, photos capture the various drawings presented by Bobby to explain the sort of contact that produces a straight shot, a slice, a hook, etc.:

The first photo shows figure 1, the diagram depicting the ball being struck by the club moving precisely along the intended line of flight with the club face square to the target. In the absence of wind, Jones stated: "the only possible result is a straight shot directly on target. This is the ideal for most golfing situations." 

Bobby went on to dispel a common misconception. He wrote:

"If you have ever been told that the clubhead should strike the ball while travelling from inside the line of flight to the outside, forget it. This advice may have been of temporary helpfulness on occasion when the player, in attempting to follow it, has corrected a natural tendency to hit across the ball from the outside. But the player who actually succeeds in hitting from inside-to-out more often finds himself plagued by a ducking hook."

The second photo shows figure 2, which depicts the slicing contact. In this case the club is moving from outside the line of flight to the inside with the clubface square to the target line, the result being a fade or a slice depending upon how outside the line to in the clubhead travels.

The third photo shows figure 3, which shows the hooking contact. In this case the ball strikes the inside half of the back of the ball causing a hook or a draw depending upon the degree to which the club is coming from the inside.

The fourth photo shows figure 4, which shows the cause of a pushed or pulled shot. In a pushed shot the club is coming from inside the target line and the clubface is square to the club path. For a pull to occur, the club must be travelling from outside the target line towards the inside, again with the face square to the direction of the strike.

Jones writes: "These are the basic conceptions which should be in the golfer's mind every time he looks at a ball in preparation for playing a shot. He must have decided where he wants the ball to go. He should have a picture in his mind of the flight he hopes to produce, and then he must swing his club with the definite and determined intention of having the clubhead meet the ball in just such a way. This should be the object of his intense concentration."

Jones went on to talk about the importance of spin as shown in pictures five and six. From picture number five we see the only way to strike a ball without producing backspin, or at least with minimal backspin. That is to essentially strike slightly up on the ball. This is what instructors would have us do nowadays with the driver, producing an optimal launch angle with low spin for maximum distance. Picture six shows the descending blow necessary to produce backspin. Bobby stresses here one important thing to remember when considering using backspin to stop a shot quickly. He reminds us that since "the spin is produced by the gripping effect between the club and the ball, the contact must be clean. Should the ball be lying in lush grass or clover so that these lubricating agents must interpose themselves between the two surfaces, it may not be possible to produce backspin. The player must be ever aware of this limitation, so that he may not rely upon backspin to stop a ball played from a heavy lie in rough or fairway."

Dealing with issue of spin and it's importance, Bobby writes: "At the risk of being dogmatic and tedious, I am going to say right here that a person can no more play golf without a thorough knowledge of these spin-producing and spin-denying contacts than he could play billiards without an appreciation of the capabilities and limitations of follow and draw and a general idea of how a spinning ball will come off the cushions, or play tennis without knowing how his chops and twists were going to act."

Jones goes on to speak of the effect of spin on the flight of the golf ball. It is more general knowledge in terms of why the golf ball reacts and flies the way it does. But once more, in summing up, Jones reiterates: "Knowing the possibilities of the various flight characteristics that we may be able to produce will enable us to visualize the kind of contact we should concentrate upon. The knowledge that the ball will fly as we hit it, and only as we hit it, should at least suggest to us that the most important thing in playing golf is hitting the ball."

At this point, Bobby proposes that the reader "obtain a golf ball and any sort of lofted iron club and begin straight away to fix these concepts in his mind. In his own living-room he can place the face of the club behind the ball, and without swinging, visualize the spinning effects which must result from various kinds of contacts. He may also give himself some very worthwhile lessons in arranging his feet and body position in such a way that he may know he is able to strike the ball along the line upon which he intends to project it."

The following excerpt from Striking the Ball is, in my mind and, more importantly, in the mind of Bobby Jones, the reason why this knowledge is so important to every golfer regardless of his ability:

"It is in this very way that a player should approach every shot he hits on the golf course, or even on the practice tee. Let him always decide first upon the result he wants to produce; second, upon the precise manner in which he desires to strike the ball; and then let him place himself before the ball in such a position that he knows he will be able to deliver the blow in this manner.

This is the obvious, direct, and uncomplicated way of going about playing a golf shot. It will always be many times more effective than any attempt to follow a prescription for placing the feet and adjusting the rest of the body posture. It will result in an easy fluidity because it is natural.

One may very easily and with great advantage carry this thing one step further. Indeed, for the best in performance, the player must keep in the forefront of his mind throughout the entire stroke this very clear picture of the precise manner in which he intends to strike the ball."

Bobby went on to describe his mental attitude when playing a tournament round: "Years ago I described the mental attitude I tried to attain in a tournament round as a concentration upon producing a desired result so intense as to preclude any possibility of concern with the manner of swinging. I liked to think of erecting a wall or other vertical plane containing the ball and my left eye, and then focus my entire concentration upon producing the desired result in front of the wall. I wanted to leave my swing to take care of itself. I was confident that the movement behind the ball would adjust itself to the proper striking."

Bobby continued by writing: "I was very certain that whenever I could achieve this detachment, my swing would slow down to its proper rhythm and its effectiveness would be restored. As so often happened, a game which had caused me concern in practice would be pulled together by the strain of competition, whereby anxiety was proved to be a more powerful force than the will."

"I cannot see," Bobby concludes, "how one may avoid the conclusion that any player must swing and play better when he makes every move of his stroke with the aim of getting himself into position to strike in a clearly defined way, and delivering the blow in this way."

As sort of a postscript, Bobby finishes this chapter by addressing a shot that the average golfer "needs most," namely the wood shot from the fairway. Pictures 7 and 8 show the right and wrong way to strike the ball. This shot must be played as a backspin shot. Rather than trying to get under the ball and lift it in the air, the ball should be struck with a slightly descending blow which will impart the necessary backspin to get the ball in the air.

To summarize, Bobby Jones imparts the knowledge in this chapter that, if really studied, absorbed, and then applied, can literally improve our golf game overnight. Understanding how a ball must be struck to achieve the result we are looking for and then making the strike the object of our intense concentration on every shot will change our game. Knowing that a ball must react in a consistent way if struck a certain way should give us confidence, and focussing on the strike will hopefully free us from too much concern about swing mechanics, when we should be concentrating on the shot.

I suggest that most of us would stand to gain from Bobby's timeless advice.  If we would grab a club and a ball and, without swinging, focus on the different ways a ball must be struck to achieve a straight shot, a fade or slice, a hook or draw and a spinning shot; and if we were to take notice of how we would naturally approach and stand before the ball to achieve that strike, and then take this approach to the course, I suspect our game would improve. We might just become a ball-striker instead of a mechanical club-swinger.  I don't guarantee it, because a guarantee from me and a dollar wouldn't get you a coffee these days.  But Bobby Jones pretty much guarantees it, and, coming from him, that's worth something.

Rory McIlroy

I just love this kid. He's possibly the next great one. He's not only a champion, but he's managed to remain grounded and humble, something that can't be easy to do when you've had the kind of success he's had and have all the hangers-on around you trying to ingratiate themselves.

I loved the fact that he was man, or gentleman enough to say after the great win by Jordan Spieth in Australia that given a hundred tries he couldn't have duplicated Spieth's incredible final round. I'm not sure that what he said was strictly true, because he's capable of absolute magic on the course when his driver and putter cooperate. In fact, when his driver and putter are working at the same time, the rest of the field is playing for second.

I just wish I could give him some advice. Actually, my advice and half a buck wouldn't get you a coffee, so I wish Jack Nicklaus would give him some advice. He seems to be becoming fitness-obsessed, like Tiger. When I see pictures of him doing squats, or lunges or whatever with a bar with two volkswagons on each end over his shoulder, I just cringe. You can do too much of a good thing and pay dearly for it. If he wants to be one of the greats and have longevity in this game, he needs to be careful about becoming a powerlifter. He needs to watch video of Sam Snead.

In speaking of the modern players and their swings, Harvey Penick said he preferred to watch the players on the Senior tour whose swings had stood the test of time. He warned that the modern players with their swings that rely so heavily on strong cores and rotation won't be around to play the Senior tour if they're not careful. As they age, their bodies won't stand up to the stresses. 

I think Tiger serves as both an example and a warning for Rory and others coming along. Tiger was and still may be magic, but his training regimen has hurt him. He was a better ball striker and player as a scrawny kid than he is now. Bobby Jones said you don't need the kind of strength used to bend iron bars to hit it far, you need speed. He should know. When necessary, he could hit it the ball prodigious distances with hickory shafts.

So, Jack, I'm asking you, if you agree, please have a word with the kid. I for one want to see him around for a long time. He's a breath of fresh air.

The Wisdom of Bobby Jones: Learn by Playing

How do we best learn to play golf?  I suppose there is no hard and fast answer to that question.  It probably depends on our age, our circumstances, and perhaps even our personality.  We are all, after all, individuals.  Bobby Jones, however, felt we only really learn to play golf by really playing golf.  Sounds obvious doesn't it?

One of the world's greatest ball strikers, Moe Norman, said there were only two players in history who had an extra club in their bags that gave them a leg up on everyone else. According to Moe, that extra club was five and a half inches, the distance between their ears. That extra club was their mind; their intellect, especially as it related to playing golf. Those two players were Jack Nicklaus and Bobby Jones. Considering what Moe Norman had to say, it comes as no surprise that Jack Nicklaus was a huge admirer of Bobby Jones and vice versa.

I have indicated that, in my view, Bobby Jones was not only golf's greatest player, with Jack Nicklaus a close second, but also golf's greatest teacher.  Because his teaching is not so readily available, I have used this blog to pass along the teaching Bobby Jones provided in the books Golf is my Game and Bobby Jones on Golf.  I try to quote Bobby extensively, trying to add, only as little as possible, my own words, or interpretation of his teaching. I fully realize that to want to add to what Bobby Jones had written might be akin to wanting to paint a moustache on the Mona Lisa. 

The first chapter of Golf is my Game is entitled "Learn by Playing." It is worth noting that this was written by Bobby after he had been afflicted with a crippling disease at the age of forty six and could no longer play. Bobby began golfing at the age of six after his parents moved from the city of Atlanta, some six miles to a small summer colony near the East Lake Golf Club. That move not only extended young Bobby's life, it changed the game of golf forever.

In his own words, Bobby writes: "I began life as a sickly child, and at the age of forty-six was stricken by a crippling ailment. Even so, to this day, golf has been the major interest of my life... I know I can thank golf for having given me forty years of active life filled with exciting experiences and warm human contacts. I know that my physical affliction was not derived in any sense from playing the game, and I doubt that without this playing I should ever have lived to see a full maturity... The game for me will always be, as it has been in the past, a consuming interest." 

Ben Hogan inspired and continues to this day to inspire others to become ardent practisers. He practised harder than anyone before or after him because he felt he needed to in order to bring his swing under control and have total confidence in his game. In an interview in later life, Hogan said that he felt he had a "terrible swing." That's why he worked longer and harder at hitting balls than all of his contemporaries.  However, for Hogan, practising wasn't onerous. He loved to practise.

Bobby Jones, however, was very much a player, not a practiser of the game. He did not see the virtue in practising or hitting balls for its own sake. He believed we learned best and most naturally by playing. When he was physically able to play Jones wrote: "I was always an ardent player of the game." Though also a student of the game, he went on to write, "whatever thoughts I had about the game were directed towards enjoyment of competition, this did not have to be formal competition, because I could throw myself as enthusiastically into a four-ball match for a dollar Nassau as into a tournament for a national championship...The proposition is thus very clear to me that golf is a game meant to be played, and played as a contest worthy of the best effort of any man alive."

Bobby felt that golf was very therapeutic, especially for those people whose "lives are filled with responsibilities for making important decisions." He went on to point out that golfers "know, and have known for a long time, that when playing golf, it is almost impossible to think of anything else. The most complete rest for the mind, and the most effective renewal of mental keenness and vigour, come not from thinking of nothing, but from putting one's mind completely upon fresh and stimulating activities. It is, therefore, the all-absorbing challenge of golf which makes it such an effective agent of mental therapy."

Notice Bobby indicated that it was the "all-absorbing challenge" of the game of golf that made it so therapeutic. He went on to write: "In this view, then, it seems to me that we are defeating or detracting from the effectiveness of the game as recreation when we urge people to relax, take it easy, or be casual and carefree on the golf course. I think we should urge them to do just the opposite - to put themselves wholeheartedly into their play. What they want and need most from the game can be had only when intense concentration upon the play helps to sweep away the problems, worries, and even troubles of everyday life."

When he wrote the book "Bobby Jones on Golf," it had been ten years since Jones had actually been able to play. However, this time had been spent thinking about golf and how best to teach or learn the game. It seemed obvious to him that "writing about the golf swing has become too technical and complicated, and even the most earnest teaching professional presents the game to his pupil as a far more difficult thing than it really is." If teaching had become too technical and complicated when Jones wrote this in 1959, imagine what Jones would think now, with video and track man and all the swing aids and contraptions teachers are using to further complicate the game.

Bobby felt that it was "equally obvious that what the game needs most if it is to continue to grow in popularity is a simplification of teaching routines which will present a less formidable aspect to the beginner, and offer the average player a rosier prospect of improvement." Clearly, these musings have largely fallen on deaf ears among the teaching professionals. 

The trouble was and still is, as Jones added, because "golf is not taught as it is learned. It is taught more as a science or as a prescribed set of calisthenic exercises, whereas it is learned as a game." Speaking of all the top players, including himself, Jones pointed out that they "learned to play golf, just as others have learned to play baseball, by playing and playing and playing because they liked the game. In most cases it has been only after gaining considerable proficiency that thoughts of method have been of much concern."

Bobby, as we all do when learning the game as kids, chose to model his swing after the best player he was able to observe. In his case, it was the East Lake club's professional, Stewart Maiden. But, Bobby wrote: "Although Stewart Maiden has quite properly been known as my first instructor and the man from whom I learned the game, it is yet true that I never had a formal lesson from him while I was in active competitive play. In fact, it was not until He had returned to Atlanta, only two years before he died, that I ever went on to a practice tee with him." Bobby Jones won thirteen major championships without having ever had a formal lesson.

Concerning Stewart Maiden, Bobby further stated: "Although neither Maiden nor I ever saw much point in spending laborious hours on a practice tee, there were many times when I required a few words from him to put my game (notice Bobby wrote game, not swing) back in the right groove." Bobby then told the story of him having gone to Maiden before a big tournament because he was hitting the ball all over the place with his long irons. Maiden accompanied him to the tee, watched him hit two shots, then told him to wait before hitting another. He rapped Bobby on the left shoulder with the handle of a club he was holding in order to move him back. He rapped him again to move him even farther back, then when Bobby asked him sarcastically what he wanted him to do now, Maiden simply replied, "Knock the hell out of it." Bobby's next two shots went right at the flag. Maiden was already heading back to the clubhouse.

By telling this story, Bobby explained: "I am trying to show how I think instruction in golf can be most useful. A good instructor can be helpful... But it is most important that the doses of instruction be simple, direct and practical. It is folly for either teacher or pupil to expect that any swing can be perfected in an afternoon, a week, or even a season. It is significant that Stewart did not try to fill my head with theories. He merely put me in position to hit the ball and then told me to go on and hit it."

When praising Stewart Maiden as a teacher, Bobby wrote: "I am sure he never once thought of trying to remake a swing or to create one from scratch precisely along copybook lines. Throughout all the years I knew Stewart he never once allowed himself to be drawn into a discussion of the golf swing. To him, the game of golf consisted entirely of knocking the ball towards the hole, or into it, and that in the simplest manner possible."

Bobby tells another story of him having read an article by the great Harry Vardon on how to hit a punch shot. Bobby went to the practice tee to try to follow the direction given by Vardon. He hit about a hundred shots, none of which were any good. Stewart Maiden had been watching from a distance and when Bobby finally gave up, he observed Maiden sitting on a bench, shaking with silent laughter. 

Bobby wrote: "Never again did I try to learn a shot or stroke from a written description, and ever after, I have been careful in writing or talking about the golf swing. Certainly, there are ways of translating from one person to another ideas which can be helpful in playing golf, but it is not feasible for the learner to follow a prescription for the entire performance. No matter how clear the complete picture may be, the mind cannot possibly think through the process from beginning to end within the time required for the accomplishment."

So, I suppose you have a choice. You can can certainly decide to follow the example and teaching of Ben Hogan, whose book Five Lessons the Modern Fundamentals of Golf has been embraced as the  quintessential source on the mechanics of the golf swing, and head to the practice tee to try to perfect your swing.  Or, you can follow the example of Bobby Jones and just go play.  Or, you can, and perhaps should, do both.  There is certainly no argument that intelligent practice improves your ability as a ball striker.  But it is also true that golf is about more than just hitting balls.  It is also a mind game.

Frankly, I suspect the Jones way, of learning by playing, will be the most fun for most of us. Hitting balls can be tedious; although there are plenty of people who just love to hit balls and, if they are having fun, should certainly continue to hit as many as they like.  Playing the game, however, is ultimately the only way to truly learn it.  That's why, as Lee Trevino so aptly put it, the longest walk in golf is from the practice tee to the first tee.  We don't learn to play by practising, we learn to play by playing. Makes perfect sense to me.

Bobby Jones: Golf's Greatest Player and Teacher

There are often discussions by sports enthusiasts trying to determine who was the greatest. Settling on who was the best in any sport is difficult because, from one era to another, the person being considered for the title of the greatest faced different opponents from the one he is being compared to. In golf, the discussion becomes possibly more difficult yet because the game has evolved so much. The courses are better manicured, but longer, the equipment has improved drastically, and there are more accomplished players that must be beaten to get to the top of the heap now than there ever were.

That having been said, I honestly don't know how anyone in possession of all the facts cannot conclude that Bobby Jones was the greatest player of all time. The fascinating thing about Bobby Jones is that he was the greatest golfer of his day while remaining an amateur and essentially playing part time. The other interesting thing about Bobby Jones is that he was not only golf's greatest player, he became and, in my opinion, remains golf's greatest teacher.

When writing the foreword to Bobby Jones' book entitled "Bobby Jones on Golf," Charles Price pointed out that in the eight years prior to his retirement at the "laughable" age of twenty eight, Bobby won sixty two percent of the national championships he entered. He won thirteen major championships, winning all four of the Major championships of his day in his final year of competition, a feat that came to be called the Grand Slam. Mr. Price pointed out that no amateur or professional golfer has come close to compiling such a record, and suggested that "nobody with any sense could imagine that anybody else ever will." Of course, this assertion was made BT (before Tiger). Tiger's record has been truly amazing, as was Jack's, but I believe winning sixty two percent of the Majors entered over an eight year span still holds up as the best, and likely always will.

Again, as Charles Price aptly pointed out, not only did "he beat everybody in the world worth beating," he did so while playing less golf than virtually all the players he beat. During his competitive career, while he was beating all the pros and amateurs of his day, Bobby Jones studied mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech, secured a degree in English literature from Harvard, and studied law at Emory University. After passing the state bar examinations midway through his second year, he quit school to go practise. After Bobby won the Grand Slam, he retired. There were essentially no more mountains in the game of golf for him to climb, so he went home to his family and practised law with his father.

Bobby Jones didn't, however, stop there. He wrote extensively about golf. He made golf instructional films that included many of the famous Hollywood stars of his day, and he helped design and build the Augusta National golf course. He also organized and started the Masters golf tournament which he hosted for many years. Two of his books on golf, entitled "Golf is my Game" and "Bobby Jones on Golf" are classics, and for my money still contain the finest instruction on how to play the game that can be found. 

The interesting thing about Bobby Jones, as Charles Price was quick to point out, was that he was a great champion and a true sporting legend and hero, not to mention his off course accomplishments, but he was also intensely human. He had frailties. In fact, the only reason he took up golf in the first place was because he was a very sickly child and his parents moved out of town, and across the road from East Lake golf course, because they felt it might be good for Bobby's fragile health. 

Bursting onto the golf scene as a teenaged golfing prodigy, Bobby Jones endured seven lean years during which he never won a major championship. He first learned how to lose and bring under control his prodigious temper. His frailties perhaps became his greatest strengths and helped him gain such profound insight into both himself and the game of golf. He might have been a golfing genius, but, as Charles Price wrote, "he was also the sort of golfer who could come to the last three holes of a major tournament he was leading by the almost incredible margin of eighteen strokes and then limp home four over par. He could travel clear to California by train to play in an Amateur Championship he was almost certain to win and then lose in the first round to somebody the public had never heard of. He could break into tears from nervous exhaustion an hour after he had defeated the top professionals in the country."

Price went on to write: "But what really set Jones apart from all the other athletes of his day, and from all the other golfers before or since him, was not so much his educated intelligence, although that had a lot to do with it, nor his modesty, although that had something to do with it, nor his native talent, although without that we might not be privileged to be reading this book. No, what really set him apart was his insight into the game, gorgeous in its dimensions... No other player so effectively reduced this fearfully complex game to such common sense."

Anyone who truly loves this game, and wants to better understand its complexities, does themselves a disservice if they don't seek to read everything they can get their hands on by Bobby Jones. Not only was he a golfing genius, but his incredible intelligence and sensitivity allowed him to make observations and gain insights about the game that continue to escape or allude most of the rest of us. If you love golf, do yourself a favour and get your hands on Bobby Jones' books on golf. You'll be awfully glad you did.