Bobby Jones

Height: 5 ft 8 in

Born: March 17, 2002

Died: December 18, 1971

College: Georgia Tech, Harvard, Emory University

More than forty years after his death, the name Bobby Jones and the history of golf remain synonymous. An enigmatic figure that never turned professional, retiring from competitive golf at age 28, Bobby Jones blazed a trail and left behind a series of accomplishments that will never be duplicated. Along the way, he helped establish and design Augusta National and started an invitational tournament known as The Masters.

Jones is the greatest amateur golfer of all time. He won five US Amateurs and the British Amateur. Playing as an amateur, he won four U.S. Opens and three Open Championships. He took on and often defeated the greatest professionals of his era including Gene Sarazan and Walter Hagen. In 1930, his final year of competitive golf, he won what was considered the Grand Slam at the time – the U.S. Amateur, the U.S. Open, the British Amateur and the Open Championship.

Then, incredibly, he stepped away from the game at the age of 28 and returned to his law practice in Atlanta.

Jones’ impact on the game went beyond his efforts as a competitor. His work in designing, promoting and managing the Masters resulted in several innovations that are commonplace today, such as gallery ropes and the use of multiple scoreboards on the course.

Jones became involved in golf club design and worked with Spalding to produce what became the first set of steel-shafted, matched clubs.

He also made a series of instructional videos, eighteen in all, that provided lucrative income for Jones at the time. Sixty years after they were last seen by the public, a print was located and transferred to video for all of us to see.

Bobby Jones’ life was an incredible journey – 13 Major championships in only 20 attempts and a golf course and championship (Masters) that has grown into the most coveted title in professional golf.