Golf’s Proper Place

“I reached a point where I felt that my profession required more of my time and effort, leaving golf in its proper place, a means of obtaining recreation and enjoyment.” – Bobby Jones on his retirement from golf in 1930.

At age 28 Bobby Jones realized, like many of us, what’s really important in life: “My wife and my children came first; then my profession; finally, and never in a life by itself, came golf.”

The average weekend golfer plays 21 rounds a year but we all wish we could play more. Mr. Jones, when competing, played about 80 rounds a year – still far less than what his fellow competitors were churning out annually. Yet his raw talent allowed him to not only excel at the sport, but become immortalized as one of golf’s greatest legends.

Because of his sparse playing schedule, Mr. Jones has been called golf’s greatest part-time golfer. For only three months during the year, Bobby competed in the major tournaments and then retired back to other matters – usually surrounding his education (he held degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech; in English from Harvard College; and in Law from Emory University). And he was also a family-man, with a wife and three children to spend time with.

When Bobby Jones retired in 1930, he was at the peak of his career; still in his twenties; and having just completed what is widely considered the greatest achievement ever in the history of golf – winning golf’s Grand Slam. But Mr. Jones digressed – removing himself from competitive play and relegating himself to the ranks of the weekend golfer. There’s something inherently right with the phrase “quit while you’re ahead” – it seems that those who do, inevitably enshrine themselves as legends of their craft.

As part-time golfers ourselves, we are sometimes discouraged at how infrequently we have the opportunity to play. We blame our high scores on our low number of rounds. And those of us who have not reached the age of retirement, long for the day we can play more often. But even a great player like Bobby Jones knew that golf was just a game – and he recognized that as with any competitive monetary sport, golf’s true benefit can be easily lost:

“There seems to be little appreciation today that golf is an amateur game, developed and supported by those who love to play it.”

It would have been understandable had Mr. Jones made the previous statement at the end of his life, but instead he wrote that in the letter announcing his retirement at age 28. Perhaps more amazingly, Bobby could have easily made a living playing professional golf – yet he never did, instead competing only as an amateur. Bobby Jones never saw golf as something you should bank your next meal on, rather he saw golf for what it was intended to be, “a means of obtaining recreation and enjoyment.”

If you truly want to enjoy this game, you should never forget golf’s proper place.

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Since this is the week the Tour Championship makes its annual return to East Lake, the course where Bobby Jones grew up and learned to play golf, several members of the golf blogging community decided to pay tribute to the legend. Ten different blogs are featuring posts devoted to the life and legacy of Bobby Jones, each focusing on an aspect of Jones’ life related to his or her blog; now that you’ve read our post, you’ll find the rest of the list below. So before you watch the tournament, learn a few new things about the man who inspires it…enjoy.

Gayle Moss over at Golfgal has posted My Favorite Bobby Jones Golf Tips. She writes, “His swing was a bit unorthodox, but no one can deny his amazing talent. Here are some of my favorite swing tips from the self-taught legend – Bobby Jones.”

Art Murphy from LifeandGolf gives us …We Play the Ball Where It Lies, a collection of miscellaneous quips and quotes about golf and golfers from Bobby Jones.

Mike Southern at Ruthless Golf wonders Could Bobby Jones Have ‘Cut It’ Against Today’s Pros?, and shows us what science and Jones’s own notes have to say about the debate.

Vince Spence from The One-Eye Golfer writes about An Affair to Remember – Bobby Jones and St. Andrews, as he looks at the affection of the champion golfer for the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland which started in 1921.

Boyer from Me and Old Man Par has chosen Bobby Jones’ Competitors: Many of Them Were Good, One Was Great. “It is often thought that Bobby Jones showed up and crushed his competition on the way to another victory,” Charles says. “The truth is that he had many worthy competitors and one, Walter Hagen, stood above all the others as Jones’ most worthy competitor.”

Michael Green at Aussie Golfer tells about Searching for Bobby Jones, where a search for Bobby Jones in Australia finds remarkable similarities to modern day golf.

Jon Blackburn from The Common Golfer looks at Bobby Jones: Golf’s Original Common Golfer. It’s a celebration of Bobby Jones’ life, and what made him unique amongst his golfing peers.

Apryl DeLancey at Women Like Sports features in her weekly Wild World of Wednesday post about how good friends Alexa Sterling and Bobby Jones continued to play golf during WWI in order to raise money for a good cause.

And Ryan Ballengee from Waggle Room sends us a vlog from East Lake about how Jones’ spirit influences the club and community today.