Bobby Jones
by Joan Carroll
Title
Bobby Jones
Artist
Joan Carroll
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photograph
Description
It isn't often that you go to a cemetery and the first words you utter are "WOW!" But that's the case at historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta GA USA. It isn't often either that a cemetery has a Vistors' Center but that is also the case here where you can get a map of the locations (and short descriptions) of the notables buried here. The map is a bit rough...that is, there are no exact 'addresses' to look for so you just have to use all your senses to find the graves. Toward the end of my visit I was looking for the grave of Bobby Jones, the famed golfer. I hoped that I was looking down the right 'street' but from afar the grave is unmistakable! As you can see, fans of the game leave golf balls in tribute so it is quite easy to find if you are anywhere in the vicinity. Robert Tyre "Bobby" Jones Jr. was an American amateur golfer, and a lawyer by profession. Jones founded and helped design the Augusta National Golf Club, and co-founded the Masters Tournament. Jones was the most successful amateur golfer ever to compete on a national and international level. During his peak as a golfer from 1923 to 1930, he dominated top-level amateur competition, and competed very successfully against the world's best professional golfers. ones earned his living mainly as a lawyer, and competed in golf only as an amateur, primarily on a part-time basis, and chose to retire from competition at age 28, though he earned significant money from golf after that, as an instructor and equipment designer. Explaining his decision to retire, Jones said, "It (championship golf) is something like a cage. First you are expected to get into it and then you are expected to stay there. But of course, nobody can stay there." Jones is most famous for his unique "Grand Slam," consisting of his victory in all four major golf tournaments of his era (the open and amateur championships in both the U.S. & the U.K.) in a single calendar year (1930). In all Jones played in 31 majors, winning 13 and placing among the top ten finishers 27 times. His career is all the more remarkable considering that he competed as an amateur rather than as a professional. Always displaying a sense of modesty, Jones regularly reminded his fans that some things were more important than winning. He became famous, for example, for calling penalty strokes on himself, even when it cost him a championship. Moreover, Jones never accepted prize money, did not play as often as most professionals, and chose to focus on the national championships. Those choices allowed him time to pursue other priorities, including his education and family. In 1922 Jones graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a degree in engineering. Two years later he added a second bachelor's degree, this one in English literature from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Then in the fall of 1926, Jones enrolled in Emory University's law program. After just three semesters, he passed the Georgia bar exam and began practicing law at his father's firm early in 1928. A remarkable man!
Uploaded
May 19th, 2014
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