The Grand Slam: Bobby Jones, America, and the Story of Golf

As an avid reader of biographies, I'm familiar with hagiography, the tendency of biographers to inflate the accomplishments of their subjects, but never in all my years have I ever encountered such an extreme case of it. It's a shame, too, as Jones's life needs no such embellishment.

Bobby Jones was, without question, the greatest golfer of his generation and one of the greatest that ever lived. However, to read Frost's account, every match he ever lost was due to illness, injury, extreme bad fortune or circumstances beyond his control. In every one of his victories, he overcame illness, injury, bad luck, dastardly opponents and extreme fatigue (which for some reason Frost insinuates his opponents, who played the same or significantly show more more rigorous schedules, never faced). Some of Frost's accounts border on the ludicrous.

He alleges that Walter Hagen recruited gallery memebers in an attempt to form windbreaks along the windswept fairways of the British Open. As a golfer, I can attest without question that human beings stationed along the edges of the fairway have absolutely no effect on the wind encountered by a golf ball, at any stage in its flight.

Despite playing a total of ten rounds of golf in the months leading up to one of his U. S. Open victories, Frost describes Jones as being so exhausted that his knees were buckling as he attempted to finish his final round. Again, as if his efforts were somehow more draining than those of his competitors, some of whom were forced to play tournaments every week in order to survive.

Sprinkled throughout the book are the author's attempts to add historical perspective. I actually think this could have been helpful if done well, however Frost, perhaps a frustrated historian, makes numerous absurd statements concerning the root causes of World War I, the Warren Harding administration, the Wall Street collapse of 1929. Set the stage, reference contemporanious historical events, but leave the political and social analysis to those who have a clue.

While I might reluctantly recommend the book to those who wish to learn of the life and accomplishments of Bobby Jones, I even question some of the facts contained in the book. Frost frequently cites astonishing feats performed by many of the players of the era. He tosses around 300-325 yard drives as though they were the norm for the era, even though players of the current era struggle to hit such shots with the aid of titanium, oversized drivers, fiberglass shafts and souped up golf balls. Shots of the type frequently described by Frost were simply impossible with hickory shafts and marshmellow golf balls (in the absence of asphalt or gale force winds).

He refers to 275 yard par 3s and 450+ yard par 4s, when courses of the era were actually significantly shorter than current tracts. In a disconnect, he describes very long iron and sometimes 3 wood shots into par 4s (which are probably accurate) despite the fact that his players are bombing 300+ yard drives. Something doesn't compute in his distance claims and club selections.

All in all, a very tiresome product by its conclusion. By the time he won the U.S. Amateur, securing the Grand Slam, I expected Jones to be carted up the 18th fairway in a hospital bed, on the verge of death, only to hole out a 300 yard seven iron to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat from an opponent that had cheated by 10 strokes. I've got to think that there are better, more objective books for those seeking to learn the story of Bobby Jones. show less

Dignity, grace, and greatness are often hard to find together, and even more difficult to reconcile when they are discovered among one another. Mark Frost writes about the life of the life of Bobby Jones, a man who embodied those traits, with a grace and skill worthy of Mr. Jones.

got this one for my father, his reading improving!