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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Champion and Charming Companion, August 28, 2001
If you not only enjoy playing golf but also cherish the game's traditions and values, and if you could purchase only one book about golf, this is it. Whether or not Jones is the greatest golfer ever is a judgment I eagerly entrust to those foolish enough to debate it. Suffice to say that he was among the greatest players and among the finest gentlemen ever associated with golf. Published in 1927 when Jones was just 25, three years before he won what has since been designated "The Grand Slam", this is a book in which Jones (in collaboration with Keeler) invites his reader to accompany him "down the fairway" of a life as well as a game. The first eleven chapters review the competitive process until what he characterizes as his "Biggest Year." In the final chapter of Part One, Jones observes that, "I started the year 1926 with one glorious licking and closed it with another. And it was the biggest golf-year I'll ever have." Or so he then thought. In that year, we're told, "Walter Hagen gave me the first drubbing, and of all the workmanlike washings-up I have experienced, this was far and away the most complete" and later, "George [von Elm] was too much for me....He simply outplayed me. It was coming to him....It was George's turn. So the biggest Year ended, as it began, with a beating. Still, I'll always feel kindly toward 1926." In Part Two, Jones shares just about everything he has learned (to that point) about the mental as well as physical skills needed to play golf well. What struck me, throughout the book, is Jones's candor. For example, "There are times when I feel I know less about what I am doing than anybody else in the world." He discusses putting ("a game within a game"), the pitch shot ("a mystery"), iron play ("I like it"), "the heavy artillery" (woods), miscellaneous shots ("and trouble"), and in the final chapter "Tournament Golf." The reader is provided with a generous selection of photographs, many of which I (at least) had not seen previously. "Early in this little book I made the statement that there were two kinds of golf -- golf, and tournament golf; and that they were not at all the same." When concluding this book, Jones acknowledges that he's been "awfully lucky. Maybe I'll win another championship, some day. I love championship competition, after all -- win or lose." What will it feel like when he days of tournament competition have ended? "It's going to be queer." Then he confides, as his "little book" ends: "But there's always one thing to look forward to -- the round with Dad and [other kindred spirits]; the Sunday morning round at old East Lake, with nothing to worry about, when championships are done." Three years after sharing these thoughts and feelings, Jones won the Grand Slam and then retired from tournament competition. Some people have expressed their preferences for those with whom they would like to share a "fantasy dinner." Were it possible, I would like to share a "fantasy round of golf" with Bob Jones, Walter Hagen, and Harvey Penick. Given the impossibility of that, I must seek their companionship in books such as this.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inside The Champion's Mind, June 29, 2002
Great read, one all golfers will want to make, as Nicklaus suggests in the modern edition foreward. Why return to an outdated time of wood shafts and limitef flight balls? One finds it in this read, the character and strength of this great amateur. What impressed this reviewer was Jones' humbleness, and love for the game. He wasn't really into all the winning, which in fact caused him anxiety. Moreover he was into the challenge against Ole Man Par and himself. He relished the comradre with his fellow competitors and is most quick to give them praise rather than discuss what he didn't have in his game that round. Neat to realize that his prized trophy was the first, which he thought was improperly awarded to him, while Alexa Sterling should have won it, no question. This is what golf is about, not slugging it 300+ yds. to screaming fans playing for millions. Takes us back to what the game is and should remain. It's become far too commercialized. Will take a honored position in my growing golf book collection to be fondly recalled and reread.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read in golf, golf history, October 6, 1997
Down the Fairway is a must read in the subject of golf and golf history written by a very wise but young Bobby Jones. As one of the greatest golfers of all time Jones ' words carry a lot of weight. But it is not just his instruction included in the book; his love of the game and his genuine feelings for it are a welcome respite from today's money golf. Included in the work are stirring chapters recounting some of Jones' greatest victories and the benefits he discovered in golf. There are many photgraphs in the book including some this reader had not seen before that are quite advanced for the time period.
This book should be sought by all who are interested in golf. It is a good read and a gives a great feeling about the game of golf.
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