Down the Fairway [Hardcover]

Robert T. Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 25, 2001

Originally published in 1927, Bobby Jones' Down the Fairway had become what Sports Illustrated calls an incontestable classic. Part memoir, part golf instructional, it is a must-read for all who care about this most fascinating sport.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book is a volume in Sports Media Group’s Rare Book Collection. As the great writer Herbert Warren Wind said, "No other game has acquired a literature that compares to golf." Collecting this series or reprint editions of golf’s most important and rare books will enhance your understanding of the game while building a library of golf’s most treasured volumes. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

"Robert T. (Bobby) Jones Jr. was an Atlanta lawyer who also happened to become, arguably, the best golfer who ever lived. His ultimate achievement came in 1930, when he became the first and only golfer ever to win the Grand Slam in one calendar year. He promptly retired from competitive golf, returned to his law practice, and subsequently founded Augusta National Golf Club, site of the annual Masters Tournament." - O.B. Keeler, Jones' personal friend and longtime sportswriter for the Atlanta Journal. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing (June 25, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563526476
• ISBN-13: 978-1563526473
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,626,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Champion and Charming Companion, August 28, 2001

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Down the Fairway (Hardcover)

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.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inside The Champion's Mind, June 29, 2002

By 

rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Down the Fairway (Hardcover)

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.

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

By 

[e-mail] (Norcross, Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down the Fairway (Classics of Golf) (Hardcover)

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.