Customer Reviews

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

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I just finished reading Mr. Frost's exceptional new work, The Grand Slam. Not only does the author provide you with tremondous insight into Jones' character and personality (something he does, by the way, without engaging in the incessant psychobable that characterizes so many other modern biographies), he tells a great story. And even though you already know the outcome of the major tournaments in which Jones competed, Mr. Frost creates such suspense that you find yourself sliding forward on the edge of your chair as the players approach the 18th green of the final round. Also, Frost does an exceptional job of placing the evolution of Jones' career in the context of American and European history. His vignettes on World War I, the Jazz Age, Harding and Hoover, and the Great Depression add a great deal to his narrative. And his potrayals of Walter Hagen, the first prima dona on the American golf scene, are a joy to read. Even if you are not a golf fan, you will like this book. If you enjoy the sport, then you will love it. Well done, Mr. Frost.

I shy away from thick books like this one. But when I started reading GRAND SLAM I was drawn in and knew I would go the distance. The author has done an amazing research job and the characters all come to life. American history is also woven into the story in an interesting way that enlarges the scope of the book. True, I didn't know a lot about Bobby Jones so this was, in a sense a primer for me. It also filled in my knowledge of other golfers at the time such as Walter Hagen.

An interesting side note is that, as Mark Frost points out, East Lake Country Club, in Jones' native Atlanta, was an incubator for golfing talent. Besides Jones, another golfer, the longest hitter, Mike Austin, practiced at East Lake Golf Course during that time. His story is told in the fascinating book IN SEARCH OF THE GREATEST GOLF SWING.

The only omission from GRAND SLAM is a more detailed analysis of Jones's swing. What made him such a great ball striker? Also, the book gets into idol worship at times. But the author certainly makes his case convincingly. Read it -- you'll be glad you did.

Purchasing this book I had expected nothing more than the chronicle of Bobby Jones' assualt on the 4 golf majors of 1930. I got so much more. This book is certainly one of the better biographies I've ever read. Though Frost never goes too in depth into the private life of Jones, the writing style is exceptional, the sports action is compelling, but the most amazing thing is how the entire thing is brought together and every new section begins with an exceptional framing of where the event stands within the confines of history. Truly an amazing first rate bio.

With the publication of THE GRAND SLAM: Bobby Jones, America, and the Story of Golf, author Mark Frost has firmly established his credentials as a golf historian of great acumen and a writer of outstanding ability. In 2002, Frost detailed the beginning of modern golf in America in a critically acclaimed book, THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED, the saga of then unknown American amateur Francis Ouimet and his victory over the golfing giants of Great Britain in the 1913 U.S. Open. That historical epic was a national bestseller, won the Book of the Year Award from the United States Golf Association, and was selected by Travel and Leisure magazine as one of the top 25 golf books ever. THE GRAND SLAM is a seamless extension of the Ouimet saga into the next significant era of sports history with an exhaustive portrait of golf immortal Bobby Jones, his domination of the game of golf in the Roaring Twenties, and the interaction of golf and American life in that era.

Ouimet defeated golfing giants Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in his Open upset. After the tournament was completed, Vardon and Ray began a tour of the United States before returning to their homeland. One of their stops took them to the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Eleven-year-old Bobby Jones was a spectator at that match. Several weeks later, young Jones accomplished his first milestone in his golfing career when he posted a score of 80. Three years later, at the age of fourteen, Jones became the youngest player ever to qualify for and play in a U.S. Amateur Championship. For the next seven years he struggled to overcome self-imposed feelings of inferiority and a violent temper before finally winning his first U.S. Open Championship in 1923. Until his retirement in 1930, Jones dominated the game of golf, winning thirteen of golf's major championships of that era: the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the Amateur Championships.

In 1930, Jones accomplished the grand slam of golf, winning the four Open and Amateur championships held that year. The feat has never been matched. Frost's saga of those four tournaments is the culmination of THE GRAND SLAM, covering the final one-third of the narrative. Long before the account of the 1930 championships, Frost paints an elaborate portrait of Jones, golf, and the history of post World War One America and Europe.

Viewing the life of Bobby Jones through the lens of the contemporary sporting world dominated by money, money and more money, it is difficult to imagine the truly amateur career accomplishments of Jones. In addition to dominating the game of golf, Jones found time to graduate from Georgia Tech, undertake graduate studies at Harvard University and attend law school, passing the Georgia Bar Exam after only three semesters, an extremely difficult feat. During Jones's lifetime, the rules regarding amateur golf were exacting. Unlike modern amateur athletes, Jones could not train year round. He had to maintain full-time employment in order to support his wife and children. Under those circumstances, Jones's golf accomplishments are even more remarkable to contemplate.

If THE GRAND SLAM was merely the story of Bobby Jones, it would be a worthy book. But it is far more. In addition to the life of Jones, we learn of avid presidential golfers Woodrow Wilson and Warren Harding. While in the White House, the widower Wilson remarried. The President and his new wife honeymooned at a golf course. Jones's life is also set against the backdrop of the Jazz Age, the Great Depression, and the literary era represented by authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald. In addition to Jones, sports heroes including Red Grange, Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey dominated the '20s. All of these legends contributed to a golden age of sports skillfully chronicled by Mark Frost.

The 1920s also saw the rise of professional golfers, including the legendary Walter Hagen, whose career intertwined and benefited from the attention paid to Jones. Beyond their confrontations in multiple U.S. and British Opens, Hagen and Jones had occasional highly publicized and well-attended exhibition battles. The two men were polar opposites in their approach to golf and life. Hagen was flamboyant and self-assured, while Jones was nervous and often wracked with self-doubt. In addition, Jones spent a substantial portion of his career battling a temper that he found difficult to control. Only as he matured both physically and emotionally did he reach his true potential.

The career of Bobby Jones and the 1930 grand slam year has been the subject of many books. THE GRAND SLAM goes far beyond the narrative of the golfing life of Bobby Jones. Mark Frost's two books effectively serve as volumes one and two of what could be a magnificent history of American golf. Avid golf historians can only await the next installment in the saga from a splendid golf writer.

--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman

Interesting. Upon completing GRAND SLAM by Mark Frost, author of THE GREATEST GAME EVERY PLAYED, I took a moment to read some of the other reviews here on Amazon. I was not surprised by what I found. One, however, struck me. The review was titled, "The Tiger Woods of Another Era." Indeed!

The fact is, Bobby Jones was and is irreplaceable. Period! Frost's marvelous biography, if read carefully, paints such a portrait that honest assessors of the game of golf have no choice but to agree with Oscar Bane "Pop" Keeler: "There will never be another like him!" Not the Tiger Woods of another era. Far from that. Frost's volume clearly points out that every other golfer -- from Hagen to Sarazen to Palmer to Nicklaus to Woods -- is but a shadowy also-ran when compared to the inimitable Robert Tyre Jones, Jr.

GRAND SLAM tells the story of Jones' unlikely and never again equaled feat of winning all four of golf's major championships in a single calendar year. And if you are remotely interested in the game of golf -- beyond taking the sticks out once a year -- you cannot read this book and come away with any other notion than that, very likely, the greatest golf every played on this planet was played some 80 years ago! And there is nothing wrong with that fact. Who says that, as time passes, we need to see better and better golfers? Just because the equipment is supposedly better and the conditions are supposedly better doesn't for a minute mean that the best to ever tee it up has already finished his round. And please don't come to the table with arguments that today's competition is greater or that life on tour is harder or that today's Majors are more rigorous.

Yes, there is Eldrick Tiger Woods and, yes, there is his amazing Tiger-Slam. A great sporting event in its own right. I admit it. But, despite Tiger's claims that he has already matched what Jones' did, it doesn't even come remotely close to equaling--as retold in Frost's GRAND SLAM--what Jones accomplished in 1930. Not hardly! That's it and that's all. Let's just all take a deep breath and accept it!

Like THE GREATEST GAME..., GRAND SLAM is masterfully written, telling the story of Jones' early experience in golf, his brush with death at East Lake, his steady rise to golf's greatest pinnacle and his elegant retirement from competitive golf at the ripe old age of 28. And Frost's narrative regarding the four majors of 1930 is simply riveting reading for any true golf aficionado. The volume also presents wonderful biographical sketches of the other major players in the drama, including Walter Hagen and Chick Evans.

GRAND SLAM is a must read for anyone who fancies himself a devotee of the grand game. Read it and allow yourself to be amazed, as I was, that such a one a Bobby Jones ever, in flesh and blood, played the game that we love!

THE (GOLFING) HORSEMAN

By reading this book I began to admire Bobby Jones, not so much for his golf but for his character and his strength in making it to the end. It would have been a lot easier for him in a folklore sense if he had died young instead of being tortured with a crippling, painful disease that challenged him physically and was a test to him mentally and emotionally. I admire that he never hid himself away like so many famous people do that want to be remembered as they "were". I believe that this is the most admirable thing about him. That and his willingness to serve in WWII, landing on the same beach the day after D-Day. Not just a "for show" tour of duty. His devotion to his family, his country and his friends and his hometown are quite amazing. He is a role model in many ways that I don't even think of golf as one of them but for his tenaciousness, his intellect, his well roundedness and his extreme graciousness. He could have derailed many times but he never did in life. It's a loss that there isn't more to read about his life to know how he managed to adjust to everyday life and his illness, how he kept putting one foot in front of the other. The criticism seems unjust re: Chick Evans, Jones was very kind in all his correspondence to him which I have read in other books. Also, so much is made of his temper which he defends and explains in "Down the Fairway" by Jones, as not worse than any other player of the time and shortlived as a childish display that was never witnessed again at least publically for the rest of his life. Bobby Jones accomplished an amazing number of feats that most of us would feel proud to do even one of such as the many languages he spoke, the degrees, his many intellectual skills, a good family man and most of all his grace in a life.

Frost has done it again, a marvelous read of golf's rich history and lore. This follows his excellent work on Ouimet and the start of America's love with this game and its champions.

Frost is good at weaving the story here of Jones and the only Grand Slam to date with the surrounding cultural news. This provides necessary backdrop to the golf.

The persistance of this individual who many a time could have and felt like chucking it in, but kept on, learning and growing not by wins so much, but by the losses. Fate had its share in all this as well, as Jones and associates knew. The incidents on and off the links where it almost seemed as the script had already been written, as Pop Keeler sensed from the outset.

There are many good stories here, written with gusto and passion and solid wordscultping. Wonderful photos grace each new chapter.

Many developments leading up to the Slam never realized were revealed here: Mail Freeburg saving them from burning train bridge; skip shot across the lake; etc.

This is must reading for avid golfer, for the paths cross likes of Nicklaus, Palmer, Eisenhower, Hagan, Sarazen, etc. His legendary amateur status, then retirement, accomplishments in studies and law, and friendships abound.

Long but will hold one's attention and get one through, so that re-reads can and do happen.

A really fine piece of work..gives one a great appreciation for some of the characters of golf's early years in America, and "characters" is the right term...uses Bobby Jones as contrast and an ideal...very nicely done...Puts Jones and the development of golf in context of what was going on in America and the world. Lots of readable national and international history in addition to straight golf and straight biography....good book. Great read...You can feel Jones' passion and agony when competing....insights into a different time, a different world but with values that are still respected and needed today. Informative and inspiring without being preachy. Lots of good, tough competition, written a way that makes it as real as if you were standing at the green.

This book exceeded all expectations. Knowing the story of Bobby Jones I expected this book to be boring. I have never been so glad to be wrong. The author tells the compelling story of how golf evolved and became popular in America. Mr. Jones's story is wonderfully told with vivid details. He is an inspirational figure. This is a must read for anyone who has every picked up a golf club and dared to dream!!!

The Tiger Woods of his day, Bobby Jones was likewise a child star, making hi snational debut at fourteen as the youngest player ever to qualify for and play in a U.S. Amateur Championship. The story of Bobby Jones is almost the story of golf in the United States. He won an outstanding 63% of the national championships that he entered. His career culminated in 1930, when he became the only player to ever win all four majors - the U.S. and British Open's and Amateur championships - in the same year. Then at the very top of his form he retired from competition.

Although he didn't miss the pressure and strain of championship golf after his retirement, Jones' love for the game never dimished. In addition to filming a series of educational golf "shorts", he designed the first set of matched golf clubs, and designed the Agusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters.

This exhaustivly researched book will be interesting to anyone interested in that time in our country. It will be absolutely fascinating to anyone interested in golf.