Grand Slam [Hardcover]

Mark Frost (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 16, 2004

In the wake of the 1929 stock market crash, an amateur golfer began a decade of unparalleled achievement, seeming a ray of light in an otherwise depressed America. Bobby Jones won the British Amateur Championship, the British Open, the US Open and the US Amateur Championship. A new phrase was born: The Grand Slam. A modest, sensitive man, a lawyer from a middle-class Atlanta family, Bobby Jones had barely survived a sickly childhood, and took up golf at the age of five for health reasons. Jones made his debut at the US Amateur Championship in 1916 and his genius was recognised by his inspiration, Francis Ouimet, but he had an ungovernable temper, and it wasn't until 1923 that Jones harnessed his talent, and eclipsed Ouimet. However, his health was never good, and the strain of completing the Slam exacted a ferocious toll; the US Open, played in July in blazing heat, nearly killed him. Jones fought to keep his fragile condition a secret from a country suffering from the Depression, but at the age of twenty-eight, after winning the US Amateur, he retired. His abrupt disappearance at the height of his renown inspired an impenetrable myth, to this day still fiercely protected by family and friends.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Before Arnold, Jack and Tiger, there was Bobby. After winning the Grand Slam of golf in 1930, Jones stood like a colossus over the American sporting scene. He is the only individual to have been recognized with two ticker tape parades down Broadway's Canyon of Heroes. Frost (The Greatest Game Ever Played) has written a swift, surefooted account of Jones's remarkable life and career. From Jones's precocious early days on the Atlanta links to his sudden retreat from the media spotlight, Frost covers every detail. The self-taught Jones began playing serious tournaments at 14 and quickly moved into the ranks of the world's best players. In 1930, he won the four major tournaments of the time: the British Amateur, the British Open, the U.S. Open and the U.S. Amateur, which sportswriters dubbed the Grand Slam. Following this success, Jones promptly retired. Later diagnosed with a rare nerve illness, he lived out his life as golf's elder statesman. While Frost's eager prose has an engaging, "you are there" quality, for nongolfers the question is whether they actually do want to be there. Frost strains to place Jones's achievement in the broader context of American history. As bedside reading for the literate duffer, this is a hole in one. For the average reader, it's a bogey. 15 b&w photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

In 2002, Frost retold the story of amateur golfer Francis Quimet's 1913 victory in the U.S. Open (The Greatest Game Ever Played).Now he re-creates another classic episode in golf history: the Grand Slam won by Bobby Jones in 1930, the only time the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, British Open, and British Amateur tournaments were ever won by the same person in the same year. As in the Quimet book, Frost builds to the climactic event with plenty of fascinating backstory, both about Jones' young life as a golf phenom and about the sports-crazy 1920s. He also delves into Jones' delicate psyche, revealing the building pressures that led to Jones' retirement from competitive golf after his unparalleled triumph. Because the story of the Grand Slam requires nearly shot-by-shot recounting of multiple golf tournaments, this book loses some of the tension and high drama that Frost was able to build in his earlier work, which climaxed more dramatically. Still, this is an excellent book of golf history, albeit not quite The Greatest Game Ever Played. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Time Warner Books; 1ST edition (September 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316726915
• ISBN-13: 978-0316726917
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,216,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

MARK FROST is the bestselling author of The Greatest Game Ever Played, The Grand Slam, and the novels The Second Objective, The List of Seven, and The Six Messiahs. He received a Writers Guild Award and an Emmy nomination for the acclaimed television series Hill Street Blues, was co-creator and executive producer of the legendary ABC television series Twin Peaks, and in 2005 wrote and produced The Greatest Game Ever Played as a major motion picture from Walt Disney Studios. Mark lives in Los Angeles and upstate New York with his wife and son.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional Biography and Social History, November 20, 2004

By 

Eric F. Facer "E. Facer" (Centreville, VA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Grand Slam: Bobby Jones, America, and the Story of Golf (Hardcover)

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.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring and Amazing, April 5, 2005

By 

Chandler Phillips "Swing Doctor" (Long Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Grand Slam: Bobby Jones, America, and the Story of Golf (Hardcover)

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.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Grand Slam of a Bio, March 14, 2008

By 

Mark Hennelly Jr. - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Grand Slam : Bobby Jones, America, and the Story of Golf (Paperback)

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.