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

~ (Author) "ON SEPTEMBER 20, 1913, America welcomed a new hero into its sporting pantheon and for the first time the broad middle of the country embraced..." (more)
Key Phrases: East Lake, New York, Bobby Jones (more...)

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.
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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

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (November 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401301088
• ISBN-13: 978-1401301088
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 5.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #352,951 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 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 (REAL NAME)

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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.

5 of 5 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

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.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A history of American golf through an individual perspective, December 3, 2004

By	Bookreporter.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

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