The History of Bobby Jones

Jones learned the game of golf from watching and imitating the players at East Lake Country Club outside Atlanta. By 1916, he was considered the best young golfer in the nation, finishing third in the U.S. Amateur at age 14.

Jones had a difficult time living up to his press clippings. He had a bad habit of losing his temper during rounds, at one point quitting in the middle of the 1921 British Open. He tamed his temper by 1923 and began to fulfill his potential.

From 1923 to 1930, Jones won the United States Amateur five times, the U.S. Open four times, the British Open three times and the British Amateur once. He completed a "Grand Slam" in September 1930 by winning all four titles in one calendar year before retiring from competitive golf.

Jones and Clifford Roberts combined to design and build Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. In 1934, Jones created the tournament that would become the Masters by 1939, an event that soon was a major tournament.

In 1948, Jones came down with a rare spinal condition called syringomyelia that left him in a wheelchair for the remainder of his life. He died on Dec. 18, 1971, at 69 years old.