"The Seven Fat Years" - Bobby Jones' Successful Years

A friend of Bobby Jones', Q.B. Keeler, was a journalist based in Atlanta who traveled with Jones to all tournaments from the beginning of his career to the end. He has described Jones' career as divided into two parts: "The Seven Lean Years and The Seven Fat Years." From 1916 to the beginning of 1923, Jones failed to win a single major championship. After the disastrous British Open in 1921, Jones began to evolve. His first major victory became the U.S. Open in 1923 after finishing bogey-bogey-double bogey and forcing an 18-hole playoff for the following day against Bobby Cruickshank. They played the first 17 holes all-square. Jones hit the second shot, a 200-yard two-iron, within eight feet of the flag on the 18th hole, and finally won his first major championship.

The floodgates had now been opened. Between 1923 and 1930, Jones dominated the game. He won at least one major a year, a total of 13 out of the 21 he entered. His two primary rivals, Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen, were not able to win any U.S. or British Open championships in which Jones
competed.

Most of the people who followed the game still assumed Jones eventually would turn professional. But in 1930, just over a month after winning the Grand Slam at the time (U.S. Open, British Open, British Amateur and U.S. Amateur), Jones shocked the world by retiring from competitive golf. He was only 28 years old. He famously said, "It (Championship golf) is something like a cage. First you are expected to get into it and then you are expected to stay there. But of course, nobody can stay there." Although it seems backwards these days, Jones made a lot more money after he retired from competitive golf than during. He also focused more on his family and career as a lawyer.

Starting in 1931, Jones starred in a total of 18 instructional golf films. In these films, he would coach well-known Hollywood stars. As the films increased in popularity, Jones finally gave up his amateur status as he was earning lucrative contract money.

During these years, Jones had become a celebrity. He wasn't able to go anywhere without people recognizing him, and this massive attention caused him to lose his sense of privacy. Soon he started  wishing for a private club where he and his friends could play in peace and quiet. This is how one of the finest golf courses in the world was born. More on that next time.