Down the Fairway

by Robert T Jones

Originally published in 1927, Bobby Jones's Down the Fairway has become what Sports Illustrated calls "an incontestable classic." Part memoir, part golf instructional, part golf history—and including wonderful vintage photographs—Down the Fairway is a must read for all who care about this most fascinating sport. Amazingly, Bobby Jones—along with sports journalist O.B. Keeler—wrote this book when he was only 24 years old. His thinking was that, having just become the first golfer ever to win both U.S. and British Open titles in one year (1926), he would never perform at such a high level again. It seemed a good time, then, to tell his story.

In an age of big money, lucrative endorsements, TV contracts, and pouting millionaires, this earnest volume comes as a breath of fresh air. Infused with Jones's deep knowledge of and pure passion for the game, it evokes a long-ago time when an amateur could be the best in the world.

Genres: Sports, History, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1984

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes - I am a golf nerd. This has to be one of my favorite books of all time. Bobby Jones led such a fascinating life, it's very entertaining to read his take on it through the pen of O.B. Keeler. It's written very much like a conversation - you feel like Jones is in the room with you telling you, in very modest terms, his life story.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before I read this, Bobby Jones was only a name to me, and afterward he is a surprising engaging personality. A proponent of the relaxed, comfortable ´feel´ as a measure of good golf, he describes putting: ¨At the time, stance and grip and presence or absence of body motion or knee action were as far from bothering me as Mr. Einstein´s excursions into the realm of a supposititious Fourth Dimension.¨
It is just fun, too, to read about golf in a time when you could not clean your ball through the hole, nor mark a stymie.

[Matt Moran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Remarkably tedious. I'm not sure why this book is considered a golf classic and is in the SI top 100.

[Paulette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book written in 1927 by the great golfer himself - Bobby Jones, Jr. Interesting to read for the golfing, but also for the different writing style of that time.

[Jay Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderfully written autobiography by an amazingly talented athlete. It is quite fascinating to read retrospectively...knowing that his greatest achievement, the Grand Slam, still lay ahead.

[Royce Aldridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting to get Bobby Jones' perspective on golf.

[Topcatperry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bobby Jones is one of my heroes. This book is a wonderful history lesson about his life and the lessons he learned playing golf. It was a little slow at times, but still highly recommended.