Bobby Jones and Old Man Par

Robert Tyre Jones, Jr. (Bobby Jones) was a child prodigy of golf. He gained attention early in his life when he played in the 1916 United States Amateur as a fourteen-year-old. The golf world was so impressed with the young Bobby Jones, that he was expected to soon begin winning major tournaments. However, it took seven long and lean years before Jones won the United States Open as his first major championship victory.

Bobby’s success in major tournaments began when he learned to play the course and not to worry about the other golfers he was competing against. He realized the golf course was his greatest opponent.

The opponent Bobby had to beat was Old Man Par.

Bobby Jones competed as an amateur. By the end of his golfing career, he had won thirteen major championships. Jones won all four of the major championships of golf in 1930. This amazing accomplishment is called the Grand Slam of Golf. His 1930 wins included the United States Open, The Open Championship, The United States Amateur, and the British Amateur.

While at the peak of his game and of the entire game of golf, Jones retired after his Grand Slam year when he was only twenty-eight-years-old. He went on to help design and found the Augusta National Golf Club, and he co-founded of the Masters Tournament.

The following quotes are collected from the book, Down The Fairway by Robert Tyre Jones, Jr. He was one of the greatest golfers ever and he was a fine writer too. Here Bobby is talking about our opponent in golf: Old Man Par.

“No man will ever have golf under his thumb. No round will ever be so good it could not have been better. Perhaps that is why golf is the greatest of games. You are not playing a human adversary; you are playing a game. You are playing Old Man Par.

“Old Man Par, the imperturbable economist! Make a friend and constant foe of him, and the other boys won’t be so rough on you.

“Old Man Par is a patient soul, who never shoots a birdie and never incurs a buzzard. And if you would travel the long route with him, you must be patient too.”
– Robert Tyre Jones, Jr.

Note: A “buzzard” is an old term for what we now call a double bogey.

Note: The modern day Grand Slam of Golf would be winning all four of the major tournaments (the Masters, the United States Open, the Open Championship (British Open), and the Professional Golfer’s Championship.) in the same year.

Thank you to my late father, Richard F. Allen, for researching and collecting these Bobby Jones’ quotes about Old Man Par. I love you Dad and I miss you. We’ll again play golf together and against Old Man Par. I’m looking forward to our tee time in Heaven. OldManParGolf.com is dedicated to my father.