I've been a fan of the Masters tournament my entire life and especially of the man who founded the Masters Tournament, Bobby Jones, one of the greatest golfers to ever grace the planet. Long before Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus walked Magnolia Lane and racked up multiple majors, Jones was writing the book on the subject of winning majors. If golfers were known by just nicknames, Arnold Palmer was "The King", Tiger Woods was "Tiger", Sam Snead was the "Sultan of Swat" and Jack Nicklaus besides being "The Golden Bear" was the "Master of the Majors" by virtue of his record breaking 18 major championship wins.
But before them all, Bobby Jones, the founder of Augusta National, was the "Emperor of Awesome". He won the U.S. Amateur five times (1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, and 1930), the U.S. Open four times (1923, 1926, 1929, and 1930), the British Open three times (1926, 1927, and 1930; he was the first amateur to win), and the British Amateur in 1930. In five Walker Cup tournaments between U.S. and British amateur teams, he won 9 of 10 matches. In sum, Jones won 13 major championships (as they were counted at the time) in only 21 attempts in the short span of only seven years. A remarkable record for a man who decided to walk away from the grind of competition, after his last major championship win at the U.S. Amateur in September of 1930. And the fact is, Jones did all this before the age of 28. At his prime, youthful Bobby Jones, decided to not become a pro golfer, even though he beat every pro at the time at their own game. Instead, Jones chose to remain an amateur golfer, retire and raise a family and practice law in Atlanta GA.
And long before Jones thought of teaming with Alister MacKenzie to build Augusta National in 1932, and start a major tournament there in 1934, he ventured out to build another golf course that would become the genesis of the love of golf in my Reese Family. The course that Jones co-founded is Highlands Country Club, in Highlands North Carolina, still going strong today in 2020.
In fact on this course many of my family learned to play the game, including my father Ray Reese and my Uncle Pete Reese. Pete "Dugan" Reese would go on to caddie many summers for Jones and his kids when they played rounds in Highlands. Pete began caddying at the course at the age of eight in 1935 and worked off and on for Jones up until the last time Jones played in public in 1948, which also happened to be at Highlands Country Club. My uncle Pete was also one of the best golfers in the Western North Carolina area in his playing days from the 40s through the 1970s.
In early June of 1927 Jones, along with Atlanta lawyer Sam Evins, Southern superstar Tennis Pro Carlton Smith, and Bobby's father, Robert Jones Sr. bought 400 acres of land near the border of North Carolina and Georgia in Macon County near the tiny town of Highlands North Carolina. At that time the land was not technically part of the Highlands City limits, but because of the investment and the potential tax windfall and Jones' generous nature, Highlands Mayor W.S. Davis confirmed that the town of Highlands would extend the town line and provide water and lights for the course and the clubhouse.
As a result the property owned by my Reese Family became a part of the town of Highlands because our property was on Dillard Road just before the country club property and it was included in the city limits when the city extended the line in 1927.
Flashback to February 1926 when my Great- Uncle Joseph Walter Reese purchased 10 acres of land right beside the future Highlands country club property. After less than a couple years there Joseph's wife, Anna Catherine Cabe Reese stated she did not like being so far out in the country, so in April of 1928, Joseph put the property up for auction, but then decided to trade the 10 acres to Roderick Pierson for the Old Boneyard Property just up Dillard Rd near the current Rhodes Superette. The Dillard Road property was called the Old Boneyard because in the 1870s early days of Highlands it had been a burial ground for horses, hence the term, "Boneyard". Just 1/4 a mile past the Old Boneyard on Dillard Road the future Highlands Country Club property was being billed by Bobby Jones as "a southern golfing center" and the project was slated to cost $300,000 and would include in its cost, the land, an 18 hole golf course, and a large clubhouse. After the land purchase was completed work was to begin in the summer of 1927 on construction. Bobby Jones along with several friends and his father had surveyed the land multiple times in 1926 and 1927 and thought the rolling hills were admirably adapted for a fine golf course. It took some convincing for famed golf course architect Donald Ross to agree. After an initial survey Ross thought it was too wild and would be to difficult to clear the land enough to make a reasonable course. Convinced by Jones and his business associates and friends, Ross finally agreed and began the work on creating a golf course out of densely covered wilderness.
Less than a year later and about three blocks away my grandfather Robert Lee Reese Sr. was about to move his family from downtown Highlands(on Bug Hill) and build a house only blocks away from the property that Jones had purchased. My Great Uncle Samuel Jonas Reese was given some of the old Boneyard property by his brother, Joseph. In turn, Sam gave some of the property to his younger half-brother, my Grandfather Robert Lee Reese Sr. It was on this property that my grandfather built a small house. This house was within 1/4 a mile from the Highlands Country Club. The proximity of the course to my grandfather's house would eventually provide the training ground for a shared learning and love of the game for my family, as well as caddy jobs to so many of my Reese cousins. That love of the game transferred down to my dad, myself and now is putting my two sons through college. My oldest, Logan Reese is the number one golfer at Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs Georgia where he is a senior this year. My younger son Tyler Reese is a sophomore at Embry Riddle University in Daytona Beach, Florida and is the number three player on the team.
Bobby Jones' friend, and the first President of the club Scott Hudson Jr. frowned upon workers or caddies playing the course. So my dad and uncle Pete, along with their cousins, Ralph, Leslie and uncle John Reese and other cousins, including Joseph Walter Reese's kids, Wayne(Deezy) and Coleman Marshall Reese, snuck onto the course and would play holes early morning or late on summer evenings when they wouldn't be caught. It wasn't ideal, but it was a way to learn the game when faced with financial constraints that made membership at the club impossible for poor mountain boys. Reading the old land records of Macon County, NC, gives the scoop on how Bobby Jones & associates acquired all the land for Highlands Country Club in 1927. Sixty to Seventy acres was purchased from R.J. Cobb's mother. 80 acres was purchased from R.J. Munger, and finally more than 200 acres was purchased from a wealthy Texas businessman Mr. Franklin Pugh. The funny thing about it, when, in the first week of June 1927, the Franklin Press newspaper reported that Bobby Jones and his father had bought the property, Jones denied that he was purchasing property, or had building and business interests in Highlands. Maybe because of his worldwide fame, he did not want the world to know where he was going to build his own golf course and a summer getaway home where he could practice in private. Jones was not driven by ego. He was a private man and it makes total sense that he did not want the world showing up at his doorstep if he built a course and a home in Highlands, North Carolina. It would seem that at the time Jones wanted to keep it a secret for himself.
The course was completed by architect Donald Ross by the summer of 1928 and Jones was already playing it by then. A Grand Opening celebration was held on August 10, 1929, even though the course had already technically been open for almost a year for it's number one star player a few select members and business associates and friends of Jones and his father. By the spring of 1930 Highlands Country Club was on it's way and even though a fire had destroyed the brand new $100,000 clubhouse a year earlier in May of 1929, that setback had not stopped the determined men from Atlanta in seeing the dream to fruition. The clubhouse was rebuilt and the official opening of the club was slated to coincide with the opening of the summer tourist season in Highlands in June of 1930.
1930 was an incredibly busy year, and a whirlwind for Bobby Jones. He was on the verge of doing what no golfer in history had done, yet somehow he maintained his concentration, focus and composure throughout the entire year. How he kept his composure between his frantic schedule, family commitments, professional commitments, adverse playing conditions, fighting through weather, exhaustion and other factors was commendable, because he came through with flying colors like the true champion he was.
In early spring 1930 Jones played some warmup rounds at the new Highlands Country Club to gain some practice he thought would mimic the effect the cooler, wet weather in England would have in the British Open and British Amateur.
The following record of Jones' achievements in the spring and early summer of 1930 is from the United States Golf Association.
"In May 1930, before record crowds at Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, England, the Americans had claimed their sixth consecutive Walker Cup victory. Partnered with Oregon dentist “Doc” Willing, Jones won his foursomes match, 8 and 7, and the following day defeated British Team captain Roger Wethered in singles.
Inspired by his Walker Cup success, Jones arrived at St. Andrews, Scotland, for the British Amateur, the only major title missing from his resume. He defeated the defending champion, Cyril Tolley, in the fourth round, and the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, Jimmy Johnston, in the fifth round.
In the final, in front of the largest crowd ever gathered on the Old Course, Jones once again defeated Wethered, this time capturing the first leg of the Grand Slam.
In June, Jones traveled to Hoylake, England, for the British Open, played at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. After matching the course record of 70 in the opening round, Jones turned in rounds of 72, 74, and 75 to win the championship by two strokes over Macdonald Smith and Leo Diegel.
Jones had kept his Grand Slam quest secret to this point. But following his victory at Hoylake, Jones finally confided in Al Laney, a sportswriter for New York’s Herald Tribune, telling him about the goal of winning all four majors: The British Open, The British Amateur, The U.S. Open and The U.S. Amateur.
In the blazing heat of July, Jones continued his Grand Slam quest in the U.S. Open at Interlachen Country Club in Minneapolis. As the field of 143 took to the course for the opening round, the temperature soared to 108 degrees. Despite losing 10 pounds, Jones posted a score of 71 and trailed Macdonald Smith and Tommy Armour, the 1927 U.S. Open champion, by one stroke. At the close of the second round, Jones trailed a new leader, Missouri’s Horton Smith, by two. The final two rounds were played on Saturday, July 12. Before a crowd of 10,000 spectators, Jones shot 68 in the morning to take a five-stroke lead, then held on through the grueling pressure of the final round. He holed a 40-foot putt for birdie on the 72nd hole to claim a two-stroke victory, once again over Macdonald Smith.
From The Atlanta Constitution July 1930.
From the September 4 1930 Franklin Press newspaper-
On Sunday July 13, 1930 Jones traveled back to Atlanta and arrived to a celebration whose ranks swelled to some 125,000. For four weeks he rested, recovering his strength, as well as the 17 pounds he had shed in three days at Interlachen. He was in top form for the final push at the U.S. Amateur Sept. 22-27, 1930 at one of his favorite places, Merion Cricket Club.
Ten days out of those four weeks Jones used the Highlands Country Club course in tiny Highlands, North Carolina to prepare himself for making history, which he did on September 27th 1930, defeating Eugene V. Homans 8 and 7 in front of a record 18,000 fans. Jones had done it, he had completed the Grand Slam, winning the four biggest 'majors' in golf in the same year.
And in the process Jones had put the Highlands Estates Club(as it was known then) in Highlands, NC on the map.
In 1946 Jones was diagnosed with a debilitating back condition know as Syringomyelia. It would end his playing days in less than two years. He fought through constant pain in those years and then afterwards until his death in 1971. But outwardly he would never let on to anyone about the physical pain he was dealing with. He was selfless, and always thought of others first.
In an ironic twist, the very last public tournament Jones would play would be at Highlands County Club in July of 1948. In true Jones fashion, he played that tournament for the benefit of others as the proceeds of the match went to the Highlands Community Hospital Fund. By that point Jones' condition was deteriorating to a point where he could not swing a club without great pain. On that hot summer day, in true Jones fashion, he said he was merely tired, but in reality his body was giving out on him.
Augusta National is a legendary course but before Augusta there was Highlands Country Club and it helped groom a champion like the world had never seen before. I'm happy that Bobby Jones chose to play so much at Highlands. I'm convinced it's a big part of the reason so many members of my family grew to love the game. They watched him play, just as Jones had watched 1913 U.S. Open winner Francis Ouimet and others in his youth. And through my families association with Jones they grew to love one of the greatest games and passed that love down through the generations to myself and my kids.
Epilogue: Bobby Jones’ two living grandsons, including Robert Jones Black, and Dr. Bob Jones IV, continue to live out their grandfather's work through a foundation in Bobby's name.
In 2019 Dr. Bob Jones IV said "Bobby Jones made the best of his life. He was a man of integrity and wisdom, and his slogan was "anything is possible.” The Bobby Jones Chiari & Syringomyelia Foundation, is a non-profit organization with the goal of raising awareness and finding a cure for Chiari malformation (CM), syringomyelia (SM) and related disorders. For more: http://bobbyjonescsf.org/
Dallas Reese
November 2020
The Atlanta Constitution July 23, 1948
This is an excellent lecture on the life and career of Bobby Jones by his grandson Dr. Bob Jones IV.