This is the story of how my uncle Pete(Dugan) R. L. Reese got the gig as a caddy for Bobby Jones back in the 1940s. Bobby Jones and his father had helped with the building of the Highlands Country Club in Highlands, NC. The course was originally opened as a 9 hole course in the 1920s and was designed by the legendary golf course architect Donald Ross. Before he retired from competitive golf Bobby Jones used the Highlands course as a practice facility when he was getting ready for major tournaments. In fact, before he won the Grand Slam in 1930 Jones came to Highlands to practice on the course there, because the weather conditions and putting surfaces most closely resembled the conditions he would face when he would play in the British Amateur and The British Open(The Open) After retiring from playing the tournament circuit, Bobby Jones had a law practice in Atlanta and would spend summers in Highlands(only about two hours north) Jones played regularly every year from the late 20s until his back ailments wouldn't allow him to play anymore. About 1948 his back condition forced him to stop playing.
The following article is from the June 10, 1937 edition of the Atlanta Constitution and Journal confirming the fact Bobby Jones used Highlands Country Club as a practice facility and played there often.
The Highlands Country Club is also the site of where Bobby Jones shot the lowest round he ever recorded, a 62 on the par 70 course. This article is from the August 5, 1934 Atlanta Journal & Constitution.
As fate would have it, the Highlands Country Club course was only a block away from my grandparents house where my dad and his brothers and sisters grew up. Uncle Pete was the oldest of my dad's siblings. Born in 1927, he was only 12 years old when he first caddied for one of the greatest golfers to every walk the planet, the legendary Bobby Jones, who also designed Augusta and created the Masters Golf Tournament, which of course is one of the PGA's four majors held each year. Below is a profile the Augusta Chronicle did on my Uncle Pete back in 1998. Our family has a rich tradition of golfers and I'm so happy my kids enjoy the game and play as well.
Caddie for Jones rich in memories
R.L Reese Jr., was a caddy for golf great Bobby Jones when he played Highlands Country Club in the summers in the mountains of North Carolina. This is Mr. Reese's first trip to the Masters
By Amy Joyner Chronicle Staff
In the summers of 1940 and '41, Bobby Jones paid R.L. Reese 75 cents a round -- 35 cents for nine holes -- to carry his bag at Highlands Country Club in North Carolina.The caddie was just a young boy then, and the money was quickly spent. But Reese, now 70, is still spinning stories about those summer games with American golf's first -- and perhaps greatest legend.``The best I could remember, he was just one of the finest people ever,'' Reese said Monday, making his first trip to the Masters Tournament. ``He was one of the nicest people I ever met.
During the 1940s, Jones' family owned a summer home in Highlands, N.C. -- near the spot where Georgia and the Carolinas converge. On vacations from his Atlanta law office, Jones would always play a few rounds of golf at the local country club.
There was always a caddie shortage at the club, and on one summer day in 1940 when Jones was hankering to play, Reese was the only bag toter around. Reese, then 12, got the job of carrying two bags for Jones, his daughter and son. At first, Reese thought this was just another regular customer, but talk soon turned to Jones' Grand Slam triumph. By the fourth hole, the young caddie was in awe.``I said, `Oh, heck, I've got a celebrity here,''' Reese said. ``I didn't know what to say.'' In fact, he wasn't like the professional caddies of today, who have no trouble arguing a shot with a player. Reese kept quiet and carried the bag.``I didn't make any suggestions because at that time, he's won all the tournaments, the Grand Slam,'' Reese said. ``I just tried to keep my mouth shut.``I didn't want to lose my job.''
That was not a problem. Jones paid Reese double for carrying the two bags, and each time he played at Highlands Country Club over the following two years Jones requested the young caddie. Reese estimated he caddied for Jones close to 20 times.
Kevin Reese said his father has always longed to come to the Masters Tournament, to see the course Jones helped create.``I just wanted to bring him down,'' said Kevin Reese, who got Monday practice-round tickets from a friend in Augusta. ``It was the least we could do, get him down here.''
The elder Reese fell from a ladder last June and broke his hip, and he hasn't played golf since. But in the 1970s and 1980s, he was a scratch golfer with a low handicap and a room full of amateur tournament trophies, his son said. ``In his day, he was a pretty mean player,'' his son boasted. When he wasn't toting a bag, Reese was learning to play golf on the back nine at Highlands Country Club. The club owner didn't allow caddies to play, but they would sneak through the woods to the nether end of the course and practice until dark. If the caddies got caught -- and Reese was a few times -- they would be fired for two weeks. But they were always hired back because of the caddie shortage, he said.
Reese, who picked up his first club at age 6, never asked Jones for golf tips. But he got them just by following the legend around the course, watching the way he swung and focused every thought on the game.``I thought to myself, `If I'm going to play golf, I'm going to have a swing like that,''' Reese said. ``I'm going to copy him.''
The greatest golf lesson Reese got from Jones didn't have a thing to do with swing techniques or other fundamentals. It was a lesson in manners, pure and simple Jones and his son were playing the ninth hole at Highlands Country Club. The younger man attempted to hit a second-shot 9-iron, but the ball didn't take flight like it should have.``He topped the ball. The ball went about 20 to 30 yards,'' Reese said. Upset with the flubbed shot, Jones' son threw his club down in disgust. Jones turned to Reese and said, ``If you ever take up golf, don't do that. It's not the club. It's the man behind the club.''Reese remembered that. ``In all the years I've been playing golf, I've never once thrown a club,'' he said, a grin beginning to form. ``But I've beat the ground with it.''