The Grand Slam: Bobby Jones, America, and the Story of Golf

Mark Frost

Mark Frost wrote (in my opinion) the best golf history book ever, when he penned The Greatest Game Ever Played, the almost mythic tale of Francis Ouimet's triumph in the U.S. Open at Brookline in 1913. It will soon be a movie. In my opinion the book was even better than Seabiscuit, and I hope the movie will be too. In the Hollywood tradition it seems like Frost decided to take his winning formula, a mythic golf champion and a history of him and his times, and make a sequel. Sequels are rarely, if ever, as good as the originals. I think that is the case here.

Be that as it may, I would still highly recommend this book. Bobby Jones was a complex and interesting character. Frost is a master at telling a good tale. In this case, Frost has expertly woven into the story of Jones brilliant and insightful commentary of the society and historical framework of the 1920's and 1930's. I found the book a little slow at the beginning, but after I got into it I really couldn't put it down.

If you love golf and are interested in a unique man, a true amateur, and how Bobby Jones achieved possibly the greatest run in golf history, this is definitely a book for you. I enjoyed it and am very glad I read it.