Best Golfers: Ranking the 10 greatest short games all-time

Best Golfers #9: Bobby Jones

It’s not bad at all for someone who retired from golf at the age of 28, choosing instead to focus on his career as a lawyer, instead of golf, which he had only been focusing on part-time. It was hard to tell that was the case, as Jones won 13 of 31 majors (at the time, it was the open and amateur titles in the United States and the United Kingdom).

A lot of Jones success came after he retired from golf, in the form of teaching, film, and books. A few of them related to his work around the green. Where some golfers get fancy around the green with their approaches, Jones was the opposite.

He chose to play it very vanilla, opting for the straightforward shot nearly every time. The fancy shots were ones that were only to be attempted when it was the only option available. He opted to use a club that gave him the most possible use of the green.

His reason being was it was the most carefully prepared surface in the game. By putting yourself into a position to take the largest possible advantage of that surface, Bobby Jones continually put himself in great situations.

Remember, Jones played back in the ’20s. Courses were a lot different back then, but greens were still kept the nicest. Jones ability to put to use that fact lead to him winning nearly half the majors he played in during his time and placing in the top 10 in 27 of the 31. That’s what earns him the 9th spot on the greatest short games of all time, and certainly, Jones was one of the overall best golfers of all time as well.