In the wake of the stock-market crash and the dawn of the Great Depression, a ray of light emerged from the world of sports. In the summer of 1930, Bobby Jones, a twenty-eight-year-old amateur golfer, mounted a campaign against the record books. In four months, this natural, self-taught player conquered the British Amateur Championship, the British Open, the US Open, and finally, the US Amateur Championship—an achievement so extraordinary that writers dubbed it the Grand Slam. No one has ever repeated it.
A natural, self-taught player, the intensely private Jones had longed to retreat from fame's glaring spotlight throughout his entire career. While the press referred to him as "a golfing machine," the strain of competition exacted a ferocious toll on his physical and emotional well-being. During the season of the Slam he constantly battled exhaustion, nearly lost his life twice, and came perilously close to a total collapse.
By the time he completed his unprecedented feat, Jones made the shocking announcement that he was retiring from the game. His abrupt disappearance from the public eye into a closely guarded private life helped create the mythological image of this hero from the Golden Age of sports that endures to this day.
Mark Frost uses a wealth of original research to provide an unprecedented, intimate portrait of golf great Bobby Jones. In the tradition of The Greatest Game Ever Played, The Grand Slam blends social history with sports biography, captivating the imagination and engaging the listener—it is a biography not to be missed.
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"Mark Frost is a really great writer. He takes a topic that I didn't know anything (or didn't care anything) about and made it genuinely interesting. I found this story completely engaging and readable. I strongly recommend both this book and "The Greatest Game Ever Played", even if you hate golf."
—
ebnewberry (4 out of 5 stars)