GSGA | 3
Bob Hope once said that if you watch a game,
it is fun, and if you play it, it is recreation. But
if you work at it – then it is golf. In Georgia,
one organization not only works to promote
and preserve golf ’s glorious tradition in the
state, but also strives to enhance the enjoy-
ment for all who watch it, play it, and work
at it, too.
In 1916, a group of golfers in Georgia came
together to establish what would become the
state’s first amateur championship, a tourna-
ment that ultimately took place at Capital City
Club inAtlanta. By the end of the tournament,
a 14-year-old prodigy from Atlanta emerged
as the champion; his name was Bobby Jones.
Jones, of course, went on to become one of
the sport’s greatest players. As an adult, he
preferred to maintain his career as an attorney,
only competing in his spare time and only at
the amateur level, yet he was the only golfer
to win the Grand Slam of his era, which is all
four major championships in the same year.
He was also the driving force behind the de-
velopment and design of Augusta National
Golf Club where he later founded The Mas-
ters, a tournament which ultimately became
one of the four major championship events in
golf. As for that group of golfers who created
