By Bobby Greenwood, PGA. Published by Tee Times Magazine, Winter 2023 issue, pages 16 and 17.
It was interesting to meet such great people during my seven years on the PGA Tour. I will never forget my meeting with Charles “Chick” Evans at the Western Open at Olympia Fields Country Club in Chicago, Illinois. I was amazed at how kind and what a humble man he was.
Evans was the most acclaimed American amateur golfer of his time because he won the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Open in the same year, a feat he achieved in 1916. He was the first person to accomplish this task and only Bobby Jones has done it since.
Evans won the U.S. Amateur again in 1920 and was runner-up three times. Selected to the Walker Cup team in 1922, 1924, and 1928, he competed in a record 50 consecutive U.S. Amateurs in his long career and he was low amateur in 6 U.S. Opens and won a record 8 Western Amateur titles. Evans achieved all of this while carrying only seven hickory-shafted clubs!
In comparing the two great amateur golfers, Bobby Jones and Chick Evans, perhaps we should also compare the golf equipment that each man used.
When Bobby Jones’ personal set of clubs was tested years later, the set was perfectly matched. All except his 8-iron which was slightly off. When informed of these findings, Jones stated, “I never did like that club so much.” He matched his set of golf clubs by feel as there were no swing weight machines available at that time.
In 1971, I played in the U.S. Open at historic Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Down the street from the club was George Izett’s Custom Club Company. One day, before the tournament started, David Graham and I decided to “get away” and visit the old golf club factory. David was an avid club collector and he enjoyed looking for the oil-hardened persimmon head McGregor woods.
I was interested in the Wilson R-90 wedges. When we went in the company, there was George Izett, the old clubmaker himself. He told us that during the 1924 U.S. Amateur, Bobby Jones came into his shop. Bobby was looking for a 4-wood. He gave Mr. Izett his specs and then said, “Make 25 of them.” So, that’s how Jones had matched the 14 golf clubs in his set… trial and error.
Years earlier, Chick Evans had won all his tournaments with 7 hickory-shafted clubs!
Chick Evans played his last rounds of competitive golf in 1968, winning the Illinois Open that year. After his retirement, he continued to attend events as a spectator and converse with the fans and players. I would always look forward to meeting with Chick Evans at the Western Open each year in Chicago, Illinois.
Chick Evans’ legacy involves more than tournament golf. His name is synonymous with the Western Golf Association, and the institution of the Evans Scholars Foundation. This idea was born after Evans won the Open and the Amateur in 1916. Evans said his mother “wouldn’t think of accepting my money unless we could arrange it to be trusted to furnish education for deserving caddies.” He also said his mother “pointed out that the money came from golf and thus should go back into golf. It was all her dream — her idea.”
Rather than turn professional, Evans decided to take the $5,000 offered to him and establish a golf scholarship fund for caddies. The Evans Scholarships was for caddies only. Since its founding, the Evans Scholars Foundation has invested more than $475 million in the college educations of more than 11,556 Alumni.
By the way, when I played the Tour in the 1970s, the Western Open and the Masters were the only two tournaments on Tour where players could only use the caddies supplied by the tournament; you could not bring your own caddy in those two events.
Like Evans, Jones was an amazing playing record who was one of the most influential figures in the history of the sport. He dominated top-level amateur competition, and also competed very successfully against the world’s best professional golfers.
Bobby Jones competed in golf only as an amateur, primarily on a part-time basis, and he qualified for his first U.S. Open at age 18 in 1920. Jones won the Southern Amateur three times: 1917, 1920, and 1922. He represented the United States in the Walker Cup five times and because of health reasons, chose to retire from competition at age 28! He played his last round of golf at East Lake Golf Club, his home course in Atlanta, on August 18, 1948.
As an adult, he hit his stride and won his first U.S. Open in 1923. Jones was the first player to win The Double, both the U.S. and British Open Championships in the same year in 1926. He was the second (and last) to win the U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur in the same year in 1930, first accomplished in 1916 by Chick Evans.
Bobby Jones is most famous for his unique (pre-Masters) “Grand Slam”, the only player to achieve wins in all four major golf tournaments of his era (the open and amateur championships in both the United States and United Kingdom) in a single calendar year in 1930.
After retiring from competitive golf in 1930, and even in the years leading up to that, Jones had become one of the most famous sports figures in the world and was recognized virtually everywhere he went in public. He is the only sports figure to receive two ticker-tape parades in New York City!
Jones’ four titles in the U.S. Open remain tied for the most ever in that championship, along with Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, and Willie Anderson. His five titles in the U.S. Amateur are a record. In 2000, Bobby Jones was ranked as the fourth greatest golfer of all time by Golf Digest magazine, behind Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead third. In 2009, Bobby Jones was listed at No. 3 all time in a major survey published by Golf Magazine. Jack Nicklaus was No. 1, followed by Tiger Woods, Jones, Hogan, and Snead.
It is very difficult to compare players of another era because the game has changed so much. Here is another thought: what would Jack Nicklaus have done if he had the equipment that Tiger Woods played with? Hmmm.
NOTES:
• Chick Evans died on November 6, 1979 at age 89. He is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
• Bobby Jones was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974.
• David Graham won the PGA Championship in 1979 and the U.S. Open in 1981.
• Bobby Greenwood played on the PGA Tour from 1969 to 1975.
PHOTOS:
• Chick Evans with Bobby Greenwood at the 1975 Western Open, Butler National Golf Club, Oak Brook, Illinois.
• Bobby Greenwood on the 18th hole during the 1971 Western Open tourney @ Olympia Fields Country Club, PGA Tour, July 15, 1971. Photo by famed photographer, Bob Langer.
SOURCES/CREDITS:
• Personal recollections of Bobby Greenwood, PGA.
• http://www.WorldGolfHallofFame.org/chick-evans
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evans_Scholars_Foundation
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Jones_(golfer)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Graham_(golfer)
• Photo collage credit: GreenwoodPGA.net
ARTICLE DIRECT LINKS:
“The Great Debate: Who was Better – Chick Evans or Bobby Jones?”
By: Bobby Greenwood, PGA
Published by: Tee Times Paper
Winter 2023 issue, pages 16 and 17.
Page 16: https://www.teetimesgolfnews.com/eedition/page-16/page_a16d593d-b602-5aa5-9030-c2a763cb2e51.html
Page 17: https://www.teetimesgolfnews.com/eedition/page-17/page_5ab72f08-4184-517f-b8d9-c268573d1f4e.html
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BOBBY GREENWOOD, PGA
Former PGA Tour Player
Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame
PGA of America Life Member
Official Website: http://www.greenwoodpga.net/
Official Blog: https://greenwoodpga.wordpress.com/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/greenwoodpga
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