People remember the 1929 U.S. Open for the slick-as-glass 12-foot putt Bob Jones holed on the 72nd hole to tie Al Espinosa, who he then dispatched the following day by a whopping 23 shots in a 36-hole playoff. Jones’s 79 in that final round featured two triple bogies, remarkable when one considers that only five other winners have suffered just one triple in the entire championship, the last being Tiger Woods in 2000.
But Jones’s stirring first round has also lived on in U.S. Open lore, a 69 that included a 31 on the back nine which matched the low nine-hole record shot by 1925 winner Willie Macfarlene. With the current debate on distance, it’s interesting to note the clubs Jones used in that round to illustrate how the game has changed and how remarkable that score really was.
At 6,786 yards, the West course at Winged Foot was the third longest in the event to that point. Architect A.W. Tillinghast recalled the only order 11 members of the New York Athletic Club gave him when they hired him in 1921: “It was brief and easily understood: ‘Give us a man’s sized course.’” The course opened two years later, and the only changes ahead of the 1929 Open were the addition of a half dozen bunkers. Tillinghast noted that the course was not to be stretched in length “to the extreme limits of the large teeing grounds just to make the scoring high. Nor will the holes be cut in canny corners of the greens to make putting tricky.”
Jones was a long hitter who could move it 300 yards off the tee on occasion with hickory shafts, and the course was playing fast. He began the championship 6, 4, 5 – four over par after three holes. What follows is an account of his round from those who witnessed it, the last 15 holes played in 7 under par.
#1 – 445 yards: Driver, spade-mashie (6-iron) second which was bunkered, he got out weakly and three putted for a double bogie 6. Today, in the same conditions with no wind, it would be driver and wedge for big hitters like Jones.
#2 – 376 yards: Driver, mashie-niblick (7-iron) to five feet, two putts for a par 4. A hybrid or driving iron and gap wedge today.
#3 – 217 yards: 3-wood pushed into a greenside bunker, he left his second shot in it, blasted out and took two putts for a double bogie 5. Today it would be a 5 or 6-iron.
#4 – 406 yards: Driver, spade-mashie (6-iron), and two putts for a par 4. A 3-wood and sand wedge today.
#5 – 517 yards: Driver, 3-wood to 50 feet and one putt for an eagle 3. A driver and 5 or 6-iron today.
#6 – 323 yards: Driver, finessed mashie-niblick (7-iron), and two putts for a par 4. For the bold, a driver toward the green, or for the cautious, a 4 or 5-iron and gap wedge today.
#7 – 170 yards: Spade-mashie (6-iron), and two putts for a par 3. A 7 or 8-iron today.
#8 – 439 yards: Driver, 3-wood, chip and one putt for par 4. A 3-wood and 9-iron today.
#9 – 517 yards: Driver, 3-wood to a greenside bunker, out and two putts for a par 5. A driver and 5 or 6-iron today.
Out in 38, two over par.
#10 – 190 yards: Mid-mashie (3-iron) to 12 feet and two putts for a par 3. A 6 or 7-iron today.
#11 – 378 yards: Driver, spade-mashie (6-iron) to 10 feet and one putt for a birdie 3. A hybrid or driving iron and gap wedge today.
#12 – 497 yards: Driver, spade-mashie (6-iron) to 15 feet and one putt for an eagle 3. A driver and 6 or 7-iron. Jones smoked a drive and reached the green with an iron. Tillinghast lamented hard, fast fairways, saying, “You can’t lay out a golf course that is proof against the fireworks of the long hitters when the course is baked out.”
#13 – 213 yards: 3-wood hooked 30 yards left of the green, fantastic recovery to three feet and one putt for a par 3. A 5 or 6-iron today.
#14 – 376 yards: Driver, mashie-niblick (7-iron) to 12 feet and one putt for a birdie 3.
A hybrid or driving iron and gap wedge today.
#15 – 397 yards: Driver, spade-mashie (6-iron) to the green and he left the birdie putt on the lip for a par 4. A hybrid or driving iron and pitching wedge today.
#16 – 456 yards: Driver, mashie iron (4-iron) to six feet and two putts for a birdie 4. A driver and pitching wedge today.
#17 – 450 yards: Driver, spade-mashie (6-iron), chip and one putt for a par 4. A driver and pitching wedge today.
In 31 – 69 on a par 72 layout at 6,786 yards.
This was the first time Jones had broken 70 in the U.S. Open since his debut in 1920, and was ten shots better than the field average of 79.43. Jones claimed that improved iron play made the difference that week, but admitted his putting was off. He was one of only 20 players to win the championship after holding the lead after round one (a 17 percent success rate.)
By way of comparison, when the Open returned to Winged Foot in 1959 it played to 6,873 yards (now a par 70.) Four players shot 69s in the first round, 7.83 strokes better than the field average. In 1974, it played to 6,961 yards and the best first round one score, 70, was 7.84 shots better than the field.
In 1984, it played to 6,930 yards, and the four 68s shot in round one were 6.31 shots better than the field; and in 2006, it played 7,264 yards, and the single 70 in round one was 5.99 shots better. Jones’s performance was truly remarkable, playing with primitive equipment.
The PGA Tour began tracking statistics in 1980, and the average driving distance increased 38 yards from then to 2019, an increase of 15 percent. Add a modest 5 percent increase from 1929 to 1980 and carry that 20 percent increase throughout the bag due to a more lively ball and modern irons, and Winged Foot for the 2020 U.S. Open would have to play to roughly 8,143 yards to equate to what Bob Jones faced in 1929 (at 15 percent it would be 7,804 yards.) The longest course ever has been Erin Hills in 2017, at 7,845 yards in Round 1 on the widest fairways in Open history. The average score that day was 73.38 (par-72), with 44 rounds under par, a first round record. Long doesn’t necessarily mean difficult.
The game has changed as has everything in the world since 1929, but it would be interesting to see players have to hit long irons in to greens again. The first U.S. Open I watched was the “Massacre at Winged Foot” in 1974, and I remember Hale Irwin hitting a 2-iron to the final hole when it played to 448 yards. Before the event, future Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins said “the guy who wins is gonna have a hole through the face of his two-iron.”
Two-irons to the green have gone the way of the dodo bird. But what would be more interesting to see: 1) a player faced with a 2-iron shot from a hanging lie over water to a narrow green on the final hole, needing a par to win; or 2) the same player with the same lie with an 8-iron? Put a 2-iron in his or her hand, and let’s see them face a real challenge. And if we really wanted to see how good they are, put a hickory shafted Bobby Jones mid-iron in their hands. Now that would be fun!