How Bobby Jones' historic career began in Inwood

After years of showing promise and potential, Bobby Jones won his first major golf championship at the 1923 U.S. Open. It was the first of his four Open titles.

Inwood Country Club played host to the tournament, and earlier this month, the club celebrated the centennial of Jones’ win, an early highlight of his illustrious career.

“It was his first major championship,” Jerrold Weinstein, the club’s president, said. “That led him to win a total of 13 championships, and winning the first one in Inwood was the start for him. He’s universally known as the greatest amateur champion of all time. We take a lot of pride in Inwood that we were the location of his first major championship.”

Jones’ first Open win, at age 21, came after an 18-hole Sunday playoff against Bobby Cruickshank, of Scotland.

Jones played in 52 tournaments in a span of 13 years, and won 13 majors. The first one is always special, however, and Weinstein said the club honors it every year. But, he added, “There’s only one 100-year anniversary.”

The club’s celebration took place July 14-16. Last Friday there was a putting contest in which all of the competing club members used replicas of Jones’ “Calamity Jane” putter, which he used throughout his career.

The main event was Saturday, an 18-hole tournament in which members raised funds for the Bobby Jones CSF Foundation, a nonprofit that works to raise awareness of Chiari malformation and syringomyelia.

Jones died of syringomyelia, a neurological disorder, in 1971, at age 69.

Members also had the opportunity to recreate Jones’ legendary second shot on the 18th hole of the playoff in 1923 that set him up for the win — commemorated by a plaque on display at the hole.

On Sunday, the weekend celebration wrapped up with a barbecue and live music.

North Woodmere resident Irving Kaminetsky, who has been a member of the club since 1985, describes it as an oasis and a special place for him.

On Saturday, Kaminetsky said, he had a great bonding moment with his son, Jed, and grandson Jared on a memorable night.

“It was just really beautiful,” Kaminetsky said. “The club did a great job, under the leadership of Jerrold Weinstein. It was just sensational, and you know, this is once in 100 years of it.”

For a dinner on Saturday night, members were invited to dress in outfits from the 1920s, and the guest speakers included Jones’ grandson, Bob Jones IV, a sports psychologist at the Behavioral Institute of Atlanta in Sandy Springs, Georgia.

His grandfather lives on in the memorabilia that lines a hallway of the club: replicas of his clubs, framed notes he wrote after winning his first open, books about him and autographs. The club’s grill room was named after him.

Jim Buonaiuto, the club’s general manager, described the 1923 U.S. Open as a monumental moment not only in golf history, but in all of American sports.

“For nearly a year, the membership of Inwood Country Club had planned on commemorating this special event, and their planning resulted in a truly memorable weekend,” Buonaiuto wrote in an email.

“Former members, guests from the golf industry and the family of Bobby Jones Jr. all joined together in celebrating a remarkable feat in sporting history!”

Founded 122 years ago, Inwood Country Club is one of the oldest golf courses on Long Island. Before Jones broke through in 1923, the club also hosted the 1921 PGA Championship, won by another legend of the sport, Walter Hagen.