Bob Jones was as much a genius with the bulger faced woods and the curved irons as ever was Caruso to grand opera or Pavlowa to the ballet.  His like may never again be seen in the world of sport for no man ever dominated his field quite as much as the soft spoken Georgian.  Those of us who saw him in his meteoric championship years have been fortunate.  We will have much to recall in the years to come.

Jones' retirement came unexpectedly.  It was thought he would occasionally return to the green fields of contest for a tilt with par.  But he has closed the door against such a probability and when Jones makes a decision it usually is a final one.

The golf world, from the bleak headlands of St. Andrews to the slippery greens of Southern California will regret his retirement from the most intriguing of all games.   But he merely is exercising his right of free will so there can be no complaint.   Jones owes golf little or nothing.  He has given the game as much as he has received.

Jones' retirement from the amateur ranks was made in a manner typical of the man.   He might well have evaded the letter of the amateur rule and still made the educational motion pictures that lured him beyond the pale of amateurism.  But with the same inherent honesty that made him call numerous penalty strokes, on himself, in the heat of championships he preferred to sacrifice his amateur standing - which he always guarded with tremendous jealousy - rather than violate the tenets of the class.  In his retirement, Jones has given another example of the same splendid sportsmanship he so often exhibited on the fairways.

It long has been Jones' desire to contribute something of educational worth to golf.   He viewed his newspaper writings more in that light than as a mere money making proposition.  It may be assumed his motion pictures will be the best ever produced and of real value to the golfing world at large.  Jones always has been thorough.

His departure from the amateur ranks will revolutionize that field.  With Jones and Von Elm both discarding amateur status, any one of a dozen players may aspire to the seats they have vacated.  At the moment it would seem George Voigt of New York stands out as the most logical contender for the amateur throne.

Amateur golf will again drop to its normal level.  The open championship will revert to the professionals, for with Bob on the side lines there is not an amateur in sight who can hope to defeat the horde of brilliant shot makers now in the paid ranks.   For almost ten years the open annually has been a struggle between Jones and the professional field.  Amateur golf in itself contained no great power.  But Jones as the representative of amateur golf was the tremendous force of the game.

After the completion of his pictures it is likely Jones will retire to the more prosaic duties of a southern lawyer.  He has ambitions to succeed at the bar and the ability to conquer legal bunkers with the same facility he hurdled them on the golf courses.   The money obtained from his motion picture work will establish Jones on secure financial footing and with a growing family, that long has been one of his desires; for which he is deserving of much admiration.

Jones took the psychological moment for his retirement.  Today he stands the ruler of the golf world; safely entrenched in the great quadrilateral of the sport.  No other man has ever approached his achievements of 1930; none ever will for that quest is open only to an amateur and you will pardon me saying - there never will be another amateur akin to Bob Jones.

Over eight short seasons he has won thirteen national championships.  Four United States opens; five United States amateurs; three British opens and one British amateur.   In addition he has unsuccessfully tied for two other U.S. open titles.  He was a brilliant performer in many Walker Cup matches and has hung up scores that made golf seem a simple game.  No other star will ever approach that record and as he goes into retirement, Jones must realize that only eternity will erase the brilliance and permanency of his performances.

It will seem odd to find Jones on the side lines at championships; for he has declared his interest in the big tournaments will never cease.  Perhaps he thinks he can walk quietly around a championship course; but in that he is wrong.  Jack Dempsey, the ex-champion and the civilian, is still a greater attraction to the crowds than any king of fistania.  And so Bob Jones will find himself still the admired and sought after figure in golf.

Jones leaves to the world the memory of the most glorious and graceful swing ever known to golf.  He was one of the masters with the wooden clubs; a marvelous iron player and one of the greatest of all putters.  There were others who could match him with some certain club or shot, but none who ever stitched together the intricacies of the game into so flawless a pattern.  As Harry Vardon was the model of style until Jones' advent, so will Bobby be the mold of fashion until a greater player comes along; and that man may never arrive.

With Jones gone the press rooms at championships also will assume a strange atmosphere.   There will be no O.B. Keeler worrying about the performance of the young man he once called:  "The Golden Boy."  O.B.  will be present at many championships to come, I hope, but his interest will be vicarious.  He no longer will be the object of good natured jests; no more can he arouse himself into a fury when it is suggested there have been greater players than Bob Jones.

Keeler, famous the world over as the Boswell of Jones, has been a part of Bob's success.  No man ever recorded more faithfully the deeds of any hero than did Keeler for Jones.  He followed Bobby 120,000 miles in twenty-seven national championships and shed a tear at each mile stone.  As Jones contributed to the mechanics and history of golf, so did Keeler add his share by recording the facts.  Mr. Keeler can now progress into the pleasant years of middle age with no more worries.  And I hope that in the future he can keep track of his collar buttons - or studs as he calls them.

It will be interesting to note the effect Jones' retirement has upon the attendance at championships.  Big gates at golf championship were contemporaneous with Jones' successes.  And big gates came only when Jones was in the field.  The P.G.A. championship - that drew the greatest of professional stars - attracted only a handful of spectators.  Jones in any field would fill the fairways with a milling mob of curious people.  I strongly suspect that championships of the next few years will be played before small crowds and that once more it will be possible to see a few shots without endangering life, limb and wrist watches.