The Story of Ernest Jones
Without a doubt, the most successful teacher the game has ever known was Ernest Jones. Here was a man who taught nine to five, six days a week, booked months in advance, for over 40 years! His students won 16 national championships, two U.S. Amateurs and 3 U.S. Opens. They all attributed 100% of their success to him. His amateur students won tournaments all over the world. They attributed 100% of their success to him. They learned only one principle: Swing the clubhead on all shots.
Literally thousands of golfers journeyed across the country to learn from Ernest Jones. His beginners would break 100 almost immediately. His better students would break 80. Hist best students were the best in the world.
Ernest led a simple life devoting all of it to the teaching of one simple principle. He was born in 1888 in County Kent, about 60 miles east of London, England. As a boy, he won numerous caddy tournaments. When his father died at a young age, Ernest became a clubmaker and opened a golf shop. Because of his playing and clubmaking skills, he was hired on as the assistant pro at Chiselhurst Golf Club.
One of Ernest’s duties as a professional was to teach golf. Although an excellent player and clubmaker, he knew nothing about teaching. So, he paid a visit to the local library and took out all the books written by the experts. This brilliant man quickly realized that the books totally contradicted each other (no different today). The one statement that made some sense to him came from the classic The Art of Golf, written in 1888 by Sir Walter Simpson. In speaking of golf, Sir Walter, wrote, “In golf, there is one categorical imperative: “hit the ball” to “swing the clubhead” because a hit implies violent contact and can mean anything. You can hit one way one time, another way another time. A swinging motion is a definite form of motion with fundamental laws and principles behind it. Laws and principles which allow any golfer in the world to hit the ball long and straight. Swing the clubhead. There are no minor absolutes.
Ernest believed early on that there must be fundamental laws - scientific truths, if you will - behind everything. He as greatly impressed with the works of Albert Einstein. Einstein wrote, “God did not play dice with the universe.” Ernest agreed. In golf, he mused, there must be a common denominator. “My job,” he said to himself, “was to find it.”
Ernest went back to the 16th Century and Galileo to discover the law of the pendulum as the timeless truth and the answer to golf. He learned that you cannot have the characteristics of a pendulum unless the pendulum swings. Ergo, you have to have a swinging motion in the head of the club. That motion is a very definite one. It is acquired and executed only by feel. And it can be taught. Ernest taught that one concept for 40 years, and they came from all over the world to learn it.
Ernest joined the Sportsman’s Battalion and entered World War I. In fighting around and near Loos, France, the young professional was seriously wounded and lost his leg. While recuperating in the hospital, he thought about the principle of a pendulum. If he could generate that swing motion which, in turn, creates centrifugal force, what difference did it make how many legs he had? He would have perfect balance.
Immediately upon his discharge from the hospital, he headed for the golf course, crutch in hand, ready to play. He made a small wager with a soon-to-be-British Open champion who insisted on giving the poor, one-legged veteran one shot per hole. Ernest accepted the wager. When he made the turn in 38, it was no contest. Noticeably tired, he could only shoot 45 on the back, returning an 83.
His next effort on one leg was a 72… and then 68… and then 64. When you swing the clubhead, he understood, balance was the result. And when you swing the clubhead, you can forget everything else because you don’t have time standing over the ball to think of more than one thing.
Ernest saw that all the teachers were teaching his style. They teach you what to look like by asking you to move body parts a certain way. He knew what you looked like was meaningless. To play great golf, all you had to do was learn to swing. Whether you had one leg… one arm… or were blind… if you can swing the clubhead with little interference, you can break par on any golf course in the world.
Ernest knew the swing motion was a very definite kind of motion only felt in the head of the club as it flew through the air. That motion was defined by the laws of science. Indeed, God did not throw dice.
At this time, Ernest began to play exhibitions on one leg, holding his own with the finest players in the world, including the great triumvirate, Harry Vardon, James Braid and J.H. Taylor. Then, he won the prestigious Kent Cup, the equivalent of our state open. It was at this point that Ernest made the decision to become a teacher and spend the rest of his life teaching what he head learned and experienced.
After World War II, Jones taught indoors in New York City with pupils hitting into a canvas net in a small room in an office building near Fifth Avenue and 43rd Street. The great golf writer, Charles Price, referred to him as “The Pro from Fifth Avenue.” Here taught America’s most sought after, controversial and well known instructor for over 25 years.
Because of his success, the P.G.A. of America asked him to be the principal speader at their annual convention in 1950. The speech lasted, maybe, one hour. The question and answer session lasted the rest of the day. Present in the room and listening carefully to every word was Bobby Jones. In the question and answer session, Bobby Jones got up, turned to the audience and said, “Gentlemen, we all know that you can’t build up a golf swing step-by-step. We play by feel.” The audience agreed that the feel Ernest described in the swinging motion “was indeed the feel we have when we’re playing well.” Then why don’t you teach it?’ He replied. The answer was never admitted. Why not? Many reasons. Ego, a lack of understanding, but primarily, Jones represneted a threat to their livlihood. To make the golf swing so incredibly simple was indeed a threat to the P.G.A. of America. A comment made by one member was, “If golf is that simple we won’t sell enough lessons.”
Bobby Jones said, “I think Ernest’s conception of the swing is quite right. We ought to be most concerned with finding simple, effective approach to teaching the game. I think Ernest’s conception of swinging the clubhead and the way he teaches it is very simple approach. I spent my career swinging a weight at the end of a string.”
To this day, many teachers quote Ernest Jones but none truly understood what he said. Although Ernest taught tousands of students, and many teaching professionals tried to teach his method, only two people learned to teach what he taught. His son-in-law, Fred Austin, and his disciple and friend, Nick Martino. Fred spent 15 years with Ernest, learning his method. He was the head professional at one of America’s most distinguised golf clubs, the Merion Cricket Lake Success Club on Long Island, New York. Nick was Ernest’s friend and confidante for over 25 years. He was with Ernest when he died. Nick said that the last words out of Ernest’s mouth were, “Your own power destroys.”
Nick Martino absorbed like a sponge all that Ernest taught him. And he kept the method pure, simple, and uncorrupted. It was from Nick that Arnie Frankel learned this method. Arnie is a disciple of Ernest Jones, and is considered the “expert” on Jones and his principles. He currently teaches at the Frankel Golf Academy in Hobe Sounds, Florida. Arnie is a close friend of mine, and the one who taught me how to teach.
The story of Ernest and his method is an incredible one. A lot of people believe, and I’m one of the them, that Ernest was a genius, in the company of Einstein, Galileo and Divinci. Once you learn the simple, incredible principle of the swing, you may feel the same way. You might wonder why no one else discovered it or teaches it today. I believe that someday, we’ll see a new age of golf instruction. One of simplicity, based on common sense and a law of physics. Based on the principle of a swinging motion.
