<--PREV Doc #1979  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1981 Document #1980; September 7, 1956 To Robert Tyre Jones, Jr. Series: EM, AWF, Name Series The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVII - The Presidency: The Middle Way Part X: Cracks in the Alliance; May 1956 to September 1956 Chapter 21: "Grave difficulties in the Suez crisis"   Dear Bob: I cannot tell you how pleased I am that you are going to send me one of the first sets of your new clubs. So far as I am concerned, each new addition of the "Jones" clubs has been an improvement over the preceding one.1 *See P.S. As to the difficulty with the new "Spalding Dot" ball that you mention, I had not noticed it.2 While I did not examine them closely at the end of the game, I played with them day before yesterday--incidentally, my best game since I became ill last year.3 I am astonished to learn that the sports magazine knew the name of the ball I played with at Cypress Point.4 Either the professional or the caddy must have talked to a reporter. I had not even known, before I went to Cypress Point, that there was a ball bearing Hogan's name! I thought his activities in the manufacturing field were confined to clubs. But as I started out to play the first day, with my regular supply of "Dots" in my bag, my host came along and handed me a dozen balls. That accounts for the Hogans. Now, as to club specifications. My present ones seem ideal to me as to length. I think they are also correct as to weight, even though I have been told that as one gets older (and presumably feebler) he should use somewhat lighter clubs. You said that the factory has complete data on the clubs I now have, but on the attached sheet you will find the appropriate information, at least as measured by the pro at the Burning Tree Club.5 As for a putter, I believe I do best with the bull's-eye type with a fairly upright stance.6 Actually, in my case, I think it is the stance more than the exact type of putter. In the last year or so, during which time I have been putting very badly I have tried every kind I can think of. Of course I am most deeply appreciative of your continued interest in my "hacking," and of your thoughtfulness in seeing that I have the very best equipment--which is exactly the way I regard the Jones clubs. If any of your friends or associates at the factory are especially helpful to you in getting the set fixed up, won't you give me their names so that I can also write to them to express my thanks?7 Give my love to Mary, and take care of yourself. I am looking forward to an Augusta trip, regardless of the election outcome, somewhere around November fifteenth.8 Such plans, of course, presuppose that Nasser and a few other like individuals in the world don't get too obstreperous.9 With warm personal regard, As ever P.S. But always I am amazed to realize that there can be any improvement. 1 Jones had written on September 4 that he had "assisted in producing some new model woods and irons to be put out late this Fall" under his name. The new clubs, he thought, would be "a considerable improvement" over Eisenhower's current set (AWF/N; on the current set of clubs see no. 1664). 2 Jones had said that Spalding was correcting the problem as "the trademark tends to smear if you hit the ball on the pole." 3 See no. 1595. 4 Jones had read in Sports Illustrated that the President had used a Hogan ball (named for professional golfer Ben Hogan) while golfing at Cypress Point (on the Eisenhowers' post-Republican National Convention vacation see no. 1916). "If you insist on handicapping yourself in this way," Jones had written, "I will no longer be able to sympathize with you when you lose your money." 5 The specifications regarding swing weight are in AWF/N; see also no. 1492. 6 Jones had asked for the President's preference. 7 The new clubs would arrive at the White House on November 20 (see Jones to Whitman, Nov. 7, 1956; Whitman to Jones, Nov. 9, 1956; Jones to Tait, Nov. 9, 1956; and related correspondence, all in AWF/N, Jones Corr.). On November 28 Jones would report that he had sent a copy of Eisenhower's November 20 thank-you letter to the "man especially in charge of producing your clubs" (both in AWF/N; see also Eisenhower to Jones, Nov. 21, 1956, ibid.). 8 Eisenhower would play golf with Jones while vacationing in Augusta, Georgia, from November 27 to December 13. 9 The President was referring to the Suez Crisis; see no. 1972. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Robert Tyre Jones, Jr., 7 September 1956. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1980. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/1980.cfm <--PREV Doc #1979  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  First Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1981

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