How I Play Golf by Bobby Jones No. 11: 'Practice Shots' (1931) User Reviews

I think it was Mark Twain who said that golf was . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 5/10 · 26 July 2014]

. . . a good walk soiled. This uninformative, boring, and highly misogynistic black and white short would have been better if it had come out about three years earlier, before "Talkies" were all the rage. At least then, the viewer would have been spared Mr. Jones' stiff delivery and awkward line readings. Apparently this series of "tips" set the template for all future links advice. The motto here seems to be for the "pro" to keep talking in circles until every suggestion has been fully canceled out by another, conflicting bit of "help." Totally unnecessary to the alleged purpose of these 11 wasted minutes is the demeaning and manhandling of screen veteran (with 267 eventual movie credits, most notably as the White Queen in 1933's ALICE IN WONDERLAND) Louise Fazenda, who spends much of the short having her face squashed by some big brute of an actor who is totally forgotten today. This piece tries to perpetuate Mr. Jone's obvious belief that women are a nuisance around the fairways, which did untold damage down to this day, as Augusta National CC--site of the Masters every Spring--nearly was boycotted due to its recent anti-female policies and the LPGA winners' circle is virtually devoid of American women, thanks to the crimes against Womanhood perpetuated by Mr. Jones and his philosophical descendants.

Boom Mike Visible

[boblipton · 6/10 · 24 September 2022]

The film crew is getting ready to shoot Bobby Jones' talk about and demonstrate of practice shots, but it's Jimmy Cagney and Donald Cook who ask the intelligent questions, because director George Marshall is trying to keep Louise Fazenda quiet.

This series of shorts is inherently a dull affair for anyone who isn't enraptured by golf. I'm not, so the production's attempts to frame it deliberately as a short movie, with the boom microphone visible in the early shots, offers some amusement. That's also the purpose of the celebrity actors, including Miss Fazenda, whose career as a comedian extended back to 1913. She would retire in 1939, after more than 250 shorts and feature movies, and die in 1966, age 66.

Tiger Woods never will make a cut again if he sees this . . .

[oscaralbert · 5/10 · 1 March 2015]

. . . alleged "How to" piece on golfing. Some character called "Booby Jones" dresses up here like a rodeo clown, with a wide tie and tie bar, white dress shirt, knee-length trousers (I think they're called "pantaloons" or "bloomers"), black leggings, and two-tone shoes. Jones' black hair is greased down and parted in the middle. Whenever one of the 16 Hollywood actors and crew surrounding him asks Jones a serious golfing question, he responds with a dead-pan, straight-faced, monotone string of Mumbo Jumbo which defies all the Laws of Geometry. After awhile, actor James Cagney gets so bored that he decides to relive his glory day from PUBLIC ENEMY by man-handling a chick named "Louise" in similar fashion to the way that he had pawed Mae Clarke's face in that 1931 film (only, without the palliative of any soothing citrus on this golf tee!). It's not hard to see where America's hall-of-fame athletes got the idea that they could behead their ex-wives and baby mamas in Brentwood without any negative consequences for themselves after they grew up viewing Hollywood horrors such as HOW I PLAY GOLF #11: PRACTICE SHOTS.

Cagney on the Course

[Michael_Elliott · 10 April 2012]

How I Play Golf No. 11: Practice Shots (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The eleventh film in the Bobby Jones series has the legendary golfer showing up on a set to begin filming one of his shorts when he runs into James Cagney, Donald Cook, O.B. Keeler and Percy Ikerd. While waiting for the director to show up Jones decides to take a few practice shots and while this is going on the actors begin to ask questions about the proper way to play golf. As with other films in the series, there's certainly nothing ground breaking here and you're not going to mistake this for a classic but there's certainly some charm here that makes it worth sitting through. It's rather fun seeing someone like Cagney talk about golf and his line delivery is just classic. There's also some funny moments with the other actors but the main draw is certainly Cagney. Fans of Jones will enjoy getting this golf tips from him. Throughout the series he's been quite up and down in regards to his comfort level on the screen. A few of the shorts has featured him coming across very nervous but that's not the case here as he appears to be comfortable in what he's doing.