John Jacobs Golf player
John R. M. Jacobs OBE (born 14 March 1925) is an English professional golfer, coach, entrepreneur, writer and administrator. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2000. He is an Honorary member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St Andrews.Jacobs was born in Lindrick, Yorkshire. He was the son of a golf professional and had a moderately successful tournament career at home and abroad n the pre-European Tour era. He won both the Dutch Open and the South African Professional Match Play Championship in 1957, two years after making his one appearance in the Ryder Cup.He was largely responsible for the creation of the European Tour due to his coaching activities and contacts in so many European countries.He served as Tournament Director-General of the European Tour from 1971 to 1975, a period which included the inaugural season of the modern tour in 1972. In 1979 and 1981 he was the non-playing captain of the European Ryder Cup team which was remembered for a dispute between Seve Ballesteros and the European Tour. Ballesteros had only played a handful of tournaments in Europe in the season leading up to the 1981 Ryder Cup because of a disagreement over appearance money. Jacobs wanted Ballesteros on his team and rang him in America. "Seve, I want you to come back to play in Europe. I can't guarantee you will get one of the two Ryder Cup places that are up for grabs - the organising committee can fill them as it sees fit - but I will be voting for you.". In the end, although Ballesteros did come back and Jacobs as captain voted for him, Neil Coles and Bernard Langer voted against his inclusion.Jacobs was also a leading golf coach, who worked with many top players, and established his own golf academies. In 1972 he set up a driving range business in the United Kingdom. He wrote several books including Practical Golf and Golf Doctor. His influence has been acknowledged by later coaches such as Butch Harmon, who stated, "John Jacobs wrote the book on coaching. There is not a teacher out here who does not owe him something."He has also designed golf courses, such as the Buckinghamshire in Denham.Jacobs has written a number of golf instruction books. His most well know is "Practical Golf", written with Ken Bowden and illustrated by Anthony Ravielli. It was first published in June 1972 and it is on a number of top 10 lists of the best golf instruction books of all time.