How I Play Golf by Bobby Jones No. 11: 'Practice Shots'

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.

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.