Jones bags a blue

By David Nagel
FORMER Australian Cricket Champion Dean Jones hopes to have a former Carlton football champion champion carry his bag in this week’s 2011 Victorian Senior Open Championship at Cardinia Beaconhills Golf Links.
Jones, 50, a blue bagger since his early days, was quietly confident of securing the services of Carlton’s games record holder, Craig Bradley.
“I’ve almost convinced Bradles to caddy for me, the more blue boys there the better,” Jones said ahead of his senior debut on Thursday.
“He plays off six so he knows his way around all right.”
Already an accomplished player, it was two years ago that Jones decided to take his golf more seriously and as a result his handicap dropped from an already impressive three down to one.
“It’s been a lot of hard work to tell the truth, a lot more than I thought it would be,” Jones said.
“I’ve been working hard with my coach, Brook Salmon. He’s been fantastic and taught me so much”.
“I’ve had a lot of help just to get this far, Timmy Moore’s the pro at Melbourne Airport and he’s been tremendous, Mark Allen’s also been superb with his knowledge.”
With all this advice, what’s the key to Jones performing at his best?
“I was lucky enough to interview Jack Nicklaus earlier this year and he said the difference between a scratch and plus three golfer is the short game, so if that’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me,” Jones said.
Jones has already had a taste of tournament golf, playing in both the Victorian Open and PGA Championships. He missed the cut in both, but already has a hard luck story on his resume.
“I missed the cut by three shots at the PGA, I played pretty good but had eight on 18 both days…that hurt,” he said.
Despite rumours to the contrary, Jones has no ambition to join the European Senior Tour. In fact, his attitude is far removed from those lofty heights.
“There’s a few people out there getting this whole thing completely wrong, I’m doing it for a bit of fun, obviously I’ll try my best, but it’s all a bit of fun,” he said.
Jones played a lot of golf when travelling the world in his cricket days and he remembers those days fondly.
“We played a lot on tour. It was a good opportunity to get away from the constant phone calls and media."
Jones said some of the top names to swing a bat can also swing a golf club.
“Blokes like Ricky Ponting, he’s off one, Kapil Dev’s off scratch, Greg Blewett and Shaun Pollock are both off plus one, so there’s some good players out there,” Jones said.
So how different is it trying to hit a stationary ball in peace and quiet compared to one coming at 150 kilometres per hour with a crowd roaring.
“I’d prefer a noisy crowd, I used to love performing on the big stage and sometimes I wish it was coming at 150kmh. It was all instinct back then and at least I’d know what to do with it,” Jones said.
Jones will be busy this summer, he’s taken on the role of batting coach for the Melbourne Renegades in the refurbished Big Bash League and thinks the new format will be a great opportunity for young Australian cricketers to mingle with the international stars.
“The Big Bash is going to be fantastic.
“I remember the days when I could talk to Viv Richards after a day’s play. You learn so much and it builds camaraderie.
“These young blokes need to use this opportunity,” he said.
And what’s the Jones recipe for success for the current Australian team.
“There’s a lot involved but to dominate world cricket you need blokes who can bowl ballistic missiles, you need that pace to scare blokes.”