Jones was a child prodigy who won his first children's tournament at the age of six and made the third round of the U.S. Amateur Championship at 14. Jones graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1922. Jones added an A.B. in English from Harvard in 1924. He then attended Emory University's School of Law.

As an adult, he hit his stride in 1923, when he won his first U.S. Open. From that win at New York's Inwood Country Club, through his 1930 victory in the U.S. Amateur he won 13 Major Championships (as they were counted at the time) in 20 attempts. Jones was the first player to win The Double, both the U.S. Open and the British Open in the same year (1926). He is still the only player ever to have won the Grand Slam, or all four major championships, in the same year. He represented the United States in the Walker Cup five times, winning nine of his 10 matches. He also won two other tournaments against professionals: the 1927 Southern Open and the 1930 Southeastern Open. Jones was a life-long member of the Atlanta Athletic Club and the Capital City Club in Atlanta. .