I didn't realize that Sarazen and Hagen both skipped the British in 1930. That definitely takes down the level of competition.
Does anyone know if there were other players who participated in the ams and opens in 1930 besides Jones? It would have to have been some independently wealthy amateur players- probably other members of one of the Walker Cup teams if anybody. It doesn't look like any of them from either side even played in 2 events to me.
That really highlights the difference between then and now- with travel, etc. Back in 1930, going overseas to play in an event was not a routine thing to do.
One other really interesting story is the career of Craig Wood. He lost all 4 of the modern majors by playoff and was the Greg Norman of his day- famously being on the receiving end of Sarazens double eagle at the Masters (which probably wouldn't have happened if they used the modern day order of play... Wood was in the clubhouse and Sarazen knew that he needed to gamble). Wood hit some historically long drives, including a 400+ yard drive at the Old Course and another into the burn on the 1st. He later broke the curse and took down the first 2 majors of the season a couple years after his heartbreak at the Masters and had one of the greatest seasons ever.
None of what follows is meant to diminish in ANY way what Bobby Jones did in 1930, much less his career. It is only for context.
Between 1916 and 1930, no amateur other than Jones won the US Open. During that period, only four amateurs even made the Top Ten in the US Open, and only Johnny Goodman in 1933 would ever again win the US Open as an amateur.
Same at the British Open; no amateur won in the decade prior to 1930, and only three amateurs made the Top Ten during that time.
In short, by 1930, other than Jones himself, professionals dominated golf and had been for the previous decade. The key point about 1930 is NOT how many top amateurs played in the two Opens; it's the quite obvious point that none of players that were contenders at either of the two Opens were in either of the two Ams. By 1930, the Ams were exactly that, and FAR from the toughest fields that Jones could have faced that year.
Add to that the fact that in the Ams, Jones had to beat one amateur a day, rather than the entire field, and the difficulty of winning those two tournaments becomes an order (or two) of magnitude less difficult. Not necessarily less significant, especially in the eyes of the public, but less difficult for sure.
For difficulty and magnitude of achievement, I'll take Hogan's 1950 season and Woods holding all four at once, in either order, hands down over what Jones did. And that's no knock on Jones.