Von Elm attended West High School,[1] where he was an outstanding athlete and played quarterback on the football team.

Von Elm attended the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, studying business, and developed his career in insurance and investments.

Von Elm settled in the Los Angeles area in the early 1920s, but moved back to Utah shortly afterwards, taking a job in a bank.

[5] After serving his suspension, and returning to the Los Angeles area, he joined the Rancho Golf Club, at that time a private facility, and was coached there by pro Arthur Clarkson.

Von Elm often played exhibitions and team matches with 1921 British Amateur champion Willie Hunter, also a Rancho member and the club secretary.

As his fame grew, he was invited to join such legends as Walter Hagen and Tommy Armour for exhibition and challenge matches, raising significant sums for charity; as an amateur, Von Elm could not accept prize money from these events.

A record-breaking crowd of 10,000 erupted with cheers as, in the words of an Associated Press reporter, "The monarch of golf was toppled from his amateur throne...by flaxen-haired George Von Elm...in one of the most stunning upsets of links history."

Von Elm, who became the first champion from west of the Mississippi River, was presented with a new car by members of the Rancho Park Golf Course, his home club, upon his return to Los Angeles following the Amateur victory;[7] Jones received a similar gift from Sarasota, Florida golfers that same year, following his wins in the two major Opens.

Earlier he had played a key role in the American defeat of the British in Walker Cup competition, by halving the final and decisive match over the Old Course at St Andrews, and had tied for third place in the British Open with the famous professional Walter Hagen at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club.

[9] Von Elm's most sensational result was as runner-up to pro Billy Burke in the 1931 U.S. Open at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

Von Elm had used his normal hickory-shafted clubs in this championship, and complained afterwards that the true essence of the sport of golf was being diminished by the new shaft technology, which took away from traditional shotmaking talent, and made missed shots significantly less penalizing.

Von Elm ran a successful non-golf business, selling insurance and investments, which generated enough income to fund his amateur golf career during the 1920s.

[3][17] Von Elm was invited to the Masters Tournament by his great amateur rival Jones in 1951, well past his playing peak, but a significant honor.

In 1952, he was named the tenth most important amateur golfer in U.S. history, by a panel of PGA members and sportswriters, marking the half-century list.

[18] Later he moved to nearby Pocatello, where he directed the design and construction of golf courses in adjacent Alameda and at the Sun Valley resort near Ketchum.

[19] He is credited with developing the Shadow Mountain club in Palm Springs, California, as well as the Juniper Hills and Highland courses in Idaho.

[1] He suffered a severe illness due to an ulcer in 1953, but recovered; he moved back to Utah after this, leaving his job at the Hacienda Club and later lived in eastern Idaho at Blackfoot.