“THE SUN NEVER SETS ON THE ROBERT TRENT JONES EMPIRE”
Robert Trent Jones Sr. was born in 1906 in Ince, England, near the Trent River-from where his middle name is derived. His family immigrated into America when Jones was five and settled in Rochester, N.Y. Life was difficult for the family, but the fact that another Rochester resident, Walter Hagen, would win the 1914 U.S. Open came to have a profound influence on Jones.
Jones partnered with Canadian architect Stanley Thompson from1932-40 and even in the post-Depression era, they built timeless classics like Capilano in Vancouver and Banff in the Canadian Rockies.
Robert Trent Jones dando instrucciones al greenkeeper, Rafael Romero, durante la construcción de los Olivos en 1983.
In 1948, Jones collaborated with golf’s “other” Bobby Jones, Robert Tyre Jones Jr., beloved American amateur, on the Peachtree Golf Club near Atlanta.
Jones also is credited with making the 11th and the 16th holes at Augusta National two of the best holes in golf.
Jones championed the concept of “Heroic Golf,” meaning that if a player wanted to attempt a difficult shot, they be faced with a risk/reward.
That’s where Jones became the first architect to regularly employ water as the ultimate hazard. All told, Jones designed or redesigned over 500 courses in 40 states and 35 countries.
Right until the very end of a career, which spanned seven decades, Jones subscribed to the notion of “hard par-easy bogey“. The mentioned philosophy was also applied in the design of Mijas Golf Club; “Los Lagos“, finished in 1976 & “Los Olivos” finished in 1984, both two of his most wonderful creations in the “Costa del Sol“
Jones was golf’s original “U.S. Open Doctor” and designed and renovated many of the courses that stood up under the crucible of major championship golf. The best known among them were Oakland Hills (Birmingham, Mich.), the Olympic Club (San Fran.), Oak Hill (Rochester, N.Y.), Congressional (Bethesda, Md.) and Hazeltine National (Chaska, Minn.). Some of his other well-known projects are: Mauna Kea in Hawaii, Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico, the Atlanta Athletic Club and the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club and Golden Horseshoe in Virginia.
Jones and his wife Ione, had two sons, Robert Trent Jr. and Rees, both of whom worked under their father before becoming successful architects in their own right.
THE ROBERT TRENT JONES SOCIETY:
Robert Trent Jones, Sr. did not invent golf course architecture, it only seems that way. In a career that spanned nearly 70 years, Jones built or rebuilt some 400 courses in 45 states in the U. S. and 35 countries worldwide, with more than three dozen of them having played host to national or international championships.
Click on the following buttons to view either a chronological list or a location list of courses designed or remodeled by Robert Trent Jones:
