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W
e should all stand up and
applaud every time Trent
enters the room,” said
the late Ed Seay, a Past President of
ASGCA and Arnold Palmer’s long-
time design partner, “to thank him
for putting golf course architects on
the map.”
Robert Trent Jones, Sr. (1906-2000)
was 41 when he helped to establish
the ASGCA, by far the youngest
of the 13 charter members of the
Society. His energy, innovative
design ideas and promotional skills
elevated the profession of golf
course architecture.
As a young boy, Jones moved
from England to the United States
with his family in 1911, where they
settled in East Rochester, New York.
He spent time as a caddy, became an
outstanding amateur golfer and took
up a position as golf professional
at Sodus Bay Heights GC in Sodus
Point, New York.
Five years on, and with the
sponsorship of club President James
Bashford, Jones enrolled at Cornell
University, crafting a course that
would prepare him for a career in
golf course architecture.
In 1930, Jones teamed up with
a fellow pioneering golf course
architect, Canadian Stanley
Thompson, and their firm had offices
in Toronto and New York. But the
partnership dissolved when the
Depression stopped most new course
activity. Then World War II followed.
“Suddenly, all the other architects
that had preceded him were gone,”
explains Robert Trent Jones, Jr.
(Bobby), his eldest son. “He came
on the scene as the world was
recovering from the War, and
democratized the game.
“It was perfect timing as America as
a country suburbanized,” continues
Bobby. “He had done public golf
courses, like Green Lakes in New
York, and his instinct was to see the
game in a new way.”
Jones’ idea was to build long tees—
so that those new to the game, and
older golfers, could play forward,
while better players could go further
back—and have wide fairways. “The
golf course itself became much more
open to all abilities,” says Bobby. “He
had his famous phrase ‘hard par, easy
bogey,’ so those who wanted to play
golf socially would not be defeated
by the course.
“Another enduring concept of my
father’s was the introduction of large
bodies of water. The Dunes [at Myrtle
Beach, South Carolina] was the best
example of it,” adds Bobby. “The 13th
was radical at the time. There were
no par five holes where you had to
deal with water on all three shots. He
also introduced his first island hole
[in 1939, at Pottawatomie Park in St.
Charles, Illinois], and another at Ponte
Vedra Inn & Club in Florida.”
Robert Trent Jones, Sr.
FOUNDING MEMBER
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By Design
As the golf world focuses on the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine,
designed by ASGCA Founding Member Robert Trent Jones, Sr.,
By Design
looks at his career and legacy
“
Photo: Getty Images