How many golf courses did Robert Trent Jones design?
Robert Trent Jones. Robert Trent Jones Sr. (June 20, 1906 – June 14, 2000) was an English–American golf course architect who designed or re-designed more than 500 golf courses in 45 U.S. states and 35 countries.
Who is Robert Trent Jones?
Robert Trent Jones Sr. (June 20, 1906 – June 14, 2000) was an English–American golf course architect who designed or re-designed more than 500 golf courses in 45 U.S. states and 35 countries.
Is Robert Jones in the Hall of Fame?
Also in 1987, he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Robert Trent Jones was born on June 20, 1906, in Ince-in-Makerfield, England, to Welsh parents.
Why did Robert Jones change his middle name to Trent?
To make this distinction clear, Robert began using the middle name "Trent" shortly afterward. In 1955, Gene Hamm helped Jones build the Duke University Golf Course in Durham, North Carolina.
When did Rees work at Baltusrol?
Rees and I worked as boys at Baltusrol in 1954, measuring the tee shots on the long par five seventeenth. Standing inside the ropes we charted the pattern of where tee shots landed and ran out. Dad wanted this data so he could set the bunkers for future championship courses.
How many sons did Trent Jones have?
In addition, Jones’s legacy rests with his two sons, Robert (‘Bob’ or ‘Bobby’) Trent Jones Jr (born 1939) and Rees Jones (born 1941), both among the world’s preeminent golf course architects. Together the three form ‘the first family of American golf.’. Hansen: What makes your father not just a pioneer but perhaps the pioneer ...
How many golf courses did Robert Trent Jones design?
In his seven decades as golf ’s most prolific architect, Robert Trent Jones, Sr (1906-2000) logged an estimated eight million miles, created or remodelled more than 350 courses, including more courses for national championships than any other golf architect. The list of just his US Open venues includes Atlanta Athletic Club, Baltusrol, Bellerive, Broadmoor, Congressional, Hazeltine, Oak Hill, Oakland Hills, Olympic Club, Country Club of Rochester, and Southern Hills.
Who invented the Peachtree tee box?
Rees Jones: Most of the courses prior to World War II had very small tee boxes. Dad initiated the aircraft carrier tees. He would tell the story of building Peachtree in Atlanta, which he did with Bobby Jones and which was where he inaugurated his long tee concept.
Where was the 1997 Ryder Cup played?
He designed Valderrama in Spain, the site of the 1997 Ryder Cup matches, and the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club course in Virginia, the site of three President’s Cup matches. In the late 1940s, he worked with Bobby Jones on a redesign of some holes at Augusta, famously turning the sixteenth into one of the world’s greatest ...
Who gave golf architects an identity?
Rees: Dad was probably preeminent at selling and promoting himself. He gave golf architects an identity. Most of the architects of the golden age of golf course design prior to World War II – Ross, Tillinghast, MacKenzie – got their identity as architectural greats after their lives were over.
Who won the 1951 Open?
The 1951 Open at Oakland Hills was the first time a course was made into a truly premier examination, one that would crown the absolutely best player, which it did in Ben Hogan. Hogan may have brought the monster, as he called it, to its knees, but his winning score was still seven over par.
When was Hazeltine Golf Club founded?
Hazeltine Golf Club was founded in the 1960’s and Jones was commissioned to create a high-quality course all with the objective of hosting a national Open. It clearly worked because after opening in 1962 the Mid-West design hosted its first Major Championship only 8 years later at the 1970 US Open.
Where is the South Course?
The South course is the original layout at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio and it was put together by Bert Way before Jones made alterations to the design in the 1960s. It had been a regular WGC host course for years and Tiger Woods won regularly there. Eventually Jones also made changes to the North course.
When did the PGA start?
The course originally started out as a nine-hole in 1897 in north St Louis before moving to the west 13 years later. Eventually, Jones was commissioned to create a new 18-hole layout which opened for play in 1960. It has hosted some huge tournaments, the most recent of which came at the 2018 PGA Championship where Brooks Koepka held off a charging Tiger Woods.
What golf course did Robert Trent Jones design?
The resume also includes the course that Jones designed with Bobby Jones in Atlanta. When it opened in 1948, private Peachtree Golf Club was ahead of its time with its multiple tee boxes ...
What did Robert Trent Jones say about golf?
He was fond of saying, "The sun never sets on a Robert Trent Jones golf course.". Jones also prided himself on making his courses difficult, requiring players to take risks. He guarded his greens with water hazards and penal bunkers and famously said: "Every golf hole should be a hard par and an easy bogey.".
Who was the first golfer to be inducted into the Hall of Fame?
Collaborating with Bobby Jones on a golf course in Atlanta, Robert Jones decided he needed to distinguish himself from the golf great. So he began using his middle name.#N#It's safe to say Robert Trent Jones made a name for himself in the sport.#N#Over seven decades, Jones was the world's most prolific golf designer, creating some 350 courses and renovating 150 on his way to becoming the first architect to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.#N#Estimating that he logged 8 million miles, Jones' works are in 45 states and 35 countries. He was fond of saying, "The sun never sets on a Robert Trent Jones golf course."#N#Jones also prided himself on making his courses difficult, requiring players to take risks. He guarded his greens with water hazards and penal bunkers and famously said: "Every golf hole should be a hard par and an easy bogey."#N#It was Jones' protection of par that made him the favored designer of the United States Golf Association. It also made him the scourge of many players.#N#At the 1970 U.S. Open, Dave Hill was asked what Hazeltine National in Minnesota lacked. "Eighty acres of corn and a few cows," said Hill who shot par that week, finishing second to Tony Jacklin.#N#Jones worked on 21 U.S. Open venues, becoming known as the "Open Doctor," a moniker that was passed on to his son, Rees Jones. His other course-designing son, Robert Trent Jones, Jr. received similar notices at the 2015 U.S. Open, played at Chambers Bay in Washington.#N#The resume of their father, who passed away in 2000 at age 93, includes American gems such as Spyglass Hill in Pebble Beach, Calif., Mauna Kea in Hawaii, The Dunes in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and Golden Horseshoe in Williamsburg, Va.#N#In semi-retirement, he and protege Roger Rulewich also helped transform the economy of an entire state with the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Alabama.#N#The resume also includes the course that Jones designed with Bobby Jones in Atlanta. When it opened in 1948, private Peachtree Golf Club was ahead of its time with its multiple tee boxes and huge greens that accommodated many pin positions and allowed the course to withstand heavy traffic. While "prolific" is the word most used to describe Jones, Peachtree demonstrated that "visionary" might be just as appropriate.
How many projects did Robert Trent Jones complete in the 1960s?
Into the 1960s and Robert Trent Jones signed off on a hundred and twenty-seven projects during that particular decade, which represents an incredible average completion rate of one a month.
What is the name of the golf course that hosted the 1990 US Women's Open?
Atlanta Athletic Club (Riverside) Host to the 1990 US Women’s Open, the Riverside forms one of two great golf courses at the 36-hole Atlanta Athletic Club. Originally designed by Robert Trent Jones Snr, the layout was renovated by his son Rees in 2003.
How many courses did William Baldwin build?
During the period 1949 to 1959, Jones completed eighty-four courses.
When did Robert Trent Jones arrive in New York?
Robert Trent Jones arrived in New York harbor aboard the steamship Caronia from the port of Liverpool on Monday, 29th April 1912, exactly two weeks after the Titanic had sunk on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic.
Where did Robert Jones start his studies?
Robert’s benefactor also gave him a generous allowance to help with expenses before he began his studies in the autumn of 1928. Jones’s first design job arrived in 1931, close to home at Midvale Golf and Country Club in Perinton, to the east of Rochester, while he was still taking classes at Cornell.
Which country took the lion's share of the work on the continent?
European jobs accounted for a large proportion of the remaining foreign output. France took the lion’s share of the work on the continent, including Chamonix in 1983, La Grande Motte in 1987 and Moliets in 1986-8. A couple of projects almost bankrupted Robert around this time.
Where is Bodensee Weissensberg?
Designed by Robert Trent Jones Snr and unveiled in 1987, the woodland course at Golfclub Bodensee Weissensberg lies close to Lake Constance, in southern Germany. With more than a hundred bunkers in play, it’s renowned as a tough track. «.
What state park did John F. Kennedy build?
After building two Rochester-area tracts - Midvale Golf & Country Club (1929) and Durand-Eastman Park Golf Course (1934) - he took on Green Lakes State Park in the middle of the Great Depression.
What was the first job that George Washington did?
In 1926, while still in college, he landed his first job in his chosen field, redesigning the greens at Sodus Bay Golf Club in Sodus Point.
How many golf courses did Tom Jones design?
After World War II, Jones' career took off and he became perhaps the most prolific architect in the golf industry. Among the more than 500 courses he designed in his career, several more were in Central New York.
What courses did Tom Jones take?
He drew upon courses in landscape architecture, agronomy, horticulture, hydraulics, surveying, economics and even public speaking.
Where did Tom Jones design the 10th and 16th holes?
Lore holds that he redesigned the 10th and 16th holes at Tuscarora Golf Club in Marcellus while one of his children was attending school in the Upstate area.
Where did Robert Trent Jones start?
Legendary golf course designer Robert Trent Jones Sr. got his start in Central New York. Editor's note: The following story was originally published on June 16, 2000, a day after the death of Robert Trent Jones Sr. Robert Trent Jones Sr. 's famed Golf Trail may be in Alabama, but the path taken by the famous golf architect began in Central New York.
Who was the first golfer to tee off at Cornell?
At its grand opening in 1936 (the course actually opened the previous year), Gene Sarazen, one of the greatest golfers the game has known, was among the first to tee off. Jones added the first nine at Cornell to his resume in 1937 and Valley View in Utica in 1940.
You have talked about how golf courses have changed in fashion, and you brought up a trend in which much of modern golf design has gone to wide, treeless expanses. You have a different opinion on that than some architects. What are your thoughts on trees, especially the removal of almost all trees in building or renovating a course?
Robert Trent Jones Jr: Well, it’s been coming for some time. There were tree planting programs by greens chairmen and others to beautify a course in, let’s say, the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, even the late ’80s. We used to do tree-planting plans on open sites, which may have been a pasture.
You've been working on courses for decades. What is your take on the ebb and flow of such fashions in the game?
We’re here at the Robert Trent Jones Trail, named for my father. He was a post-World War II architect. That’s when he gained his most fame and distinguished himself from other architects, of which there were some very competent people.
What changes over the years stand out that you would like to see go away, and what stands out that you would like to see more of?
I’d like to see less of cart paths, or at least not in play. But for me, as I get older, I like the cart path to be closer to where I am playing. So there’s a little bit of a dichotomy there (said with a laugh).
There are so many demands on land these days, and it's difficult to get permitting to build a new course near a population center. Should new courses be built to serve that purpose, or should older courses be rebuilt to serve that purpose as a community park?
Both. We have a vast country. We’re in the South now as we speak, where it rains and they grow trees and cut timber. There’s plenty of land.
How important is site selection to what you do? You mentioned Chambers Bay as a dramatic site with its elevation changes running down to the sound there. To build a truly great golf course, how important is the site selection and having an owner who allows you to do what you need to do on that site?
The owner must have a vision, and the architect must help that owner’s vision with their own creativity.
Do you think the Open will go back to Chambers Bay?
Yes, but maybe the Women’s Open, and the Open eventually will. They just had the U.S. Four-Ball Championship at Chambers Bay (in 2021), and they did change the grass from fescue to poa annua and bent on the greens, so they can get the greens to be consistently smooth and faster.
Where do you fall in the distance debate and anything the USGA might do to regulate distance?
Sadly the USGA and the R&A let that genie out of the bottle in the ’90s. And then Karsten Solheim and Ping got into squabbles with the USGA over grooves. And the USGA, I would say, is legally risk averse, and rightly so. Because it’s supposed to be a sport, and they’re in it to conduct tournaments.
