Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Robert Trent Jones, Jr. to receive ASGCA Donald Ross Award

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ASGCA Past President Robert Trent Jones, Jr., founder of Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects based in Palo Alto, California, has been chosen as the 2024 recipient of the ASGCA Donald Ross Award. The award, given annually since 1976, is presented to a person who has made a significant contribution to the game of golf and the profession of golf course architecture. It will be presented to Jones at the American Society of Golf Course Architects Annual Meeting in San Francisco, on Nov. 11.

Jones learned about golf at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York from the legendary Tommy Armour, who taught him the techniques of good golf form and captured his imagination with the game’s history. After studying geology and majoring in history and American studies at Yale University – where he played golf – and attending a year of law school at Stanford University, Jones joined the family business.

His earliest experience was working alongside his father, ASGCA Founding Member Robert Trent Jones, Sr., on Spyglass Hill Golf Club in Pebble Beach, California, and other projects in the 1960s. After apprenticeship with his father and running west coast operations, Jones expanded into Asia with solo international efforts.

In 1972, he formed his own firm. Known as an early advocate of environmentally sensitive golf course design, Jones continues to respect and embrace nature. His mantra is to, “listen to the land.” Jones has designed more than 300 golf courses in more than 50 countries on six continents, including: Chambers Bay Golf Course, University Place, Washington (host to the 2015 U.S. Open); The Links at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach, California; and Hanalei Bay, Kauai, Hawaii.

In 2024, Jones’ long-time efforts to secure copyright protection for the creative work of golf course architects advanced with the introduction of a bill in the U.S. Congress, the Bolstering Intellectual Rights against Digital Infringement Enhancement Act (BIRDIE Act). The bill would update the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act of 1990, which provided copyright protection for buildings, to now extend the protections to include golf courses. The bipartisan bill, H.R. 7228, continues to be discussed by the Judiciary committee.

“Robert Trent Jones, Jr., is a living history of ASGCA and the profession of golf course architecture,” said ASGCA President Mike Benkusky. “The courses he continues to design around the world will be played for generations to come, and his commitment to the environment and securing for golf course architects the copyright protection of their work will have a lasting positive impact on the golf industry. He has come a long way from his first ASGCA Annual Meeting, when his father brought him along to serve as bartender.”

Jones becomes the third member of his family to be named Ross Award recipient. His father, ASGCA founding member Robert Trent Jones, Sr., was honored with the inaugural award in 1976 and his brother, ASGCA Past President Rees Jones, received the 2013 award.

The Donald Ross Award is presented by the ASGCA Awards Committee, co-chaired by ASGCA Past Presidents Steve Smyers, ASGCA, and Rees Jones, ASGCA Fellow.

Past Donald Ross Award Recipients

2023           Frank Jemsek, Jemsek Golf

2022           John Lawrence, The Toro Company

2021           Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, ASGCA, golf course architects

2020           Renee Powell, golf pioneer/player/course owner

2019           Joe Passov, golf writer
201             President George Herbert Walker Bush, U.S. President

2017           Alice Dye, ASGCA Fellow, golf course architect

2016            Michael Bamberger, golf writer

2015           Bradley S. Klein, golf writer

2014            Maj. Dan Rooney, founder, Folds of Honor Foundation

2013           Rees Jones, ASGCA, golf course architect

2012           Bill Kubly, golf course builder

2011           James Dodson, golf writer/editor

2010           Tim Finchem, PGA Tour Commissioner

2009           Ron Dodson, sustainable golf advocate
2008           George Peper, golf writer

2007           Dr. Michael Hurdzan, ASGCA, golf course architect

2006           Jim Awtrey, chief executive officer, PGA of America

2005           John Singleton, irrigation pioneer

2004           Thomas Cousins, philanthropist, urban golf developer    

2003           Bill Campbell, president, USGA, captain, Royal & Ancient Golf Club

2002           Byron Nelson, professional golfer

2001           Jack Nicklaus, ASGCA, professional golfer, golf course architect

2000           Jaime Ortiz-Patino, owner and president, Valderrama Golf Club

1999           Arnold Palmer, professional golfer

1998           Judy Bell, president, USGA

1997           Gene Sarazen, professional golfer

1996            Ron Whitten, golf writer

1995           Pete Dye, ASGCA, golf course architect

1994           James R. Watson, agronomist

1993           Brent Wadsworth, golf course builder

1992           Paul Fullmer, ASGCA executive secretary

1991           Michael Bonallack, secretary, Royal & Ancient Golf Club

1990           John Zoller, executive director, Northern California Golf Association

1989           Dick Taylor, editor, “Golf World” magazine

1988           Frank Hannigan, executive director, USGA

1987           Charles Price, writer, “Golf World” magazine

1986           Deane Beman, commissioner, PGA Tour

1985           Peter Dobereiner, “London Observer” columnist, author

1984           Dinah Shore, sponsor of women’s golf tournaments

1983           Al Radko, director, USGA Green Section

1982           Geoffrey Cornish, ASGCA, golf course architect, historian

1981           James Rhodes, governor of Ohio

1980           Gerald Micklem, captain, Royal & Ancient

1979           Joe Dey, executive director, USGA

1978           Herb and Joe Graffis, founders, National Golf Foundation

1977           Herbert Warren Wind, “The New Yorker” columnist, author

1976            Robert Trent Jones, ASGCA, ASGCA founding member

For more information about ASGCA, including a current list of members, visit http://www.asgca.org or call+1 (262) 786-5960.

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