Robert Trent Jones Jr. to receive the American Society of Golf Course Architects’ Donald Ross Award

The American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) selected Past President Robert Trent Jones, Jr., founder of Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects based in Palo Alto, Calif., as the 2024 recipient of the ASGCA Donald Ross Award.

The ASGCA presents the award, given since 1976, to a person who has made a significant contribution to the game of golf and the profession of golf course architecture. Jones will receive the award at the ASGCA Annual Meeting in San Francisco on Nov. 11.

Robert Trent Jones, Jr.

Jones learned about golf at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York from Tommy Armour, who taught him the intricacies of good golf form and captured his imagination with the game’s history. After attending Yale University to study geology, major in history and play varsity golf, he attended a year of law school at Stanford University and 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, Calif., and other projects in the 1960s. After an apprenticeship with his father and running West Coast operations, Jones expanded into Asia with solo international efforts.

In 1972, he formed his own firm. Being known as an early advocate of environmentally sensitive golf course design, Jones continued 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, Wash. (host to the 2015 U.S. Open); The Links at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach, Calif.; 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 (BIRDIE) Act. The bill would update the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act of 1990 — which provided copyright protection for buildings — to 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 was honored with the inaugural award in 1976 and his brother, ASGCA Past President Rees Jones, received the 2013 award.

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