Robert Trent Jones Jr., past president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and 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’ earliest design 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 an apprenticeship with his father and running West Coast operations for him, Jones expanded into Asia with solo international efforts.
In 1972, Jones Jr. 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." Now 85, Jones has designed more than 300 golf courses in more than 50 countries on six continents, including Washington’s Chambers Bay, host to the 2015 U.S. Open, The Links at Spanish Bay in California and Princeville Makai in 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 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," ASGCA president Mike Benkusky said. "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 for 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 became 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.
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
2018: 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
THE SOCIAL ASPECT
🎶Back in the saddle again 🎶
Back at Tiger Point in Florida this morning to knock out the three bunkers on #4 not renovated in our ‘22 project (plan was to renovate the 4th green complex in ‘23, but the course has been too busy). Perfect weather today! pic.twitter.com/5PhpZZlKrS
— Nathan Crace, ASGCA, PLA (@lipouts) August 5, 2024
KEVIN HARGRAVE FOCUSES ON LEXINGTON CC'S FUTURE
The Johnny Appleseed of golf course design, Tom Bendelow, planted the beginnings of Kentucky’s Lexington Country Club in 1912. Bendelow crafted courses in more than a dozen states between 1895 and 1925, and while not a lot of his work survives at any of them, his early influence is undeniable.
So, while modern-day architect Kevin Hargrave was respectful of the Bendelow legacy, his goal is renovating Lexington was tied to the future, not the past.
"Hardly anything remains of Bendelow’s routing," Hargrave told Golf Course Architecture magazine in April. "Our aim has been to make Lexington more interesting and to set it apart from the other golf courses in the area. The changes we’ve made give the course a bigger scale, make it more appealing to the eye and gives it some much needed oomph."
Hargrave, a veteran of 28 years as lead design associate for restoration specialist Keith Foster, finalized a masterplan for Lexington in 2022. When contractor NMP Golf Construction came aboard in 2023, the club chose to alter all 18 holes at one time.
Relocating greens proved to be a non-starter, but Hargrave reduced surface slopes on five holes — the eighth, 10th, 12th, 15th and 16th and completely reimagined the 11th hole. The par-5 12th featured a critical revamp.
"A previous contractor had built a stone wall around the pond, flanking the left side of the green," Hargrave said. "The elevation of the wall as well as the water elevation were improperly set higher than the existing green surface. Due to cost limitations, the rebuilding of the wall was out of the question. Working within the parameters we had and to give the green complex more appeal and improve playability, we raised the front-right side of the green surface up 18 to 24 inches, expanded the front of the green and softened slopes throughout."
Hargrave and NMP also renovated 90,000 square feet of bunkers, yanked out 300 trees and widened fairways, which accompanied the installation of a new irrigation system. Work was completed in December 2023 and the course reopened in April 2024.
"The playing experience has improved dramatically," Hargrave said. "Bunkers are much easier to get in and out of and they look so much more dramatic in comparison to what the club had. You couldn’t see half the sand in them before, everything looked too small. Now you can see everything.”
JACK NICKLAUS' LAS IGUANAS MAKES A COMEBACK
The long-dormant Las Iguanas course at the Dominican Republic’s Cap Cana Resort is bouncing back in spectacular fashion. Intended to be a companion layout to the Jack Nicklaus-designed Punta Espada at Cap Cana that debuted in 2006, Las Iguanas was the victim of the 2008 financial crisis and never saw the light of day — until now.
Originally slated to be another creation from the Nicklaus folks, Las Iguanas was revived in 2023, with Nicklaus Design senior design associate Troy Vincent helming the project.
"Las Iguanas is going to be available for the public to use and very different from the private Punta Espada," Vincent told GolfCourseArchitecture.net. “The biggest difference is the number of ocean holes. At Punta Espada, there are eight, while at Las Iguanas, we have the 12th green touching the ocean, the par-3 13th playing alongside it and fourteen’s tees playing away from it.”
The new course property is graced with ten man-made lakes and a natural bluff that influences play on several holes. "There is plenty of room off the tee, but the shot into the green is where the challenge lies," Vincent said. "In addition to the contouring, a lot of the greens are protected by bunkers."
The only deviation from the original routing occurred at holes five and six, which are now slated for real estate development. Vincent and the Nicklaus Design team replaced those holes by using a part of the property that wasn’t previously designated for golf. The new holes will tangle with a natural wetland, elevating the variety even further.
"We have also toned down some elements as we thought some of the shaping was a bit too strong for the type of golfers that will be playing it," Vincent said. "The principal challenge will be the wind. The 10th hole is a great example — a short par 4 with a decent sized fairway bunker on the inside of the dogleg and a greenside bunker front and center. You’re going to have to throw a shot up in the air and depending on what the wind is doing that day, it could be a challenge."
Nine holes are slated for an October 2024 opening, with the remainder of the holes debuting in 2025.
