The American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) will present its Donald Ross Award to Robert Trent Jones Jr at its 2024 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California.
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.
In the 1960s, after studying geology and majoring in history and American studies at Yale University – where he played varsity golf – and attending a year of law school at Stanford University, Jones joined his father, Robert Trent Jones, in the family business of golf course design. One of his earliest projects was Spyglass Hill Golf Club in Pebble Beach, California.
After running West Coast operations for his father, Jones worked in Asia on solo international efforts before forming his own firm in 1972. He has gone on to design more than 300 golf courses in more than 50 countries on six continents, including Chambers Bay Golf Course in Washington, The Links at Spanish Bay in California and Hanalei Bay in Hawaii.
In 2024, Jones’ long-time efforts to secure copyright protection for golf course designs advanced with the introduction of a bill in the US Congress, the Bolstering Intellectual Rights against Digital Infringement Enhancement Act (Birdie Act).
Read more: in the Summer 2024 issue of By Design magazine, Jones provided insight into what the proposed Birdie Act means for golf course architects.
“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.”