Robert Trent Jones, Sr. Heritage

Robert Trent Jones, Sr. Heritage is my expression of both the cultural and natural heritage that Mr. Jones’s golf course designs have left behind. Robert Trent Jones, Sr. has designed or renovated some 400 courses in the United States and 35 countries world-wide. I was fortunate to have worked directly with Mr. Jones and Roger Rulewich on 16 golf courses, including The Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Metedeconk National, TreeTops Resort, Yellowstone Country Club, Santa Marie Golf Course, and Point O’Woods C.C. to name a few.

The Jones philosophy of “Hard Par, Easy Bogey” is where I cut my teeth and in an era of excessive bunkering, hazards, over undulated greens and mimicry, I have come to miss the genius of Jones. Robert Trent Jones’ design philosophy was always striving to give players the opportunity to take a risk for a reward. He liked presenting risk in the form of a heroic shot, and if accomplished, rewarding the player with a lower score, but he was also mindful to give the player that was unable or unwilling to take that risk a safe option. Every golf course Mr. Jones touched had its heroic golf holes, but he never let them dominate the entire course. As one of the few active former RTJ, Sr. design associates, I have been involved in the restoration or renovation of over 12 Robert Trent Jones, Sr. golf courses.