Robert Trent Jones Jr. named 2024 Donald Ross Award recipient

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 ASGCA Annual Meeting on Nov. 11 in San Francisco.

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’ longtime 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,” 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 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

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