Robert Trent Jones, Sr.
Robert Trent Jones Sr. (June 20, 1906 – June 14, 2000) was an English–American golf course architect who had a career that spanned nearly 70 years. Jones built or rebuilt some 400 courses in 45 states in the United States and 35 countries worldwide, with more than three dozen of them having played host to national or international championships. He was also tasked with altering or building a new more than half of the U.S. Open venues between 1950 and 1970.
Jones' clients included U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, for putting green at the White House and a single hole at Camp David, as well as the Rockefeller family, Aga Khan and Hassan II of Morocco, for private courses. He was commissioned in 1990 to design a set of 18 courses in Alabama, the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, the largest single golf design contract in history. Jones received the 1987 Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and in 1987 he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Jones continued to design golf courses in his later years until health problems prompted him to retire to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where he died on June 14, 2000, six days before his 94th birthday. His final course, the Southern Highlands Golf Club, was completed in 1999.
Image(s) courtesy of Golf Advisor.com.