BROOKFIELD, Wis. –The American Society of Golf Course Architects has chose pre-eminent golf architect and their Past President Robert Trent Jones, Jr., 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.
“I got a call from the President at a moment when I had several balls in the air at once, and I asked him ‘Can I call you back?’ and he said “No! I have some information for you! You won the Donald Ross. award. I got so emotional, we were filming a video for Osprey Meadows in Idaho, and I teared up, ” a deeply moved Jones admitted gratefully. “I’m flattered and honored my peers feel that I’m worthy”
Jones played on the golf team at his alma mater, Yale University. The legendary former touring pro turned head professional at Winged Foot Golf Club, Tommy Armour ministered his swing like a priest with a penitent. After attending a year of law school at Stanford University, Jones joined the family business, 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.
In 1972, Jones formed his own firm and began expanding into Asia with solo international efforts. Since then he has designed over 300 courses an every continent on Earth except Antarctica, including Chambers Bay Golf Course, University Place, Washington (host to the 2015 U.S. Open); The Links at Spanish Bay, Pebble Beach, California; and Princeville in Hawaii.
Currently, Jones and his second-in-command Bruce Charlton are renovating Idaho’s Osprey Meadows.
“We built Osprey Meadows in the early 2000s as a part of a new ski resort [Tamarack],” Jones began, but then the 2008 financial crash hit, and the project ground to a halt. There was even a 2012 bankruptcy case, but recently Jones and team have returned.
“It’s a wilderness course. There are marshlands, and then it turns into deep forests. Then it emerges to terrific views of the mountains and Payette Lake,” Jones beamed energetically. “There really are bald eagles and osprey on the property its stunning.”
Jones mentioned that a good portion of his work there was to soften some of the forced carries. His current projects include updating or building new designs in such far-flung places as Ecuador, Panama, and both Dorado Beach courses in Puerto Rico.
According to the ASGCA press release, “Known as an early advocate of environmentally sensitive golf course design, Jones continues to respect and embrace nature. 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 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.
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.
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
