Robert Trent Jones Jr.: Designing With the Land

Robert Trent Jones Jr. grew up learning golf from Tommy Armour at Winged Foot, studied history and American studies at Yale, and briefly attended Stanford Law before dropping out to join his father's firm. It was not an obvious path to becoming one of the most globally prolific golf course architects of the 20th century. But that is exactly what he became.

The Making of an Architect

Born July 24, 1939 in Montclair, New Jersey, Jones was the elder son of Robert Trent Jones Sr., the architect who reshaped American golf from the 1940s through the 1980s. His brother Rees Jones would carry on the family trade as well. After graduating from Yale in 1961, Jones joined his father's firm and assumed control of west coast operations by 1962. His studies in geology sharpened his eye for terrain, and years working alongside one of the game's most influential designers gave him a strong technical foundation before he set out on his own.

In 1972, he founded Robert Trent Jones II Golf Course Architects in Palo Alto, California, building on his first solo design already in progress: the Princeville Makai Golf Club on the north shore of Kauai, completed in 1971. That course set the template for much of what followed, a career defined by working with dramatic natural settings rather than imposing a design on them.

Listen to the Land

"The very best courses are those where nature has provided the canvas and my job is to discover her secrets and reveal them," Jones has said. His guiding mantra, "listen to the land," was not just a philosophy statement but a design commitment that made him an early advocate for environmentally sensitive architecture, long before sustainability became standard vocabulary in the industry.

This approach produced courses that feel rooted in their landscapes rather than constructed over them. In Hawaii, where Jones built more than a dozen resort courses, the results are some of the most scenically compelling golf in the country. The Prince Course at Princeville on Kauai, opened in 1991, is regularly cited among Hawaii's best, with its dramatic cliffside routing above Hanalei Bay. The Gold Course at Wailea and Emerald Course at Wailea, both opened in 1994 on Maui, show how he could create distinct personalities for two courses sharing the same volcanic landscape.

California and the Pebble Beach Legacy

Jones did some of his most recognized work in California, where his firm remains headquartered. In 1986, the Northern California Golf Association commissioned him to design Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach, which rotated as the third venue for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am for over two decades. A year later he co-designed The Links at Spanish Bay alongside Tom Watson and Frank "Sandy" Tatum, creating one of the few genuine links-style courses on the American mainland. Situated along the Pacific near Pebble Beach, Spanish Bay has a raw, windswept character that stands apart from the surrounding resort landscape.

Later work like CordeValle Golf Club in Gilroy (1999), set among oak-covered hills in the Santa Clara Valley, showed how his land-sensitive approach could adapt to quieter, more intimate terrain.

Mountains, Prairies, and Public Courses

On Stymie, Jones has 83 courses across 29 states, from Sun Valley Resort in Idaho to Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis Club in Wyoming to Arrowhead Golf Club, routed through red rock formations south of Denver. His mountain-state work reflects a strong feel for high-altitude terrain, where drainage, wind, and elevation changes demand routing decisions that differ sharply from lowland design.

His public-access work has been equally well received. University Ridge Golf Course in Madison, Wisconsin (1991) is a regular on Midwest best-of lists. Edinburgh USA in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota (1987) has operated as a successful municipal course for nearly four decades. The broad geographic range, 29 states including Alaska and Hawaii, reflects a firm that sought varied commissions rather than a single regional niche.

A Global Career

Jones extended his firm's reach to more than 40 countries across six continents over a career spanning more than 50 years. Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington (2007) hosted the 2015 US Open, bringing Jones's work to one of the sport's biggest stages. International designs from Bro Hof Slott in Sweden to Hoiana Shores in Vietnam have given his portfolio a scope matched by few architects of his generation.

He has authored Golf by Design, a guide to understanding course architecture from the player's perspective, served as president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, and been inducted into the California Golf Hall of Fame. At 86, he remains active with Robert Trent Jones II LLC in Palo Alto.

His body of work reflects a consistent conviction: that the best golf courses are revelations of landscape, not conquests of it.

View all courses by Robert Trent Jones Jr. on Stymie