Born in 1906, Robert Trent Jones Sr. was a famous British-American golf course architect who designed over 500 golf courses in more than 35 countries.
He started playing golf when he moved to New York with his parents, where he reached a high professional level.
He studied at Cornell University, where he specialised in golf course architecture and where, during his studies, he designed the last nine holes of Cornell's Robert Trent Jones golf course.
The courses designed by Robert Trent Jones have artistic landscaping and innovative use of bunkers and water as their identity, giving them a high strategic level.
After graduating, Jones formed a partnership with Canadian architect Stanley Thompson, where he helped design several golf courses in Canada, including Capilano in Vancouver and Banff in the Canadian Rockies. In the late 1930s, he began designing on his own and building local golf courses in America.
Robert Trent Jones was the first recipient of ASGCA's Donald Ross Award for outstanding contributions to golf architecture. He became an advisor to the National Institute of Social Science, a member of the American Academy of Achievement and received a silver salver in 1972 and was made a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.
In 1981 Jones received the GWAA's William D. Richardson Award in recognition of his continuing outstanding contributions. That same year the Metropolitan Golf Association presented him with the Distinguished Service Award. In 1987 the GCSAA presented him with the Old Tom Morris Award.