Robert Trent Jones was born in England to Welsh parents in 1906 and the family emigrated to America around 1911. The family settled in East Rochester, New York where Robert became the golf professional at Sodus Bay Heights Golf Club.
While attending Cornell University, Jones designed his own course of study to become a professional golf course designer. Studying landscape architecture, agronomy, horticulture, hydraulics, surveying, public speaking, and economics. During his time at Cornell he designed the back nine of the course there, returning in 1954 to complete the front nine.
After receiving his college degree, he joined up with Canadian architect Stanley Thompson to design several courses in Canada. In the late 1930s Jones parted company with Thompson to design a few local American courses on his own.
Shortly after the Second World War, Robert collaborated with golf legend Bobby Jones in designing the Peachtree Golf Club in Atlanta. Being impressed with RTJ Bobby Jones requested that he redesign the 11th & 16th holes at Augusta National. With the similarity in names some people confused the two men so Robert began using the middle name "Trent" to avoid confusion.
Robert Trent Jones courses are noted for their artistic landscaping, general use of water hazards, creative use of bunkers and strategic placement of greens encouraging a high level of strategy. Jones philosophy was that golf should be a "hard par, easy bogey" game with his designs encouraging bold play.
During the 1950s, he was said to be earning around $600,000 a year from his golf design business, no one other than Ben Hogan earned more money from golf at that time. His designs range from US masterpieces such as Hazeltine National in Minesota and Spyglass Hill in California to Spannish greats of Sotogrande and the 1997 Ryder Cup course Valderrama.
Jones was married to Ione Davis, who was very business savvy, keeping his design business accounts healthy. They had two sons, Robert Trent Jones Jr and Rees Jones. Ione passed away in 1987, the same year Robert would be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. It was also the same year he received the Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, GCSAA's highest honor.
Jones continued designing golf courses well past the usual retirement age, often working on several at the same time. Health problems eventually prompted him to retire to his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His final course, the Southern Highlands Golf Club, was completed in 1999.
