Rees Jones, Course Architect

During a distinguished career of more than 40 years, Rees Jones has become one of the most renowned course architects in the world. While he has designed more than 100 courses around the globe, he is also well known for his redesign of courses in preparation for major championships, hence his nickname "The Open Doctor." His skills have been applied to seven U.S. Open venues, five PGA Championship courses and three Ryder Cup sites, among others.

Jones' original designs are equally notable: Nantucket Golf Club, Atlantic Golf Club, The Golf Club at Briar's Creek, RedStick Golf Club, Ocean Forest Golf Club, Quintero Golf and Country Club, The Bridge and Cascata Golf Course.

Rees Jones was born into the game, as his father, the late Robert Trent Jones Sr., is revered as one of the all-time great architects, while brother Robert Trent Jones Jr. is also among the luminaries of contemporary golf course design. Rees Jones learned to play golf as a youngster and competed as a junior, in college and while in the army. After college at Yale and graduate studies at Harvard, he went to work in 1964 as a principal in Robert Trent Jones, Inc. Ten years later he founded his own design firm, Rees Jones, Inc., headquartered in his hometown of Montclair, N.J.

Rees Jones has been recognized many times for his contributions to the game. His awards include the 1998 Metropolitan Golf Association Distinguished Service Award, the 2002 Metropolitan Golf Writers Distinguished Service Award, Golf World's 1995 Golf Architect of the Year, The Golf Course Superintendents Association of America's Old Tom Morris Award in 2004, two architectural awards from the International Network of Golf and the 2000 Robert Morris Award of the Welsh Society of Philadelphia. In addition, he has been included on Golf Digest's list of the top five architects, since the inception of the list.