NEWS

Rees Jones Receives GCBAA's Don A. Rossi Award

Builders group honors "The Open Doctor" for his countless contributions to the golf industry.

The Golf Course Builders Association of America (GCBAA) last night honored Rees Jones as its recipient of the prestigious Don A. Rossi Award.

A bagpiper heralded the start of the award ceremony, held during the association's packed opening reception at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Plaza.

Rees Jones is one of only six people (Byron Nelson, Michael Hurdzan, Robert Trent Jones, Jack Nicklaus, and Arnold Palmer) to have been awarded the Donald Ross Award, the Old Tom Morris Award and the Don A. Rossi Award.

During his acceptance speech, Jones reflected on his career and recounted how many aspects of golf course construction have evolved and improved over the years. Despite those changes, golfers have grown increasingly more demanding of their courses.

"Today's golfers expect a lot from their courses," Jones said. "They expect a top 100 course with perfect tees, perfect greens, perfect drainage and they want it all now."

However, he added that there are certain organic aspects about course creation that should never change.

"Building a golf course is not something you learn in school," he cited as an example. "It's something you learn on the ground."

Known as “The Open Doctor” for his many renovations of U.S. Open Championship courses, Jones played a key role in redesigning several other courses for major championships.

"When I do a rnovation on one of my father's old courses I like to say that I'm just finishing them," he said.

Jones has a unique opinion when it comes to building golf courses and believes courses don’t have to be long to be challenging or hard to be fun, said GCBAA Executive DirectorJustin Apel.

“He was ahead of his time as this way of thinking has essentially become the mantra of the golf industry,” Apel said.

The Rossi award is given by the GCBAA to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the game of golf and its growth and who have inspired others by example.

The accolade is named for Don A. Rossi, who served as executive director of the National Golf Foundation from 1970 to 1983, was instrumental in forming the National Golf Course Owners Association and served as executive director of the GCBAA from 1984 to 1990.

Throughout his career, Jones has helped remodel seven U.S. Open courses, seven PGA Championship courses, four Ryder Cup courses and one President’s Cup site to go along with multiple other well-known remodels. He designed or redesigned courses in China, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Spain, England and Africa while working on more than 170 courses including Bethpage State Park (the Black Course), Montauk Downs, the South Course at Torrey Pines and East Lake Golf Club — home of the PGA TOUR’s Tour Championship.

Jones, who earned a degree from Yale University and studied landscape architecture at Harvard University, began his career in golf course architecture in 1965. He worked under his father, the original “Open Doctor,” for 10 years before opening his own firm in 1974, Rees Jones Inc. Jones still runs the company today.

Jones has been recognized many times for his contributions to the game, most notably with the Old Tom Morris Award in 2004, given by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) and the Donald Ross Award, given by the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) in 2013.