Robert Trent Jones

[Nigel Islam]

We'll put you down as a RTJ fan and disciple of the dark ages of golf architecture.

The thread on Lido got me to thinking about RTJ designs. His designed a lot of courses, and unfortunately the variety suffered especially later on. Having said this I wonder if this board might be a little hard on him sometimes.  I know he was responsible for several positive innovations. I also know that he turned golf course architecture into a marketing business. He certainly contributed to what I would consider a dark age, but I'm interested to hear from those that have had the chance to play some of his earlier courses such as Peachtree or Spyglass.

[Alex Lagowitz]

His first design, the 9 holes at cornell (now the back nine) has some of the best greens in the north east.  Really great movement and variety and so different than any other RTJ I have seen.  Moreover, while I do not know how the course has changed over the years, I can note that today the course lacks any typical dual-sided fwy bunkering.  Each hole has a clear strategy defining the hole, but there isnt the typical bottleneck two bunkers guarding the 275 yard drive.

[Steve_ Shaffer]

RTJ's Tamiment (1947) in The Poconos, PA (NLE) was mentioned in my thread from 2009. It was highly rated in its day.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40802.msg862422/topicseen.html#msg862422

[David Cronheim]

I've said it before, but I think RTJ gets a bad wrap on this site. He's not my favorite, but he's also not the dark knight of golf course architecture. I spent 7 years at Cornell and I agree with Alex completely. It's one of his best designs. Seven Oaks at Colgate is also a good course. I think he merely had the misfortune of coming along at a time when lots of clubs were looking to redo some of the courses that had seen some wear and tear during the Depression and War Years. That he was asked to modernize the "great" architects' certainly negatively impacted his career. That said, outside this board, RTJ is one of the most highly regarded architects. Ask an average golfer what they think of him and they'll only have good things to say. I like many of his original designs, my favorite 2 being Cornell and Port Royal.

[Tim Gavrich]

I don't have a 100% locked-in top 25-30 list of courses I've ever played, but both the Dunes Club here in Myrtle Beach and Tanglewood Park in Winston-Salem, NC, would probably be in the outer bands of that list for me. Both are great pure ball-striking courses.

[Joe_Tucholski]

Count me as one who has enjoyed every RTJ course I've played (Spyglass, Duke Univ, Eisenhower Blue at US Air Force Academy, Fort Belvoir - Gunston, Homestead - Lower, Golden Horseshoe).

They all pass the test in that I'd enjoy a walk on the course even if there was no ball to hit.  Further they each offer at least a few holes where there are options for risk reward.