Jones, whose renovations and restorations on courses hosting U.S. Open Championships have earned him the label of “The Open Doctor,” has also been proposed for honorary membership in the Tin Whistles, which was formed in 1904.
Bob Black-well, the Tin Whistles president who spearheaded both projects, made the announcement.
“I feel we’re very fortunate to have a speaker with Rees Jones’ golf pedigree serve as the centerpiece of our annual banquet,” Blackwell said. “Rees will be a fitting addition to the TW list of honorary members.”
The banquet will be held at Pinehurst Country Club Member’s Club.
Jones, who literally was born into the game of golf through his well-known father, Robert Trent Jones, has become renowned in his own right during the past 30 years, designing more than 100 courses. His local contributions include the design of Pinehurst No. 7 and Talamore Golf Club as well as preparing the No. 2 Course for the 1999 and 2005 U.S. Opens.
His remodeling and restoration work has been applied to seven U.S. Open courses, five PGA courses, three Ryder Cup sites and one Walker Cup host course, as well as an original design for the 2001 Walker Cup.
Jones’ redesign of East Lake in Atlanta has become the permanent home of the PGA Tour Championship.
Prior to the 1999 Open, won by the late Payne Stewart, Jones extended the putting surfaces to their original sizes and often down into the greenside hollows which made the treacherous greens even more dangerous.
Jones learned to play golf as a youngster and competed as a junior, in college and while in the Army. He grew up traveling with his family to golf courses around the world, working summers for his father.
In 1964, he went to work for his father’s company and in 1974 founded his own design company with offices in Montclair, N.J. Some of his other famous designs include Nantucket, Atlantic, Briar Creek, RedStick, Ocean Forest, Quintero, Cascata, The Bridge, Huntsville and Haig Point.
“Adding the name Rees Jones, golf architect, to our distinguished list of honorary members is the right thing to do,” Blackwell said in his letter to the Tin Whistles Board of Governors.
Quotes: “Ben Hogan had three fairways — right, center, and left. The rest of us were lucky we had one. Hogan always hit a shot with the next shot in mind.” — Jimmy Thompson.
“I used to play golf with a guy who cheated so badly that he once had a hole-in-one and wrote down a zero on his scorecard.” — Bob Bruce.
“This definitely puts my skydiving plans on hold.” — Phil Mickelson, after breaking a leg while skiing a few years ago.
