'A Difficult Par' by James R. Hansen

By: Dr. John Wagner


On April 29, 1912, Robert Trent Jones, just five years old, raced to the front of the steamship Caronia to see "Her." It was the Statue of Liberty that his father had written about to his family back in Manchester, England, after he had come to America some nine months earlier. The family was now back together and the father had a job in Rochester, N.Y., working for a company that made railroad freight cars. He was earning $416 a year, at the time about two-thirds of the national average income.

Had it not been for a girl in RTJ's sixth grade class he may never have become a golf course architect. She told him how to make some money caddying at the Country Club of Rochester, where her uncle, Walter Hagen, did odd jobs for the club pro.

Her uncle, as we know, turned out to be a great player, winning 11 major championships. RTJ's first trip to the club and the course's lush landscape brought him such wonderment he was motivated to pursue a career and eventually become an important figure in golf course architecture.

This is an outstanding biography by Hansen and is very well written. We learn how RTJ struggled to get into college at Cornell and then made up his own class schedule to learn about landscaping, growing grass and other areas that he felt would help him become a golf course architect. He was a good athlete and a fine golfer who also played semipro basketball.

Hansen also describes how long Jones waited to get permission to marry Ione, his girlfriend of several years. It is the story of building a business in the Depression and after World War II as well as during the 1950s and '60s.

It's also a story of explosive family dynamics involving his two strong-willed sons, Robert Trent Jones Jr. and Rees. The book could serve as a primer for families that own their own businesses. The Joneses had a lot of trouble in managing the family firm and the two sons later went their separate ways in careers in golf course architecture.

Of course, you will read about all the courses RTJ created, his design philosophy and the politics involved in being an international leader in his field. This is just a super-well-done biography. I really enjoyed the book and Hansen is a worthy winner of the 2014 Herbert Warren Wind award.

"A Difficult Par," by James Hansen, 2014, Gotham Books, 500 pages, $32.50, ISBN 978-1592-40823-8

Dr. John Wagner has been a Seattle dentist for 40 years. He's been published in several dental journals as well as had several articles appear in the turf magazine for Pacific Northwest golf course superintendents. John has served as a guest lecturer at the University of Washington Business School for several years and as a guest lecturer for several dental societies. Dr. Wagner is the co-designer (with Steve Shea of the Berger Partnership) of a golf course in Japan that cost over $120 million and was built by Wadsworth Golf Construction. He's a Past President of the Washington State Golf Association and a Trustee of the Pacific Coast Golf Association. A 7 handicap, John is currently a member of the USGA Green Section and a Director of the Western Golf Association.