Robert Trent Jones Jr.

He is probably not the most innovative golf course architect. His designs are not the most difficult, nor the costliest, nor the most brilliant. But hole-by-hole, Robert Trent Jones, Jr. may be in all the, best golf course designer working this days, balancing solid creativity with playability and a unifying esthetic sense, and a wealth of logistical and landscaping experience derived from apprenticing with his well-known father, not to mention 20 years building courses on his own. Along with RTJ2's brother Rees, the three represent an dazzling pedigree of American golf design.

At 60, Jones is at the peak of his powers and success, as his cheery disposition and prosperous waistline testify. The characteristic receptive Jones charm and thick, expressive eyebrows are animated with a cagey and mercurial wit and, some might say, eccentricity. Prone to fits of doggerel, Bobby Jones loves to celebrate occasions small and large by reciting a poem he's written. The ease with which he goes from one subject to another, whether it's about the Japanese sense of landscape, classical music, international politics, makes it seem as though he's motivated by nothing but intellectual curiosity. And when the name of a celebrity or diplomat pops up in his conversation, it's so low-key as to suggest that Sam Waterston, Richard Holbrooke are just as apt to drop RTJ2's name.