Compelling new book on Robert Trent Jones reveals the genius and complexity of late architect | Golf News and Tour Information [Video]

Most books about golf course architecture are lush coffee table volumes full of glossy calendar-art photographs. The texts are invariably gushy with praise, particularly if the subject is a long-departed demigod of the design game like Donald Ross, Alister MacKenzie or C.B. Macdonald, with little objectivity since the object is always to promote the architect and his art. I should know. I once wrote a book like that on designer Joe Lee.

A Difficult Par(Gotham Books, 2014, $32.50), the new biography on legendary golf architect Robert Trent Jones, is not that kind of book. It’s thick, nearly 500 pages, with the only color photography being a shot of Spyglass Hill on the dust jacket. The text is full of facts not fluff. Those looking for yardage book-style descriptions of the global layouts of Trent Jones will be disappointed. Those looking for a rich examination of the seven-decade career of one of the …