For members only, golf smarter number 436 and 437 published on May 13, 2014.

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A difficult par, biography of Robert Trent Jones, Sr.

In the Making of Modern Golf.

This is Golf Smarter. Welcome to the Golf Smarter Jones, Sr. And the making of modern golf. This is Golf Smarter.

Welcome to the Golf Smarter podcast, Jim.

Thank you very much, Fred.

It's a pleasure to be with you on this podcast.

Thank you.

I got a book in the mail from your publisher with your name on it.

And I love the title of it, especially when I was reading what it meant.

So why don't we just start with that? The book is called A Difficult Par. Where did that come from?

Well, literally, it comes from the basic principle that Robert Trent Jones, Sr. followed in the design of his golf courses, really from the very start

of his career to the end. And that was the idea that every good hole should be a difficult

par, but an easy boge. So that was kind of the ruling architectural principle for him.

And I thought not only was at a mainstay of his architectural strategy, but I thought the title also,

in a more metaphorical way, conveyed some other aspects of his career because he had lots

of ups and downs and was an immigrant boy that had big ambitions.

So it's really a uniquely American dream kind of story.

And so the difficult par conveys, I hope, more than just the architectural principle.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

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