William Watson

William (“Willie”) Watson was born not 10 miles from the “Home of Golf,” St. Andrews Links, at Dura Den, near Cupar, in 1860. His father was a member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, and young William played the town’s links frequently before studying for a year at its university, from 1876 to 1877. Watson’s early interest in golf architecture led to a first commission to create nine holes at Hexham Golf Club in 1892, which no longer exists.

A guest of Watson’s father, Judge Martin Koon, was so impressed with Watson’s golf acumen that Koon convinced him to move to Minneapolis and create a golf course. Watson did so in October 1898, and the first nine holes of the Minikahda Club opened the next year. Swiftly, he moved to better weather in Southern California for the winter, where he took up a job as a greenkeeper and instructor at the Green Hotel, Pasadena. The Los Angeles area would become his winter base for most of his life. There, he was hired to create the original nine for Redlands Country Club (1900) and the first public course in the Los Angeles area, the Garvanza Links (1900), both of which no longer exist. Unfortunately, this is a theme of Watson’s legacy in Southern California: his famous courses in prime locations at Griffith Park, Hollywood Country Club, Midwick Country Club, and Culver City Country Club have all since been bulldozed. During his early winters in California, Watson also remodeled the existing Presidio Golf Course (1905) and created Annandale Golf Club (1906). His other golf-related accomplishments include founding a golf retail store in downtown Los Angeles and, at his home course of Annandale, mentoring William P. Bell.

A seasonal man, Watson spent his summers in the Midwest. While back at the Minikahda Club as a professional, he extended the course at Town and Country Club (1900). Future trips to the Twin Cities would see him lay out Interlachen Country Club (1911) and White Bear Yacht Club (1915), and renovate what is now Golden Valley Country Club (1920). In Chicago, Watson created or modified many courses throughout the 1910s, such as Flossmoor Country Club (1910), Ravisloe Country Club (1912), Westmoreland Country Club (1912), Onwentsia Club (1914), Evanston Golf Club (1914), and two courses at Olympia Fields Country Club (1918-20; only one of his designs remains today). Beginning in 1914, Watson found a summer home in Northern Michigan as the professional of Charlevoix Golf Club. Belvedere Golf Club, arguably the finest surviving example of Watson’s work, opened in that same town in 1927.

Back on the West Coast, Watson had become the preeminent golf architect in California, and this renown led to designs at Brentwood Country Club (1918), Diablo Country Club (extension, 1920) Hillcrest Country Club (1920), Hacienda Golf Club (with Billy Bell, 1920-24), San Diego Country Club (1921), Virginia Country Club (1921), Lakeside Golf Club (with Max Behr, 1924), Orinda Country Club (1924), and La Jolla Country Club (1927). With the Bay Area’s Sam Whiting as construction superintendent, Watson laid out two courses at The Olympic Club (1924-27), as well as TPC Harding Park (1925) and Sonoma Golf Club (1928).

Watson continued to alternate seasonally between homes for the rest of his life. His last known project came in Southern California in 1929, right as the Great Depression hit. He passed away in Los Angeles in September 1941.