Ross Watson
Profile
Ross Watson started in golf design in 1979, a few years later establishing a partnership with touring professional Graham Marsh and working on a number of good quality Australian courses including The Vines, Horizons, Paradise Palms and Terrey Hills.
Since establishing his own firm in the 1990s, Watson has managed to keep busy and among his credits is the sandy Magenta Shores course at The Entrance, north of Sydney. At Magenta Shores, the shaping of the featureless sand into believable dunes and natural looking golf holes is one of the course highlights. Unfortunately Watson was hamstrung by a client with excessive and unrealistic housing ambitions, and the areas dedicated to the golf corridors, especially on such a windy site, are at times a little cramped.
Other notable Ross Watson projects include Pacific Harbour, Yering Meadows and Royal Sydney, which he overhauled in 2006 to improve conditioning and aid with green speeds and tournament credentials. Royal Sydney announced in 2016 that Gil Hanse would be redesigning the course, and changing the Watson holes ten years after they were created.
Although Ross Watson's design work is a rung below the very best in the business, he has been prolific in Australia and does design reasonable, well maintained layouts.
For an independent assessment of his suitability for your project, please contact Global Golf Group.
