Architect Willie Watson worked on such famous layouts as Olympic Club, site of five US Open's including 2012, Olympia Fields (2003 US Open), Interlachen, where Bobby Jones won the Grand Slam, and Harding Park, site of the 2009 Presidents Cup. Other top courses Watson designed include:
Other Clubs: Unknown dates but all prior to 1924:
Some of the fore mentioned courses were built in collaboration with other golf architects of the same time period. Willie Watson is not always given credit on these collaborations as Watson enjoyed building golf courses more than he enjoyed the glad handing of memberships and newspaper personnel. Nonetheless, his expertise as a golf course architect was enthusiastically welcomed by the men whose names more predominantly appear as the official & original golf course architect today. Those men include: Dr. Allister MacKenzie, Donald Ross, George Thomas, Jr., William P. Bell, Sam Whiting, Willie Park, Jr., Seth Raynor, Tom Bendelow & Tom Nicoll.
William (Willie) Watson arrived in the United States in the early 1890’s from St. Andrews, Scotland. He had originally planned to be a golf professional after hearing that many of his countrymen had found success in the new world. Just being from Scotland gave a man instant credibility as one of great golfing expertise (whether true or not.) Watson’s new adventure in the states began sluggishly as most of the golf professional positions in the East coast were already taken by his fellow compatriots.
This forced Watson to venture West to Chicago and then to his first known golf design in the little summer resort town of Charlevoix, MI. The Chicago Golf Club was built, under the direction of Watson, in 1896 in Charlevoix. Watson was the architect of the club and then served as golf professional for several summers afterward.
His friend and colleague, George C. Thomas, Jr. talked Watson into venturing to California for the winter months to assist with some golf design projects. Watson fell in love with California, so different it was from his native Scotland. Here the weather conditions permitted considerably more golf that in other sections of the country. “Western golf courses, taken as a whole, are more modern in their construction than are Eastern ones, owing to the very large number that have been constructed during the past few years and also because of the system of modernizing which has changed the old-time sand greens and dirt fairways into thoroughly up-to-date all-grass courses. The water systems which Western and especially California clubs have installed afford gloriously fine fairways at all season of the year,” Watson boasted to a Los Angeles newspaper in 1924.
He did return to the Midwest during summer months to complete promised projects in Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois, but his true new love was California. Here he completed many magnificent designs and collaborated on several projects with renowned architects of the day. They included
Dr. Allister MacKenzie, Donald Ross, George C. Thomas, Jr., William P. Bell, Sr., Willie Park, Jr., Seth Raynor, Sam Whiting & Tom Nicoll to name a few. Watson’s left behind a who’s who of golf course designs: Harding Park, Olympic Club (Lake & Ocean courses), Interlachen Country Club, Minikahda Club, the original Olympia Fields design and of course Belvedere.
William Watson’s personnel life is one of mystery. We don’t know when he was born or when he died (one record – unconfirmed- has Watson passing in 1930.) He was married although briefly. No children have ever been mentioned in his travels and little is known about him personally. He did set up his golf architect headquarters in Los Angeles by the year 1918 but it is possible that his shop was set up years prior. He was well regarded as a brilliant architect with talent ahead of his time by many of his contemporaries.
