Watson talks current golf course design projects

By |  September 6, 2015 0 Comments

In the September issue, which will be in your mailboxes soon, we talk with Tom Watson about a renovation project he helped with at Wolf Creek GC in Olathe, Kan.

We also chatted with Watson about his current design projects for Tom Watson Golf Course Design. Due to space constraints, that part of the story ended up on the cutting room floor.

But we’ve got all the space in the world online! So here’s what Watson said about how things are going currently for his design firm:

“We have a project in England, called Beaverbrook. It’s a beautiful old estate and it was owned by one of Winston Churchill’s confidants, Sir Max Aitken, he actually ended up changing his name to Beaverbrook when he immigrated from Canada to England around 1915 and he became a confidant to Winston Churchill early in his political career. (Churchill) had him over there during WWII doing war strategy, all kinds of things like that.

It’s a beautiful rolling estate. I’m doing a co-design there with David McLay Kidd. His famous course in the U.S. is Bandon Dunes. He’s done a lot of other courses and I’ve really enjoyed his company and learning from him. His dad was a superintendent at Gleneagles for 30 years. So when I was over for the Ryder Cup they knew a lot about the golf course we were playing.

We have some projects that we are hoping we’ll sign a contract with shortly. There is a project for sure that is on the front burner here in the United States.

…Like a lot of the architects and designers, renovations have been a big deal. Basically you do touch-ups, maybe some different strategies to change the course.”

Look for more from Watson in the September issue.

This is posted in Online Exclusive

About the Author: Seth Jones

Seth Jones, a 25-year veteran of the golf industry media, is Editor-in-Chief of Golfdom magazine and Athletic Turf. A graduate of the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Jones began working for Golf Course Management in 1999 as an intern. In his professional career he has won numerous awards, including a Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) first place general feature writing award for his profile of World Golf Hall of Famer Greg Norman and a TOCA first place photography award for his work covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In his career, Jones has accumulated an impressive list of interviews, including such names as George H.W. Bush, Samuel L. Jackson, Lance Armstrong and Charles Barkley. Jones has also done in-depth interviews with such golfing luminaries as Norman, Gary Player, Nick Price and Lorena Ochoa, to name only a few. Jones is a member of both the Golf Writers Association of America and the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association. Jones can be reached at sjones@northcoastmedia.net.


Post a Comment