I've been doing some casual research on Ross Axford, who, according to
The London Free Press Golf Guide designed and built
Indian Hills Golf Club in the early sixties. Indian Hills has the highest slope rating in
Lambton County, Ontario and has recently been purchased by the
Chippewas of Kettle & Stony Point First Nation who have planned an extensive
"facelift" for the course.
According to
one course profile, Axford was a "long time assistant of Robert Trent Jones," while
another profile calls him "a former construction associate of famed architect Robert Trent Jones." A lengthier profile of the course, published in a
London Free Press article provides us with more detail:
Axford had retired to Ipperwash after helping Robert Trent Jones with site work at the London Hunt and Country Club, which opened in 1960.
I've managed to put together a bit of a timeline from my research on the internet.
An archived article of
The Greenkeepers' Reporter mentions that "Ross Axford, Sunnybrook Country Club, Utica, Mich. was elected Secretary-Treasurer" of the Detroit and Border Cities' Greenkeepers' Association for 1936. Sunnybrook's
website indicates that the course's history
dates back to 1936 in Utica, Michigan when our 18 hole Donald Ross designed Golf Course was established.
According to
The Centennial History of Mount Clemens, Michigan: 1879-1979:
Ross Axford, the present owner (of the Gowanie Golf Club), purchased the property and took possession in April, 1939. The club as it is known today originated in 1958,when members formed a nonprofit corporation and took over the leasing obligations.
So it looks like, if all these Ross Axfords are the same person, that Axford became the greenkeeper of Sunnybrook when it opened in 1936, acquired Gowanie in 1939 and operated it until 1958, and then probably worked with Robert Trent Jones on London Hunt until its completion, at which time he designed and built Indian Hills.
Other than that, does anyone have any other information on him?