The Royal Golf Club in St Andrews announced that his Honorary Judge Dennis Watson KC will be captained in 2025/26 and will be nominated by the club's past captain.
He will start his year on September 19 after a traditional driving ceremony on the first T-shirt in the old St Andrews course.
Born in Crosby, Watson attended Uppingham School and studied law at Leeds Polytechnic (now Leeds Beckett University), then was called to the bar (Inner Temple) in 1985 and worked in criminal law on the Northern Tour. He was appointed as a recorder in 2002, part-time court judge, and was appointed to QC in 2009 (now KC).
Watson was appointed to the circuit judge at Liverpool Crown Court in 2012 and was authorized to sit in the Court of Appeals (Criminal Division). He was elected as the bench master of the Inner Temple in 2022, and he also served as the tutor judge of the Judicial Academy.
After becoming a member of the Royal and Old Golf Club in 2003, Dennis served on several committees responsible for R&A’s work, including the Golf Development Committee and the Equipment Standards Committee, and served as chairman from 2015 to 2019 and served as a referee on the R&A Rules Panel.
A keen golfer since childhood, Dennis became a member of Royal Birkdale as a boy in 1975. He served as captain of the club in 2008 and as a trustee from 2009 to 2023. He is also a member of Royal St George's, Royal Cinque Ports , the Hittite, Bar, Old Uppinghamian and Prawn golfing society and the Senior Golfers' Society.
Watson, 61, lives in Birkdale with Nicki, a retired lawyer's wife.
