A Park of Their Own

A Carmel Valley family takes their golf game to the backyard

When Hayden and Carmen Ross built a Spanish-style dream home with a red-tile roof in Carmel Valley, they added their very own backyard park. Ross Park includes a six-hole putting green with a sand trap, a full-size pool and a cabaña with an outdoor kitchen.

“Originally, a sports court was planned,” Hayden says. “But Carmen deemed it too much concrete, so she suggested a putting green, complete with rolling lawn and mounds like a real golf course.”

Hayden and Carmen consider themselves weekend duffers, but their two sons, Matthew (left), 22, and Michael, 18, have become avid golfers, playing on school teams and in many junior events.

As an independent homebuilder, Hayden has learned what makes a house special—and what sells. Creating a home that caters to San Diego’s indoor/outdoor lifestyle increases its value. Wayne Searle of the Aviara Golf Academy designed the 1,250-square-foot green, illuminating each hole for night play. Searle also did the installation.

To find landscaping for the rest of the grounds, the Rosses visited gardens as far away as British Columbia, Hawaii and Hayden’s native Australia. “We used to live in Hawaii, and we brought back a bit of the tropics,” Hayden says. “Beautifully landscaped yards and gardens are not only aesthetically pleasing, they also bring us peace, fullness and tranquility in an otherwise hectic and hurried world.”

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