After compiling a fine record as an amateur golfer in Australia during the 1930s, he moved to the United States in 1940, turned professional in 1941, and joined the PGA Tour.

[4][5] Jim was raised in Manly, a coastal suburb (on the Northern headland) of Sydney, NSW, and was taught golf as a youth by his father, a low-handicap player, who was born of Scottish descent in Shanghai, China, with family from Carnoustie, Scotland.

[2] Young Ferrier injured a leg playing soccer in his teens, and he had to contend with a significant limp for the rest of his life.

[8] From age 16, Ferrier represented New South Wales seven times in Australian Men's Interstate Teams Matches, in 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1939 and he compiled an overall head-to-head record of 7 wins and 3 losses in those events.

[10][11] He was runner-up in the 1931 Australian Open at the age of 16, taking a six on the 72nd hole to lose by one stroke to five-time champion Ivo Whitton.

Amateur, due to an Australian golf manual published earlier in the year that he was contracted to receive royalties from.

[16] In January 1941, Ferrier lost to George Dawson in the 36-hole final of the Miami Biltmore Hotel Amateur Championship.

[5] At the onset of World War II, Ferrier and his wife Norma got defense industry jobs in the Chicago; this was part of conditions to become American citizens.

[2] While stationed in the artillery at Camp Roberts, California,[19] he gained his first tour victory at the Oakland Open in December 1944, a week after a runner-up finish to Byron Nelson in San Francisco.

He performed the very rare feat at the Victory Bond San Francisco Open held at the Olympic Club, in the first and fourth rounds; despite this, Ferrier finished well behind champion Byron Nelson.

[23] Ferrier returned to Australia on a trip in 1948, and lost an 18-hole playoff in the Australian Open to Ossie Pickworth, who won his third straight title.

His final Tour win in 1961 snapped a nine-year winless stretch, and he also won a California regional pro event in 1963 in his 48th year.

[24] This created some friction on Tour, since he (and certain other non-competitive aging past champions) was blocking younger players from entering, with fields at limited sizes.

An eventual change of PGA Tour regulations came from that, requiring veteran players to maintain a certain playing standard to continue to have access to tournaments.

[2] He taught Norma to play golf, and she eventually reached a three handicap, being proficient enough to help her husband with his game.

Ferrier's single-season high was 34 top-25 finishes in 1950; this figure has been topped only by the 37 from Lloyd Mangrum in 1948, and by Harold McSpaden, with 35 in 1945; it was matched by Dow Finsterwald with 34 in 1956, with all data through the 1988 season.