“The golf course design business right now is a little more of a struggle.”
As with things are going right now in the real estate economy, only two new courses will open in Massachusetts this year. This article contains a number of updates on New England based architects Mark Mungeam (who made the statement in the headline) and Brian Silva.
Mungeam said although most course design work has shifted to renovating rather than building new courses, the competition is greater than ever. People with a love of golf but no architectural background are designing courses, and others let go by large, cost-cutting design companies are working on their own.
Mungeam has been one of the busiest golf course architects in New England for many years. He has designed 25 new courses, including Cyprian Keyes in Boylston, Scottish Meadow in Warren, Highfields Golf and CC in Grafton, and Butternut in Stow. He also has overseen more than 40 renovation projects, including Olympia Fields in Chicago in preparation for the 1997 U.S. Senior Open and the 2003 U.S. Open. But the last new Mungeam designs to open were in 2005 — Quail Ridge, a private 18-hole course in Acton just four miles from Butter Brook, and the Golf Club at Oxford Green, a public layout in Oxford, Conn.
