Course architect
Maurer calls for more 'blue-collar' courses
By Kiel Christianson,
Senior Writer
HOPEDALE, Mass. (June 7, 2004) -- Two Top 100 golf courses are found on
Nantucket Island: Nantucket Golf Club and Sankaty Head. Both boast ocean
views and a classic, linksy feel. And both are very private. But now, thanks
to Massachusetts course architect Howard Maurer and the Nantucket Island
Land Bank, daily-fee golfers also have a place to swing their clubs:
Miacomet Golf Course.
Maurer recently added nine new holes to nine existing holes, which date
from the 1970s. "Our goal," says Maurer, "was to give people who play public
golf the same experience as those belonging to the two private clubs on the
island."
By all accounts so far, that goal was reached. "It is a great layout,"
says Charlie Passios, president of Moors Inc., which manages the
environmentally sensitive course for the owner, the Nantucket Land Bank.
"Howard did an outstanding job of fitting nine new holes of comfortable golf
on a relatively small piece of property. We get glowing comments from
people. They want to know when we are renovating the other nine so
everything matches."
The
first land-acquisition program of its kind in the nation, the Nantucket
Land Bank is charged with protecting the island's unique and endangered
landscapes through land purchases funded by a two-percent real-estate
transfer tax. "The new holes look like they have been there for
a long time and simply dropped onto the land," says Land Bank Director
Eric Savetsky. "Howard's vision resulted in exactly what we had
been hoping for. I've only heard good things from golfers."
"Blue-collar golf"
Maurer, worked with Geoffrey Cornish and Brian Silva for seven years
before striking out on his own in 1997. Maurer calls his time with the
Cornish and Silva a lot of fun. "I traveled the world and got to work with a
couple of great architects. Geoff Cornish knows everyone and has seen
everything. He knew Donald Ross."
As the head honcho at Howard Maurer Design Group, Inc., Maurer is in the
processes of opening courses that run the gamut, including high-end public
(Miacomet), private enclaves, and mom-n-pop nine-hole tracks. Maurer's
Shining Rock, a private course running through an exclusive community of
single-family homes and golf villas in Northbridge and Upton, Massachusetts.
opens its first nine this summer.
The projects Maurer is particularly proud of, however, are some
of his smaller ones. Take Templewood Golf Club near Fitchburg, Mass.,
for example. "The course was built completely in-house by a father
and son team," he explains. The Matusewicz family, who own the nine-hole
layout, "wanted to turn the family farm into a golf course. They
cleared it, shaped it, and laid the irrigation all themselves. The
pro shop is even attached to their house. When you walk in, you
can look through into their living room. It's really cool. Mom and
pop golf at it's finest."
According to Maurer, who along with every other golf course architect in
the nation, notes a considerable drop off in business since the
building-boom of the early 90s, low-key courses are key to the growth of the
game today. "Frankly, we need more courses like Templewood," he says. "There
are guys out there in work boots and cut-offs. And these guys are having fun
playing the game. We've got a lot of high-end daily-fee courses, but there's
not much variety [in southern New England]. Now some of the
country-club-for-a-day courses are offering free steak dinners just to get
people out to play. I mean, who cares about that?"
Another Maurer design that serves as an example of a course built
in-house by its owners is Crystal Lake in Burrillville, Rhode Island. That
track is not only getting good play, but its received some critical acclaim,
making the recent New England Journal of Golf list of the top 100
public courses in New England.
Also pushing the golf paradigm, and increasing the variety of golf
that can be found in private-golf-rich but public-golf-poor New
England, is Brookstone Park in Derry, New Hampshire. Maurer describes
this project as "a little par-three course built as part of an office
park." The owner, explains Maurer, "wanted a place where workers
could come over during lunch to knock it around."
Over the past several years, as many golfers have given up the game
annually as have taken it up. For all who are concerned about the future of
the game, this is a sobering statistic. Among the most oft-cited reasons
former players give for abandoning the links are time and money: How many
people can really afford to pay $100 for a round or devote four to six hours
to play one?
For Maurer, and others who advocate the game across all its varied
spectrum, the golfing public needs options. "A big part of it," says Maurer,
"is teaching kids to learn to play. Where do you take your kids to play? Or
a spouse who is just starting out? We need more par-three and executive
courses."
Heck, even the playgrounds of the rich and famous, like Nantucket, need
corners where the rest of us can play.
Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management. The information in this story was accurate at the time of publication. All contact information, directions and prices should be confirmed directly with the golf course or resort before making reservations and/or travel plans.
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