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Hey Everyone,
My inbox was filling up with “We’re Closing for the season” emails from courses this week. With a little snow, rain, and dropping temperatures, it really feels like only the hardest and toughest will play golf in the next few months.
I was thinking about the Northeast Golf Show this week. That’s only three months away. I remember the hope and excitement I felt as I walked around the show because the season was starting.
If you go backwards three months, it’s the beginning of September.
The winter is long, but when I think about it that way. It might not be that long.
I say that now.
Today’s newsletter has a little Q-School update, a bit about Mark Mungeam’s new position in the American Society of Golf Course Architects, and then we go deep on the Leo J. Martin virtual meeting, which was very interesting for a few reasons.
News and Notes
Pro Golf
🏌️ The Second Stage of Q-School wraps up today. The top 15 and ties at each site move on to the Final Stage
Savannah, Georgia - Steve DiLisio (T57) and Peter French (T52) Live Scoring
Valdosta, Georgia - Chris Francoeur (T12) and Richy Werenski (WD) Live Scoring
Dothan, Alabama - Jimmy Hervol (T27) Live Scoring
Mark Mungeam named President of the American Society of Golf Course Architects
Mark Mungeam was recently elected the president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA). The Massachusetts native has his fingerprints on a lot of the golf courses you might play in New England, and his interest in golf course architecture started during his college summers. As a Worcester Polytechnic Institute student, he worked in a robust two-man maintenance team as a greenskeeper at Berlin CC. When the club wanted to expand the par-32, Mungeam read The Golf Course by architect Geoffrey Cornish and Golf Digest legend Ron Whitten.
Cornish responded to a letter Mungeam wrote after reading the book, which launched a friendship and mentorship that led Mungeam from a job on a golf course construction crew after college to partnering with Brian Silva in 1987.
Mungeam has been an advocate of public golf, and his work at George Wright and Franklin Park over the last two decades has made Boston the envy of many cities across the country.
Improving and retaining courses for public play is important to me. I grew up playing public courses and now a lot of my work is on the public course side. There are a myriad of issues that impact pace of play, maintenance cost, safety and revenue. Public golf tends to be forgotten a bit; some people do not expect a course to be as good or meet the standard of a private course. When we raise the standard at a public facility it brings great appreciation from those who play the course.
Mungeam was kind enough to let me shadow him at Farm Neck this April as he worked on a two-year project down there. Then we teed it up together when the project was complete during my road trip to Cape Cod in September.
Mungeam was also a guest on my podcast in July of 2024. You can listen to that here.
Plugs
⛳️ Paid members of Bay State Golf are receiving an extra newsletter early in the week called the “Small Bucket.” This week, I wrote about if YouTube golf can impact public golf courses and found an intersting article about a college tennis lawsuit that might have an impact on college golf.
Read it here and consider supporting my work by becoming a paid subscriber. You get access to read my course reviews early, access to all my writing, discounts on merchandise, and other perks and bonus content.
🏌️ I also put together a Cape Cod Winter video on YouTube for the true sickos. 👇️
Some Takeaways and further questions after Leo J. Martin Virtual Meeting
About 200 people attended the Leo J. Martin Virtual meeting on Wednesday evening. The intention of the meeting was to lay out the plan for the improvement project that was made public at the end of November.
The news was a surprise to a lot of people, which led to some concern over the viability of the project. Especially after a $5 million Ponkapoag renovation left “Ponky” in disrepair just a year after reopening in 2015.
So what’s the plan at Leo J. Martin?
💰️ There is a $5 million budget for the project. The work will start in April 2026, so there will be no golf on the course until it reopens in the spring of 2027. The idea is to get the work done by the fall of 2026 and allow the grass to grow and the work to take hold.
⛳️ The practice green, 7th green, and 15th green will be regrassed. Meaning they will dig up 4 inches of material and use USGA standards to bring them back to life. The 7th and 15th greens have been closed for quite some time, and they have been using temporary greens.
🚧 The 16th green will be moved and rebuilt. This makes sense. The 17th hole was turned into a par 3, so the walk from the 16th green to the new 17th tee is long. The green is also in a tough spot to grow grass.
🏗️ Irrigation will be installed throughout the course. As of now, the course has no irrigation and any water was applied by hoses. This is important because the project doesn’t seem to be resodding any of the course. They hope that providing water to sections of the course that are struggling will help the grass thrive. This might be wishful thinking.
👷♂️ Justin Grimes has been named the Director of Golf Course Maintenance at both Ponkapoag and Leo J. Martin. They plan on providing him with staffing and equipment to keep the course in good condition. Here’s hoping he’ll have some time to focus on Ponkapoag during 2026 as he oversees the Leo J. Martin work.
🛣️ Right now, the lack of cart paths makes it hard to grow grass because the carts end up driving all over the course. The irrigation lines that run down each hole will be covered with gravel cart paths. This feels like a logical way to cover over the scarred earth from the project.
🏌️ The driving range will remain open for the 2026 season.
Concerns were voiced
There was a comment and question period that lasted about 90 minutes. Some questions were answered, but without specifics. The presenters were pushed to share what they learned from the failed Ponkapoag plan, and they simply answered with “maintaining the work” and “extra staffing.”
There was no discussion about funding beyond the $5 million for the initial project. This is still the biggest issue going forward, as the course could quickly return to its present condition.
Former Leo J. Martin superintendent Shawn Cody spoke and shared the risks and challenges of any work at Leo J. Martin. A lack of water, or an inability to use water, was always his biggest struggle. He stressed the work that would need to be done from 2027 and beyond.
There was a massive contingent of skiers on the call. The Friends of Leo. J Martin Skiing (FOLJMS) was blindsided by this announcement.
Cross-Country Skiing at Leo J. Martin is a big deal. It’s an oasis for many individuals, but also schools and programs use the land in the winter.
They were worried that they would lose their ability to ski this winter (they won’t) and also next winter (it seems like they won’t).
They also felt hard done by because they had raised money for skiing infrastructure like snowmaking, grooming, and lights. According to a letter sent to alert FOLJMS about the meeting, a 2020 Leo J. Martin Improvement Plan included golf and ski work.
I was able to find this Leo J. Martin Water Infrastructure Project information page that outlines some of what they have done and hope to have happen. It seems like they thought there was going to be some integration between the golf and ski construction so there would be more snowmaking capabilities. They see the irrigation project as an opportunity to add underground infrastructure for cross-country skiing to improve snow conditions.
Of the 27 questions asked on Wednesday evening, 18 were about skiing, a few about integrating walking trails, and one about turning Leo J. Martin into a nine-hole course and housing.
The project is at the 90% planning phase, so in some cases stakeholders feel a little left out, and that doesn’t just go for the FOLJMS people. Some golfers feel like some things are being left on the table in the rush to get this out to the public.
Questions that remain
While many questions were asked during the 90-minute comment/question period, about 100 more were typed into the Q&A section, according to the moderator. The meeting will be posted for anyone to watch, and those extra questions are supposed to be answered somewhere.
For now, here’s what didn’t get answered.
Will a golf course architect oversee this critical work and have a master plan?
This question was asked, but it didn’t really feel like it was answered.
Is there a chance for a public-private partnership to help the course thrive?
This was never asked.
It seems that a private management company runs the skiing side of the operation. At least that’s what I gleaned from one comment on Wednesday night. A quick search on the Internet led me to Charles River Recreation Inc.
There is also a glaring opportunity to make money on food. There is no shack shack at Leo J. Martin, and they have 12 months of customers. As a friend of mine put it, “They have hundreds of hungry teenagers there every night four months a year.”
Seems like a goldmine….
What will happen to the green fees?
There was some concern over the rates increasing. The question was asked but not answered.
Why can’t this project be phased to allow for some golf in 2026?
It seems they want to do a one-year project. Some folks balked at the idea of going to Ponkapoag when that was mentioned as the other state-owned course that would honor memberships. A phased plan would take longer, and it seems like DCR would like to rip off the band-aid and get this done.
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When I’m not golfing…
I’m reading…
📖 In my family, we always give books as holiday gifts. Here’s a good list for different book lovers.
🏌️ There’s a lot going on in the world of golf courses. Openings, closings, hirings, and firings. Beltway Golfer always picks out some interesting stories from the D.C. area that illuminate industry trends.
I’m listening to…
🎄 I am not a big Christmas music person, but Spotify floated me this Instrumental Christmas Music playlist, and it’s kinda sweet. Also, Sufjan Stevens’ Songs for Christmas is great.
I’m eating…
🍝 Made this Bolognese Sauce. Easy and delicious. Ate it with some lumache from Main Street Pasta in Charlestown.
🐔 Slow Cooker Hoisin Garlic Chicken should be on your winter meal list.
I’m watching…
⚽️ The World Cup draw is happening on Friday.
👾The first two episodes of Stranger Things were solid.
🏌️ Thought this Fried Egg video was very good.
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