Lester, I know how you feel. It's bad enough losing a job to another architect, it's even worse when it's a Pro. It's even worse when you already have the job, spent time working on it , then losing it. Management Companies tend to do whatever is expedient for them. The fact that the time you spent can not be gotten back but you have nothing to show for it, when word gets out that you were "removed" from the project, people can speculate as to the reason and will probably think the worse.
Dad used tell how he had to "fire" a club he had worked with for decades when people would ask why so& so was now doing work there. He had to explain that a greens chairman wanted to go in a direction he couldn't support. In hindsight, they had to hire a 3rd architect to completely redo the club after the members weren't happy with #2's rendition of what the greens chairman wanted. Wonder what they could have done with that $5-6 million if they would have listened to dad in the first place.
I have a AP course not 10 miles from my house that I did the routing for. Then they sold the project to Toll Brothers who informed me that they had a 10 course package deal with Palmer and since they had already had a contract with them - see ya. I watched as they moved ungodly amounts of dirt to create all kinds of mounds, extra deep bunkers, etc. Some fairways appear 10' above the rear yards. Arnie came out once or twice - the press all came, got an article or two in the local paper and that was that. Don't think the houses sould any quicker than other developments any no one really talks about the course. (In fact it just took me a minute just to remember the name myself).
Like you, I was perhaps more disallusioned by having it taken away not because I was not doing my job, but rather due to a marketing decision.
Forrest, I wish I hada nickel for each time somebody asked "what do you do?" and when I answer their next ? is "who do you work for?" Although it is funny to see the confusion on their face when I say "whoever hires me"