This course was designed by Mary Armstrong before the new ownership took over the project. There was a parting of the ways recently but her plans were used. From her website:
ARMSTRONG MOVING AHEAD ON WESTERN MASS. PROJECT - New Course will be living laboratory for turf research
18 January 2001
BELCHERTOWN, Mass. — Golf course architect Mary Armstrong has overcome numerous environmental obstacles in designing The Golf Course at Cold Spring, a semi-private Western Massachusetts layout that is expected to provide a much-needed boost to the area golf supply and provide University of Massachusetts turfgrass experts with a location to conduct environmental research.
The course, which could open nine holes by late summer, is being built in a Class A watershed that provides drinking water to the nearby city of Springfield — a first in Massachusetts and testament to the environmental foresight of Armstrong's proposal. “The biggest challenge was the myriad of environmental issues that have arisen from the local conservation commission to the Springfield Office of the Masachusetts Department of Environmental Protection,” Armstrong said.
Cold Spring Golf Course Inc. partners Jim Casagrande and Ed Waszkelewicz initially proposed building the facility in 1995. It was January 2000 before they had all their permits. Builder 4Bs Development of Spencer, Mass., started construction last February. An unusually wet summer slowed the building process.
"There was a series of highs and lows,” Casagrande said. “There were times when we seemed certain to get our final permits and others when we thought we'd never get them. They just kept throwing more and more hurdles up. Mary was instrumental in coming up with a layout that met all the restrictions of the various agencies."
The par-71 course measures 6,500 yards with four sets of tees. The greens will be planted in Velvet bentgrass, with a new strain of Kentucky bluegrass in the fairways and roughs.
"It's a terrific layout," said Casagrande, the head professional for the past 14 years at Westover Golf Course in Ludlow. "No matter what your ability, you'll be able to find a set of tees to match it. It's a little deceiving because the length doesn't seem to be there. But to come up with a par-71, we added an extra par-3. That makes many of the par 4s and 5s quite long. We have a 465-yard par 4 and another par 4 that is 454 yards long.
"Hole No. 2 will be beautiful. It's a true three-shot par 5 with a dogleg right. The green is protected by an intricate bunker complex and a 6-million-gallon manmade pond. It's going to be stunning."
Casagrande also thinks the 180-degree view from the 10th tee toward Wilbraham and on into Connecticut will be one of the most beautiful vistas in Western Massachusetts.
“Six will be an interesting hole,” Armstrong added. “There is a natural green site tucked in a little valley. You cross a wetland area to get to the hole. It has kind of a rugged look to it. The green is settled right in against the hillside and is well bunkered.”
The property sits over an aquifer that feeds the Ludlow Reservoir. Local and state agencies were concerned about pesticides and the risk of contamination to the water supply. The developers contacted the University of Massachusetts and turfgrass professor Dr. Bill Torello, who wrote the integrated pest management plan for one of the permits. Seizing an opportunity for in-depth monitoring of what actually gets into the water system from a golf course, Torello and Armstrong set up a five-year study that will begin in the near future. They hope their findings will make it easier for others to get golf course projects approved in potentially environmentally sensitive areas.
UMass helped prepare specifications for the root-zone mixes. “We’ll monitor what goes into the course and what comes out, testing organic versus integrated pest management approaches and standard approaches,” Torello said. “A number of UMass turfgrass professors, entomologists and pathologists will be involved.”
The name Cold Spring derives from the original name of the city of Belchertown, located 15 miles northeast of Springfield. The semi-private course will have roughly 300 members and charge daily-fee players $25 to $30 per round. In addition to a putting green and clubhouse, 150 condominiums are being built on the property. Casagrande projects the course will do roughly 40,000 rounds annually, with a 50-50 mix between member and daily-fee play.
Armstrong Golf Architects LLC is a full-service golf architecture firm located in Francestown, N.H. Manager Mary Armstrong has been designing and renovating golf courses since the early 1970s and leading her own firm since 1990. She is a former landscape/refuge planner with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, associate city planner and a landscape architect with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, giving her special insights into the governmental permitting process. Some of her best-known projects include a new course at Citrus Hills in Hernando, Fla., and Cold Spring Golf Course in Belchertown, Mass. She has also renovated Ardsley (N.Y.) Country Club and Tory Pines Resort in Francestown, N.H.
www.golfarchitect.com