Red Tail Receives Audubon International's Highest Honor

Red Tail Golf Club, a two-year-old Brian Silva design in Deven, Mass., has added golf's highest environmental honor to its growing list of plaudits. Picked by Golf Magazine as one of the nation's "Top 10 New Courses You Can Play" for 2002, Red Tail recently earned entry into Audubon International's Signature Sanctuary Program, golf's most demanding environmental management designation.

Red Tail is the first golf course to earn Audubon Signature certification in Massachusetts, a state famous for its strict environmental statutes. What's more, Audubon Signature status isn't a one-time designation. The staff at Red Tail must continue its sustainable maintenance and operations practices to preserve its Signature status.

"There is a misplaced assumption among course owners, architects, superintendents and even golfers that top-quality playing conditions cannot be maintained in an 'environmentally friendly' manner," says Silva, a partner with Uxbridge, Mass.-based Cornish, Silva & Mungeam.

"People seem to think you must resort to all sorts of agronomic gimmickry, such as non-native fescues and low-growth bluegrasses, to make a golf course environmentally acceptable. That's simply not true, and courses like Red Tail – which relies on bentgrass, the playing surface we all prefer in climates like New England's – prove the point. I think it's terribly important for the golf industry and golfers themselves to recognize that courses like Red Tail, and golf courses in general, can combine elite design and maintenance standards with an extraordinarily high level of environmental sensitivity."

Red Tail was developed inside the recently decommissioned Fort Devens and several military remnants are scattered about its 200 acres of diverse, often spectacular terrain. The 18 holes here reflect this variety; they span abandoned sand pits, occupy deep natural valleys and ride the crests of wooded highlands. Red Tail was built by Ellington, Conn.-based Agri-Scape Golf Course Construction. The course superintendent at Red Tail, the man who presides over Audubon International's newest Signature project, is Drew Cummings.

Based in Selkirk, N.Y., Audubon International is a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable management practices at developments of all kinds: municipal projects, commercial endeavors, and golf courses. Sixteen percent of the nation's 20,000 golf courses are currently affiliated with Audubon International, most with the organization's Cooperative Sanctuary Program, which promotes water and resource conservation, in addition to the creation of on-course wildlife sanctuaries.

The environmental requirements for Signature Sanctuary courses are much more stringent. Indeed, Signature projects must have Audubon involvement prior to construction, so the entire development can be constructed and operated according to sustainable principles. The stated goal of the Audubon Signature Program is "to merge wildlife conservation, habitat enhancement, resource conservation, and environmental improvement with the economic agenda associated with development." According to program director Nancy Richardson, the Signature Program gives Audubon International and the landowner a common frame of reference by which a project can be planned, constructed and managed, with a primary focus on environmental quality and sustainability.

Audubon International has been working with the owners and operators of Red Tail – not to mention Silva – since 1999. The course opened in spring 2002 and earned its Signature status in December 2003. Between its opening and this winter's Signature designation, Red Tail emerged as one of the nation's top daily-fee courses. In addition to Golf Magazine's "Top 10" honor, Red Tail was recently named the 7th best daily fee/resort course in New England, according to the New England Journal of Golf.

With original designs and course restorations underway from San Antonio to Boston, Chicago to Palm Beach, Cornish, Silva and Mungeam, Inc. is one of the nation's busiest course architecture firms. Silva's design at Black Creek Club plays host to the Nationwide Tour's Chattanooga Classic May 6-9, while another original design – at Renaissance Golf Club in Haverhill, Mass. – will debut this fall. He recently finished a vintage restoration of Seth Raynor's Everglades Club, in Palm Beach, Fla., and his wholesale renovation of Deerwood Country Club in Jacksonville will be fit for grand re-opening in September.

In 2004, Silva's attention swings to Chicago, where partner Mark Mungeam recently oversaw renovation/preparation of the North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club for the 2003 U.S. Open Championship. On the city's North Side, Silva will break ground on a new, upscale daily-fee in the suburb of Fort Sheridan, perched atop bluffs overlooking Lake Michigan.