Work Underway on The Golf Club at Oxford Greens

After six years in the permit process, work on one of Connecticut’s most anticipated new public courses is underway. Tree-clearing is now complete on one-third of the course in Oxford, and The Golf Club at Oxford Greens is expected to open in early 2005.

The Mark Mungeam-designed par-72 course will be a muscular yet playable layout that flows through some of Connecticut’s most beautiful countryside. Mungeam, one of the country’s top architects, has been widely praised for his redesign and restoration of the North Course at Olympia Fields in Chicago, site of the 2003 U.S. Open.

The Golf Club at Oxford Greens will be a challenging track, containing five sets of tees that stretch from 4,962 to 7,147 yards. According to news reports, Oxford Greens will feature a neoclassical or “retro” design, and the course will harken back to the 1920s – the “Golden Era” of golf course architecture.

"With the opportunity to carve the course from over 680 acres of Connecticut woodland, I was able to highlight the stunning natural surroundings while optimizing the design strategy and risk-reward opportunities," says Mungeam.

While Mungeam’s design will test the finest golfers, his layout will offer a playable and enjoyable experience for players of all levels, thanks to the five sets of tees.

"No one involved with The Golf Club at Oxford Greens wanted to replicate the mistake made by many golf courses in the U.S. – that is being difficult for the sake of being difficult and making for an unpleasant playing experience," says Andrew Tedford, who along with Robert Smith and Phil Craft are the managing partners of Timberlake Development Partners ("TDP"), the course’s developer.

"During our market research, we heard from a significant number of people who had played these types of new courses that they weren’t going back because they were overly difficult," said Tedford.

The Golf Club at Oxford Greens has generated a number of requests for information from prospective golfers. "We’ve been stunned by the velocity of demand for and interest in the golf club" says Smith. "It’s a toss-up as to who is more excited by the early 2005 opening, us or the hundreds of interested players who have registered on our website."

That Oxford Greens has generated so much anticipation and so many inquiries doesn’t surprise Jeff Dugas, principal of Wellspeak, Dugas & Kane, LLC, a golf-market analyst in Cheshire, Conn. "Our feasibility study indicated there is significant unmet demand in Fairfield and New Haven counties for a championship public golf club. Oxford Greens is ideally located to allow easy access for residents of Fairfield, New Haven, Litchfield and even Hartford counties," says Dugas.

The Golf Club at Oxford Greens will mix a limited number of annual passes with traditional daily-fee play for the general public.

"To be able to create a golf club of this caliber, which is affordable and open to the public is truly unique", says Peter Hill, a New Haven native and the CEO of Vienna, Va.-based Billy Casper Golf ("BCG"). BCG is helping with the development of Oxford Greens, and it will manage the facility after the course opens.

In addition to a parkland style championship golf course, the $180-million Oxford Greens project is Connecticut’s largest current single-family residential development. TDP sold the project’s residential component to Pulte Homes on Sept. 6, 2003. Pulte Homes, the nation’s largest homebuilder, will begin construction this fall on the first phase of the single-family homes.

Commenting on the sale, Craft said, "We’re excited to have Pulte Homes as part of our project and believe that a significant number of their residents will be active users of our golf club."

For more information on The Golf Club at Oxford Greens , go to www.OxfordGreens.com.