Farm Neck to reopen back nine following Mark Mungeam renovation
Farm Neck Golf Club in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, will reopen its back nine in May 2025 following the completion of an 18-hole renovation by Mark Mungeam.
The semi-private club – located on Martha’s Vineyard – originally opened in 1980 with a nine-hole layout by Geoffrey Cornish and Bill Robinson. A second nine was added later by Patrick Mulligan. Cornish and Brian Silva were the club’s consulting architects until the early 2000s when Mungeam was appointed. Since then, the club has undertaken various small projects, although it rebuilt all greens to USGA specifications between 2011 and 2014.
“Many of the bunkers had been renovated in the 1990s by Brian Silva,” said Mungeam. “My consultation had included the new greens, path changes, tree removal and additional tees, but there was never a comprehensive masterplan developed until 2022.
“Many players complained that the front and back nines were too dissimilar in character and difficulty, so the primary goals were to make the course more cohesive and make better use of the natural beauty of the site. With 91 bunkers, a key issue was a reduction in the number of formal sand traps, and a conversion of wooded areas and less frequently played rough to native grass and waste sand. A great example of this is the space between holes three and five. When the course was built, this was a borrow area for fill, which created some abrupt contours. Over time, pitch pine trees took over the area that separated the holes.”
As part of Mungeam’s plan, trees have been removed and areas of rough have been converted into waste bunkers or native grasses. One result of the tree removal has been enhanced views of the Atlantic Ocean, particularly from the third tee.
“Playability and speed of play are important elements of our redesign work, but so are strategic interest, design variety and aesthetics,” said Mungeam. “The challenge is to meld these goals together and not let one aspect overly dictate the design.”
MAS Golf Construction of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, worked on the front nine from autumn 2023 to spring 2024 and then the back nine from October 2024 to May 2025.
“A unique aspect of this project is the scheduling and delivery of materials,” said Mungeam. “Martha’s Vineyard is an island, and all materials must be brought on barges or ferried to the site. Barge deliveries have to be scheduled months in advance of when the materials will be needed, and sod trucks can’t just drive to the course, they must be offloaded to a different carrier on the mainland, who brings them across on the ferry to the site. As a result, we have reused many acres of existing turf rather than dispose of it. Course superintendent Andrew Nisbet has done a great job arranging all the material deliveries and overseeing establishment of the new turf.”
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Ryan Carey
The fifteenth green at Farm Neck was rebuilt as part of a Mark Mungeam renovation. A greenside bunker to the left was removed and the green recontoured
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Mungeam Golf Design
Work was completed on the front nine between autumn 2023 and spring 2024
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Ryan Carey
A view from the third tee; trees were removed on the left side to expand the ocean view and have been replaced with native grasses and waste bunkers
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Mungeam Golf Design
Work on the back nine began in October 2024 and is nearly complete
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Ryan Carey
Mungeam has removed a fairway bunker on the fourteenth and expanded the approach fairway to the left of the front-left greenside bunker
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| ADd Image Credit here for home page | Ryan Carey |