Golf Courses Are His Thing
Brian Silva ’73S, ’76 has been designing and renovating golf courses for more than 25 years. As the principal of Brian Silva Design based in Dover, NH, he has won numerous awards and received national recognition as a course architect. He is also one of golf’s leading interpreters of vintage design and has executed celebrated renovations at revered courses across America.
From a young age, Silva had a passion for course design. His father, John Silva, worked in golf course construction with several prominent architects in New England, including Geoffrey Cornish. His time watching fairways, bunkers, and greens take shape before him as a boy, led him to UMass Amherst to study turf management at the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, followed by landscape architecture and plant and soil sciences.
After working as an agronomist for the U.S. Golf Association’s Green Section, Silva joined Geoffrey Cornish as a partner in 1983. Two years later, Golf Digest selected his design for The Captains Golf Course in Brewster, MA, as the country’s “Best New Public Course.” His designs were also listed among Golf Magazine’s “Top Ten Best New Courses You Can Play” in 1989 for Waverly Oaks Golf Course in Plymouth, MA; 2002 for Red Tail in Devens, MA; and 2008 for Old Marsh in Wells, Maine.
In 2005, he formed Brian Silva Design and his renovation work soon took flight. “I had worked for many years in the ‘contemporary’ style,” said Silva. “But one morning I woke up and said to myself, ‘Hey you love these old courses by Ross, Raynor and others… you should do more to follow their lead.'” That same year, his work on the Donald Ross-designed Brookside Country Club in Canton, Ohio, earned him the “Best Course Remodel” award from Golf Digest. He also worked on the Billy Bell-designed Annandale Golf Club in Pasadena, CA and Seth Raynor classic Everglades Club in Palm Beach, FL, to name only a few.
Silva readily admits that he is fortunate to have the opportunity to work in both veins—designing new courses and renovating classics. “The new courses have far more varied challenges that range from environmental concerns, to fitting in associated components like homes, roads, clubhouses, etc. Additionally, you have the opportunity to make a unique statement in your design on behalf of your client. This is not to say that classic restoration does not have its joys. There is something to be said for walking the same ground as did a great golden age architect and using historic materials such as original plans and vintage aerials to put their work back—a process that consistently reminds me that these golden age architects were brilliant in their work.”
Silva returned to UMass Amherst in 2009 to take part in the Alumni Association’s Eleanor Bateman Alumni Scholar in Residence program. Students and the campus community had an opportunity to hear Silva speak and to ask questions abut his outstanding career. “I want students to realize how incredibly valuable my time in Amherst was and how it allowed me to pursue my dream of becoming involved in golf course design,” noted Silva.