HAMDEN — Matt Menchetti doesn’t work as many hours as he once did at Laurel View Country Club. Now the hours are spent at a variety of golf facilities Menchetti either owns or is renovating.

Menchetti has been the successful owner of two startup golf companies, one in management, the other in course construction, which has led to a very profitable setup for the 39-year-old resident.

Menchetti now manages five public golf courses statewide, including Gillette Ridge Golf Course, one of Connecticut’s best, which he bought two months ago.

“Every entity I have is a sole-member entity,” Menchetti said. “I’ve never had a financial backer in my life. I still reinvest all the money into my businesses and properties.”

In addition to owning Gillette Ridge in Bloomfield, his management company, MDM Golf LLC, leases Laurel View, Twin Lakes GC in North Branford (nine holes), Minnechaug GC in Glastonbury (nine holes) and Long Hill CC in East Hartford (an 18-hole facility formerly called East Hartford GC).

His On Course Construction company has worked on more than 40 courses, including Newport CC in Rhode Island; National Golf Links of America in Southampton, N.Y.; the Patterson Club in Fairfield; Woodbridge CC, and the Course at Yale.

Among those courses under contract are Greenwich CC, Innis Arden CC in Greenwich, Redding CC and CC Waterbury.
“We let a rookie company perform open-heart surgery on us (in 2004),” said Patterson Club course superintendent John Garcia, whose course was the first to be worked on by Menchetti’s company.

“In Fairfield County, the bar is set high, but our members have really liked what they have done. The unique thing is they have three foremen who all have been golf course superintendents and who all understand the unbelievable standards we have to be held to.”

Said Menchetti: “What really put me where I am today is my construction company. The revenue it has produced has carried MDM to the next level.”

Garcia said he typically does not provide recommendations in the business, but said he has done so to Greenwich CC, Redding CC and the Course at Yale, among others on Menchetti’s behalf.

“If an issue arises, Matt will send someone out within two or three days to fix the problem,” Garcia said.

Menchetti held a variety of jobs at Laurel View before becoming an assistant pro at Clinton CC in 1991. He returned to Laurel View in 1996 as the head pro.

MDM Golf was formed in March 2000, coinciding with Menchetti taking over the operation at Laurel View from the town of Hamden.
“It was frustrating because with the course in really bad condition, customers would come in and complain to me and hold me accountable,” Menchetti said.

“It was frustrating not having any control over the conditions of the golf course. It’s hard for a town to operate a golf course effectively. ... The town had come to me and was losing money every year. I presented the proposal to them. I needed to take the town completely out of the equation to control my own destiny in what I could do to make the golf course a better place, make it more enjoyable for people to play here.”

In August 2002, Menchetti created On Course Construction.

According to his calculations, he has invested $2.2 million into Laurel View, including putting in a new irrigation system and redoing the bunkers and tee boxes. He said he also must invest between $600,000 and $700,000 more to get to “where the place is perfect,” including new cart paths.

Menchetti has had Twin Lakes, a short par-3 course, since March 2004. Being able to operate two facilities at the same time helped him know he could maintain more than one at a time.

The first was Minnechaug in March 2007, followed by East Hartford in September. He changed that course’s name to Long Hill CC. In addition to course work, Menchetti put in a pair of brick-oven pizza restaurants.

Gillette Ridge GC is the only Arnold Palmer Design facility in the state. The Bloomfield club opened in 2004 under the combined operation of CIGNA Corp. and KemperSports Management.

But Menchetti heard rumblings late last year that the 7,200-yard facility could be up for sale. Menchetti met with CIGNA several times, including a visit by CIGNA to Patterson to see the construction work he did on the club.

Their concern, more than dollars and cents, was what kind of course would we have here and what kind of condition would it be kept in,” Menchetti said.

So after CIGNA bought out KemperSports, Menchetti bought the 272-acre facility from CIGNA in February for an undisclosed amount.
The plan is to redo all of the bunkers and build several forward tee complexes to make it less penal for the average golfer.

Menchetti hired East Haven’s Pat Aquaro from Wethersfield CC to take over on a interim basis. Next year, Aquaro will become Gillette’s director of golf operations.

Head pro Al Pascale moved from Oronoque CC in Stratford to Long Hill, while John Dipollina, one of the assistants at Laurel View, took over at Minnechaug as the pro.

Where does Menchetti go from here? He would like to double his stable of courses and continue to build his construction company clientele. He still puts in 100-plus hours a week just as he did when he was head pro at Laurel View.

Except now, he often starts his day at 5 a.m., driving to Greenwich to check out the progress at both Innis Arden CC and Greenwich CC before making his way back with stops along the way.

“Every dollar I made, I reinvested into my company to buy new equipment and keep it going,” Menchetti said. “Eventually, I can see (his people) running the companies for me down the road. That’s the kind of people I have. Everything I did, I did on my own. That’s what makes me most proud of the whole thing.”