SUTTON, Mass. — Michael O’Brien and Jay Kunkel tried to purchase Pleasant Valley Country Club during a foreclosure auction in 2010, but they were outbid by John Magill Sr.
In March 2020, they came close to purchasing the club from the Magill family, but decided against it because of the pandemic.
Now, finally, the duo owns the historic, 18-hole golf course. The sale was finalized Dec. 28, 2022, for what O’Brien said was a purchase price of $4.1 million.
“We were honored that the Magills wanted to sell it to us,” O’Brien said. “We felt that it was a privilege as well. I love a lot of things about history, including the history of golf at that course, and we’ll be doing everything we can to make sure it’s not forgotten there.”
Pleasant Valley Country Club became known for hosting 32 PGA Tour and 13 LPGA events, the last of which was in 1999. Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson and Kathy Whitworth have played there. The course hosted seven LPGA Championships from 1967 to 1974.
“We want Pleasant Valley to get back to where Pleasant Valley was,” said Kunkel, a former club member. “When you say, ‘Pleasant Valley,’ there’s tradition and history in that name and I want that name to come back to the way it was before. Not that it’s bad now, but years ago the whole East Coast knew Pleasant Valley.”
Kunkel wouldn’t rule out trying to lure a LPGA or PGA Tour Champions event to Pleasant Valley, but he’s more focused on providing members with a quality experience.
Private status to continue
Kunkel said Pleasant Valley will remain a private course with about 350 members so the course won’t get too crowded. Planned clubhouse improvements will include installing a new double oven and replacing the rugs and light fixtures. The new owners also want to provide more water sources for the grounds crew to avoid running out as the course did last season.
Pleasant Valley Country Club owners Jay Kunkel and Michael O’Brien at their course in Sutton, Massachusetts. (Photo: Allan Jung/Telegram & Gazette)
“I’ve got a 90-day countdown to get a lot done before that club opens around April 1,” O’Brien said. “And that’s pretty much taken up every day.”
O’Brien founded his commercial real estate business, Galaxy Development LLC, more than 35 years ago. His company has developed many sites in Worcester County, including the Trolley Yard on the site of the former bus and trolley maintenance facility and garage that he had purchased from the Worcester Regional Transit Authority, as well as the Pleasant Valley Crossing plaza.
“Galaxy has a history of acquiring assets with the intent of making improvements that will add value,” O’Brien wrote in an email to Pleasant Valley members in December, “and we felt PVCC was a perfect fit for this.”
Pleasant Valley is his first golf course, however. O’Brien said he doesn’t golf very often, but Kunkel is an accomplished golfer who was a member at PV for 15 years before joining Quinnatisset CC in Thompson, Connecticut, in 2018. Kunkel won the Pleasant Valley Invitational four times with Dale Smith and three times with Dan Teguis.
Goal is great golf, food, service
“Like I told Mike,” Kunkel said, “if we give the members three things – a great golf course, great food and great service – we’ll be fine. Everything will run smoothly. That’s our goal.”
Kunkel still knows a lot of the Pleasant Valley members and many have texted him congratulations on buying the club. He plans to resume playing at Pleasant Valley.
“I think it’s going to be a great partnership,” Kunkel said. “Mike knows the business aspect and I know the golf course aspect so we’ll learn from each other.”
Pleasant Valley Country Club in Sutton, Massachusetts. (Photo: Allan Jung/Telegram & Gazette)
PV’s restaurant and banquet hall will be open to the public and the new owners want to make Pleasant Valley a popular wedding destination once again.
The new owners also plan to keep Pleasant Valley’s entire staff, including general manager Eileen Aviza, head pro Paul Parajeckas and superintendent Nate Henry.
Parajeckas usually heads to Florida in January, but he’s remaining in the area to help the new owners. He grew to know Kunkel when he was a member at Pleasant Valley.
“It’s great to have an owner who plays golf a lot,” Parajeckas said. “He knows the history of it and he wants to continue to improve it. I’m excited to be part of the staff to keep it going.”
Honoring the Magills
Aviza said she is excited about the vision of the new owners and she thanked the Magills for all they did for Pleasant Valley.
“They did so much for Pleasant Valley,” she said, “and put so much time, money and effort into rebuilding the club and making it what it is now and I just feel that the Galaxy team is going to bring it even further than what the Magills had done. I can’t say enough about the Magills. They put their heart and soul into the club.”
John Magill Sr. belonged to Pleasant Valley for two decades before he built and opened Highfields Golf and Country Club in 2002. He purchased PV from Bank of New England at a foreclosure auction in November 2010 for $5 million. Magill died in 2012 and his son, Jay Magill, and his daughter, Beth Shropshire, oversaw PV and Highfields. The Magills renovated Pleasant Valley’s 30,000-square-foot clubhouse, spruced up the golf course and upgraded the sewer system.
“We consider it an honor to have been the caretakers of Pleasant Valley over the last 12 years,” the Magills wrote in an email to members last month. “We feel that we have significantly contributed to Pleasant Valley’s revival and that Galaxy Development will continue to make the club and the course one that you are proud of.”
The Bank of New England foreclosed on Pleasant Valley after owner Edward J. “Ted” Mingolla could not repay a loan of nearly $6 million. Mingolla had worked at PV since his father, Cosmo E. “Cuz” Mingolla, opened the club on the site of a former apple orchard in 1961. Mingolla took over as owner and operator after his father’s death in 1979.
Pleasant Valley is the second golf club in the Worcester area to be sold in the last few months. In late September, Regan Remillard sold The Haven CC, a private, 18-hole course in Boylston, to Invited, a Dallas-based company which is the world’s largest owner and operator of private clubs. Remillard was a member in 2012 when he purchased the financially troubled club and then he invested millions to revitalize it.