The new ownership group plans to have the East Longmeadow, Mass., golf course open by this spring, even though partner David Fleury notes “there is a lot of work to be done.” The same group also owns Crestview Country Club in Agawam, Mass., and hopes to implement economies of scale in managing both properties.

David M. Fleury, the golf course architect leading the group that purchased Elmcrest Country Club in East Longmeadow, Mass., on Tuesday for $1 million at a foreclosure auction, said he and his partners plan to have the course open for golfers this spring, MassLive.com reported.

“There is a lot of work to be done,” he said hours after the auction. “But I think we can do it.”

Fleury and his partners bought Crestview Country Club in Agawam, Mass., four years ago after member owners there declined to sell the failing course to real estate developers. Fleury said he and his team closed on Crestview on April 1, 2012 and were selling course memberships and booking tee-times later that same afternoon, MassLive.com reported.

“This is actually a more comfortable timeline,” Fleury said.

A golf course architect and partner at Rulewich & Fleury Golf Design in Bernardston, Fleury knows the industry. His current project is a resort in the Costa del Sol in southern Spain. An Agawam native and University of Massachusetts Amherst graduate, he grew up playing local courses, especially Crestview, MassLive.com reported.

“Western Massachusetts, I think, is always going to be a little bit of a struggle,” Fleury said. “It comes down to economics and time for people.”

Fleury hopes to achieve some economies of scale by owning two courses, Crestview to serve west of the Connecticut River and Elmcrest to serve east of the river. It’s a way of saving expenses by not duplicating effort and also of offering values to golfers at both courses, MassLive.com reported.

“We can manage both courses from a central location,” Fleury said. “Some of our members at Crestview used to golf at Elmcrest. We had 25 members at Crestview last year  who were  members of Elmcrest in 2014. We look forward to bringing Elmcrest into the Crestview family.”

But details have yet to be worked out. He doesn’t have a golf pro at Elmcrest at the moment, MassLive.com reported.

Elmcrest is an 18-hole, par-70 course with play measuring 6,345 yards. The real estate included a 19,340-sq. ft. clubhouse that has upstairs and downstairs banquet rooms and a pool. It sits on 110 acres zoned only for use as a golf course with attendant restaurant, bar and pro shop retail, MassLive.com reported.

The late Joe Pagos of East Longmeadow co-founded Elmcrest in 1964 and was its longtime owner. Pagos died in 2008. His family owned it until Tuesday’s auction. Fleury’s business partner, Greg Lindenmuth, was there for the auction, MassLive.com reported.