Cherry Hills Country Club takes great pride in its past, and rightly so. Arnold Palmer won his only U.S. Open title there (1960), Phil Mickelson’s lone USGA championship (the 1990 U.S. Amateur) came at the club, and the last of Jack Nicklaus’ eight USGA victories (the 1993 U.S. Senior Open) took place at Cherry Hills.
No other course in Colorado comes close to the number of major championships hosted by Cherry Hills — three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, plus the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open and the 1993 U.S. Senior Open. And in 2012 the U.S. Amateur will come to the club for the second time.
With so much history being made at the storied facility south of Denver, it’s no surprise that Cherry Hills has an eye on its past and future as it gets set to unveil its new-look/old-look course following a $7.6 million restoration project. After about eight months of work — the entire course didn’t close for play until mid-September — Cherry Hills will re-open for golf on May 1. Appropriately enough, the club will celebrate by holding some shotgun-start events that first weekend.
The members “are very excited and can’t wait,” said Cherry Hills head professional John Ogden. “That’s understandable. We’re very pleased with the way it turned out. With the amount of work that was done, it looks wonderful.”
In undertaking the project, Cherry Hills members wanted to restore many aspects of the original course design work done by William Flynn leading up to the club’s opening in 1922. Flynn designed or contributed to the design of two of the top three courses on Golf Digest’s current list of America’s Greatest Courses — Pine Valley and Shinnecock Hills. Architect Tom Doak’s team, which designed Pacific Dunes in Oregon, and Ballyneal and the soon-to-open CommonGround courses in Colorado, was chosen to lead the restoration project.
Besides aiming to make Cherry Hills an even better test, the project was done in part to keep the course a viable candidate for significant national and international tournaments in the future.
The restoration has added 291 yards to Cherry Hills’ tips, bringing the maximum yardage to 7,442, according to Ogden. The new back tees on the eighth, ninth, 11th and 14th holes each added more than 40 yards.
“I’m a great fan of the old course, so (keeping it the same) would have been fine,” said Colorado Golf Hall of Famer Kent Moore, a member at Cherry Hills for 26 years. “But because I’m a big fan of Doak and his team, I’m very enthused. It’s not just a job with them, but a passion. It’s personal to them. I can’t wait to play it.”
The first major test of the course from a tournament perspective will come June 3-5 during the Palmer Cup, a Ryder Cup-like competition between top college players from the U.S. and Europe. The general public can attend that event — and get a look at the course — free of charge. Arnold Palmer himself is expected to participate in the Palmer Cup festivities.
There was work done all over the course at Cherry Hills, with every bunker and tee box redone and the irrigation system completely replaced. Selected greens were rebuilt, including Nos. 3 and 13. About 200 trees were removed — some of which were relocated — and 27 acres of new sod was put down. But, working off a huge collection of course photos taken throughout Cherry Hills’ history, some of the changes that were made will be more noticeable than others.
From the perspective of golf fans who have attended past tournaments at Cherry Hills, one of the more apparent changes is on the par-5 17th hole, where two sets of bunkers now cross the fairway in the area where second shots might be hit. In addition, all the trees have been removed from the island green.
The par-3 eighth hole was completely relocated some 80 yards, lessening the congestion of holes at its former location.
The par-5 fifth hole also had significant work done, with the tee being moved and a bunker being placed in the middle of the fairway.
On the par-4 seventh, the right side of the fairway on the dogleg left will now run almost to the edge of a creek, making for a more interesting tee shot.
The restoration project has long been in the works. It was approved by membership in late 2007, but Ogden remembers hearing about it as far back as early this decade, when he was an assistant pro at Cherry Hills. Work started late in the summer of 2008, and the last time members could play the full 18 holes was around Labor Day. The course closed for play completely two weeks later. Much of the major work was completed by Thanksgiving.
“They got it done so quick,” Moore said. “Often big construction projects don’t meet schedule, but this one was right on schedule.”
Doak spent most of his time on-site in the fall. Since then, the focus has largely been on sod work, cart paths, tree relocation, putting things back together and clean-up. Eric Iverson, one of Doak’s associates, has regularly been on the course through the fall, winter and spring.
“I’m always surprised how professionals can surprise you with things,” Moore noted. “For instance, I would never have dreamed of the (new) ninth tee being where it is, but it’s where it should have been all along. That corridor is just stunning.
“Everyone I’ve talked to (among the membership) is pleased about the project. That’s somewhat unique at a club. There’s often controversy with projects of this magnitude. In this case, though, everyone is real excited.”
