It’s happy 100th to Cherry Hills Country Club near Denver.
The club in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado – where Arnold Palmer won his only U.S. Open in 1960 – has completed a decade-long restoration of its William Flynn-designed course that opened in 1923. Among many large events, Cherry Hills has been the host site of three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, one U.S. Women’s Open and two U.S. Amateurs, and it will again host the Amateur in 2023.
Architect Tom Doak and his Renaissance Golf Design team, largely under the direction of Renaissance associate Eric Iverson on the ground, have restored several greens to their original size matching Flynn’s intent, and bunkers were reworked to reintroduce their original intent. The cross bunkering on the 17th hole, for example, was restored on what was the first par 5 to feature an island green in the U.S.
Perhaps most striking: Little Dry Creek, which in no way is actually dry, was brought more into play on several holes.
The club commissioned Doak in 2007 to develop a restoration plan to focus on strategy while adding length where necessary for future championships. Before completion of the restoration, Cherry Hills tied for No. 70 on Golfweek’s Best 2022 list of classic courses built before 1960 in the U.S. and was the third-ranked private course in Colorado.
Nos. 7 and 14 of the restored Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver (Courtesy of Cherry Hills/Brian Walters)
“The transformation that Tom Doak and Eric Iverson of Renaissance Golf Design have brought to William Flynn’s classic design brings extraordinary pride to our membership,” Cherry Hills president David Keyte said in a media release announcing the completion of the project. “In 2022 we celebrated 100 years as a club, and in 2023 we will be celebrating the centennial of our first round of golf at Cherry Hills, which coincides with us hosting the U.S. Amateur, which is very exciting. The restored shot values on display next summer will certainly remind the golfing world of Cherry Hills’ timelessness and stature as a world-class championship venue.”
More from the media release:
“The Renaissance team also reintroduced the famous cross bunkering on the 17th hole (which features the first island green on a par 5 built in the U.S.) and other strategic bunker work on the first, second, fourth, fifth, seventh, ninth, 14th and 16th holes. The green complexes on holes three and 13 were completely restored while other greens have been brought back to their original forms to ensure all green complexes match the original Flynn plans. A major tree-management program was also implemented, and several holes were lengthened to accommodate the advances in the modern game. This includes new tee boxes on holes five, nine, 10, 11, 13, 14 and 16.
“Flynn’s ingenious routing of Cherry Hills is truly unique among Top 100 courses. The opening nine weaves as a figure eight on the inside of the property while the second nine wraps in a counterclockwise circle around the perimeter. Cherry Hills is one of only a handful of courses with this unique “Muirfield Plan” routing, named after famed Muirfield in Scotland.”
One major part of the restoration was the return to the original orientation of Little Dry Creek, which runs through the property and was re-engineered to reduce flood potential and manage water flow. It was rerouted from its recent banks to come more into play next to the seventh green, tightly alongside the redesigned eighth hole, in front of No. 14 green, closer to the front of the 15th green that was restored to Flynn’s original dimensions, then down the 16th fairway and alongside that green.
“You can see from all the hole drawings that Flynn routed the holes and implemented strategy based on Little Dry Creek,” Iverson said in the media release. “The way the creek plays now on these key holes brings exceptional strategy and challenge to these iconic approach shots. Holes 14 and 16, for example, are two of the finest and most difficult par 4s in the country, but now with the creek coming in closer to each green, the shot values and premium on the angles into the green are off-the-charts.”
Flynn’s other designs include Shinnecock Hills on Long Island, New York; The Country Club at Brookline, Massachusetts; the Kittansett Club in Marion, Massachusetts; and significant contributions to Pine Valley in New Jersey and Merion in Pennsylvania.
Check out a selection of shots of Cherry Hills by photographers Brian Walters and Evan Schiller below.