Cherry Hills

[Mark Brown]

 I believe it was renovated and held the U.S. Women's Open.
How extensive was the renovation and how good a course is it now. Will it host a men's U.S. Open in the future?

[Steve_ Shaffer]

It was partially worked on by Mark Fine before the Women's Open. He has done a master plan restoring the course to its Flynn origins. There have been threads here before on this. See his Featured Interview here.

[Wayne Freeman]

The course is great and was a terrific venue for the girls.  It is too short for the men and will never host a U.S. Open again.  Ditto for places like Canterbury and Interlachen.

[ForkaB]

Cherry Hills was too short for the MEN as long ago as 1960.  I hear that Arnold Palmer drove the first green!

What a bummer that must have been.........

[Mark_Fine]

Mark,
Work continues on the project.  It was tough to get too much done with preparation for the 2005 Women's Open but we're getting there.  As Steve said, there are some older posts that talk about the project.  I even put up a few photos of some of the work.  

The evolution of the course is amazing and what people have been playing (and rating) over the past 30 or more years is much different than what Flynn originally designed (particularly in terms of trees, fairway lines, and bunkering).   All this dramaticlly impacts strategy and when the restoration is finished, it will be a very special golf course and one of Flynn's best.  

I went through our Master Plan with Gil and he was beside himself and really excited about it.  He knows the golf course and did an article about it many years ago.  

As I said in my interview with Ran, patience is required on many of these projects.  They take time.

Mark

[Doug Wright]

Here is the Cherry Hills thread from around the time of the US Women's Open last year.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=18617;start=msg331188#msg331188

[Mark Brown]

Thanks Mark and Doug. Sounds like a very interesting project going on.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Rich I could drive the green as dry as the courses are for those events. Of course there is some risk reward to that attack as well. I really enjoyed the course but do feel it may be a bit short for the current players. It is a wonderful course and golf experience that anyone who likes Flynn courses should not miss.

[Mark_Fine]

#1 at Cherry Hills will be much more interesting when the lost pot bunker cut into the left front side of the green is restored.  There are other changes on that hole as well as part of the restoration.  

The course might not host another Men's U.S. Open, but at least it will remain a William Flynn design.  Had the club truly pursued that tournament again, the original design would have likely been lost forever!  Once restored, it will grab attention as it has some very dramatic design features that you don't find on many of Flynn's other courses.  He was very bold out there and few people realize this because of how it has evolved.  
Mark

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