Rip Arnold at Cherry Hills Country Club

Cherry Hills is truly a great golf course with lots of mature tress, elevation changes, and a strategic layout. The course is kept in near perfect condition which certainly adds to its overall allure. What makes it fun are the birdie opportunities you get with some easy holes sprinkled in with some very tough holes where you are fighting to make a good par. If you get the chance to play, do it.

It's not often I get nervous entering a clubhouse. But that's the kind of history and aura that Cherry Hills projects. It's one of the special places in golf. When I played it in 2012 as a guest of a member who works in the golf industry, the club had just completed its Hall of Champions in the entryway to the clubhouse. The giant mural of Arnold Palmer's famous hat flip after winning the 1960 U.S. Open is a great way to introduce the club. From there, the hallway displays glass cases filled with clubs, collectibles and pictures from so many great tournaments ... the 1938, 1960 and 1978 U.S. Opens, the 1941 and 1985 PGA Championships, the 1990 and 2012 U.S. Amateurs, the 1993 U.S. Senior Open and the 2005 U.S. Women's Open. Watching the 2014 BMW Championship on The Golf Channel brings back great memories of my round. It's a surreal feeling to stand on the elevated first tee knowing that Palmer drove the first green. Most of us - with better equipment - can't even clear the creek crossing the fairway. Cherry Hills has that classic feel of an Oakland Hills and Oak Hill, two other private major championship venues I've experienced, although it's much more enjoyable to walk and play. It's tough, yet it won't pummel you. If I can make two birdies, anybody can. A great variety of holes dogleg and dance through the trees. There's enough water to suffer a splash down, but not enough to dominate the day. Playing Cherry Hills feels bigger than any bucket list. It's a memory to cherish.

Cherry Hills CC has hosted a lot of famous tournaments. It will play host to the PGA TOUR's BMW Championship in 2014. It is also the sight of the famous Birdie Kim bunker shot to beat amateur Morgan Pressel in the U.S. Women's Open.

I can say from experience that the 18th tee shot at Cherry Hills is one of the toughest in golf. The fairway slopes towards the lake on the left. Watching it on TV does not do it justice. The course is difficult. Stay out of the thick rough and you will be okay.

Cherry Hills CC has hosted a lot of famous tournaments. It will play host to the PGA TOUR's BMW Championship in 2014. It is also the sight of the famous Birdie Kim bunker shot to beat amateur Morgan Pressel in the U.S. Women's Open.

I can say from experience that the 18th tee shot at Cherry Hills is one of the toughest in golf. The fairway slopes towards the lake on the left. Watching it on TV does not do it justice. The course is difficult. Stay out of the thick rough and you will be okay.