By David Shefter, USGA

Cherry Hills Village, Colo. – Meg Mallon certainly is no stranger to Cherry Hills Country Club. The defending and two-time U.S. Women’s Open champion has played the world-renown William Flynn-designed course on several occasions, usually on visits to her longtime instructor Mike McGetrick who spent a couple of years teaching at the three-time U.S. Open venue.

But during media day festivities on May 16 for the 2005 U.S. Women’s Open, Mallon took a delicate path when the subject of her possibly having an advantage popped up. While Mallon might know some of the nuances of the layout, she’s never played Cherry Hills under championship conditions.

“I’ve never played it under Mr. [Tom] Meeks’ standards,” said Mallon, referring to the USGA’s outgoing senior director of rules and competitions who is in charge of the setup for the Women’s Open. “When I play, I’ll have to really change my mindset because there will be things out there that I’ve never seen before.”

During the 1938 U.S. Open, Ray Ainsley infamously carded a 19 after trying to get out of a hazard. (John Mummert/USGA)

For starters, the course, at 6,749 yards (par 71), will be the longest in Women’s Open history, easily surpassing Pumpkin Ridge in 2003 (6,550 yards). But at just over a mile above sea level, the golfers will gain the advantage of thin air, which can add as much as 10 percent to the length of a shot.

“If the 10-percent factor is real and I assume that it is, 6,749 is actually going to play 674 yards shorter,” said Meeks. “So we’ll find out.”

The challenging 18th hole, normally played as a par 5 for the membership, will instead be a par 4 measuring 459 yards. The hole played as a par 4 for the previous three U.S. Opens, one Senior Open and U.S. Amateur held at Cherry Hills.

In fact, the final three holes at Cherry Hills are considered to be some of the toughest finishing holes in championship golf. Sixteen was lengthened from 410 to 428 when a tree was removed a month ago to allow Meeks and his championship staff to use a back teeing ground on the dogleg-left hole.

Some members had long fought the removal of the popular arbor, but Mike Burke, the superintendent, finally got the approval from the club’s grounds committee and advisory board.

Augusta National has Rae’s Creek. Cherry Hills could substitute an ‘e’ for a ‘y’ and call the stream on No. 16 Ray’s Creek in reference to Ray Ainsley’s 19 recorded on the par-4 hole during the second round of the 1938 U.S. Open. It’s the highest single-hole score in Open history. Ainsley’s approach shot found the creek and instead of taking a drop, he elected to play his ball and kept swiping away until he finally extracted the ball from the hazard.

Hole 17 is a 531-yard par-5 properly entitled the Moat Hole due to its island green. Ben Hogan made triple here in 1960, thus ending his bid for a record fifth U.S. Open title.

“We’ll set it up to entice some of the players to go for it [in two],” said Meeks, “but I’m not sure any of them will. If some of the women get a hold of a real good drive there, they might give it a try.”

The finishing hole features a large pond up the left side and an uphill approach shot to a green protected by two bunkers. Meeks consulted with plenty of people, including Cherry Hills Director of Golf Clayton Cole, three-time Women’s Open champion and Denver resident Hollis Stacy and former USGA president Judy Bell about the hole. Everyone agreed the hole should be played as a par 4.

The shorter hitters might disagree with that assessment, but Meeks reiterated that he can’t set up a course to favor those players. Longer hitters likely will have a 4- to 6-iron for a second shot, while others might be forced to hit a fairway metal in order to reach the putting surface.

“It’s going to be an excellent driving hole and excellent second shot to the green,” said Meeks.

Mallon then interrupted. “It will be an excellent third shot,” referring to shorter hitters. The same was true of the 16th hole at last year’s Women’s Open at The Orchards. The hole was a converted par 5 and it wound up being the toughest for the championship at 4.615. Mallon played the hole 1 under for the championship. She played No. 18, another long par 4, in even par. That hole ranked as the second toughest for the week.

But even the short holes at Cherry Hills have plenty of pitfalls. The first hole, made famous in 1960 when Arnold Palmer drove the green en route to a birdie and a final-round 65 to complete one of the greatest comebacks in U.S. Open history, will be played from the exactly same tee (346 yards). Beware of the green, though. The putting surface features plenty of undulations and trees line both sides of the fairway.

The 327-yard third hole might have the trickiest green on the property and it’s well protected by several bunkers. While it could be driven by longer hitters, the prudent play here is to lay up and find a comfortable yardage for the approach shot.

Players that miss the fairway – the widths are expected to be between 28 and 30 yards – will find thick rough that should measure 3-3½ inches thick. Burke expects the rough to be uniform in time for the championship.

 “We’re going to hit it with ammonium sulphate and then go out there with a couple of pounds of pot ash,” said Burke on May 16.

While the Denver area has had an uncharacteristically mild spring – it snowed in late April – it hasn’t affected the conditions of the course too much. Burke said the greens were aerified on March 21 and have rounded into shape. Green speeds are expected to be around 11 feet on the Stimpmeter.

“We’re OK,” said Burke. “We’re looking forward to having a great tournament.”

And Mallon says the players on the LPGA Tour are excited about coming to such a classical layout. Carin Koch and Wendy Doolan have already visited and Denver native Jill McGill, who is a Cherry Creek High alumna, grew up learning the game at Cherry Hills. McGill earned an exemption.

“I am proud of the USGA for coming to these classic golf courses,” said Mallon, who won her 1991 Women’s Open at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, a renowned Perry Maxwell design. “And I think the female golfers are going to benefit from the guys hitting it so long that we are going to be able to go to more venues like this. (Oakmont has the 2010 Women’s Open and Pebble Beach has agreed to host a future one as well).

“I think [Cherry Hill] will be exceptional. It will be fantastic. I like the smaller greens and the traditional courses, the tight fairways … This is how a major championship should be.”

Media Day Notes: The last two U.S. Women’s Open champions were actually at Cherry Hills on May 16. Mallon attended the media day festivities and 2003 champion Hilary Lunke was there for a corporate outing and clinic. … Mallon is five points shy of the requisite number for automatic inclusion into the Hall of Fame. Majors count for two points, so she could get in with two more majors and one LPGA Tour victory. “If it happens and I get into the Hall of Fame it would be pretty cool,” said Mallon, “but I’ve got to win the next event, so I can’t think about winning five. When I get ahead of myself like that I don’t play good golf.” … Six-time USGA champion Hollis Stacy (three U.S. Girls’ Juniors and three Women’s Opens) shot a 5-over 76 on media day. She doubled the famous 18th. Stacy no longer competes in the Women’s Open, but is a member of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship Committee.

David Shefter is a staff writer for the USGA. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.