Cherry Hills Country Club
Cherry Hills Village, Arapahoe County, Colorado · Denver Metro / Front Range golf market
- Access
- invitation only
- Holes
- 27
- Architect(s)
- William Flynn
- Gated
- No
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Cherry Hills Country Club is Colorado golf's undisputed championship pedigree address. Founded in 1922 (originally as The Cherry Hills Club, for the cherry orchard on its grounds) and designed by William Flynn, the course has hosted three men's U.S. Opens -- most famously 1960, when Arnold Palmer's final-round 65 completed a legendary comeback and a young amateur named Jack Nicklaus finished second -- plus two PGA Championships, a U.S. Women's Open, a U.S. Senior Open, and three U.S. Amateurs, most recently in 2023. Few private clubs anywhere in the country can match that tournament density, and it gives Cherry Hills a level of name recognition among golf-oriented homebuyers that no other Colorado club, including Castle Pines, currently matches.
What makes Cherry Hills distinct from Colorado's other flagship private clubs is how literally the club and its surrounding town are intertwined. Cherry Hills Village, a small, affluent incorporated municipality south of Denver, was formally established in 1945 in part to protect the character of the area that had grown up around the club through the 1920s and 1930s. This is not a gated development marketed alongside a golf course -- it is a town whose founding history is inseparable from the club's own survival through the Depression and its subsequent growth. For a golf-oriented buyer, that history is the point: Cherry Hills Village is one of the very few U.S. towns where the whole municipality, not a subdivision within it, is fairly described as having grown up around one private club.
Membership itself is invitation-only, requiring sponsorship from an existing member, and the club's own reputation and reported waitlist make it one of the most closed private clubs in the Rocky Mountain West. Buyers should not assume that living in Cherry Hills Village -- or anywhere near the club -- creates any path to membership; it does not.
Golf & Course
William Flynn's 1922 routing has been tested by essentially every era of major championship golf. The 1960 U.S. Open remains the course's most famous moment: Arnold Palmer drove the par-4 first green and shot a final-round 65 to erase a seven-shot deficit, with amateur Jack Nicklaus finishing runner-up and Ben Hogan playing his last competitive U.S. Open round in the same group. The club later hosted the 1938 and 1978 U.S. Opens, the 1941 and 1985 PGA Championships, the 1993 U.S. Senior Open, the 2005 U.S. Women's Open, and U.S. Amateurs in 1990 (won by Phil Mickelson), 2012, and 2023 (won by Nick Dunlap). The championship 18 plays alongside a 9-hole par-3 course, for 27 total holes on the property.
Membership & Access
Does buying a home here include club membership?
Access is strictly invitation-only: prospective members require sponsorship from a current member, and the club does not publish an open application process or fee schedule. A reported waitlist can run years, not months. Homeownership in Cherry Hills Village carries no membership entitlement of any kind -- proximity to the club, even living inside the town it anchors, does not create eligibility, priority, or a shortcut through the sponsorship process.
Living in Cherry Hills Country Club
Cherry Hills Village is a small (roughly 6 square mile), low-density, large-lot municipality incorporated in 1945, with a population historically in the low thousands. It is not a gated subdivision -- streets are open and the town itself functions as a normal Denver-metro municipality -- but its identity, history, and desirability are bound up with the country club at its center in a way that is genuinely unusual among the anchors in this market. Homes here are large-lot single-family estates rather than a purpose-built golf-community product.
Lifestyle & Amenities
Beyond the championship golf course, the club offers a 9-hole par-3 course, eight tennis courts, a lap pool, and full dining -- amenities specifically verified from club-side sources; other amenity categories (fitness center, spa) were not independently confirmed this session and are left unmarked rather than assumed.
Location & Surrounding Area
Cherry Hills Village sits directly south of Denver proper, bordered by the University Boulevard corridor, giving quick access to both downtown Denver and the Denver Tech Center employment corridor -- a genuinely central, in-town location relative to the more distant Douglas County clubs (Castle Pines, Colorado Golf Club) covered elsewhere in this market.
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What Buyers Should Verify
- Confirm current initiation fee and annual dues directly with the club -- only conflicting third-party estimates were found this session, not an official figure.
- Confirm current membership waitlist length and sponsorship process directly, as reported wait times vary by source and change over time.
- Do not assume homeownership in Cherry Hills Village creates any path to club membership; verify the club's actual admission process independently.
Notable
- Hosted three U.S. Opens (1938, 1960, 1978); the 1960 Open is one of the most famous in the championship's history, won by Arnold Palmer with Jack Nicklaus (amateur) runner-up.
- Hosted the PGA Championship twice (1941, 1985) and the U.S. Women's Open (2005) and U.S. Senior Open (1993).
- Hosted the U.S. Amateur three times (1990, 2012, 2023); Phil Mickelson won the 1990 title here.
- Cherry Hills Village incorporated in 1945 in part to protect the character of the area that had grown up around the club since the 1920s.
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US Golf Living provides independent real-estate research and can connect consumers with real-estate professionals. Golf membership, availability, fees and approval are determined independently by the applicable club.