Cheraw Country Club, 2431 Old Cash Road: February 2024
Back in February of this year, Cheraw Country Club, after being open for 100 years, was closed down. The golf course was designed by Donald Ross, who is indeed the same Donald Ross who was the architect of Pinehurst No. 2, which is where many US Opens, including this year's, have been played. For the last 15 years, it was open as Moree's Cheraw Country Club.
Cheraw Country Club has been in a steady decline for a number of years due to a variety of factors. The extent of that decline may easily be observed in the pictures I have taken and will post to this website in a series of posts. This post is "Part 1".
I am sure there will be places on the golf course that someone will want to see, perhaps a favorite hole, and I did consider walking every hole starting at number 1 and ending at 18 (of course) and taking pictures along the way; however, I already have a large amount of pictures to share and quite frankly really didn't feel like doing that. I apologize if I missed someone's favorite spot on the course, and I am even thinking of some now that I wish I would have taken.
Like many folks I have a lot of memories of this place. One, well two, of those memories are the two hole-in-ones I had on the number 4 hole about 20 years ago, and that is why I will start with pictures of that hole rather than, say, the clubhouse. My dad was the witness for both occasions, and if memory serves me well, both hole-in-ones were made during the same year within a few months of each other and involved two different clubs, a 3-iron and a 4-iron. I even was awarded a gold-covered putter, which I still have; I really should hang it back up.
Another good reason to start with number 4 is that it was the signature hole for the course.
I would say that the green has seen better days, but for as long as I can remember, the greenskeepers have always had trouble keeping this green in good condition. That said, for most of those years, the green was at least puttable, but for the last few years, it has been what my brother would call a Plinko green. Like The Price Is Right game, once the ball left your putter, you could only hope the ball would end up at the hole as it may roll this way and that.
For a brief period of time, there was a small bunker beneath this tree. No, that tree didn't always look so spooky.
Below is the green for number 9. I have ended many a round of golf here on the days that I would walk. It was a bit of a trip, a full-circle kind of experience, walking 9-hole rounds here again when we moved back to Cheraw, just like I did when I was a kid on summer days. Nope, I never did get a hole-in-one on number 9.
And here is where a round would usually start, the back tees for number 1. It was always fun to start on this hole and drive the ball down the hill, wondering how many extra yards I would get from the downhill roll. Thanks, gravity!
I couldn't tell you the last time these tennis courts were used for...you know...tennis. I want to say these two courts were still being used when I graduated high school. The courts on the other side of the parking lot started being used for storing the golf carts long before then.
And so we end Part 1 with a view of the pool, which is where we will resume with Part 2...hopefully soon.