Geoffrey Cornish designed CCH in 1967. It sits on a modestly rolling piece of property, and like many tournament courses, trees line both sides of the fairway. Judging by the work being done, a couple natural areas will be introduced into the design soon. The greens are well bunkered, and typically pitch forward with a left or right tilt. It’s a pretty straightforward golf course, and the biggest challenge is figuring out the angle of the doglegs. The shorter hitter must understand his aiming point from the tee. Even the longer hitter needs to know if his length will take him through the turn. OB is also present, and is more in play than one might realize.
(The 418/404 yard par four second doglegs right with OB guarding the entire left side. The green sits above a little swale.)
The condition of the golf course is first class, and many people view it highly because of this, however, CCH lacks the variety that all very good courses possess. 1,9,10,and 18 are all par fives that play on the exact same N-S S-N direction. The par threes are similar too minus the throwaway eleventh that comes across as an afterthought with its pitch across a pond. Only a select handful of par fours stand out, and I would pick 2, 6, 12,14 as the best of the bunch. I have no idea how to play 17. It’s a mid length par four that bends ridiculously left around a forest of pine trees. A pond guards the right side of the green, and if you didn’t give yourself an open shot, or a draw is not in your bag, then pitching to your favorite yardage for a pitch might be the play.
(The 448/426 yard par four sixth plays slightly downhill to green bracketed on both sides by sand. Two solid strikes are needed to make par.)
While my criticism may be valid, there’s no denying the strength of the golf course. It’s a staunch defender of par. It’s very difficult recovering from a missed shot. This is one of those different strokes for different folks situations and although I enjoyed playing it, CCH isn’t a place that will elicit you to run to the first tee and immediately play again. I give CCH a 4 (above average)(worth driving 30-45 minutes to play). If conditioning is one of your biggest criteria then you’ll rate it higher.
(The 420/395 yard par four twelth has one of the steepest greens on the course.)
[[We played the blue tees at CCH during an Inter-club event. Interestingly, the 6,477 yards is nearly 200 yards longer than what NOGA plays during their tournaments. I had one of my best putting days and salvaged a hard earned 76. To my surprise, that score was good enough for low round of the day as I won the scorecard playoff. (Helps to par the four hardest handicap holes) It is the first competitive event I’ve ever won. Note the competitive course record on the right side of the scorecards. 64 by Rickie Fowler (2005) and Jordan Gilkison (2021). Rickie still owns the 54 hole tournament record of 204 (-12).]]
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