CommonGround Golf Course, which served as the companion course when Cherry Hills Country Club hosted the U.S. Amateur two years ago, will tag-team for an event related to the BMW Championship that will be held at Cherry Hills in two weeks.
CommonGround, which is owned and operated by the CGA and CWGA, will host a PGA Tour Player Short Game Clinic on Wednesday, Sept. 3, at approximately 5 to 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the general public.
At CommonGround’s new Community Putting Green, two PGA Tour players from the BMW Championship field will give tips on the finer points of the short game and how they approach it. The participating Tour players have yet to be determined; they’ll be finalized Sept. 2 after the BMW Championship field is set. The top 70 players from the FedExCup playoff standings following the Deutsche Bank Championship (Aug. 29-Sept. 1 in Norton, Mass.) will qualify for the BMW Championship at Cherry Hills. The BMW Championship, set for Sept. 4-7, is the third of four FedExCup playoff events.
CommonGround, a Tom Doak-designed public course which opened in 2009, served as the second stroke-play course for the 2012 U.S. Amateur that Cherry Hills hosted. It is the home of the acclaimed Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy. George Solich — for whom the Academy is named, along with his brother, Geoff — is the general chairman of the BMW Championship at Cherry Hills.
The Short Game Clinic at CommonGround will be emceed by Jerry Walters, longtime host of the “In the Fairway” radio show which airs on Saturday mornings on 102.3 ESPN. Walters is also a putting and short game instructor.
CommonGround is located at 10300 East Golfers Way in Aurora, near the intersection of Havana and 1st Avenue.
“One of our goals this year is to have a great partnership with the BMW Championship, and this (clinic) is a way to celebrate the great success of the event,” said CGA executive director Ed Mate. “We also want to celebrate our partnership with the Western Golf Association and the Evans Scholarship, and to showcase our mission at CommonGround — ‘A place for all and all the game teaches.'”
The Illinois-based WGA runs the BMW Championship and administers the Evans Scholarship, which fully pays for college tuition and housing for worthy caddies who qualify. One of the 14 Evans Scholar chapter houses nationwide is located at the University of Colorado, and the CGA and CWGA partners with the WGA in supporting the Evans Scholars at CU. The Evans Scholarship is a flagship program for both the CGA and CWGA.
In fact, it was a call from the WGA’s Jeff Harrison that led to the PGA Tour Player Short Game Clinic at CommonGround. He asked officials from the CGA and CWGA if they would be interested in having two PGA Tour players at the course for such an event. The associations couldn’t say yes quickly enough, and given that they have such a vested shared interest in caddies with the WGA, some of the Solich Caddie & Leadership Academy caddies will be on hand and in uniform for the clinic on Sept. 3.
