Cherokee Country Club began with a modest nine-hole course laid out for the new club in 1907; by 1910 club professional James “Jimmie” Dickson had overseen an expansion to 18 holes to meet growing member play. In mid-1914 the Knoxville press announced that English architect H.H. Barker had been engaged to bring the layout up to “regulation length,” work that culminated in a new course opening reported in 1915–16. The club’s board then turned to Donald Ross in the post-war period: minutes from July 15, 1919 authorized hiring Ross “to inspect and suggest improvements to the greens,” and a March 3, 1920 entry records payment of $560 “for drawing new plans for the golf links.” Those documents demonstrate that Ross’s remit at Cherokee went beyond simple agronomic advice to a formal redesign plan, which he prepared after an on-site visit in December 1919.
Ross’s work had to fit an unusually tight property—under 80 acres—that falls from east to west, is split by a meandering creek, and is hemmed on the west by a railroad corridor. His plan reconciled those constraints with a compact routing that used short transitions, repeated engagement with the creek, and, most distinctively, an unorthodox par sequence with six one-shot holes and four par-5s to keep variety and pacing on limited ground. Oral recollections from Dickson’s family—who hosted Ross during his Knoxville stays—confirm his extended presence during the 1919–20 works.
Subsequent alterations gradually softened Ross’s imprint. Alex McKay reworked aspects of the course in 1950; in the mid-1980s Dan Maples carried out a modernization that, among other items, adjusted green sites (including the eighth) and bunker forms. Beginning in 2000 the club commissioned Ron Prichard to restore lost Ross character. Relying on historic aerials and the 1919–20 intent, Prichard’s construction began in May 2008 and the course reopened that December.
Unique design characteristics
Cherokee’s most Ross-legible features today are inseparable from its site constraints. Greens average under 5,500 square feet and many sit slightly raised or benched into natural slopes, which preserves firmness and shot value on the river bluff. The number of one-shot holes—six in total—reflects Ross’s solution to limited acreage and the creek’s diagonal lines of influence.
Specific holes illustrate how those ideas persist:
No. 4 (par 5) uses the creek and boundary to compress decision-making. Out of bounds rides the right side from tee to green while the creek crosses the fairway roughly 200 yards short of the green and then guards the left all the way in. Two fairway bunkers beyond the crossing, plus a small, defended target, make this short five a classic three-shotter for many while rewarding bold, shaped play off the tee.
No. 7 (par 4) reprises Ross’s fondness for cross-bunkering that asks for a precise tee ball to a favored side. Two bunkers pinch the landing zone 80–90 yards short of the green; the target itself sits a good fifteen feet above the fairway and falls away behind to a closely mown shelf, so spin and distance control matter as much as line.
No. 8 (short par 3) is the course’s signature one-shotter: an elevated, almost “squared” green with a distinctive left-front spur is ringed by five bunkers. Playing just under 140 yards from the back markers, it is deceptively exacting in any breeze off the river.
Nos. 11 & 15 (double green) form an unusual shared putting surface—large, multi-tiered, with a low, false-front “entry” on the 11th—that restores the expansive contouring seen in historical imagery. On the 11th, flanking fairway bunkers at 225–275 yards and a left approach bunker 60 yards short accentuate angle and tempo on a hole under 475 yards.
No. 12 (long par 3) stretches to ~239 yards from the back tee along the railroad boundary on the right, with the creek and an approach bunker left; even a conservative play must contend with pronounced back-to-front green pitch and tight surrounds.
No. 14 (par 3) sits tight to the creek, with one visible and one hidden bunker to the right, asking for a nervy mid-iron that lands on the correct half of a subtly canted, oblong green.
Collectively, these holes are the clearest surviving examples of Ross’s 1919–20 intentions at Cherokee: small, often elevated targets; diagonal hazards (natural and man-made) that nudge lines of charm; and variety generated by alternating shot lengths within a compact walk. Prichard’s restoration sharpened those cues—widening fairways to reintroduce angles, re-establishing lost bunkers (56 today, with additional sites reserved), lowering or removing trees that had pinched corridors, and recapturing green perimeters and short-grass fall-offs.
Historical significance
Cherokee’s 1919–20 redesign is a rare Ross solution to a sub-80-acre site hemmed by a railroad and split by a creek. The resulting six-par-3 composition is highly atypical within his portfolio and reflects his willingness to tailor par balance to land rather than formula. The project also ties Ross to Knoxville a decade before his major commission at Holston Hills (1927), with contemporary accounts noting that he lodged with the Dickson family during both episodes. Competitive pedigree is long: the Tennessee State Amateur visited repeatedly—early match-play editions in 1919, 1923, 1927, and again in 1935 and 1949, plus stroke-play era renewals in 1959, 1969, and most recently 2012 (won by Tim Jackson). The course has also served as a qualifying venue for USGA and state championships across decades.
Current condition / integrity
The present course plays approximately 6,370 yards, par 70, across 18 holes on the river bluff. Ross’s routing logic—short connectors, frequent creek engagement, and the six-three/four-five par balance—remains intact. Prichard’s 2008 work restored many Ross features removed or muted by mid-century alterations: cross-bunkers returned to No. 7; short-grass recoveries reappeared around small, canted greens; fairway widths now once again create distinct lines to corner pins; and the shared 11/15 putting surface was re-established as one continuous green complex.
Elements that have evolved include certain green pads (e.g., No. 8’s site and form were influenced by late-20th-century changes before restoration), selective tree plantings that once narrowed corridors (since thinned), and the detailed placement and style of several bunkers—now closer in scale and placement to aerial evidence from the Ross era. The course’s compact footprint, creek lines, and the railroad boundary remain as originally confronted by Ross, so the strategic cadence he set—particularly the interleaving of short, exacting approach shots with stout long-iron demands—still governs play.
Citations & uncertainty
The club’s public-facing materials describe an “18-hole Donald Ross…course which opened in 1907,” but contemporary records indicate nine holes existed in 1907, with 18 holes in play by 1910 and a later Ross redesign completed in 1920.
Multiple Knoxville Sentinel clippings from 1914–16 reference H.H. Barker designing a new, regulation-length course; this suggests Barker’s work bridged the 1910 expansion and the 1919–20 Ross redesign.
A 1921 article cited in research discussions claims a Ross visit in 1911; that early-date attribution lacks corroborating documents and is treated by researchers with caution.
Ross did not list Cherokee in his surviving personal ledgers, a gap that has fueled debate; however, the club’s 1919/1920 minutes and payment entry substantiate his formal engagement and plan set.
Sources & Notes
Mike Threlkeld & Ken Creed, “Cherokee Country Club, TN, USA,” GolfClubAtlas – In My Opinion (Dec. 2010). Includes board-minute quotations (July 15, 1919 and Mar. 3, 1920), Dickson family recollections, restoration scope (2008), acreage and boundary constraints, hole-by-hole details (#4, #7, #8, #11/15, #12, #14).
“Cherokee CC (Knoxville) – Barker?” GolfClubAtlas Discussion Forum (Oct. 2017–Sept. 2019). Posts with Knoxville Sentinel clippings: 1914 Barker expansion to 18; 1915 course map/article; July 1919 notice of Ross review; June 1920 confirmation Ross visited Dec. 1919; later reference to possible 1911 visit (treated skeptically).
“Cherokee – United States,” Top100GolfCourses.com profile. Timeline summary (1907 nine holes; 1910 18 holes; Barker c.1916; Ross commissioned 1919, work 1920), later alterations (Alex McKay 1950; Dan Maples 1985), restoration by Ron Prichard (2000–08), property ~80 acres, six par-3s/back-to-back par-5s (#4 and #5).
Tennessee Golf Association, State Amateur “Trophy Room” (historical winners/venues), documenting Cherokee CC hosts in 1919, 1923, 1927, 1935, 1949, 1959, 1969, and 2012.
AmateurGolf.com, “Tennessee Amateur: Jackson wins fifth” (Aug. 10, 2012), confirming the 2012 State Amateur at Cherokee CC and the champion.
Club website (public pages): general history and golf-amenities statements referencing a “classic Donald Ross” course and the 1907 founding. Useful for institutional perspective, not technical detail.
Disputed/uncertain points flagged above: (a) scope of Barker’s 1914–16 work vs. Dickson’s 1910 expansion; (b) claim of a 1911 Ross visit; (c) Ross’s omission of Cherokee from his personal ledgers. The 1919–20 board records anchor Ross’s redesign; earlier attributions should be treated cautiously pending additional primary documentation.