Geronimo Is Back, Chiricahua Is Out: How the Mountain Rearranged Itself Over the Summer

On October 31, 1989, Jack Nicklaus played the first round on Geronimo with Jim Carter and a 19-year-old Phil Mickelson. All three had won NCAA individual titles, and none of them broke par. Carter shot 73. Nicklaus and Mickelson each shot 74. The course turns 37 this Halloween. It goes into the anniversary with a new pump station and new irrigation piping. Desert Mountain Club said it reopened in late September following a year of restoration.

Around the same time, another Nicklaus course on the Mountain closed. Chiricahua is now in its own restoration. The Arizona Golf Association's schedule lists no reopening date for it. If you're back for the winter expecting seven courses, the more accurate count is six open and one under restoration.

The Restorations Have Run One After Another

For years, the Club's agronomy calendar promised something simple. As Golf Course Industry reported in 2021, all seven courses were open and green from November 1 to June 1, and each closed for about two months at some point outside that window. Members could treat the winter as the season when the whole Mountain was open.

The restoration program has changed that. In a September 2026 summary of its capital work, the Club wrote that since 2024 it has "completed the acclaimed restoration of Cochise Golf Course, advanced the restoration of Geronimo Golf Course, and begun the restoration of Chiricahua Golf Course." So the projects run one after another. Cochise came first. Its own One Year Later feature in August 2025 described the course as having been open for nearly a year. Geronimo followed and reopened on September 28, 2026, according to the Arizona Golf Association's 2026 overseeding schedule. Chiricahua is the third.

The Club gives the same reasons for all three projects. Each one keeps Nicklaus's original design and adds drought-resistant turf, newer irrigation technology and updated agronomic practices. These are infrastructure jobs. Geronimo's took a year, and so far each restoration has started as the one before it neared completion.

What a Year Underground Bought Geronimo

The Club's account of the Geronimo work is candid about why it happened. The architecture still deserved to be preserved. The problem was underground: aging irrigation lines, a worn-out pump station, and grass and bunker sand that needed replacing. Director of Agronomy Todd Bohn led the project with Chad Goetz of Nicklaus Design. The work fell into five areas.

1. Water. A new pump station and HDPE piping replaced the old equipment and PVC lines. A single-head irrigation system now waters areas individually, with better sprinkler spacing and upgraded nozzles. Bohn can run it remotely, even from his smartwatch.
2. Turf. The course was re-grassed with the same turf varieties used at Cochise. The Club credits the change with better color, durability and consistency. Nicklaus's own account of the Cochise project names Tahoma 31 as that course's fairway grass.
3. Drainage on the ninth. A low area 50 to 75 yards short of the green used to collect water, silt and debris. Two 12-inch underground pipes and a sediment collection area upstream now catch that material before it reaches the playing surface.
4. Lines of play. Tees were enlarged, especially on the par 3s, and pruning brought back sight lines that had been lost. Some fairway bunkers moved closer to the greens, trees blocking routes to the green were relocated, and some boulders were removed or buried.
5. Comfort stations. The comfort stations at the sixth tee and beside the 13th green and 14th tee were rebuilt at ground level, so there are no more stairs.

The par-3 18th is the hole that was included in the 2000 book The World's 500 Greatest Golf Holes, and it hosted Greg Norman's winning birdie putt in the 1988 Desert Scramble playoff before the course had even opened. It's still the closing hole. To see the new version before your first round back, the Club has posted a flyover of all 18 holes.

Where Chiricahua Stands

Chiricahua's restoration started well before the course closed. In a Club podcast episode, Senior Assistant Golf Course Superintendent Chase Ivey walks through the preparation in four installments recorded in early June, late June, late July and August 2026. A second episode, released the same day, covers the start of construction and focuses on the irrigation system. Both are on the Desert Mountain Podcast, and they're the most detailed public look at the project so far.

On the AGA schedule, Chiricahua is the only Desert Mountain course with no reopening date. Both its closure and reopening columns read "Closed." Geronimo's restoration took about a year. Until a reopening date appears, plan this winter's golf without Chiricahua.

How the Fall Rotation Ran

Overseeding staggered the rest of the fall, and by the end of October all four overseeded courses were scheduled to be back. This is the 2026 schedule as the AGA lists it:

The AGA table carries no publication date, and dates like these can change. Confirm tee-sheet availability with the Club before you plan around it. On the published schedule, though, the fall works out cleanly. Apache was the last overseeded course to return, on October 25, and every course except Chiricahua should be open as November begins.

The Rotation Continues Off the Course

The course restorations sit alongside a larger plan. In the same September document, the Club said members "overwhelmingly approved" the first phase of its Long-Range Facilities Plan. As of that writing, the projects were:

• A two-story Range House under construction, with dining, gathering space and other amenities overlooking the Cochise and Geronimo practice facilities.
• Expanded parking at the Cochise/Geronimo Clubhouse to make arrival easier.
• The Outlaw Clubhouse, being redesigned as a venue for dining, celebrations and member events.
• The bocce complex at Seven Clubhouse, being expanded.

Two of those projects sit right next to the courses that just came back. The Range House and the new parking are at Cochise/Geronimo, the clubhouse serving the two most recently restored courses. The Club hasn't published completion dates for the Range House, the parking or the Outlaw Clubhouse, so expect active construction somewhere on the Mountain this season.

Bocce is the one project already finished. On October 14, the Club said two new courts at Seven Clubhouse had opened for the start of the fall league. All four courts there are now regulation size, with new spectator seating, a railing above the courts, and upgraded lighting and sound. The courts overlook the No. 7 course, and two more remain at Sonoran Clubhouse. The expansion followed demand. The Club reports about 830 bocce players this fall season and roughly 1,100 in spring, compared with 96 players in fall 2018, the first season. It also runs competitive and social leagues, plus a summer league.

Planning the First Weeks Back

For golf, the practical change is that Geronimo is back in the rotation and Chiricahua isn't. With overseeding finished, the other five courses round out the set. Geronimo has restored sight lines, new comfort stations and new drainage short of the ninth green, which makes it the course most likely to feel different on a first round back.

Evenings off the course are changing too. The Club hosts a Sunset to Full Moon Hike every month, timed so the rising moon lights the trail. This winter, Outdoor Adventures Manager Dave Rolf is adding Sunset & S'mores hikes at The Ranch. They're easy evening walks that finish at the fire ring with cocoa and marshmallows. Bocce works as an evening option too, and the Seven courts now have expanded lighting.

When Chiricahua reopens, the Club will have restored three of its Nicklaus courses in a row: Cochise, Geronimo and Chiricahua.

If you'd like to talk through how the restoration schedule and the Long-Range Facilities Plan fit your own plans on the Mountain, whether that's the season ahead or a move within the community, Ranee Jacobus lives at Desert Mountain and follows these projects closely. Schedule a Private Consultation.