Geronimo Reopens as Chiricahua Goes Quiet in Desert Mountain's Course-by-Course Restoration

On October 31, 1989, Jack Nicklaus, Jim Carter and a 19-year-old Phil Mickelson played the first round on Geronimo. All three were NCAA individual champions, and none of them broke par. Carter shot 73. Nicklaus and Mickelson each shot 74.

Thirty-seven years later, almost to the month, the course is back on the tee sheet. Desert Mountain Club says Geronimo reopened in late September after a year of restoration, and the Club's feature on the reopening is dated September 30, 2026. Members can treat it as a single good-news item. The more useful way to read it is as the middle step of a sequence. The Club is restoring its original Nicklaus courses one at a time, each project takes about a year, and every finished course sets the standard for the next one. Geronimo's return this fall is the handoff point. Chiricahua's restoration has already begun.

The Course That Was Supposed to Host the Tournaments

Geronimo was Desert Mountain's third Jack Nicklaus Signature design. In its early years it ran more than 7,400 yards with a 77.1 course rating, and Nicklaus originally imagined it as the Club's tournament course. The tournament went to Cochise instead. Cochise's terrain was easier for spectators, so it hosted The Tradition from 1989 to 2001.

Geronimo built its reputation anyway. Its par-3 18th decided the 1988 Desert Scramble playoff before the course had even opened, when Greg Norman holed the winning birdie putt there. The American Junior Golf Association's Rolex Tournament of Champions came to Geronimo in 1996 and 2002, and the 1996 event crowned Charles Howell III and Grace Park. Geronimo also hosted the Southwestern Amateur, including the event's 100th-anniversary edition in 2015, and its closing hole was included in the 2000 book The World's 500 Greatest Golf Holes.

Those two courses have stayed linked for decades. They share a clubhouse, and they are now linked by the restoration program as well. Cochise went first, and Geronimo was rebuilt to match it.

Cochise Set the Template in 2024

Cochise reopened in September 2024 after a 12-month restoration led by Nicklaus Design. The Club said the goal was to "return Cochise to its natural, original design while modernizing the course infrastructure." The underlying problem was 35-year-old irrigation, pump-station and bunker-drainage systems that were failing, so the work below ground came first. The crew rebuilt and regrassed the greens, put in new bunker liners and sand, and expanded the tees. The greens were laser-scanned so they would match the original design to within a tenth of an inch.

Sports Illustrated named Cochise its Best Modern Private Course Restoration. Its coverage identified the project team as Chad Goetz of Nicklaus Design, Desert Mountain Director of Agronomy Todd Bohn and Director of Golf John Lyberger. Bohn described what the crew found under the second green: "When we dug down to the original core, we saw this beautiful bowl in there. We put it right back."

That sentence sums up the program's approach. The aim is to find out what Nicklaus built, fix whatever is underneath it, and put the original design back.

What Changed on Geronimo

Bohn and Goetz guided the Geronimo project too, so the same team moved from one course to the next. The Club's account says the project "was driven by what Members couldn't always see," meaning aging irrigation lines, a tired pump station, and grass and bunker sand that needed replacing.

Below the surface

• A new pump station and HDPE irrigation piping replaced the old equipment and PVC pipe.
• A single-head irrigation system now waters areas precisely and individually. It comes with better sprinkler spacing, upgraded nozzles, and software Bohn can run remotely, even from his smartwatch.
• On the ninth hole, a low spot 50 to 75 yards short of the green used to collect water, silt and debris. The team installed two 12-inch underground pipes and an upstream sediment collection area to catch that material before it reaches the playing surface.

On the surface

1. The course was regrassed with the same turf varieties used at Cochise. The Club credits this with better color, durability, consistency and playing characteristics.
2. Tees were expanded, especially on the par 3s, and careful pruning brought back sight lines that had been lost for years.
3. Some fairway bunkers were moved closer to the greens. Trees that blocked views and routes to the green were relocated, and fairways and teeing areas were widened.
4. Rocks and boulders were either removed or buried. Depending on the spot, the goal was better playability, protection against erosion by directing water away from the fairway, or both.
5. 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.

Regrassing with Cochise's turf matters for the program as a whole. Each restored course is being brought in line with the one before it, so the two courses that share a clubhouse now play on the same turf. The Club's announcement does not name the specific varieties. Members who want that detail will have to ask the agronomy staff. The Club has also posted a flyover of all 18 holes at Geronimo for anyone who wants to see the changes before booking a tee time.

Chiricahua Is Already Underway

In a submission for the 2026 Platinum Clubs awards, published in early September, Desert Mountain says 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." The submission describes each project as combining modern drought-resistant turf, new technology, new irrigation and current agronomic practices.

The Club's own podcast has been tracking that work. Its Chiricahua restoration series features Senior Assistant Golf Course Superintendent Chase Ivey talking about preparation in segments recorded from early June through August 2026, and a second episode focuses on the irrigation system. That makes the sequence clear. Irrigation came first at Cochise and was the core of the Geronimo work, and it is getting its own episode for Chiricahua.

The Club has not published a reopening date for Chiricahua, and it has not said which course comes after that. Cochise and Geronimo each took about a year, which suggests a similar timeline, but that is an estimate, not an announced schedule.

How October 2026 Actually Plays

The restoration cycle runs alongside the annual overseed rotation, and the two together shape the course availability this month. The Arizona Golf Association's 2026 overseeding schedule lists these dates for Desert Mountain's seven courses:

As of October 3, those listings put No. 7, Renegade and Geronimo back in play. Apache stays open until it closes on October 12. Cochise and Outlaw are both mid-overseed, and Chiricahua is listed as closed. Next week the lineup changes. Cochise is listed to reopen on October 11 and Apache closes the following day. Outlaw follows on October 18, and Apache is listed to return on October 25. For the first week and a half of October, Geronimo is the only course on the Cochise/Geronimo side that is open, and it is also the course with the newest irrigation on the property.

These dates come from the AGA's statewide table, not from a Club-issued tee-sheet notice, so check with the golf shop before planning a group round around any of them.

What's Being Built Around Geronimo

The restoration program is one part of a broader plan. Members approved the first phase of the Club's Long-Range Facilities Plan, and several projects are clustered right next to Geronimo. A new two-story Range House is under construction overlooking the Cochise and Geronimo practice facilities, with expanded amenities, dining and gathering space. Parking at the Cochise/Geronimo Clubhouse is also being expanded. Elsewhere on the property, the Outlaw Clubhouse is being reimagined as a place for dining, celebrations and member events, and the bocce complex at Seven Clubhouse is getting bigger to make room for one of the Club's fastest-growing recreational programs.

Taken together, the Cochise/Geronimo complex has seen steady work since 2024. Both courses have been restored, and a new practice-area building and more parking are on the way. The Club's own summary of Geronimo says it "begins its next chapter with its identity intact," and asks members to "rediscover a familiar favorite, restored for the rounds ahead." Geronimo turns 37 on October 31, with a new pump station, new HDPE irrigation pipe and the same Nicklaus routing that kept three NCAA champions from breaking par on its first day.

If you own a home near the Cochise/Geronimo side of the mountain and want to know how buyers are responding to the Club's recent investments, Rachel Kohn and The Matheson Team can walk you through what recent sales nearby show. Request an Instant Home Valuation to see where your home stands this fall.