Cherry Hill Working Group Seeks Golf Course Improvements and Expanded Winter Offerings

Report of the Cherry Hill Working Group Meeting, August 31, 2026

This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.

Present
Michele Miller (Chair), Chris Pariseau, Hilary Matheson, Sanjay Arwade, Ryan Diplock, Sarah Goff, and Anurag Sharma

Staff: Rey Harp (Recreation Director)

The Cherry Hill Working Group (CHWG) is preparing its final report on recommendations for use and management of the golf course during the golf season and in the off-season. The group plans to have a first draft at its September 14 meeting and a final report by mid-October. 

Golf Course Saw Increase in Revenue and Programs this Year
Recreation Director Rey Harp told the group that the course’s revenue was up substantially this year, although he was not sure how much was due to increased green fees and how much to an increased number of golfers. Expenses were also higher, but the revenue was higher still.. 

Harp also reported on a successful youth golf clinic held for six weeks this summer. About 15 participants attended the weekly one-hour program. Sports Director Jose Allen has worked out an agreement with the Athletic Department at American International College to provide youth lessons in the upcoming year, and the women’s league is planning to reinstate adult women’s lessons. All this, Harp said, will help grow the interest in golf in Amherst.

The golf course was unable to implement a new management system because of some issues in integrating it into the current system. However, Harp was confident the problems have been solved and that the Golf Trac system will be in use next season. “I’m happy with where we are,” he said. “We’re on the right trajectory.”

In the next few weeks, the team will sit down to plan for the transition to disc golf and cross-country skiing. 

CHWG member Anurag Sharma expressed concern over the condition of the course, especially the green on the second hole. He stated that other public courses are better maintained and don’t charge that much more to play. He worried that price pressures will drive away potential golfers if fees are raised further. Harp responded that that spot on the course is problematic, but the solution is complicated. He assured the committee that it will be a major topic of discussion in the off-season.

Working Group Explores Partnership with Adventure East for Winter Programming
Adventure East founder Brian Pearson followed up on a meeting with CHWG members Michele Miller and Chris Pariseau about bringing winter programs to Cherry Hill. The group has a team of Nordic skiing specialists and already works with Stump Sprouts and Notchview Nordic ski areas. They also offer snowshoeing, winter camping, wildlife tracking, and winter tracking and can bring some of those activities to Amherst. 

Pearson started Adventure East in 2020 to promote outdoor activities in Western Massachusetts. It is based in Sunderland and has about 30 employees. Adventure East partners with nonprofit organizations, schools from elementary to college, businesses, and professional teams. They have run programs with Kestrel Land Trust, The Trustees of Reservations, and the Friends of Lake Warner. For Cherry Hill, Adventure East has the infrastructure to make appointments, rent equipment, and handle sales and marketing. Pearson said the arrangement could range from one person sitting in the clubhouse overseeing rentals to running a whole program with shared revenue. 

Pearson also mentioned that Adventure East has the skating rink from the now-closed Marlboro College in Vermont along with about 400 pairs of ice skates. He said that the rink could be installed on a flat area at Cherry Hill for outdoor skating.

CHWG member Hilary Matheson said she had taken part in the Adventure East program and could vouch for the organization. “Engaging them for winter at Cherry Hill would be a win/win situation,” she said. Sarah Goff was also excited about the new programming and suggested some activities for the shoulder seasons, such as mushroom walks.

As enthusiastic as the group was, Sanjay Arwade cautioned that cross-country skiing in the Northeast is no longer a profitable enterprise and probably won’t be a revenue source for the town. He said that doesn’t mean that the town should not offer it, but he wants the group to be realistic in its expectations.

Harp said he will discuss options for winter programming with Pearson and urged the working group to include recommendations on how to use Adventure East in its report.

Friends of Cherry Hill Group
The CHWG has not followed up with those who attended the April listening session on the golf course, and they said they would be interested in participating in a Friends of Cherry Hill group. Miller will draft an email to let them know that the group will be in touch. Harp was not sure about how a friends group would be formed and said he would talk to Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek to get more information.

Possibilities for Connecting with UMass
Pariseau and Miller also met with Nancy Buffone, the associate vice chancellor for university relations at UMass. She told them that the UMass golf club publishes a newsletter and that activities at Cherry Hill can be included. UMass also has a turf management department, but they are not in session over the summer when the golf course needs that service. 

Arwade stated that Amherst Youth Baseball has partnered with UMass Sports Management to get interns to do publicity. Cherry Hill could consider doing that as well, but he was not sure if the Recreation Department staff had the time to manage interns, which can take quite a bit of time. Harp said Allen is already working with marketing students at UMass to help promote the golf course, and that is one reason numbers are so strong this year. 

Topics for Final Report 
At the June 16 CHWG meeting, the group unanimously passed a motion framing its general recommendations to be forwarded to the Town Manager. These are:

Miller and Pariseau will work on recommendations for community outreach and course improvement, emphasizing the need for more capital investment in the course by the town to kickstart the improvements. 

Sharma and Ryan Diplock will work on financial recommendations tied to the financial analysis that Diplock did last January. Diplock emphasized that the capital request should be framed as a business decision to increase revenue in the long run. He noted that, in the past, money spent on the golf course was viewed as a cost to the town, but it should be considered as a loan that can be paid back in four or five years.

Matheson will work on a section on the Friends group that would promote both development (fundraising) and programming. Arwade and Sarah Goff will recommend off-season uses for the site.

Miller suggested presenting the final report to Town Manager Paul Bockelman, Finance Director Sean Mangano, and Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek.