(NOTE: This is the eighth installment in a weekly series featuring some of the toughest golf holes across Hampshire County. The series will run each Saturday in print throughout the summer.)

AMHERST — There’s a certain charm about Cherry Hill Golf Course that brings people back time and time again.

The conditions may not be pristine come summer’s end, but the 2,604-yard, par-35 nine-hole course is fun, affordable and has its fair share of unique holes.

Michael Morgan, a resident of Amherst, has been a member at Cherry Hill since 1983. He plays in a men’s league that was started by his friend Carey Parrish nearly every day. Morgan recognizes that there may be other courses held in higher esteem than Cherry Hill, but he doesn’t want to play anywhere else.

For over 40 years it’s been his second home.

“It’s really cheap, and it’s easy to come here,” Morgan said. “When I first started coming here, it was about a mile away for me. You never had to make a tee time, you just showed up and played as much as you want. There are fancier courses, there are better conditioned courses, but this one is an object of love for many of us – even when you hate it. It’s never the same course twice.”

Parrish, 69, started playing at Cherry Hill about 15 years ago. He only started playing golf when he turned 50. A resident of Belchertown, Parrish makes the daily commute to Amherst instead of playing a course closer to his home.

It’s the people that make the place, as the saying goes, and Parrish believes Cherry Hill is the hidden gem that it is simply because of those people.

“The price is good, but it’s mainly the community here,” Parrish said. “The people here are really great. We come out here with a big group of us every day, or just about. It’s a great group of people.”

The spring and fall are especially busy for Cherry Hill because school is in session at nearby UMass. Students down the road always come over to play and enjoy the course with their friends on picture-perfect days.

And although the fairways or greens may not be in the same condition as some other courses across Hampshire County, some of the views on the course absolutely can hold up.

The beast that is No. 7

The seventh hole is by far the longest on the course. There are no long par 3s or long par 4s, so when heading to the tee box on the 525-yard par 5, the seventh hole looks daunting.

There are trees that run all down both sides, and the elevated tee box makes it quite easy to get enough air under a driver to take it over the set of trees on the left. If you do that however, your ball is almost guaranteed to end up out of bounds.

Hitting the fairway on No. 7 is important. A perfect drive doesn’t mean you’ll have a shot at reaching the green in two shots, either. There is a large pond/hazard area that makes it a three-shot hole. Ideally, to beat No. 7, a straight drive is needed off the tee, followed by an iron shot to the layup area – which is about 130 yards to the pin. The approach shot looks a lot longer than it is because of the pond, Morgan said.

“If you were to ask 400 people who have golfed here what the hardest hole is, they would all tell you it’s hole 7,” Morgan said. “It’s not that long, but there are a lot of trees on both sides and out of bounds on the left. And when you come around the bend, your final shot is going to be over a good bit of water. With the overgrowth, it can be hard to see the  green sometimes. Something about the pond there makes the shot seem a lot longer than it is, and the pond draws balls in there like magnets.”

“I always say the gravitational pull of the water makes you need to go up a club,” Parrish added with a laugh.

Rather than strategically plan to score well on the seventh hole, Morgan came up with a better idea.

“Skip it. That’s what I would say,” Morgan joked. “Just skip it.”

“The rough here is very thick and hard to get out of,” Parrish added. “It’s tough to make it down to the plateau – where you need to be – in two shots if you’re in the rough. So you need to be in the fairway on this hole. Hit it straight and long.”

Have fun on the short sixth before tackling the seventh

The 247-yard, par-4 sixth is reachable for a lot of players, but the severe left-to-right slope of the fairway makes it tough for the average golfer because they typically play a cut.

It’s a wide fairway with some room to miss, but too far left puts you in the trees and too far right can wind up on the second tee box. On top of the funky layout of the hole, the small, bowl-like green is another interesting feature of No. 6.

If you play the hole for two shots, your approach shot needs to land on the green, because if it lands just long, it can kick off the bowl and roll well off the back. Even 20 yards short can also can be difficult, especially if you’re on the left side of the fairway or rough, because the green is very small. Getting the ball to stop on No. 6 is a task Parrish is still trying to solve even after 15 years at Cherry Hill.

“If you find yourself above the hole, I find it to be very tough,” he said. “The green is tiny. You may hit the green, but it’s hard to keep it on unless you can really spin it. A lot of times you’ll see it hit the green and roll off the back.”

“Six is interesting, because the whole thing is heavily slanted down from left to right,” Morgan added. “If you have a nice little draw you can be very happy there.”

Garrett Cote is a Daily Hampshire Gazette sports reporter. He can be reached at gcote@gazettenet.com