From Kentucky, we travel west to our home state of Colorado for this stop on the Pléiades 1 golf course tour. Site of the 8^th BMW Championship from September 4^th to the 7^th, Cherry Hills Country Club is located in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado which is just south of Denver. The BMW Championship was formerly called the Western Open which was first played in 1899, making it the second oldest golf tournament in the United States. This tournament is the third of four events making up the US PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs. Golfers amass points for the FedEx Cup during the regular PGA season with the top 125 players qualifying for the first playoff event. By the time the BMW Championship is played, only 70 golfers will remain in the playoff and then only the top 30 (according to total points) will move on from this event.

Cherry Hills Country Club opened in 1922 and was designed by renowned architect, William Flynn, who received $4,500 for his services. Since it opened, Cherry Hills has hosted a number of key tournaments, including the US Open (1938, 1960 and 1978), PGA Championship (1941 and 1958) and the US Amateur Championship (1976, 1983, 1990 and 2012). Prior to 1938, no course west of Minneapolis had hosted the US Open. Perhaps the most famous tournament ever held at Cherry Hills was the 1960 US Open where Arnold Palmer hit the “shot heard around the world” on the 1^st hole to start one of the biggest comebacks in tour history, making up 7 strokes to win the major. In the fall of 2008, the course was redesigned by the famous architect, Tom Doak, who modified nearly every bunker and several greens and also added length to the 9^th hole. Cherry Hills Country Club features bentgrass greens and fairways, and it plays 7,466 yards at a par of 71 for championship tournaments. The shortest hole on the course is the par 3 6^th at 161 yards; while the longest is the par 5 11^th at 594 yards.

A 50-cm color image of a portion of Cherry Hills Country Club collected on June 1, 2014 by Pléiades 1A. To see this course in 1.5-meter resolution, check out this month’s feature on SPOTMaps. Image photo enhanced by Apollo Mapping. © CNES 2012, Distribution Airbus Defense and Space / Spot Image S.A., France, all rights reserved.

Last year’s winner of the BMW Championship was Zach Johnson who beat out runner-up Nick Watney by two strokes. As the field for the FedEx Cup gets pared down at the first two playoff events, the 70 player field at the BMW is sure to be a strong one. So sit back and enjoy these 50-cm images of Cherry Hills Country Club while you get ready to watch the event on TV.

The Pléiades 1 High-Resolution Satellite Constellation

The Pléiades 1 constellation (or at least part of it!) has been in orbit since December 2011 and if you have not had a chance to check out any sample imagery, take a few moments and have a look at the gallery on our website. If you work with high resolution imagery, you should consider Pléiades 1 for your next geospatial project.

A variety of Pléiades 1 products are available from both a growing archive and as a new collection, including 50-centimeter (cm) pansharpened imagery and 50-cm panchromatic – 2-meter (m) 4-band multispectral bundles. We are happy to discuss the technical specifications, pricing and tasking options available with this satellite constellation.

Working with Pléiades 1 since the launch of the first twin satellite, P1A, we have noticed that:

• Airbus Defense and Space is able to deliver on their tasking feasibilities.

The Apollo Mapping sales team can answer any questions you might have about the high resolution satellite constellation, Pléiades 1. We can be reached anytime at (303) 993-3863 or sales@apollomapping.com.

More sample images and technical information about Pléiades 1A and 1B can be found on our website here.