Cypress Point Club

Designer: Dr Alister MacKenzie
Course Opened: 1927
Personal Ranking: 1
In Brief: 'For years I have been contending that in our generation no other golf course could possibly compete with the strategic problems, the thrills, the excitement, variety and lasting and increasing interest of the Old Course, but the completion of Cypress Point has made me change my mind.' Dr Alister MacKenzie’ Dr Alister MacKenzie on Cypress Point Club


This, our final game on a golf trip of a lifetime, was to be played on the world's number two ranked course, Cypress Point Club. There is a certain mystique about Cypress, so private, that very few are blessed with the opportunity to experience it. Fortunately, very fortunately, Dad and I were kindly given this opportunity by Cypress' Head Golf Professional, Casey Reamer.

Located around the corner from Pebble Beach and in view from Spyglass Hill, Cypress Point Club possesses a golf course like no other. There are three distinct aspects to the course - inland, duneland and seaside.

To give you an idea of what Cypress Point Club is like, I have re-written the summary found in the Club's yardage book.

"Cypress Point, opened in 1928, affords a peaceful embrace on the senses. Its coastal splendor is to be seen, felt, heard and inhaled. Fortunately for those who possess an affection for golf, the precious land is also to be played in the process.

The walking of its eighteen holes can be something of a spiritual journey through shadowed pine forest, over sparkling dunes, around beach grass, along restless sea. Dr. Alister MacKenzie, the physican-turned-architect, crafted a course meant to offer pleasurable excitement. For certain, the breathtaking views of nature's beauty can overwhelm. "Cypress Point," O.B. Keeler once wrote, "is a dream - spectacular, perfectly designed and set about white sand dunes and a cobalt sea, and studded with the Monterey Cypress so bewilderingly picturesque that it seems to have been the crystalization of the dreams of an artist who has been drinking gin and sobering up on absinthe."

Cypress Point is about cliffside vistas. It is about aesthetic wonder. It is about contours and diverse terrain. It is about raw wind off the ocean. It is about camouflaged fairway bunkers that can't be seen when looking back from the green. It is about a rare collection of holes - some seaside, some tree-lined, some inland and hilly. It is about pure golf - enjoyable and, at only 6,524 yards, challenging even for the touring professional. "I do not expect anyone will ever have the opportunity of constructing another course like Cypress Point," Dr. MacKenzie said in 1932, "as I do not suppose anywhere in the world is there such a glorious combination of rocky coast, sand dunes, pine woods and cypress tress."

If there is a more anticipated and scenic walk in golf than the one up to the 15th tee, then perhaps it is the trip to the 16th. The latter par 3, measuring 233 yards, has been called the game's best, most feared and most photographed hole. One can either go for the green at the 16th or lay up with an iron to the fairway on the left. That type of strategic design was in keeping with Dr. MacKenzie's prescription of many playing options. He believed in constructing risk-reward holes that demanded skill and smarts. A player attempting a dangerous carry will encounter advantage or penalty. "There should be a sufficient number of heroic carries, but the course should be arranged so that the weaker player...shall always have an alternate route open to him," said MacKenzie, the architect who probably had the greatest influence on contemporary design.

By any measure, Cypress Point provides pleasure and adventure worth treasuring. "Gentlemen," member Boney Bearden once said to his playing partners, "I suggest that we pause for a moment, admire the beautiful view, count our blessings - very few of us are privileged to pass this way."

Again, we had delightful weather during our round at Cypress. At most, a one club breeze and heavy air affected the flight of the golf ball. For much of our round, the morning cloud kept the temperatures perfect for golf.

While Dad played the front nine extremely well with 19 Stableford points, the sense of occasion go to me somewhat, swinging the club poorly, particularly on the short par four 8th hole, getting stuck in the sand dunes up the right after a poor tee shot.

Thankfully, my fortunes changed on the back nine, swinging it easier and enjoying the experience, I had 19 points or one over through holes 10 to 18.

Highlights during round came at almost every hole. The 5th is a terrific dogleg left far five with super bunkering in the lay up zone. With back-to-back par fives, the 6th was also an awesome hole with its green set at the foot of a large sand dune. Short par fours at the 8th and 9th holes rounded our the front nine. While I played the 8th extremely poorly, I appreciated the design of the hole for what it is. As for the 9th, this is simply the best short par four I have ever seen or played. Surrounded entirely by sand and at just 289 yards, it is drivable. For the last six months I told myself that I would hit driver and go for the green. I did and i hit it left into the sand. The result was a bogey. From the tee, there is an incredible view of the 12th, 13th and 14th holes with the ocean in the background.

Personal highlights came at the 12th, where I birdied Ben Hogen's favourite hole in golf, the 13th where i go up and down from the greenside trap to make par, the short and spellbinding 15th, where I hit a wedge to 8 feet, only to lip out the birdie putt, and on the 16th, the most famous par three in the world, where I hit driver over the Pacific Ocean to the back of the green and got up and down for par. It must be said though that this was my second ball, as the first cut a little right, hit the rocks and found a new home. Our caddie said, "great mulligan par." Who am I to argue!

Following the back-to-back par threes at 15 and 16 the 17th completes what is the finest stretch of three holes in all of golf. A mid-length par four hugs the Pacific Ocean on the right. And now for the 18th, a much maligned hole and unfairly in my opinion. If it wasn't for the previous three holes, I think the 18th wouldn't receive so much criticism. Its a shot par four, dogleg right and up the hill to the green. From the tee, you must play over a Cypress tree while hoping to avoid being obstructed by more Cypress trees down the right. Perhaps my opinion is somewhat persuaded by the fact I hit a perfect drive, fading ever so slightly around the inside corner, leaving just a wedge in, resulting in a par.

Cypress Point is simply the most amazing golfing experience I have had, and probably will ever have. Combined with what is the world's best course, the staff were incredibly hospitable and genuine. I have never felt so welcome. Everyone at Cypress Point Club shares the same passion - golf and their golf course.

Thank you to Saint, our caddy for the day, Terry, the golf shop attendant who is apparently still regarded as a junior, having worked at Cypress for just 17 years, and of course Casey Reamer, the Club's Head Golf Professional, for allowing us the opportunity of a once in a lifetime experience!

Finally, you are probably wondering why you haven't seen any photos. With the exception of the photo above, showing myself at the Club's entry point on the day before we played, Cypress Point Club does not allow people to post photos of the golf course on the internet. While people have posted photos and video online, I cannot disrespect the Club's wishes, for they were the ones that made our experience possible. For that reason, I hope the words you have just read will somewhat do this special place justice.

Text from Planet Golf:
"A near-perfect collaboration between the greatest golf architect of all time and the finest piece of golfing ground yet discovered, the Cypress Point Club is situated on the westernmost tip of California’s Monterey Peninsula and first opened for play in 1928. The course was the vision of champion golfer Marion Hollins, who convinced Del Monte developer Samuel Morse of the need to establish a private club within his subdivision, as an alternative to the more accessible golf available on the Peninsula. Hollins had identified an ideal stretch of coastline for the club and hired Seth Raynor as its course designer. When Raynor passed away prior to construction commencing, she appointed Dr Alister MacKenzie as his replacement. It was an inspired decision.

With its dramatic seaside cliffs, large coastal dunes and almost-mythical pines and cypress trees, MacKenzie fell instantly for the property and spent a great deal of time ensuring his routing fully exploited the natural bounties available. Ignoring all perceived golfing conventions, the layout is neither arranged in a large out and back loop nor with its nines returning to the clubhouse. Instead it starts on open ground and finishes with an extraordinary sequence of holes along the Pacific, in between moving effortlessly between the dense woodlands and spacious dunes. The sequence of holes is also unusual with consecutive par fives on the outward nine and consecutive threes toward the close. Aside from this bold routing, what makes MacKenzie’s work here so incredible is the strategic arrangement of his holes, the sublime green settings, creative putting contours and the naturalistic style of bunkering, the sprawling traps artistically shaped to appear part of the virgin landscape.

To the surprise of those who think Cypress Point’s appeal is solely due to the ocean holes, the quality of the earlier golf is quite extraordinary. The 8th and 9th, for instance, are among the finest back-to-back par fours in America, both rewarding accurate driving but each with ideal landing areas that are increasingly difficult to hit the more club you take from the tee. The 8th is played across the shoulder of a large sandhill to a fairway leaning away from the green; those able to hug its dangerous right side are given the best line into a remarkable multi-tiered target with four or five distinct pinable shelves. The 9th is then a brilliant drivable par four, its fairway dropping along a narrowing ridge toward a terrifying green that is benched into a sizeable dune, angled across the approaching golfer and squeezed between some of the most formidable traps on the course. Other special holes include the strategically bunkered par fives, the cross-valley par three 7th and the perfectly proportioned dogleg 12th. Also unforgettable is the mid-length 13th, its putting surface cut into a dune and surrounded by some of the most magnificent bunker shapes ever constructed by man.

As memorable as these holes may be, they are but a mere prelude to the closing section and the sheer exhilaration one feels when stepping onto the 15th tee for the very first time. After crossing Seventeen-Mile Drive the golfer emerges from a cypress grove to be presented with a coastal golfing scene of almost inconceivable beauty, the hole itself requiring little more than a short-iron but the exquisitely bunkered green is positioned atop a rocky bluff and beyond a violent ocean cove. The visual splendour of this gem would be unsurpassed in golf were it not for the very next hole, the 16th regarded almost universally as the most spectacular par three on the planet. Again the golfer heads directly across the Pacific, this time needing to carry at least 220 yards in order to reach a target perched on a distant promontory. This unforgettable hole was actually suggested by Marion Hollins, but what makes it so impressive is the fairway area to the left that MacKenzie insisted on including to allow nervous players to approach it as a strategic short par four.

Completing a three-hole stretch unrivalled anywhere on earth is a cape-style par four that heads across and then along the craggy shoreline. Set obliquely to the tee, the fairway here is dominated by a central clump of cypress trees, which forces you to flirt with the water in order to setup an optimum view of the green. Steering players away from the sea, the 18th is a much-maligned finisher that zigzags up a narrow fairway and back to the elevated clubhouse. Though the hole is overcrowded by trees, those able to safely find the short grass with their drive are left with a lovely approach shot into a putting target pitched steeply from back-to-front.

Like many clubs of this vintage, Cypress Point has undergone periods of neglect but a recent restoration program has successfully returned the greens and bunkers to near their original proportions. The club has also consciously tried to expose more of the native sand and return holes to the rugged appearance that the designer had so desired.

Understandably, MacKenzie took enormous delight in the success of Cypress Point and the pleasure it brought people from across the golfing spectrum. About the only disappointment he might have with how the club has evolved, is that it is has become so exclusive few visitors ever get to experience his masterpiece. Regardless, this is a layout that truly has it all, great architecture, a great setting, incredible sand dunes and the finest stretch of holes anywhere on the planet. Although there have been numerous coastal sites uncovered since the course was built, the sad truth for global golfers is that there is still only one Cypress Point."

Two friends of mine, Michael Goldstein and Jamie Patton, played golf everyday of 2010, raising money for a New Zealand charity. Here is their experience at Cypress Point Club...