Cypress Point Club

MacKenzie's 1928 routing moves from Monterey pines into white dunes and out onto rocky Pacific headlands, ending with the cliff-top 15th, 16th and 17th.

Seth Raynor was hired first but died in 1926 before construction began, and Robert Hunter persuaded the club to bring in Alister MacKenzie. Their course opened on August 11, 1929. The Spanish-style clubhouse by George Washington Smith is largely unchanged, and membership is held around 250, which makes Cypress Point one of the hardest clubs in golf to get onto.

The routing is the main event. Early holes cross open dunes, the middle of the round runs through the Del Monte Forest, and the finish follows the shoreline. The 16th asks for a 231-yard carry over the ocean, though MacKenzie left a safer route to the left. Back-to-back par 5s at the 5th and 6th and par 3s at the 15th and 16th break the usual rules of balance. Cypress Point was part of the Bing Crosby/AT&T Pro-Am rotation from 1947 to 1990. It left after declining to meet the PGA Tour's anti-discrimination guidelines. Today it is played almost entirely by members and their guests.

Holes to know

15

Par 3 · 143 yd

The first of back-to-back coastal par 3s, and at 143 yards the shortest hole on the card.

16

Par 3 · 231 yd

A 231-yard carry over the Pacific to a peninsula green, with a bailout route to the left for players who can't make the carry.

17

Par 4 · 393 yd

A par 4 that continues the run along the rocky coastline after the 16th.

Championships

• Bing Crosby / AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (rotation course) 1947–1990