Cypress Point Club Review

Seth Raynor held the contract for Cypress Point but died in 1926 before construction began, and Robert Hunter persuaded the club to let Alister MacKenzie see the site. The course that opened in 1928 is the clearest demonstration of MacKenzie's gift for letting the land dictate the golf. The early holes wind through the Del Monte forest and across open dunes, and the round then breaks out onto the rocky coastline for a finish nothing else in the game can match.

The 15th is a short par three across a cove, and the 16th asks for a carry of more than 200 yards over the Pacific to reach the green, with a safer line to the left for anyone content to play it as a par four. The 17th runs along the cliffs. Critics have long argued about the 18th, which climbs back through the cypresses to the clubhouse, and an old gibe calls this the best seventeen hole course in the world; its defenders point out that the closing hole demands a precise drive and a shaped approach. The argument says more about the holes before it than about the last.

Top 100 Golf Courses ranks it first in the United States, Golf Digest's 2025 list puts it third in America, and it sits near the top of every world ranking. It staged the Walker Cup in 2025. Its place in the Crosby pro am ended after 1990 because it had no non-white members and would not admit one to satisfy the PGA Tour's new rules; Condoleezza Rice has since joined.

The value grade reflects access, not quality. With around 250 members, the only way onto the 1st tee is an invitation.