Cypress Point, one of golf’s great cathedrals, doubles as one of golf’s most exclusive enclaves. Thanks to three-plus days of capturing drone footage around the majestic Monterey Peninsula layout, Golf Digest presents everyday golfers with a chance at a complete tour of Cypress Point Club, complete with narration from Jim Nantz, in the latest installment of our “Every Hole At” video series.
“The Sistine Chapel of golf,” as the late USGA president Sandy Tatum described it, Cypress Point is one of 22 clubs to make every top Golf Digest national ranking since 1966, ranking third on each of our five previous America’s 100 Greatest Course rankings. And it always ranks among the most beautiful courses in the world, including No. 1 on our list of the most recent Most Beautiful Courses in America. The work of Alister MacKenzie and Robert Hunter was a regular part of the rotation of the Bing Crosby Pro-Am—now the AT&T Pebble Beach—until 1991, and also hosted the 1981 Walker Cup, but aside from that, not many have had the chance to soak in the 17 Mile Drive enclave in all of its glory.
The ninth hole at Cypress Point.
The seaside beauty is revered for its masterful MacKenzie bunkers and architectural elements, in addition to being one of the most scenic places on earth, weaving in between glorious Cypress pines among mountainous terrain before tumbling down to sea. Carlos Amoedo, who captured the footage for Golf Digest, tells of a glorious couple of days at the Monterey Peninsula club, the biggest obstacle of which was navigating the towering pines around hole Nos. 4-8.
The 390-yard par-4 13th hole.
“The sights and sounds of the sea lions swimming along the 15th hole was incredibly special,” Amoedo told us. “Of course, doing the walk along 16 was incredible, and getting to experience that for the first time, plus fly the drone along there was great.
“And a family of deer walking down the 10th fairway, unfazed by the drone buzzing past them, was another cool moment.”
The view from the tee at Cypress Point’s 15th hole, the first of back-to-back, all-world par 3s.
One of the most famous par 3s in the world: The 233-yard 16th hole.
Every step becomes a memorable moment at Cypress Point, and now everybody gets to see why.
Just like the 16th hole, Cypress Point’s par-4 17th hole hugs the glorious Pacific shoreline.