Cypress Point Club is a private golf club located in Pebble Beach, California, at the northern end of the Central Coast. Its single 18-hole course has been named as one of the finest in golf, best known for a series of dramatic holes along the Pacific Ocean.[3][4][5][6]
The course was designed in 1928 by golf course designer Alister MacKenzie, collaborating with fellow golf course architect Robert Hunter. It opened on August 11 that year.[7]
Set in coastal dunes, the course's front nine enter the Del Monte forest, reemerging on the rocky coastline for the back nine. The signature hole is #16, which requires a 230-yard (210 m) tee shot over the Pacific to a mid-sized green guarded by strategically placed bunkers.[8][9]
Cypress Point Club was ranked #2 on Golf Magazine's 2011 List of the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World[10] and #5 on Golf Digest's 2011–12 list of America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses.[11]
The golf course is considered one of the most exclusive in the world.[12] Non-members require the invitation of a member to play.[12]
From 1947 through 1990 Cypress Point was on the PGA Tour as part of the multi-course AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, founded by entertainer Bing Crosby. It was dropped from the rotation because it had no black members and refused to admit one to comply with the tour's anti-discrimination guidelines.[13][14] Since then, Condoleezza Rice was admitted as a member of the club.[15]
While no longer part of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, many of the players continue to visit the course in the week leading up to the tournament.[16]