The 50th Walker Cup will be played for the second time at Cypress Point Club. But this is the first time the world will get to see live coverage from the most spectacular setting in the sport.
Two years ago, Captain Mike McCoy’s team trailed by three points going into Sunday’s sessions at the Old Course. But the American dominance in singles continued, and USA retained the Cup by defeating Great Britain & Ireland 14.5 to 11.5.
Forty-four years later, Nathan Smith serves as the USA captain while Dean Robertson brings the GB&I squad to Alister MacKenzie and Robert Hunter’s masterwork.
The Quadrilateral’s preview coverage has already included looks at the 16th and 18th holes, whether anyone could have designed a great course at Cypress Point, and the seemingly redundant par-5s on the front nine. This year’s squads were also detailed after captain selections were made.
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Cypress Point By The Numbers
1928: Opened for play
2: Architects of record (Alister MacKenzie and Robert Hunter)
2: Consulting architects since 2014 (Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw)
70: Par for the Walker Cup (36-34)
72: Par at Cypress Point (37-35)
6,620: Walker Cup yardage (3,409-3,211)
73.1/141: Course rating and Slope
0: Sprinkler heads with yardages to the green
63: Course record by Ben Hogan, Jim Langley, Adam Scott, Casey Reamer, Kramer Hickok
3: Par-5s in the first six holes (non-Walker Cup pars)
137: Yardage of the shortest hole (No. 15)
579: Yardage of the longest hole (No. 2)
141: Feet above sea level, highest property point (5th green)
23: Feet above sea level, lowest property point (14th fairway)
4,500: Average green square footage
157: Total property acres
32: Acres of fairway
30: Acres of rough
104: Bunkers
3: Holes with the Pacific Ocean in play (15-17)
Since Last Time
Cypress Point hosted the 1981 Walker Cup won by the United States, 15 to 9. The 28th matches were contested August 28-29, 1981 and were televised by ABC. The USA led 8–4 after the first day, but Great Britain and Ireland won three of the four second-day foursomes to make things interesting. But as so often happens in the Walker Cup, the Americans won five and halved two other singles matches to pull away.
A few things will be different since the world could spectate a team match play event at Cypress Point:
All bunkers were restored to their original shapes and sizes due to typical wear and tear.
Over 30 bunkers have been returned to play after being filled in over the decades.
Select greens enlarged to recapture lost hole locations, most notably at the par-3 15th (see above).
Fescue grass has been added to the fairway turfgrass mix.
Extensive sand dune restoration to eliminate invasive iceplant and grasses.
Spectators will not be allowed this time on holes Nos. 7-9 due to the sensitivity of the dunes and the tight intersection at the 8th and 9th fairways.
Jim Langley, the greatest pro ever who guided and shaped the club for decades, has left us. But his guiding spirit remains.
Cypress Point Turfgrass, By The Numbers
43: years as a GCSAA member for Superintendent Jeff Markow
32: Years at Cypress Point for Markow
2: Assistant supers: Mike Worsfold, Kevin Marsh
1: Equipment manager: Carlos Vasquez
24: Staff size
75: Walker Cup volunteers
10: Age of Remington, CPC’s golf course dog
TBD: green mowing height (Predominantly poa/bentgrass)
.285”: Collars (poa/bentgrass)
.285”: Approaches (poa/bentgrass)
.300”: Tees (poa/bentgrass)
30-40 yards: Average fairway width
.300”: Fairways (poa/bentgrass)
4”+: Rough (Ryegrass/Poa/limited fine fescue)
4/26/25: Last measurable rain
What’s Not MacKenzie?
Thanks to the club’s restoration efforts over the last 25 years, Cypress Point offers a rare chance to study a course closer to a MacKenzie original as any in the world. Due to the peninsula’s occasionally extreme elements, the course has been more susceptible to change caused by blowing sand. The greens have never been rebuilt to USGA specs and several could still benefit from expansion to MacKenzie’s original shapes and sizes. The few non-original design elements:
No. 4 tee. moved 15 yards to the left.
No. 7 green. This was originally a two-tier green with the front shelf no longer in play as putting surface.
No. 8 green. The original, multi-tiered green was altered and extended to take up the spot where the 9th tee sat.
No. 9 tee. MacKenzie originally created a tee just off the back of the 8th green. Safety concerns led to its demise.
No. 15 tee. The lower seaside tee was added in the early 1950s and has become a favorite. It will be the only tee available this week with the upper being home to Golf Channel’s mobile studio (😢). The longer 15th tee provides a view of seals and new offspring.
Match Play Moments
The fifth and tenth are listed as par-4s but will be the only two of the 10 par-4’s like to see more than a wedge for an approach shot. Modern distance absurdity could give birth to some fascinating match-play moments if players are feeling frisky (or desperate).
9th - This one has been drivable since MacKenzie and Hunter figured out how to nestle a green into the dune. But now that it’s essentially a long par-3, there could be scenarios where the outcome of the tee shot by the player holding the honor could lead to—gasp!—a lay-up. The right side provides a much better angle into any hole location.
14th - This 391-yard dogleg right generally calls for an automatic layup and this should be the case again. The risk of taking on the dogleg involves a lost ball or unplayable lie in the cypress that surrounds the second half of the hole. But in match play featuring a bunch of young golfers who need a bold shot to get back in a match? It’ll take a drive carrying 315 yards but will leave a flip sand wedge and much better view of the tiered green compared to what lay-ups will see. It’s 360 to the front of the green. But is the direct line worth the risk?
17th - Perplexity has always dominated the thought process on this 381-yarder thanks to a cluster of Monterey cypress in the fairway. The maimed but still standing giants stand where most golfers would like to hit their best drive. Downwind and with firm fairways, players may try to blow past the trouble to set up a flip wedge shot into a pretty quiet green. Weather, the state of a match, the less imposing condition of the cypress could all factor into the drama. Smart golfers are most likely to still lay-up now that modern launch angles and the less-imposing cypress only obstruct views instead of shots.
Match Play Moments, 16th Hole
Making the carry at the world’s most famous long par-3 is no longer a concern given today’s players embracing the distance-boosting benefits of Dynamic Pilates. And unlike their slovenly predecessors, this year’s Walker Cup triathletes may only need a long iron (barring stiff breezes or cool air). The USGA’s Ben Kimball intends to use the 233-yard tee for three of the four matches, according to this story by Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine, who also gets our hopes up by noting that 90% of Walker Cup matches have reached the 16th hole.
Still, there could be decisions to make.
Perhaps Player A holds the honor and comes up short in the Pacific? Or hits the closely cropped front bank and rolls back into the ocean? Or pulls one a bit and finds the hidden ocean inlet on the left?
Does the opponent see this and lay up to the left? Or just overclub and, at worst, take a recovery shot from the back bunker?
They could also try the crafty left-to-right lay-up shot mentioned by MacKenzie as a safer way to get near the green. Unlikely. But match play and today’s go-for-broke style still make good golfers do funny things.
Quotable
“The Sistine Chapel of golf.” Sandy Tatum, Jr.
“Majestic woodland, a hint of links and heathland here and there, and the savage nobility of the coast made for unforgettable holes.” Pat Ward-Thomas
“If ever a golf course could be said to have achieved perfection in combining scenery and golfing merit then this is it.” Peter Dobereiner
“White-maned, wide-throated, the heavy-shouldered children of the wind leap at the sea-cliff.” Robinson Jeffers on Monterey cypress from his 1925 poem, “Granite and “
“There are three holes that play across the arm of the sea. There are others that are backed by magnificent vistas of forest and mountain bordered by Monterey pine and the weird cypress which abounds there. There are giant sand dunes which one plays over, along and sometimes unfortunately, into. It is a combination of brilliant green fairways, startingly blue water, unbelievably white sand, with a superb achievement in golf architecture.” Samuel Morse
“I do not expect anyone will ever have the opportunity of constructing another course like Cypress Point, as I do not suppose anywhere in the world is there such a glorious combination of rocky coast, sand dunes, pine woods and cypress trees.” Alister MacKenzie
The Hesperocyparis Macrocarpa
The Monterey cypress trees on club property are part of only two remaining natural ranges in the United States. The course and club are connected to the Crocker Grove, while the other cypress trees are in a smaller grove near Point Lobos on the south side of Carmel Bay. Cypress forests once extended along the California coast but have declined due to development and changes in climate, making them one of the rarest tree species in the United States.
With their random shapes and haunting aura, Monterey cypress have been lovling labeled everything from Ghost, Witch, Ostrich, and Old Veteran trees. The unusual shapes are created by high winds, extreme weather, and periods of drought. The menacing flat tops—especially for golf balls—and lack of symmetry from one to the next have made the cypress a favorite of the esteemed artists and photographers. The plein air painters who came to the region during the 1920s could never resist painting the cypress.
Artist France McComas, who aided in the decoration of the Cypress Point clubhouse interior and whose ashes were spread between the 15th and 16th holes, was among the more prolific painters of the Monterey cypress. Even Pebble Beach visionary Samuel Morse couldn’t resist them when sitting down in front of a canvas.
Vertigo At Cypress Point
A pivotal scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo was filmed in the area adjacent to the 18th tee. The Cypress Point overlook is shielded from the course but remains a location for the public to park and take in the grandeur of the coast (it’s being used for Walker Cup activities this week).
According to CitySleuth, tracker of all things Bay Area film locations, the pivotal scene involving Madeleine (Kim Novak) and Scottie (Jimmy Stewart) involved a mix of on-site filming and studio shooting with a projected backdrop. The production also brought in a movable cypress tree for both locations. Stunt doubles were used for the duo’s run down into the dangerous rocks.
Fried Egg Film And Podcast
The Fried Egg’s Andy Johnson and I chatted about all things Walker Cup and Cypress Point on the latest installment.
And here is The Fried Egg film on Cypress Point:
The official USGA course flyovers narrated by Condoleeza Rice:
After 40 years of reading about this course, I am so excited to finally see how good golfers play its holes, especially 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 1...nah, all of them. It probably would have been better to see it in 1981 (or during its Bing Crosby Pro-Am days) with sensible equipment, but I think I'd rather watch driver/sand wedge at Cypress Point than the full bag elsewhere.
Your comments about match play decisions on 9, 14 and 16 remind me that I wish the Walker Cup followed the Curtis Cup format, with 2 days of fourballs & foursomes, and Sunday singles. In fourballs, surely we'd see some players taking the high risk options.