Cypress Point

The thing I love about Cypress is that is breaks all the rules. The only thing it does 'right' is that it has a par of 72. It's short, doesn't have returning nines (with pars of 37-35), and features back-to-back par threes and back-to-back par fives. It's the little odd and quirky features that make it so great. So many modern courses only really get designed in an office; Cypress, which was the work of Dr Alister MacKenzie, was very much designed in the field. Everything you're not supposed to do from a course architectural point of view, MacKenzie did. That's what makes it the best. You even have to hit over a road – at the first, where you drive over 17 Mile Drive. There's not even a driving range; a little practice area is sufficient for the club's miniscule but extremely well-heeled membership. Even the clubhouse, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean, is tiny.
Cypress has three distinct microclimates. You start off with a run of treelined holes and then you're in among the dunes and native grasses for a stretch. Where Cypress earns its fame is at its closing holes - fifteen, sixteen and seventeen play over and alongside the ocean and are as spectacular as you can possibly get. The course is known as the Sistine Chapel of golf, and I think rightfully so. Playing the course on crisp fall afternoon with the waves crashing around you – I don't think there's anything that can approach it. It really is the most wonderful property you could possibly ask for and nowhere beats it on the memorability scale. Play it just once and the memories of each hole will last a lifetime. –As told to Alex Jenkins