The “Where” might not be a surprise, but the sequence within may be.
In recent years, I’ve been enamored of a type of bunkering based more on sculpture and shadow than sand. Picture the long and elegant grass-faced trenches of a Langford or Raynor, the slightly sharper and more varied versions commonly associated with Ross (too commonly, but that’s a different discussion), and, most of all, the eccentric, sometimes rugged pits and trenches of a Devereux Emmet or C.B. MacDonald. I’ll even stretch this to include the many old relic bunker features found across England, which are perfectly intact after over 100 years but just no longer have sand at their bases (some of which arguably may actually lose some character if sand were restored). Through , course walks, image searches, and actual rounds played, I’ve encountered and studied these bunkers and features with child-like enthusiasm. There’s many things about them that I like, but what I think most captivates the soul is this: through texture, shape, and shadow, these pit-like bunkers have a way of telling you what they are without much showcasing the very element that defines them: sand.
On a recent course walk last fall, however, I couldn’t help but reach a conclusion that counters this personal grass-faced fascination of the moment: Cypress Point’s stretch of holes 2-6 is the greatest sequential collection of bunkering in the world.
Most of you will know and readily understand that Cypress Point’s bunkering is very much NOT the style described above. It is instead classically (or perhaps even quintessentially) Alister MacKenzie. That is, the bunkering is sand-flashed, prominently visible, and artistically edged, with meandering capes, bays, nooks, and crannies that catch the eye as much as they do a Titleist. The visual space the sand occupies over the landscape, as well as the detailed shapes and lines within that space, are these bunkers’ central Thing, a Thing that seeks to distract, deceive, and play upon both golf strategy and scenic beauty.
While the rest of the course—as well as MacKenzie-style bunkering on the whole—is brilliant, it is this stretch of holes 2 through 6 that most encapsulates each of those qualities above. These holes turn away from the ocean and head into the woods while only skirting along the central dunes of the property. It would thus make some sense that the Doctor would ramp up his architectural hand as a means of letting these holes keep up with the natural thrill rides to come later in the round.
The tee shot at the 2nd is longer and more harrowing the more left you go, but the reward is much greater.
Starting at the par five 2nd, you are faced with strategy, beauty, and visual tricks. The tee shot is across a valley to a craggy, sandy ridge set on an angle from shorter right to deeper left. An aggressive play over the longer carry left cuts off distance, but it also provides something else—a clear path and clear vision. Playing safely right and away from the cliff takes away a big number at the start, but a large fairway bunker set 400 yards down on the right half of the hole leaves you blind to what’s behind it while also forcing a carry directly over it, which gets more tenuous and long the more the tee shot is bailed right. For a longer hitter, getting home in two is much less in play from here—the land also hurting you with its right-to-left tilt—and getting on in three gets less likely with an increase in the things that can go wrong. The carry over the bunker is shorter the more left you go, but taking that route risks a pull running off into the deep rough and/or being forced to take on the large array of beautiful greenside bunkering along the left with your third. It is essential that you must take something on at the 2nd; the only question is when (and how often).
Above: the ideal view and angle from the left, and the semi-blind and difficult position from right-center. The green is totally blind from the right fairway edge. These two images are from the same distances and same levels of camera zoom.
The 3rd hole, a par three, is less about strategy and more about beauty and visual deception. The large fronting complex just on its own is one of the most beautiful bunker compositions in the world, but it also ties and visually leads into what is behind it—a prominent dune off which MacKenzie cleverly routed six holes. Furthermore, the bunkers mess with depth perception. Some may lock in on the more foreground bunkers and think the green is shorter than it is. Others may more strongly look at the numerous layers and think the green is farther away than it is. Others yet will see the back bunker and think it is right next to the dune, also making the green seem farther away. Even in the age of range finders and yardage guides, it can cause some second guessing, and there’s not much more doomed to fail than a swing lacking confidence.
An analysis of the 3rd hole at Cypress Point, one of my favorite compositions in the world. Text is color-coded to match the sketch notes. Black and white source image courtesy of Geoff Shackelford’s incredible book Alister MacKenzie’s Cypress Point Club.
Hole 4 offers visual and strategic genius that I admit I did not fully take in until my second time walking around Cypress Point a few years ago. The tee lies low at the base of the aforementioned dune, and the hole plays subtly uphill and into the densest corner of the forest. The lower elevation of this tee sets up the hole’s brilliance, a brilliance made by the bunkering. In the foreground sits a big bunker that, in classic MacKenzie fashion, looks like two due to a large broad flap of a finger dipping down below the horizon. Just behind this bunker lies another pair of bunkers and beyond that another bunker at the right greenside. All of these bunkers appear connected and present the golfer a large amount of visual discomfort as well as questions on where exactly to play.
The view from the tee on 4 disorients and deceives the player’s eye
Not knowing how much room there is between these bunkers, if any, most golfers will likely play out to the right, which then presents another visually uncomfortable shot to a less-open green from that angle. One could play more left, but a rise at the back of the first bunker obscures what might be fairway over there and makes it difficult to tell how far the carry might be.
The truth is, there is a ton of room between the first bunker and second set (about 75 yards, to be exact), as well as between that set and the right greenside bunker (~40 yards). Yet from the tee, they all appear chaotically connected, deceptively pulling the green towards the start of the fairway and, vice versa, the start of the fairway toward the green. Viewed from above, it’s a reasonably straightforward hole with some staggered bunkers here and there. Viewed from the ground, it’s a confusing and intimidating mess of sand.
The second image and aerial show just how much room there is, despite what looks like none in the first image.
The height of this epically bunkered stretch is the 5th, a dogleg par five bending left and tumbling up and down through the woods. It happens also to be the only hole on the course with no relation to a dune formation or the Ocean, so again it makes sense that MacKenzie would ramp it up to the point that one could argue this is the best bunkered hole in the world. At the tee, you can see only two things among the trees: a mess of bunkering in the left quarter of your frame, and a bunch of fairway right that seems to dive to the left directly into said mess. A bold play toward the bunkers and carrying far enough can leave the potential for going at the green in two. A shorter tee shot and/or one played out to the right will be left with a discomforting conundrum for the second. Take one look and consider what you might do:
Doesn’t look like much room to hit anywhere, does it?
The bunkers chase up the large rippling hills in the fairway in such a way as to maximize their visual impact. They are also carefully positioned so that from certain angles, the set on the more distant ridge appears to be a continuation of that on the nearer ridge. It makes the player want to steer left, bringing the woods into play. Or, for those recognizing there is some space, the bunkers on the first ridge will likely push the player down into the bottom of the dip between ridges, which leaves an uncomfortable, blind uphill pitch into the green. In reality, there is plenty of room (~25-30 yards) to land a ball and hold it on the top of this ridge to get that flat lie and full shot.
In addition to the strategic and visual problems presented, I just love how unusual this overall composition is—the giant “U”-like bottom right bunker, the islands, the isolated middle bunker that reaches right into the larger one on the next ridge—it’s unconventional, even for MacKenzie. Unconventional, but beautiful and brilliant.
When you get to the end of the hole at the back of the green and you look behind you, almost none of the sand you just did battle with is visible. The MacKenzie maxim of one-directional camouflage—bunkers only visible from the angle of attack—is at its peak here.
The 6th caps this all-world 5-hole run with a counterintuitive strategic problem at its start and a stroke of beauty at its finish. On the tee shot, the bold right-side fairway bunkers at the crest of a hill reward a play over them instead of taking the direct attack down the line of instinct on the left, where trees and other bunkers will stymie the second shot. Instead, carrying the bunkers will give the rewards of vision and a clear path. Along with that, the boost given by the downhill speed slot behind them can give even a moderate length player a chance at getting to the green in two. It’s a magnificent view into the green also, which is benched right into the big central dune ridge, and the bunkering perfectly accentuates and plays into the natural sand of the dune. It’s a perfect introduction for what’s to come as well as a perfect capper to what you’ve just experienced.
Above: (Left)—the tee shot at 6 is best played out right over the bunkers, (Middle)—the more direct line left leaves trees and bunkers in the way of the green, (Right)—the right line over the bunkers provides a clear shot and view to the green and the artistically blended dune bunkers backing it
There are a lot of other outstanding bunkering moments throughout the round—the dune bunker on 9, the camouflage of bunkers and dunes at 13, the wicked cluster around the wicked cypresses on 17—but there is nothing as complete and encapsulating of MacKenzie’s ideas as the 5-hole stretch of 2-6. There’s visual deception. There’s creative and naturally-blended form. There’s camouflage. There’s clever use of strategy. And maybe most of all, there’s the appearance of the holes being more difficult than they actually are, which either leads players to doubting themselves into poor shots or thrillingly pulling off what they feel is a great one.
MacKenzie took the most subdued stretch of the property and—with bunkering—injected thrills, challenges, and beauty that could hold its own with the world’s most spectacular golfing ground in the dunes and on the cliffs. That on its own makes it the best. A deeper look only solidifies it.