The 18th at Cypress Point Club was not intented to offer the same width of strategic possibilities as the other holes.

If a match is still alive when you reach the 18th then this is a hole that might dictate the final outcome. It is quite tight and demands both a well placed tee shot and a good approach.

In my humble personal opinion the hole has a really nice green complex and a lot of charm.


The approach


From the back of the green

It's a tree-infested claustrophobic golf hole with a diabolically fast green.  Far too hard for mere mortals.  Brilliant if your ideas of fun on an 18th includes getting continuously beat over the head with wet noodles....

My prediction is that by 2020, this hole will be held up by GCA v 3.2 as the epitome of Mackenzie's genius.

Season Greetings to you humbug Hendren lol I actually love the green complex. It is one of the best on the course to me. The short game requirements are strong. It was probably a good hole 70 years ago before the trees got so tall. There is just a lack of landing area off the tee which allows for a traditional shot to the green. I think 75% of the time I am punching or running a 4 to 6 iron up there. The moment after finishing the hole with removal of the hat and a handshake provides for one of the best views and moments in golf. Now my bitch as a flatlander is that climb up the hill to the green. lol Merry Christmas everybody

Not true in this case, Jordan.  Try again.

Bob - as stated above I have far too much experience with the trees around the green...if they did some thinning out, do you think that would be good enough, or are there other parts of the hole you don't like?  

I think the group opinion here is that 18 would be a better hole if they took some trees out. Could it be a good hole if they took out some, or all, of the trees?

Assuming that you are leaving the tee box and green as current, then removing all the trees would make the hole consistant with the remainder of the course where the trees aren't the hazard as they are on this hole.  

Removing all the trees would make the tee shot easier but increase the options off the tee and the resulting approach shot.

In reviewing the aerial HERE , leaving the tree 30-yards short and left of the green would be a decent alternative.  Clear out all other trees and the option off the tee would be anything from a 190 yard to 260 yards shot with varying degrees of sidehill/uphill approach shots.

The aerial was helpful for me.  From the picture of the approach, I thought that this hole played as a dogleg left (mostly because of the tree dangling out.)  Now that I see it is actually a dogleg right, it appears to me to be a very demanding hole requiring great control of both your tee shot and approach.

Where does it rank amongst the other holes on the course in terms of difficulty?

It sounds like a lot of people here hate that tree.  Are there other issues as well, or is it primarily the tree?

Some of the recent planting of evergreens at CPC seems a bit willy nilly.  Notice the examples by the trees closest to the tee of #18.  There is also a little grouping short right of #10 green that seemed really unnecessary.

 One or the other should be addressed according to this site . The driveing area should be larger or the tree removed. If you remove the trees that run in between the 17th and 18th fairway on the left how much would this change.  does it open it up any, or like you said mike does it just pose the problem of in the fairway with still no shot?

As for the tree left I just think that if I am hitting to that small of a target I should get some reward of have a clear shot at the green. I guess the opposite would be true if the drive was widened it would force you to pick a spot but not be so claustrophbic, and the tree would not be a problem for me.

Who knows what the right answer is, I will probally never play there to see it first hand so it is all speculation at this point.  

I wish I had taken a pic from the Tee, because as I remember, at 5'9" or so, all I could see were three or four dead cypresses in front of me and NO fairway grass at all, except for the distant green surround away off and up to the right.

To make matters worse, the Caddie says: "Aim over the top of that left tree". Aiming over a tree, how un-GCA can you get?

Now, try as I might, I simply couldn't make myself do this, because I knew where the green was and in my mind's eye, it wasn't OVER THERE!

Consequently, I duffed my drive about 80 yards and ended up having to make a miracle three-wood cutting the corner up to the green edge to end up with a three-putt 5.

Yes, it is a 'rubbish' Hole compared with the (at least) five preceding masterpieces, but it certainly doesn't spoil the 'experience'.

FBD.

Martin thanks for the visual. I wondered how the hole looked from the tee cause I, unlike you have not had the privlage of seeing it. I do not think that that hole would ruin it but what do I know? From the looks of it though it could use a little care in removing some shrubary.

Ok I see I am starting to get a better picture now.Mike could you just hit driver to the base of the tree and just take it out of play all together? I did not realize the hole was so short. Now it is not a big deal.  A little trimming would be ok, if I am just haveing to hit an iron off the tee.

I should retract all my statments.

Play on!!