TH/GC,
As two lucky 'chaps' (original word removed under legal advice) who have played this magnificent-looking place, can you say whether that big bit of driftwood in the first pic 'comes into play' at all? Does it have any strategic value as a highly visual element or is it just there to add to the bucolic charm of it all?
Speaking of driftwood, dontcha just love the rusticity (word?) of the tee fence that Tom is leaning on? Detailing that good is not only golf course architecture, it is also architecture (if you know what I mean?)

Martin.

Martin

Lucky, privledged, and appreciative of all the great hosts who have allowed me to live out some of my lifelong golf fantasies. I always try to recripicate by helping other nuts who would appreciate some of the places I have access to play.

By the way-  That photo of Tom Huckaby on the 15th tee is in my mind a microcosm of what playing Cypress Point Club is all about as well as reiterating what its like to live out a lifelong factasy. I'll bet that members playing for the thousandth time have that same smile (or they should).

Come to the States and sample some of it for yourself.

FBD,

In case you did not see this last week, 15th in the fog:



Tom Huckaby in the fog at 15 ??



Actually it's me, I have to at least be better looking that Huckaby !!

Just to set the record straight on my "just-about round of my life", my downfall began on 14 when I overcompensated for a below-the-feet lie in the fairway, and pulled a 7 iron 30' left of the pin.  Talk about an underrated hole, Tom Watson could not have gotten down in two from there.

I actually bogeyed 15 after hitting a 9 iron a tad long, leaving an impossible up and down to a back right position from about 30' to 40'.  With a triple on 16, a tap-in birdie on 17, and a bogey on 18 (after an unplayable approach shot into a Cypress right of the green), I did manage an "easy" 73.  Weather and course conditions were optimal for scoring on that memorable day.

The only other time I had the privilidge of playing CPC, I barely broke 90, but the wind was gusting badly and the greens had just been punched.   I tried to punch a shot under the wind on 15 that day, chunked it, and was lucky to get across the crevice.  A nice sand shot from about 70' followed, but that is one tough green and I missed the putt.  
After posting another triple on 16, I am now 8 over on those two holes for my two rounds at CPC.

Mike Hendren is right about the visual impact of the hole life vs. in pictures.  Are my recollections correct that there is another point further into the water but maybe back some 30 yards?  Somehow, exposing the ocean further would make that hole more fearful and, if possible, more beautiful.

I think that CPC# 15 is a much better hole than PBGL #7.  In benign conditions, it is a club or two longer than #7, and when it is blustery, you can't just play the hole on the ground.  The green also has some very tight, sloped areas which makes two putting no easy task.

In comparison to its more famous companion, #16, perhaps the hole is underrated.  From a playability standpoint, #15 is a much easier hole which allows most golfers to do well on the hole as long as they strike the ball solidly.  That is not the case on 16, where many players number cannot carry the ocean on a direct line to the green, and the lay-up left is no picnic either.

Off the subject, CPC is certainly not the hardest course in the world.  And it is not without faults.  But for me, I have yet to play anything better.    

Follow this by a spot of self-flagellation with a mashie-niblick and a quick run naked around our home course 15th Green, shouting 'I pity you, my home course 15th Green, for you will never achieve the beauty and grandeur of the 15th Green at Cypress'

FBD (I will never call you Martin),

Advice partly taken see below, and after that quote, I now must meet FBD, despite the pain it may cause on my marriage to go overseas. I actually think I saw Geoffrey Childs doing that chant and run around the 15th @ Yale (Eden) after a Roger Rulewich visit.

Gary:

Yes - in the last two years, a bit of work was done on the bunkers and the seawall was shored up considerably.  I'm not certain exactly what was done to the bunkers though... perhaps someone else here knows.

TH

Gary:

Well then, there you have it, there's the work that was done.  All I really know is that when I played the course in October 2001, work was almost complete on on 15.  If your aerial photo pre-dates that date, then voila.  

TH

Gary - that's a hell of a thought!

And I agree completely.  What's there now is pretty damn great, not that what was ever there was exactly bad....

 

TH

This - believe it or not - is a SERIOUS question .

Is Tyra as beautiful as CPC #15 or vice versa?

What is beauty?
Can they even be compared?
Is the comparison odious or pointless?
Is it even worthy of debate?

My take is:
Beauty - 'the inherent quality of an object pleasing the eye'

So....
They both clearly 'please the eye' - and doubtless other parts of the male anatomy - but can they be weighed one against another?

Let's assume some kind of measuring scale which can be applied to both....we'll call it 'The Banks-Cypress Hypothesis'. A catchy name I think you'll agree?

We'll give points for a number of different values: Aesthetics, Useability(?), Visual Appeal, Memorability and so on and then we'll have a properly scientific path upon which to tread.

So...
I have totalled up MY values and here they are:

Banks: 40,5 Points
Cypress: 42 Points (Naturally, Rich!)

You may however, choose to differ?

Martin
(Friday night, 5 Hours ahead of most of you guys, great Australian Shiraz!!) CHEERS!

Given unlimited play on either the 15th at CPC or Tyra - sorry but I'll take Tyra.