By David A. F. Sweet
Words often fail to adequately describe Cypress Point Club, site of the most recent Walker Cup. It’s similar to a camera’s inability to render a beautiful scene with the same magnificence as one’s own eyes.
Sand dunes are a prominent feature at Cypress Point Club.
The golf course in Pebble Beach, California features massive and sloping sand dunes, cypress trees that are occasionally contorted and, of course, the visually stunning final holes hugging cliffs that shimmer down to the Pacific Ocean, where seals loudly bark. At only 6,620 yards, it’s too short to challenge the long hitters steeped in modern technology (unless the wind is blowing hard), but its history and Alister Mackenzie’s captivating design make it a layout in demand.
During The Walker Cup, which features the best amateurs from the United States playing the top ones from Great Britain and Ireland, spectators could walk the fairways and set themselves up only a handful of feet away from a player’s swing. The only holes where fans were reined in were the eighth and ninth, whose fairways are partially intertwined. The climate in that part of California can change quickly from overcast and chilly to sunny and warm before reverting, necessitating a number of sweater switches.
When it started back in 1922, before airplanes could whisk passengers across the Atlantic Ocean, the Walker Cup was a great way to introduce players from England to our golf courses. Case in point: the National Golf Links of America, site of the inaugural event.
Cameron Adam, who played for Great Britain and Ireland, starred at Northwestern.
In the tourney just finished at Cypress Point, which had last hosted the event in 1981, many players on the Great Britain and Ireland side attended college in the United States and have played a swath of courses here (which may be the reason nationalistic fervor seemed a few notches lower than, say, at the Ryder Cup).
Take Cameron Adam, who graduated this spring from Northwestern University. He led the Wildcats his senior year with a stroke average of 70.93 and was a first team All-Big-Ten selection. At Cypress, the lefty split his foursome matches and lost his only singles match, as his overseas squad lost its fifth Walker Cup in a row to the United States.
Northwestern Coach David Inglis – whose Great Britain and Ireland team captured the 2003 Walker Cup before 10,000 fans a day at Ganton Golf Club – talked about what separates Adam from other amateurs and why he should enjoy a stellar career going forward.
“I’d put Cameron’s short game and ability to scramble and hit trouble shots as his clear competitive advantage,” Inglis said. “He has all the shots around the green and if you need someone to get up and down, he’s your guy. He has developed into a great leader, and I know he is thought of that way on the GB&I team.”
President George W. Bush showed up, and at one point demonstrated The Claw putting style. It was Bush’s great-grandfather, George Herbert Walker, who donated the cup (I’m not quite sure why his father, President George Herbert Walker Bush, didn’t bestow the Herbert on him).
Golfing legends who have competed in The Walker Cup include Bobby Jones, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Phil Mickelson. The Chicago area enjoys an illustrious connection to the Walker Cup. Robert Gardener, a member of Onwentsia and Chicago Golf among other clubs, served as playing captain for three of the first four ventures in the 1920s (Chicago Golf Club is slated to host the 2036 tournament).
Having not walked Cypress for more than 30 years, it was a true pleasure to revisit the course. The front nine, featuring a number of elevated tees, is often little regarded compared to the club’s famous holes by the ocean, but it is sensational. Another under appreciated hole is the 18th, which is marked by likely the course’s steepest climb to a green.
As golf writer Geoff Schackleford wrote, “Cypress Point’s 18th hole…receives harsher reviews than its neighbors because the rest of the course offers so much drama, jaw-dropping beauty, and thrilling shots to play … the apathy toward No. 18 also prompts a question: does a finishing hole have to be a rousing, knockdown, drag-out extravaganza of thrills and spills to receive declarations of greatness? Not every great symphony, concerto, pop album, or story ends with a bang.”
The cypress trees can take on some crazy shapes.
That is true. Looking forward to the next time The Walker Cup returns to the enchanting course by the sea.
The Sporting Life columnist David A. F. Sweet can be reached at dafsweet@aol.com.
