The Soul of Cypress Point | Inside Golf’s Most Mystical Club

The Soul of Cypress Point | Inside Golf’s Most Mystical Club

on the Monterey Peninsula. There’s a place that has been whispered about for nearly a century. Cypress Point. You don’t find it on t-shirts or websites. You find it only through invitation. People call it Golf Cistine Chapel. Today we’ll try to understand why. Sam Reeves and his wife Betsy live above the course. From their home, you can see the 13th green. Sam has watched this place change and stay the same. Life changes rapidly. And this afternoon this will be sunny. So you’re going to see in 6 hours how this whole environment changes. So these are the views that cypress trees give you. Most people don’t think about trees the way you do. Yeah. Why are trees so important to Well, I think particular trees important in uh in Cypress Point. The the club itself is named Cypress Point. So, it has a by definition a very important role in it. They weave each other and they talk to each other. The roots interconnect and they nourish each other. The young nourishes the old. So, there’s a a continuity. More important than cont. Reeves talks about the trees as if they are people. That’s not an accident. Cypress Point was never just about golf. It’s about community rooted in this land. The golf course that McKenzie saw evolves around the dune behind 11. Visionaries built this place. Sam Morris, the developer with an eye for art. Marian Hollands, the pioneering sportswoman. and Alistister McKenzie, the architect who saw a dune and imagined a golf course. Sam Moore’s father was a prominent lawyer in Boston. Mother was a painter, but he came and lived here. And then because of probably the artistic gene he got from his mom, he could probably see all this. And he he started laying all this out. He would see what we’ve just seen here. He saw the cypress tree. He had a western amateur here. And so he saw that golf and money were connected. So in 1925, his great friend Marin Hollands, who came from a very wealthy family back in New York, he gave her 150 acres and here, which is what we’re on now, part Cypress, and and she was to go out and get membership, which she did. And then in 1926, it started. What is that name? Who is Marin Holland? Oh man, she’s iconic around here. I mean, her tombstone’s right there. You know, it’s tombstone. I saw the name. Yes. That’s why it’s called the Holland Terrace. So, she’s she’s kind of everywhere. Um, but my first I think it was like probably my second week here, we had the the Marian Hollands 100th anniversary of her acquiring the land here. And I mean, it’s just it was amazing. she is. I mean, it would be so cool to meet her or, you know, just see old videos of her and stuff like that. I mean, one of the things Sam Morris did was he wanted to have the first USGA tournament west of the Mississippi, the US amateur played at Pebble Beach. Bobby Jones was the biggest draw athlete Babe Ruth Bobby in in the United States. and the and the New York papers carried wherever Bobby Jones went. So he wanted to have the amateur here because he knew he’d get Bobby Jo he’d get publicity and he would have more people come out here. Bobby Jones came here to Cypress Point. He saw this and hired Alistister McKenzie on the spot to do what his vision was for Augusta. Cypress Point was crafted, not manufactured, handshaped like the sculptures Reeves compares it to. Sandy Tatum who was a member here and the president of USJ coined the phrase this was the cysteine chapel of golf. Michelangelo saw marble that had been rejected by uh other sculptures 100 years later saw David and then the greatest sculptures ever been in mankind is David who conveys strength. I would call Sam Morris a modern day Michelangelo. But there’s one big difference. Michelangelo did David and Sistine Chapel and that was come and see. Whereas what Sam Moss created come and be a part of, come and live. More than just come and see. For all its mystique, Cypress has always been about its people, members and staff woven together. The culture here is as much a treasure as the land. Event started here. Were you 12? No, 15. 15. 15. Total of 54 gone 55 years. 1970 I started. And you and I were together for at least 25 years. At least 25 years. You’ve ced in how many Crosbies and 42 Crosbys and made the cut 21 times. Jim Langley has two course records here. He has 163 uh regular and he has the course record for one arm. One arm 81 80. He shot 81 with one arm the white T’s from the white TE’s. Other course records from the blues and and we were very worried the last couple of holes that he was going to hit it off or something. Was your uncle was he the second caddy master here? Maybe. Uh yeah, actually Sam Souls was the first and then he they moved him up to manager and then his brother Joe became became the the second [Music] at Cypress Point. History isn’t just in the walls. It’s in the caddies who started at the age of 15. The pro who found a home here. The laughter over a special drink called the Sam special. It’s a kind of a rum daquiri base. We’re not supposed to give out this the recipe. But um if you people say, you know, I played Cypress Point and you go, okay, did what drink did you have after golf? And if they can’t say they had a Sam special, you know, they’re just talking about they haven’t played Cypress Point with a member. That’s my opinion. So my first loop was with a man by myself. I did one shadow loop. My first loop was with Roger Lapam and his father was one of the founding fathers of Cypress Point. And Roger actually took me under his wing and said, “This is your first time out with a member.” And I go, “Yeah.” He’s I basically was the player and he was the caddy. Showed me everything about the golf course. Just the nicest man in the world. And um kind of gave me an overview. I thought I had died and gone to heaven, you know, walking these grounds coming from Los Angeles and stuff. I was finishing a loop one day in ‘ 87 and I walked in the door to get paid and Steve said, “Mark, this is Allan. They’re going to need somebody in the clubhouse. You have restaurant experience.” And Allan goes, “Come over and talk to me.” So, I got hired on the spot to work in the restaurant, which is inside the clubhouse. At that time, I think there was four full-time employees. Was just really, really cool. when my son was born 3 days later, my second child. So, I ended up having insurance and all the benefits of being at the club. So, I look at this club, how it kind of saved my life. I was in disarray and, you know, getting this job inside the building was phenomenal full-time. As an employee of the club, how often do you get to play the course? I can’t tell you how many rounds I have. I don’t want to make anybody mad, but I did get a few rounds in for over 45 years or whatever it is. I, you know, I think there’s so much mystery behind the place, right? You know, but how genuine and nice the membership is here, it’s incredible. I remember a month into it, Casey was like, “Hey, you know what’s different? What do you you know just like everyone is so nice and actually wants to get to know you and it’s like the culture is insane. What explains that? I don’t it just starts from the top. I I mean the members create that culture I guess and and we follow suit, you know. It’s like why wouldn’t why wouldn’t you, you know? I mean who’s going to whine when they’re out here? It’s like we’re spoiled. All right, AJ, tell us about this match that featured two old-timers and two famous athletes. Well, that was the uh would have been the Hook and I last year uh the member guest at Cypress practice round day and usually uh Mr. Reeves and Mr. Hurley pretty much every year that them they two have a match against someone famous playing in the tournament. So that year it was Pton Manning and Tom Brady. And I think Reeves and Hurley closed them out on 14 green. That’s And I think Mr. Reeves shot 80. Broke his age by nine. I think he was 89 at the time. Legit 80. What’s the experience been like here cadding for? Unbelievable. It it’s hard to, you know, some people are maybe going to say that I can’t do this my whole life, and maybe I won’t, but it’s hard to leave. I’ll put it that way. It’s just a magical place. I don’t think I take it for granted any time I’m working here, which is for anyone to say that about their job in life, I think is pretty cool. What’s it like when you arrive here at Cypress Point? I I always pinch myself every time I come into that gate and uh there’s that sign that says, you know, Cypress Point members only. I just I just I keep I keep checking the the emblem on my shirt. Make sure it hadn’t fallen off, right? Because you should you just you just never want to take this one for granted. You know, this is a is a special place and we should never take special for granted. If this land is sacred, this 16th hole is its altar. It’s where Harris Barton, the Super Bowl champion, comes and actually catches his breath. Oh, this is I mean, this is this is golf heaven, you know? I mean, you stand out here on number 16 and you think of all the great people and all the great players that have played out here and all the people that want to see it. And it’s just it’s just an amazing uh piece of property. It’s it it brings peace. It brings memories. It it’s such a big part of my life. It’s just an amazing place. gotta come out and see it. You know, I can’t describe it. You know, everybody talks about the Sistine Chapel. This this is this is it. This is this is the Daly Lama. This is the Super Bowl. This is all the great things that have to do with with with with sports and and camaraderie. It all comes together right here. And and when you get people to come out here, I mean, it’s a bucket list for everybody that plays golf. when really anybody that wants to see nature or wants to see, you know, where the sea comes together with the land. I mean, all those, you know, sayings, I mean, this this is where it all comes together. And this everybody everybody needs to see this place. Every visitor reaches for comparisons to football, to art, religion, because Cypress Point is impossible to describe. On a subset, you’re trying to think what was McKenzie thinking about when they gave him his 150 acres. He could have had almost any 150 acres, but he chose this. No really cameras that much with horseback. And so why did he choose it? And then what was the focal point when he designs the golf course? The three of us can design 15, 16, 17. That’s a slammed up. But how did he route it? What was how was it the genesis and what was the centerpiece? What was the focus of it all? And it’s right there. Eight holes move to the dune then out from the dune. So if you understand that dune, you’ll understand the architecture of Cypress Point. Reeves returns again and again and again to the dune, to the cypress trees, to the care of the club and the course. Cypress Point is fragile and enduring. I would hope that the endures which I think Peter Yubof and Dick are trying to foster. It’s just the care of it and and just let it sort of be almost like Teddy Roosevelt established all these national parks. Now, we can’t make this a national park, but we can certainly sort of keep it in maintaining the integrity of of of what what we found. Have you ever climbed to the top of that dune? No. It hopefully I had hit one. I’ve hit a lot of them offline, but I’ve never hit one that far offline. But that’s sort of embarrassing and that’s very rude for Michael to suggest that I would have to climb that doom. So that’s the end of the interview right there. That’s it. I’ll take no more abuse. Michelangelo nearly abandoned the Cistine Chapel, but he didn’t. Reeves believes Cypress Point is that kind of art born of vision carried forward by care. And it’s interesting he was not a painter, he was a sculpture. So after a year and a half, took him three years laying on his back, he had suffered some diseases, paints getting in his eyes, the lead, etc., etc. And after a year and a half, he walked down one day and said, “That’s it. I’m not a painter.” So he goes home next day. Where is he? Got his brushes, climbs a ladder, back up painting. Kind of like a golfer. I’m going to quit and this is it. The next morning goes against his club. I’m going to try it one more time. Sam Reeves calls it a blessing to live here. Harris Barton says he pinches himself every time he arrives at the club. Maybe that’s Cypress Point’s ultimate mystique. It was never built for tournament play, but it was built to endure.

Cypress Point has long been called golf’s Sistine Chapel, a course as mysterious as it is beautiful. In this video, Michael Bamberger walks alongside Sam Reeves, Harris Barton, and the people who live and work inside the gates of this legendary club.

From the dune that Alister MacKenzie built around, to the vision of Samuel Morse and Marion Hollins, to the culture that has shaped members, caddies, and staff for decades, Cypress Point is revealed not just as a golf course, but as a community and a work of art.

With rare access to the land, the clubhouse, and the stories that define this place, this is a portrait of Cypress Point you won’t find anywhere else.
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