Is the 16th at Cypress Point the Greatest Hole in Golf?

The Walker Cup takes place at Cypress Point this year, and as you can expect, the talk has been as much about the golf course as it has been about the tournament itself. And this is for a great reason because Cypress is one of the Holy Grails of golf courses in the world.

It’s in that rarified air, alongside legendary courses like St. Andrews, Augusta, Pine Valley, and Royal County Down, among others. It’s such a highly regarded course that it’s regularly ranked above its sister course, Pebble Beach, in rankings, and that says a lot considering how iconic Pebble is in its own right.

And of course, it’s also one of the most private and mysterious courses in the world, so the fact that the Walker is at this beautiful track is a real treat. The land was discovered by legendary women’s amateur, Marion Hollis, and was then designed by Dr. Alister MacKenzie and Robert Hunter. The rest, as they say, was history.

But the one thing that always stands out about Cypress Point is its incredible par-3 16th hole. This breathtaking and dramatic hole almost seems like a fantasy one. Tee it up and hit your shot over the ocean and try to land on a green that faces the ocean’s horizon. It’s a long par-3 too, so you may need to club up more than you usually would on a par-3; it presents that kind of drama.

It checks so many golf course design boxes. Dramatic, heroic, penal, fun, etc. Not to mention, it’s just flat out beautiful, which we can’t stop saying. But is it the greatest hole in all of golf? Choosing the best golf hole is harder than choosing the best course since there are so many more options.

Heck, there are a ton of par-3s that are incredible, let alone par-4s and par-5s. Some of the greatest holes that come to mind for me are the 17th Road Hole at St. Andrews, the 12th at Augusta, the 9th at Turnberry, the 17th at TPC Sawgrass, and the 14th at Pine Valley, among many others. Old Head Links is not quite as famous as the other courses mentioned, but it features the remarkable 12th hole, which sits cliffside by the ocean and has a narrow fairway. Frankly, the entirety of Old Head is absolutely stunning just by its location, but we’ll talk about that more on another day.

The list of great holes is enough to create a few All-Star teams (or Ryder Cup teams. This is a golf site, right?). And so many courses have multiple elite holes. Augusta has Amen Corner, St. Andrews has 16, 17, and 18, which is arguably the best finishing hole in the sport. Pine Valley, which is regularly ranked as the best course on the planet, has been considered to have 18 signature holes.

So the list of amazing holes is endless. That being said, Cypress Point’s 16th is towards the very top of that list. If it’s not numero uno, it’s definitely on a Mount Rushmore of golf holes. I think that is undoubtedly a lock because the hole is just that spectacular.

Even playing a virtual recreation of it in a video game is stunning, so I can only imagine how amazing it is seeing it in person. Well, we golf fans are in for a treat because we’ll be able to soak in the 16th hole and the rest of this amazing golf course this weekend at Walker Cup.

Where do you rank the 16th at Cypress Point among the world’s greatest golf holes? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter/X at @GhostPandaStorm! Thanks for reading!