Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club (Hardcover)

by Geoff Shackelford (Author) "SAMUEL MORSE ENVISIONED AND INFLUENCED VIRTUALLY EVERY ASPECT OF THE MONTEREY PENINSULA'S DEVELOPMENT, INCLUDING THE CREATION OF A CLUB AND COURSE AT CYPRESS POINT..." (more)
Key Phrases: Robert Hunter, Pebble Beach, Marion Hollins (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
What is so immediately stunning about this visual biography of one of golf's great physical masterpieces is the photography itself: it's all archival, and it's all black and white. It lends Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club a deeply personal feeling. It seems to carry with it a sense of past, permanence, and inherent artistry, as if it were a valued family heirloom. In a sense, this volume is the family album of a cherished golf course, the photographic and historical record of the people who brought the course to life--including MacKenzie, the titular designer who would later coax Augusta National from the landscape, and Marion Hollins, one of the most formidable women ever to master a mashie--and how they collaborated to accomplish their ideal.

Though overshadowed by Pebble Beach, its more famous Monterey Peninsula neighbor, Cypress Point remains one of the true crown jewels in American golf. Its pedigree is second to none, and its 16th hole--a long par 3 over the ocean--is generally acclaimed as the premier one-shotter in existence. Shackelford, a prolific historian of golf course architecture and designers, spends the first third of the volume affectionately introducing us to Cypress Point's founders, its planners, the ideas that went into creating the club, and the work that went into building the course. Then he takes us through Cypress Point hole by hole, with his own informative text augmented by theoretical and site-specific insights from MacKenzie and his assistant, Robert Hunter, all gift-wrapped with stunningly dramatic photos from the 1920s and '30s.

Alister MacKenzie's Cypress Point Club is a truly lovely volume, historically fascinating and visually pleasing. To the golf-obsessed among us, the surprising story behind the birth of No. 16 should alone be worth the greens fees. But like No. 16 itself, the story is just part of an overall whole, and there's much in Cypress Point to beguile anyone who can appreciate the splendid connection between an ancient game and an environment that gorgeously elevates it. --Jeff Silverman

Product Description
Throughout the world of golf, few courses are as revered as the Cypress Point Club on Californias Monterey Peninsula. The story of its creation has been elusive and relatively unknown. That is, until now. Geoff Shackelfords new book on the history of Cypress Pointand its designer, Alister MacKenzieis richly detailed and painstakingly put together.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (October 29, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886947643
• ISBN-13: 978-1886947641
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #405,282 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional Historic Document, December 21, 2000

By	Neal Hotelling (Pebble Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews

If you have any interest in Alister MacKenzie's genius, or the great golf architecture of the 1920s, you must have this book. Called by many the Sistine Chapel of Golf, Cypress Point is one of the most exceptional courses on the planet. This book is an exceptional document of how it began. Magnificent full page b&ws show every hole of the early Cypress Point Club, while the text, much from the contemporaneous hand of Robert Hunter (MacKenzie's partner), tells how the course design and construction came together. Shackleford has done a wonderful service for golf historians everywhere by compiling this masterpiece.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alister Mackenzie's Cypress Point Club, November 2, 2007

By	Marc B "Marc" (Livingston, N.J.) - See all my reviews

This books captures the spirit, the history and the grandeur that is Cypress Point Golf Club. Alister Mackenzie was a golf architect extraordinaire. The black and white photo's capture the essence of a dream and the genesis of one of the foremost courses ever built. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone that has a deep and abiding appreciation of the game and it's history. Makes a great "Coffee Table" book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fanfare for Cypress Point, March 13, 2006

By	L. Lambrecht "LC Lambrecht" (Watch Hill, RI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

An excellent read, great historical pictures, this documentary of the building of Cypress Point takes one back to another era of golf deveolpment. If you are a historian of the golf course, this piece of history is a must, Geoff has done a great job of putting it together. The book is timeless.