Golf Courses Private destination
Rank 01
Cypress Point Club
The most beautiful round of golf on earth—MacKenzie’s ocean three-hole finish on the Seventeen-Mile Drive that every other coastal course is measured against.
Photograph by schnaars, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr, resized
Why it is here
GOLF Magazine’s 2025–26 World Top 100 places Cypress Point No. 2 worldwide (Wally Dennis mirror of the GOLF Mag list; Planet Golf’s Golf Magazine World Top 100 2025 page likewise holds it at No. 2 after Pine Valley). Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest 2025–26 ranks it No. 3 in the U.S.; Digest’s aesthetics commentary has repeatedly put Cypress Point at the top of the beauty scale (e.g. 9.29 aesthetics leadership cited in Digest’s greatness explainer). Rory McIlroy’s 2026 Golfweek Mount Rushmore also named Cypress Point alongside Pine Valley and Royal County Down.
Who it is for
Members and invited guests for whom a single Monterey morning on the 15th–17th cliffs is the lifetime golf day—not a resort tee sheet.
Sources
- Golf Magazine Top 100 World (2025-26)Cypress Point ranked No. 2 in the world behind only Pine Valley.
- Golf Digest Top 100 USA (2025-26)Cypress Point ranked No. 3 among America’s 100 Greatest.
- Rory McIlroy names his top four golf courses from around the worldMcIlroy’s personal Mount Rushmore includes Cypress Point with Pine Valley, Royal County Down, and Kingston Heath.
- Inside GOLF's newest Top 100 Courses in the World rankingConfirms Cypress Point at No. 2 worldwide after Pine Valley in GOLF’s latest World Top 100.
