Rick, I have played Cypress Point Club once and walked it as an observer with an esteemed foursome (Huckaby, Cirba, Duran & Childs) on another occasion. I have not played Augusta National Golf Club but watched practice or tournament rounds on 6 occasions.
Peter, Cypress Point is visually stunning and either unaltered or faithfully restored. I'm gonna let the cognoscenti populate the imminent thread on its superiority. A smart-arse could opine that without the ocean it and Mackenzie's Palmetto Golf Club are closer in the ratings than you might think. By smart-arse I mean me, not Mucci.
Frankly, I love playing devil's advocate (btw, I only recently learned that term's origin as the party responsible for presenting a counter-argument to proposed sainthood of a faithful Catholic) when it comes to Augusta National Golf Club. After returning there last spring for the first time in 20 years (and frankly having been educated by many friends and thoughtful students of golf course architecture such as yourself since my last visit) I left convinced of its greatness notwithstanding a few warts imposed upon it over the past few years. I am absolutely in awe of some of the shots required by that golf course:
The approach to one - check out Tiger's scoring history there
The drive at the second.
The pitch to either wing at the second - watch the better players use every inch of an extremely wide fairway to enhance the angle
The approach to the third - watch how long players practice pitching from behind that green during practice rounds
The tee shot at the fourth - absolute jail above the hole.
The tee shot at the fifth.
The approach at the fifth - perhaps the most underrated hole and green in the game of golf due to its isolation from tv cameras and the balance of the course
The tee shot to a back right pin at the 6th.
The approach to apparently nothing at the 7th.
The mountainous skyline second at the 8th
The tee shot into oblivion at the 9th and 10th.
Uphill approaches off hanging downhill lies at the 9th and 10th.
The frightening approach to the 11th - if it's too tough for Hogan.....
The frightening shot at the 12th - watch how long it takes the players to pull a club. I thought these guys were money from 155.
The requirement to hit a fade off a hook lie from the 13th fairway.
Access to pins on the 14th green
The second or 3rd to the 15th - diamond crunching stuff
The inability/unwillingness of the world's greatest players to access a back right pin at the 16th
Access to pins on the 17th green - an amazing number of 3's and 5's there have decided the tournament
The mountainous approach to the 18th. Painswickian.
Oh my. Trevino loved Merion. I love Augusta National Golf Club whether her legs are shaved or not and regardless of her complexion. I'm all in - 100% smitten even though she's unobtainable (and might not really be superior to CPC
)
Bogey