Cypress Knoll Golf Club: Overlooked
and Underrated at the Palm Coast Resort

By Derek Duncan,
Senior Writer

PALM COAST, FL - It's not clear why, perhaps it's simple oversight, but Cypress Knoll does not get proper credit for being one of the top golf courses in the northern part of Florida. The course rightfully reaps praise from environmental groups-the Audubon Society in particular appreciates the course and the rich variety of birds that make their home there-for its gorgeous setting amidst the abundant natural wildlife, but the golf is worthy of praise on its own terms.

Any way it is looked at, this layout is not getting the recognition it deserves. Cypress Knoll is set in a vibrant Florida forest and wetland location featuring pines, live oaks, marshes, streams, and lakes. It is, without a doubt, a course at one with nature.

But it is so much more than an environmental park. It is a top-tier golf design that beautifully tests accuracy and control. At only 6,591 yards from the championship tees it plays nestled and cozy, but does not surrender low scores easily. Its championship tee slope is 130, the highest of any in the Palm Coast Resort lineup. Even at 6,261 yards, the men's tees boast a 127 slope, higher than the difficult Pine Lakes championship tee slope and the same as the back tees at Matanzas Woods. The brevity of the course cannot be mistaken for an indication of ease.

Cypress Knoll is a Gary Player design, opened in 1990. While Player is not quite as renowned an architect as his golf rivals Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, if this course is any indication of what he is capable of achieving on a property of limited space, he may be their match in this field as well.

The course is narrow and relatively tight and blends seamlessly into the native surroundings. There is little rough on the course other than a thin, closely cut border between the smooth, rather flat fairways and the dense forestry. Many of the holes are simply corridors cut through the trees. The lush vegetation that surrounds the course on all sides creates an insular atmosphere and a slowing down of the senses so much so that each hole, each shot, cannot be helped but played deliberately, one at a time.

The seclusion and rhythm of the course is meditative. Golfers will hear unseen animals rummaging in the woods, wind rasping through the pines, and birds of all sort chiming. Houses are located along some of the holes, but they too seem to disappear back into the trees.

Cypress Knoll achieves an inspiring unity with nature that is undeniably a large part of its charm and rare achievement for Florida golf. It would be difficult not to enjoy golf here, no matter what the score.

Hole by hole the design is expressive, tight, and demanding. Although the fairways are crowded by trunk and foliage, they are just wide enough to temp the golfer into hitting his driver. This is where the round is made or missed. If the driver can be relied upon to put the ball in the fairway then short-irons seconds will result. The greens are medium sized, not the sprawling triple-sized greens that are common in this part of the state, so a controlled attack is advantageous.

Many of the fairways are slightly elevated and plateau-like, and fall away into the trees just off the edges. This puts an added premium on the tee accuracy - shots taken out of the rough will be from uneven lies. There is not a preponderance of water and sand on the course, just enough to be dangerous. The hazards are calculated and well chosen.

The golfer must approach a course such as Cypress Knoll with a strategy, and discipline and patience must be part of that. Certain holes can be attacked and overpowered, and others cannot. For instance, par is a great score on all four of the par 3's, which range in distance from 176 to 191 yards. These are four strong efforts, and it is difficult to get the ball near the pins with mid-to long- irons. The best play is usually to the center of the green.

The third hole is a masterpiece, a lesson in how to make a par four difficult naturally. It uses angles and trees as its chief defense - this is one of the secluded, corridor holes - and distance - 451-yards. All there really is on this hole is green, and in massive amounts. The tee shot and fairway shape induce shots down the right side, but the left side of the fairway yields the best angle to the green, where a run-up with a long iron might be the best play.

There is scant room to miss, either outside the fairway or around the green. Simple bunkering to the right of the green, a large fairway with tight borders, and lots of yardage make this a stunning, difficult hole.

To access many pins tee shots must be driven down the right or left sides of the generally narrow fairways. The awesome 12th hole is a beautifully constructed par four, everything one could want in a hole visually. The hole is a slight dogleg left of 404 yards, with an uphill second. Trees block the left hand side, so the right side of the fairway is inviting and preferred, but get too far right and the ball drops off the fairway several feet into the woods. The green is large and open and distinctly framed by bunkers and pines.

Though each hole is different and intriguing at Cypress Knoll, the routing of the back nine is odd. Taken individually the holes on this side are strong (with the exception of the 11th which is a crowded 370-yard par four that doglegs 90-degrees - an excuse to get from the tenth green over to the better part of the property starting at the 12th). But whereas the front nine was ordered and rhythmic, the back nine is a staccato of strong beats in a strange dissonance. A par three 18th hole is not the rousing finish that the course deserves, either.

Nonetheless, Cypress Knoll is a beautiful golf course, the best reason to partake of the golf at Palm Coast Resort. For a golf experience it is a chance to play one of the real jewels on the First Coast, and for an outdoor endeavor, well, you won't find this kind of scenery, seclusion, or nature in too many other places close by. Gary Player deserves special recognition for creating a tough, shotmaker's golf course in such a pristine setting.

Cypress Knoll
53 E. Hampton Blvd.
Palm Coast, FL 32137
904 437-5807