Mind the Mounds : Peaks Will Protect at the New Cypress Golf Club

From the road, Cypress Golf Club looks tantalizingly ready to play.

The grass on the fairways and greens has taken root and several large trees dot the landscape broken up by mounds and lakes.

But there is still some work left on the public course and on the large clubhouse before the opening. Officials at FJC U.S.A., the course owner, hope to be operating by the end of August.

There is little doubt that the course, which was built on the site of the old Los Alamitos Golf Course, will quickly be considered one of the better tests in the area.

Actually, “challenging” is the word management would prefer rather than “severe.”

“You have to have some notoriety,” said Mike Matsuda, the president of the course. “Otherwise, we would have left the old course. There will be a lot of conversation about this course.”

That the golf course is about to open is a bit of an accomplishment considering its history. When the Los Alamitos course closed in 1987, it was expected that a business park would replace it.

But several groups protested the loss of the city’s only golf course, and the dispute was resolved when FJC U.S.A. bought the land from developer Lloyd Arnold, who had purchased the Los Alamitos Race Course.

The groundbreaking ceremonies were held in November, 1990, for the course that was created by Dye Designs of Denver.

Many of the trees remain from the Los Alamitos course. But that’s it.

Several aspects of the new course will be intimidating, including the price: $75 Monday to Thursday and $95 on weekends. Cypress residents get a break, paying $45 on weekdays.

The course is a par 71 with five sets of tees. It is 6,506 yards from the back tees, which will be closed in most cases. The championship tees measure 6,041, the regular distance is 5,684, and there is also a set at 5,179. The yardage from the women’s tees is 4,566.

Traditionally, women’s tees are red but at Cypress Golf Club they are green. Certain influential people at Dye Designs find red a sexist color toward women.

The Cypress course was designed by Perry Dye, son of Pete Dye. One of Pete Dye’s most famous courses in Southern California is PGA West in the Palm Springs area.

Perry Dye called his course “a miniature PGA West” that will challenge golfers of all skills to play at targets instead of just swinging wildly.

“(FJC U.S.A) really let me express myself in whatever way I was capable,” Perry said. “You don’t get to do that often . . . I was trying to create an island of golf for the Los Angeles area.

“It really offers things that people can’t get anywhere in the area. I think they are going to stop going to Palm Springs so much.”

Still, Dye wasn’t able to design on a whim. The basic problem at Cypress was the lack of space; he had about 100 acres to deal with, which is 10 to 20 less than most golf courses.

But Dye responded in his trademark fashion with a series of mounds that line most of the rolling fairways, isolating each hole from the other holes, other golfers, and the roads and businesses adjacent to the course.

About 500,000 cubic yards of dirt were used to help create this look. But none of it had to be trucked in. Instead, it was dug up and moved when the fairways were lowered about three to six feet and nine lakes were made.

“There was no export or import (of dirt),” said Masato Akahoshi, the general manager of the course. “Nothing was taken out.”

The acme of the mounds is a triple decker on the back of the 11th green, a 194-yard par three from the championship (blue) tees. Nicknamed “Mt. Everest,” the mounds rise about 30 feet behind the green.

The mounds around the greens are designed to protect the golfers on the next tee from wayward shots. Railroad ties support many of the mounds around greens to prevent erosion.

The 11th hole, and 13 others, are adjacent to lakes. There are nine lakes on the course, each a part of a highly advanced turf watering system. And there are five kinds of grasses, including Bermuda on the tees and fairways, Bent for the greens and Buffalograss for the rough, which makes up about half the area of the course.

It’s the largest use of Buffalograss, which was recently developed and requires about half the water of normal grass. The watering system, fed from an on-site well, includes about 3,500 sprinkler heads.

One thing not on the sprinkler heads are distances to the green, something even the hallowed Pebble Beach now uses.

Instead, Cypress has the more traditional blue (200 yards), white (150) and red (100) disks in the center of the fairways and similar marks on the cart paths.

“We felt that it slows down play if people are walking around looking for a distance on a sprinkler,” Matsuda said. “Anyway, part of the game is picking the right club.”

Many of the mature trees from the old course have been left in place to give Cypress an older look and feel.

The best use of these trees is at No. 12, a 286-yard dogleg left. A tree spans the narrow fairway, guarding the green.

Maybe the most important thing to know when playing the course is the rule after a ball disappears into a water hazard.

As in most Dye layouts, the lakes, all of which are lined with railroad ties, are mostly to catch off-line shots.

The exceptions are No. 5 and No. 18. The fifth hole is a 117-yard par three that has a C-shaped lake that protects the front and back of the green.

The final hole is a 429-yard par four that requires a tee shot of about 180 yards to clear the first lake. The other option is playing short. One must contend with water along the right side on the shot into the green. All this is in full view of the large sun deck at the clubhouse.

The greens are the flattest part of a course that has few level spots in the fairways. Dye said he worked very hard on making a series of subtle breaks on the greens to offer a challenge to even top-flight players.

“I’m sure the first guys that play (the course) will walk off and say that it should be plowed under,” Dye said. “But I’ll bet you those are the same guys that are back the next week because golfers love a challenge.”

How Cypress Will Play

Tentative distances from the four sets of tees at Cypress Golf Club. Blue, regular championship tees; white, men’s tees; gold, senior men’s tees; green, women’s tees. The course will also include boxes for black tees (the most difficult and not expected to be used much).

Tee 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 In Par 4 4 3 5 3 4 4 4 4 35 Blue 345 406 182 507 117 416 274 325 369 2,941 White 312 397 168 490 104 379 265 307 333 2,755 Gold 278 329 151 456 93 341 257 288 323 2,516 Green 260 303 115 410 81 298 226 250 267 2,210

Tee 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Out Par 5 3 4 4 4 5 4 3 4 36 Blue 489 194 286 344 362 555 301 140 429 3,100 White 475 177 277 321 346 546 263 122 402 2,929 Gold 432 139 269 293 326 506 226 107 365 2,663 Green 402 119 232 253 277 429 202 93 349 2,356