(3.911 Rating) A ball golf course conversion course with freakish length.
- EPIC HOLES - The Club on Cypress is built on a former ball golf course and is blessed with a ton elevation change. Hole (1) right out the gates is a tantalizing 750 foot long and 60 foot deep valley shot. Only a small percentage of the courses I've played have holes with these types of attributes. The stretch of holes from (12) thru (15) are all spectacular multi-play holes with big rolling elevation. (13s) fairway design is killer, requiring not only a bomb, but also strategic placement to avoid roll-aways and to allow for an angle to attack the basket. (14) I think is the biggest downshot on the course. Google Earth Pro says it's 70 feet down in elevation. For Alabama, only courses such as Inverness, Clay, V-Rock and Revelation Mountain offer bigger downshots. Other borderline epic holes include, (5) and (18). The gameplay here is among the most amped I've ever played. Top 10 for sure on that aspect, borderline top 5. Not quite Mahr Park, Idlewild, IDGC Jackson or Flyboy amp level, but close.
- CHALLENGING - Championship worthy difficulty. MA1s will be pushed to their limits and Pros will be highly entertained. The course length is plus 11,000 feet for the longer Blue layout. The driver is going to come out several times for even the biggest arms. Not a lot of weaving shot shaping technical plays, but placement will be paramount on several holes.
- HOLE VARIETY - Players that like multi-play golf, will get a full dose here. Eight holes are over 800 feet long. Wow. Numerous par 4s and even four par 5s on the blue layout. Although the course is generally lightly wooded, holes like (6) and (11) offer a solid wooded element to it. As noted previously, lots of elevation change and water comes into play twice.
- RAW BEAUTY - One of the more stunning courses I've played in Alabama. Top 10 for sure. Lots of hill-top views, a river and monster trees. Amen. I scored this aspect roughly 90 percentile. Things holding it back from scoring higher are the general open nature of the course and the landfill along the south edge. I wonder if unpleasant smells waft into the course from time to time.
- NAVIGATION AND SIGNAGE - Cypress has both high quality tee signage and a big accurate course map posted. Baskets have next tee arrows affixed to them as well. I only looked at my map a couple times as there are some big gaps in play. Perhaps a few navigation posts should be planted between holes.
- AMENITIES - In addition to the signage, Cypress has big concrete tees. I think they are 6 feet by 12 feet and they have foul line extensions as well. Baskets are top-of-the-line color coded Pro 28 DISCatchers. The White layout has white baskets, while the Blue Layout has blue baskets. Pretty self-explanatory. The course thankfully also has benches at every tee and there's a port-a-potty. Hole (18) was the only hole that had an extra tee. I hope they add more short tees.

Not for mortals.
- NOT FUN FOR NOODLE ARMS - For the MA3s and MA4s with sub 300-foot arms, there will be near zero birdie opportunities. Every hole will be a battle to try and salvage par and perhaps even bogey. I figure the typical MA3 player will be plus 15 on the shorter White layout. The beatdown will be unrelenting to MA4s. If you take an MA4 here, they will likely slash your tires post round. Sad to see such a beautiful landscape with no care to appeal to the typical everyday player. I probably would have had this course at a 4.25 had there been two tees.
- HOLE 7 - I routinely mention to others that Lavone is the best course designer in North Alabama. Not sure what he was thinking on this one. Classic gimmick island hole. I wish this had never become a thing that every designer feels impelled to do. I didn't take off score for the hole, but I personally hated it. It's 300 feet long, but it's up hill. At least 350-foot power on the fly is required to get there. Anyone who doesn't have that kind of arm will be playing for a 3 on their next shot. Such a lame hole that basically flips off everyone without arm strength.
- TERRAIN - As noted in the pros, the elevation change is awesome. That aspect comes with a catch22 however as there are some sketchy areas to traverse on this one. A couple spots have loose small rocks on the slopes that can give way and cause a fall. Players that have joint or knee pain should avoid playing here unless they can somehow find a golf cart to run them around.
- BASKET AND TEE SEPARATION - The gaps from basket to tee are way too long on the White Layout. Several +400 foot gaps in play. The Blue layout flows a bit better, but there a still 6 gaps over 250 feet.
- BEGINNER FRIENDLY - Ha. They might have to install a grave here, to bury the ones that don't make it.
- TIME PLAY - I finished the short layout in one hour and twenty-one minutes as a solo. I honestly thought it was going to take longer, but the lack of having to search for discs helped considerably. I think the long layout with 4 players will take about three hours.
- WIND - If will be fun to watch a friends disc fly 300 feet off-fairway.

An awesome monster course for those with big arms. A demoralizing beat-down to lower skilled players. This course is going to have a wide range of opinions depending on arm strength. The course really could benefit from a second set of tees. I don't get the thought process for ignoring such a large segment of the playing population. Anyways, I'm going with a mid 4.0 as is. Thus, Cypress becomes one of only five courses in Alabama that I've scored at least this high with 131 courses played in the state. I personally would rank it behind the four others I have at or above the 4.0 level (Inverness, The Admiral, Clay and Kudzu). The gameplay challenge, although different, is on par or better than all the noted courses. It's the other intangible aspects holding it back in my opinion. I haven't played many courses like this one. Mahr Park, in my bagger portfolio, is the most similar. Also, Foundation Park in central Illinois, shares many attribute minus the elevation change. I do think the course is destination level for Alabama and to those within a 3 hours range, especially to those with big arms.

Amenities - Baskets are new and in great condition. Benches are present on every hole. Tee pads are large and concrete. Signs are accurate and show all important info: length, map, OB, alt positions.

Length - If you are looking for long holes, you have come to the right place. I played the blues and they were LONG!! I feel like I have good distance but these holes kicked my butt. 299' is the shortest hole and that is an uphill, island hole which plays more like 350' minimum. Even though it was too much for me, I think this is a great course for a bomber MA1 or pro player.

Beauty - The course is on an old golf course that hasn't been used in 20+ years, but the trees and rolling hills remain. There is a river that plays along a hole or 2 but doesn't come too much into play. Trees are mature and used well in the design.

Elevation - This course has it!! Almost every hole is up, down or plays with elevation affecting it in some way. Hole 14 is a 1000' par 5 with a tee shot that is like throwing off a cliff. You will be hard pressed to find more elevation in the area.

Island hole 7 - This hole is just neat. I have never seen an uphill island hole and I think it is well done. The island is bordered by large boulders/rocks with a nice layer of mulch inside the island.

Bathrooms - There are no bathrooms available at the large building at the parking lot. This building is not affiliated with the course at all. There is one porta-potty that is absolutely rank. If you need to use it, don't.

OB - The cart paths are used as OB on just about any hole that has them. My main complaint is that they are hard to see from the pad on some of these 800' holes. Maybe some small flags could help with that.

Variety - I know this course is for the big arms, but I think just trading just two long, uninteresting holes (2 and 4) out for something shorter and more technical would be a good trade. Even with the elevation changes, some of the holes felt repetitive.

I was out of my league playing the blue layout. I will definitely play the white layout next time as it has a better blend of long and short holes. I didn't want to put length as a con since the layout I played is geared for bigger arms than me, but I think the super long holes get old after a while.

If you love throwing 400+ on every hole, play the blues. Otherwise, stick to the whites (except for hole 14, that is a great long par 5)