See the challenges the best women amateurs in the world will face at Bel-Air.
Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles is a longtime host to Hollywood A-listers. This week, they will stand aside for the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
The elite private club has served as the main course for USGA events before: the 1976 U.S. Amateur won by Bill Sander and the 2004 U.S. Senior Amateur won by Mark Bemowski. But this will be the first chance for a top event at the course for women, some of whom likely will return for the 2026 Curtis Cup. Bel-Air also will be the site for the 2030 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship for men.
This Women’s Am is a continuation of a big year for the architecture of George Thomas, who also laid out Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, site of the 2023 U.S. Open won by Wyndham Clark. Thomas also designed Riviera, site of the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational.
Thomas’ design – actually a co-design alongside William P. Bell – at Bel-Air opened in 1926, playing through canyons on a small parcel of land adjacent to UCLA. The course required the use of a famed swinging bridge and even an elevator as players traverse the sometimes extreme terrain.
Architect Tom Doak restored much of Thomas’ design in 2018, removing extraneous bunkers that had been added over the decades and angling to have the course play much more as it did when it opened. The restoration has drawn rave reviews and led to the USGA planning more events at the club.
The course is slated to play to 6,187 yards with a par of 70 for the Women’s Am.
Photographer Bill Hornstein captured beautiful shots of each hole at Bel-Air for the USGA.
An 80-yard par 3 in the U.S. Open at LACC? Count on it.
USGA officials always say they want to test every part of a player’s game at the U.S. Open. John Bodenhamer, the ruling body’s chief championships officer, said he wants to see players have to hit it high, low, left to right and right to left – get every club in the bag dirty. Players better have every shot in the bag, as the old cliché goes.
But a lob wedge off a tee? That’s a new one. And that option likely will come into play at least once this week at Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, as the USGA might set up the par-3 15th around 80 yards long – the shortest par 3 in modern U.S. Open history.
The 15th is officially listed as 124 yards long, but the USGA utilized a forward tee and set it up at 78 yards for the Saturday singles matches in the 2017 Walker Cup, the biennial competition between a team of amateurs from the U.S. and another from Great Britain and Ireland. The USGA hasn’t confirmed it will set the 15th at a similar length this week, but it’s a safe bet – keep an eye on Saturday’s hole locations sheet.
In that Walker Cup, players recorded four birdies, nine pars and one bogey on the shortened 15th hole. Some players aimed left of the flag to take advantage of a mound in the green that can help stop a ball, while others took direct aim at the cup. American Will Zalatoris missed the green but made par from one of two large bunkers guarding that sliver of putting surface.
The StrackaLine heat map for the 15th green at Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course (courtesy of StrackaLine)
Some facts: The green features a long tongue that sticks out toward the front right. That area is only eight paces across, and the firm and bouncy putting surface is tilted as much as 3 degrees from left to right. It’s a tiny target, forcing players to control spin as well as distance.
Which brings us back to hitting lob wedge off a tee. It’s not a shot the pros practice much, if ever. Sounds easy – every shot is supposed to be simpler off a tee, right? That’s kind of the point of a tee. But the extremely lofted face of a lob or sand wedge can easily slide under a ball on a tee, sometimes making precise contact more difficult. Instead of smashing down on a lofted wedge, as pros typically do so well, there’s a chance of catching the ball one or two grooves too high on the face and watching it flutter off without much control.
Count on some players just hitting the tee shot from the ground, as they normally would with a lofted wedge. Others might try the tee to gain clean contact to produce the most spin.
“I remember like you almost had to practice teeing up with a 60-degree lob wedge like an inch off the ground, which you never do, and just trying to hit it perfect, because you had to with height, with spin,” two-time major champion Collin Morikawa, who played in that 2017 Walker Cup, said Tuesday at LACC. “It’s only going to be that much more important this week if they do move it up. I’m sure they will.
“So, yeah, you have like a yard and a half to land it if you want to hit a good shot. If not, you’ve got to play left and hopefully hit a good putt. Yeah, it’s frustrating because you can hit an okay shot and not get rewarded at all. Especially out here, you can’t land it in the rough. It’s not going to bounce out. You’ve got to land it in the right spot. I just remember it was a very tough shot. I pulled it off, and I think I still had like 20 feet for birdie.”
It’s a very different shot on a different kind of U.S. Open course. LACC is wider than typical U.S. Open setups, and balls will be bouncing everywhere. That’s particularly true on the par 3s, two of which make up for any length the 15th doesn’t need – the seventh is listed on the card as being 284 yards and can play even longer, and the 11th is on the card at 290 yards.
Check out the details on each of the five par 3s in play this week below. (The official yardage for the U.S. Open is listed in the header for each hole. The StrackaLine maps show different yardages for several holes, referring to the normal setup for member’s play.)
The fairways at this year’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club’s North course will be much wider than normally seen in the national championship. Don’t let that fool you into thinking they necessarily will be easier to hit – at least in the proper spots.
Designed by George C. Thomas Jr. and opened in 1928, LACC’s North Course was restored in 2010 by a team led by Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner and Geoff Shackelford. They removed stands of trees that lined fairways and reintroduced width as Thomas intended on the rolling property that features several gnarly barrancas near Beverly Hills. The layout ranks No. 2 in California on Golfweek’s Best list of private courses in each state, and it is No. 14 among all classic courses in the U.S.
Several of the fairways on the North Course are 50 to 60 yards wide in places, much wider than the normal corridors implemented by the U.S. Golf Association in many past championships. Some past U.S. Open courses have featured fairways an average of about 25 yards wide, often with prime spots less than 20 yards wide and surrounded by thick rough.
Width is a golf architect’s dream, as it promotes strategic play. Golfers must play to certain areas in the fairways to set up the best angles of attack, and the greater the width of the fairway, the more that smart players can take advantage. Such design creates interest and requires thought, tempting players to aim for the edges of wide fairways instead of just carelessly blasting drivers down the middle.
LACC North has plenty of width, to be sure, with some fairways pinching just a bit the farther a player hits a tee ball. But don’t confuse it with mindlessly bashing balls on a driving range. Thomas took advantage of the natural features to make these fairways play much skinnier than they look, and the USGA can’t wait to show off how LACC plays.
“What the architect George C. Thomas intended on this masterpiece, we will leave intact,” John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s chief championship officer, said during a recent media event at LACC. “Sure, we’ll come in and we’ll narrow up a few fairways. We’ll play the greens a little bit more speedier than the members would. And we’ll set a few difficult hole locations. We’ll put a little bit of a U.S. Open feel to it. But we will deliver what George C. Thomas intended to be at Los Angeles Country Club.”
The StrackaLine yardage book for Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course shows the fifth hole to be fairly straight in general, but the contour lines and arrows pointing right in the landing zone some 300 yards off the tee indicate the steepness of the landing area. Players must try to keep their tee shots in the left portion of the fairway to set up the best approach to the green. (Courtesy of StrackaLine)
The best areas in the fairways from which to play an approach are often the high spots to one side, nearest thick Bermuda grass that the USGA and the club has allowed to grow to three or four inches in height. Early reports and videos from LACC this week have shown balls being dropped into the rough and almost disappearing – it’s a bit of a cliché to show such videos on social media, but cliché or not, it’s hard to hit long irons out of such salad. Players have had to scramble to find balls in the rough during practice rounds without the help of tournament volunteers.
Bermuda rough, known for its thickness and the difficulty it presents, is rare in a U.S. Open. The last Open course to use Bermuda was Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014, but that layout relied on sand and scrubby native areas instead of thick rough. This year the rough is much more in the normal style of a U.S. Open than at Pinehurst. Bodenhamer said succinctly, “The rough will be difficult.”
Throw in the extremely rolling terrain, with tee shots on many holes kicking down large hills, and it will be difficult for players to hit the high spots and keep a ball there. Anything that misses toward the center of the fairway will roll speedily downhill, presenting a less-than-perfect approach angle, often from a blind spot in the fairway. Anything that misses too close to the rough is likely to bounce into tall Bermuda grass. Players must be precise, both in hitting the line and spinning the ball one direction or another to keep it there with a driver or fairway wood.
“If we get the conditions we hope for and the weather cooperates, and we get bounciness and firm and fast conditions, we think the best players in the world will rise to the top,” Bodenhamer said. “Because the greatest players control their golf ball not only when it’s in the air, but also when it hits the ground. And when it hits the ground here on this golf course, it goes all over the place.”
The application of width extends all the way to some green sites that feature chipping areas and runoffs at fairway height. Players will sometimes be forced to blast pitches out of patches of the tall stuff, while other times they will be forced to employ a delicate touch from short grass. It likely will be a common refrain about players in contention that they are missing in the right spots, meaning they retain some control over their recovery shots instead of watching haplessly as balls roll away from greens into the worst of the trouble.
“You will see a U.S. Open that is wider than most U.S. Opens. What I mean by that, you will see 50- and 60-yard-wide fairways, George Thomas style. … You’ll see balls bouncing around greens and fairways, getting caught up in rough. You’ll see it all here at LACC. And we will stay true to what the architect intended.”
Bodenhamer, who joined the USGA in 2011 and has played high-level amateur golf, gave several examples of holes where wide fairways don’t necessarily mean large targets.
“You’ll see No. 5 will be about 50 yards wide, but with the (left-to-right) cant of the fairway, you better hit a right-to-left shot into it or it won’t stay in the fairway,” he said. “No. 13 may be one of the widest fairways in U.S. Open history, but if you don’t hit it into a little 20-yard swath up the left side, you’re going to be down below on the right side, blind up to the 524-yard par 4. It will be difficult.”
The StrackaLine yardage book for No. 13 at Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course utilizes contour lines and arrows pointing to the right to indicate the steepness of the fairway in the landing area. Players who manage to hit the fairway only to see it roll down the hill will face a long, uphill and blind shot to a difficult green. The hole is marked as 507 yards for the U.S. Open, but the USGA can stretch it even longer than that. (Courtesy of StrackaLine)
Another note on the rough this year: It will all be nasty. In recent years the USGA has frequently employed a strip of less-tall intermediate rough between the fairway cut and the thickest grass, allowing some measure of relief for players who barely miss or land a ball in a fairway only to see it trickle into the rough. Bodenhamer said that at LACC, there will be no intermediate cut. When it comes to hitting the fairways, it will be all or nothing.
“We want players to get every club in their bag dirty, to hit it high, to hit it low,” Bodenhamer said. “Work it left to right, right to left. Bunkers, pitch shots, mental and physical resolve. And yes it’s tough. We will set it up tough. But when you get to the mountaintop of winning a U.S. Open, you will have achieved something special.”
Check out StrackaLine’s hole-by-hole course guide and maps for the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club, site of the 2023 U.S. Open.
Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, site of the 2023 U.S. Open, was designed by George C. Thomas Jr. and opened in 1928. It was restored by the team of Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner and Geoff Shackelford in 2010.
Situated on a terrific piece of rolling ground and serving as an urban oasis off the busy Wilshire Boulevard, the North Course will play to 7,421 yards with a par of 70 for the U.S. Open. The course features three par 5s and five par 3s, with two of the downhill par 3s playing longer than 280 yards.
Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course ranks No. 2 in California on Golfweek’s Best list of top private clubs in each state, and it is No. 14 on Golfweek’s Best list of top classic courses built in the United States before 1960.
Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week in Los Angeles. (Because of variations with the USGA’s setup for the Open, the yardages provided below are not always the same as will be played in the Open.)
Golden-age golf architect George C. Thomas Jr. believed golfers should be presented with options — sometimes a confusing array of choices. His best courses offer multiple ways to play many holes, providing the best scoring chances to those players who choose the optimum angles in often wide playing corridors and who then have the ability to execute the preferred shot.
Those kinds of strategic demands will be on full exhibit in this year’s U.S. Open at The Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, Thomas’ most highly ranked course as judged by Golfweek’s Best raters. Each of Thomas’ top three courses — including Riviera and Bel-Air — is near Los Angeles, but it’s LACC that tops the list, tying for No. 13 among all classic courses built before 1960 in the U.S.
Thomas’ North 1927 routing at LACC actually supplanted another layout by previous architects, introducing width and strategy atop glorious inland landforms, all within the urban confines of Beverly Hills with the Los Angeles skyline a frequent backdrop. Hills, valleys, barrancas and ridges provide constant intrigue as players approach a sublime set of greens guarded by bunkers that often intrude into the putting surfaces themselves.
As with many historically significant courses, Thomas’ design suffered through ensuing decades as holes were adjusted, bunkers and greens were shifted or moved outright, and trees grew where none belonged. Enter the modern architecture team of Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner — working in consultation with author Geoff Shackelford — at LACC.
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The trio began a restoration of Thomas’ North layout, with a first phase focused on a bunker restoration that evolved into the second phase of pretty much everything else. Several original Thomas greens were reintroduced, the dry gullies were brought back into play and width was re-established. The team’s work concluded in 2010 to rave reviews. This year’s Open will be the third in the past four years on courses restored by Hanse and Wagner, following the championships at Winged Foot West (2020) and The Country Club (2022).
The U.S. Golf Association has narrowed the fairways – which can reach 60 yards wide in places — a bit for this Open, but the North (7,381 yards; par 70 for the Open with five par 3s and three par 5s) still will play much wider than a typical Open layout. But what does all the talk about strategy mean, exactly, and how will it come into play in June? Check out three great examples at LACC on the following pages, with yardage book information provided by StrackaLine.
StrackaLine offers hole-by-hole maps for Riviera Country Club, annual site of the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational.
Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California – one of the highest-ranked courses on the PGA Tour schedule each season – was designed by George C. Thomas and William P. Bell and opened in 1927. It hosts the 2023 Genesis Invitational this week, the 60th time the tournament has been at the course near Los Angeles.
Riviera will play to 7,322 yards with a par of 71 for the Genesis Invitational.
Besides hosting the Tour each year, Riviera will be the site of the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2028 Olympic Golf competition. It was home to the 1948 U.S. Open won by Ben Hogan as well as the 1983 PGA Championship (Hal Sutton), the 1995 PGA Championship (Steve Elkington) and the 1998 U.S. Senior Open (Hale Irwin).
Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week at Riviera.
If the fairways and greens could talk, it’d probably take weeks to hear all the amazing stories.
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Riviera Country Club is approaching its 100th birthday and if the fairways and greens could talk, it’d probably take weeks to hear all the amazing stories.
Situated in the hills just off Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, the club has a long and distinguished history.
Originally established in 1926, “The Riv” as it’s affectionately called, will host the U.S. Women’s open in 2026 as part of its centennial celebration.
Riviera hosts the Genesis Invitational, a tournament that was originally the Los Angeles Open. Like many events on the PGA Tour, the tournament has had several names over the years but one thing that has remained constant is the golf course. It’s a favorite of most players on Tour, a timeless layout in a canyon four miles from the Pacific Ocean.
It’s also a hot spot for the who’s-who of Hollywood. Mark Wahlberg is a member. So is Adam Sandler. Conan O’Brien, Michelle Pfeiffer and Larry David are among the celebrities who own a home on the course.
Thousands of words have been written about the course but maybe there’s a story or two here that you haven’t heard before.
