Los Angeles Country Club (North Course)

Thomas Jr. design tucked between Beverly Hills and Century City, one of the most exclusive and admired golf courses in the United States. Long hidden behind its membership, the North stepped into the spotlight when it hosted the 2023 U.S. Open, won by Wyndham Clark. Defined by rugged sand-scarred bunkers, tumbling terrain and native barrancas, it is widely regarded as one of the finest championship layouts in the country.

Course History

The Los Angeles Country Club was organized in 1897 and settled at its present Wilshire Boulevard site in the early 1900s. The North Course took its enduring form in the 1920s when George C. Thomas Jr. — the wealthy amateur architect behind Riviera and Bel-Air — reworked the layout, with his 1928 redesign establishing the routing that still challenges players today. Over the decades the course drifted from Thomas' original vision, its bunkers softened and its native character faded.

Beginning in 2005, architect Gil Hanse and partner Jim Wagner led a multi-year restoration that was unveiled in 2010, reclaiming the bold bunkering, restoring the barrancas and returning strategic width to the corridors. The revived North hosted the 2017 Walker Cup and, most notably, the 2023 U.S. Open — the club's first men's major and the championship's return to Los Angeles after 75 years — where Wyndham Clark edged Rory McIlroy by a shot to win at 10 under par.

The Design & Architecture

Thomas prized strategy and heroic options, and the restored North rewards that philosophy at every turn. Dry barrancas — canyon-like native washes — slash through much of the low-lying front nine, framing greens and forcing risk-reward decisions off the tee. The most talked-about hole is the short, drivable par-4 6th, a tempting sub-350-yard gamble to a tiny elevated green ringed by trouble. The par 3s are exceptional and extreme in scale: the 11th stretches to roughly 290 yards over a barranca to a domed green with the skyline behind it, while the tiny 15th plays as little as 124 yards to a green all but surrounded by bunkers. Hanse's restoration deliberately embraced the rugged, sand-splashed bunker style associated with Thomas' associate William P. Bell, giving the course its dramatic visual bite.

Signature Holes

The short par-4 6th is the North's defining hole. Set up at just 330 yards for the 2023 U.S. Open, it dares players to send a driver across the barranca at a small, elevated green — a classic Thomas risk-reward proposition, and the hole the USGA featured for the sheer number of ways the championship field chose to attack it.

The five par 3s span an extraordinary range. The 7th, which played 284 yards at the Open, is often called the toughest of them — only a perfect tee shot finds the green — while the 171-yard 9th, with the club's grand clubhouse as its backdrop, is a strong candidate for the postcard hole. Many members consider the 290-yard 11th, played to a domed green with the Los Angeles skyline behind it, the star of the show. At the other extreme sits the tiny 15th: officially 124 yards, it was set up at just 81 yards for one round of the 2023 U.S. Open, the shortest hole in modern U.S. Open history.

Playing the Course

The North demands both power and touch. It tumbles over rolling terrain with elevation changes, forced carries across the barrancas and firm, bentgrass greens that grow lightning-quick under tournament conditions; kikuyu and thick rough frame the corridors and punish wayward drives. For the 2023 U.S. Open the layout was set up as an unusual par 70 featuring five par 3s — the first U.S. Open with that many since 1947 — playing to a fearsome 7,421 yards. From the members' tees it is more manageable, but the mix of short and long par 3s, the drivable 6th and the ever-present hazards keep every round a test of decision-making.

Know Before You Go

• Access: Strictly private. The North Course is open to members and their accompanied guests only — there is no public or resort play.

• Location: 10101 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024, on the border of Beverly Hills and Century City.

• Contact: (310) 276-6104; official site thelacc.org.

• Tip: If you ever get an invitation, study the barrancas and green complexes — the North punishes players who ignore its angles far more than its raw length.