Golf Guides

Guides, roundups, and features on golf across Los Angeles.

Leo Diegel, winner of the 1929 PGA Championship at Hillcrest Country Club. Public domain — published in the US before January 1, 1931; Library of Congress, National Photo Company Collection, "no known copyright restrictions" (LOC item 2016830943). Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leo_Diegel_LOC_npcc.04600.jpg

Hillcrest Country Club: The Club That Answered a Closed Door

Hillcrest Country Club history: founded in 1920 by Jewish Angelenos shut out of most of LA's elite clubs — then came Hollywood's Round Table, the 1929 PGA, and oil.

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Charlie Sifford celebrates winning the 1969 Los Angeles Open at Rancho Park Golf Course, January 13, 1969. Photo by Ben Olender, Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection, UCLA Library. License: CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charlie_Sifford_winning_1969_LA_Open.jpg).

Rancho Park: The People's Course That Hosted the LA Open 17 Times

The history of Rancho Park Golf Course: how an LA muni hosted 17 L.A. Opens, Arnold Palmer's famous 12, and Charlie Sifford's landmark 1969 victory.

Ben Olender

Golfer Lawson Little in January 1939, probably at the Los Angeles Open at Griffith Park. Los Angeles Times photographic archive, UCLA Library, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lawson_Little_at_1939_LA_Open.jpg

Griffith Park: Los Angeles's Golf Commons Since 1914

Griffith Park golf history: LA's first muni links in 1914, George Thomas's Wilson and Harding courses, the late-1930s LA Open, and a century of public golf.

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Wyndham Clark, winner of the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, pictured in March 2023. License: CC BY 3.0, author Titleist (YouTube still, March 2023). Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wyndham_Clark_2023_01.png

The 2023 U.S. Open at LACC: The Major a Century in the Making

The 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club ended L.A.'s 75-year major drought — how a restored George Thomas masterpiece and Wyndham Clark made history.

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The gallery surrounding the 18th green at Riviera Country Club during the 1951 Los Angeles Open. Public domain (published in the US 1931-1977 without copyright notice); Los Angeles Daily News, January 7, 1951, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:18th_hole_at_the_1951_LA_Open.jpg

Riviera at 100: A Century of Championship Golf in Pacific Palisades

Riviera Country Club history: how a 1926 Santa Monica Canyon course became Hogan's Alley, Hollywood's fairway, and the stage for the 2028 Olympics.

The gallery surrounding the 18th green at Riviera Country Club during the 1951 Los Angeles Open. Public domain (published in the US 1931-1977 without copyright notice); Los Angeles Daily News, January 7, 1951, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:18th_hole_at_the_1951_LA_Open.jpg

The Best Golf Courses in the San Fernando Valley

The best San Fernando Valley golf courses: Hansen Dam and the Sepulveda Basin munis for everyday golf, plus old-Hollywood clubs like Lakeside and El Caballero.

Hansen Dam fairway

The Best Golf Courses in the San Gabriel Valley

The best San Gabriel Valley golf courses — Rose Bowl golf at Brookside, historic Annandale and San Gabriel CC, and public standouts Industry Hills and Diamond Bar.

Brookside Golf Club 12th hole

Photo courtesy Rustic Canyon Golf Course (rusticcanyongolfcourse.com). Used for editorial coverage.

The Best Golf Courses in the Conejo Valley

The best Conejo Valley golf courses, from Rustic Canyon's top-100 public value to Nicklaus's Sherwood, plus everyday plays in Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.

Rustic Canyon Golf Course

The Best Golf Courses in Long Beach

The best golf courses in Long Beach: the century-old Rec Park 18, Skylinks, El Dorado Park, public-despite-the-name Lakewood, and private Old Ranch in Seal Beach.

Recreation Park 18 fairway

Photo © Tracie Hall (Flickr), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Used for editorial coverage.

The Best Golf Courses in the South Bay

The best golf courses in the South Bay: bookable ocean golf at Trump National and Los Verdes, the 1924 Palos Verdes Golf Club, and the beach cities' best munis.

Tracie Hall

Photo by Wikimedia Commons user Cbl62, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0. Source: commons.wikimedia.org. Used for editorial coverage.

The Best Walking Golf Courses in Los Angeles

The best walking golf courses in Los Angeles: flat, compact, classic-era munis from Rancho Park to Woodley Lakes where carrying your bag beats taking a cart.

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The par-4 18th hole at The Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, CA, with the green set in a natural amphitheater below the clubhouse. Credit: Dan (golfpro1) / Flickr via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Used for editorial coverage.

The Best Golf Courses on LA's Westside

The best Westside Los Angeles golf courses, from Riviera and LACC North to Bel-Air and public Rancho Park — a tour of the Thomas/Bell Golden Age corridor.

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The Most Famous Golf Courses in Los Angeles

The most famous golf courses in Los Angeles: Hogan's Alley at Riviera, LACC's U.S. Open stage, Bel-Air's Swinging Bridge, Hollywood's Lakeside and more.

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Fairway at Chester Washington Golf Course

The Best Cheap Golf Courses in Los Angeles

The best cheap golf courses in Los Angeles: 8 LA County and small-city plays where weekday and twilight rates stretch your golf budget the furthest.

Fairway at Chester Washington Golf Course

The Most Scenic Golf Courses in Los Angeles

The most scenic golf courses in Los Angeles, ranked by views — Palos Verdes ocean cliffs, San Gabriel mountain backdrops, and hilltop panoramas worth the drive.

Tracie Hall

The Best Golf Courses in Los Angeles

The best golf courses in Los Angeles, ranked: Riviera, LACC North, Bel-Air and the Golden Age legends — plus the finest tee times anyone can book.

Dan

The Best Golf Courses for Beginners in Los Angeles

The best golf courses for beginners in Los Angeles, ranked by gentleness — from Vista Valencia's par-61 executive and the par-3 Maggie Hathaway to flat, forgiving munis.

Vista Valencia Golf Course

Best Golf Simulators in Los Angeles

The 10 best indoor golf simulators and virtual golf lounges in Los Angeles — from Santa Monica and the South Bay to DTLA, the Valley and Conejo Valley.

Ohconfucius via Wikimedia Commons

Aerial view of Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, July 2022. Photo by Benoît Prieur, licensed CC0 1.0 Universal (public domain dedication). Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aerial_view_of_Riviera_Country_Club_(Pacific_Palisades)_July_2022.jpg

Amy Alcott: Los Angeles's Hall of Famer

Amy Alcott learned golf in a Westside front yard, won 29 LPGA titles and five majors, and invented the Dinah Shore leap — LA golf's homegrown Hall of Famer.

Benoît Prieur

Tiger Woods hitting a drive. Photo by Keith Allison via Flickr/Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tiger_Woods_drives_by_Allison.jpg

Tiger Woods and Riviera: The Course He Never Won

Tiger Woods's Riviera record is golf's strangest anomaly: a 1992 LA Open debut at 16, 82 PGA Tour wins — and none at the course he now hosts.

Keith Allison via Flickr

Dutch Harrison putting on the 18th green at Riviera Country Club during the 1951 Los Angeles Open, gallery ringing the amphitheater hole. Los Angeles Daily News, January 8, 1951, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the United States: published in the US between 1931 and 1977 without a copyright notice.

William P. Bell: The Builder Behind LA's Golden Age Courses

William P. Bell — Billy Bell — built Riviera, Bel-Air and the LACC North with George C. Thomas Jr. Meet the builder behind LA's golden age golf courses.

Dutch Harrison putting on the 18th green at Riviera Country Club during the 1951 Los Angeles Open, gallery ringing the amphitheater hole. Los Angeles Daily News, January 8, 1951, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain in the United States: published in the US between 1931 and 1977 without a copyright notice.

Renovated green framed by sandy waste areas at Maggie Hathaway Golf Course after the Gil Hanse redesign.

Maggie Hathaway: The Activist With a Golf Course to Her Name

Maggie Hathaway golf course history: the blues singer turned activist who desegregated LA's public golf — and the South LA par-3 reborn under Gil Hanse in 2026.

Renovated green framed by sandy waste areas at Maggie Hathaway Golf Course after the Gil Hanse redesign.

Charlie Sifford: The 1969 LA Open at Rancho Park

Charlie Sifford won the 1969 Los Angeles Open at Rancho Park at 46 — the story of the opening 63, the playoff, and LA's municipal stage for a civil rights milestone.

Ben Olender

Babe Didrikson winning the 80-meter hurdles at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games, August 9, 1932. Agence Rol press photograph, Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica), via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain (author died more than 70 years ago; published abroad before 1989 without notice). Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Los_Angeles,_Babe_Didrickson_gagne_le_80_m_haies_-_btv1b532584280.jpg

Babe Didrikson Zaharias and the 1938 Los Angeles Open

Babe Zaharias entered the 1938 Los Angeles Open at Griffith Park as the first woman in a PGA Tour field — then returned to make the cut at Riviera in 1945.

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Ben Hogan in January 1948, during LA Open week at Riviera Country Club. Public domain — published in the US 1931–1977 without copyright notice (Los Angeles Daily News, published January 6, 1948). Source: Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ben_Hogan_1948.jpg

Ben Hogan: Why Riviera Is Called Hogan's Alley

Ben Hogan won three times at Riviera in 18 months — the 1947 and 1948 LA Opens and the 1948 U.S. Open — and the Pacific Palisades course became Hogan's Alley.

Wikimedia Commons

Bing Crosby posing with golf balls collected for the WWII scrap rubber drive, ca. June 1942. Public domain (work of a U.S. federal government employee; FDR Presidential Library / NARA NAID 195573), via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bing_Crosby.jpg

Hollywood's Home Game: Golf and the Entertainment Industry

Hollywood golf history: Lakeside Golf Club's celebrity members Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, Hillcrest's comedians' Round Table, and the movies filmed at Riviera.

Bing Crosby posing with golf balls collected for the WWII scrap rubber drive, ca. June 1942. Public domain (work of a U.S. federal government employee; FDR Presidential Library / NARA NAID 195573), via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bing_Crosby.jpg

Spectators during the 1949 Los Angeles Open at Riviera Country Club. Public domain (Los Angeles Daily News, 1949), via Wikimedia Commons: File:1949_Los_Angeles_Open.jpg.

The Los Angeles Open at 100: From the Windmill City to the Genesis Invitational

Los Angeles Open history, 100 years on: from a record $10,000 purse at LACC in 1926 through Rancho Park and Hogan's Alley to today's Genesis Invitational.

Spectators during the 1949 Los Angeles Open at Riviera Country Club. Public domain (Los Angeles Daily News, 1949), via Wikimedia Commons: File:1949_Los_Angeles_Open.jpg.

Charlie Sifford celebrates winning the 1969 Los Angeles Open at Rancho Park Golf Course. Photo by Ben Olender, Los Angeles Times, January 13, 1969. Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection, UCLA Library. Licensed CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charlie_Sifford_winning_1969_LA_Open.jpg).

Breaking Through: How LA's Public Courses Opened Golf to Everyone

From Western Avenue to Rancho Park, how Black golfers and trailblazing women broke professional golf's color and gender lines on LA's public courses.

Ben Olender

The Most Influential Figures in Los Angeles Golf

The Los Angeles golf legends — champions, architects, and activists — whose defining moments made LA the game's biggest stage, from Hogan's Alley to Rancho Park.

Ben Olender

A George C. Thomas Jr.-era Los Angeles golf hole

George C. Thomas Jr.: The Architect Behind LA's Greatest Courses

How one Philadelphia-born amateur shaped Riviera, Bel-Air, LACC and the Griffith Park munis.

A George C. Thomas Jr.-era Los Angeles golf hole

Babe Didrikson winning the first heat of the 80-meter hurdles at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Public domain (US) — Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, item 95503372 (cph 3c13281), New York World-Telegram and Sun Collection.

The History of Golf in Los Angeles

The history of golf in Los Angeles, from 1897's Windmill Links to the first LA Open, Hogan's Alley and Riviera, and the road to the 2028 Olympics.

Babe Didrikson winning the first heat of the 80-meter hurdles at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Public domain (US) — Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, item 95503372 (cph 3c13281), New York World-Telegram and Sun Collection.