The field desk · Los Angeles

Stories from the public game.

Reporting, guides, history, routes, and useful field notes for golfers across Los Angeles.

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Hassan Ayub and Erin Murray wearing Metalwood Studio apparel above Los Angeles. Photo by Ryan Thomas Murray, courtesy of Metalwood Studio, from the official SS23 lookbook: https://metalwood.studio/lookbook/metalwood-studio-ss23-1st-delivery-lookbook

STORY

Metalwood Studio Is Los Angeles Golf's Nostalgia Machine

Cole Young turned vintage clubs, '90s golf style and Los Angeles public-course culture into Metalwood Studio, a La Brea shop with global collaborations and a point of view.

Sep 1, 2026

42 stories

Latest first

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

ARCHIVE

Rustic Canyon: How a $3 Million Course Became an American Public-Golf Classic

How Rustic Canyon turned a protected Moorpark wash and a $3 million budget into one of America's most admired public golf courses near Los Angeles and beyond.

Sep 1, 2026

An aircraft approaches the runway at Los Angeles International Airport at night, framed by airfield and terminal lights. Photo courtesy Los Angeles World Airports / Jacob Brosseau.

RANKED

The Best Golf Courses Near LAX

Choose golf near LAX by a realistic two-hour, half-day or full-day window, with September 2026 course facts, club rentals and airport buffer advice for safer planning.

Sep 1, 2026

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

STORY

Wilson vs Harding: Choosing Between Griffith Park's Two Golf Courses

Compare Wilson and Harding at Griffith Park on length, strategy, price, booking and fit before choosing your Los Angeles municipal round in September 2026.

Sep 1, 2026

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

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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).

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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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.

Aug 2, 2026

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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.

Aug 2, 2026

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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.

Aug 2, 2026

RANKED

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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

RANKED

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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

RANKED

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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.

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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.

Aug 2, 2026

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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.

Aug 2, 2026

Fairway at Chester Washington Golf Course

RANKED

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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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.

Aug 2, 2026

RANKED

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.

Aug 2, 2026

RANKED

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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.

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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).

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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.

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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.

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

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

ARCHIVE

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.

Aug 2, 2026

RANKED

The Oldest Golf Courses in Los Angeles

A century-plus of LA golf, from turn-of-the-century clubs to the 1920s Golden Age.

Aug 2, 2026

A demanding Los Angeles championship golf hole

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The Hardest Golf Courses in Los Angeles

High slopes, long carries and small greens — LA's most demanding tests.

Aug 2, 2026

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

ARCHIVE

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

How George C. Thomas Jr. brought strategic Golden Age design to Los Angeles — shaping Riviera, Bel-Air, LACC, Palos Verdes and Griffith Park's public courses.

Aug 2, 2026

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The Best Municipal Golf Courses in Los Angeles

City- and county-run courses that punch far above their green fees.

Aug 2, 2026

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Best Public Golf Courses in Los Angeles

The best rounds anyone can book across the LA area — municipal classics to daily-fee gems.

Aug 2, 2026

Coastal hole at a private Los Angeles golf club

RANKED

Most Exclusive Golf and Country Clubs in Los Angeles

Inside LA's most private fairways — from Riviera and Bel-Air to LACC and Sherwood.

Aug 2, 2026

Golf pro shop interior (Royal Cromer Golf Club). Photo by Kolforn via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Cover image for "Best Golf Stores in Los Angeles."

STORY

Best Golf Stores in Los Angeles

From big-box gear at PGA Tour Superstore to premium club fitting at True Spec and Club Champion, here are the best golf stores and fitters in Los Angeles.

Jul 6, 2026

STORY

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.

Jul 6, 2026

Golfers at Griffith Park Golf Course, Los Angeles. Photo by Billy Hathorn via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0. Used for editorial coverage on a non-commercial site.

STORY

Top Instructors and Coaches in Los Angeles

Meet some of the most respected golf instructors and coaches teaching across Los Angeles, from Griffith Park to the South Bay.

Jul 6, 2026

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