Los Angeles Country Club North: World's #18 Golf Course

Swaddled in a sea of concrete, steel, and stucco between Beverly Hills, Century City, and Westwood sits one of golf’s most improbable masterpieces. The North Course at Los Angeles Country Club occupies what might be the world’s most valuable real estate dedicated to golf, a 314-acre oasis that has barely changed in character since George C. Thomas Jr. routed it nearly a century ago. What struck me immediately about LACC is how utterly divorced it feels from the urban sprawl that surrounds it. The moment you enter the property, Los Angeles disappears. You’re transported to a landscape of natural canyons, native oaks, and tumbling terrain that feels more like the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains than the heart of one of America’s largest cities.

History and Design

The Los Angeles Country Club traces its origins to 1897, when a group of golf enthusiasts founded the club at Pico and Alvarado Streets. After two moves in its early years, the club settled at its current location at Pico and Western in 1899, where it laid out its first course on rolling terrain bisected by natural barrancas. In 1921, the club acquired additional land in what was then a remote canyon area near Beverly Hills, eventually relocating its entire operation there by 1928.

George C. Thomas Jr., the architect behind Riviera and Bel Air, received the commission to design both the North and South courses in the mid-1920s. Thomas routed the North Course in 1927, transforming the club’s previous layout into an architectural marvel that would influence Southern California golf design for generations. His work here represents the pinnacle of his strategic thinking, a course of ingenious flexibility with tees placed at different angles and distances to change the playing character daily.

The North Course remained relatively untouched for decades, a testament to Thomas’s original vision. In 2010, Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner undertook a comprehensive restoration that returned the course to Thomas’s design intent while modernizing infrastructure and agronomic practices. Their work earned widespread acclaim, and in 2015, Hanse returned to oversee restoration of the clubhouse and South Course. The 2010 restoration proved so successful that LACC was selected to host the 2017 Walker Cup and the 2023 U.S. Open, the club’s first major championship.

Course Layout and Signature Holes

The North Course plays to a par 71 measuring 7,373 yards from the championship tees, though most members experience it from the more reasonable 6,466 yards off the blues. What makes the routing special isn’t length but Thomas’s manipulation of angles, elevation changes, and strategic options. The fairways are generous by modern standards, yet they undulate and twist through the property’s natural contours in ways that make placement critical.

The opening hole, a 447-yard par four, sets the tone immediately. It plays downhill off the tee with fairway bunkers guarding the ideal line, then climbs back uphill to a green complex that reveals Thomas’s genius for creating multiple approaches based on tee shot position. The fourth hole, a 254-yard par three, might be the course’s most photographed. It plays across a natural barranca to a green perched on the far hillside, requiring a committed mid-iron to long iron depending on tee placement.

I’d argue that the stretch from holes 11 through 15 contains some of the finest consecutive holes in American golf. The 11th, a 303-yard par four, tempts aggressive players to drive the green while offering strategic alternatives for those playing more conservatively. The par-five 12th demands precision on the approach to a shallow green guarded by deep bunkers. The 13th, a dogleg left par four of 431 yards, features one of Thomas’s most complex green sites, a putting surface that slopes dramatically from back to front.

The closing stretch provides a stern test without resorting to brutality. The 16th plays 166 yards to a green surrounded by severe bunkering, while the 17th asks players to navigate a narrow fairway between barrancas before attacking a well-defended green. The 18th, a 290-yard par four in the 2023 U.S. Open setup, typically plays longer for members but still tempts bold players to take on the green with driver while offering bailout options for those choosing discretion.

Golf Digest’s hole-by-hole flyover showcases the North Course’s dramatic routing through natural canyons and elevation changes.

This aerial perspective reveals how Thomas worked with the property’s natural features rather than against them, creating a course that feels both manufactured and completely organic. The variety of hole lengths and orientations becomes obvious when viewed from above, explaining why the course presents a different examination each day depending on tee placement and conditions.

What Makes It World-Class

What separates LACC from other elite American parkland courses is the naturalness of its setting and the timelessness of its design strategy. Thomas created a course that rewards precision and course management over pure power, a philosophy that feels more relevant today than ever. The green complexes here rival those at any course in the world, with subtle but significant slopes, false fronts, and internal contours that make three-putts common if you’re on the wrong level.

The course’s flexibility represents design genius that was decades ahead of its time. Thomas installed multiple tee boxes that don’t simply add or subtract distance but fundamentally change hole strategy by altering angles of attack. A hole that plays as a short par four one day might require a completely different approach when played from a longer tee at a different angle the next. This variability keeps the course fresh for members who play it regularly while also allowing the club to present dramatically different tests for championships.

Gil Hanse’s restoration work honored Thomas’s original intent while subtly modernizing the course to handle contemporary equipment. Bunkers were rebuilt to their original shapes and depths, native vegetation was reintroduced, and green complexes were returned to their intended contours. The result is a course that looks and plays much as it did in 1927 while still providing a legitimate challenge to the world’s best players.

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Playing Experience

Playing the North Course at LACC feels like stepping back in time, not because the conditions are archaic but because the design philosophy represents golf as it was meant to be played before modern equipment turned so many classic courses obsolete. The fairways are firm, the greens are fast and true, and the strategic decisions are genuine, not manufactured by narrowing landing areas or adding penal hazards.

This is a private club in the truest sense, and access is extremely limited to members and their guests. The clubhouse exudes old-world elegance without stuffiness, a place where tradition is honored but not worshipped. Conditioning is immaculate year-round, with firm turf conditions that allow for the ground game and creative shotmaking that Thomas envisioned.

What I love most about the playing experience here is the quiet. Despite being surrounded by millions of people and some of the world’s most expensive real estate, the course feels utterly secluded. Native oaks frame many holes, barrancas add both aesthetic beauty and strategic interest, and the routing ensures you rarely see more than one or two other groups during a round. The pace of play is brisk, with members typically finishing in under four hours.

The challenges here are mental as much as physical. Thomas’s greens reward players who think their way around the course with smart strategic decisions, understanding how to use slopes and contours to feed the ball to difficult pin positions. The bunkers, deep and steep-faced as Thomas intended, penalize poor execution while remaining visually fair. Nothing about this course feels tricked up or unfair, just brilliantly conceived and masterfully executed.

Notable Tournaments and Moments

For decades, LACC maintained an intensely private profile, rarely hosting outside events and never a major championship. That changed dramatically in recent years as the club embraced a more public role in championship golf. The 2017 Walker Cup brought international attention to the North Course, with Team USA defeating Great Britain and Ireland 19-7 in a dominant performance.

The 2023 U.S. Open marked a watershed moment for both the club and championship golf. Wyndham Clark captured his first major title with a closing-round 70 to finish at 10-under par, holding off Rory McIlroy by one stroke. The tournament showcased the North Course to a global audience, with players and commentators praising the strategic variety and fair test the course presented. Rickie Fowler tied the U.S. Open single-round scoring record with an opening 62, demonstrating that the course rewarded excellent play while still defending par over four days.

The tournament’s most iconic moment came on the 16th hole during Sunday’s final round, where several contenders saw their chances evaporate in the diabolical par three’s collection areas and bunkers. Clark’s steady play down the stretch, particularly his approach to 18 and subsequent two-putt for par, sealed his victory and cemented LACC’s reputation as a worthy major championship venue.

The course has also hosted numerous USGA amateur championships over the decades, including the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur. These events have revealed future stars while allowing glimpses of the North Course’s brilliance to those fortunate enough to attend or watch.

Visitor Information

The Los Angeles Country Club is one of America’s most exclusive private clubs, and public play is not available. Access is limited to members and their guests, with membership by invitation only. The club maintains its privacy zealously, rarely allowing outside photography or media access beyond sanctioned championship events.

For golfers visiting Los Angeles who want to experience George Thomas’s architectural genius, Riviera Country Club occasionally hosts charity events with limited public access, while Bel Air Country Club (also a Thomas design) is similarly private. The nearest high-quality public options include Rustic Canyon Golf Course in Moorpark, designed by Gil Hanse and representing many of Thomas’s strategic principles in a public setting.

Los Angeles offers dozens of excellent public and resort courses within an hour’s drive. Torrey Pines in San Diego (two hours south) provides a U.S. Open venue open to the public, while Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz (six hours north) offers another Thomas masterpiece with slightly more accessible membership policies. Full details about area golf options are available through the Southern California Golf Association.

The best time to visit Los Angeles for golf is October through May, when conditions are typically dry and temperatures moderate. Summer months can be hot inland but pleasant near the coast. Most area courses maintain excellent conditions year-round thanks to Southern California’s temperate climate.

If you’re fortunate enough to receive an invitation to play LACC, accept immediately. These opportunities are exceedingly rare and represent a chance to experience one of golf’s most significant courses in its most private setting.

The Verdict

The North Course at Los Angeles Country Club stands as proof that great golf architecture transcends era and equipment changes. George Thomas created a course here that rewards strategic thinking, precise execution, and creative shotmaking while never feeling unfair or outdated. For serious students of golf course architecture and anyone with access to this intensely private venue, this is bucket-list golf at its finest.

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