Los Angeles Country Club North Course Review: The Front-9 (2023 U.S. Open)

At some point during this week's 123rd U.S. Open, players will grumble they don't like a particular hole or two on the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club, which is hosting the championship for the first time.  A hot mic might catch someone throwing expletives after their tee shot on No. 13 doesn't hold the severely canted fairway.  Other players might be entirely disgusted to find their errant shots in the tall, clumping fescue that pinches the narrowest green on the North at No. 9.

But as The Rock might tell them, "It doesn't matter if you like LACC North!"  And he'd be right.  What matters is if the players can conquer it.  Because this is the United States Open baby!  The toughest test in golf.  And LACC North will also show it's the most complete test in golf.

I took you through an overview of LACC North in my course primer review here.  You'll see wider fairways than most U.S. Open venues but effectively playing narrower with unforgiving slopes, undulations, and no intermediate rough cut.  Tapestries of uneven fairway lies, spiteful Bermuda rough, and fescue encompassing bunkers will send shots ricocheting off greens, often into even worse trouble.  And the putting surfaces themselves with ticklish contours and black-hearted fall offs will gives players fits.

Make no mistake about it.  LACC North is ready for the spotlight and we're going to be captivated by its fireworks and kaleidoscope of tests.  From inevitable collapses to dazzling displays of skill, LACC North will elevate all.  This championship is primed to be one of the greatest U.S. Opens in history.

So let's take a closer look at all the holes on LACC North.  What makes them unique, what makes them challenging.  How players will need to approach certain shots, what the consequences will be for missing, options that exist to playing the same holes differently.  And thanks again to my caddie for all the expert insights.  This review will cover the front-9 at LACC. In the next review we'll cover LACC's back-9, which is a little more exposed to the wind and with a closing three-hole stretch that sets the meter to maximum beatdown.

HOLE NO. 1: Par-5, 590 Yards

The opening hole has been described as a gentle handshake introduction to LACC North and is reachable in two for big bombers.  You tee off with the clubhouse only a few steps away, that's a lot of member eyeballs.  And during the U.S. Open multi-level hospitality chalets run down the entire right side of the fairway.  That's a lot of fan eyeballs.  The fairway is shared with the 18th hole (a double-fairway if you will), and between them runs 135 yards in width.  Pretty much the same distance of dead-center at Dodger Stadium.

 

 

Before you start thinking this is just another bomb and gouge hole however, remember we're talking about architect George Thomas here.  He gives us options on how to attack this hole, and proper thought and execution will be as advantageous as if you were to place your ball in a spot with your bare hands.  Fairway bunkers on the right and further ahead on the left give players a first taste of their intricate shaping.

 

 

Approaches from the left fairway will likely have to negotiate a long greenside bunker that snakes around the entire side of the green.  While approaches from the right will have an advantage of the green opening up from that side.  About 80 yards from the green is another bunker on the right that's primarily a visual intimidation on approach and something players who lay up will have to contend with.

 

 

The green slopes from right to left with significant runoff in the back-left.  Left pins will be daunting and require a deft touch on approach to survive.  Hit the putting surface too far left and you can just wave goodbye, balls won't stop rolling until they're trickled off the green or into the bunker.  Happy to report I birdied this first hole (though we played from the White tees).  Good news, bad news however is this was my only birdie of the day.

 

 

 

Caddie Tip: You may want to club down anywhere in from the Pro Shop of the clubhouse.  The hole runs slightly downhill with a prevailing downwind.

HOLE NO. 2: Par-4, 497 Yards

The gloves come off on No. 2 and also highlight a Thomas design principle that an easy par should be followed by a hard par to begin your round.  A fairway bunker on the right will be in play for careless drives.  Even further right into a thicket of trees and you have no realistic chance of hitting the green.

 

Ideally you want to stay right-center off the tee as the fairway slopes hard to the left.  This highlights another design philosophy of Thomas, requiring you to consider how your ball will react after it hits the ground.  The left bunker will be in play for overcooked draws and general mishits.  Ultimately you don't want to be in either the right or left bunker because of what you're faced with next.

 

 

The green is completely fronted by an immense barranca that runs through the entire front-9.  If you're hitting your approach from the bunkers or (especially) the gummy Bermuda rough it might be a good idea to lay up and not risk the disaster of ending up in this hot mess.  And again we see another Thomas design tenet of not wanting to see the same kind of shots into greens on consecutive holes, even for approach shots from the fairway.  The USGA likes players to get all their club dirty in the U.S. Open, and this won't be a wedge into the green hole like it will be for many on No. 1.

 

Along with the greens on hole Nos. 6 and 8, the green here was moved back to its original Thomas location in the Gil Hanse renovation of 2010.  And of course this brought the barranca back with a harrowing vengeance as a strategic hazard, on several holes really as we're going to see.  I absolutely loved this approach, even gave me a few butterflies.  The green itself is wide but shallow.  Subtle contours make longer putts confusing.  A small plateau in the back-right will be a tough pin position.  Miss long and you're short-sided in a dry creek wash area with zero chance of a up-and-down.  Unless you're superhuman.

 

 

 

Caddie Tip: You often have to play a club 10-yards longer just to clear the barranca on approach.  It's a little bit uphill and the green is edged into the barranca, so the possibility of balls rolling or bouncing back down is very real.  It's primarily the wind that runs back in your face that affects this shot most.

 

"Little 17": Hidden between hole Nos. 2 and 17 is a charming hole members call "Little 17."  This hole was part of the original 1920's W. Herbert Fowler design.  But with its incredibly small and severely sloped back-to-front green it played like a punch in your face at the California State Open in 1925 and again at the Los Angeles Open one year later.  Thomas didn't believe there was a place for this hole in his redesign (a few years later) so it was abandoned and eventually became an overgrown waste area.  Hanse and Los Angeles Country Club membership decided it would be intriguing to bring back this hidden mystery hole during his 2010 restoration - if it could be done without interrupting Thomas' design.  And today Little 17 plays as LACC North's 19th hole from an area near the No. 2 tee at about 130 yards. 

HOLE NO. 3: Par-4, 419 Yards 

No. 3 on the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club runs uphill and immediately presents options off the tee.  Whichever route you choose however, the fairway isn't entirely visible.

 

You can stay left and try to avoid the barranca that runs halfway up the hole for a distance advantage and also a flat lie in a small valley or bowl-like area.  It's a semi-blind approach from the left however.  Alternatively you can stay right with your drive and gain a visual advantage being higher up and seeing more of the green on approach.  The sacrifice is you're further out for your second shot.  Balls hit to the right will funnel left but don't start your shot too far right or you'll lose it in the trees.

 

With palm trees on the horizon you're hitting the approach into a green protected by bunkers left, center, and right.  The bunkers are big.  They are deep.  And with thick fescue rough surrounding them it's a pretty intimidating sight.  Step on your approach too much (hoping to avoid the bunkers) and you're in for a world of pain if you go long.

 

The green shape has been described as a tooth molar (with roots on either side of the center bunker) and is perched up with the bunkers cut up into them.  It's the largest putting surface on LACC North (more than 9,500 square feet), but also one of the most severely sloping greens on the course from back to front.  Front pins aren't merely nasty, they're hellacious.

 

 

 

Looking back down the third fairway you see some of the downtown Los Angeles skyline.  The scope and surrounds of this view hit me hard.  Man versus nature.  Rugged, rolling, meandering LACC North surrounded by one of the biggest metropolises in the world.  It's a sight that's burned into my memory forever.

 

 

Caddie Tip: Whatever else you do on this hole, stay below the pin on approach. 

HOLE NO 4: Par-3, 228 Yards 

I'd like to tell you I aced the first par-3 on LACC North.  I'd like to tell you I even just hit the green.  But honestly it was more likely I sliced one into Lionel Richie's mansion (more on that later).  LACC North No. 4 is about 30 feet downhill to a green that looks like an island, and a small island at that.  Runoffs plummet like Disneyland waterslides.  And they're everywhere.  Despite being downhill this hole can play a couple of clubs more or less because the winds swirl here a lot.

 

A barranca runs in front of the perched green with a deep bunker on the left and another bunker not quite as deep on the right.  And again that tall grabby fescue everywhere might as well be barbed wire.  Los Angeles Country Club North Course No. 4 is an absolutely dramatic one-shotter.

 

 

 

Long is all kinds of trouble into a sandy area with wild-grass, plants, bushes, and trees.   Hit one off the back right-side of the green and you're down a swale so deep you might get lost.  You can't see the putting surface down here either.  The No. 4 green is pretty much that John Wick surrounded by guns meme.

 

 

Thomas loved par-3's because conceivably they're holes where we can all hit the green.  But he made sure LACC North would require us to hit very different clubs into each of it's five one-shotters, potentially anything from driver to wedge.  The vastly unique holes run in different directions, some uphill, some downhill.  They play in contrasting shapes and sizes.  And many consider these to be the best collection of par-3's anywhere.

 

 

So back to Lionel Richie.  Apparently slicing shots up into his $40 million, 28-room mansion is so common he collects all the balls hit up there.  And any given day he walks out onto a balcony and yells down asking if anyone needs any.  If you say yes Lionel hooks you up and throws a bunch down at you (good ones too, mostly Titleist).  Sure the occasional sliced ball causes some damage up there.  But don't feel bad for Lionel.  I was told he's getting $1 million to rent out his place just for the week of the U.S. Open.

 

 

Caddie Tip: "No, you probably shouldn't go back to the tee and try to intentionally slice one into Lionel's home just to see if he comes out."

HOLE NO. 5: Par-4, 480 Yards 

Now I'm not saying I sliced my drive off the tee on this number 1 handicap hole at LACC North.  I am saying however you absolutely under no circumstances want to slice your ball off the tee on this number 1 handicap hole at LACC North.  A big, BIG number is pretty much guaranteed.

You have a blind tee shot on No. 5 and the fairway slopes hard from left to right.  And again it bears mentioning although the fairways are wide at Los Angeles Country Club, you really need to control distance and calculate runout off the tee.  It's a daunting shot to either straddle the left side or carve one back into fairway slope to avoid being on the low side for your approach.  And being on the right or wrong side of the fairway will change the angles on approach making your second shot anything from optimal to almost hopeless.

 

Most players will aim at the four palm trees off the backside of the green.  Trees and Bermuda rough guard the left and right sides.  And there's even a bundling cluster of vines your ball will definitely be lost in if you go too far right (hey... it happens to the best of us, right?).

The 5th green is large and molar shaped (like hole No. 3), and mounds on the left side can help funnel the ball to center and right pin positions.  They can also cause balls to squirt and ricochet with distressing results.  Still though, you have the ground option if you don't want to deal with the two wide reaching bunkers right-front and right protecting the green.  Pins on the right side will be rattling.  The center bunker is so deep you can't even see the putting surface.  And if you short-side yourself in the right bunker just take your medicine and move on.

 

 

 

 

 

Caddie Tip: More of a pick me up than a tip this time.  Walking off the 5th green caddie says, "I've seen a lot worse on this hole."  Not exactly ideal motivation but the way I'm wired it fires me up. 

HOLE NO 6: Par-4, 330 Yards 

It's about 2:30 in the afternoon when we reach LACC's preeminent risk-reward hole.  We're playing from the white (292-yard) tees and I'm not here to play it safe.  So of course I go for it.  And I hit an absolute laser... right into the trees.  My ball never comes down, gobbled up like it was abducted by aliens.  That's two lost balls on two consecutive holes for those keeping track.  And it stings.  This drivable No. 6 is where real agony is going to start for many players during this Open championship.

When you step onto the elevated tee your adrenaline starts pumping hard.  The hole plays significantly downhill and doglegs sharply to the right around a hill with a bundle of trees that block your vision of the green.  The green is perched, extremely narrow, and comes in at less than 3,500 square feet making it the smallest target on LACC North.  And the putting surface is protected by a barranca and bunker in the front, another bunker in the back, and that cutthroat fescue rough all over the place.  No pressure, but at least you have options.  Layers and layers of options really.

 

 

 

Left off the tee is the safest play with an oasis of wide open short grass.  But from this angle you're hitting into the skinniest part of the green for your second shot.  Too close to the green and you'll need a soft touch or watch your ball one-hop into that back bunker or fescue.  And the green moves incredibly fast back to front so good luck with that up-and-down.  If you're far enough from the green to put spin on your second shot you still have to be pinpoint accurate because of the angle into this cramped putting surface.  Miss short in the barranca, fescue, or bunker and cue up the Benny Hill music.

 

 

 

Your second option off the tee is to go right of the trees atop the hill and hopefully find the large expanse of closely mown grass to the right of the green.  This landing area is smaller than the vast fairway real estate left.  And you also have clumpy fescue rough to contend with if you go long.  From this angle however, you're hitting into the deepest part of the green without any forced carry, and can even hit a bump-and-run to the pin.  Better stick it close though as you'll have a lot more break to account for on longer putts.

 

 

And finally, you can go with the nuclear hero option.  Right over the trees and onto the green.  On in one with a chance at eagle.  Were it so easy.  Coming in hot and missing in either the front or back bunkers can leave your ball plugged like it has roots.  Miss in the rough short or long and you're hitting the next shot from a fescue pompadour of misery.  And then of course there's always the barranca miss if maximum disaster is your thing.

 

 

 

 

Caddie Tip: "Playing bad golf doesn't make you a bad person." Caddie might be moving into readjust Pete's expectations mode at this point.  I reply I'm just playing rope-a-dope. 

HOLE NO. 7: Par-3, 284 Yards 

Time to step on the gas for this second one-shotter at LACC North and I deliver.  Living up to my motto "one out of every four shots I can be dangerous" I pull out 3-wood, land one just before the green, and let my ball roll up and on for an easy two-putt par.  I don't take any satisfaction that all the others in my group found the greenside bunker and deep rough slithering along the right side.  But I had to make a statement.

 

 

The 7th hole at Los Angeles Country Club will play as one of the longest par-3s in U.S. Open history, and it's not even the longest par-3 on the course.  The pros will play from an elevated tee.  If you hook the ball hard left you're out of bounds.  And going too far left in general can put you in trees that make finding your ball a crapshoot.  Right is safer but you might have to deal with that pesky Bermuda rough on misses.

 

 

You're at the low point on LACC North property on the 7th hole.  And the barranca that cuts in front of the green creates a split fairway before winding into the long bunker that protects the front right and entire right side of the green.  The bunker is dug deep into fingered rough that could pose a real challenge if you get unlucky with a lie too close to the edges.

 

 

 

 

The green is open in the front allowing both ground and air options to attack different pin locations.  The putting surface is large, probably about 100 feet deep with some right to left slope.  Falloff on the back is steep and can put you on the neighboring 8th tee box for errant drives and poorly struck recovery shots and putts.

 

 

 

Caddie Tip: Hole plays uphill into the wind.  If pin is back you want to play to the number though, don't go above the hole or it will definitely run out and off green. 

HOLE NO 8: Par-5, 537 Yards 

Did you ever hit a shot that was a bad shot but you acted like you intended it all along because if it was slightly less bad it would have been one of the most amazing shots ever?  Of course you have, you're a golfer.  And that's what I did on the long par-5, No. 8 at Los Angeles Country Club.

The risk-reward 8th hole is spectacular.  A double-dogleg hole that moves left to right off the tee and then right to left into a perched green.  A collection of trees and a barranca splits the two fairways.  And that barranca runs up the entire left side of the green.  Again we see the Thomas ethos of mixing it up with one type of shot off the tee and then the mirror opposite type of shot on approach.

 

 

 

The ideal drive plays left-center of the first fairway which slopes significantly left to right.  You either want to play a gentle fade into the fairway and let the slope take your ball down to the right, or cut your drive into the slope for a second shot that leaves you more of a straight line into the green.  Misses far left will complicate with two angled fairway bunkers.  Whatever kind of drive you hit, you're likely to have an uneven lie with the ball below your feet on approach.

 

 

When my caddie told me the bold play is over the trees that's all he needed to say.  We were hitting from tees almost 50 yards up from what they'll play for the U.S. Open.  It's about the same distance to the end of the first fairway as it is to the beginning of the second.  And hitting from the second fairway gives you a straight line into the green with a flat lie and no obstruction or real trouble.  Of course I go for it.

Problem is I couldn't execute it.  My drive did clear the tree-line, but as it started tailing off hard right I knew I was cooked.  No body English or yelling at my ball to hold on would do any good.  And it was lost in some waste area up a small hill on the other side of the right fairway.  You know what though?  I'd hit that exact same shot next time because no guts no glory baby.

 

Assuming you safely hit the first fairway off the tee, on approach you need to work your ball into the green from the right or lay up in the right fairway.  If you do go for it in two that barranca all along the left side is in play along with a general waste area that's nightmare fuel and flat-out dirty to recover from.  The better miss is definitely in the right greenside bunker.  The perched green is one of the smallest on LACC North with some wicked contour and leans forcefully to the left.

 

 

 

 

Caddie Tip: For your approach stay on the right side of the green because everything funnels to the left. 

HOLE NO. 9: Par-3, 171 Yards 

The ecstasy: Pulling out my 24 degree hybrid and hitting the green.  I've got swagger in my step again baby.  The agony: Three-putting and trudging over to the nearby 10th tee.  The puzzle that is Los Angeles Country Club North continues to squeeze my brain in a vice.  This is the sixth hole on the front nine that plays over a barranca.  Walking the bridge from tee to green I didn't expect it to be a silver lining that I didn't dump one in the gorge.

 

 

 

You're hitting a semi-blind tee shot some 20 feet up into the green with the clubhouse as a stunning backdrop.  And there's almost always a lot of wind blowing back in your face.  This 9th hole at LACC North plays about two clubs up and can even play four clubs up for pins in the back.

 

The 9th green is very deep (about 45 yards long) but slender like a tamale pepper.  In fact this is the narrowest and deepest green on the course.  Waist-high bunkers are cut into the putting surface and protect the front, right, and left.

 

 

 

Numerous levels and mounds on the oval-shaped green can make putting from anywhere exasperating (as I learned).  Above the hole is lightning fast and front pin locations will be positively catastrophic.  And just to make this monster of a par-3 even more harrowing, it does you dirty with falloff on the back-right and left into that tall merciless fescue rough.

 

 

There's lunch waiting for us at the turn.  I grab a grilled chicken wrap, stick a cool blue Gatorade in my bag, and for whatever reason the Bee Gees Stayin' Alive pops into my head.  I'm clearly both delirious and determined.

Caddie Tip: Don't go too long on right side over the bunker or you could be out of bounds near the cart barn.

READ MORE: Los Angeles Country Club North Course Review: The Back-9 (2023 U.S. Open)