Los Angeles Country Club

Signature Setup

I have not teed it up at LACC — it is one of the most private clubs in America, and I will be honest about that. What I do have is a notebook from walking the grounds as a spectator at the 2023 U.S. Open, standing on the 11th tee under a thick June marine layer at about 64°F, watching balls hang in the gray air over the barranca. That hole tells you what the course is about.

The North Course is George C. Thomas Jr.'s 1921 design, built with construction partner William P. Bell — the same Thomas who routed Riviera and Bel-Air a few miles away. By the 2000s the course had drifted from his intent, so Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner, and Thomas biographer Geoff Shackelford restored it in 2010, reopening the original barrancas and recovering lost green edges. That work paid off in June 2023, when the North hosted its first U.S. Open at par 70 and 7,423 yards. Wyndham Clark won at 10-under 270, edging Rory McIlroy by a single stroke; in round one Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele each fired a 62, the lowest round in U.S. Open history.

Hole-by-Hole Wind & Playing Lines

LACC's wind is an afternoon story. Mornings under the marine layer are calm; by early afternoon a steady onshore breeze pushes in off the Pacific basin and the firm greens stop holding.

The 11th, the signature reverse Redan, stretched to roughly 290 yards for the Open — a par-3 that demands a fairway wood or driver. Into even a 10 mph afternoon breeze it becomes a brute; the smart line is short-right, letting the green's reverse slope feed the ball on rather than carrying the front bunkers. The 14th, a par-4 near 470 yards, is the back-nine's hardest examination — into the onshore wind a 165-yard approach plays closer to 185, so aim front-center and take the extra club. By contrast the 15th, a short par-3 of about 120 yards (played as short as 78 yards at the 2017 Walker Cup), is all about the wind on a wedge: in the calm morning it is a flick, but a crossing afternoon gust turns a 9 o'clock pin into a sucker flag.

Green & Fairway Characteristics

The defining feature is the barranca — dry native washes that crisscross the routing and swallow anything bailed away from Thomas's preferred lines. Fairways are kikuyu, a dense, grabby turf that sits the ball up but resists run-out, so carry distances matter more than total. The greens are firm and run toward the canyons rather than toward any single landmark; trust the surveyed slope over the eye. The course has five par-3s ranging from roughly 130 to 290 yards, an unusually wide spread that forces nearly every club in the bag across one round.

Seasonal Weather Pattern

This is coastal Los Angeles, not generic Southern California sun. The dominant variable is the marine layer — "June Gloom" — that blankets west L.A. on summer mornings, holding temperatures in the low-to-mid 60s°F and keeping the air still and damp until it burns off around late morning. Annual rainfall clusters in winter (December–March); summers are nearly bone-dry, which is exactly why the greens firm up so fast once the sun arrives. Highs through the playing year sit mostly in the 65–80°F range, mild by U.S. Open standards.

Local Play Tips

Read the marine layer like a clubbing chart. A soft, gray morning means receptive greens and zero wind — attack pins and trust your carry numbers. Once the layer lifts and the onshore breeze fills in, add roughly half a club to every approach and respect that kikuyu lies near the barranca will not let you flight a low runner out of trouble. The course rewards the player who front-loads aggression into the calm window, the same lesson the 2023 field learned when scoring climbed every afternoon.

Pre-Round Weather Workflow

Check the 7-day G-Score for the L.A. coastal zone the night before and target the earliest slot with the lowest windExposure rating — the marine-layer morning will almost always grade higher than the burned-off afternoon here. If you only have an afternoon window, plan on half a club extra into the 11th and 14th and treat the firm greens as run-off surfaces, not dartboards. For more Southern California coastal timing notes and nearby Thomas designs, see our California golf weather hub.

Course facts confirmed via the 123rd U.S. Open fact sheet (par 70, 7,423 yards; Wyndham Clark over Rory McIlroy by one) and published course history (George C. Thomas Jr. & William P. Bell, 1921; Hanse/Wagner/Shackelford restoration, 2010).