When the Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course makes its major championship debut this week, golfers will find all the standard U.S. Open fare — elevation changes, tall fescue, fast greens.
The course will also offer something the best golfers in the world are far less accustomed to seeing in a major: a par-3 that can play as little as 78 yards, shorter than some holes at your local pitch-and-putt.
Defending U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick is one of several golfers intrigued by the par-3 15th hole at LACC.
“I would argue that at 78 yards, stood there with a lob wedge in your hand, you’re going to be a little bit more intimidated than (if you) stood there with a 3-wood in your hand,” the Englishman said. “I would probably say that’s pretty truthful amongst everyone in the field. I imagine that the target is going to be very small and you’re going to have to hit a good shot.”
Originally designed by George C. Thomas Jr., who also worked on nearby Riviera Country Club, the North Course was restored in 2010 by Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner and Geoff Shackelford. The course will play as a par-70 with three par-5s and five par-3s.
No. 15 is listed at 133 yards — the par-3 11th, by contrast, is a hefty 290 — but the USGA has the ability to change tee boxes and pin locations to shorten it to 78. The green slopes from back left to front right and has three bunkers twisting around it.
One of the few players in the field to have played LACC is Los Angeles native Collin Morikawa, who saw the 15th hole at 78 yards as an amateur during the 2017 Walker Cup. He said some of his peers have asked him about the hole this week.
“You almost had to practice teeing up with a 60-degree lob wedge like an inch off the ground, which you never do, and just trying to … hit it perfect, because you had (hit it) with height, with spin,” Morikawa said. “It’s only going to be that much more important this week if they do move it up. I’m sure they will.”
Max Homa recalled attending that Walker Cup as a spectator and enjoyed “watching everybody kind of make a mess of this little dinky hole.”
Now ranked No. 7 in the world, Homa owns the course record with a 61 he shot during the 2013 Pac-12 Championship. He doesn’t see anyone threatening that while playing a USGA layout.
“Bogeys are OK,” Homa said. “I’m going to remind myself of that because I don’t do that so well. … It’s a hard golf course. You’re going to hit some good shots that go in some really weird spots, but if you keep hitting good shots, you’re going to make some birdies and make up some ground.”
Jon Rahm of Spain called LACC’s fairways “deceptively wide.” Many drives will roll downhill or slope off to a side, where Bermuda rough (rare for a U.S. Open) or one of the barrancas that wind throughout the property await.
“It’s a design that I like. It makes you think,” Rahm said. “It’s very intricate green complexes. You’ve got to play the angles a little bit, and especially if you miss the greens, you’re going to find yourself in some interesting spots to get up and down.”
–Field Level Media