L.A. North's 6th Part I
A likely star of the 2023 U.S. Open features a design ploy similar to Riviera's 10th, making it the closest George Thomas came to creating a "template" hole. If only more architects would try it!
With The Masters behind us and the U.S. Open less than two months away, it’s time to resume The Quad’s deep dive into Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course.
So full of complexities and wild backstories is L.A. North’s sixth that I’m making this a two-parter before we resume normal activities of pairing holes.
(For new subscribers—thank you and welcome—here are The Quad write-ups on the first and second, the third and fourth, and the fifth. And to kick things off I explained the unusual design evolution of the North here.)
Sharing strategic similarities with Riviera’s much more famous 10th hole, these drivable gems by George Thomas and Billy Bell have little else in common. Riviera’s plays on flat ground that was once a dry river bed. Everything you see had to be created. A few miles east near Beverly Hills, L.A. North’s sixth features a huge elevation drop from tee to green set amidst a valley of hills, all surrounded by oak and sage scrub far removed from the neighboring $100 million homes. Yet these little two-shotters share one risk-reward trait at the heart of what makes them fascinating as viewing and playing spectacles.
It’s an easy recipe to cook up and confounding more have not been tried. All you need is a little width, some attention to detail and a willingness by the architect to let the player beat them now and then.
As you’ll learn in Part II, the sixth green was once cruelly covered over in the point-missing architectural dark ages of the 1960s when a legendary golfer questioned its playability. But its story also includes an unexpected archaeological discovery during 2010’s North Course rebirth. And the sixth’s locale in L.A. lore includes an Esther Williams pool, Sonny, Cher and even Englebert Humperdinck swearing he saw the ghost of Jane Mansfield. But the backstory should not outshine a celebration of this small and stout family of par 4’s where the shortest route may not always be the wisest for mental or heart health.