2023 U.S. Open Championship: A hole-by-hole guide to the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club

LOS ANGELES - The 123rd U.S. Open has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster.

There's drama, mystery, intrigue and, of course, star power, including both the players in the field and the celebrities hanging out in the crowd.

A U.S. Open a decade in the making is ready for a triumphant return June 14-18 to America's second-largest city. The City of Angels hasn't hosted a U.S. Open since 1948 or a major, for that matter, since 1995. Both were held at Riviera Country Club, the Golden Age classic that welcomes the PGA Tour every February. But there's a new major championship venue in town - the Los Angeles Country Club's North Course - that is feeding the buzz surrounding the 2023 U.S. Open.

Both Riveria and L.A.C.C. have ties to George C. Thomas and William P. Bell. However, it was Gil Hanse's five-year restoration of the North course, completed in 2010, that convinced the United States Golf Association to return to L.A. The successful 2013 U.S. Open held in a similarly small footprint at Merion Golf Club gave the USGA the evidence it needed to make such a bold decision.

John Bodenhamer, chief championships officer for the USGA, calls LACC's North Course a "cathedral" of the game. Historic photos, archived documents and unearthed landforms helped guide the Hanse team, which included Geoff Shackelford and Jim Wagner, during the sweeping changes.

"The ebb and flow of this golf course is magnificent," Bodenhamer said. "Players that have done their homework here will benefit."

And therein lies the rub. So few of the game's top players have any experience at L.A.C.C., which could make this one of the most unpredictable majors in recent memory. It did host the 2017 Walker Cup, where two-time major champion Collin Morikawa and 2022 Masters champion Scottie Scheffler led a dominant American victory.

The last two first-time U.S. Open venues - Chambers Bay in 2015 and Erin Hills in 2017 - endured their fair share of criticisms and controversies. The uncertainty over how L.A.C.C. North will stand up to today's power game has every golf fan and players both curious and excited. The anticipation has already set multiple records for a U.S. Open - most entries for players attempting to qualify (10,187); the largest corporate sales, leading to the largest build-out (square-footage-wise) of hospitality tents; and the most hours of live TV/streaming coverage scheduled during tournament week (more on that later). Unfortunately, due to L.A.C.C.'s limited acreage, only 22,000 spectators will be on property each day to experience the excitement firsthand.

"I think it’s going to be one of the best U.S. Opens there’s been for a while," Rory McIlroy said at The Memorial.

Hanse's North Course features some dramatic elements reminiscent of a trio of other unique major championship venues. Its fairways will be among the widest in history, reminiscent of the massive corridors at Chambers Bay. The sometimes-dizzying elevation changes and slopes may remind players of those found at Augusta National. Though the edging is different, the dangerous, rough-laden bunker faces at L.A.C.C. are not unlike the ones that knocked out weekend contenders during the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club's vaunted East Course.

"You will see a U.S. Open that is wider than most U.S. Opens," Bodenhamer said. "What I mean by that is you'll see 50- and 60-yard wide fairways, George C. Thomas style. No. 5 is about 50 yards wide, but because of the cant in the fairway, you'd better hit a right to left shot or it won't stay in the fairway." 

That width led the USGA to eliminate an intermediate cut of rough for this year's championship. Balls trending offline will likely trundle into Bermuda rough 3 to 4 inches thick.

The five par 3s will be especially memorable, potentially playing from as short as 80 yards (hole 15) to as long as 303 yards (hole 11). Bodenhamer plans on using multiple tee locations to influence angles and club selection. Water is nowhere to be found, although barrancas that dot the property could feel almost as penal depending on the lie. These hazards lurk on at least a half-dozen holes, especially those in the low-lying canyon of the front nine (2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 17).

The eventual winning score will be tough to predict. A wet winter and cool spring, plus Southern California's typical "June gloom", a marine layer that hangs over the region in the mornings before sometimes burning off by afternoon, could promote the softer conditions the USGA hopes to avoid.

"If we get conditions that we hope for, and the weather cooperates,  and we get bounciness and firm and fast conditions, we think the best players in the world will rise to the top," Bodenhamer says. "When [the ball] hits the ground here, it will go all over the place." 

The par-5 first tee of the Los Angeles Country Club's North Course is lined with corporate hospitality for the 2023 U.S. Open. Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass

The 578-yard, par-5 first hole of Los Angeles Country Club's North Course ends at this green. Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass

The first hole will be one of the loudest for the players with multi-level hospitality lining the entire right side of a wide fairway that shares turf with the 18th. For players who miss the bunker complex up the left side, it will be time to attack the first of only three par 5s. A long bunker snakes along the entire left flank of the green, which feeds subtly right to left.

How to watch and stream the 2023 U.S. Open

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How to watch the U.S. Open on Peacock, NBC, USA Network and GOLF Channel

June 14, 2023

L.A.C.C. hosts the U.S. Open for the first time in 2023.

By GolfPass Staff

Date	Peacock	USA Network	NBC/Peacock
Thursday, June 15	*9:40 a.m. – 1 p.m.	1-8 p.m.	8-11 p.m.
Friday, June 16	*9:40 a.m. – 1 p.m.	1-8 p.m.	8-11 p.m.
Saturday, June 17			1-11 p.m.
Sunday, June 18	12-1 p.m.		1-10 p.m.

*coverage will begin shortly before the first scheduled tee time

Bodenhamer calls the first par 4 "a punch in the nose" after the easy first. The two bunkers up the right side shouldn't be in play for players who shape their drives from right to left, leaving the bunker left of the fairway the only real threat off the tee. The Hanse restoration moved the green behind a dry barranca that will lead to some bogeys. Its tough-to-read contours will defend par very well.

Hanse expanded the barranca up the left side to give players something to think about off the tee. This hole climbs steadily uphill, introducing the course' sloping fairways that may not translate quite as well on TV. Everything kicks hard left here, funneling most balls into a lower shelf, leaving a semi-blind approach over three greenside bunkers and a wall of thick rough. The large, tooth-shaped green tilts hard from back to front.

The 228-yard fourth hole at Los Angeles Country Club's North Course falls off an elevated tee. Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass

Lionel Richie's house lines the par-3 fourth hole of Los Angeles Country Club's North Course. Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass

Lionel Richie's house towers over the fourth green of Los Angeles Country Club's North Course. Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass

Players will need to dial in their club selection on this dramatic downhill tee shot. The green looks like a tiny target compared to the daunting barranca in front and the bunkers flanking it. Wide right probably isn't a concern for the best players in the world, but for the rest of us, such a miss just might end up in Lionel Richie's backyard.

The no. 1 handicap for the members starts the subtle uphill climb again along the northeast border of the property to that tilted left-to-right fairway Bodenhamer referenced earlier. Scattered pockets of trees are the only hazard off the tee beyond the rough. A good drive up the left side sets up the best angle for an approach shot. Two bunkers guard the front-right section of a rare North Course green that can be approached on the ground off of mounding that feeds balls in the right direction.

The finishing stretch of the front nine features a dynamic quartet of holes. The short sixth, a dogleg hard right, could be drivable for players who blast away on a blind shot to a green cut from a shelf behind a sweeping hillside. The problem with that aggressive tactic could be a gnarly lie in thick rough, two greenside bunkers or barranca around the green. Even a layup for positioning up the left side is no automatic birdie. Because the tabletop green is so narrow, it requires the most precise wedge shot. Bodenhamer believes the ideal miss is actually long over the green. "I can't imagine anyone will lay up," he says. "But if they do, they'll be hitting to a sliver of a green. The sixth hole, as the crow flies, will play shorter than the 7^th hole, a par 3. You don't see that very often." 

At 284 yards, the seventh will play as the third-longest par 3 in U.S. Open history (behind the eighth at Oakmont Country Club and the upcoming 290-yard 11th). A barranca slithers toward the green, creating fairway-like landing zones on either side before it merges into a twisting bunker hugging the right side of the putting surface. Depending on the location of the pin and the firmness of the turf, shots that land short and bounce on could be the wisest play.

The eighth is as tricky a par 5 as players will ever see. Avoiding the barranca that slides up the right side and dissects the fairway is the first priority. The landing zone slopes severely from a high hillside up the left (where two bunkers lurk) toward the trouble on the right. From a potentially hanging lie, players will be asked to shape a right-to-left second shot if they want to go for the green in two. The section of the barranca closer to the green will catch its share of shots that miss left. Lies can range from friendly to fiendish. The greenside bunker on the right side will be the more forgiving miss.

I'm going out on a limb to predict that this will be one of the highest scoring of the five par 3s for the week. It plays at least a club uphill to a semi-blind, narrow, three-level green guarded on both sides and in front by three bunkers. Only perfect shots will survive unscathed. It will be a long walk on the bridge over the barranca for the player who hits a poor one.

Again, the TV viewer won't be able to grasp just how much the 10th fairway swoops and rolls before flattening out at an elevated green. A complex of three bunkers guarding the right side of the fairway will cause problems. Four more form a wall guarding one of L.A.C.C.'s smallest and most crooked greens.

Everybody who plays the North comes away mesmerized with the view of the L.A. skyline behind the 11th green. The hole drops roughly 50 feet to a green fortified by a trio of bunkers. Three sides of a green shaped like an inverted cereal bowl will be shaved and fall off, leading to difficult up and downs. "All around that green, it will be fast," Bodenhamer says. "We will be tempting players to go deep into that green with some hole locations but the ball will run away from them."

Standing on the 12th tee, all players can see is the collection of trees on the left. Tee shots too far to that side will be blocked out on this sharp dogleg left. Although there are no fairway bunkers, two menacing fronting bunkers stand as fortresses guarding access to a severe green of ridges and slopes. Corporate hospitality stands towering over perhaps the most difficult green on the course, giving the entire setting a stadium feel.

The 13th fairway might be among the widest fairways in U.S. Open history, but that hides the fact that a 20-yard-wide window up the left is the only ideal part of it. For those who don't end up in one of four fairway bunkers - two on each side - there is another problem. Blocks to the right feed into a deep swale, leaving players stuck with a blind shot. Approaches that stay short could end up in another bunker or long in the hedges along the property boundary adjacent to the Playboy Mansion.

A nest of three bunkers pinches the landing area, forcing players left to safety, but that side of the fairway leaks into the rough. Requiring a blind second shot, the hole follows the property boundary and four hidden bunkers that stack up the right side. Misses even farther right fall down a hillside into trees and trouble. Three greenside bunkers protect various pin positions on an oddly-shaped putting surface.

The 15th green might as well be an island because there are very few spots to miss without ending up in one of three different bunkers. The front section of the green is especially thin, so flags there will be tough to find. A pronounced ridge dissecting it will help the USGA hide other hole locations on what will be one of the shortest - but trickiest - par 3s in championship history.

The 16th starts a tough finishing stretch of par 4s measuring more than 1,500 yards. The 16th ranks among the longest par 4s in championship history (tied for third with Pinehurst No. 2's fourth hole). Off the tee, it's crucial to avoid the fairway bunker on the left while also avoiding missing too far right into the rough and trees. Hole locations over the fronting bunker won't be easy to access as the large green slopes away.

Players must thread their tee shot on the 17th hole at the Los Angeles Country Club's North Course. Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass

The fortified 17th green is part of a difficult finish at the Los Angeles Country Club's North Course. Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass

The shot from an elevated tee here should be shaped from left to right to fit the bend of the fairway, which runs in the opposite direction but adjacent to the second hole in a low-lying canyon. Misses right could end up in another, potentially round-ruining barranca. Five bunkers will capture weak attempts at hitting the diagonal green, leaving tough up and downs with major championship pressure on the line.

A stately clubhouse greets golfers coming up the 18th hole of the Los Angeles Country Club's North Course. Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass

It's 492 yards of championship pressure to reach the 18th green of Los Angeles Country Club's North Course. Jason Scott Deegan/GolfPass

The home hole climbs toward the stately clubhouse, bending left adjacent to the first fairway. Overcooked draws will settle in heavy rough in play on both holes between the corridors. The good news is balls can run onto the green, which is bracketed by large bunkers on either side. The walk to the green will either be a celebratory coronation of our national champion or a pressure-packed march in front of thousands of fans.

Ultimately, how well the course holds up and is received by the players will determine the fate of future U.S. Opens at L.A.C.C. The USGA has vowed to return for a Women's Open in 2032 and another U.S. Open in 2039, but how long will that relationship continue? It could be determined by how this championship movie plays out over four drama-filled days. Will this new venue live up to the hype or end up on the USGA cutting room floor panned by the critics?

Tune in at primetime to find out.