If there’s such a thing as a sleeper among the top 20 on Golf Digest America’s 100 Greatest Courses, it might be The Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course. Ranked continuously since the first edition came out in 1966, and inside the first 20 since 2019, the club is a contrast and a contradiction.

In a city that idolizes and frequently chases the spotlight, Los Angeles Country Club has historically preferred to exist quietly, refusing to stargaze or call attention to itself. Though enclosed in one of the most industrious and wealthy sections of the country’s second largest city, its 36 holes are rustic and natural, a throwback to a far more primitive Southern California landscape.

While other top designs like Augusta National, Cypress Point, Oakmont, Pebble Beach, Winged Foot, Riviera and even previous hidden gems like Fishers Island and Crystal Downs have become highly exposed via major championship tournaments and the age of social media, the North Course is a latecomer to such notoriety. The inclination to privacy began to change when it agreed to host the 2017 Walker Cup to see how the best amateurs would fare playing the highly strategic holes. It will soon invite an even larger audience to observe the unique, rugged good looks of its George Thomas architecture when it hosts the U.S. Open in 2023.

Here’s an in-depth and up-close preview of what the world of golf is about to see.

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