The Los Angeles Country Club - Wednesday 2 April

Wow, what a special place the LACC is.  36 holes, 1500 members, none with associations to Hollywood.
LACC is a very private sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of surrounding Los Angeles.
They are very private and understated, and are fiercely protective of their brand.  In fact not many people are allowed to take photographs.  Mobile phones are not permitted on the property, and cameras are frowned upon, so no pictures unfortunately on this post.

We had some LACC members and two members of the professional staff join us.
I was fortunate enough to play with club professional Jim Schaeffer, who pointed out many of the notable features of the course and it's surrounds.

Lionel Ritchie's house on hole 4, and both Bernie Ecclestone's daughters house and the Playboy mansion on hole 14.  The  Playboy mansion itself is not visible, guarded by a massive hedge, but you can hear the 50 or so spider monkeys that Hef keeps in his backyard.

Also behind the 14th tee, the club has a vegetable garden that supplies the club kitchen. So what you may say.  We'll the garden is no less than 2 acres in size. That would be the world's most valuable vegetable garden!!

There are many holes that gain your attention.  One of the features of a George Thomas course, much like Riviera the day before, is to have a gentle Par 5 to open proceedings. That gentle Par 5 is followed by one of the most difficult holes on the course.  In LACC's case, a 490 yard par 4 from the black tees.

Some of the iconic holes include:
The 8th, A par five down in the valley, that sweeps from left to right, crossing a barranca after driving distance.
The 15th, a par 3 that played 95 yards, but has a green sitting across the hole, and is only 10 paces between front and rear bunkers on the right section (where the flag was today) meaning even a hard spinning lob wedge couldn't hold the green.
The 17th, another long Par 4 down in the valley, that is just stunning al the way down to the green.  It is here that the interest increases.  The club recently re discovered the original 17th green (to the right of the current green) and restored it back to the original condition. It is played as the "short 17th" and is about 90 yards. Don't miss the green, as it falls away severely on all sides.

It was a tremendous experience, and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

We are now off to the Monterey Peninsula, to the Pebble Beach resort.