Riviera

The 18-hole Riviera Course at the Riviera Country Club has been used a number of times for shooting. Located in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, in California, the club also boats of a large number of celebrity members.

History of the course

The Riviera Country Club , opened in 1926, was designed by George C Thomas. While designing the course Thomas was helped by world renowned golf course architect Dr Alister MacKenzie and Billy Bell. When Thomas was handed the land it was totally flat and it needed a lot of convincing from the club authorities before he took up the job. However, he converted this flat land into an architectural masterpiece with his expertise. During the time of its opening the club was known as Los Angeles Athletic Club Golf Course .
Sadly, over the years, the course has lost its original look. It has lost its ragged look that was created by Thomas. The seventh hole does not give you the same diagonal risk opportunities off the tee, the dual fairway eighth hole has been tampered with to the point where it makes little sense, the water in front of the 12th green is too clean and lacks its original penal quality, and the 13th fairway has become treelined as opposed to hugging the pond down its entire left side.

Course Trivia

The Riviera Country Club hosts the Nissan Open, one of the tournaments on the US PGA Tour calendar, every year.

The US Open, The PGA Championship, US Senior Open are some of the other tournaments that have been played here.

Pat and Mike, The Caddy and Follow the Sun have all been shot at this course.

The club had many famous people like Walt Disney, Gregory Peck, Vic Damone, Dean Martin and Glen Campbell as its members.

At the 12 th hole a tree is named after the movie legend Humphrey Bogart.

Non-members are not allowed to play on weekends.

The Riviera Course at the Riviera Country Club has over the years fallen in terms of rankings. It was the 16 th best golf course in the US sometime back but currently it occupies the 47 th spot in Golf Digest magazine's list of top 100 golf courses in the US . As we continue on this tour we will learn about the other top-100 golf courses in the world