Riviera Country Club (Pictures)

[Peter Ferlicca]

I made a little LA trip to get out of the desert heat this summer with my friend where we played San Gabriel Country Club in the Morning and then Riviera Country Club in the Afternoon.  I will post the Riviera Country Club pictures because the tournament is coming up soon.

I thought this course was superb
- has options on every tee
- doesn't favor any player, you need a cut, slice, draw, and hook to get around here.
- Great match play course that provides tons of par and half holes
- The bunkers were just a blast to look at throughout the round

To compare the rough, I will give you an example
I played Torrey Pines South a couple weeks after the US open where they kept pretty much everything almost the same, and Torrey is notoriously known for their kikuyu rough.  When I was at the Riv your ball could be 90% above the rough, thinking you have a good lie, then you hit the ball and it just grabs your club and the ball comes out dull every time.  I thought the kikuyu rough at the Riv was A LOT harder to judge coming out of than it is at Torrey Pines.

Hole #1 Par 5/503 yards


Hole #2 Par 4/463 yards



Hole #3 Par 4/434 yards


Hole #4 Par 3/236 yards
Hogans Hole
This is was one tough par 3


Hole #5 Par 4/419 yards
I thought this hole was real cool


Hole #6 Par 3/175 yards




Hole #7 Par 4/408 yards

Hole #8 Par 4/408 yards
Split Fairway Hole


Hole #9 Par 4/420 yards


Hole #10 Par 4/315 yards








Hole #11 Par 5/564 yards

Hole #12 Par 4/410 yards


Hole #13 Par 4/421 yards


Hole #14 Par 3/176 yards


Holes #15 Par 4/443 yards


Hole #16 Par 3/166 yards
Awesome Bunkers around this little gem


Hole #17 Par 5/576 yards




Hole #18 Par 4/451 yards
A good tough finishing hole.




Overall I thought the course was fantastic and would love to be a member there.  Playing this course would never get old to me; it has so many options that your rounds would never feel repetitive.  The bunkers were marvelous to look at throughout your round, and were strategically placed on all your tee shots to promote a fade or draw. 


Peter F

[RJ_Daley]

I know of no other course or design that puts me so much in mind of a lovely day of surf gently lapping at the beach.  A Green series of waves of surf...



Thomas was a genius, as are the ongoing maintenance personel of those artful bunkers and FWs.

[Wayne Wiggins, Jr.]

I made a little LA trip to get out of the desert heat this summer with my friend where we played San Gabriel Country Club in the Morning and then Riviera Country Club in the Afternoon.  I will post the Riviera Country Club pictures because the tournament is coming up soon.

I thought this course was superb
- has options on every tee
- doesn't favor any player, you need a cut, slice, draw, and hook to get around here.
- Great match play course that provides tons of par and half holes
- The bunkers were just a blast to look at throughout the round

To compare the rough, I will give you an example
I played Torrey Pines South a couple weeks after the US open where they kept pretty much everything almost the same, and Torrey is notoriously known for their kikuyu rough.  When I was at the Riv your ball could be 90% above the rough, thinking you have a good lie, then you hit the ball and it just grabs your club and the ball comes out dull every time.  I thought the kikuyu rough at the Riv was A LOT harder to judge coming out of than it is at Torrey Pines.

Hole #8 Par 4/408 yards
Split Fairway Hole

Peter -

Great pics.  I too played Riviera this summer, and loved every inch of the course.... except for the area in between the two fairways on #8, which I undoubtedly found with my teeshot as a result of trying to figure out which fairway would be the best option.  The answer: neither.  Obviously.

Did you take pix of San Gabriel CC?

[Sean_A]

PF

Thanks for posting the pix.  I don't think I have ever seen such a large set of pix for Rivieria.  How are the greens?

Can a ball be bounced in from the right around the bunkers?


I really like the uncluttered look to the rear of the green.


Dick - do you really think this is beautiful bunkering?  I am not digging that long front bunker in the least. 


Thanks again PF!


Ciao

[RJ_Daley]

Sean, my one and only time to view this in person was a tour (not play) around the course with Tommy N in the gloaming of a slow Sunday late afternoon.  All I can say was, WOW!  Yes I do think that the bunker styling and positioning is as artful and keen of GCA as it gets.  And, from what we have seen of the old photos, that has remained from Thomas's work in the early days, although a more modern and refined or more precision technique of bunker care has now been employed.  I don't know how one could look at that 10th photo and not feel the beach and surf rolling in. 

[Jim Nugent]

Do the par 3's on the back play pretty much the same? 

[Peter Ferlicca]

Sean,

On hole #4 the 236 yard par 3, you can bank it in from the right, it does play like a redan.  A low soaring three wood play up the right hand side over the bunker would be the best shot.

Peter F

[Mike Nuzzo]

Dick - do you really think this is beautiful bunkering?  I am not digging that long front bunker in the least. 

*image removed for nausea*

Thanks again PF!
Ciao

Thank you PF.

Please put me in the - I hate the new 10th bunkering camp and wish they had left it the way it was.

Don't ask Ian and I to bring back our pictures of the Mona Lisa with a blond wig and breast implants....

[Lynn_Shackelford]

Please add my name to Mike's list.

[Neil_Crafter]

Can we have a before and after photo of the 10th bunkering?
Had a great day playing at Riviera with Lynn and remember the 10th hole with great fondness. When was this work done?
Neil

[Sean_A]

Sean, my one and only time to view this in person was a tour (not play) around the course with Tommy N in the gloaming of a slow Sunday late afternoon.  All I can say was, WOW!  Yes I do think that the bunker styling and positioning is as artful and keen of GCA as it gets.  And, from what we have seen of the old photos, that has remained from Thomas's work in the early days, although a more modern and refined or more precision technique of bunker care has now been employed.  I don't know how one could look at that 10th photo and not feel the beach and surf rolling in. 

Dick

The placement looks to be fine, but the style, even if it were like the others, is mediocre at best.  It strikes me as neither here nor there - wishy washy.  I assume the bunkers have been altered.  Does anybody have pix of the old style?

Ciao

[C. Squier]

I had the opportunity to play Riviera earlier this year and it was a fantastic experience.  Can you think of a course with more "famous" holes (other than possibly Augusta)?

#1, #3, #6, #10 & #18 are all holes that people *know*.  I think that every GCA would do well to see #6 as a perfect example of doing something totally bizarre, yet infinitely playable.  Walking around the green, it looked like you could hit a putt and reach almost any location to within a few feet.....with a bunker in the middle of the green.  One of the best contoured greens I've ever played. 

The kikuyu grass is something that you need to witness firsthand to really understand how it plays.  It's just plain nasty, but once you get a little used to it, a lot of fun.  Definitely need to hit different shots than usual to get around on that stuff.  Also interesting how the greens staff goes around with a little scalpel/knife and cuts a slit around every green so it doesn't encroach on the putting surface.

They were the busiest private club I've ever seen, though the member I played with said they're trying to filter out some guest play and let fewer members in.  Really glad I was able to see the course, cool experience.

Thanks for the pics!
Clint

[Joe Hancock]

Sean,

I think RJ said exactly the same thing as you about the bunker on 10....wishy washy, surf rolling in...same thing.

[RJ_Daley]

or



Well, the above are your choices.  And, who did the remodel?  Was it not sympathetic to Thomas's design style theme, with a more modern stylistic look, along with more crisp maintenance regime?  It sure looks like it could be a serieds of waves in the surf at Santa Monica beach to me...

[Ian Larson]

You can also add my name to the list with Mike and Lynn.


Would I be way off base by saying that I wish I could be floored by the same dramatic difference seen in the Cal Clubs before and afters?

My point is that yes the new changes to Riviera arent bad and Riviera will always be spectacular and maintained to the highest level. But as for the WOW factor goes....Im not getting it the same way I do when I see the new Cal Club pix. I feel Cal Club got more bang for their buck.

Months ago during a heated thread about Riviera and bunkering I got my ass handed to me by some GCAers for wanting to see more of the scalloped looked at Riviera. And I still support that. Imagine if Riviera could have taken a similar approach to their work as Cal Club did. I wish Tommy N could do some photoshop work to some of these pictures and show us what the difference could be if they "restored" Riviera.

I dont want to sabotage the thread but thats just how I feel. Riviera is awesome and always will be. Matt and Bobby are on top of their game maintaining it. Thanks for the pictures.

[RJ_Daley]

Here is the best I could come up with in a quick look of google images...



I guess the first question is if Thomas desired to evoke the feeling of the sea and rollers, given the proximity to Santa Monica and all...  Maybe not.  Does the remodel evoke that feeling? But, I just don't 'hate' the redo.  And, is the concept of a tincture of time and evolution of the new bunkers in play, to somewhat soften what some might find objectionable at this early stage?  Was the whole Merion debate, 'Puffy Wilson', the upholstered look, and the Macdonald Bros work there something of the same thing in terms of the aging process from when folks were intitially upset, and now calmed down a bit? 

Mike and Joe, I'm particularly curious as to whether you gents would devise or have a specific bunkering construction technique that you feel would work better - IF the mission was to recreate the Thomas look and feeling? 

Don't get me wrong, I do see what folks are saying about putting a blond wig on Mona Lisa.  The new bunkering is 'stylized" for sure. 

[TEPaul]

I don't know how many times I've said it over the years or will say it in the years to come but that #10 just has to be the absolute epitome of everthing that is right about so-called "strategic" golf and design!

Also, I would fly across the country to do nothing more than hit about fifty tee shots to #4 and then go forward to the green and watch a good golfer do the same but only if the course had some pretty good bounce and rollout.

[RJ_Daley]

Tom, since I never actually played it, but looking at the photos and remembering my visual there, I think it is fair to say that the new bunkering claimed even more FW space for alternate positioning than the original.  I guess that is certainly a point in favor of those that don't care for the new and harken back to the original or older version.  But, the new still has corridors of alternate play, if not more demanding in placement to the alternate areas of approach.  Would the risk or gamble tee shot still be essentially the same after the remodel, assuming you have the horsepower to get a ball in the near vicinity of the sliver green, or to its left or slightly beyond on a roll?

Some of the criticism might fall more in your 'big world' theory, it seems to me.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Peter F.
Thanks for the pics

Clint,
That is an interesting insight into the control of Kikuyu grass encroachment into the green surfaces.
Can you elaborate more?

How large is the slit?
How often is the slit cut?
What utensil do they use?
Do they pick out the cut ends of the Kikuyu or does it die?

[Ian Larson]

John,

About once a month they take a cartpath edger with a 1/8" blade around the green, blow the debris to the outside of the green and then handpick any runners that made a move into the green.

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Ian

Thanks for the info - we have a similar problem with Paspalum encroaching our bent greens. We deliberately planted a buffer zone of bent between the green and paspalum fairways, which is cut very low making a terrific bump and run approach. The Paspalum creepers, like Kikuyu are very aggressive and are moving towards the green.

[C. Squier]

John, I saw a staffer carrying around a blade that looked like the one below.....not exactly, but same idea.  Looked like he was cleaning up, not doing the entire green.  Wish I would've taken a pic of the slit, but in this one you can kinda see the slit on the right side. 

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Thanks Clint

Am I seeing a slit directly on the green edge? Not between the collar and fairway?

[James Bennett]

Green edge John.  The collar is pure kikuyu.

James B

[Peter Ferlicca]

Wayne

Here are two pictures I have of San Gabriel CC, my camera was acting up on me in the morning so I only got a couple good pictures.