2023 Course Breakdown: Riviera Country Club
The Basics
- Course: Riviera Country Club
- Location: Pacific Palisades, California
- Designer: George Thomas (1927) with a Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw restoration in 1922, and several Tom Fazio re-designs as well
- Length: Par 71; 7,322 yards
- Hazards: Water comes into play on zero holes
- Fairways: Kikuyu measuring 33 yards on average
- Rough: Kikuyu measuring 2 inches on average
- Greens: Poa measuring 7,500 square feet on average
The Genesis Invitational, formerly known as the Los Angeles Open, is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour which has been on the schedule since 1926. The event has been contested at a number fo courses in the greater Los Angeles area over the years, including my home course, El Cabarello, Rancho Park, Fox Hills, Los Angeles Country Club, Hillcrest, Wilshire, all courses that I love and are very familiar with. The tournament found its current home at Riviera Country Club in 1973, undoubtedly a top-three course in Los Angeles, and honestly, one of the greatest golf courses in the country.
It’s worth noting that this event was granted elevated status, so for the second week in a row, the best players in the world will be playing for a $20 million dollar purse. This field is nothing short of spectacular, and is headlined by Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa, Tony Finau, Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Will Zalatoris, Sam Burns, Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth, Cameron Young, Matt Fitzpatrick, Sungjae Im, and of course, none other than Tiger Woods. Let’s dive into the course.
Riviera Country Club was designed in 1926 by George Thomas and William Bell. Thomas is one of the greatest architects ever, and I would highly recommend his book, “Golf Course Architecture in America: It’s Strategy and Construction.” It’s probably one of the best books on architecture ever written, and for me personally, it’s up there with Doak’s Confidential Guide and the Spirit of St. Andrews as my favorite reads on the subject. Geoff Shackleford actually wrote an entire book on Riviera alone, which is quite good as well.
Essentially, if you find yourself on any golden age course in Los Angeles, there’s a good chance it was designed by George Thomas. Outside of Riviera, he also designed Bel Air Country Club, Ojai Counry Club, Palos Verdes, Saticoy, and of course, the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club, which I believe to be his masterpiece. Thomas was actually born and raised in Philadelphia, and he became quite friendly with Hugh Wilson, who designed Merion, George Crump, who design Pine Valley, A.W. Tillinghast, who designed Winged Foot, amongst other Northeastern classics. Thomas was part of the “Philadelphia School” of golf course architecture, who are responsible for many of the seminal works of golf course architecture in America. They were the first to really innovate with more doglegs and risk reward holes, and Thomas was the lone member of the group that moved to the West Coast, in 1919, he traveled west to leave his stamp on Los Angeles. I could write about ten thousand more words on this topic, but let’s talk more about Riviera.
The Thomas design has been nicknamed “Hogan’s Alley,” as this was the great Ben Hogan’s favorite course. It’s a classical style, golden age golf course, featuring many of the staples of the aforementioned “Philadelphia School” staples. It’s tight off the tee and narrow, playing in a canyon and featuring some quite provocative topography, and players will rarely see a flat lie. Tom Fazio, who should be kept miles away from places like this, did a bit of re-design work in 2008, and thank god, all he really did was add some length to account for modern equipment changes,
The number one thing about Riviera that stands out to me is that it features the hardest fairways to hit on the PGA Tour. Last year, the Thomas design featured a driving accuracy rate of 49.2%, good for the lowest mark out of 38 courses on the schedule. What’s interesting about this is that Riviera actually features far wider fairways than the other courses on the schedule with a similarly low driving accuracy percentage. For example, Riviera’s fairways are 33 yards wide, compared to Torrey Pines’ fairways, which measure 26 yards wide on average. Yet because they play so firm and fast, coupled with the fact that nearly every hole curves around a dogleg, makes the fairways play far more narrow at Riviera than their 33-yard wide average. Riviera also features some of the hardest greens to hit on the PGA Tour as well, with a historic greens in regulation percentage of 57%, compared to the Tour average of 66%. The bunkers at Riviera are quite deep, and it is one of only two courses on Tour that features Kikuyu rough, which can get a bit dicey at times. We are also back to Poa greens, so strokes gained putting difficulty is always going to rank inside the top-10 toughest on the PGA Tour. These are actually the toughest greens of the Poa collection, and feature far more subtle, internal breaks, and undulation in general compared to Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach. They actually run the fastest of the bunch, and a lot of that actually has to do with geography. Riviera sits in a canyon, so sunlight is reflected onto the course after bouncing in between the Santa Monica mountains. This is the reason for why we see Riviera’s greens as a lighter green, compared to the darker green nature of Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach, which are both on the coast and feature a colder and more overcast environment. The canyon aspect of this course does not get discussed enough and offers a completely logical explanation as to why this course plays so firm and fast.
The reason why architecture nerds such as myself drool over Riviera is because it is truly a shot-makers golf course. There are so many different ways that players can attack the Thomas design. We may see players pull driver on every hole, but shorter players can also work their way around this course and there are plenty of holes where value can be found in a more conservative approach. There is a certain intangible creative aspect to this course, which is why players like Bubba Watson have had so much success here. There’s zero homogeneity to the strategy at Riviera. It doesn’t necessarily favor a draw or a fade, whereas Jack Nicklaus will just lazily design golf courses that favor a fade on every single hole. There was real thought and consideration put into the design here. Riviera actually rewards players that can work the ball both ways off the tee, which again, screams players such as Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas. Augusta National is very much in the same vein. Augusta is a much different golf course than Riviera, and there is so much room off the tee to operate at Augusta, yet both embody a similar ethos of creativity and shot-making due to the amount of undulation in the topography. The ball actually moves on the ground at both courses, it’s not just target golf, and there are times on both courses where you have to play away from the pin and take your medicine. Unsurprisingly, there is tremendous amount of overlap on the historic leaderboards of average strokes gained per round at Riviera and Augusta National. This is one of the many reasons why I believe Thomas is one of the greatest to ever do it. They simply just don’t make golf courses like this anymore!
Adam Scott, who has been tremendous here, summed up the challenge adequately, “I really just like a lot of the holes out here. I am very comfortable and somehow I manage to putt generally well here when it’s one of the courses that guys struggle most on Tour with. Something about it reminds me of a lot of golf in Australia.” The Australia comparison is apt, as the best thing about golf in Australia is their philosophy on course conditions. Most courses in Australia play extremely firm and fast, as they simply don’t believe in over-watering their golf courses. like we unfortunately do in the United States. Outside of Adam Scott, Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, and Aaron Baddeley, all have multiple top-15 finishes at Riviera.
Jordan Spieth and Bubba Watson both have good quotes about patience, creativity, and how this golf course is all about angles. This quote from Rory McIlroy however is my favorite,
“We don’t play golf courses like this anymore on Tour. It’s not overly long, you don’t have to bomb it off the tee, but it’s real strategic. You’ve got to place your ball on the right sides of the fairways, you have to make sure you it to the right side of the greens. You can’t really short side yourself here. You can’t really get it above the pin. It’s a real thinker’s golf course and it’s a real treat to play something like this because we don’t get to play them that often anymore.”
Very well said Rory, and I think that’s an important quote in terms of understanding Riviera. This is a golf course where no matter what, players are going to hit less fairways and greens than they are used to. They are going to have to hit approach shots off uneven lies to extremely undulating greens, and the occasional awkward chip that cannot be replicated on the range. Finally, players will be faced with far more par putts from six to eight feet than they are used to as well, so you need to have a little bit of everything in your arsenal this week. Let’s talk about how I would build a model this week.
Stats
Off the Tee
Last year, 11.8% strokes gained at Riviera came via off the tee, which is healthily below the Tour average of 15.2%. That number rises a touch historically to 12.0%, but that is still well below Tour average.
Last year, Riviera ranked 13th out of 38 courses in strokes gained off the tee difficulty, which is actually the easiest it has ranked off the tee in the last eight years. Each of the last eight years, Riviera has routinely ranked inside the top-10 in toughest courses to gain strokes off the tee on.
Last year, Riviera featured the lowest driving accuracy percentage on the PGA Tour. These fairways are incredibly challenging to hold, and this course is not necessarily like Torrey Pines where the size of the landing areas explain the low driving accuracy percentage. Riviera actually features 33 yard wide fairways on average, ranking 19th out of 38 courses in fairway width. So why is driving accuracy so low here? I believe the reason is twofold. Reason number one is that Riviera generally plays extremely firm and fast, and many of the fairways are canted with a great deal of slope that allows the ball to move once it hits the ground. Secondarily, there has been a trend in recent years towards more players hitting driver often on this golf course. I can’t argue with that approach and I would actually recommend a driver heavy strategy if I was advising PGA Tour pros. This course could probably use a touch more length to restore the integrity of the original Thomas design. For example, I distinctly remember both Cameron Young and Joaquin Niemann having a wedge in on 18, which is supposed to be an extremely long par four, and that green was designed for long iron approaches. When I attended this event last year, I noticed a growing trend of driver heavy approaches with little respect for the Kikuyu rough. Riviera actually ranked 36th out of 38 courses in rough penalty. There is also very little trouble out there in terms of hazards off the tee, as Riviera ranked 38th out of 38 courses last year in missed fairway penalty. With all of this in mind, why not just pull driver often?
Winners have ranked just 40th in driving accuracy here. J.B. Holmes and Aaron Baddeley both won this event hitting 50% of their fairways. Adam Scott won hitting only 40% of his fairways, and top-10 finishes on average have only gained 0.33 strokes off the tee per round, which is less than what they have gained around the green, almost three times less than what they have gained putting, and about 40% of what they have gained on approach. Last week, I mentioned that top-10 finishers have gained almost 70% of strokes gained off the tee as they have on approach. Statistically, off the tee has proven to be less valuable here, and of the four major strokes gained categories, I am actually the lightest on off the the off the tee.
Of course positioning off the tee still matters at this course, but running through hole by hole, I would actually suggest that there is more of a benefit for distance than accuracy on this course. Even the most accurate of drivers are going to miss fairways here, and I found little to zero correlation in players who hit a ton of fairways translating to success. Riviera also ranked 37th out of 38 courses in fraction of missed fairways that result in a penalty stroke. Add all of this together and I believe that in 2023, Riviera is a course where power off the tee is more important than accuracy. With only 11.8% of strokes gained coming off the tee, I actually do not believe that being an elite driver of the ball is of upmost importance, but I am still higher on distance than I am on accuracy. The longest players in this field off the tee are Rory McIlroy, Cameron Champ, Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Jon Rahm, Trey Mullinax, Joseph Bramlett, Thomas Detry, Callum Tarren, and Cameron Davis.
Approach
Last year, 31.7% of strokes gained at Riviera came on approach, which is healthily below the Tour average of 34.7%. That number falls even more historically to 29.8%, so oddly enough, approach has played less of a role than what we would expect on such a ball-striker’s course.
Last year, Riviera ranked 25th out of 38 courses in approach difficulty, which is actually a lot easier than it normally plays. Historically, Riviera falls closer to Tour average in this category.
Last year, Riviera featured the fifth toughest greens to hit on the PGA Tour, and each of the last eight years, it has featured one of the lowest greens in regulation percentages on the schedule. In 2018, it featured the lowest greens in regulation percentage on the PGA Tour, and in back to back years of 2020 and 2021, it featured the second lowest greens in regulation percentage on the PGA Tour. This all just continues to contribute the importance of short game on this course.
Last year, the proximity buckets that ranked above Tour average were 150-175 yards and 175-200 yards. Last year, a whopping 26.1% of approach shots came from 150-175 yards, which is healthily above the Tour average of 20.3%. Historically, that number rises even more to 26.9%. Last year, 22.8% of approach shots came from 175-200 yards, which is also healthily above the Tour average of 17.5%. 24.5% of approach shots came from 200 yards plus, which is slightly above the Tour average of 23.1%. That number falls to right around Tour average historically, so Riviera is definitively a mid to long iron course. With nine of the 11 par fours measuring between 430 and 490 yards, it should not come as a surprise that there is such a large plurality of approach shots come from between 150-200 yards. Three of the four par threes also fall into that bucket. The best long-term players in this field from 150-200 yards are Lee Hodges, Si Woo Kim, Jon Rahm, Tony Finau, Matthew NeSmith, Justin Lower, Collin Morikawa, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, and Tom Hoge.
I’m still not going overly crazy on iron play this week, as it actually ranks below Tour average in percentage of strokes gained that came via approach. Even the best players in the world are going to miss their fare share of greens on this course, and I want to save room to give credence to stats such as around the green play, sand save percentage, putting inside 10 feet, bogey avoidance, Poa putting, and course history, which have all proven to be invaluable at the Thomas design. I’ll continue to harp on this, but Riviera requires an extremely well rounded game. I’m not severely over or underweight on any statistical category, because I want to identify weakness free golfers that can get it done in multiple ways. Looking at the strokes gained leaderboards over the last couple of years, it’s not a lot of players with a crazy spike iron or putting weeks, like many other courses on the PGA Tour. Riviera requires a far more balanced skill-set and usually caters to players who gain strokes in all four major categories.
Around the Green
Last year, 21.4% of strokes gained at Riviera came around the green, which is way above the Tour average of 14.5%. Historically, that number falls to 19.3%, but historically, Riviera is easily one of the most short game intensive courses on the entire PGA Tour.
Last year, Riviera ranked 23rd out of 38 courses in strokes gained around the green difficulty, and historically, it ranks right around Tour average in this category.
Last year, Riviera ranked 21st out of 38 courses in around the green difficulty from the fairway, 28th out of 38 course in around the green difficulty from the rough, but 8th out of 38 course in around the green difficulty from the bunkers. With such a low greens in regulation percentage, short game is absolutely essential at this course and I have a much heavier weight on around the green play than at nearly any other course on the PGA Tour. Outside of just general around the green play, I think we also want to focus on bunker play. Riviera features 58 of some of the deepest bunkers on the PGA Tour. Each of the last eight years, the Thomas design has ranked inside the top-11 in strokes gained around the green difficulty from the bunkers. The best long-term bunker players in this field are Matt Kuchar, Shane Lowry, Lucas Herbert, Xander Schauffele, Robby Shelton, Matt Fitzpatrick, S.H. Kim, Adam Long, Joel Dahmen, and Maverick McNealy.
Putting
Last year, 35.1% of strokes gained at Riviera came via the flat-stick, which is right around the Tour average of 35.6%. Historically, that number does jump to 38.9%.
Last year, Riviera ranked fourth out of 38 courses in strokes gained putting difficulty, and each of the last eight years, it has ranked inside the top-nine toughest putting courses on the PGA Tour. Now that we are back to Poa, expect to tilt short putts again. Last year, Riviera ranked 15th out of 38 courses in putting difficulty inside five feet, which is actually a complete anomaly. Each of the last eight years, Riviera has ranked inside the top-six in putting difficulty inside five feet. In 2015, it ranked as the hardest course on the PGA Tour inside five feet, and between 2018 and 2020, it ranked as the second hardest short putting course on the schedule for three years in a row. Same deal between five and 15 feet, as each of the last eight years, it has ranked inside the top-eight in putting difficulty from five to 15 feet. The best long-term putters in this field inside 15 feet are Denny McCarthy, Kelly Kraft, Lucas Herbert, Brendon Todd, Max Homa, Taylor Montgomery, Adam Long, Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, and Maverick McNealy.
Unlike Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines however, each of the last eight years, Riviera has ranked inside the top-eight in putting difficulty greater than 15 feet. Of the three pure West coast Poa courses (Riviera, Pebble Beach, Torrey Pines), I actually think that Riviera has the toughest greens of the bunch by a mile. This is highlighted by the fact that all three of these courses consistently rank inside the top-ten most difficult courses to put on inside 15 feet, but Riviera is the only course that consistently ranks inside the top-ten most difficult courses to lag putt on as well. Unlike the relatively flat surfaces at Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines, there is a ton of undulation and subtle contouring to the greens at Riviera. Not only are the short putts devious, but it’s not as if the longer putts are any easier to read either. Overall, I still believe that a proven track record of success on Poa is absolutely essential at this course. The best long-term Poa putters in this field are Kevin Kisner, Matt Kuchar, Maverick McNealy, Wyndham Clark, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson, Denny McCarthy, Xander Schauffele, Mark Hubbard, and Peter Malnati.
Scoring Stats
As far as scoring stats go, I’m not necessarily looking for prolific birdie-makers or players that generate a ton of scoring opportunities for themselves. I’m more interested in identifying players that raise their baseline in difficult scoring conditions, and have had success in major championships. Riviera is all about staying in the game, taking advantage of scoring opportunities when they come, and not biting off more than they can chew. Riviera is a death by a million paper cuts course. There’s no real trouble in the form of water hazards or a great deal of trees. It’s more of a course that penalizes small mistakes that suddenly add up. Players can start missing greens on this course and at a certain point, they will inevitably start missing some of those six to eight foot par savers. You can blink and you are staring a 75 in the face. The best players in this field in bogey avoidance are Matt Fitzpatrick, Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau, Shane Lowry, Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler, Brian Harman, Hideki Matsuyama, Andrew Putnam, and Maverick McNealy.
Course History/Comp Courses
In terms on course history, Riviera ranks seventh out of 38 courses in correlation of course history with success. Riviera is certainly a nuanced test, and Adam Scott’s debutant win in 2005 is the only first time winner in the last two decades. What I like about this golf course is that it is not the type of place where players can show up in poor form and expect to find your previous magic. It’s not the type of course like Pebble Beach where a player like Jordan Spieth can contend regardless of incoming form. Riviera will expose a player quickly. Bubba Watson has won here a bunch, but he’s also missed his fare share of cuts here. Dustin Johnson has had multiple high end finishes, but he’s also had a couple stinkers as well. Justin Thomas has had some great weeks here and a couple terrible ones as well. In 2021, Rory McIlroy, who previously had immaculate course history, came in with poor form and missed the cut badly. So yes, I am of course looking at course history, but I would not value it above recent form. The best players in this field at Rivera have been Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Max Homa, Justin Rose, Viktor Hovland, Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, and Cameron Young.
Riviera is an extremely unique golf course, and there are not a ton of comp courses that immediately come to the front of mind. I actually find it somewhat insulting to compare it to other standard PGA Tour courses, as it is simply operating on a higher level architecturally. If you want to look at Pebble Beach or Torrey Pines because of the Poa connection, that’s okay with me, but I would prefer to just look at putting at those courses, as both are far different tests from tee to green.
I’ve already mentioned the Augusta connection, and I would not even necessarily call Augusta a comp course as much as I would simply say that many of the same things that need to be done to win a green jacket happen to also be required at Riviera. Both courses require elite bunker play and overall short game performance, proper putting inside 10 feet, and excellent mid to long iron play. There’s a great deal of strategy and nuance involved because both are golden age designs. I know the agronomy is different, and the fairways are a hell of a lot wider at Augusta, but when you really boil it down, both are second shot golf courses that require creativity, an ability to work the ball both ways, and elite approach play from uneven lies. This is of course why Bubba loves both places, DJ loves both places, Cam Smith, Rory, Xander, Hideki, Adam Scott, Sergio, the list goes on. The best players in this field at Augusta National have been Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama, Scottie Scheffler, Will Zalatoris, Justin Rose, Jordan Spieth, and Tony Finau.
Outside of Augusta National, the only other comp course that comes to mind is Southern Hills. Both are golden age designs where players are going to have to reckon with extremely undulating greens and heavily sloping fairways. It should not come as a surprise that many of the players who have found success at Riviera, found themselves on the first page of the leaderboard at the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills. Cameron Young, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Justin Thomas all boast top-five finishes at both courses. Even Mito Pereira finished top-15 at Riviera on debut. The players in this field that finished top-15 at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills are Justin Thomas, Will Zalatoris, Cameron Young, Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick, Chris Kirk, Rory McIlroy, Seamus Power, Tom Hoge, Brendan Steele, Xander Schauffele, Davis Riley, Lucas Herbert, Max Homa, and Tyrrell Hatton.
Model
Off the Tee (12%)
Strokes Gained Off the Tee (5%)
Driving Distance (7%)
Approach (30%)
Strokes Gained Approach (16%)
Long-term Proximity 150-175 yards (8%)
Long-term Proximity 175-200 yards (6%)
Around the Green (18%)
Strokes Gained Around the Green (10%)
Sand Save Percentage (8%)
Putting (20%)
Strokes Gained Putting: Poa (10%)
Putting Inside 10 feet (10%)
Scoring Stats (6%)
Bogey Avoidance (6%)
Course History/Comp Courses
Riviera (8%)
Augusta National (3%)
Southern Hills (3%)
Model Top 20
Rory McIlroy
Xander Schauffele
Tony Finau
Max Homa
Shane Lowry
Patrick Cantlay
Tommy Fleetwood
Justin Thomas
Jon Rahm
Hideki Matsuyama
Justin Rose
Sungjae Im
Si Woo Kim
Will Zalatoris
Cameron Young
Lee Hodges
Scottie Scheffler
Cameron Davis (Oh god, no)
Patrick Rodgers
Tom Kim
