Nicknamed 'Hogan's Alley' after Ben Hogan's 1942/1947/1948 LA Open wins and his 1948 U.S. Open title here; famous for the sunken par-3 6th with a bunker in the middle of the green; long-time permanent home of the Genesis Invitational (LA Open) and the golf venue for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
This course is in our GSPro library — pull it up in any bay and play it wall to wall.
No. 6 — the bunker-in-the-green holeSignature
Par 3 · 199 yds
George Thomas and Billy Bell's late-1920s design set a pot bunker directly in the middle of the putting surface, splitting it into four quadrants; 14 holes-in-one have been recorded here during the Genesis Invitational, most recently Dustin Johnson in 2010.
No. 18 — the amphitheater finishSignature
Par 4 · 475 yds
A semi-blind uphill tee shot into a canyon fairway that narrows to 36 yards, followed by a long approach to a small 4,815-sq-ft kidney green ringed by the clubhouse -- one of golf's most famous finishing holes.
"A community GSPro build exists — Riviera appears on the Simulator Golf Tour course roster. The kikuyu rough and the drivable 10th make for great match-play debates in the bay."
George C. Thomas Jr.'s 1926 masterpiece in a Pacific Palisades canyon, built for a then-outrageous $250,000 for the Los Angeles Athletic Club. 'Hogan's Alley' — Ben Hogan won three times here in 17 months — hosts the PGA Tour's Genesis Invitational nearly every February and has held major championships across ten decades. Its defenses are unique: sticky kikuyu grass fairways and rough, poa annua greens, and Thomas's strategic genius, including a bunker sitting in the middle of the 6th green. A 2023 restoration returned the 10th and 15th green contours to their historical specs ahead of its second century.
Everyone, at least once, in some form. Tour fans, architecture students, and anyone who wants to test the drivable 10th themselves — it's top-five American golf and plays exactly as smart as it looks.
The 10th: a ~315-yard par 4 Nicklaus called one of the best 10th holes in championship golf — drivable, but the shallow angled green punishes everything except the perfect line. The 6th has a bunker in the middle of the green, and the 18th climbs to a natural amphitheater finish below the clubhouse.
Brutally hard for beginners — kikuyu rough grabs clubs, poa greens wobble, and the strategy assumes you can place shots. Watch it on TV first; play it in the sim from forward tees.
In GSPro and one of the most-played courses on the platform — a PGA Tour staple build. Perfect Clubhouse queue-up during Genesis week in February: members can play the 10th the same day the pros do. Kikuyu rough is modeled punishingly; expect the sim to play every bit of its real difficulty.
Among the most private clubs in America — member invitation, or attend the Genesis Invitational as a spectator. For nearly everyone, the sim is the only way to actually play it.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riviera Country Club, https://www.pga.com/story/the-riviera-country-club-at-100-history-hogans-alley-and-a-timeless-championship-legacy, https://www.pgatour.com/article/news/latest/2026/02/16/a-look-back-at-100-years-of-the-riviera-country-club-and-the-genesis-invitational, https://simulatorgolftour.com/courses · high confidence
