Palos Verdes Golf Club

Palos Verdes Golf Club occupies a dramatic clifftop setting on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, roughly twenty miles south of downtown Los Angeles. George C. Thomas designed the course in 1924, with William P. Bell serving as construction supervisor and collaborator—a partnership that produced several notable Southern California layouts during the Golden Age. The property sits atop coastal bluffs with views across the Pacific Ocean and Santa Monica Bay, and the routing takes advantage of the natural terrain's elevation changes and canyon features. Thomas routed the course across rolling, sometimes severe topography that includes barrancas and ridgelines characteristic of the peninsula's geology. The design reflects his strategic principles, with holes that reward thoughtful positioning and offer multiple routes of play depending on skill and risk tolerance. Several holes play along or across ravines, and the clifftop setting exposes the course to coastal winds that can significantly affect play and club selection. The club has maintained a private membership since its founding and occupies a relatively compact footprint given the dramatic land. Palos Verdes represents one of Thomas's surviving works in Southern California, alongside Riviera and Bel-Air, though it receives less national attention than those more prominent designs. The course has undergone periodic updates over the decades to address agronomic needs and modern equipment, but the essential character of the Thomas routing and the distinctive coastal setting remain intact.