Our series on America’s best golf courses continues with a look at three of the best classic fairways in the West, as determined by Golfweek magazine’s handpicked panel of 385 course raters. The raters, who are students of architecture, attend national workshops and each evaluate 15 to 20 courses per year.

Here’s what distinguishes the top classic courses in the West. We’ve also included
information on the most convenient places to land your business jet near each course.

Look for a report on some of the best classic courses in the Southeast U.S. in our next issue.

Los Angeles Country Club (North Course) Los Angeles, California

The 315 acres straddling Wilshire Boulevard that comprise this course just might be the most expensive real estate in all of golf. The 36-hole facility has a pretty good South Course that sits literally at the foot of Century City. But it’s the North Course–featuring a 1921 Herbert Fowler design that was transformed into its current incarnation by George C. Thomas Jr. and William P. Bell in 1927–that rightly claims national fame and a No. 18 rating on the Golfweek list of best classic courses. The land has loads of slope and kick, nowhere more memorably than at the par-3 11th hole, a reverse Redan. The club is rare in L.A. in that it’s not impressed with glitz and fame. In fact, it shuns Hollywood types. The folks here know a good thing and they know to keep quiet about it.

Airports
Santa Monica (SMO)
4,987-ft runway, 6-mi drive
FBOs: American Flyers, (310) 390-4571;
Supermarine, (310) 396-6770

Los Angeles International (LAX)
12,091-ft runway, 13-mi drive
FBOs: Landmark Aviation, (310) 568-3700;
Mercury Air Centers, (310) 215-5745

Olympic Club (Lakeside Course) San Francisco, Calf.

Here’s a course that’s less than 7,000 yards and yet stays fresh and challenging to the world’s best players. In fact, it was home to the U.S. Open in 1955 (Jack Fleck), 1966 (Billy Casper), 1987 (Scott Simpson) and 1998 (Lee Janzen) and it’s on the docket again for 2012. The holes are terraced along a dramatic major slope, forcing golfers to work the ball just to keep it in the fairways. Poa annua turf and a wet, heavy-aired climate act like natural brakes on the ball, making for a round where par is hard work. Of course, the real reason Olympic-Lakeside enjoys a No. 20 rating on Golfweek’s best-classic-courses list is found midway into the round. Forget about signature holes; the club has a signature dish in the form of the square hamburgers grilled up in the snack shack behind the 10th green.

Airports
San Francisco International (SFO)
11,870-ft runway, 12-mile drive
FBO: Signature Flight Support, (650) 877-6800

Metropolitan Oakland International (OAK)
10,000-ft runway, 30-mi drive
FBOs: Business Jet Center, (866) 383-5669;
KaiserAir, (800) 538-2625

Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California

This heralded design by George C. Thomas Jr. and William P. Bell has been a regular stopover on the PGA tour since 1929. The course begins and ends at a classic Spanish Mediterranean clubhouse, and incorporates arroyos and steep mounds in ways that call for thoughtful shot-making skills. Along the way, golfers confront a par-3 (hole No. 6) with a bunker in the middle of the green; a short, drivable par-4 (hole No. 10) that is annually one of the tour’s most confounding; a nearly blind, steeply uphill final tee shot (hole No. 18) and an approach to a green that was built into a natural amphitheater. Heavy shade and gnarly kikuyu don’t make for ideal turf conditions; otherwise Riviera would rank even higher than No. 24 on Golfweek’s best-classic-courses list.

Airports
Santa Monica (SMO)
4,987-ft runway, 5-mi drive
FBOs: American Flyers, (310) 390-4571;
Supermarine, (310) 396-6770

Los Angeles International (LAX)
12,091-ft runway, 14-mi drive
FBOs: Landmark Aviation, (310) 568-3700;
Mercury Air Centers, (310) 215-5745