Viewers of the 2023 U.S. Open this week are likely to learn a new golf term, courtesy of the Los Angeles Country Club: barranca.
The barranca — pronounced "burr-ahn-kuh" — is synonymous with Southern California golf courses, such as those found at the Riviera and Bel-Air country clubs. You won't see them at the pristine Augusta National or Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y. (though maybe Tom Kim would have preferred it over the ditch he was forced to play out of at the PGA Championship).
Indeed, the barranca is a uniquely Californian golf obstacle. And it's one golfers will look to appreciate from a distance at this week's 2023 U.S. Open:
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The Sporting News breaks down the barranca, including its definition, how it was integrated into the L.A. Country Club and where it is featured this week at the USGA's premier tournament:
What is a barranca?
A barranca is defined as a "narrow, winding river gorge" and comes from the Spanish word meaning cliff, precipice, gully or ravine. They are typically found in Southern California landscapes, and can vary in width and depth in different parts.
How does the LACC use the barranca?
The Los Angeles Country Club uses the craggy natural feature as one of the more distinct course obstacles — especially around putting greens.
Golfers who have the misfortune to land in one may be tempted to hack their way out of the feature, depending on where the lie is. The barranca is lined with sand, which may make it feasible to avoid a one-stroke penalty. It's also home to thick native grass and plants — such as ceanothus, manzanita, purple sage and coastal sage — making for a potentially unplayable ball.
The L.A. Country Club was designed by W. Herbert Fowler in 1921, and significantly reworked by George C. Thomas Jr. to include the feature in 1928. Per The New York Times, Thomas used the barranca as an "important, effective drainage role during rainy seasons."
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A USGA feature on the LACC barranca indicates it was largely overgrown with grass by the 2010s. That is, until architects Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner began renovating the course in 2009. By the 2017 completion of the project, the barranca had been restored to its original purpose.
"The barranca predominantly runs through the front nine and provides a significant amount of strategy," Hanse said. "Thomas utilized it and incorporated it in many dramatic ways, fronting some of the greens, paralleling some of the holes, while on other holes you have diagonal carries over it.
"We’ve worked hard through the years to reintroduce native vegetation as well as indigenous trees and plants, such as sycamores and oaks, that would have naturally grown throughout the golf course. It’s a diverse landscape, and a beautiful one."
Where is the barranca at the L.A. Country Club?
Golfers' first interaction with a barranca at the LACC will be on Hole 2, which prominently features the obstacle in front of the green. The same barranca will wind from the second hole of the course through the front nine, but won't be seen again until No. 17.
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Here's every hole that features the barranca for golfers to avoid at the 2023 U.S. Open, per its official course breakdown:
- Hole 2 (par 4, 497 yards)
- Hole 4 (par 3, 228 yards)
- Hole 6 (par 4, 330 yards)
- Hole 8 (par 5, 537 yards)
- Hole 17 (par 4, 520 yards)
"The barranca just flows throughout," John Bodenhamer, the chief championships officer of the USGA, said on Wednesday (via the Times). “There’s a brilliance to how it is used."
The Times reports the barranca held water as recently as May, but has since returned to a dry condition after limited rainfall. Its current condition, Bodenhamer said, was not only expected, but also desired for the 2023 U.S. Open:
"You’ll see players playing out of them — that’s how they were intended. "You’ll see a lot of heroic shots, a lot of excitement. The barranca is just magnificent."