The 2023 U.S. Open Feels Closed: Why Are There So Few Golf Fans At LACC?

As one of golf's four annual major championships, the U.S. Open is always a highly anticipated event for golf fans. That was especially the case for the 2023 edition of America's national championship, as this year's U.S. Open was set to be held at the mysterious and exclusive Los Angeles Country Club for the first time ever.

Unlike nearby Riviera Country Club, which hosts a PGA Tour on an annual basis, LACC has rarely opened its gates to the wider golfing public with the 2017 Walker Cup and the PAC 12 Championship - both amateur events - being the only events of note held at the Los Angeles jewel in recent memory.

While few would argue with the quality of LACC's famed North Course, golf fans have been grumbling about the apparent lack of excitement on the property during the 2023 U.S. Open. The most notable - and obvious - issue has been the lack of fans on the grounds. So...why are there so few fans at LACC? Let's dig into some of the reasons.

Logistics

Put simply, traffic in and around Los Angeles is an absolute nightmare. Getting anywhere takes a long time and can lead to frustration. This problem has long been an issue for L.A.-area sports fans, who notoriously either show up late or stay at home when their favorite teams are playing in town.

L.A. fans are infamously blase when it comes to attendance, with the aforementioned travel restraints being a huge issue, but we also must consider just how many events are going on in the L.A. area practically every day. There are lots of competitors for entertainment time and dollars in this part of the world. So much so, that it's fair to wonder how much even a huge sporting event such as the U.S. Open registers on the radars of the L.A. locals.

Geography

One of the things that makes LACC so cool is that it's a beautiful and rugged golf course that sits smack dab in the middle of some of the most valuable and populated real estate on earth. Unfortunately, what makes the club so unique also makes it fairly inaccessible to large amounts of people, as LACC simply doesn't have the physical space needed to host the huge amount of fans that would normally attend a U.S. Open.

In addition to issues as simple as parking, the North Course is dotted with "barrancas" or ravines that run throughout the unique property. While these "barrancas" give the course a cool identity, they also present a safety hazard for fans that are unfamiliar with the land.

This issue, as well as the natural bottlenecks created by the tee boxes and greens on the course, has forced LACC to block off access to large portions of the course. Many speculate that these natural, unavoidable geographical issues have led to roughly half of the number of fans being on-site for this U.S. Open in comparison to some popular past venues.

Corporate Concerns

As many were probably reminded by professional golf's recent blockbuster merger announcement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and the Saudi-backed PIF that operates LIV Golf, the world of sports is increasingly becoming nothing more than corporate property. That corporate connection has rarely been more on display than this year's U.S. Open, as corporate hospitality suites and tents are impossible to miss on the LACC property.

Golf Digest's Joel Beall has reported that of this year's estimated daily attendance of 23,000, roughly 14,000 of those attendees are considered corporate guests, which means that roughly just 9,000 tickets per day have been left for general admission fans. It's not unusual for golf's governing bodies and the PGA Tour to pay lots of attention to their corporate interests during big events, but that already-high number for any U.S. Open has likely been spiked to an even bigger degree in this instance, as L.A. is such a business, cultural, and entertainment epicenter.

Privacy and Exclusivity

While it's not exactly breaking news that L.A. has bad traffic and that there's lots of corporate schmoozing going on at a championship-caliber golf event, perhaps the most mind-blowing report from the aforementioned Golf Digest story is the involvement of LACC itself in the seeming dearth of available tickets for this year's U.S. Open.

Beall reports that of the estimated 9,000 daily tickets made available for general admission, LACC and its membership have purchased at least half of the daily allotment. This eye-opening act is a likely reflection of LACC's notoriously exclusive culture.

The ritzy and wealthy club has a laundry list of very strict rules for members that have been making the rounds this week, and this alleged ticket-grabbing stunt would seem to be an attempt by the club and its membership to simply keep the number of outsiders visiting their club to a minimum. Maybe that's something LACC should have considered before agreeing to host a U.S. Open?

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