Star Turn: Historic Bel-Air C.C. Set to Host 44th Curtis Cup Match

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Something unusual happened to Meghan Stasi after walking around Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles during the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur. The four-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, who was scouting players for the 2024 USA Curtis Cup Team she would captain, fell in love with the layout and could remember every hole afterward. “That doesn’t normally happen unless I play,” she said.

Stasi’s experience surely would have brought a smile to the faces of Alphonzo Bell, George C. Thomas and William P. Bell. Tom Doak, too. All have played a role in the club’s rich history, which will only deepen this week when it hosts the 44th Curtis Cup Match – but none more so than Alphonzo Bell.

The Southern California native struck it rich in 1921 when oil was discovered on a citrus ranch he owned in southeast L.A. County. He used some of that wealth to purchase 1,750 acres near Beverly Hills a year later. While real estate development was his primary goal, he brought in Thomas and William Bell to design a golf course on the property. The trio looked at two other sites before settling on a third, where the routing flows through four canyons. Still, the layout came together only after the two architects made an arduous walk to a barren hilltop in 1925.

According to a booklet the club published in 2024, the duo “took their famous last-gasp hike through the sage-covered hills of Bel-Air. Their ascent brought them to a ridge that was part of a hill close to the new Bellagio Road.”

Although not the highest point on the property, the hilltop became the site of the Bel-Air clubhouse, and the pair recognized the potential of a nearby ravine known as the Cañon du Diablo, or Canyon of the Devil. Each of the three men successfully hit a ball over it – with a putter, no less – thereby confirming the viability of what became the par-3 10th hole. The one-shotter is firmly enshrined among the game’s iconic holes, partly due to the white swinging bridge crossing the ravine that all players must traverse. It’s a structure dedicated to the late Eddie Merrins, the legendary instructor affectionately known as the Li’l Pro, who served as Bel-Air’s head professional from 1962 to 2003.

Other construction quirks only add to the club’s lore. The property includes four tunnels, including one after the 9th green leading to an elevator that takes players up to that 10th tee. There’s also a new clubhouse, opened in September 2024, with spectacular views stretching across the nearby campus of UCLA to Century City and beyond to downtown Los Angeles.

Given the prime location, it’s no surprise that the club has strong ties to Hollywood. In the mid-1930s, Howard Hughes landed his plane on the 8th fairway in his pursuit of Katharine Hepburn, who was taking a golf lesson at the time. In May 1950, the reception for Elizabeth Taylor’s first wedding, to Conrad Hilton Jr., was held at the club. While Bel-Air doesn’t confirm membership details, that list has been said to include Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, Jason Bateman, Larry David and Will Ferrell, among others. Actor Chris O’Donnell recently served on the club’s board of directors, while actor/director James Widdoes (a star of the 1978 movie “Animal House”) served as president from 2017 to 2021.

No matter their golf experience, all have been challenged by a layout that demands creative shotmaking. Megan Schofill enjoyed that aspect of Bel-Air when she won the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur here, defeating Latanna Stone, 4 and 3, in the final. “On some holes, you can land the ball on sidehills and it will run down to the fairway,” said Schofill. “You can use the slopes on the greens to get the ball to feed to the hole or come back to it. And there are a few really hard dogleg holes. It’s such a great golf course.”

“It’s a unique test that can play simple or very, very difficult,” said Stasi, who returns as captain of the USA Curtis Cup Team in 2026. “And it’s a fun course for match play.”

Early leads before the turn are unlikely to remain safe during the Curtis Cup thanks to the more challenging back nine, described by a Los Angeles Evening Express writer after the course opening in 1926 as, “the nine of a thousand thrills.”

“You’re going to see birdies win a lot of holes on the front nine, which probably plays three shots easier than the back nine,” said Tom Gardner, who in 2024 became Bel-Air’s fourth-ever head professional. “On the back nine, you’ll see a few pars win holes. I’m not saying that you can’t make up ground if you’re down going into the back nine, but the quality of shots you have to hit there is definitely elevated a little bit. So, you’ll see a little bit more volatility on the back nine. Then you have a pretty good opportunity as you come out of the last canyon with 17 and 18 being birdie holes. If matches make it that far, we’ll see some exciting finishes.” 

“Almost every approach on the back nine is uphill to the green, starting at 12, and even on 10 everything is uphill,” said Adam Fannon, the club’s general manager. “Every hole seems to be a bit into the breeze, because 11 through 16 are in one big canyon, and the wind gets down in there and just swirls. Ken Venturi once called it the best nine holes of golf in California.

“The most fun hole for us to watch during the U.S. Women’s Amateur was 16, an uphill par 3,” added Fannon. “It can play anywhere from 140 yards to 200 yards, and there’s a three-tiered green with massive bunkers left and right. If a shot is mis-hit there, par is a good score. We saw a lot of swings in matches on that hole.”

Curtis Cup competitors will be tackling a course deftly restored in 2018 by Tom Doak and his team. Their work brought back many of the original design elements implemented by Thomas, who was also the visionary behind two other nearby gems, Riviera and The Los Angeles Country Club. Doak’s design work at Bel-Air fulfilled his previously stated desire to restore the course to its full glory. Not prone to hyperbole, he had written in his 1996 book, “The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses”: “In plan, Bel-Air might be the most spectacular golf course in the world.”

The Curtis Cup marks the fourth USGA championship at Bel-Air, following the 1976 U.S. Amateur, 2004 U.S. Senior Amateur and the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur. It also hosted stroke-play rounds for the 2017 U.S. Amateur, which was held at nearby Riviera.

“It’s so picturesque,” Schofill said. “Every hole is just beautiful. I’ve played a lot of courses where it’s difficult to remember anything after the round. Every hole tends to look the same. That was the best part about Bel-Air – every hole was so different.” 

The way Schofill’s words echo Stasi’s is proof that Thomas fulfilled one of his goals when designing Bel-Air a century ago. In his 1926 book “Golf Architecture in America,” Thomas wrote, “When you play a course and remember each hole, it has individuality and change. If your mind cannot recall the exact sequence of the holes, that course lacks the great assets of originality and diversity.”

Perhaps no one appreciated those characteristics more than Merrins, who remained as Bel-Air’s professional emeritus until his death in 2023.

“Someone was once quoted as saying that there will always be an England,” he said in 2017. “Well, there will always be a Bel-Air. It’s earned its rightful place. This club is made up of a lot of interesting characters – from the movie industry, from the world of athletics, from business, from professional fields. It’s quite a conglomeration of people who are drawn here because of the game, this club and the golf course.”