Inside the Bel-Air Country Club, this week’s Curtis Cup venue

Long before the Korda sisters, Jessica and Nelly, there were the Curtis sisters, Harriot and Margaret. Between them, they captured four US Women’s Amateur titles. But their legacy in the sport is closely linked to the biennial tournament that bears their name.

The Curtis Cup returns on Friday for its 44th edition, bringing together women’s novices from the United States and Great Britain and Ireland over three days of foursomes, fourballs and singles. Although the Americans have a 31-9-3 advantage in the two-year series, the visitors arrive as the defending champions after their victory two years ago at Sunningdale.

Sunningdale is a perfect reference point. Over the decades, the Curtis Cup has traveled to many of the sport’s most famous venues, and this year’s host is no exception. Team events will be contested at Bel-Air Country Club, a Los Angeles gem nestled in the mountains just a few miles from the Riviera, site of last week’s US Women’s Open.

Like Riviera, Bel-Air was designed by George C. Thomas (with help from Billy Bell). But it has all the personality. Before Friday’s opening shots, here are 8 things you should know about the course and the club.

One of the Big Three

The term “Triumvirate” is a fancy word for “the great three,” and it’s often used to refer to the three most famous courses in LA: Riviera, Los Angeles Country Club and Bel-Air. The Thomas triumvirate! He designed it all in the 1920s, and although Riviera and LACC ranked high on the Top 100 list, the architect himself was most proud of Bel-Air, according to Thomas biographer Geoff Shackelford, in part because of the site’s challenges.

Bridges, tunnels. . . and the elevator

Where the Riviera lies along an old river bed, and the LACC runs over a wide, rolling acre, the Bel-Air spills out into four canyons whose canyons and washes form a trail puzzle. The solution takes golfers on a memorable journey. Over 18 holes, players walk through four fairways and take an elevator from the 9th green up to the clubhouse. From there, it’s a short trip to the 10th hole, a long par-3 that plays over a ravine, its tee connected to the green by a 350-foot suspension bridge.

The name rings ‘Bell’

Billy Bell played a role in the design. But another Bell made the project happen. Alphonzo Bell (no relation to Billy) was an oil and real estate magnate who developed the land where the course now sits. However Bel-Air French for “good wind,” it’s also a spin on Bell’s last name.

Nips and tucks

Like a lot of big name Angelenos, Bel-Air has had a lot of work. In addition to George Thomas and Billy Bell, at least seven other architects have transformed the course to varying degrees, including Dick Wilson, whose 1962 renovation so angered Thomas’ daughter, a member of Bel-Air, that she boycotted the club. Over the decades, other architects – George Fazio, Tom Fazio, Jack Nicklaus and Robert Trent Jones Jr. between them – they also make tweaks. But the latest renovation by Tom Doak, his 2018 restoration removed artificial water hazards, reduced living spaces and other changes made over the decades, all with the aim of reviving Thomas’ original design.

You are comfortable on camera

Doak’s restoration was aided by extensive archival materials, including photographs. One of those photos was an aerial photo of a maintenance worker watering the 9th green by hand, taken nearly a century ago from the Goodyear Blimp. “It doesn’t get much LA than that,” said Eric Iverson, Doak’s former managing partner.

A brilliant crowd

And it doesn’t get much more LA than a Bel-Air membership. In the Golden Age of Hollywood, Jimmy Stewart, Fred Astaire, Dean Martin and Humphrey Bogart all belonged to him, as Jason Bateman, Chris O’Donnell, Luke Wilson and Dennis Quaid are in the ranks today. There are many actors and studio executives. Ditto athletes, including Marcus Allen, Wayne Gretzky and Jarrett Stoll. Then there’s Mae West, who wasn’t a member but left her mark on Bel-Air nonetheless. The two prominent fairway mounds on the par-4 12th are nicknamed in honor of the rising star.

Holes worth knowing

Thomas believed in opening his courses with a friendly handshake, and Bel-Air’s No. 1 — a par-5 available that plunges into a canyon — fits that mold. But as he does at Riviera and LACC, he tightens things up with the stour par-4 2nd, which requires a tee move over a penalty fairway bunker. Nine shots on two holes is a good score. On the back nine, the 14th is a rare par-5 that worries even the best players, its small tee shot followed by watery formations and greens that escape the fairway. The par-4 17th is downhill to a fairway made difficult by the elevation change and the green has problems all around. It can be a punishing hole in the past.

The place has stories

If the Riviera is the perfect tournament course and the LACC is the big week, Bel-Air is the club with the best gossip. Howard Hughes once landed a plane in the area, in a hurry to pick up Katharine Hepburn. The members describe the true culture of the group – people who know each other and rub shoulders. Al Michaels, a member, is not known for calling golf – but whispering players from the yards facing the 1st and 10th tees is something of a club tradition, and he’s happy to oblige.