
Great Courses: Riviera (feat. Zac Blair)
From Designing Golf by Fried Egg Golf
February 19, 2026 · 59 min
About this episode
Garrett discusses the design of Riviera Country Club and interviews Zac Blair about the course.
With the Genesis Invitational returning to Riviera Country Club this week, Garrett digs into the masterful 1927 design by George Thomas and Billy Bell. First, he outlines what makes Riviera great and how he thinks it could be improved. Then he brings on Zac Blair, professional golfer and founder of The Tree Farm, to talk about the finer details of the course. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
People in this episode
Host: Garrett
Guest: Zac Blair
Topics covered
- golf course design
- Riviera Country Club
- Genesis Invitational
- Zac Blair
- course improvement
- golf history
Keywords
- Riviera Country Club
- Genesis Invitational
- golf design
- Zac Blair
- George Thomas
- Billy Bell
- course improvement
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: The Tree Farm
Books & works: Genesis Invitational
Places: Riviera Country Club
More episodes of Designing Golf
- Great Architects: William Flynn · June 11, 2026 · 1h 18m
- Great Courses: Shinnecock Hills · June 4, 2026 · 1h 52m
- Golf Architecture 101: The Championship Setup Wars · May 21, 2026 · 1h 5m
- Great Architects: Donald Ross (feat Bradley Klein) · April 30, 2026 · 1h 31m
- The Economics of Golf Course Construction (feat. Bruce Hepner) · April 16, 2026 · 1h 25m
- The Original Augusta National (feat. Brian Schneider and Josh Pettit) · April 2, 2026 · 1h 12m
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Designing Golf podcast page.