NCAA Championships hole-by-hole preview: Behind the Gil Hanse redesign of Omni La Costa's famed North Course

CARLSBAD, Calif. - For a decade, it looked as if the glory days of Omni La Costa Resort & Spa were in the rear-view mirror.

The days of Tiger, Watson, Nicklaus, Miller, Player, Trevino and Mickelson prowling the fairways during the Tournament of Champions and the first World Golf Championships were fading from memory. A once-proud tournament venue, La Costa's Champions Course hadn't hosted anything of significance since the LPGA Tour's 2012 Kia Classic.

It would take a visionary to rekindle interest in the 36-hole La Costa. Omni turned to Gil Hanse - arguably the hottest golf course architect on the planet - to bring the sexy back. Over the past two years, Hanse and design partner Jim Wagner have removed trees, raised greens, shifted or removed bunkers, lengthened holes by adding new tees or pushing back greens and converted water hazards to sandy native areas to bring a new look and feel to one of golf's most revered classics. It looks and plays nothing like Dick Wilson's original design dating to 1965. But La Costa's renamed North Course - now stretching to 7,500 yards - has secured a bright future of tournament golf. It will host the Division I men's and women's NCAA Championships for the next three years beginning this week - May 17–22 for the women, followed by the men May 24–29.

If all goes as planned, La Costa could become the permanent home of the championships, an idea promoted by University of Texas Men's Golf Coach John Fields, who helped convince the resort that this was the best way forward.

"Now the golf course really has a chance to be something special for a very long time and the NCAAs is going to bring value to it," he said.

Fields has created the College World Golf Championships Foundation to underwrite the championships so that men and women get equal treatment. He believes that having a neutral host site will do wonders for college golf's biggest stage.

"To be consistent, to be able to do best practices. What did we do well and what did we do poorly? What do we need to add? What do we need to subtract?," he noted when talking about a permanent host site. "Over a 10-year period of time, the compound effect is going to be enormous. The iconic shots that people might associate with Omni La Costa - can you imagine what little kids will think about watching this event over time? They're going to want their parents to bring them out here and enjoy Omni La Costa and the San Diego area." 

Golf Channel will televise the women May 20-22, starting at 4 p.m. each day, and the men on May 27 and 28, starting at 4 p.m., with the final match on May 29, starting at 6:30 p.m. All times are Eastern. The course will reopen to members and public play June 1.

As a primer to the action, let's dive into the changes that have led to La Costa's resurgence. The listed yardages are from the tips and the likely tees the men will play most days with the women's playing yardages in parenthesis (measuring 6,330 total yards).

La Costa's Tournament Pedigree

Originally designed by Dick Wilson in 1965, Omni La Costa’s North Course hosted the Mercedes Championships (originally the Tournament of Champions) from 1969–1998. In 1999, the inaugural WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship launched, playing six more times in the next decade. In 2010 and 2012, the resort hosted the Kia Classic, a popular LPGA Tour event.

A new back tee added 45 yards to this hole, which now has a new area of native grasses up the right side separating it from the 15th hole. The green, guarded by two bunkers on the left and a shaved slope on the right, was raised and rebuilt.

Another 45-yard extension thanks to a new back tee makes this par 5 a real challenge for even the longest hitters. Rebuilt fairway bunkers on each side pinch the landing area. A wetland protects the right side of the green, where five bunkers have become three.

The green, once surrounded by four bunkers, has been raised three feet and pushed back 10 yards. Three bunkers have been stacked up the left side next to a new native area, giving players a clear bailout miss on the right.

A theme is starting to emerge on this dogleg left: New native areas (up the right side off the tee), shifting bunkers (All six have been repositioned, including the first one on the left, which has been pushed 25 yards down the fairway) and raising greens (3 feet higher) are the best defenses against today's distance gains.

Hanse went with a unique approach redesigning the fifth. Instead of the existing four fairway bunkers and four ringing the green - a classic approach - the new look starts with a foreboding bunker in the middle of the fairway. The three greenside bunkers seem insignificant compared to the giant mound created left of the green, which has been pushed 40 yards right. This sideboard influences every approach shot and putt.

This sweeping par 5 whips left, climbing uphill and measuring 43 yards longer than before. The fairway bunker right shouldn't be in play as golfers shape shots left, setting up a risk-reward second. Do they take on the three bunkers guarding an upper shelf in the fairway closer to the green or lay back? Raised eight feet from the lower fairway, the bunkerless green falls off hard right, setting up a tough up and down.

The newly raised green has been pushed 45 yards back, adding 50 yards to a demanding par 4. Players must drive it 270 yards in the air over the right-side bunker to find the fairway. The course's largest new native area was planted with drought-tolerant grasses up the right. Two new bunkers and mounded landforms guard the putting surface.

No hole has changed more than this par 3, which was once a simple 150-yarder over a pond with a bunker in back. It's now a 203-yard brute to a plateau green Hanse called a "Little Terror" in his early renderings. The pond was removed and transformed into a barranca filled with bunker sand and native grasses. Several more bunkers to the left will be in play until the green matures and accepts shots better.

Once again, with the pond up the right side gone, misses to that side of this dogleg right will end up in a twisting, sandy waste area. That sand crosses the fairway at 80 yards short of the green but shouldn't be in play unless you're struggling.

A new back tee stretches this dogleg right 40 more yards, making it impossible for most players to take on the lone remaining fairway bunker (three were removed) at the corner of the bend. The pond left of the green has been filled in with another native area and additional bunker. The green slopes right, which could help or hurt depending on the pin position.

A number of tees could be used on this short but deceiving par 4, playing anywhere from 275 to 350 yards. It's only one of two holes that actually lost yardage in the redesign (down from 367). A number of these tees have been placed 40 yards left from the original tee complex, creating a tricky new angle to the fairway and green. A skinny waste bunker lurks left with a pond running up the right side and wrapping around the green. Four greenside bunkers could catch aggressive tee shots or sloppy wedges. Anything long left will sink into a penalty area.

Four greenside bunkers were removed because with 43 additional yards of length, they weren't needed. The new tabletop green extends more than 40 yards from front to back, a four-club difference depending on where the pin is cut.

This dogleg right might be the most recognizable for members. Players should use the lone fairway bunker up the left as an aiming point to avoid the wetland hazard along the right. A new elevated green does accept running approach shots, unless any of the three bunkers catch them first.

Five bunkers have been removed to allow the restored creek to be the primary focus of the hole, which stretches 22 yards longer than before. The creek twists through the landing zone, forcing players to choose a 290-yard carry up the left side or a layup to the fairway short of the hazard that pinches tighter the farther players drive it. The original plans called for a bunker between the green and creek to catch balls heading into trouble. Ultimately, the trap didn't make the final edit, keeping the hazard squarely in play for misses that squirt right. "I think No. 14 is the best hole on the course," Fields said.

Even though the hole plays 30 yards longer than the previous version, it's meant to be a risk-reward opportunity to kick off a dramatic closing stretch that's ideal for both match play and stroke play - both of which are used during the NCAA Championships. The bracketing fairway bunkers were filled in and merged into a large bunker in the middle of the fairway. The creek from no. 14 curls up the right side and gathers into a pond behind the green. Three new greenside bunkers form an intimidating wall to protect an elevated putting surface. Players too worried about their presence could hit the approach too long, where a shaved slope funnels balls into the water. Don't be surprised if there are as many 3s as there are 6s on this devilish par 4.

This is probably the signature shot at La Costa, if only because it's the hole visible from the putting green, staging area and resort. With a pond in front, the green was rebuilt to inspire visions of Augusta National’s iconic 12th hole. As at Augusta, short misses will tumble into the water from shaved slopes. This is where Tiger Woods striped an iron in the rain to tap-in distance to beat Tom Lehman in the 1997 Tournament of Champions playoff.

Four fairway bunkers have been reduced to two, both up the right side. A new back tee adds 20 yards. Multiple bunkers bracket what is the mildest green on the course.

What an incredible finishing hole! A new back tee 30 yards back has been offset by a new green pushed 40 yards forward, bringing the fronting creek much more into play. The tee shot is harrowing as water squeezes the narrow fairway from both sides. The second shot is just as demanding. The hillsides behind the green have been reshaped to create a natural amphitheater where fans can gather to cheer on golf's next generation of stars.

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