Two tournaments that rarely visit Southern California will soon be played back to back on a familiar course that even frequent golfers might no longer recognize.

The 2024 NCAA Division 1 Golf Championships will take place on the Gil Hanse-renovated and newly named North Course (formerly Champions) at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad. The Women’s event will be held May 17-22, followed by the Men’s from May 24-29.

The Men’s Championship was last held in the region in 2012, when Texas defeated Alabama at Riviera CC in Pacific Palisades. There’s been an even longer drought for the Women’s Championship, founded in 1982. It’s only been played once in California, back in 1996, when the University of Arizona claimed the title at La Quinta Resort & Club.

Players, coaches and spectators alike will be getting a first look at the new North Course, making its debut after undergoing significant changes that will render it unrecognizable in parts (for the better) to former visitors.

“We’re going to reintroduce a new golf course to the golfing world,” Hanse said last year in a video for resort members. “Getting La Costa back to the forefront of golfer’s minds is what excites us.”

The work by Hanse, his partner Jim Wagner and their team will do just that. They have successfully threaded the needle by creating a layout that will challenge the best college players (the NCAAs will be held at La Costa for the next three years, and the resort plans to bid for the 2027 and 2028 championships as well) but will also serve the needs of members and resort guests.

“So (at La Costa) we’re going to work hard to have wide corridors and will be converting some of the water hazards on the course to barranca so you won’t be losing golf balls,” said Hanse. “Ultimately, it will make for a much more enjoyable experience for the resort golfer. But the level of precision required to score around here — which is ultimately going to be important for the NCAA Championships — we think we can make that fairly high. We can do that by creating some hole locations that are going to be difficult to access. Even though the fairways will be wide, we can create some meaningful angles so players are going to have to position their golf ball.”

SAME ROUTING, NEW ANGLES

Although the routing remains the same, the extensive work included creating new free-form tees; building new greens and repositioning others; replacing a pond between the eighth and ninth holes with a native barranca area; shifting locations of cart paths; eliminating trees; and both removing and creating new bunkers.

Hanse, whose renovation work at The Los Angeles CC’s (LACC) North Course received international attention when the course hosted last year’s U.S. Open, was inspired by that layout and other area courses (plus one in Georgia; the green
shape and bunkering on the par-3 16th now resembles the par-3 12th at Augusta National).

“We want to build golf courses that really have that sense of place, that feel like they belong in their surrounds, their environs,” he said. “One of the great things about Southern California is that we have a tremendous set of examples. Like LACC, Riviera CC and the Valley Club of Montecito. All of those have a beautiful sense of place. They feel like they belong and are plugged into the landscape. Most of the earthwork we do (at La Costa) is going to be focused on creating a golf course that sits a little bit more softly in the land. I believe our creation of these barrancas will create very strategic options and angles, but also create distinct landscapes for these golf holes to exist in.”

The North Course isn’t the only change at La Costa. There’s a reimagined practice facility, with new short-game areas and enhanced range. Off-course changes include a new golf logo, plus renovations to the spa area, meeting spaces and all rooms and villas. A stay-to-play model introduced during the renovation project — to play the courses, at least one person in each foursome must be staying at the resort, or you must be a member or guest of a member — has been made permanent.

The works mark a complete transformation of the property, owned by Omni since 2013.

“I think the NCAA Championships were really the driving force behind the changes,” said Club Director Dustin Irwin, who oversees golf, membership and racquet sports at the resort. “Our bid on getting the NCAAs was contingent upon a course renovation. The room product and the spa needed changes, too. It was time. The NCAAs accelerated all of that. We now have a brand new product on and off the course.”