When the nation’s top collegiate golf teams arrive at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in May for the NCAA Championships, it will mark the culmination of their season. For Omni La Costa, however, it will signal the beginning of a new era for a resort that has been a frequent destination for the PGA Tour and celebrities since its opening in 1965.
Leading up to its golden anniversary in 2025, Omni La Costa has been a whirlwind of activity for much of the past four years. After completing renovations to the resort’s lobby, bar, ballroom and its massive, 170,000 square feet of meeting space in 2021, Omni La Costa is preparing to unveil a reimagination of its 500-plus guest room, villas and suites this summer.
For Golf Channel viewers, the most visible sign of the new energy flowing through Omni La Costa will be the resort’s tournament course, which was given a complete overhaul by golf’s hottest architectural team, Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner.
“It’s kind of a rebirth of La Costa,” said club director Dustin Irwin. “We’re turning back the clock to La Costa’s glory days.”
As if to accentuate the resort’s recommitment to its roots, Omni La Costa is reverting to its original logo and course names – North for the tournament course, South for the second course.
Hole 1 at North Course
It’s been six years since University of Texas men’s golf coach John Fields hatched the idea of bringing the NCAAs to Omni La Costa – capitalizing on the resort’s rich tradition, the region’s near-flawless weather and the chance to showcase the collegiate game in prime-time for much of the country. Fields and his family also created the College World Golf Championships Foundation to fund the NCAA Championships.
“My hope is that someday 10,000 people are out there watching collegiate golf at Omni La Costa,” Fields said. “If that happens, the trickle-down effect is going to be dramatic. What an unbelievable way for the college golf world to come together. … We know it’s going to be a home run.”
The vision for a potentially lasting marriage between Omni La Costa and the NCAAs was contingent on Hanse and Wagner working their magic on the tournament course, while architect Beau Welling, who regularly collaborates with Tiger Woods, tackled the new practice area.
The North Course opening won’t take place until the NCAAs, but Welling’s state-of-the-art practice range opened in late March. Omni La Costa’s undersized, L-shaped practice range is gone,…
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