Following on from my last post about the face lift at La Costa, the resort's website now offers flyovers for both revised courses, with the bulk of the modifications having been carried out to the North Course, or Champions Course, as it's now known.
What is immediately apparent is the extent to which the fairway bunkering has been tightened up, not so much in its menace as in its involvement in the course as a whole. Like the flabby kids in PE, ordered to stop lounging against the wall bars and to get stuck in with the rest of the class, the fairway traps have been brought into the heart of the hole, defining its challenge and attendant options.
How passive their predecessors seem now, looking back at the original course: lurking in the shadows and only a factor when drives went awry. Now, at the very least, they nudge into the fairway to focus the mind and at best, as on the 4th, 5th and 7th, they call on you not merely to avoid them but to negotiate them.
Much of the course's famed six-hole closing stretch seems to have been left largely intact, although I'm not quite sure why the fairway sand has swapped sides on 14. I would have thought the creek alone was sufficient counterbalance to the long, left-side drive and with a drive to the right opening up the green somewhat, the original bunkering seemed more logical.
I would be interested to know what visitors feel about the 18th. While it certainly looks an improvement on the rather plain original, I just wonder whether the lakes make it a little too 'busy'.
The abiding impression, though, is just how far the industry has come with its approach to bunkering since Dick Wilson and Joe Lee first got to work here. Champions, North Course - call it what you will: it looks lean and mean again and I wish it well.
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Pic of the Day - The Bahamas' Ocean Golf Club
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