This exclusive Gil Hanse-designed course is a desert masterpiece

GOLF recently released its latest ranking of the Top 100 Courses in the U.S. (2024-25), a list that includes 11 newcomers. Some of them you might know. Others you might not. Here, in our newcomer spotlights, we’ll introduce you to these rookie Top 100 gems.

Newcomer spotlight: Ladera / Rank: 87th

Location: Thermal, Calif.
Type: Private
Year opened: 2023
Architect: Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner

What you need to know about Ladera

Tucked away in the lower Coachella Valley, this private club nestles up against the Santa Rosa Mountains and provides one of the game’s most peaceful settings. Given that Jim Wagner and Gil Hanse manipulated every inch of this desert site, they were free to configure the fairways as best they saw fit. Several tee shots now require appealing diagonal carries over the likes of barrancas, low-lying vegetation and well-placed bunkers on the inside of doglegs. Standout holes include the 210-yard par-3 12th that features a Biarritz type swale at the rear of the green, and the drivable par-4 15th that plays to an elevated, angled green. The best of the bunch might be the 18th, with its massive bunker on the left working in perfect unison with a sister bunker front right. This is strategic golf at a high level.

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What our raters say

“Ladera joins the Top 100 by being the most angular design that Gil Hanse has produced. Even though the fairways are generous, there is a definite preferred position to approach the greens. Creative shotmaking is a necessity due to Hanse and Wagner’s subtle and thoughtful design work on and around the greens. The 10th and 15th holes are unique and original holes where birdies and double bogeys will come in equal numbers.”

“Impossible to play Ladera and not think of the inspiration Riviera must have provided the Hanse/Wagner design team. My personal favorite hole is the blind approach shot into the diagonal bisecting ridge in the green at the long par-4 4th hole.”

“An amazing feat of engineering, taking this flat lemon tree grove, digging the huge barrancas through the property and shaping all of that fill into very significant elevation changes and tumbling fairways, and then routing 18 wonderful golf holes onto the landscape. And they did it all inside of a year! Crazy impressive. This is the best golf course in the Palm Springs area by far, top 10 in the state for sure and arguably the best desert course on the planet. Bravo to Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner for creating a terrific day of golf for anyone lucky enough to play there.”

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