Ladera Golf Club

Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner's 2023 desert course in Thermal, carved from a former lemon grove into barrancas and angled greens beneath the Santa Rosa Mountains.

Ladera opened in 2023 in Thermal, at the southeastern end of the Coachella Valley against the Santa Rosa Mountains. Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner built it on a former lemon grove, flat farmland with little natural movement. The team dug out long barrancas, low desert washes, and used the fill to make the fairways rise and fall. They finished the construction in about a year. Golf Digest named Ladera its Best New Private Course for 2023.

Reviewers describe Ladera as the most angular design Hanse has produced. Fairways are wide, but nearly every green favors approaches from one side. Several tee shots ask for diagonal carries over barrancas, scrub and bunkers, so players choose how much to bite off. At 7,705 yards from the back, it has the length to make those choices matter for strong players. The forward tees keep the diagonals manageable for everyone else.

Highlights include the 12th, a 210-yard par 3 with a Biarritz-style swale behind the putting surface, and a drivable par-4 15th that plays to an elevated, angled green. Debuting this high in Golf Digest's ranking within a couple of years of opening reflects how much the design does with a featureless site. It also shows Hanse's standing after his restoration work on major championship venues.

Holes to know

12

Par 3 · 210 yd

A Biarritz-inspired swale sits behind the green rather than through it, punishing long tee shots and opening up recovery options.

15

Par 4

A drivable par 4 to an elevated, angled green that rewards the right line more than raw distance.

18

The closing hole uses bunkers on the left and front-right to define the best angle into the final green.