Olivas Links grew out of Olivas Park, a city-run municipal course in Ventura that once had 27 holes. Floods in the 1970s damaged much of it, and the city reconfigured it to 18 holes. In 2001 Ventura began a program to rebuild both of its courses, Olivas Park and Buenaventura, and hired Forrest Richardson. At Olivas he built an entirely new links-style course from scratch, keeping none of the old holes or greens, and it reopened as Olivas Links around 2008.