The Costa Rican countryside has trees from Africa, Asia, Australia, America and Europe.
When José Banús commissioned the design of the course he had in mind, the Nueva Andalucía Golf Club, to the legendary American architect Robert Trent Jones, he didn’t just want a good golf course, he wanted much more than that. And he certainly succeeded.
Las Brisas is one of the best courses in Europe and one of the most attractive creatures of the North American, architect also, among others, of Sotogrande, Los Naranjos and Valderrama. It also has something that makes it unique, in our continent for sure and possibly in the world: it is an authentic botanical garden.
Banús, in one of those traits of genius that characterized him, commissioned the landscaping and planting of the field to the English landscaper Gerald Huggan, who had just returned from Kenya, where he had designed the gardens of Nairobi.
A great specialist in subtropical plants, Huggan turned Las Brisas into a true botanical sanctuary with trees from all continents. Hundreds of original species from Africa, Asia, Australia, America and Europe line the fairways of a golf course located in the heart of the Costa del Sol, in Marbella’s famous Golf Valley.
Here you can see and enjoy species such as the Cape Chestnut and the Thorny Acacias, from Africa; the Indian Laurel and the Mysore Fig, from Asia; from America the Palo Borracho and the Green Ash (native to Mexico); and the Black Acacia and the Trasparente, from Australia, among others. All this together with multiple species of palms and Mediterranean trees that coexist in great harmony and make this golf course a botanical lesson.
I was told that years after Huggan worked at the club, he was lost and when they wanted to consult him for touch-ups, replanting, etc., or simply ask his advice, no one knew where to find him or look for him. Some thought he had returned to Kenya; others thought he had taken up residence in the UK… in short, they couldn’t find him.
By chance, a member of the club suddenly found him: he had a house in Benahavís (a municipality adjacent to Marbella), where he had not left since he contributed to making Las Brisas one of the best courses in Europe. r of Europe.
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