You could count on the fingers of one hand the golf courses in Spain that, like the Real Club de Golf Las Brisas in Marbella, combine a layout of extraordinary quality, the work of one of the best designers of all time, and an excellent curriculum as the venue for world-class tournaments in which the most brilliant stars of the sport have competed.
The creation of the club, which this year celebrates its golden anniversary, was a great milestone for Andalusian golf and an example of how things had to be done to achieve a golf course of the highest quality. The businessman José Banús, promoter of the RCG Las Brisas (which at its birth was baptized as Club de Golf Nueva Andalucía) and architect of the famous marina in Marbella that bears his name, was a visionary aware that to ensure success he had to have the best in all areas, and that is why he hired Robert Trent Jones, who by then was already one of the best golf course designers and architects in the world.
Banús, promoter of the Nueva Andalucía macro-urbanization, where the RCG Las Brisas is located, was a very intelligent person and saw that in order to achieve the greatest international promotion of the golf course it was necessary to host a great tournament and provide it with great prizes, and that is how he managed to bring the World Cup and players of the stature of Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.
Another event held at Las Brisas also had worldwide media repercussions, although not on the golf course but in the clubhouse: the spectacular inauguration party -with a gala dinner for 1,700 people and a concert by Julio Iglesias- of Puerto Banús, attended by celebrities such as Prince Rainier of Monaco and Grace Kelly, Gina Lollobrigida and the Aga Khan, among others.
That this course is one of Robert Trent Jones’ best creations is beyond doubt. Banús let him choose the best area of the estate and he did just that. He built the course in the most spectacular and beautiful valley of the surroundings. The houses would occupy the rest.
The course is dotted with water hazards: there are ten artificial lakes fed by two streams, which come into play on no less than twelve holes. The greens, mostly elevated, are well protected by bunkers. Robert Trent Jones was also original at the time, using Bermuda on the fairways and Pencross Bent on the greens.
“Las Brisas,” said the great American player Paul Azinger, “doesn’t have a bad hole. In fact it’s one of the best courses I’ve ever played”.
A second stroke of genius
To the splendid design of the course should be added another stroke of genius. José Banús commissioned the gardening and the grove of the course to the Englishman Gerald Huggan, who had just returned from Kenya, where he had designed the gardens of Nairobi. He created a true botanical sanctuary with trees from all continents. Unique species that nowhere else in southern Europe can be enjoyed.
In the ten years following its foundation, Las Brisas was an open course and became one of the major tourist attractions in the area. In 1981 it became a members’ club -currently some 1,200, of more than thirty nationalities-, but it is also open to visitors.
In recent years, the course has undergone a necessary update due to the time elapsed since its opening, and for this purpose the management entrusted such an important task to the great North American designer Kyle Phillips, who has designed courses in some thirty countries on the five continents. The result of the important investment made has been simply spectacular.
Great among the greats
There are certainly very few courses in Spain that have hosted world-class international tournaments and legendary players in the history of the sport. Las Brisas is one of those rare jewels and is also the living history of golf in Marbella. When the course was inaugurated in 1969, the legendary Robert Trent Jones had already built Sotogrande and shortly afterwards he would also design Valderrama, the elite of the elite.
Those who have some age and a good memory or those interested in the history of this sport will remember the great milestones of this field, such as the 1973 World Cup in which the U.S. team, formed by Johnny Miller and Jack Nicklaus, won the victory over South Africans Gary Player and Hugh Baiocchi. Miller also took the title of individual champion, with a three-stroke lead over Player.
Three years earlier, Las Brisas had hosted its first major international professional tournament, the Open de España, which crowned Ángel Gallardo as champion, currently Ambassador of the European Tour.
In the 1980s the course continued to host major tournaments, such as the Spanish Open in 1983 and 1987. The first was won by Eamonn Darcy, with Manuel Piñero coming second, and the 1978 title was won by Nick Faldo in a close battle with Seve Ballesteros, who finished second tied with Hugh Baiocchi.
In 89 the World Cup was played again in Las Brisas, and it was the deluge. So much water fell that in the end only 36 holes were played. The Australians Wayne Grady and Peter Fowler won under that blanket of water that fell from the sky. José María Cañizares and Chema Olazábal were runners-up.
Two years later, in ’91, Las Brisas hosted what would be at the time the best-endowed one-day tournament: $450,000, played in a skins game by Curtis Strange, Mark Calcavecchia, Bernhard Langer and John Bland. In order to appreciate that figure, it was three times more than what Ian Baker Finch earned when he managed to win the British Open the following week.
In 1990 the Mediterranean Open was played in Las Brisas and won by Ian Woosnam, with Eduardo Romero and Miguel Ángel Martín sharing second place. The following year, the Marbella Golf Valley course hosted the Benson & Hedges Tropy, a tournament for mixed couples won by the Swedish team formed by Anders Forsbrand and Helen Alfredsson.
The director’s vision
Paul Muñoz, director of RCG Las Brisas, has many arguments when it comes to answering the question of why this course can be considered one of the great courses in Spain. “In addition to its location, in the so-called “Golf Valley” of Marbella, it is one of the golf courses with more solera of the Costa del Sol, as it boasts an unparalleled track record, having hosted more than twenty tournaments of worldwide relevance; an original design by Robert Trent Jones Senior, renovated by Kyle Phillips in 2017; a social club that brings together more than 30 nationalities; a pleasant course to walk, with very good speed of play; first class facilities; a very active social atmosphere celebrating more than 120 sporting social events annually; highly qualified staff… All this makes me consider Las Brisas as one of the greats in Spain”.
Legendary designer
Robert Trent Jones was born in 1906 in England (Ince-in-Makerfield) and at the age of 5 moved to the United States with his parents. There he became an outstanding golfer while still a teenager and broke the course record at age 16 in the Rochester City Championship. He attended Cornell University and pursued studies that he had personally selected to prepare himself for a career in Golf Course Architecture. While still an undergraduate, he designed several greens at Sodus Bay Golf Club in New York. At the age of 25, in 1931, he signed his first complete golf course design, the Midvale, in Penfield, New York.
By the mid-1960s, he had become the most famous and probably the most influential golf course designer in history. He served as consulting architect for numerous courses at major tournaments, many of them his own design. By 1990 he had designed over 500 courses in 42 American states and 35 countries. and refurbished many others, and he has logged some 300,000 miles a year on flights for his work.
In 1990 Trent Jones had been involved in golf course architecture for 60 years, a record even longer than that of Old Tom Morris. His name was still the most famous name in the world of golf course design and, during that year, two courses were named in his honor: one after a design renovation and one existing course (the Robert Trent Jones GC at Cornell University). Also during that year, Robert Trent Jones’ company was awarded the largest golf course design contract in history, a series of complexes totaling 468 holes in the state of Alabama for the Sunbelt Golf Company, partially funded by the state’s public employee pension system. Today the Robert Trent Jones Trail is one of the world’s most popular destinations for golfers.
At the age of 93, Robert Trent Jones passed away in Florida in 2000. His sons Rees and Robert Trent Junior have followed in their father’s professional footsteps and are also golf course designers.
TREES FROM FIVE CONTINENTS
In Las Brisas there are trees from all continents: African species such as the Cape Chestnut and the Thorny Acacias, from Asia the Indian Laurel and the Mysore Fig, from America the Palo Borracho and the Mexican Green Ash, from Australia the Black Acacia and the Transparent, along with multiple species of palms and Mediterranean trees that coexist in great harmony, turning the field into an authentic botanical garden.
CATEGORY CHAMPIONS AND RUNNERS-UP
If the champions of tournaments at Las Brisas have been stars of great renown, among the runners-up the brilliance of their names has been equally dazzling. In the first case are Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Johnny Miller, Nick Faldo, Wayne Grady, Peter Fowler, Anders Forsbrand, Ian Woosnam or Eamonn Darcy, while among those who finished second in this course are Chema Olazábal, Manuel Piñero, José María Cañizares and Eduardo Romero.
UP TO THE ORIGINAL
The renovation of the course designed by the legendary Robert Trent Jones was entrusted to another great designer: the American Kyle Phillips. His works are present in more than 30 countries on five continents.
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