After the reforms carried out during the last few years on the R.C. de Golf Las Brisas course, it could be said that this Marbella course, designed by the great North American architect Robert Trent Jones, has reached its optimum level, “although still”, says Paul Muñoz, its director, “I believe that the course has one more season to reach all the objectives we have set ourselves”.
-Paul, how have the club members received this radical transformation you’ve made?
-The most striking thing, I would say, is that despite the fact that when we proposed all these reforms, a significant percentage of members disagreed, they even opposed them; now the vast majority are very satisfied that they have been made, and in a way they regret the position they held at the time. They are all happy with the integral reform carried out, and this is a very positive fact because it certifies that it has been a success.
-The members are satisfied, and so are the visitors, what answers do you have?
-Magnificent. Those who have played at Las Brisas before have noticed and appreciated the changes. We not only received good reviews about the “new” design, but also about the general state of maintenance: tees, greens, etc..
-How would you say the course is now, almost a year after the renovation of the second nine holes?
-Of this second round I would say that there is still one more season to go, it is too early for everything to have the “maturity” that we expect.
-Basically, what has been done on this second nine holes?
-Practically everything has been reformed: the design has been retouched to adapt it to the new times, both to the new sports materials and to the new maintenance standards. The irrigation and drainage infrastructures have been reformed… All the tees, bunkers, greens of this second round are completely new… Everything has been changed, it has been a total transformation.
-Do you think Robert Trent Jones would have liked the final result of the reforms conceived and carried out by Kyle Phillips, one of his favorite disciples?
-I am sure of it. In fact Cabell B. Robinson, another of his disciples, told us after seeing the result of the work that the renovation was perfectly in the spirit of Mr. Jones’ original design and that it looked very good; and he added: “I couldn’t have done better. He warmly congratulated Phillips. One fact to note is that Robert Trent Jones senior during his lifetime entrusted the redesign of his flagship RTJ Club in Gainesville, Virginia, to Kyle.
-Another of the consequences of the reform of the second round of Las Brisas has been that the members have asked for the first round to be reworked to match the back nine. What are you doing in particular?
-The renovation of the first nine holes was not comprehensive. We only reformed the tees and greens platforms, the irrigation system and the drainage, etc. What we have done now is to go back to this first round because the members want it to look more like the final result of the second round.
We are totally reforming the network of buggy paths, integrating them more into the game, separating them from the boundaries, from the out areas. In short, we want the first nine holes to be technically and aesthetically in line with the second.
Holes one, two, three, four, seven and nine have already been conditioned, and only holes five, six and eight are left for the last phase, which will take place next summer, together with the total renovation of the driving range.
Leave a Reply