<\/p>\n
In 1968, Jos\u00e9 Ban\u00fas, developer of the famous marina that bears his name, founded Royal Las Brisas Golf Club, although at the time it was known as Nueva Andaluc\u00eda Golf Club.<\/p>\n
Ban\u00fas himself contracted one of the world\u2019s finest architects, Robert Trent Jones, to design the legendary Marbella course, which has since been the venue for several major championships and, throughout its layout, features an authentic botanical garden of exotic plants from every continent.<\/p>\n
With just over 1,200 members, representing more than 30 nationalities, Royal Las Brisas Golf Club aspires to be considered the private club par excellence for those who appreciate an exceptional layout, an extremely warm, welcoming and cosmopolitan social ambience, and excellent service in perfectly well maintained amenities.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, as time passes for all, even this course needed an update after 45 years.<\/p>\n
To carry out the necessary renovations \u2013 extensive but respecting the creator\u2019s work \u2013 prestigious architect Kyle Phillips was chosen. One of Robert Trent Jones\u2019 favored disciples, he provided guarantees that the spirit of the original design would be retained. <\/p>\n
The first nine holes were renovated, and re-opened for play a few months ago, and work will begin on the second nine at the start of 2014.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Club manager Paul Mu\u00f1oz fills us in on the details of work carried out on the first nine\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cLogically, the course needed repairs to the drainage, greens, tees, etc. There was some technical tweaking and, once completed, we thought a few design adaptations wouldn\u2019t go astray. <\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s equipment technology has, for example, made obsolete some customary driving distances from the 1960s.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the renovation of the first hole,\u201d adds Mu\u00f1oz, \u201cwe have gained a few meters and the fairway bunker is more visible for current average driving distances. The design hasn\u2019t been changed much. <\/p>\n
\u201cOn the second hole, we\u2019ve added a professionals\u2019 tee, well behind, and realigned all the tees with the fairway; before they all aimed to the right and now they point to the middle. The fairway bunkers have also been relocated to the average distance of drives today, and a small bunker has been added next to the stream, to catch balls and prevent them from being lost. We\u2019ve lowered the green nearly 90 centimeters, which now makes it visible for the second shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
As far as the third hole is concerned, before the renovation work it was a par-5, but only by one metre. \u201cNow we\u2019ve moved the green closer to the water, losing that metre, which has enabled us to change it to a par-4 \u2013 and that makes the hole a little more attractive. <\/p>\n
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The tees have also been relocated on the fourth \u2013 they were a few meters to the left of where they are now. \u201cThey are now much more in line with the fairway and that makes it less likely to go out of bounds to the right.\u201d <\/p>\n
A professionals\u2019 tee has been added to the fifth, and the fairway widened quite a lot, also adding bunkers on the right to prevent players trying to cut the dog-leg over the houses \u2013 as well as out of bounds on that side. \u201cWe\u2019ve moved all the bunkers and changed the slope of the green \u2013 it now holds balls much better than before.\u201d <\/p>\n
A tee has been added further back on the sixth, as well as a bunker to catch balls near the stream, and the whole wooden wall that held up the green has been removed \u2013 meaning the slope drops naturally towards the water.<\/p>\n
![](\"%5C%22images\/stories\/GolfCourses\/lasbrisas2.png%5C%22\")
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On the seventh the green has been lowered nearly two meters. \u201cWe\u2019ve moved it to the left and lowered it 1.9 meters in height, bringing it closer to the water, and making the green surface almost visible \u2013 before it wasn\u2019t. <\/p>\n
The bunker on the left of the eighth fairway has been moved, and others have been added, both to guide the professionals and also to help low-handicappers avoid losing balls in the stream. The green has been moved closer to the water to give the sensation, as at Augusta, that if you leave it short your ball will roll back to the water. <\/p>\n
The ninth has been moved completely back, slightly away from the clubhouse. \u201cThat means we avoid the feeling of claustrophobia \u2013 of being squeezed in next to the pro shop and the main clubhouse building. That has also enabled us to add a putting green near the clubhouse, which makes it more attractive. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition to this tweaking of the design,\u201d Mu\u00f1oz adds, \u201cwe\u2019ve renovated everything: drainage, irrigation systems, tees, greens, fairways, etc. In short, it has been an extensive renovation that has left us very satisfied. <\/p>\n
\u201cEach change and addition by Kyle Phillips has been a major improvement, appreciated by all players. Now there\u2019s a greater challenge, but the holes are more fun and much more attractive than before. Our members are very satisfied with the renovation work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Work to revamp the last nine holes will begin at the start of 2014, and be completed during the last four months of the year.<\/p>\n
Photo: Paul Mu\u00f1oz with Kyle Phillips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 1968, Jos\u00e9 Ban\u00fas, developer of the famous marina that bears his name, founded Royal Las Brisas Golf Club, although at the time it was known as Nueva Andaluc\u00eda Golf Club. Ban\u00fas himself contracted one of the world\u2019s finest architects, Robert Trent Jones, to design the legendary Marbella course, which has since been the venue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destinations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}