|
Las Brisas at Nueva Andalucia
by Art Patscheck
| Links Corner Course Database ID Number - 159 |
Release Date |
CRZ Filesize |
Par |
Course Length |
| 2001-04-06 |
37,563,047 bytes |
72 |
6803 yards |
| Type |
Style |
CRZ Filename |
|
REAL |
PARKLAND |
LasBrisas.crz |
| Course ID |
Course Key |
| 4e6f54a0279f11d59d0e0020183c2e0c |
a378f3d09dc9d5bb075f56a33465f25b |
|
LINKS CORNER REVIEW |
Reviewed by James Wood
Course History:
Designed by Robert Trent Jones, Las Brisas has hosted a large number of prestigious golf championships, including the Spanish Open, Mediterranean Open and the World Cup of 1973 won by Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller for the United States. The course, considered to be one of the best in Europe, was opened to the public in 1968. An instant success with all golfers, Robert Trent Jones' design incorporates a large number of water hazards, bunkers and elevated greens. There are also no fewer than ten artificial lakes, fed by two streams.
First Impressions:
This is another 'green' course by Art Patscheck following Avocet. The custom panorama and textures used here certainly give the entire course a very bright look. There are quite a few custom sounds, bridges, yardage markers, a car in the middle of a lake, and other objects. Tourney objects are scattered about and houses line many of the fairways. Everything is put together very well and certainly conveys the feeling that you're not playing a course located in one of the usual places. The trees here start out with a mix of pine and fir trees and then transform into a scrub like tree on the back nine that continues for a few holes. The planting around the water hazards is well done with large tufts of grass and other plants.
Strategy:
This isn't a difficult course to play especially if you're knocking down the flags. Leave yourself with some long putts however and you could be looking at some 3-putts. Multi tiered greens that are very contoured with multiple breaks are common here. The back nine is more difficult than the front nine. The course is fairly flat with generous fairways. Numerous water hazards are the biggest obstacles here. Out of the par 5's three are easily reachable. The 3rd has water on the left side. The 8th has water all the way down the right side and the 12th has water all the way down the left side with a stream crossing in front of the green.
Favorite Hole:
The 13th hole is where the planting suddenly changes and it's really another different look that continues to make the course a real winner.
Overall:
The course will grow on you the more you play it. I especially liked the back nine. A lot of effort was put forth here and it really does show. Avocet has always been one of my favorite courses to play but I now find that I have a choice to make and I'm leaning more and more towards Las Brisas. Excellent effort and should be in everyone's course library as a permanent addition.
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Chris Gormley's thoughts...
Overall: Las Brisas is a very nicely constructed course. The greens, fairways, bunkers are all done very, very well. It is one of the most pleasing courses to the eye I have played yet. Nothing sticks out to distract a player and the planting on the course just adds to an already solid design. The only down thing to the course is that at times the pano looks a little fake. There is a slight white line at times that follows the mountain range in the distance. But this in no way takes away from the course. Art has an excellent course here that is a joy to look at and play. I highly recommend this course to everyone.
Course Info :
Cameo Screen? Yes
Splash Screen? Yes
Text file?
Hole Previews?
34mb
Reviewed April 2001 |
|
CLIPNOTES by Ben Bateson (ousgg) |
Description
Real, tropical/parkland course |
Location
TBA |
Conditions
TBA |
Concept 9/10
A Spanish classic, Las Brisas is an open parkland course in tropical
setting. There are no real surprises among the holes: some hard-to-hit
championship greens and a demand on being deadly accurate off the tee.
Plenty of (clearly artificial) water on the course keeps a player thinking. It's
almost the Spanish version of the Belfry; certainly a course that was crying
out to be brought to the small screen. |
Appearance 5/10
Even withstanding the course's age, you can't help but notice some very odd shapes on the surface, plus the oddest variety of
planting: why exactly are the stock palm trees rubbing shoulders with Scots Pines? The panorama is majestic, but sadly shows its
trimmed edges. Even taking into account the rich variety of course buildings, the whole thing looks off-key. |
Playability 5/10
This isn't a course you want to load up for a practice round or a casual 18. Las Brisas requires a lot of thought and a great deal of
accuracy. The many lateral water hazards can make for misery, thanks to the game's poor dropping system. The demands on
positioning are too key: there's not enough opportunity to exercise one's imagination. |
Challenge 5/10
Tricky, tricky. As if the all-too-clever water hazards weren't enough, there are some very pre-Mod green elevations and pin positions to
deal with. Shots in the rough might well cost you, too: many greens are closely guarded by the sand and virtually unreachable from off
the fairway. |
Technical 6/10
It's amazing to think that at the time this was considered to be the best that APCD designers had to offer. By today's high standards,
the planting looks sparse, the shapes hard-edged, and the panorama really quite coarse. Only the elevations show Art's sure hand and
expertise with the mesh. Given its age, I'm inclined to be generous. |
| Overall |
A great course and a once-great APCD rendition, surely ripe for updating. Play it for
the majesty of the best championship golf in Spain, but take it easy. |
30/50 |
Please remember that Clipnote reviews are the opinion of one person and do not constitute an 'Official' Links Corner review of the course. |
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