Pueblo Estancia La Paz

Architect, Frankie Bunge, kindly provided the following exclusive article for Top 100 Golf Courses in January 2016:

“I started to become familiar with the property in January of 2011. The area has three different scenarios for the lay out of the golf course. The first holes and the finishing holes were designed inside the park, built and designed for Charles Thays (the renowned French-Argentine landscape architect) in the beginning of the nineteenth century. The next holes were laid out in the Cordoba foothills, with some native species of trees, shrubs and bushes from the area. The remaining holes were designed along the Ascochinga River area close to the riverbanks, which gave a scenic and natural setting.

It took me almost a year to find the best 18 holes that fitted the landscape, taking full advantage of such a rich piece of land and the history was always in my mind.

Estancia La Paz was owned by Julio Argentino Roca, who was twice the president of Argentina at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. There were a lot of historical features close to the main mansion, and around the twenty-acre artificial lake to preserve and use as an asset.

It was impossible to create two loops of nine holes that returned to the clubhouse as there were so many interesting areas to pass through, so we created an out and back conventional design.

The idea was to mix golf holes of the three types of architectural design. You will find strategic, heroic and penal holes on our golf course. Twelve holes are strategic and the other six are either heroic or penal. We tried to create risk and reward holes as much as we could, but the park that we wished to preserve and the natural features of the Ascochinga River and the Cordoba hills made us design some penal holes.

Estancia La Paz is a very difficult golf course for the advanced players but also very friendly for the beginner. The greens are big and have all the features for interesting putting. The putting surfaces within the park have less movement to marry with the smooth shaping of the surroundings. Whereas the greens in the other areas have more movement and character which presents a real challenge for players of all levels.

The bunkers also change from one area to another. We have more conventional show up bunkers with clean sand lines, with shapes that remind us the type at Augusta National. The hill areas have the same bunkers but we introduced some Scottish revets and one with a railway sleeper wall. When we came to the Ascochinga River the landscape started to change so we built some waste areas and waste bunkers, which in our opinion fitted perfectly well with the riverbanks and the landscape of the surroundings.

Most of our tees are elevated to show as much of the amazing views as we could. Some were built using rock retaining walls. There are at least four teeing areas for each hole and from the back tees the golf course plays more than 7,300 yards and almost two thousand yards less with easier angles from the front tees.

The shape of the fairways favours the draw on some holes and fades on others. We have ten holes with water features such as artificial streams and rivers. The greens also tilt from the line of play, so you have to manoeuvre your shots to reach the spots for easier putting. The distances change a lot through the holes to make you use all the clubs in your bag. The maintenance is immaculate and surprised players, who couldn’t believe that the course only opened a few months ago.”