Golf Architect: Gil Hanse, Hanse Golf Course Design (2016)

The brawny sand-based layout at Riserva Marapendi hosted the first Olympic golf event in over 100 years. Today it is universally recognized as the finest golf course in Brazil. Gil Hanse’s inner-outer loop routing makes the wind an ever-present factor.

In 2014 Benjamin joined Gil, his design partner Jim Wagner, and shapers Kyle Franz, Neil Cameron and Ben Hillard in Rio-de-Janeiro to help put the finishing touches to the course. In a city with ten million residents and only a few thousand golfers a tour spec venue was always going to shake up the local scene. Gil’s design is wide, strategic and beautifully integrated with indigenous landforms and vegetation. It challenges the best and is fun for the rest.