We ask Steve if it is a contradiction to create a mountain course in a links style? It is not a contradiction to create a mountain course in a links style. I do not believe that golf course design should have such boundaries and in this instance the styling on the greens and bunkers is, I feel, particularly well suited at Los Barrancas. I am also designing 9 holes in the foothills of the Dolomites in Sud Tyrol Italy and the Scottish styling is particularly well suited there - but more of a Gleneagles than a St. Andrews!

I would say there is a links character in the design of the greens. The bunkers that I have worked on are more pot bunkers than anything else. This is because I wanted them to act as ‘saving’ bunkers, and up here there simply isn’t the room to put large expanses of sand. Because we do not have the luxury of space due to the technical constraints of carving fairways out of the hillside, should the bunkers be bigger they would interfere with the playability of the course.

For example the 18th, where there is water to the right has a very long, receptive green with saving bunkers. Due to the size of and relative difficulty to the hole, the green is fairly flat and straight forward. By contrast at the par 3, twelfth I have tried to create a hole with similarities to that of the great ‘postage stamp’. After losing the opportunity of building a stunning hole number 12 in its original position I had to come up with something pretty special in its place, and the space that I was left with was limited. At only about 110 to 115 yards in length, this is a heavily contoured green which reflects the shortness of the hole.