Being universally recognised as Spain’s most renowned golf club, and one of the most admired in the world, is no coincidence but rather the result of a series of factors that depend on much more than mere fate. The key is to start with an excellent base – i.e. plot and design – then follow that up with a constant and meticulous commitment to maintaining the supreme standards of quality that define Royal Valderrama Club.
As the venue for the 1997 Ryder Cup, two World Golf Championships, the Volvo Masters, the Spanish Open and numerous other top-level tournaments over the years, Royal Valderrama is ideally prepared to host another edition of the Andalucía Valderrama Masters in October.
One of the final projects undertaken at the course as part of a major investment programme which began five years ago has now been completed. Royal Valderrama general manager Javier Reviriego explains what the work entailed…
“It comprised the renovation of all the greens and fringe areas on the first nine holes. They were more than 20 years old, and it was decided to renovate all of them agronomically, without changing the design in any way. This first phase involved holes one to nine, and next winter we will finish 10 to 18.”
Renovation work on the greens of the first nine holes took 10 months and was completed in February.
“We have also,” said Reviriego, “taken the opportunity of replacing all the buggy paths, which were quite old, with a new design and even new routing for many of them; as well as burning and re-seeding all the areas of rough on the course, in order to make them more uniform.
“In short, it was a fairly complete and comprehensive renovation of the course, representing the completion of an investment plan we began in 2012 and which involved renovating almost the whole course.”
Reviriego expressed “great satisfaction” with the results. “It has been five years and a lot of hard work: the irrigation, bunkers, short-game area, practice range, all the tees on the course, tree pruning… Now we believe the course is at a level where we can compete with the best clubs in the world, which are the ones we compare ourselves with. Obviously, the course was quite old and needed this investment to enable us to maintain our status on the front line.”
