He was already playing at Las Aves before Ortiz-Patiño acquired the course and renamed it Valderrama in 1985, so Nuno de Brito e Cunha, Visconde de Pereira Machado, knows the ins and outs of Spain’s most famous and prestigious club very well. A native of Cascais and an outstanding amateur player, his love of golf was instilled in him by his father – also an accomplished amateur golfer – almost from the cradle. The young Nuno learned the sport so well that he became champion of Portugal on more than one occasion and represented his country in World and European championships.
Now, after ten years at the helm of the Real Club Valderrama, he takes stock of these two lustrums of presidency -with the milestone of the purchase of the club by the members- and talks about the present and future of the emblematic golf club. He optimistically envisions the possibility that in the not too distant future Valderrama will host one of the world’s most renowned tournaments.
“I think the club has changed for the better,” he says, referring to the recent evolution of RC Valderrama. “The design is not touched because it is a classic,” he points out, “but we have made important investments in the irrigation system, in the water pumps, in the composition of the bunkers, in all the greens and antegreens, we have reformed the clubhouse…”.
A golf course “is a living being in constant evolution,” he says. “Preserving the tradition of the Valderrama course, what we have done has been the necessary work to keep it up to date and to make it a modern course. Here you can never say it’s finished: there is always something to improve. It’s like when you paint a bridge, when you get to the end you have to start repainting at the other end”.
Nuno de Brito highlights the environmental respect to which RC Valderrama is committed. “At the club we are very conscious of the ecological aspect of the course because we consider it very important, and this is demonstrated by the fact that we have had the Audubon Certificate for 23 years, which very few courses have.”
“Every year,” he explains, “we take initiatives for environmental care. This year, for example, we have done something that is very important to me: put cork oak bark mulch in rough areas that used to be all grass, which required fertilizers, water, chemicals, etc., etc., in areas where the player never goes. It also looks good aesthetically and the members are delighted, because it is easier to play the ball from there than from high grass”.
“What we want,” he says, “is for the course to be very difficult for the good players but affordable for the average and high handicap player.”
Certainly the RC Valderrama presents an extraordinary aspect, postcard. The course is undoubtedly at its best. “I’ve never seen it looking as good as it does now,” says Nuno de Brito, and lists several reasons for this. “Javier (Reviriego, general manager of the club) and I have analyzed it and I think it is the result of the investments we have made in recent years, with the very modern irrigation system and everything else, and also Adolfo (Ramos) is an extraordinary greenkeeper. And then there are certain factors such as doing the maintenance a little earlier or the pruning of many trees without affecting the difficulty of the course, and all this has meant that this year the course is better than ever”.
The result is a source of great satisfaction to members, says the club president. “They tell us that, and that’s a great incentive to keep working in the same way.
RC Valderrama has a membership limit of 450 members. “We could have more,” acknowledges Nuno de Brito, “but I think this is the ideal number for this club.” A total of 35 nationalities are represented. “Ninety-eight percent are members who don’t live here. It’s not a rule, but it’s something we like because with this international composition and not having many local members, you always find peace of mind in the club. What prevails is tranquility: there is never a hustle and bustle, there are no tee times and people play when they want to.”
A novelty that stands out as soon as you cross the entrance control barrier to the club is the change of color of the facade of the clubhouse (white has replaced the faint yellow), with the elimination of the stippled paint. Undoubtedly, an aesthetic success. “We are an Andalusian club,” says the club president, “and white is a color that represents Andalusia very well, and I really think it looks better than before.” The dark gray color of the buggy paths, also renovated, and the different shades of green of the golf course also enhance the pristine white of the clubhouse.
-What is the most important thing that has happened at RC Valderrama in the ten years you have been president of the club?
-For me, the most important thing that has happened in these ten years has been the purchase of the field by the members, because we finally have control of our destiny and now we are totally independent and depend only on ourselves. Before we depended on the owner of the field.
-Although interesting European Tour tournaments have continued to be played here, will we see again in the near future tournaments of the highest world level like the ones Valderrama hosted in the past?
-I always remember what Jimmy Patiño did with the two American Express, which had the best players in the world, and then with the Ryder Cup, which was also an extraordinary success and even more so with the captain that Europe had, Seve, a unique icon in the history of golf. Here we always have the ambition to bring a great tournament, and we have taken significant steps, but we want more.
-Could the recent alliance between the PGA Tour and the European Tour open a door of hope in that sense?
-I think so. The alliance is a great step forward, great news. To make a great tournament you need not only the money, but you also have to have the venue, and there are not many venues in Europe with the history and the spirit of Valderrama. So, if you make a 15 million tournament, it is not the same to do it in a municipal golf course next to London than to do it in a renowned course like this one. You see that the US Open, the Masters, the big tournaments are held in well-known courses, so it is evident that we are very well positioned to have a great tournament here.
-Focusing on the Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters next October, will there be a crowd on the course again like in the best of times?
-We are confident that there will be no problems for the public. I hope that there will not be a new outbreak of a strain of the virus that does not work with the current vaccines. You never know, so we are a little bit at the mercy of events, but we are optimistic that we will be able to have an audience at the tournament.
-Rahm’s return to Valderrama, if confirmed, will be a very powerful incentive for the tournament…
-His presence is confirmed, and having the world number one here is great news for the tournament. He has confirmed the Open de España (the week before Valderrama) and he has confirmed this one. He has had a fantastic year but also bad luck with his two positives, with the Muirfield Village tournament and then with the Olympic Games. Of course, in the middle
he won the US Open with two impressive putts. Rahm is a model for golf.
-Now that environmental care is so much in vogue, will there be any measures in this regard for the tournament?
-Fortunately, we don’t have to do anything special in this aspect because our ecological commitment goes back 23 years. Anyway, the club is always acting in this sense, and for example this year we are building a lake with a capacity of 52,000 cubic meters for rainwater, which is almost ready and will be used for irrigation of the golf course. And another thing: we no longer have plastic bottles.
Valderrama must always be at the forefront of progress and that is why we have made that lake for rainwater, and Javier (Reviriego) is looking at hybrid machines for maintenance, and the day that electric machines are efficient we will incorporate them into the club.
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