I don’t know exactly why but it had been years since I played at the Real Club de Golf de Sotogrande, one of the classic courses of Andalusia, one of the jewels in the crown of Spanish golf along with Valderrama, El Saler and some others.
The first impression of this course is that no two holes are the same. It is a course where it is impossible to get bored because, in addition, the first and second rounds are totally different in terms of landscape and layout of the terrain. It is as if it had a dual personality.
The first nine holes are more convoluted, narrower and in the middle of a large cork oak forest, while the back nine are more American style, especially from the 12th, with much more water and an abundance of palm trees.
You get the feeling that you are playing two different courses. It is, above all, a very fair course. If you play well, you are sure to get a good result, and if on the other hand you don’t have a good day, it is very difficult to make money. You will always leave here with a good taste in your mouth and a certain degree of satisfaction. Of course, with the desire to come back.
In this course, more than in others, putting is fundamental, because even if the greens are not very moving, as is now the tendency, they have slight drops that you have to know how to read. It is not difficult to make two putts, but it is not difficult to make three if you lose concentration.
Also here the short game is essential, among other things because the greens are not very large, and the game from the tee does not offer excessive complications.
This course, opened in 1964, was designed by the legendary American architect Robert Trent Jones based on guidelines very different from the current ones. Joseph Mac Micking, the creator of Sotogrande, told him: “Make the course where you want and how you want, then I will put the urbanization”.
The freedom that Trent Jones enjoyed is no longer commonplace. The houses were then integrated without coming into play, and far from being a nuisance they enhance the landscape because, in addition to being of a high standard, their gardens open to the golf course provide a feeling of greater amplitude in the streets.
This was the first course the American designer made in Europe. Then came Las Brisas, Valderrama, La Duquesa and others. “I believe,” says the director of the RCG Sotogrande, Rafael García Buitrago, “that this course is a true work of art”.
The club has 1,445 members, to which must be added direct relatives – spouses and children – to reach the figure of about 2,800. Despite this, as most of them do not reside in Sotogrande, the course has the possibility of 48 green fee players, that is, 12 outings a day, (in August a little less) and quite flexible schedule.
Here we play at a ‘fast’ pace, no more than four and a quarter hours per game, which should be the norm anywhere. This is a commitment that every player makes before going out to the field, which also can and ‘should’ be walked. It is not the same to play it in a buggy.
In 2004 a slight lengthening of the course was made, especially from white and blue bars, because it was a bit short for the current playing materials due to its age.
Now, with 6,300 meters, it could be said that the course has been updated. Although in this of the distances the climate of Sotogrande influences a lot. It is easy to find two different courses from one day to the next, especially because of the prevailing winds in the area: the Levante makes the first round more bearable and complicates the second. The Poniente, the other way around.
On this occasion I was lucky enough to make the round with the young and efficient director of the club, who, in addition to being a magnificent player, one of those who intimidate you, has the advantage of knowing the course inside out.
The day I visited Sotogrande was really magnificent, one of those that incite you to play golf and make you suffer if you can not do it, especially having a course like this nearby.
Hole 1, a 347-meter par 4 from the yellow tees (from now on, the reference will always be that of the amateur tees), was one of the holes lengthened in 2004, by 15 to 20 meters, which now makes it possible to play the drive with gusto.
There is water on the right, which with Levante and opening the ball can be a danger, and two bunkers on the left, and also in that area there is a pine forest at the fall of the drive, which closing it can complicate the hole a little bit. The second shot, from 130 to 140 meters, to a large green with slight drops, is not complicated.
The 2nd, par 5 of 454 meters, beautiful, was modified a little a couple of years ago. The fairway was moved slightly to the left with the idea, among others, of enlarging the cork oak grove on the right (on this course about a hundred cork oaks are planted almost every year to renew the forest). It is a wide hole, on the right there is a lot of fairway and on the left you can try to pass the bunkers on the drive drop. If this is not achieved, it is an affordable shot to a well-defended green, a little high and with considerable drops.
If the green is not taken, it is not that the birdie is complicated, it is that the par is complicated, because there is an out behind that can leave the ball unplayable. You have to play this hole aggressively, but with your head. It is possible to get from two by hitting it well, and if not you will have to make a complicated chip because you never have your feet at the level of the ball in a semirough that makes it difficult to control the shot to a very lively and sloping green.
The 3rd, of 389 meters, offers at least two playing alternatives: tee off with a short wood or an iron to the center of the fairway and then hit a wedge to a very well defended and complicated green, or tee off with a driver or 3-wood, closing a little, so that it is almost a chip. What happens is that this green is surrounded by bunkers and that complicates it. It can be a birdie hole if you are good.
The 4th, a 175-meter par 3, handicap one of the course, forces you to play it perfectly because if you don’t, bogey is guaranteed. With an uphill fairway, you have to take the green and, even if you do, two putts are not easy.
On the 5th, a par 4 of 307 meters, it is necessary to play wood or iron because hitting the driver will leave a second shot to the green downhill and semirough. Before the green, which is high, there is a gully, so if you leave the ball before it there will be a flatter shot. Here the winds have a great influence and it is also a cross shot.
The first part of the green is very uphill, so if you hit it well and it has a backspin, you will go all the way down. Therefore, the second shot is fundamental. If you miss to the right there is an almost blind approach, and if you miss to the left there is a bunker and you are forced to stop the ball almost dry with a chip.
The 6th, a par 5 of 449 meters, is a recovery hole. With a correct drive to the right, skimming the rough, there is an accessible and relatively short second shot to the green.
When making the dog-leg fairway to the right, if the ball closes a little, a ‘real’ par 5 is left, making it very difficult to get to the deuce.
The 7, a par 4 of 330 meters, changes completely if it is played from white or yellow. From the professional tee (382 meters), the fairway is a spectacle, because it is a real tube.
It is a downhill hole, with a dog-leg to the left. The second shot will almost always be with your feet lower than the ball. There are also two bunkers at the drop of the drive, and if you fall into them, the second shot becomes hellish. The green is very narrow, defended on the left by bunkers and cork oaks and by a lake on the right, to where it slopes. This hole is listed as one of the best in the world in those rankings that exist for everything.
The 8th, at 177 meters, is another tough par 3 but perhaps the most nondescript hole on the course. Uphill, it forces you to hit a long iron or a wood with all your heart to get there. If you miss the green, it is difficult to make par because it is hellish: uphill and with always complicated flag positions.
The 9th, a par 4 of 317 meters, has an interesting drive because if you miss it, it complicates the hole a lot, but if you hit it in the right place, the fairway widens in that area and leaves the ball 70 or 80 meters away from a green that is not very complicated. It can be a birdie hole.
The 10th, a par 4 of 379 meters, is another of the difficult holes of the Real Club de Golf de Sotogrande (handicap 2). It has a dog-leg to the right of 90 degrees. There are two game options: to shoot to the fairway opening the ball a little bit, which will leave a second shot of 170 or 180 meters uphill and towards a green with a very small entrance, or to try to fly the cork tree that is in the dog-leg and then, if it is passed, which is not easy, there will be a shot of 80 meters. The winds also have a great influence on this hole.
On the other hand, the 11th is a recovery par 4, 302 meters, handicap 18. It is a nice hole with a high green that is feasible to reach or approach with a westerly wind and hitting very hard.
From the 12th hole on, the American style of this course really begins. The next three or four holes are a real spectacle.
The 12th, a par 5 of 504 meters, has a very wide fairway, almost 60 meters, and another thirty meters of margin to a beautiful lake. It is not easy to hit the water on the tee, but it can happen.
Trying to get two on the green is risky because there is water in front and the green is very short, although without complications.
The 13th, par 3 of 166 meters, is deceiving at first sight. With a headwind you have a hard time because there is water everywhere and that influences psychologically. You have to hit it hard and very straight. The green does not have many drops.
The 14th is another par 5, of 438 meters, which can also be considered a recovery hole. In the middle of the fairway there is a large lake, so it is difficult to try to reach it in two, and flying over it is almost a miracle that only great hitters can achieve. The green is again high, so the shot to it will always be one or two more clubs.
The 15th is a tough par 4 of 383 meters. With Levante it becomes endless. The fairway is wide but with out on both sides of the drive drop. With a good tee shot, the second shot will be about 170 meters to a very small and flat green, but very hard. Stopping the ball here is complicated.
The 16th, a par 4 of 341 meters, is a straight hole, with water on the right, but with a wide fairway so it hardly comes into play. The second shot to the green is very straight but without many references.
The 17th is a 142 meter par 3, very, very American style. With water in front of and behind the green, which has difficult to read drop offs.
The last hole was also lengthened in the reform that was made a few years ago. It is a 374-meter par 4 that invites you to hit the ball hard. The second shot, long, has hardly any references. The green is fast and complicated. It is not a spectacular hole to finish this course but you have to hit the ball hard and very straight.
Playing at the Real Club de Golf de Sotogrande is a privilege and a real pleasure. The course is impeccable and at all times you have that indefinable feeling that you are stepping on one of the best golf courses in Spain. A classic that very few have been able to surpass or reach its level.
But the nostalgia of the recent game ends when you reach the 19th hole. The clubhouse is a real delight and, of course, here too there are two options: either stay in the cafeteria with a superb terrace over the 1st tee and the 18th green, or go to the restaurant. Undoubtedly, one of the best in Sotogrande and possibly on the Costa del Sol.
The quality/price ratio is unbeatable. The kitchen, run by Basque chefs with many years of residence on the coast, and Andalusians, achieves a spectacular fusion where fish predominates, without neglecting the good meat, and some very attractive creative dishes.
The Real Club de Golf de Sotogrande also has a short course that for its director “is like the wind tunnel of Formula 1”. “We have such a variety of holes,” he says, “that it’s possible to play more clubs here than on the long course, because you find all kinds of situations”.
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