It is undoubtedly the best known and deservedly praised Spanish golf course in the world. And the truth is that there are many reasons for this, although they could be summarized in three: the design of the legendary architect Robert Trent Jones, a maintenance that borders on perfection and a sporting history, forged in the last three decades, that very few clubs on the planet can exhibit.
Many things can be highlighted about this course that allow it to maintain the status from which it has not yet been unseated. In addition to the design, carried out at the height of its maturity by one of the most prestigious architects in the world on a spectacular estate and with a very varied course, its maintenance is especially noteworthy, because it is in this aspect that Valderrama began to forge its prestige and set the path that European golf would follow from then on. At the time, the levels of demand that this course imposed on itself and that it still maintains was an absolute novelty in the Old Continent. Something innovative in its time.
Until then -late eighties, early nineties- nothing like it had ever been seen before, and that made Valderrama become a reference for other European courses and from then on everyone sought excellence in terms of “manicure” and presentation of the course: fairways and greens of the Cadiz club became the example to be imitated by all.
This, however, was already common in the United States. Augusta National -although there were many more- was surely the most significant example, and was possibly the inspiration for Jaime Ortiz-Patiño to try to turn Valderrama into what it became over time: the most famous Spanish golf course in the world.
A good level of maintenance, such as that of the Real Club Valderrama, is based on three fundamental elements. First, of course, in the knowledge of what is being done, of the turf on which work is being done. It is necessary to have an academic base to be able to achieve optimum results in its care. Then, you have to have the right personnel, both in number and in training; and finally, you have to have the right machinery and well “greased” to be able to work.
All these requirements are and have always been met in this field that was opened to the public in 1974 under the name of Las Aves.
When the field was acquired, in 1985, by Jaime Ortiz-Patiño, this successful businessman who did so much for Spanish golf, called again Robert Trent Jones to redesign the course. After this second intervention, the American always considered Valderrama as one of his greatest works; and when the philosophy of taking maintenance to its maximum level was established, the devotion for his work in the south of Spain, which he would visit frequently, was even more accentuated.
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HEART-POUNDING CURRICULUM VITAE
The great courses of the world base part of their prestige on the fact that great events have been held on them, and in this respect Valderrama is hardly surpassed by any course in the British Isles, or by any course on the Continent.
Neither Augusta, Pebble Beach, nor other renowned courses would be what they are today if the tournaments they have hosted had not been played there.
The major professional competitions, in which the best players in the world participate, serve to increase the prestige of the field, especially if they are televised and followed by millions of spectators who can appreciate and see the field of play down to its smallest details.
The Volvo Masters was the first of the major tournaments to be hosted by the Cadiz club, and its association with Valderrama was fully satisfactory for both parties and the foundation on which the myth of this course would be built.
That tournament was also a pioneer in the Old Continent in many aspects, and not only for being the competition that closed the European Tour with great prizes. It was also for the way the tournament was managed.
Again, the key word is “excellence”. Nothing like it was being done in Europe at the time and, like the field, it served as a benchmark for all.
The expense in logistics, its organizational rigor, the treatment given to the guests, to the players… all contributed to forge the magnificent image of the tournament and to make it the example to follow.
If we add to this the fact that from the beginning the course was presented with conditions very similar to those of Augusta, we can understand the enormous level that the event achieved.
Sixteen Volvo Masters were played here, in two stages, from 89 to 96 and from 2002 to 2008. One of the great contributions was that, from the first edition until the last, the tournament had its own newspaper, which was always carried out by Andalucía Golf. This had never been done in the world until then, and then very rarely.
Between 1996 and 2002 two Amex World Championships were played, and the tournament that definitively elevated the course to legendary status: the 1997 Ryder Cup. This was the big spark that put Valderrama definitively on the world golf map.
If the Volvo Masters had turned this club from Costa del Sol into the most prestigious in continental Europe, the Ryder Cup definitively placed it at a clearly superior level.
In fact, Valderrama is one of the best known European brands in the United States related to golf. Any American golf fan recognizes and appreciates it.
And this is something very difficult to achieve; it can only be achieved by doing a good job, polishing the product and being very demanding.
After hosting, in 2007, the last edition of the Volvo Masters, the Real Club Valderrama has been the venue for competitions of great sporting level such as the Open de España and the Andalucía Valderrama Masters.
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INTERNATIONAL CLUB
Valderrama is also defined by its social mass, very international and undoubtedly of high level. This is something well known. The club has about 40 nationalities among its members and is visited by golfers from all over the world. It is not very normal for a Spanish club to have such a wide variety in the origin of its members. And that is one of its great riches. That people from so many different countries want to belong to an entity so far away, sometimes, from their place of residence, can only be due to one thing: the enormous worldwide prestige of the Real Club. Valderrama.
There may be people living in the United States, for example, who come only once a year, who find the experience of playing this course worthwhile to become a member. It is a course that continues to be an object of desire for any golfer visiting Spain. That is why it continues to maintain the policy of allocating two hours a day to give outings to visitors.
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SOTOGRANDE ENGINE
Another aspect not to be underestimated, and very important to take into account, is that the club has undoubtedly been an economic engine of the area, of the entire Sotogrande environment.
Of course this urbanization is and was very well known, it is a resort of the highest level, there is nothing like it in Europe, but it is very clear that, especially after the Ryder Cup, Sotogrande took off as a brand due to the influence of Valderrama.
As for the houses around the course, none of them affect the game. The course is “very protected” by the vegetation and by the generous margins that were left in its construction. And this is also a luxury now. When playing you can hardly see a house.
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LEVEL OF EXCELLENCE
In 2012, under the presidency of Nuno Alberto de Brito e Cunha, Visconde de Pereira Machado, and the management of Javier Reviriego, Real Club Valderrama undertook an ambitious investment plan to further raise the level of excellence of the course. The plan entailed the implementation of an electronic irrigation system with more than 2,500 sprinklers, a series of agronomic reforms, mainly in the greens and their surroundings and in the bunkers, and aesthetic improvements, with the renovation of the buggy paths among other things. Also impressive was the creation of a splendid new short game area and the complete remodeling of the driving range.
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THE DIRECTOR’S VISION
“The first thing that stands out,” says the club’s general manager, Javier Reviriego Bóveda, “is the beauty of both the course, with its splendid cork oak grove, and the natural environment, framed between the sea and the mountains.
In addition to its privileged location, the quality of the design, the work of one of the best golf architects in history, Robert Trent Jones, and the extraordinary maintenance of the course, “with impeccable fairways and greens,” he adds.
Added to all this is a factor of great importance that has contributed to the greatness of the Real Club Valderrama: its spectacular history as a venue for major tournaments, “which have made us a reference course not only in Spain but throughout the world,” says its general manager.
Reviriego studied Business Administration in the United States on a golf scholarship, then studied a Masters in Course Management and for six years he put his knowledge aside to dedicate himself to professional golf. During that time he combined competition with teaching at the Real Club de Golf de Sotogrande. His first job as director of a golf course took him to Fuerteventura, and later managed Finca Cortesín, where he remained for five years before being signed, in 2011, by the most emblematic club in Spain: Valderrama.
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CURIOSITIES ABOUT TOURNAMENTS AT VALDERRAMA
– SEVE’S GHOSTLY MOLE
In the 1994 Volvo Masters Seve came close to victory at Valderrama. On the 18th hole of the last day, a bad tee shot to the right sent his ball behind a tree and over a supposed ‘molehill’. The referee did not grant Ballesteros a penalty-free relief as he considered that it was not a burrow created by a molehill. Seve could not save the par and it cost him the tournament, which was won by Langer.
– TIGER’S ANGER
Although he would end up winning, Tiger Woods left with a big sulk because of the 17th hole at the 1999 American Express World Championship. He arrived at that par-5 hole on Sunday with a three-shot lead over Miguel Angel Jimenez. His approach left the ball on the green, but his exaggerated slope did not hold the ball, which ended up rolling into the pond. Penalty, another stroke and history repeats itself: into the water again. Tiger’s face was a poem. On his card, triple bogey. On the 18th Jimenez could have made history, but he made a bogey, and in the playoff Tiger did not forgive.
– UNUSUAL SHARED VICTORY
The Scotsman Colin Montgomerie was the great dominator of the European Order of Merit in the 90’s with eight victories and, together with Langer, the one who had achieved the most victories (2) in Valderrama until Sergio Garcia’s 3. In the 2002 edition of the Andalucía Masters he shared the title with the German when darkness came to the course on the second playoff hole and he did not want to postpone it to Monday.
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VETO CLINTON
The former demiurge and president of the famous Cadiz club, Jaime Ortiz-Patiño, did not let former U.S. President Bill Clinton play golf at Valderrama, as the safety of the president could not be guaranteed. This was stated in an interview with him in 2008 on the occasion of a tribute paid to him by the Costa del Sol Tourist Board for his contribution to golf in the area. “Let him play where there is an army next to him, but not at Valderrama,” Ortiz-Patiño said.
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