Real Club Valderrama Course Review: What it's like to visit a Spanish golf icon

Real Club Valderrama Fact File

• Location: Sotogrande, Cádiz, Spain
• Year Established: 1974
• Par: 71
• Length (yards from tips): 6,990
• Green Fees (weekdays): €550
• Signature Hole: 17th, a par 5 full of drama and plenty of water balls
• Website: valderrama.com

Valderrama began life as Las Aves (Sotogrande New) but it was in 1985 when Jaime Ortiz-Patino bought it that it sprung into life. Robert Trent Jones expanded and amended what he had designed before and it became Valderrama. Since then it has hosted all manner of leading events, for decades it was home to the then European Tour and these days it plays home to LIV Golf.

But it will always be best known as the venue for the first time that the Ryder Cup moved outside the UK to Continental Europe, home nation hero Seve Ballesteros taking the reins of his team in the process. The five-time Major winner was never going to let the famous old trophy return to the other side of the Atlantic and his players, with a good a amount of leadership, came through for him.

1997 would also see the Cup debut of a young Tiger Woods – his 1.5/5 points setting the tone for his underachieving in the competition. He would, however win a WGC event here in 1999, while Colin Montgomerie sealed the deal in rain when he halved with Scott Hoch after a very generous gimme for the American.

As much as Ballesteros was a force of will in retaining the cup, Patino acted likewise in getting the competition to Sotogrande in the first place. He would die in 2013, the following year King Juan Carlos, shortly before he abdicated, granted the club the Royal title – so it is now known as Real Club Valderrama.

Valderrama Course Review

So what makes Valderrama so special? Firstly, the setting is spectacular and it's very easy on the eye. But it will test a lot of things internally. Your mental performance is going to be challenged and you will need to have the right outlook as there will be elements when things don't feel very fair.

But it's also very clever. Off the tee it looks like single file but, when you get down to the fairways, the target is not as narrow as it looks. That can create tension so it’s important to understand that the target is more often than not what you perceive off the tee. That’s testament to the course design as it can distract you from what you want to do.

When you get down there the cork trees can block you out even if you’re on the fairway so it’s imperative that you find your very specific target off the tee. All of which sounds obvious but Valderrama is a brilliant example of having to narrow your focus down off the tee. If you do get blocked out then it’s about having a measure of acceptance and this is all part of the puzzle of the place.

The greens aren’t necessarily massive but they are very undulating and very fast. Another obvious thing to say, but a harder one to stick with, is that the centre of the green is never a bad option.

Around the greens you need a great touch on the undulating and fast surfaces and, to add to the conundrum, you've also got the wind to contend with when it gets above the cork trees and it swirls around the place.

The 4th is the first of the par 5s and has a very unique look to it, with a cascading waterfall sitting to right of the two-tiered green. Otherwise it's a blanket of deep and glistening white bunkering, cork trees and perfect surfaces.

The short holes are spectacular, there is little length to it by modern standards but the scoring would often sit around the level par mark when the Tour visited here.

The last four holes are particularly tricky, kicking off with the iconic par 3 to that well-bunkered green, then 16 can be a horror show and then you have the world-famous 17th – Los Gabilones – where it's often far too tempting to take on the par 5. Graeme McDowell famously holed his second shot here for an albatross two in 2010, the same year he won the US Open and a few weeks after securing the winning point at the Ryder Cup.

If ever there was a brilliant setting for drama at the penultimate hole then this is it.

And then the fiddly last where the tee shot is crucial not to get blocked out. Interestingly Colin Montgomerie won the Shot of the Year for his 3-wood tee shot at the '97 Ryder Cup.

Final Verdict

Valderrama is a top-100 course in the world and often ranks as the very best in Spain. On top of the 18-hole challenge that is often referred to, quite lazily, as the 'Augusta of Europe', there is also a 9-hole short course and facilities like few places else.

Many players will observe that the approaches to the greens are genuinely better than most clubs' putting surfaces and the overall conditioning is off the charts.

As a Ryder Cup course it was hard not to get carried away by the whole thing; a cup played in Spain with a home captain who was as involved, all over the property, as much as any former skipper. Then the American fightback and Monty bringing Europe home.

Valderrama has been a popular tour stop for years and it will quickly pop up when the players are asked for some of their favourite layouts. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars ️️️️️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

For more information, please visit the club's website here