Special Places - Valderrama Golf Club

The final European PGA Tour event of the year on European soil arrives with the Andalucia Masters taking place at the famed Valderrama Golf Club in Sotogrande, Spain. This acclaimed course has hosted two World Golf Championships and is the only European venue outside the British Isles to have hosted the Ryder Cup when all-time great Seve Ballesteros led the home team to a watershed victory in 1997. Prolific American architect Robert Trent Jones designed the layout, and when it opened in 1974 the course was known as Sotogrande New, and later Las Aves. A change of ownership in 1984 saw Trent Jones commissioned again to expand on the original design. By 1999 Valderrama was rated as the top course in mainland Europe and it has remained one of the very best ever since.

Valderrama is a half-hour's drive from the exclusive coastal resort of Marbella, playground of the rich and famous. The 6356m par 71 layout meanders through cork-oak forests and is as beautiful as it is demanding. There are nine wildlife sanctuaries totaling 16 hectares within the layout, creating enclaves to encourage biodiversity and providing safe havens for species such as badgers, shrikes, eagle owls, golden orioles, orchids and several amphibians. The numerous sand and water hazards around the course mean that strategy and precision are preferred over length on this tight woodland design. Add into the mix the two prevailing winds - the arid and hot poniente from the land and the cooler levante blowing in from the Mediterranean - and you have a rich and unique golfing experience that delivers solid shot values on every hole. The signature hole is the dramatic La Cascada, a 520m par 5 4th that Trent Jones himself describes as probably the best par 5 he has ever designed and one of the truly great par 5s in the world. Although is it possible to reach the green in two after a well-positioned drive - especially if the levante is helping off the tee - the second shot is fraught with danger as the two-tiered green is well protected by both sand and water.

For more than a decade Valderrama has been regarded as the best golf course in continental Europe, and even with recent challengers such as Bro Hof Slott in Sweden taking aim at the number one spot, Robert Trent Jones' masterpiece just a stone's throw from Gibraltar remains the benchmark against which all others are tested.

Golfweather Editorial