The Real Club Valderrama (; "Royal Valderrama Club") is one of the best known golf clubs in the world. It is located in the resort of

Sotogrande Sotogrande is the largest privately owned residential development in Andalusia, Spain. Originally a gated community, it is located in the municipality of San Roque and is composed of a 25-square-kilometre stretch from the Mediterranean Sea 25&nb ...

, San Roque in the Andalusia region of southern Spain, a few miles from

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, and has a single 18-hole course, along with a 9-hole par 3 course. Valderrama was the traditional host of the now defunct

Volvo Masters The Volvo Masters was the concluding official money event of the European Tour season until 2009, when it was replaced by the Dubai World Championship. The event was founded in 1988 and held at Valderrama Golf Club in Andalusia, Spain, except for ...

, hosting the event from 1988 to 2008, with a five-year break when the event was moved to the Montecastillo Golf Club. It also hosted the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

in 1997, the first time the event had been held outside either the United States or United Kingdom, the

WGC-American Express Championship The WGC Championship was a professional golf tournament that was held between 1999 and 2021. It was one of the three or four annual World Golf Championships until the number of WGC events was reduced to two following the 2021 season. Under sp ...

in 1999 and 2000, and several other professional tournaments on both the European Tour and

Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. It is based at Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London in England. Like many UK-based sports organisations it is a company limited by guarantee, a legal stru ...

Facilities

Golf course

Valderrama was constructed in 1974 as "Sotogrande New," to the designs of leading

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

golf course architect Robert Trent Jones. Renamed "Las Aves" in 1981, it was acquired by

Jaime Ortiz-Patiño Jaime Ortiz-Patiño (20 June 1930 – 3 January 2013) was an art collector, golf course owner and former President of the World Bridge Federation. Ortiz-Patiño was born on 20 June 1930 in Paris. His father Jorge Ortiz-Linares was Ambassador of B ...

in 1984. The golf course was redesigned and expanded by the original architect and became "Valderrama." By 1999, Valderrama was rated the top course in mainland Europe by '' Golf World'' magazine.

Signature hole

The fourth hole, La Cascada, is the course's signature hole. It is a par 5 with a pond to the right of the two-tiered green. Before the 2016 Open de España, three national teams of four players tried to complete La Cascada in the fastest time. The French team of Raphaël Jacquelin,

Alexander Lévy Alexander Lévy (; born 1 August 1990) is a French professional golfer who currently plays on the European Tour. Lévy won the French Amateur Championship in 2009, and the French International Amateur Championship the next year. Turning pro in ...

Grégory Havret Grégory Havret (born 25 November 1976) is a French professional golfer. Career Havret won the French Amateur Championship three years in a row from 1997 to 1999, and in 1999 he won the European Amateur. He also won a minor professional tournamen ...

and Romain Wattel took four shots to complete the hole in 34.87 seconds, breaking the previous Guinness world record by half.

Driving range

Tournaments hosted

Ladies Spanish Open The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Infor ...

: 1982 *

: 1988–1996; 2002–2008 *

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

(the first ever held in Continental Europe) *

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Andalucía Masters The Andalucía Masters is a golf tournament on the European Tour. It was first played in 2010 at the Valderrama Golf Club in Sotogrande, Spain. It was played at the same location as the former Volvo Masters. The 2012 edition was cancelled, only a ...

: 2010–2011, 2017–2022 *

Open de España The Acciona Open de España (formerly the Spanish Open) is the national open golf championship of Spain. It was founded in 1912 and has been part of the European Tour's schedule since the inception of the Tour in 1972. Except for a five-year peri ...

: 2016

Future

* LIV Golf Valderrama: 2023

References

External links

* {{Ryder Cup venues , state=collapsed Golf clubs and courses in Spain Ryder Cup venues Sports venues in Andalusia Golf clubs and courses designed by Robert Trent Jones 1974 establishments in Spain