Sotogrande · San Roque · Cádiz
The Ryder Cup was played here in 1997, the first one outside the United States and the British Isles, with Seve Ballesteros as European captain. And it wasn't a one-off: the Volvo Masters from 1988 to 1996 and 2002 to 2008, the Andalucía Masters in 2010, 2011 and 2017 to 2022, and the 1999 WGC-American Express, where Tiger Woods beat Miguel Ángel Jiménez in a play-off. They call it Europe's little Augusta, and it's no brochure exaggeration: Top 100 Golf Courses ranks it number one in Spain and among the world's hundred best. Robert Trent Jones drew it in 1975, and what's played today is the renovation Jaime Ortiz-Patiño drove in 1985, with an obsession for maintenance that changed the standard for golf in Spain. The holes people remember: the 2nd, a 352-metre par 4 with a cork oak planted in the middle of the fairway; the 4th, La Cascada, a 515-metre par 5 considered the best fourth hole on the continent; and the 17th, which Ballesteros rebuilt in 2003, adding a lake in front of the green. Together with the 18th they form one of the toughest finishes in European golf.
It's a private club, and it's worth knowing early. Valderrama isn't booked like an ordinary green fee: access is managed on request, and there are days when there simply isn't any. Ask for a date well in advance; it's the only course in the catalogue where waiting costs you the round.
Would rather play it from another hotel, or in another combination? Tell us and we'll put together a firm-priced proposal.