Real Club Valderrama

About Real Club Valderrama

By the ULTIMATE Marbella Editorial Team

The club that hosted Europe’s first Ryder Cup on the continent, in 1997, and decades of Volvo Masters. A pilgrimage course an hour west of Marbella.

From Sotogrande New to Valderrama

Valderrama lies in Sotogrande, in the municipality of San Roque, a few miles up the coast from the Strait of Gibraltar. It was built in 1974 as “Sotogrande New” to designs by the American architect Robert Trent Jones, renamed “Las Aves” in 1981, and bought in 1984 by Jaime Ortiz-Patiño, who had Jones redesign and expand it as Valderrama.

A tournament history

Valderrama hosted the Volvo Masters from 1988 to 2008, with a five-year break, and in 1997 the Ryder Cup, the first ever held in continental Europe. The World Golf Championships American Express Championship came in 1999 and 2000, followed by the Andalucía Masters, the Open de España in 2016 and LIV Golf. By 1999 it was rated the top course in mainland Europe by Golf World magazine.

In 1997 Valderrama hosted the first Ryder Cup ever held in continental Europe.

The course

There is a single 18-hole course and a nine-hole par-3 course. The signature hole is the fourth, La Cascada, a par five with a pond to the right of a two-tiered green.

Playing it

Valderrama is a private club, and visitor tee times are limited and must be arranged directly with the club, usually well in advance and at a premium green fee. Plan an hour’s drive from Marbella. If a round is out of reach, Real Club de Golf Sotogrande and the San Roque Club are close by.

Our advice: contact the club months ahead, choose an early tee time in the cooler months, and stop at the fourth to take in La Cascada.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Real Club Valderrama before you go.