Valderrama Golf Club

Real Club Valderrama
Club information
Location	San Roque, Cádiz, Spain
Established	1974
Type	Private, with limited tee-times for visitors
Owned by	Club de Golf Valderrama, S.A.
Total holes	18
Events hosted	Andalucía Masters; (2010–2011, 2017–);; Volvo Masters; (1988–96, 2002–08);; Ryder Cup (1997);; WGC-American Express Championship (1999–2000)
Website	www.valderrama.com
Designed by	Robert Trent Jones
Par	71
Length	6,390 m (6,990 yd)
Course rating	76.1
Slope rating	147

The Real Club Valderrama (Spanish pronunciation: [reˈal ˈkluβ βaldeˈrama]; "Royal Valderrama Club") is one of the best known^{[citation needed]} golf clubs in the world. It is located in the Mediterranean resort of Sotogrande, San Roque in the Andalusia region of southern Spain, up the coast a few miles from the Strait of Gibraltar. Valderrama 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, hosting the event from 1988 to 2008, with a five-year break when the event was moved to the Montecastillo Golf Club. Valderrama also hosted the Ryder Cup in 1997, the first time the event had been held outside either the United States or United Kingdom, the WGC-American Express Championship in 1999 and 2000, and several other professional tournaments on both the European Tour and Ladies European Tour.

Facilities

Golf course

Valderrama was constructed in 1974 as "Sotogrande New," to the designs of leading American golf course architect Robert Trent Jones. Renamed "Las Aves" in 1981, it was acquired by Jaime Ortiz-Patiño 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, Grégory Havret and Romain Wattel took four shots to complete the hole in 34.87 seconds, breaking the previous Guinness world record by half.^[1]