Valderrama Golf Club has for many years been amongst the best courses is Spain and located in the Sotogrande area close to Gibraltar. I have played the course a couple of times and recently (July 2017) during a holiday in Spain. We booked a tee time online where they are open for visitors at several mid day tee times. We arrived a couple of hours prior to tee off and had lunch before we went on the range for a bit of warmup.
driving range at valderrama golf club
We also booked a caddie to guide us around the course and that turned out to be a good decision as he was especially good a giving putting directions.
the course
I played the course from the white tees and the course is relatively short, but you need accuracy from the tee to score well.
I hit a good drive and had 95m to the pin. As you can see the approach is narrow.
It is only when I reached the first green I realized how narrow it is. Generally the greens are quite small targets on Valderrama, but very good and running well.
Another short par 4 but again you need to be accurate to give you a good angle to the green.
My tee shot hit the tree and ended up behind the it as you can see above. It was contemplating how to play it – either through the V in the tree or just play it safe under and leave myself a short pitch. I went for what my Caddie called the “Seve” shot through the trees and it was one of the few times I actually pulled it of and it went perfectly through and landed on the fringe of the green which was converted into a par.
A downhill par 3 with a couple of well placed bunkers and run off on the other side of the green. I hit a good shot 2m from the pin, but missed the birdie putt.
good looking par 5
Hole 4 is beatiful with a small green protected by water. I hit what a thought was a perfect approach shot on my 3rd from 78m, but it just landed in the first rough and stayed there. The green has several tiers and I was chipping downhill from a poor lie and got a bogey. Again it requires precise approach shots to small greens and you are immediately put under pressure if you miss the greens.
Again a short par 4, but I missed my drive left into the trees and had no shot to the green. Had to play it out safe and made bogey.
best par 3 at valderrama golf club
A really nice par 3 and well designed with all the bunkers around it. My first shot went into the front right bunker and resulted in another bogey.
One of the longer par 4s where I missed my drive left and had to lay up.
I hit a really good pitch shot and made a gimmie par which was after 3 bogeys.
A short par 4 which is pretty straight forward and requires a 200m shot into the fairway to have a good line to the well protected green. I hit my hybrid right into the trees and again had to rely a good approach to save par.
the back nine at valderrama golf club
Hole 10, Par 4, 333m
I really liked the 10th hole. A short dogleg right where you can get close to the green if you drive over the corner, but it brings water into play. I played safe with a hybrid to the corner of the dogleg and left myself a 9 iron to the green.
I came up a bit short of the green and the slope took the ball well down the fairway and left myself a really difficult chip up the hill to the green. I actually thought my approach shot was quite good, but learned that being short is not an option – double bogey.
A nice par 5 uphill. The tee shot is actually quite forgiving if you miss it left, so one of the easier driving holes. The green is extremely small protected by large bunkers which is where I ended up.
difficult par 3 12th at valderrama golf club
Another good looking par 3 with lots of trees and bunkers. It was playing 190m with the wind and made it a tough hole. I played it poorly and made double bogey again.
A short par 4 where I played a hybrid just short of the rough where the fairway ends and you have a severe uphill shot where you can’t see the pin.
I hit a decent approach and made par which was a relief after 2 double bogeys.
It was playing close to 200m with the pin to the right. It was like the par 3s where gradually getting more and more difficult. I missed the green left and didn’t hit a good chip…made bogey.
best par 5
I had really being looking forward to this hole after watching it on TV many times. It is a fairly short par 5 and if you hit a decent tee shot is definitely reachable and a good risk/reward hole. I made bogey after a poor tee shot and approach shot.
A strong finishing hole where I hit the perfect tee shot over the trees on the left corner.
Unfortunately I didn’t follow my tee shot up with a good second shot. Missed the green left and did not manage to get up and down.
my experience
I shot 86 at Valderrama Golf Club after a back nine in 47 with 3 double bogeys. My tee shots where just not good enough to really shoot at decent score on Valderrama. Too many shots into the trees which left me with no approach shot and thereby resulting in bogeys.
There is a few holes I would have played a bit differently, but all in all my game was just poor. I will be looking forward to coming back and improving on the score. The course was in great condition and overall a good experience.
my score
