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History of the Course
Valderrama is named after a very old Andalucian
estate that became part of what is now the Sotogrande estate. Andalucia´s
rugged beauty had a profound influence on two men, inspiring them
in their work.
After World War II, Colonel Joe McMicking became
a successful real estate developer, active in the Philippines as
well as the United States. McMicking fell under the spell of the
unspoiled Andalucian coastline the first time he saw it. He realized
that, sooner or later, urban encroachment would change the coastline
forever. After a long search, McMicking acquired three adjoining
estates - Sotogrande, Paniagua and Valderrama. He disposed of individual
plots for high-class residential development at a low density, calling
the whole area Sotogrande.
One of the first to build was Jamie Ortiz-Patiño,
whose family had ancestral links to Spain. Ortiz-Patiño,
who directed his family´s world-wide mining interests from
Geneva, initially could visit his new home only three or four times
a year to relax and play golf. Later he was able to spend more time
there, and soon an idea began to take shape.
McMicking´s master plan provided for two golf
courses. The first, which he laid out right at the start, was called
Sotogrande. Ten years later, McMicking built Sotogrande New - but
soon changed the name to Las Aves (The Birds). Both courses were
designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr.
Ortiz-Patiño had built his home by the third
green at Sotogrande, but he came to have a special regard for Las
Aves. Ortiz-Patiño became convinced that if certain key parcels
of land could be included and the golf course redesigned by its
creator, it would become one of the world´s finest. Trent
Jones had already stated that, of the hundreds of courses he had
designed, Las Aves was one of his five favourites.
Ortiz-Patiño found that the architect shared
his view that a redesigned Las Aves, incorporating the extra land,
would have unlimited potential. In 1985 Ortiz-Patiño, together
with a few like-minded friends, was able to buy all these holdings.
He immediately renamed the course Valderrama, renewing the historical
link.
In the same year, Club de Golf Valderrama was formed,
and Ortiz-Patiño assumed full control. The key sites were
taken into the golf course, and Trent Jones was given carte blanche.
The architect responded with total dedication, working closely with
Ortiz-Patiño, whose energy and attention to detail did the
rest. One of the first moves was to renumber the holes, changing
No. 1 to No. 10, No. 2 to No. 11, and so on, making the back nine
more testing than the outward nine.
The Sotogrande area lies a few miles north of Gibraltar,
in ideal terrain between the Serrania de Ronda mountains and the
Mediterranean, with distant views of North Africa. The climate is
ideal for year-round golf.
"Faced with such beautiful land," Trent
Jones once wrote, "all my instincts were to leave well alone,
so far as possible. When Nature has spent many millennia shaping
an ideal piece of land, the task of the human designer is merely
to identify the golf course that is waiting to be discovered."
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