Valderrama: a personal review of the greatest course in continental Europe

I have a rule about superlatives. I apply them only once per region and only when nothing else competes. I've said Turnberry is the most visually dramatic course in the UK. I've said Nine Bridges is the most surprising course I've ever played. I'll now say this: Valderrama is the greatest course in continental Europe. I will not be argued out of it.

Valderrama sits in Sotogrande, on the Costa del Sol, 90 minutes from Málaga. It is a private members' club. Visitor access is tightly controlled — you book through the club's visitor programme or through a specialist operator, and you pay for the privilege. Green fees are approximately €350. It is not cheap.

What you get for that: a course designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr and subsequently refined by the members into something approaching perfection. The Jacaranda trees that line almost every hole create a canopy unlike anything else in European golf. In April and May, when they flower purple, the course looks like something from a film set rather than a real place.

The 4th hole is the one I think about most. A dogleg par-4 of 390 yards, with a cork oak sitting in the fairway approximately 60 metres short of the green that forces you to commit to a shot shape before you've assessed the wind. The approach — over a greenside bunker to a tight, sloping green — is the best par-4 second shot in Europe in my opinion.

The 17th — the famous par-5 with the small pond guarding the front of the green — is where Seve turned the 1997 Ryder Cup in Europe's favour with a birdie from 40 feet. It's also where the famous chip-into-the-water incident happened during the American Express Championship in 1999. It rewards courage and punishes exactly the kind of aggressive play that the hole almost forces you toward. It is brilliant course design.

The membership: Valderrama's members are famously protective of the course's condition and reputation. The result is that a visitor playing Valderrama in November plays the same conditioning as a visitor in June. The club does not allow outside events to compromise course quality. That is rarer than you'd think among prestige golf venues.

How to book: through us, or directly through Valderrama's visitor secretary. Either route gives you the same access. What changes with a specialist-booked trip is the surrounding itinerary — flights, hotel, the other two or three rounds you'll play alongside Valderrama to make the travel worthwhile.

My honest expectation-setter: Valderrama is the most intimidating first tee in European golf. I've taken dozens of clients there and almost every one of them has said the same thing in the car on the way back: 'I didn't play my best but I need to come back and do it again.' That is the mark of a great course. It demands something of you and leaves you wanting to give more.