Club de Golf Valderrama

The course

Set among ancient cork oaks above Sotogrande in southern Spain, Valderrama was laid out by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and long regarded as the finest course in continental Europe. It hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup, the first contested on the Continent, along with the Volvo Masters and Andalucia Masters. Precision off the tee matters more than length on its tight, tree-lined corridors.

Signature hole: The par-five 17th, Los Gabiones, is a risk-reward closer with a shallow green guarded by water and framed by bougainvillea-studded gabion walls.