51 The first course Robinson worked on in Spain was Valderrama, which opened as Sotogrande New in 1974. It was then known Las Aves in the early 1980s before receiving its current name under which it famously hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup. “It’s a Robert Trent Jones course, but I was there during the whole construction,” he recalls. “At that time, we did not have a shaper, which is common today but certainly not back then. We had construction supervisors who knew how to build a course, and they would work with local people and direct them. I would go back and forth overseeing the supervisor there. I never take credit for Valderrama because it isn’t mine. It’s Robert Trent Jones.” At age 82, Robinson says he should be slowing down. “I think I’m officially retired,” he says. “But in the golf course business, none of us have the sense, if we’re moderately successful which I guess I am, to retire as long as we can move about and travel. I have another project east of Málaga, and there’s talk of a third course in Cyprus, but I’m not looking for work. If it comes to me and I’m interested, I’ll do it.” He’ll be waiting for opportunities at his home in Mijas, a mountain town halfway between Málaga and Marbella. “For the number of years I’ve spent in Spain, I’m either stupid or I like it,” he says. “I do miss the States and get back several times a year. But I don’t spend much time looking back on my career, and I haven’t tried to set goals to achieve. It is what it is. If people like what I’ve done, so much the better. I think I have caused more headaches than pleasure for people playing my courses. But I probably have a couple more courses in me that I can do.” Robinson does plan on attending the Solheim Cup in September. “Yes, definitely. I’ll probably be embarrassed and criticised! But I have a good relationship with the greenkeeper there, and they have called me back from time to time for minor changes.” Which team will he be rooting for though? “I’m an American. But I have lived here in Spain for so long that I will try to be a little impartial,” he says. “Emotionally, I will kind of be with the Europeans because it’s my course and I’ve been in Europe 53 years now, so I’m as much European in a sense as I am American. But if you scratch me, I bleed American.” CABELL ROBINSON The long par-three sixth (playing as the third during the Solheim Cup), with the third and fifth (which will play as the fourth and second), both par fives, beyond Photo: Steve Carr “ I don’t spend much time looking back on my career, and I haven’t tried to set goals to achieve. It is what it is. If people like what I’ve done, so much the better”
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