In the early 1960s when Joseph McMicking, a naturalised American with a Scottish and Philippines family background, had the foresight to create what is now the Sotogrande resort.
Fredy Melian who, so the story goes, was already on his way to Spain courtesy of a free plane ticket awarded to him in recognition of his loyalty to SwissAir, was charged with the task of finding a suitable area of land close to the Mediterranean on which the couple could develop a luxury resort.
In 1963 McMicking contracted renowned golf course architect, Robert Trent Jones, to design what was to become the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande, in 1974, he was again consulted to design and create a second golf course. Originally known as Nuevo Sotogrande, this course was renamed in 1981 as Las Aves The course was renamed Valderrama.
McMicking attended Stanford University and was, no doubt, inspired by the Pebble Beach resort in California.
Financiera Sotogrande del Guadiaro, S.A. was incorporated on 19 September 1962. The company initially bought the Cortijo Paniagua and in 1964 the formal plan to be called Sotogrande was approved by the Spanish authorities.



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