Severiano Ballesteros was born on 9 April 1957 in Pedreņa, a small village on the southern shore of the Bay of Santander in the north of Spain.

Baldomero, his father, had formed part of one of the best rowing crews in history in Spanish "traineras" (fixed bench fishermen's boat). In Pedreña there is a great tradition for this type of tough sport, although golf also formed part of the atmosphere at that time - the 50's and 60's. If, in all the Pedreña homes one could always find a member of the family who had caddied at the Royal Pedreña Golf Club - a prestigious club inaugurated in 1928 by the King of Spain - in the Ballesteros family this was more than customary as Seve's older brothers Baldomero, Manuel and Vicente were all professional golfers, as was his uncle, Ramón Sota, his mother's brother, one of the best golfers in Europe in the sixties, winner of four Spanish Professionals Championships, sixth in the 1965 U.S. Masters and a member of runners-up teams at two World Cups, in 1963 and 1965 (behind the USA and South Africa, respectively), in addition to other important victories all over the world.