"With all due respect but Rahm did not send what Seve sent"

Fernando Chavez, 67 years old, he is a world golf teaching institution, coach of the European Tour players like Estefanía Knuth, Paula Martí, Fernando Roca and Ivo Gineramong others, and a ‘totem’ in CG Sant Cugat, the ‘dean’ of golf clubs in Catalonia, where he came because of life events 58 years ago, and 51 of them give classes … Until now. He did not study and when the Guardia Sibil closed his parents ’bar (they were there from dawn to dusk) in a mining town in Teruel, they decided to travel to Barcelona to look for work. This is lucky. They fell into a small house in El Pinar, near the club, with a room and dining room where 8 people lived, and the owner told his mother why “they didn’t go to the club downstairs. Playing they do sports there and they drag carts and they pay them. ‘It’s a miracle’ “, he assured. At the age of 13 it was clear he wanted to play golf. “By caddying we were able to support the family (his brothers Vicente and Jesús also became golfers. And teachers). I became a pro at 16, very young, and they put me in School and that’s where it all started” . This past weekend he ‘retired’ at a Pro-am organized at the club that became his second. house

The worst moment of his long career …

At the competitive level when I was proclaimed senior champion in Spain. But most of all I will stand out at the teacher level, colorless: being able to train Estefanía, Paula, Ivo, Andrea (Vilarasau), the Terol siblings, Inés Tusquets … Estefanía was almost the first, I remember when he won the Orange Bowl, the rookie World Cup for teams, was number one in the ranking and the best in the world for rookies; and Paula, what to say, on a professional level she is European number one, runner-up in a British Open, Solheim Cup player, etc., etc.

The saddest…

What I took now, was to retire and above all leave the Club’s Nursery School, where I have dedicated more than 30 years of my life. But I also want to remember the two students, well, more than the students that they were best friends, that I had for many years, Pedro Raventós and José Hernández, who are now deceased, whom I taught to the end , and they died at the ages of 95 and 91. years. Peter came from Matadepera to walk with me. 40 years playing in two, every Tuesday and Thursday. They told me that their lives have evolved thanks to golf. They are my mentors … It is something that touches your soul.

CG Sant Cugat has become the cradle of great champions and great masters

Chaves, as players, actually, no, as teachers, yes (Vicente and Jesús have already given classes). When I took the School it was very nice, but we all made pineapple and that’s where it all started.

What is your doctrine or philosophy of golf?

The most important thing is that the kids are happy. But to play golf well, the time you devote to it, training and putting passion into it, more than strategy and head, is important. If there is sacrifice and satisfaction, the technique improves itself. Many people have the gift of playing golf but have done nothing. If you don’t practice using talent alone it’s not worth it. One day with Estefanía I made a bet that won me over: it consisted of determining if I was capable of throwing balls to burn the web of a camping gas (at the driving range). He burned it after from 5 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. in hitting the ball. Paula was not fond of golf, she played the piano, but when she started playing it was like a machine.

When you teach children, is it easier to deal with them than parents?

I was so lucky to have had a bit of a problem with the parents. When I already had good players and I couldn’t offer them more, I told the parents, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t go on anymore, this is my limit.’ I am not a professor. Don’t ask me for something I can’t afford to give. I have never been (in a good sense of course) Jesús Arruti.

Which players with the most potential have you coached?

On an amateur level Estefania. On a professional level Paula

Who wants to take?

I have always trained people from CG Sant Cugat. I never wanted to take anyone from another country. When they came to ask me ‘why don’t you take me’ I replied ‘I owe it to my club’. No one is not from the club and I have trained. The people I take are my friends. They and they became more friends with me than a teacher.

How do you see the current teaching?

We are taught by sensations and now the technique, the gym, the psychologist have prevailed … But this is changing and in Spain it is becoming sensations. Maybe I’m out of phase but I’m more into feeling, which you can pick up with practice.

And golf in general, the professional circuit, how do you see it?

It has also changed a lot. In ‘Armada’ there are great players but without the facilities and money we have now. Now you see a kid, he admires how he hit him, and there’s something. Previously, if you had to ‘approach’ with a 5-iron, well, with a 5-iron, now everything is procedural and 100 meters in this club and 150 in another. different. Economically, at first the times of Gallardo, Garrido, Valentín Barrios, ‘Cañi’, Manuel Piñero were not good but they had a lot of class and talent. Piñero, in 1974, came to play the Spanish Championship here, he lives in a hotel in Mirasol and he runs to the club every day to avoid paying a taxi … The pressure is to have a two meter putt and put it’s just inside. to play and eat next week. Fortunately, everything has changed. But now, you’ll get thirty players from then and thirty from now, and those from now, with material since then, will be hard to beat them. The number 25 then with today’s material will beat today’s number 5, for sure.

In Spain we were lucky enough to have a Seve Ballesteros, a Txema Olazábal, a Sergio García and now a Jon Rahm, the chain hasn’t been broken and we’ve been there for almost 50 years … Is this a miracle?

With the few licenses they have and the little support they have on a professional level, it’s incredible to see these players come out. And previously they didn’t go, like now, to the best universities and golf academies in the US.

How do you see the Rahm phenomenon?

I live from it and if ten Rahm come out, it will be better for us. Imagine that when Seve came out, and we were teaching, well, noticeably, more and more people were playing. But one thing, Jon, with all due respect, you’re not telling me what Seve is telling me.

Was he the best golfer in history? Nicklaus and Tiger are there, right?

Seve looks like no man. What he sent and could do with a stick in his hands, nothing, really. The blows he thought, that he hit, that he saw in unlikely holes, how he was able to leave the ball near the flag, released from the bunker with a 5-iron when we tried it and didn’t even bother nagbibiro…. He is no longer number one in the world because he is like that and although they offered him to play in the US, he did not want to, like Olazabal. ‘I am from Europe’, and I play here, he said.

Why does Catalan golf still not have a Marc Márquez, a Pau or Marc Gasol or a Sergi Bruguera?

Honestly, the Federation is not doing what it should be doing and there is a problem with Sant Cugat CAR. I don’t understand that when High Performance started, that was a bomb, a lot of players are done now it’s gone, why? Azahara Muñoz came here for example … They went to Blume in Madrid, something happened. I understand that they go to the US We are a bit behind. Things didn’t make things easier for Paula in the CAR, and she had to go to the US. So far there are three best juniors in Spain at the club: Nagore Martínez, Adriana Terol and Carlota Carmona. And if they are asked about CAR, they will think so. Something is happening. At the Federation level, it is necessary to promote more. How about in a Catalonia Championship, played in May, eight women were left behind? It’s insane. I think they have it very easy, support the base, all of them, not just the good player … It doesn’t make any sense that if a player stands out when he enters the CAR they will tell him that he should practice with the teachers there, not with yours … it doesn’t make sense. I’ve talked about this and if you’re against the pro, you lose it. If Nagore told me to go to CAR, I would tell him to think about it …

What can you tell politicians to change their perspective on golf?

Find out first what golf is. It is not elitist. Clubs are increasingly promoting themselves and opening up at affordable prices. A subscription of 1,000 euros and 190 per month is not big money, Sant Cugat makes it. According to Covid, licenses in Catalonia have dropped. And in Madrid, not in Madrid, no. Should someone be watching right?

Is it a dream to see the Ryder Cup in Catalonia?

It will be a brutal promotion, a pleasure to see live the best in the world. Of course that would be great.