“Almerimar Golf is one of Gary Player’s great courses”.
He belongs to a great family saga of golf professionals and in his early days was considered one of the great promises of Spanish golf. As an amateur, in his time, had the lowest handicap in the Old Continent. He played on the Challenge Tour and the European Tour, where he arrived, according to him, too early.
At the age of thirty-five, a few months ago he began a new stage by joining the management of the Almerimar Golf Club.
-After having dedicated yourself to professional competition and teaching, how are you living this new experience?
-It’s something very different from what I used to do, but very entertaining, because every day there are different things to do, new problems to face and solve…. It’s different but also very nice.
-You come from a family of golfers. Your father was a pioneer in the teaching of this sport in Almeria. Your uncles and cousins are also dedicated to this?
-In my family there are eleven golf professionals. My father started working in El Prat, in Barcelona, and in the mid-seventies he came to Almería. He initiated two of my mother’s cousins who are in other courses in the area, my two uncles, my cousins….
-The influence of your father and the rest of the family would be definitive for you to get started in the world of golf: you were predestined.
-Yes, because practically the whole family is dedicated to this. We also have golf stores, etc. As a child I saw it as a game, just another childish amusement, until at 16 I won a Spanish championship and I realized that this sport could be something more serious for me. As a result, I was sent to play in European and World Championships, and I began to see golf from a more professional and serious point of view, something that could determine and channel my future. Before I had not even considered it.
-When you were an amateur you had one of the lowest handicaps in Spain, almost as low as Sergio’s.
-At the age of 17 I became the lowest in Europe, with more than 4’2. Sergio I think he got to have more than five with something, what happened is that we did not coincide in time. By the time I reached that handicap he was already a professional. I am a couple of years younger.
-At what age did you turn professional?
-At 18, perhaps too young. I started competing in a national circuit, the Peugeot Tour, and that was when I had to make a fundamental decision: either to study or to play golf as a professional. In that circuit there were great players like Pepín Rivero, Juan Quirós, etc., and I decided to become a professional player in that tour and see what happened.
-And what happened?
Well, I stayed in golf. One of the people who pushed me the most to do it was Ricardo Jiménez, current professional at Finca Cortesín and a great friend. He became my coach, the best I ever had and he pushed me to take the big leap as a professional. He has been the person who has given me the most confidence in my life, the one who has helped me the most as a golfer. He was the one who made me arrive and enjoy the European circuit, he was the one who squeezed the most out of me and knew how to get the best out of me.
I played one year in the Challenge and then I moved to the Tour, maybe too quickly. It’s not good to rush into this and that was the negative aspect of that decision, I arrived with few boards and I hit the wall.
-Anyway, you have good memories of that time….
-Of course. I feel privileged to have been able to enjoy the high competition, to have played in the best courses and to have shared tournaments and leisure time with so many good players.
“My best friend and roommate on countless trips,” he adds, “was Rafa Cabrera Bello. From 2006 to 2008, eighty percent of our trips were together. I also had a very good relationship with Alvaro Quiros, Manuel Quiros, Carlos Rodiles, Gabriel Canizares, Alexander Noren and Martin Kaymer, with whom I made very good friends.
-What was your forte in the game for you?
-People have always thought it was the drive because he hit it very long. I was very spectacular with that club, but the problem is that you also end up messing up at one time or another when you make those kinds of tee shots. I think my strong point has been my attitude. I have not been a winning player, it is true; when I have been about to do it I have shrunk and I have not been able to win, but I have been a very, very fighter and very positive, very easy to forget the bad shots and overcome the bad moments. I have not been able to win but I consider myself a good competitor.
-You are now starting a new stage in your golfing life as the director of a prestigious course. Tell me about this journey.
-The first 18 holes, which opened in 1975, were designed by Gary Player. Now we have 27. It has always been a very popular course, very well known nationally.
It is a typical Player’s course with lots of palm trees and dog leg, lakes…. It has a couple of par threes with island greens, very spectacular. I think it is a very nice and entertaining course. I think the best thing about it is how versatile it is for any type of player, no matter what level they are. You can play the course the way you want, playing aggressively or conservatively, and you will always enjoy it.
With the expansion in the early 2000s, the course added some difficulties to the game and became more varied. More lakes were made and it was lengthened a little bit, which made it more demanding. In general it is a flat course, with very wide fairways, but you never get bored because every hole is different.
I would like to emphasize,” adds Juan Parrón, “that Almerimar Golf is one of the few resorts in Andalusia that has its own hotels, one of which is located on the course and another very close by. We are also next to the sea and a large marina.
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