Julia López Ramírez is a little star in a town, hers, which boasts of being the number one in Spain in terms of golf courses per inhabitant. Benahavís, the Malaga municipality bordering Marbella and Estepona, has eight courses and a population of some 7,000 inhabitants. And it also has something very important: a municipal golf school where hundreds of local children and youngsters have been trained since it opened, who until then had not even thought that they were going to be abducted by this sport.
This is the case of Julia, handicap -0.2, selected for the national junior team and one of the most outstanding young players in Benahavís, whose parents took her one day to a driving range near their home, so that she could try a sport that they had never practiced but that would dazzle their daughter.
Julia was then 3 years old, 12 years younger than she is now, and what started as a childish game has become such a great hobby that she hopes that one day it will become her modus vivendi. Her younger brother also tried the sport, but did not. seduced him. “He was bored, he only wanted to play tournaments, but not practice, and he also said that he didn’t like walking for so long.”
Like her, her parents are aware of how difficult it is to dedicate herself professionally to golf, so they have set an unwaivable condition for her to continue going to competitions: she must successfully complete her studies (she will be attending the last year of secondary school after the summer).
“You know the drill: as long as she’s doing her thing, I’m doing mine,” remarks her mother as Julia patiently submits to a photo shoot around different corners of her flirtatious town.
Julia would like to study at the Blume High Performance School in Madrid, because, as her mother says, at the high school where she is currently studying she does not find among the vast majority of her teachers the support she needs to be able to develop as a golfer. “We have many problems with the school, because they do not support her, they do not consider absence for competitions, for example, as an excused absence”. To be admitted to the Blume she must have a handicap of less than 1.5, good grades in her studies and have the backing of the Spanish Golf Federation. Her goal, in case golf does not become her profession, is to study Physical Activity and Sport Sciences (formerly INEF).
His victory in the Andalusia Cup in January at Atalaya Golf and in Murcia in a national scoring opened the doors to the national junior team, with which this summer will travel to France to play a match Spain-England and Scotland for a sports training camp.
-How far do you think you can go in the world of golf?
-I want to get as high as possible, at least try to get it, but if not, at least get my INEF degree.
-What are your golf plans for this summer?
Apart from the trips with the national team, I’ll be at the two or three-week summer camp that Manuel (Araujo, the teacher at the Benahavís Municipal Golf School) holds. We practice from ten in the morning, have lunch and continue until four in the afternoon.
-And field trips?
-I don’t go out much because my parents can’t take me. I go out once a week or so.
-Which player would you like to emulate?
-Azahara Muñoz, always. And in men, I really like the swing of Tiger Woods.
-What are the strengths of your game, which clubs do you play best?
-I always handle myself better in the long game because I have the ability for that and I have strength, but the short game is always more difficult for me, although I am improving lately.
-You have a reputation as a great hitter. What distance do you reach with the driver?
-240, 250 or so.
-Are your parents very supportive?
-Yes, but always with studies first, and then golf. And it’s not easy for golf to be behind! (he laughs, and his mother, serious, tells him: “That’s the way it is”). ■
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