“We are the territorial federation with the greatest sporting activity in Spain”.
With a degree in Law from the University of Malaga and extensive experience in the banking sector, Miguel Navarro Álvarez, brother of two well-known golf course managers from Costa del Sol, is now facing a new professional challenge: to steer the RFGA on a steady course as secretary general and manager of the entity.
-What was the first thing that came to your mind when you found out you were going to take charge of the General Secretariat of the RFGA?
-The first thing I have to say is that I was proud that the president of the RFGA thought of me to assume this responsibility. It has been a very important turn in my professional career, which I assume with great enthusiasm, hoping to live up to the trust placed in me.
2 -What is the main challenge currently facing the RFGA?
-The first challenge is always at the sporting level and, in this case, it is to maintain the brilliant results that have been obtained so far at all competitive levels. At the organizational level, the objective is to resume the activity after a two-year hiatus, taking advantage of the occasion to renew the management system.
3 -Do you have any idea of how to recover the members who have left in recent years due to the crisis?
-I think we have already reached the turning point in the decrease in the number of members. Now we want to work hard to recover those members we have lost in recent years and grow in new practitioners of our sport, encouraging promotion at the level of schools, universities, golf schools, etc..
4 -How would you convince the courses that are not yet federated to join the RFGA?
-We provide a series of services to the courses, such as insurance, free use of the Flashcaddy program, the possibility of official competitions, etc. These services make the fact of being federated something really interesting for the commercial fields. In addition, the General Assembly held on May 24 approved a new system of fees for clubs that will make it more attractive for them to join the RFGA.
5 -Andalusia has outstanding amateur figures such as Noemí Jiménez, Mario Galiano, and many others. How does the RFGA promote the Andalusian golf quarry?
-We are the region with the greatest sporting activity in Spain. From the Pequecircuito and the other Circuitos Benjamines, Alevines, Infantiles, Cadetes we maintain a level of competition that has given us in the past, and I am sure it will give us in the future, an excellent result. Recently, the first stone of the CETD of La Cañada has been laid, which has to be a nursery of players that will give us many joys in the future.
6 -Relations between the Federation and professional golfers have gone through periods of ups and downs. Have the problems been solved yet?
-It is true, but the new Board of Directors has appointed a President for the Professionals Committee who, from the very beginning, has the support of the PGA Andaluza.
7 -The RFGA organizes a multitude of tournaments that help to promote the practice of golf among children. What more could be done to increase the number of golfers, both children and adults, in Andalusia?
-As I have already mentioned, we intend to promote golf in schools and universities. We are supporting the creation and maintenance of golf schools, some of them promoted by clubs without a course, and we are sure that they will give an excellent result.
8 -The golf courses on the Costa del Sol are generally registering good occupancy levels. Is the same happening in other areas of Andalusia?
-Unfortunately not. There are areas of Andalusia, such as Almeria, Cadiz Atlántica and Huelva, where they are still suffering severely from the lack of players.
In a recent visit of the spokespersons of Tourism of the Spanish Senate and the Congress of Deputies to this Royal Federation we have conveyed the need to promote, above all, the activity of airports, such as Almeria, thus providing facilities for foreign players to visit these golf destinations.
We have also visited the Secretary of State for Finance in Madrid to try to convey to him the need to understand the golf business as part of the tourism industry, so that its activity is subject to a reduced VAT.
9 -With your busy work as RFGA Secretary General, do you have time to play golf?
-The truth is that so far no, but I am sure that this is going to change.
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