We lived in Albacate then later Madrid, but I spent a lot of time on holidays with my great-grandmother, who owned the Hacienda de San Miguel in the centre of Torremolinos. The Plaza de la Costa del Sol was part of the garden, the same as Avenida de los Manantiales. It was a farmhosue and there was a lot of sugar cane, chirimollos and nisperos (fruit). I remember there was nothing there, and as children we\u2019d count the cars that passed by on the main street \u2013 there weren\u2019t very many. In la Carihuela there were only small fishermen\u2019s houses. I remember the train passing in the middle of town. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n What was y<\/strong>our favourite subject at school?<\/strong><\/p>\n Geography. I love to travel and gain knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Were your parents golfers?<\/strong> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Do you play golf? <\/strong> <\/p>\n So do you play any other sport?<\/strong> Have you ever had the opportunity of playing with Spanish professionals?<\/strong> If you could, which professional golfer would you choose to play a round of golf with? <\/strong> What brought you to this job? <\/strong> In what ways has golf in Spain changed most since then?<\/strong> Is golf still considered something of an elite sport in Spain?<\/strong> Have you noticed any increased effort by politicians in recent years to help people take up the game, especially the young? <\/strong> What would have to be done to make golf a truly popular sport?<\/strong> Describe a typical press office two decades ago, for example at the Spanish Open.<\/strong> You have been a close friend of most of the Spanish professionals during the past two decades, from Seve to Sergio Garc\u00eda. In what way have you been able to help them, first when the Spanish press rarely covered golf and later when there was much more interest in the sport?<\/strong> Any anecdotes about the top players over the years, Garrido, Ca\u00f1izares, Pi\u00f1ero, Rivero, Ballesteros, Olazabal, Jimenez, Garc\u00eda, Rodiles…? <\/strong> Tell us about famous Spaniards who play golf regularly and play it well<\/strong> What\u2019s your favourite golf course in the world \u2013 and in Spain?<\/strong> Have you been to the Masters in Augusta?<\/strong> Would you be happy if your children wanted to become professional golfers? What advice would you give them?<\/strong> What do you do during your leisure time away from the golf courses and press offices?<\/strong> What\u2019s your favourite dish?<\/strong> When you travel a long way from home, is there something you can\u2019t be without?<\/strong> A goal in your life still unfulfilled?<\/strong> How important is Internet in you work?<\/strong> Born in Torremolinos in 1954 but now living in Madrid with her lawyer husband and two children (11 and nine years), Mar\u00eda Acacia L\u00f3pez-Bachiller is almost as familiar a Spanish figure on the European Tour as Severiano Ballesteros. As press officer at tour events in Spain, and around the world, for over two decades, she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mbp_gutenberg_autopost":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[551,558],"tags":[1202],"class_list":["post-7171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articulos","category-interview","tag-interview"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golfinspain.com\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIn the 1960s, the first Swedish tourists started to arrive, and Spaniards who stayed in the Montemar area \u2013 the first hotels were the Pez Espada and the Tropicana. You didn\u2019t hear as much about Marbella as Torremolinos in those days. I still go to Torremolinos but not to my great grandmother\u2019s house, because it\u2019s now abandoned.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"\/\/www.golfinspain.es\/b\/cont\/uploads\/2019\/04\/DSC01355-1.jpg\")
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\nNo one in my family is or has been a golfer.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nNo. I picked up a club a few times in Sotogrande, where I was working for three winter seasons at the end of the 1970s, the year that Emma Villacieros became president (now president of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation) but I was only there from September to April when the summer holidaymakers had left. I worked in public relations, and a lot of a teams came down to practice there for a week during winter, for example, Bernhard Langer with the German professionals team. I spent almost the whole day with them, then we went out to dinner \u2013 it was a lot of fun. Amateur teams also came down. I remember Ronan Rafferty and Philip Walton, still just boys and amateurs, but very good amateurs! I was in charge of looking after all the teams who visited Sotogrande, and occasionally I picked up a club but I wasn\u2019t all that interested. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nMaybe a little swimming in summer. Even though I don\u2019t play golf I love walking the course, caddying for my children who, like their father, do play golf.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nDuring the period when I travelled around the European Tour I spent a lot of time with them and watched them when they were practising. They all tried to teach me but it didn\u2019t work. Perhaps the reason is I was so saturated with golf that I didn\u2019t feel like practising. Furthermore, even though I\u2019m a patient person, when I try to play and on my fifth shot I haven\u2019t achieved anything I get bored and give up.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nI couldn\u2019t choose any one professional, because I spend so much time with them all; I\u2019ve had the good fortune to grow up with them and to have a very close relationship with all the Spanish, English, Scottish players, etc. I began interviewing fathers such as Antonio Garrido and Victor Garc\u00eda and now I\u2019m interviewing their sons. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nI\u2019ve been involved with the press office at golf championships for 29 years. My first tournament was the Spanish Open in 1974. I entered the world of golf by chance. I was studying public relations in Madrid and a colleague who was collaborating with La Manga at the time mentioned in class that they were looking for girls with languages to help promote La Manga. I turned up and they took me on for the Spanish Open during four years (1974-75-76-77). So I headed to La Manga, but without being paid. I wasn\u2019t paid for my first seven tournaments, though they gave us very nice presents. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nGolf in Spain has changed a lot over the years. In the early years if you mentioned golf to someone who wasn\u2019t involved in the game they looked at you as if you were odd; they knew nothing about it. On the other hand, in those days it was more personal. There was hardly anyone at the tournaments; now there are thousands. The hostesses had to do just about everything then: register the players, collect the players at the airport. In those days there were four or five journalists in the press centre; now we register 250 for a tournament.
\nThe life of a professional was also different. They played 18 holes, practised a little before \u2013 a little while on the putting green, then on the driving range, but nothing more. Then everyone off for dinner and dancing; we had a great time. At La Manga during the Spanish Open there was a discotheque called La Bamba and we ended up there every night: everyone, Spaniards, Italians, South Americans… Now the lives of the professionals are focused exclusively on playing golf and practising, with a lot more discipline and a lot more work. There\u2019s a lot more competition, more money in play. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nNo, I don\u2019t think so. The image has changed a lot, and now everyone plays golf. There are a lot of \u201crustic\u201d courses; for example, in Madrid at the Casa de Campo, where people are playing at all times, a whole lot of friends who play several holes but without any grass, nothing. I\u2019m sure there are a lot more people playing golf than the 220,000 registered players (with the Royal Spanish Golf Federation). It\u2019s become a more popular sport. Politicians have also taken up the sport. Felipe Gonzalez (Spain\u2019s first socialist president) never wanted to have his photo taken with golfers because he thought golf\u2019s image wasn\u2019t very good. Now Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Aznar plays golf whenever he can get away and is happy to be photographed with golfers. Also playing the game are ministers, managing directors, actors\u2026 People from other sports are also really getting into golf as a hobby, which helps its popularity: footballers, tennis players, bullfighters\u2026 More and more companies are organising tournaments. In fact, there\u2019s a boom in golf at the moment. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nAutonomous regions are taking golf more and more seriously.They sell it as a product and are investing a lot of money in it. One clear example is the Junta de Andaluc\u00eda, which supports all the professional tournaments held in the region, such as the Volvo Masters Andaluc\u00eda. They know that all the money they invest is returned immediately. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nFor a start they have to build more golf course in small towns, with accessible prices, where anyone who wants to can go and play golf, pay their green fee and that\u2019s it \u2013 without having to build courses in luxury urbanisations where they make a lot of money from it. I appreciate that it\u2019s difficult because anyone who builds a course has to make it profitable, but it\u2019s a pity that not everyone can play golf. Another good way of promoting the sport is what they are doing in Salamanca, for example; promotions with schools in which they take children to visit the courses and have classes every Saturday during winter. They show them the course, and give them a cap and club to play with. It\u2019s a great promotion because the kids end up being hooked on golf, and also drag along their parents. I\u2019m sure they do this in other areas as well. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nTwo decades ago it was nothing. It was very small; the only information was a player\u2019s score as he passed through the ninth green, because we sent a person there to ask him. Nothing was computerised and we made a note of the results on a card. Then there was no more information until the player had fnished. We photocopied the player\u2019s scorecards and pinned them up in the press office. Every night we had to mark the lines with a ruler.
\nAt the Spanish Opens at the start of the 1980s, we were able to have five people following the last five groups, hole by hole, with a walkie-talkie. The organisers rented typewriters to lend to the journalists and, of course, there were no fax machines, or mobile telephones, or Internet, or computers. Everything that seems now to have been there all the time, didn\u2019t even exist then. In the first years, the only information that came out of the press room was what we gave over the telephone to two or three local newspapers, an English newspaper and the EFE news agency, spelling out the names of the first 10 or 12 leading players.
\nLater, when the fax was born, in 1984 or 1985, it really changed our lives. We didn\u2019t have to spell out the names of the players, and it was a radical change to be able to just put a sheet of paper in the machine and send it, even though we didn\u2019t send full tournament reports. This also worked with the telex. We had someone from Telef\u00f3nica there throughout the tournament, and the journalists \u2013 the few who were there \u2013 wrote their articles and the Telef\u00f3nica person sent them by telex to their newspapers.
\nUntil about three years ago, we typed a tournament report and then sent it to a central communications company, which then sent it out en masse from a central computer to other communication centres. This has all now been simplified by the e-mail. Now we write a report, and by pressing a button it goes to 500 journalists. And we can also send tournament photos. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nI\u2019ve always tried to make sure that they spoke about golf in this country, even though during the first years it was very difficult, because it wasn\u2019t a popular sport. But everything evolved, and there were more and more players. The Ryder Cup grew spectacularly thanks to the contribution of Spanish players, who began accumulating more and more victories. Little by little golf was mentioned more in all the Spanish press, not as much as we would have liked because we still send tournament information to newspapers, even specialist sport newspapers, and they don\u2019t give it any importance. That\u2019s a little frustrating but we\u2019ve got to keep trying and continue fighting to promote the sport. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nI\u2019d have to think about that. In general they are very accessible, much more normal than people think. Sometimes journalists from other sorts come to cover golf tournaments and they comment about how close players are compared to, for example, in tennis. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nThere are a lot who play; whether they play well is another matter! But more and more people are playing golf: politicians, bankers, businesspeople, actors, other sports stars. A curious thing is that journalists who until recently were staunch followers of football and who didn\u2019t want to know or hear anything about golf are now crazy about golf; they won\u2019t be separated from their golf bag wherever they go. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nI can\u2019t choose a favourite course in Spain because I work with them all. As for the overseas courses, I\u2019m was really impressed by St Andrews, for what it means, the home of golf as well as a lovely town with some spectacular buildings and where every corner of the town is a small part of English and golfing history. And the course so open, no trees, so different to what we\u2019re used to here.
\nAlso the Castle Pines course where they play The International in the US. The owner, Jack Vickers, invited a group of Spanish players to compete in The International, Miguel Angel Mart\u00edn, Manolo Pi\u00f1ero, Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Ca\u00f1izares. The course is in the Colorado mountains and the site is incredible: the course, the clubhouse, the dressing rooms, the treatment by the people there, their hospitality, everything is impressive. Another course would be Crans-sur-Sierre in Switzerland, where they play the European Masters. The chalet in the Alps, between mountains – a wonderful place.
\nIt\u2019s difficult to choose a favourite because each has its charm and a different history. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nNo, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s bad that there aren\u2019t any women members. You have to respect these traditions. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nI don\u2019t know if I\u2019d de pleased or not. What is clear is that to dedicate yourself to golf first you should have another career with university studies, whatever, beforehand. As for advice for my children, I would say they should be good people and try to make life pleasant for those around them, that they should be honorable. For me this are the most important things in life. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nA lot of my time I dedicate to caddying for my children.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nMy favourite dishes are paella, pasta, gazpacho, bread with olive oil, I love a lot of things.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m accustomed to travelling a lot. The only thing that I possibly miss is a national channel on the radio that enables me to stay close to home; I listen to the radio a lot here.<\/span>
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\nIf you had to live outside Spain, where would you choose and why?<\/strong>
\nI wouldn\u2019t change Spain for any other country. It\u2019s where you can live best, where people are the happiest. If I had to live somewhere else it would probably be Italy because it\u2019s the most similar to Spain. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nMy goal is to make golf a lot more popular than it is now.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nInternet is now essential. I send daily reports in tournaments, as well as all sorts of communcations about new projects, new courses, the \u201cskins game\u201d that was played in the Czech Republic (last year), for example, where I couldn\u2019t be because I was working in the press team at the Ryder Cup. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"