A New Reign In Spain

The first to show the way were the Madrid-born Miguel brothers, Angel and Sebastian. Angel, the elder, had his playing career abbreviated by stomach ulcers caused by the inferior diet of his early life. But before he was forced into semi-retirement, he won three tournaments in Britain between 1964 and 1966, the first Spaniard ever to accomplish this feat. Angel's greatest achievement, though, was winning low pro in the 1958 World Cup in Mexico City.

The younger Miguel, Sebastian, was Angel's partner on the Spanish team that placed second in Mexico City, and in 1963 Sebastian and Ramon Sota, an uncle of the Ballesteros brothers, were World Cup runners-up to Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus in Paris. Sota and Angel Miguel were also second to Gary Player and Harold Henning of South Africa in Madrid in 1965.

Between them, the Miguels won five Spanish Opens from 1954 to 1967, and Sota, who was to succeed them as the leading Spaniard, won the title in 1963. The "Bull of Santander," as Sota was known, also won eight open championships in Europe between 1963 and 1971 and took the Brazilian Open in 1965.

Sota and the Miguel brothers formed the backbone of Spanish professional golf during its humble beginnings and were succeeded in time by Gallardo and Madrid-born Valentin Barrios. But the Spaniards were still regarded as poor relations by the British players and, more sinisterly, the lesser-known Spaniards were branded by one prominent British Ryder Cup player as "a bunch of cheats, experts with the leather mashie [improving the lie with footwear in the rough] and carrying golf balls, all with the same number, to push down the trouser leg through the hole in the pocket when the five minutes allowed to search for a lost ball were nearly up, and no ball had been found."

A British PGA field official admitted that when he assumed his job he was warned to watch for such shenanigans from "the continentals." To this day Europeans, particularly from the same country, are never paired together in British and continental tournaments if it can be avoided.

But the same British official also said, "I have found no evidence of cheating by the Spaniards in several seasons. Of course, there are occasions when translation of the rules of golf into several different languages causes problems with their interpretation. I have found that some of the foreign newcomers are not too familiar with rules in any language. But the Spanish are the best of the lot, most amenable to discipline and unfailingly polite. They get nothing but credit from me for their magnificent achievements. I wish we had a few more like them—willing to get off their backsides and work."

But why the sudden upsurge in playing standards in a basically backward golfing nation? The American influence has been of paramount, if indirect, importance. Of more than 40 new golf courses built and opened in Spain in the past decade—13 more are under construction—the vast majority have been designed and constructed along American lines. Heavily watered, lush greens encourage golfers to attack the hole, and the present generation of Spanish professionals is bold and fearless. Years of hanging around the dirt yards of caddie shacks enabled them to perfect their chipping ability, and they developed nerve by gambling their meager wages against each other.

Eight years ago Johnny de Vicuna, the autocratic president of the Spanish Golf Federation and PGA, enlisted the help of renowned British teaching professional John Jacobs for three weeks a year to coach a class that embraced the whole complement of Spanish professionals. Jacobs concentrated only on giving them all a good grip, a proper setup and a simple swing, which they in turn could pass on to their pupils and the caddies at their clubs. And so a uniform teaching and playing method was evolved. The results speak for themselves, and in the last three years Jacobs has limited his visits to Spain to a single week.

Jacobs said recently, "Every year there are many new young faces, all solemnly eager to learn and work. Of course, young Ballesteros is easily the most gifted of the current crop of winners. He has a good swing now, but a little while back he had obviously modeled himself too much on Nicklaus. Like Jack, his swing was too upright, too much up and under with the shoulders, which, as I have told Jack, causes him at times to rock and block. I shall tell the class this year that they would do better to copy Tom Watson, who concentrates on getting his body out of the way and swinging with the arms. Antonio Garrido and Salvador Balbuena do this very well. Although Manuel Pinero is not so naturally gifted, he compensates with an absolutely superb short game, and he is striving to improve all the time. My most fervent hope is that one day I shall get all the British tournament professionals together for similar sessions."

Down the Spanish scale, the caddies are schooled and encouraged to play in the early mornings and late on summer evenings, oftentimes with clubs lent them by members. They progress through a number of local and regional tournaments until they each hand in three scorecards of four over par or better. Then, after passing an examination in the rules of golf, they are allowed to play in national tournaments, where a percentage of the prize money between 10% and 20%—is allocated to these aspirantes. After four years, they can take a further examination to gain cards as assistant professionals. Once they are considered ready for international competition, the federation and the Ministry of Sport combine to sponsor them abroad.