Javier Suárez, general director of the Real Club de Golf de Las Palmas, received the Club Manager Education award for Manager of the Year 2022 at the National Golf Center in Madrid, in the company of a group of fellow professionals, and several of the awarded in previous editions.
Suárez surpassed three outstanding professionals in the election process: Agustín Mazarrasa, from the Real Club de la Puerta de Hierro, Marcos Lería, from the Escorpión Golf Club, and Manuel Galán, from Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
“I firmly believe that training is key to the optimal development of people and teams that help achieve club goals and the satisfaction of players and visitors,” he said after collecting the award.
Suárez has just completed 25 years dedicated to the profession of golf course manager, during which he has participated in the construction and launch of the Salobre Golf Club, the tourist projection of golf in the Canary Islands, and the modernization of processes and facilities at the RGC de las Palmas, the oldest field in Spain, which will be 130 years old in 2021.
The Manager of the Year award is based on the candidates’ commitment to training and educational activities, to the positive evolution of the clubs and courses in which they have worked, and to the success of their professional career within the golf industry. . Previous winners include Rafael Silvela Alós (Golf La Moraleja), Javier Calderón (RRSHECC), Ignacio del Cuvillo (RCG Guadalmina), Uwe Born (Novo Sancti Petri), Javier Reviriego (RC Valderrama), Carlos Fernández Grande (RACE) , Enrique Gil (RCG La Herrería) and Alberto Iglesias (Font del Llop).
A copy of the commemorative plaque was also collected by the president of the RCG of Las Palmas, Salvador Cuyás, who praised Suárez’s role for the club. He also highlighted the role of Club Manager Education in developing training courses for all departments and employees in golf clubs, from those promoted by the European Association of Managers (CMAE) to masters in operations management and management, or specific courses store management, types of lawns, customer service, etc…
Next, the students of the different CMAE courses and others organized by Club Manager Education during the 2021-2022 academic year collected their CMDip diplomas and attendance certificates.
The event was complemented by a visionary presentation on the challenges of golf in Spain for the year 2030, by six prominent members of the golf industry. Sandro Lara, from Riversa-Toro advanced the state of development of the robots and autonomous machines that will maintain the golf courses. Jose Luis Alonso, from the Technical School of Golf, contributed his vision on the technological change that clubs must develop in schools to enhance the role of coaches and their effectiveness in generating new fans of this sport. Javier Insula, from Making Golf warned about the low profitability of most golf facilities in Spain, and the recipes to change the situation. Daniel Asís, from Club Manager Education, encouraged copying the data management of the hotel industry, to improve the control and commercial achievements of golf clubs and courses. Marco Martín, from Sterling&Martin, presented useful and realistic recipes to remodel existing courses, or build new ones, to make golf more fun and appealing to new players. Finally, Juan Antonio Fernandez, manager of the National Golf Center, explained in detail the revolutionary innovations that have been launched in recent years (artificial turf on the practice range, the Top Tracer system for precise tracking of ball flight, large areas of solar panels to meet their energy needs, new training and adaptation facilities for golf equipment…) with which to demonstrate the link between golf and sustainability and its adaptation to the future.
The event was completed with a golf competition in the morning, and a GolfGourmetExperience dinner party, combined with a series of semi-virtual golf contests in the environment of the revolutionary Top Tracer system, capable of providing infinite data on the flight of each ball.
