{"id":6821,"date":"2014-03-23T22:42:33","date_gmt":"2014-03-23T21:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/golfcircus.com\/?p=6821"},"modified":"2019-05-07T10:20:24","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T09:20:24","slug":"interview-with-jose-maria-gutierrez-hernandez-guti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/golfcircus.com\/en\/interview-with-jose-maria-gutierrez-hernandez-guti\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Guti\u00e9rrez Hern\u00e1ndez, “Guti”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guti, a Madrid player since his time in the club\u2019s junior ranks, and 15 years a member of the team up to 2010, in addition to playing for the national team, has also \u2013 for several years now \u2013 been a keen golfer. Currently, he combines his job as a coach, working as assistant coach for Real Madrid in the \u201cAlevin A\u201d novices category, with a passion for the sport of the club and small ball.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this special edition of Golf Circus we interview the great footballer\u2026 and great golfer as well?<\/strong>
\nWell, like any amateur, some good days, others bad. At least I enjoy playing, and some days I have a good score and other days I struggle.<\/p>\n

What encouraged you to take up golf?<\/strong>
\nActually, quite a while ago. There was a season at Madrid when many of my colleagues on the team played golf; they prompted me to take it up, I began playing, and I haven\u2019t stopped since.<\/p>\n

Did any one player in particular encourage you, saying, \u201cTry it \u2013 you\u2019ll like it\u201d?<\/strong>
\nYes, C\u00e9sar, who was our goalkeeper at the time, suggested it to me. He encouraged me to play and I liked it a lot. At the start it was very tough but, in general, I enjoyed playing. There are some incredible places to play golf, and I have a great time.<\/p>\n

Before starting to play golf, what image did you have of the sport?<\/strong>
\nThat it was a sport for old people who couldn\u2019t play any other sport that was more aggressive on the body, or more active. Later, I realised that this wasn\u2019t the case: on the contrary, the younger you begin, much better.<\/p>\n

\"guti-miguel-angel-jimenez\"<\/a>Football has given you a lot of satisfaction. Is there any special moment you remember playing golf?<\/strong>
\nYes, a few tournaments I\u2019ve won at an amateur level. Especially the first, which was fantastic \u2013 you always want to play and win.<\/p>\n

Where was that?<\/strong>
\nAt the Layos course in Toledo. I had a very high handicap and I recall carding 43 points or something like that.<\/p>\n

What idea do you have of golf today, as a player, and why would you recommend it to others?<\/strong>
\nFirst, I would recommend it because you can play it with friends. It\u2019s also an individual sport, in which you play against the course, and it\u2019s also fun and unique, because most sportspeople have to compete with someone or against someone. In golf no. Then there are all the courses where you can play, the landscapes you get to view and the stunning nature you see around you.<\/p>\n

Any course that you have particularly liked?<\/strong>
\nHere in Madrid, La Herrer\u00eda, in El Escorial. It\u2019s an incredible course: just standing on the first tee and seeing the monastery in front of you is spectacular. And another course I like is Valderrama, in C\u00e1diz province. It was a unique experience. After watching all the tournaments on TV, to be there and to be able to play, that\u2019s priceless.<\/p>\n

Do you see yourself playing golf as a professional in the future, as (Michael) Jordan did?<\/strong>
\nNo \u2013 each to their own. Jordan tried to and in the end it didn\u2019t work out well. You have to be born for that. I had the pleasure of being a footballer and now what I want to do is enjoy playing golf \u2013 that it doesn\u2019t cause me any problems and I don\u2019t have to put any more time into it than I want to. <\/p>\n

So golf for you now is playing with friends and having a good time\u2026<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s it: pleasure and nothing more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guti, a Madrid player since his time in the club\u2019s junior ranks, and 15 years a member of the team up to 2010, in addition to playing for the national team, has also \u2013 for several years now \u2013 been a keen golfer. Currently, he combines his job as a coach, working as assistant coach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,53],"tags":[959,2267,2268],"class_list":{"0":"post-6821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-interviews","8":"category-showcase","9":"tag-golf-en","10":"tag-guti","11":"tag-real-madrid"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/golfcircus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/golfcircus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/golfcircus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golfcircus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golfcircus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/golfcircus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golfcircus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/golfcircus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golfcircus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/golfcircus.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}