Summary
In Cuba the development of different tourist modalities is projected, such as golf associated with real estate. The perspective of the construction of new golf courses, together with the lack of a specific training system for the preparation of workers who enter to work on a golf course, are the basic elements that supported the need to work on design. of study plans and programs for different professional golf profiles. Cuban professionals from various branches, together with specialists from the Varadero Golf Club, worked on the elaboration of curricular designs and programs for the training of golf course workers; reason why today there is already a National Program for Golf Courses, which includes the training of 10 professional profiles.Professors from the Centers of the Tourism Training System of different provinces of Cuba received the basic preparation that will allow them to carry out the implementation of the National Golf Course Program in the different territories of the country where the construction of the new courses is planned. golf.
Introduction
Currently Cuba is taking important steps to create, diversify and consolidate services and complementary offers to accommodation that distinguish the country, which is why it is projecting itself towards the development of different tourist modalities such as golf associated with real estate. The perspective of the construction of new golf courses, together with the lack of a specific training system for the preparation of workers who enter for the first time to work on a golf course, are the basic elements that sustained the need to work. in the design of study plans and programs for different professional golf profiles.
For about a decade, Cuban professionals dedicated to training for employment in the tourist activity have been preparing professional profile designs, study plans and programs for the academic and labor components for the training of golf course workers, therefore that today there is already a National Program for Golf Courses, which includes the training of 10 professional golf profiles.
Professors from the Centers of the Tourism Training System of different provinces of Cuba received the basic preparation that will allow them to carry out the implementation of the National Golf Course Program in the different territories of the country where the construction of the new courses is planned. golf. The teachers were trained in the knowledge of the aforementioned program and in the theoretical and practical foundations of golf; The preparation took place in the classrooms of the Hotel and Tourism School and the Varadero Golf Club, both located in the Varadero beach resort, the most important tourist destination for sun and beach in Cuba; the close link between both entities led to the training of teachers in theoretical and practical aspects related to golf,having the presence of the prestigious work team of the Varadero Golf Club with more than 15 years of experience in this activity, as well as the authors of the National Golf Course Program.
Development
The National Golf Course Program, based on the need to solve the professional problem of training the workers who will work on the new golf courses that are planned to be built in Cuba, these courses will be distributed in different territories, associated with the most important tourist destinations such as Punta Colorada in Pinar del Río; El Salado in Havana, Santa Lucía in Camagüey, Covarrubias in Las Tunas, north of Holguín and on the south coast of the central region near the cities of Trinidad and Cienfuegos,
In addition, projects such as Carbonera, only 15 km from Varadero, by the Extrahotelero Business Group Palmares de Cuba and the British company Havana Resorts Ltd., which have agreed on the construction of an 18-hole golf course, associated with real estate development; As well as in the Bellomonte area, east of Havana, the firm Beijing Enterprises Holdings Limited plans, together with the Cuban group Palmares, the construction of a golf course and real estate. (Hernández, 2015).
On the other hand, in the center of the country, in Dolores, close to the city of Caibarién, the Golf Club Buenavista, which will consist of 18 holes; The IGGA Marbella architecture studio, Ignacio García Golf Arquitectura, has been chosen to carry out this company and the Grupo de Turismo Gaviota, SA de Cuba. (According to an article, Cuba looks at Marbella).
Cuba currently has only two golf courses; one located in Havana with 9 holes and the other is the Varadero Golf Club with a length of 6 856 yards (6 269 m) the only 18 hole golf course, Par 72; It was designed by the architect Les Furber, president of the Canadian company Golf Desing Services Ltd. This last field combines the classic, challenging and link styles, which includes the sea as one more obstacle to be overcome by players on the field of play. The Varadero Golf Club has been the venue for several years for the Montecristo Cup, where players from various countries meet and moves a large number of amateur tourists.
The construction of new golf courses in Cuba, in addition to rapidly diversifying and consolidating services and complementary offers to tourist accommodation, can contribute to maximizing the average income per day tourist, since the golf client segment has characteristics that distinguish it; associated with their spending capacity, their loyalty, dedicating the majority of their stay to playing golf, they can play golf on several different courses and make golf circuits, the motivation to play at any time of the year, they want to be close other activities and attractions to enjoy such as tasting gastronomy, cocktails, excursions and making your stay an experience, they generally travel in the company of family and friends, all of which must take place in a comfortable and relaxed environment,conditions that they will find in Cuba, together with security in the different destinations of the country.
Golf, a sport widely practiced in the world, is gaining more and more fans, we would say rather passionate, because golf is a passion. Golf is defined as a sport whose objective is to drive and insert a ball or ball into each of the holes distributed in the field with the fewest strokes, using for each stroke one of a set of clubs of different shapes. (Golf Vocabulary, 2006). Therefore, when speaking about the practice of golf, it is necessary to take into account the existence of the golf course as a context in which golfers develop their performance.
This sport is governed by rules and by rules of etiquette, the latter are behavioral guidelines for various areas of golf, they are not strictly part of the rules of the game, since infractions are not punished with penalty strokes, but violators are cautioned. The etiquette of golf is evident in the conduct, the course of the game, the priority, the security on the playing field and also in the clothing worn by the players.
“Golf is a game in which one can be exhausted, but not defeated, which requires courage, ability and self-control, in which temperament and honor are required, revealing character and growing in man the attitude chivalrous indispensable in this discipline, in addition to being relief for worries and an antidote to regret. (Rules of Golf, Mexican Golf Federation, AC 2008, p.2)
“Golf is played, for the most part, without the supervision of a referee. The game depends on the integrity of the individual to show consideration for other players and abide by the Rules. All players should conduct themselves in a disciplined manner, demonstrating courtesy and sportsmanship at all times, regardless of how competitive they may be. This is the spirit of the game of golf. ” (R&A Rules Limited and the United States Golf Association. 2011, p.17).
The rules of golf etiquette are incorporated into the performance of the players regardless of their purchasing power or social class, it is part of their value system and they are manifested in any of the types of golf courses.
Among the types of golf courses, a distinction is made: public ones, intended for the entire golf player public, for a fee, are not linked to accommodation; private golf courses for golfers associated with golf clubs; Golf & Resort linked to accommodation in resort rooms and currently the golf associated with real estate is expanded with the ownership or rental of houses, apartments and villas, this modality that will be developed in Cuba.
Golf clients are very demanding and their satisfaction is given by: receiving the most complete information before arrival on the course, which covers from accommodation, transportation, game hours and knowledge of the characteristics of the course; Already on the golf course they should receive a pleasant welcome, that their schedule for the start of the game is met, the existence of adequate equipment, precise communication and fundamentally that there are optimal conditions of the field for the game.
In order to achieve the satisfaction of golf clients, it is necessary to integrate the services provided, which implies the work of many employees, because golf courses work as a system; Seen in this way, it is necessary that the people who work on a golf course have a special preparation for the work they do, fundamentally given by the integration of knowledge, skills and attitudes for the successful development of their functions.
According to Paniza (2010), the provision of services in golf generates different occupations that require different levels of training, the qualification of the employees who are directly involved in the golf courses is very diverse, highlighting the role of the required skills for carrying out the specific tasks of each occupation.
Assuming the training of workers for the new golf courses constitutes a challenge in the Cuban territory and for the Cuban Tourism Training System, since there are no previous experiences, at least registered.
Taking into account the complexity of the subject in question, it was necessary to assume a working methodology for different phases:
First phase, theoretical and practical preparation:
- Bibliographic consultation of primary and secondary sources on the practice of golf and on the education and training to perform different occupations related to the practice of golf and on the design, construction and maintenance of golf courses, and an intense search for Information on numerous Internet sites. Field work at the Varadero Golf Club, which made it possible to learn about a golf course and practice sports; The professional performance of the different employees in the positions they occupy was observed, through the application of an observation guide, together with the carrying out of structured interviews with each of the employees to deepen the knowledge of the tasks they carry out and of the competencies for their performance,carried out by the teacher who coordinates the National Golf Course Program.
Second phase, elaboration of curricular designs and programs:
- Formation of the management group for the elaboration of the curricular designs of the professional profiles, integrated by the specialists of the Varadero Golf Club and the Varadero School of Hospitality and Tourism. Integration of the multidisciplinary team, for the didactic elaboration of the component programs academic and labor of each of the professional profiles, which was integrated by professors of the Tourism Training System, university professors, engineers, jurists, economists and researchers, as well as by the director, greenkeeper, commercial, golf teachers and the master caddy of the Varadero Golf Club, under the direction of the professor who coordinates the National Golf Course Program and under the guidance and supervision of the national advisers of the Tourism Training System.
Third phase, approval and training:
- Development of work rounds for the analysis of curricular designs and programs for the academic and labor components. Carrying out improvements in designs and programs, with new work rounds for approval. Training of teachers who will act as coordinators of the National Program of Golf courses in each of the Tourism Training schools, taking into account the theoretical-practical elements of golf and the approved designs and programs. Training of new capacities, which includes the selection and preparation of the cloisters that will take over the training of golf workers in the different territories of the country, where the construction of the new courses is planned.
Fourth phase, implementation, validation and improvement:
- Offer the announcement of the courses for people interested in working on the golf courses. Selection of the participants to the courses according to the entry requirements depending on the selected professional profile. Implement the provisions of the curricular designs, following the structure of the map curricular corresponding to each training profile, through the development of the programs of the academic and labor components. Application of validation instruments for designs and programs. Improvement of designs and programs according to the results obtained from the implementation and validation processes..
Results:
- The work of the management group enabled the elaboration of the curricular designs of the National Program for Golf Courses, for the training of 10 professional golf profiles: Director, greenkeeper, commercial, caddy, master, caddy, starter, marshall, gardener and equipment operator of Golf courses and Proshop clerk and teachers who could reach the GolfPro in the future. Based on the consultation of different sources and the results of observation and surveys, each of the curricular designs for the training of 10 professional golf profiles has the following structure:
I. Characterization of the profession.
- Foundation. Professional problems. General objective.
II. Graduate profile.
- Field of action Professional competences.
III. General academic organization.
- For the academic component for the face-to-face and semi-face-to-face modalities, each of them divided into stages and each stage with its objective. For the labor component by stages.
IV. Completion of studies.
V. Entry requirements.
SAW. Exit requirements.
VII. Methodological guidelines.
- For the academic component for face-to-face and blended modalities. For the work component by stages.
VIII. Evaluation system. In all cases with a well-defined practical component.
XIX. Curricular map. It was prepared for each professional profile, taking into account the face-to-face and blended modalities divided by stages. Since the curricular designs may be implemented as training for new workers or as training for workers who demonstrate deficiencies in their professional skills when executing the performance of their duties.
- The work of the management group also made it possible to prepare a set of tables that guarantee academic organization in the implementation phase. The multidisciplinary team contributed to the preparation of a total of 35 programs for the academic component, which include subjects for each of Professional profiles, both transversal and specific, and 23 programs for the labor component, based on the designs prepared by the management group, following what was stated in the curricular maps. Individual work and group work rounds allowed and the improvement of designs and programs, as well as their approval. The training of teachers in the centers of the Tourism Training System of different provinces of Cuba was developed,which received the basic preparation that will allow them to carry out the implementation of the National Golf Course Program in the different territories of the country where the construction of the new golf courses is planned; The training took place in the classrooms of the School of Hospitality and Tourism and the Varadero Golf Club. (Martínez, 2015). The teachers who will act as coordinators of the National Golf Course Program in each of the Tourism Training schools, were trained in the knowledge of the National Golf Course Program and in the theoretical-practical foundations. from golf; The training was developed through conferences, workshops and practical classes. (Martínez, 2015).In the report on the training of teachers who will act as coordinators of the National Golf Course Program,it is exposed that these received the training documentation in a digital application, which contains the curricular designs of the 10 golf profiles that will be the object of training, the programs of the 35 subjects, the 23 work practice programs organized by profiles, the tables for the teaching implementation, bibliographic consultation materials organized by profiles, as well as the digital presentations of each of the conferences and workshops, which favors the subsequent preparation, the formation of new capacities in the territories and the subsequent implementation. (Martínez, 2015).the 23 work practice programs organized by profiles, the tables for teaching implementation, bibliographic consultation materials organized by profiles, as well as the digital presentations of each of the conferences and workshops, which favors the subsequent preparation, training of new capabilities in the territories and subsequent implementation. (Martínez, 2015).the 23 work practice programs organized by profiles, the tables for teaching implementation, bibliographic consultation materials organized by profiles, as well as the digital presentations of each of the conferences and workshops, which favors the subsequent preparation, training of new capabilities in the territories and subsequent implementation. (Martínez, 2015).
Future projections:
- Conclude the third phase with a set of training actions that will be developed with this team of teachers, which will subsequently generate the training of new skills, which includes the selection and preparation of the cloisters that will assume the training of golf workers in the different territories of the country, where the construction of the new fields is foreseen. Implement the provisions of the curricular designs, following the structure of the curricular map corresponding to each training profile, through the development of the programs of the academic and labor components. of validation instruments for designs and programs. Improvement of designs and programs according to the results obtained from the implementation and validation processes.
Conclusions
- Among the golf projections in Cuba are the proposal for the construction of new golf courses, the creation of joint ventures for the construction of golf courses and real estate, extending the practice to different territories, the courses will be associated with tourist destinations and offers There are various plans to promote the education and training of human resources associated with the practice of golf. Cuban professionals dedicated to training for employment in tourism have prepared professional profile designs, study plans and programs for the academic and for the training of golf course workers, for which reason there is already a National Program for Golf Courses, which includes the training of 10 professional golf profiles.The training of teachers from the centers of the Tourism Training System of different provinces of Cuba, who received the basic preparation that will allow them to carry out the implementation of the National Golf Course Program in the different territories of the country.
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