My name is Alex Alvarez and thanks to the confidence placed in me by your elected Board of Officers, I recently accepted the position of golf professional at Elk City Country Club... your golf course, and will soon move in to Ek City with my wife Ramona and our caddy Brandie, where I will try to help you with your game (and where I will try to donate as little as possible in your money games)... I know Oklahoma doesn't raise bad golfers and I have to catch up!
A little history on myself and my golf background: I was born in Mexico City while my family had a forwading import-export business in Brownsville, TX. I spent my early years between the United States and Mexico. My father passed on when I was still pretty young, and my mother took over the business, but decided that it was best if my oldest brother ran it and moved all the younger siblings back to Mexico City, where she remarried a few years later... and where everyone in the family took up the game of golf... WITH A BANG!! My mother, "golf fan #1", was of course, a part of "Arnie's Army". I was blessed with four daughters, all of whom make me proud: Mariana, Jan Michael Angela, Paola Marie and Anya Sarai. My whole family is full of golfers; cousins, uncles, inlaws, aunts, brothers, sisters, two of my daughters, and of course, Ramona as well. I attended two colleges, one in Mexico (Anahuac) and one in the USA (Texas A&I, Kingsville). Please don't hold that against me!! I am now an Oklahoma fan and I am not making this up either... two of my daughters graduated from high school in Tulsa, OK (Memorial HS and Jenks HS); the older one of the two, first graduated from Oral Roberts University and afterwards obtained her law degree from the University of Oklahoma. And, while the youngest one is now graduating from the University of Washington, she does not intend to stay in Seattle, so you can say that she made it easy for me to stay a converted "Okie", not only by heart, but now also by residence.
Since there is no professional football team in Oklahoma, I am sure you'll forgive that I am a Dallas Cowboys fan... but I promise I will certainly cheer the "Oklahoma Thunder", and not the Dallas Mavericks.
I first turned professional in Mexico, then moved permanently to the U.S.A. (trust me, something I always wished since being a child), where I started pursuing my PGA of America membership. I was first in El Paso TX, then moved to Gallup NM. This year, as I complete my third or so month in Elk City, OK, I will become a "Quarter Century" Member of the PGA of America, which I will be very happy to celebrate it here in Oklahoma, with you and my wife Ramona.
I have worked in private, semi-private, private and public courses, most recently in Gallup NM (Sun Country PGA Section). And of course, before becoming a professional, I saw golf from your side of the counter, so I know pretty much what you like.... and don't like and will do my best to observe that and learn more. By what I have already seen, I am sure that filling Cory's shoes will be no easy task, but I will do my best.
For now, all I can ask is that if, at any time you do not like something or think something would work better if changed, PLEASE TELL ME; and if you like wat you see, PLEASE TELL EVERYONE ELSE. My (our) only goal will be to make golf fun for you while following the policies of, and trying to achieve the goals set up by your elected Board of Officers.
Thanks for having us and HAPPY GOLFING!!