Salvador “Pocholo” Zeinsteger: the 76-year-old golf teacher who teaches celebrities and dared to criticize Carlos Menem’s swing

CARILÓ (Special envoy).- At 76, Salvador Zeinsteger is still passionate about golf. “Pocholo”, as he was called as a boy, learned about the sport when he was only 10 and began to practice it with improvised sticks at the school gate. in his youth became a professional player and as such he defeated great exponents, among them his friend Vicente “El Chino” Fernández, a milestone that he remembers today with great joy and humility. However, it was over the years that He discovered his vocation for teaching and turned fully to it.

During the year in San Isidro and during the season in Cariló, he trained all kinds of personalities over the last four decades: from professional golfers like Robert De Vincenzo and Luis “Piri” Carbonetti to soccer players like Marcelo “El Cello” Delgado. Also numerous actors and even prominent politicians such as Carlos Ruckauf and Carlos Menem, whose game he dared to criticize to the surprise of the former president.

Like every summer, “Pocholo” enjoys a chat with friends at the Cariló Golf Club when THE NATION comes to meet him. “We can talk all afternoon, if you want”, he says with a smile drawn on his face at the beginning of the talk. Next, a review of his career and his best anecdotes.

-How did your passion for golf begin?

In Buenos Aires. I was born on April 26, 1945 in Santa Fe, but because of my father’s job, who was an auctioneer, we came here. When I was a boy, About 10 years old, we started playing golf with my classmates from school. We bent the light pipes that at that time they were just putting on La Horqueta, where I live now, and we played with the coquitos of the pines in front of the school. When time passed, we couldn’t do it anymore and we decided to become caddies, carrying clubs at the San Isidro Golf Club.

-Why the decision to be a caddy?

At that time it was a necessary evilIt was the way to play. What was happening? Caddies were allowed one game day a week: Mondays. There was also an internal competition: the caddy tournament. Over time I was able to play it and I win. Little by little, we formed a circle of friendship between all of us and also we began to associate with experienced players. We accompanied them, we marked where the ball landed and when we were ready we began to recommend what sticks to shoot with. That’s how we were learning.

-And how did you become a player?

After winning the caddy championship a vacancy was opened after a professional, the late Osvaldo Manzini, went to work in Peru. The club president wanted to put a friend of his, but I was a friend of the team captain. I remember that he said: “No, this is on merit” and because of my background he put me as starter and aspiring professional. That’s where my career began.

How has your career developed since then?

From there, They helped me with collections to be able to go play in the interior of the country And I started competing. for those years I became a close friend of Vicente “El Chino” Fernández, one of the best Argentine professionals, whom I later had the luck to beat in Corrientes. So I’m from Santa Fe, but I’m a Corrientes champion. We forged friendships with him when we played interclub caddies. He was from Hindu Club Golf, so sometimes we played there and other times in San Isidro.

In any case, it was not easy to start competing, because to play my first championships with the club I needed to be a member of the Association of Golf Professionals. And the truth is that I was lucky, because the people of San Isidro helped me a lot. It is important to say this because I believe that in life you have to be grateful. I think that the person who is not, is useless. Thanks to the support of the club, I took the exam in 1970. I had to wait eight years from 1962, when I started as an applicant. They didn’t make you a member just like that, you had to demonstrate and play, like in any profession. I did the test with Juan Carlos Cabrera, the disciple of Roberto De Vicenzo, another great friend of mine, and we passed.

What were your greatest achievements as a professional?

In 1972, when I beat “Chino” in Corrientes for the national tournament. It was after the inauguration of the field of the province. I had a friend who was the owner of the Tipoití, the most important yarn factory in Argentina. His name was Eduardo Seferian and he was the most eligible bachelor in the country. He was the one who took me to Corrientes, where I got that important victory. In the following years I continued to compete quite well, always evenly matched, and always in Argentina. The “Chinese” wanted to take me abroad, but I never wanted to go abroad. I am very Argentine. And over the years I began to turn to the teaching side. With the boys I remember that I won the La Nación tournament in the early 1980s.

-And how did the turn between the professional and the golf teacher take place?

They proposed to me while I was still competing and I accepted to try. I liked. Every time I started giving more classes and 1978 or 1979, when they brought me to Pinamar because a teacher was needed for the season, I began to dedicate myself fully to teaching. Carlos Guerrero hired me here, who was the previous owner of the courses, which already had the name of Cariló Golf Club. teach for me it was kind of intuitive. Not only did I like it, but I had a knack for it. So so it is I have three national champions here. one was Miguel Angel Prado. Then a girl Mary Martha Abramoff, who gave me the gold medal, a gesture that not everyone has. and the third was Angel Ruben Monguzzi.

-What distinguishes you as a teacher?

I think the fact that I like teaching classes so much. Also what I learned from my teacher, the Uruguayan Rodolfo Sereda, who taught me practically everything. It was the most beautiful swing in South America, his style was unique and I didn’t copy it, but rather learned from it. When teaching I think the most important thing is to know how to transmit the sensation. Golf is sensation and it is necessary to know how to transfer that movement and that style. And in turn, being a teacher allowed me to meet a lot of good people and that’s important. I believe that if a person is not good, he is useless; I have that concept. The sun rises for everyone, but more so for good people.

-And throughout your years as a teacher, which personalities did you have the opportunity to train?

To many. The main one was the golfer Robert De Vincenzo, with whom we became very close friends. He came to play the championships in San Isidro and I told him: “Why do you call me, Roberto? They are the first professionals of the club”. And he answered me: “I want you to look at me, because you know a lot”. Don’t ask me why, I never knew. We became very good friends with him, we talked on the phone every Friday. We had a relationship until the day he died. I remember that as a teacher I always told him: “Roberto, take the stick out straight, that’s how you bring it straight”, because for me the swing has to be like the person: right.

But I also taught many, such as actors Martin Seefeld, a Gaston Sofriti already Peter Lanzani when they were kids, to the musician Cesar “Banana” Pueyrredon, to the golfer Luis “Piri” Carbonetti and the footballer “Cello” Delgado, who plays tournaments at the national level and asks me: “When are you coming to play with me?” I always tell him: “When the toads grow a tail! Because I don’t play anymore, I only teach”. I was also with Orlando Marconi and Silvio soldan on television in the ’80s. He had a segment where gave classes. We were throwing on a carpet.

Did you teach politicians?

Clear. Among others, to Charles Ruckauf already Carlos Menem. Menem came to play in San Isidro with Jorge De Luca, who was his teacher and to whom I had given classes as a boy. I remember that one day Menem saw that I was watching him and confronted me. Told me: “What’s wrong teacher, you don’t like my swing?”. And I was honest: “It is awful”, I replied. Was surprised. He he was president at that time. “What do you want, lie to you? I don’t know how to lie”, I explained and gave him some advice. I told him: “Look, doctor, what you have to do is shorten the swing, nothing more. Make it shorter and that’s the solution. Tell that to Jorge and tell him that I told him.” So it did and it got better. I remember him as a simple, friendly and athletic guy.

-How do you live your present?

Today I enjoy teaching, because it is my vocation, and also that of my friends. My greatest harvest is that I am like Roberto Carlos, I have a million friends. And that is not bought. I also have a radio program here on 104.3, which I’ve been doing since 1990. It’s a golf cycle where the latest results are broadcast and then we do the international and local review.

-Finally, what can you say about current golf in Argentina?

I see it well, what happens is that the situation is very difficult. Golf is no longer for everyone as it used to be. It became an elite sport. Not because clubs are so expensive, nor is teaching. In fact, I am one of the few who have maintained the rate since last year. But you have the right of course and now there are no more caddies, which previously allowed you an approach to sport. There are, but they are few, because the Golf Association imposed the cart, as in the United States. So people take the cart and save the caddy. But the caddy will never die, because it is necessary. If not, watch the championships.