One more revolution - Cubs's first pro golf tournament since the revolution

Golf Digest, Jan, 2000 by Thomas L. Friedman

"I was working as a diving instructor for 11 years," explains Mendez. "I also used to do marathon running and water polo. After they built this course, there was a competition to select people with some physical skills to be trained as golfers. They took a little group, 20 or 25, and about 15 of us finished. They taught us all the basics of the game. I tell friends that golf is not only for millionaires anymore and that in a lot of countries they are trying to open it for regular people. Now I like it too much, so I got rid of all the other sports and I only play golf."

How did his family react?

"With the wife it's a big problem. 'Too much time,' she says, 'too many hours dedicated to the sport,' " sighs Mendez. "She said, 'You are going to leave me because of the golf.' "

Some things about golf never change, no matter what the language or terrain. Indeed, it is striking how much these new Cuban golfers have absorbed, isolated here on this island under American embargo. As we were walking down the fairway at Varadero, one of my other Cuban partners, Yusecct Monzo'n Paz, 27, turned to me out of the blue and blurted out: "Bob Rotella says rhythm is the most important thing and that you should watch David Duval's swing."

"Oh, really," I said, and how in the world did he know about Dr. Bob Rotella? He answered: "I heard about his book,

Golf is Not a Game of Perfection."

OK, so a little got lost in translation, but he got the main points: Rhythm. David Duval. Bob Rotella.

There is plenty of Cuban land for more Varaderos. Due to both poverty and sensitive planning, the Cubans have not paved over or spoiled their environment. On the drive from Havana to Varadero you pass endless stretches of rolling tropical forests, and empty beachfront. With good ecological management, Cuba could preserve its tropical wilderness and still tuck in a Bali Handara here and a Prince Course there.

"Some of the area that is available here for courses just takes your breath away," says Jimmy Burns, the British PGA member, who is the director of golf at Varadero. "You don't need to be an architect to see it, you just need to be a player."

But don't expect the Disneys and Marriotts to be able to move right in when Castro dies and start building courses. First of all, the bearded one is only 73, and he apparently gave up smoking cigars 10 years ago. He could be shooting his age for a while. Moreover, the most likely thing to happen in Cuba after Castro goes is some form of protracted power struggle, with the Cuban exiles in Florida backing one faction and the remaining pro-Castroite Cubans, led by Fidel's brother Raul (who heads Cuba's military) in the other faction. Things could get very messy.

There will also be a tremendous amount of litigation to sort through, as thousands of exiled Cubans seek to recover lost land and property that was expropriated by the Castro regime after 1959. It would be nice if Cuba after Castro could come in for a soft landing, and we should begin working on that right now by ending the U.S. boycott on Cuba, training Cubans and investing in the country. But American policy toward Cuba is effectively designed to prevent that. By insisting that the U.S. will not lift the trade embargo on Cuba--which has been in place since 1962--until Castro is gone, the U.S. is making sure that Castro's Cuba remains poor and backward.