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 Local Profiles 
El Tigre Director of Golf, Jesus Carmona
a profile by Bob Cohen
| Jesus with lovely wife Mary.
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| LLuvia at 10 months old.
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| Diego at 6 months
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| Diego at 4 months old.
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| LLuvia at 1 month old.
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The first time I met Jesus Carmona was at a post tournament banquet more two years ago for the Nation's Cup at Paradise Village. I had been covering play for the newspapers throughout the tournament and was invited to attend the banquet. This rather short Mexican gentleman came up to me and thanked me for my coverage of the event; that he had been reading the daily updates I had written. Being a writer, I was quite impressed of course and then asked someone, "Who is that guy?"
Six months later I was invited to a press conference and cocktail party at the El Tigre Golf Club to kick off another tournament. I met some dignitaries and then shook hands with Jesus, who bluntly stated in front of a large group, "This is the best f**king sportswriter we have in this town." I was quite impressed, in fact a bit blown away with his compliment. At that point I figured this was a guy to get to know and that I did.
Jesus Carmona is one name that is synonymous with golf in Puerto Vallarta and not because he is a great golf pro, but because his leadership at the popular and challenging El Tigre course is unparalleled. In fact I wouldn't suggest anyone ask him for golf lessons. Jesus, a very dear friend of mine, exemplifies the "mi casa es tu casa" philosophy that one feels when they come out to El Tigre.
Jesus is an avid golf and sports fan, but his background is more in the development and promotion field. He has been with the Paradise Village Group since 1997 where he opened The Jungle night club, the Paradise Village Beach Club and other new projects for the popular Vallarta resort.
In November 2003, with El Tigre managed somewhat unsuccessfully by an outside organization, Jesus was asked to take over the club management until they found somebody else. After six months the position was offered to Jesus for the following year, due to tremendous increases in play, popularity and revenues. He again renegotiated his contract and is a fixture at El Tigre today.
Born in Acapulco, he left for the United States in 1981 and became involved the opening and supervision of many night clubs in the states. Having traveled extensively in the U.S. myself it amazed me at how many venues he was involved with. With his expertise in food and beverage he developed and opened properties in Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Maui, all working for the same company.
Jesus returned to Mexico in 1995 and began to open a successful chain of night clubs in Acapulco, Mexico City, Cancun and Tijuana called Baby Rock. "I was living in Mexico City and working in the corporate office and they wanted to do something in Vallarta as a franchise and we opened one in the Marina. So, I came here and I remember the date, February 6, 1996. I brought my people from Acapulco and Cancun, but as a franchise, the owners never invested the money into the club itself. Not at all happy with their business methods I began to send my people back to Acapulco and Cancun and I was getting ready to move back to the states," Carmona explained.
Jesus continued, "Life works very mysteriously, the owner of PV Net was involved in the ownership of some of the clubs I ran, so he offered me a job to work with him and I started working with him on October 1st of 1996. I was going to put together the marketing and PR office, but in the meantime I wanted to work on the floor as a captain."
"There were some rumors through the grapevine of some mismanagement, so they offered me the position of director of the property, so instead of running the PR office I was hiring people to do that and was general manager of the whole complex. I can tell you that Baby Rock was the worst working experience of my life." He continued, "The Plaza was built wrong, we had no insulation in the summer even with the A/C on and we had waterfalls in the rainy season inside the club."
After that disaster, Jesus was approached by Paradise Village to open the above mention venues. On accepting the opportunity to run El Tigre, Carmona explained, "I have always loved sports and as for being in a professional environment as what the golf course is right now, this was the first time. I had to start learning. What kind of product am I selling, what can I offer you as a wholesaler, a client, and a player."
"I can sit down and talk to you and tell you who designed my golf course, what is the rating of the golf course, I can even tell you right now how many ants I have on the golf course. I learned about fairways, sand traps, phrases I didn't even know four years ago. Now I will sit down with people and talk about golf and they will ask me what is my handicap and when I tell them I play very little, they can't believe it. I love the sport, and it is one of the few sports that you need to be in contact with yourself, no excuses like the crowd, or bad calls by the referee."
Jesus' real loves, other than his lovely wife Mary, who he met while she was on vacation in Vallarta, are the tigers that grace the El Tigre and Paradise Village grounds. Seven and soon to be eight graceful, healthy tigers are kept in their natural habitat, five of them at El Tigre. Recently, I was permitted to meet three of them, up close and personal.
But not as personal as Jesus, who cared for some of the cubs after birth at his house. The big guy there is Khan, a four year old, Nala is 3 ½ and Samantha, who is six years old, is pregnant and is due to give birth in two months. The Carmona household will include yet another cub. The three youngest tigers on the resort property are Lluvia (2 years), Diego (3 years) and Nala (3 ½); all of which Jesus had the opportunity to have as house pets until they outgrew the Carmona home. Diego lived in the house for five months, Lluvia for eight months and Nala for four.
Growing up in Acapulco, Jesus was raised by three ladies, my mother, my aunt and my grandmother. "I come from a very low income family. One thing that I can say and I always say it is my love for life. I love life like you have no idea. I had a little discussion with God after some personal tragedies that every single day, I wake up in the morning and say thank you God for everything that you have given me. I reviewed my life and when I have the pleasure to sit down and talk to you right now Bob, in this office, working for this company, and when this kid was 14 years old he was washing dishes in a restaurant and now I'm the director of one of the top ten golf courses in Latin America, that is very special for me."
"I don't think that's my biggest accomplishment, because my biggest accomplishment is not here yet. I would like to do more things. I would never have thought that I would be sleeping with a Bengal tiger, never thought that I would be scuba diving seeing and listening to the whales. I like to do things that many people do not do and I push it and push it. I'm lucky enough that I now have a wonderful wife and we talk and I tell her that she must love me because I'm the ugliest son of a bitch in the world; you're gorgeous, and once again when I step out of my house, once again I say, God, thank you."
As for working with the Paradise Village Group, Carmona continued, "First of all it comes from the head. Look at the owner; look at the owner's kids. The most important thing is that when they sit down and talk to you is what you respect in life, that people can look you straight in the eye and tell you the truth."
"I love the people I work with, I get along with everybody, and some of the people that work here have been here before I even arrived. They see the progress with the company and have the opportunity to grow and have the opportunity for promotion from within. Here I have a chance to do more and they believe in me and give me trust. Once again, the main thing comes from the head, the arms, and the directors of the company. One thing about this company is that they let you work, they let you loose, and if you produce based on the expectations they have they are going to keep letting you work."
Under the leadership of Carmona, the El Tigre Golf Club and course has been home to many international, national and local tournaments. The Nation's Cup, which spent its last four years at El Tigre, has had 15-20 countries battling for one of the top three spots to earn a berth in the prestigious World Cup.
In May of 2007 the Canadian Open, with a purse of $150,000 USD has been landed by Jesus and the leadership team at Paradise Village. "On October 18th of this year we will have a tournament with Mr. Gaines Barnes who is part of the Tiger Woods Foundation," states Carmona. El Tigre and Jesus look at the overall scope of hosting large events; the promotion of Vallarta as a tourist and golf destination, but also the many mouths that can be fed due to the increased revenues coming in from these events. "Also we will host the Copa Vallarta on November 3rd, to be played here and one at Vista Vallarta. A recent tournament held for the American School actually had proceeds go to kids in El Pitillal with brain paralysis."
Knowing Jesus, helping those that are less fortunate is a highlight of his work as well as his free time. He goes to the orphanage regularly and brings food and clothes. He works regularly with charitable organizations, such as Make a Wish, Children of the Dump, never forgetting where he came from. The spiritual axiom that helping somebody without any expectation of return is paramount in his philosophy of life.
Jesus told me a little story of a 12 year old boy with his mom that had a stomach ache and asked if he could help. He drove them back to the resort, but stopped at home first, asking if they minded if he picked up his son. Jesus came out with a tiger and the child's eyes popped out, the pain gone. The kid played with little Diego the whole way back to the resort.
Later that night at a gala dinner for Christopher Reeves, the mom called Jesus over and asked if he knew who she was. Jesus said no, and she brought him over to meet Mr. Reeves, her husband who knew about his son's experience with Diego. Jesus was shaking when he touched Reeves hand, so honored he was speechless. Knowing Jesus Carmona that might be the only time one might find him speechless. If you don't know Jesus, meet him; if you miss out it's your loss. I'm lucky enough to have him as a friend. |
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