MINUTES 30 MARCH 2023

1) Last meeting minutes:
The last meeting minutes are distributed. Everyone agrees. There are some comments that it is too lengthy.
2) Circulation of Commission Minutes to members?
It is agreed that they are posted in the website members area.
3 & 5) Suites and New Course update:
SD informs the hotel will be open for business from the 7th of June. One of their big issues is finding staff.
Parking: the hotel has the same rights as everyone in the urbanization as it is an official public throughway, and no one has preferential access. Having said that, hotel would like to rent the area behind the 8th tee from us for parking because by law they must have minimum 25 spaces for guests.
Terrace: working with a designer and looking for the furniture to make members terrace aesthetically nicer and more comfortable with a dedicated bar. Only members area which will be cordoned-off. This is summer solution. The club will have time to figure out for the wintertime.
New Course: Town Hall legal dpt were supposed to have a meeting last Thursday of every
month but this has not happened. Technically this means that by end of May, Town Hall should come back to us with either an agreement or here they have someone interested in taking it
over. However, deadlines are not being met by the town hall and until their legal dpt don’t
have that meeting, nothing can happen. The real problem is that if the club does not have the agreement in place by end of May, plans for renovation works on the New Course would be delayed one more year.

4) Timeline for new trees by Men´s Tee on Hole 11? End of April. Cork trees

6) Auctioning car parking space for charity:

PH suggest rectifying current policy to allow reserved parking places for captains and club championship winners to be auctioned if they are not going to be used. AJ suggests that because they are rarely used, the club championship winners’ spots could be allocated to Vice captains due to the fact that they are going to spend more time at the club helping captains.
Then, options are:
Whether the club championship parking places are still going to be given to the winners? If
not…, are they going to be given to the vice captains? If not, are they going to be auctioned?
SD anticipates that the option for the auction is excluded. About the other two options, SD will think about it and will answer shortly.
PH asks about electric car charges. SD have been looking but finally decided not to put them for several reasons: Crazy price, recharge of more than 10h, a non-vast parking area, no high demand for this service currently.

7) Club Website – Members Area / Results / Calendar/ HCC area / Captains:
DT asks if SD would be happy for a designated member to help with the website members area; Just to update it in a more regular basis with results and so on. SD would agree regarding results, rules, calendar… the rest of the sections such as news, course reports, minutes and so on will continue to be done by the club. LT asks if there would be a possibility to link the APP and the private members website area. AR to check with IT dpt.

8) Proshop / Golf Shop: Queue for members when busy. Staff giving members priority
Due to the increasing number of visitors and players, AS asks if there would be some way to
avoid members from waiting to be served specially Tuesdays, Thursdays and the competition
day at weekends? After some proposals (such as a table outside the shop for score cards “selfservice”, a check-in button in the APP, also a printer for …) it is agreed to continue doing it as usual and monitor the tournament players registration from the proshop… these alternatives mean several cons such as the lack of interaction with proshop staff, those who don’t pay by levy need to go anyway to the shop, the required signature of levy tickets by members, shotgun tournaments and so on.
Although every situation can be different, SD says that proshop staff are aware of the needs of
those in the rota for scoring, results, vouchers and so on… for sure they will attend them as soon as possible.

9) Club Policy for cost and buggies for Interclub matches:

It is clarified that buggies in ACL matches are reciprocal (free of charge). Big fixtures such as La Zagaleta, La Reserva… are also reciprocal. Anything else are friendly matches where visitors need to pay for buggies. Also, any new additions to the current list of interclub matches will also pay green fee and buggies.

10) POP for Three-Balls suggested 4 hrs 15 mins:

While the POP for 4balls has been set, the same way a POP for 3balls should also be
implemented. Proposal is 4hrs 15 mins… After some discussion, it is agreed:
3balls medal play: 4 hours 10 mins.
3balls stableford play: 4 hours.
There will be a trial period in April & May where POP will be monitored, that is, the 2 next
rankings & 2 next medals.

11) Perpetual Trophies for Knock Out Competitions (PH)

PH comments that the club does not have perpetual trophies for all board competitions, only
some of them. AS explains that the overall winners get a trophy at the end of the year and also, they get their names on the board, so the board is effectively the trophy. SD knows some of the clubs have both the trophy and the board, some others no. It is nothing right or wrong, just different ways of doing it. It is finally agreed that the club will do a list of missing perpetual trophies, buy them, and engrave them with history as per boards.
What the club is doing at this moment of time is to present the perpetual trophy to the winner (this trophy is kept at the club in the cabinets); winner is given a rophy/replica for him/her to take away. Names are included in both board and trophy plates.

12) Range Balls:

DT kindly asks that old golf balls are removed and not mixed with the new ones. SD agrees.
PH suggests trying to get free balls from suppliers such as Shrixon… SD explains they don’t give nothing, only a discount when you are spending a X “crazy” amount per year.

13) Referees for important members competitions? Due to problems during CoC

TD reports that she and her partners (4ball) were playing the back 9 at the CoC when DT came
along and asked them to play in 2balls. This fact made Jules Hale and Malene Bjorlow very
upset and they did not present their cards. TD complains that being a board competition, they
should have been given that time and additionally nobody was behind.
DT and PH explains they did as they were doing to do it in 4 hours 45 minutes and as per the
POP rules, they were going to be disqualified.
About referring, SD suggests that a man should not be involved in a woman´s competition and viceversa… so this is also applicable for future.
About the incident, fundamentally in the middle of the tournament, nobody should go and change it. Additionally in terms of PoP, SD thinks that when playing a big final or a board competition, more consideration should be taken.
It is agreed that in the Board Final Competitions of Champion of Champions, Club Championship and final Match Plays, the committee in charge of the competition will have
more consideration and be more flexible regarding the PoP. This needs to be reflected in the Captain´s Book and penalties section.

14) Tue / Thurs Competitions: Refusal of some Past Captains and Members to use the
Club app and Golf Directo! Accusation that processes and requirements have not
been adequately communicated to Members.

It is reported that some members have complained about having to use the APP to enter their scores saying that they pay enough annual fees to the club to have to do it. That day, DT was encouraging members to do it, instead of him who was the person in the rota. This is when this issue happened. After some discussion, all agree that members cannot be forced to do it and it is not compulsory. This is why there must be always a person in the rota to process the scoring.
Another point brought by AS is that the communication to the members about the new regime
to put the scorecards in by the computer or how to enter your scoring has not been good. The
Club will send an explanatory email to the members about this procedure.

15) To introduce a section within the Captains Book dealing with decisions to be made
by PCC should be the Commission be seen not to be impartial.

Being the commission formed by 2 captains, 2 vice captains, HCC Chairman, Past Captain and
Commission Chairman plus Stephen (8 pax), when a proposal comes up by the captain to do something outside the norm and it goes to the commission, this means that the commission
will not be impartial having 4 members of the captaincy team on it. AS is bringing up this
because of the change of the board prize presentation to the Easter Thursday, when this has
been historically on the Drive-In day (one of the biggest events in the calendar). He expresses his discontent. LF explains some members will not be able to attend due to the fact it is not holidays in Gibraltar and they must work… some others do not want to come to two events, so they have to choose one or other.
PH explains he decided it to change because there was a big disconnect between captains’
farewell and drive-in events last year because it was a week before and then he decided to
change it to the last roll up. It also made sense for him to do it on the farewell day to close their captaincy year and then hand over on Saturday for the new team. This would also avoid the lengthy of the drive- in day.
AS thinks some people have not done things in the benefit of the members but for own benefit. SD completely disagrees with this comment. Anyone being Captain or working in a committee is a huge responsibility not just at the club but also in terms of their outside life. SD adds that to suggest someone in the committees or captaincy are doing something for their
own benefit is definitively wrong. Different is that not always we get it right… He understands there are different arguments. But one of the reasons is because the club has also listened to everyone saying last year the drive-in went on forever. At some point, a choice has to be made. And not always everyone like decisions taken. This year the decision has not been popular so this will help to look at how to do it next year.
Going back to the initial point, AS suggests that important matters/decisions should be presented to an independent committee. SD says potentially yes if point 16 is looked at.

16) Reforming and Re-Imagining PCC as modernized sub-committee making a bigger
contribution on Members´ affairs (pre-discussed with Gary and Linda); make this
subcommittee more relevant and review its remit and specific responsibilities –
details of new proposal to follow with PCC input on this. Too many of current PCC
have been on it for far too long and are perceived as being out of touch. Some recent
Past Captains not happy with the current PCC and therefore refuse to join it, unless it
is reformed. New appointments in Feb 2023 have only marginally improved things.
DT and GW are getting guidance from SD on how best to proceed.

GW, DT and LF would like to suggest a review of PCC to make it a more Past Captains and
Members Committee (PCMC):
GW and DT experience of Chairmans of HCC provide how a newly formed committee can
interact successfully with a large proportion of the Clubs departments. Almost daily, there is
communication with the Captains, VC’s, Membership Office, Ramon and the Proshop, Caddy
Masters and not least the Members. Communication with Members has been a vital part of
that process including having multi-lingual capabilities to communicate with Members in their own language. Occasionally, there has been something lost in understanding where Members have been using English as their second language. HCC have met and explained to Members in
their own language certain rules and obligations they need to meet. This has proved very
successful and should be expanded in the future when new HCC members are appointed.
Some ideas of how this can be achieved and how a PCMC would modernise and raise the
profile of this sub-committee:

1 – All the Past Captains should be available to All Members for any help, guidance and yes unfortunately the odd complaint.
2 – A new PCMC should be formed containing a smaller number of Captains plus perhaps 3-4
elected international members. This would have the advantage as above of being able to
communicate to the international members they are representing in their own language.
3 – PCMC would act as a channel for the Membership to ask questions of the Club. These
could be dealt with within PCMC (or assisted by HCC) and if needed escalated to Commission.
4 – PCMC could work with HCC more closely when needed and respond to Members jointly
giving a unified response.
5 – PCMC would have an expanded terms of reference to be agreed
6 – Past Captains – many have been on PCC for a very long time. Until very recently there
were no Past Captains who had served their Captaincy under the New Ownership. This for me
is a significant under-utilisation of resource. They have a vast amount of experience working within the new ownership, which could be tapped into.
7 – Past Captains still offer experience which is still of significant benefit, e.g., Debbie and the Captains Book. These benefits should not be removed but also passed on to maintain continuity.
8 – Past Captains Membership of PCMC. Progress should be made to have Past Captains who
have served their Captaincy under the New Ownership. This may take some time to achieve
but a goal that would be beneficial to the Club which has changed significantly in the last few years. Membership has grown in numbers and nationalities. Brexit has a part to play in how many members can use the facilities at SR and for how long. A new PCMC would have to encompass these changes.
About point 6, DR explains that the first meeting of the PCC was mid-November 2019. The
terms of reference said members would run for 3 years. However due to the pandemic, it was
agreed to extend it to one extra year. This takes them till November 2023 when the PCC will get new members. DR adds that she personally loves to be part of the PCC but not for doing jobs like updating the website members area… AS asks for what the purpose is: SD answers, from what DT and GW, has explained, it can be the sub-committee of the commission where members can come with their ideas, concerns and so on… then these points are put to the commission.
SD explains that comments from some of the Past Captains feel the PCC is irrelevant because
they don’t get asked to do stuff, only one job (the election of the vicecaptain). So, this idea is to get the PCC more involved and to be more relevant, having in mind the many comments of Past Captains complaining about not being involved or asked certain questions. The idea is to improve it to have a PCC relevant as they do have a lot of experience and they have a lot to give.
SD asks DT and GW to come up with detailed information about frequency of meetings,
number of people, general purposes, job description and so on.

17) AOB:

GW reports that one of the issues that HCC has is to get members be federated. Apart from being very useful for the HCC, under the Spanish Golf Federation there is a requirement. GW distributes that circular. It´s decided to send an email to the members informing about this
requirement and try to get more members to be federated in the Spanish Federation.
GW asks if Seasonal members are allowed to play for instance the ranking competitions
(played throughout the year) or the Match plays. It is agreed they are allowed. SD would not
like to think we have to say to new members that they are not allowed to play certain club
competitions. DR suggests that before drawing the match play, captains could publish the
deadlines.
For the PC in the main entrance, GW kindly asks if it is possible to get Microsoft Office license.
SD confirms it will be installed.

18) Thanks to Paul and Tina

SD congratulates both Paul and Tina for their hard work, for their passion and dedication. He thanks him for their initiatives and implement new formats of play. As said, sometimes decisions are popular some other not so much, but the club highly thank you for these two years of full dedication and compromise. 

19) Date for next meeting: Tuesday 4th July 2023