MINUTES 8 FEBRUARY 2024

1) Agree last meetings minutes.
Minutes of last commission meeting are approved by all.

2)Update on New Course
SD: The short answer is that there is nothing new. The signing date has been extended until 30th March. You have to ask yourself why? They have won the bid, why have they not signed yet? SD will let you draw your own conclusions. At this moment, there is no point in commenting any further.
AS says there are rumors that the new company did not even know what exactly they were bidding for and that at first, they thought they were bidding for the Old Course… AS asks if they are still positively proceeding to what SD answers that he considers that they are in halfway.

3)Position with memberships (such as Platinum) which have New Couse Vouchers on New Course if lost?
SD gives the same answer as above, that is, nothing has been signed, so technically nothing has changed. We will wait till end of March to see what happens. If this would change, then the club will see the best way to compensate those platinum memberships.
AS asks if there is any idea of this compensation would be, since it is a fairly common question among members, mainly platinum members. SD says the club will announce that if and when we have to, and not before.

4)Golf provision for when Old Course closed for maintenance if no New Course (NT).
It is a question of NT however she thinks this point is also irrelevant at this moment. SD agrees. He insists that nothing has changed, so we will keep as normal until further notice.

5)Review of Parking and Bar once Suites Hotel is open fully (AS).
SD explains that about the parking, we do not have any extra land to create more space. All the parking on the side of the exit is public parking so there is nothing we can do there. Having said that, if it becomes a problem, then we will look at it. It is worth noting that we are looking to reduce 20% the number of green fees we have, so this will also help the parking situation.
Regarding the bar situation, AS says it is something it´s been talked about before that there will be an outside bar at the members terrace, which would mean to push members away from the bar area. AS says he not in favour of it; being a prestigious club, members should have also available the main bar facility. Additionally, he says that when there are competitions, staff finds quite difficult to cope with the amount of people ordering… having said this, AS wonders how one person can handle with all these things at the dedicated bar outside… in case the club is increasing the number of people, AS thinks members don’t need then the outside bar.
SD answers that the idea is not at all to push members away but offering members a dedicated bar and a dedicated staff just for members. We are also looking now at some quotations to set better shade… SD says that if members think that we are pushing them away, is a completely wrong thinking, since our intention is just the opposite.
NT suggests that there should be a runner to avoid all the stuff to be crammed at the bar, as it looks terrible.
SD says that we all should have the same message to the members that we are not pushing them away, it is just to offer a more private area for them. There will be a member only terrace area with bar, proper shade, and heating. Also, terrace can be used even with rain. SD anticipates this will be done by May. SD adds that we want to encourage members to use this dedicated area, otherwise there is no point of doing this improvement.
AS concludes this point by saying that we will all see how it goes and works and that Captains and Vicecaptains need to encourage members to use this area.

6)Update on sound proofing in Bar and Restaurant (DT).
SD explains that all soundproofing in the bar has been completed. There not much that can be done in the restaurant due to the large windows. The function rooms will be done next year by the same company that has done this job at the bar.

7)More Tee Time during busy periods (NT).
NT explains ladies have had some problems… in certain occasions, special busy periods, they have been asked to play in fourballs when the captains book says is in 3balls… GW distributes a spreadsheet where it can be gathered that ranking first tee need to be for three hours just as an average, because there are certain occasions (i.e. April, September…) it reflects 4 hours. NT adds that as there are more members, this happens more frequently and that they are struggling to incorporate all the players, but it is very tight.
SD answers that happy to look at it but his position on this is the same as always. If members use all the tee times from 8.00-11.00 or 7.30 -11.00 then no problem to look at it, but when he hears 8.40 is too early to start or it is too cold at this time or too hot at another time, it is frustrating for him.
NT says it is mainly two months (Dec and January) when there are problems due to the fact there is no daylight so early… the rest of the year NT agrees that ranking comp can start earlier than usual with no problems of light. SD says in summertime, first tee time can be at 7.30am.
NT and GW agree that ranking competitions will start from 8.00 in summer and from 8.30 in winter months (Dec and Jan). This will also be changed on the calendar.
Months that members blocked tee times go from 8.00 to 12.00 are April, July, August and September.
NT would also like to suggest asking members to put their names down for ranking competitions before Thursday at 6.00pm. After some debate, it is decided to vote on changing the deadline to register for all competitions at 12:00 the day prior to the tournament. It is approved unanimously. This will be in place from new captaincy (that is, from 31st March 2024)
SD just would like to give a piece of advice to the incoming captains, and it is “stick to the rules, otherwise your life all year round will be hell”.
Following the topic of tournaments matters, RM would like to ask about the payments when shotgun competitions start… as an example, in the last quadrangular, all was prepaid and meant a speedy and smoothy check-in. This prevents members from waiting and queuing. RM asks if members would agree to prepay with levy when checking for a competition whose start is by shotgun. GW thinks it is perfect because it also helps to avoid cancellations or non-shows. LF also thinks that this would make life easier for everyone. MK agrees too and thinks that the payment should be taken automatically from the levy. AS asks if this would work when we have food afterwards. RM thinks there would not be any problems as member would tick “Yes for lunch” and pay for it with the levy as well.
AS suggests informing the membership about this at the beginning of April explaining that when they put down their names for a competition, it will be automatically charged to their levies. There will not be necessary to sign since the club will have a proof that he/she played the competition. AS adds that if someone has no money in the levy, proshop will detect and inform that member when picking the scorecard up. AS thinks this will help.
So, it will be tried at first only at shotguns…RM/AR will talk to APP team to see the possibilities.

8)Comisionclub@sanroqueclub.com bounces back! (GW)
GW thinks it must be that some of the recipients must have a wrong email address in their email address book and this may be the reason why it bounces back. It can also be due to the server. Everyone needs to check they have the correct email address recorded.
9)
Interclubs (GW)
GW says that he had a conversation with SD last week about the increasing number of interclubs members have. As an example, he mentions that member Erhard Heck decided when he wanted to have his interclub and this was in a 9-period with 8 SRC competitions. GW suggests that from an organizational point of view, a member of staff give permission or not and determine when is possible… the fact to have so many competitions affect interclub selections, members have to make a choice. GW does not mean to reduce but manage them and decide the dates. DT explains that Erhard phoned him and explained they cannot do before.
AS remembers this is something previously discussed… in the last two years and specially men´s section, there are too many interclubs and he would encourage incoming captaincy team to work out what interclubs they want to do, that is, to be more selective. RM agrees with AS in reviewing the quality of the interclubs.

10)Mixed Competition Prizes (GW)
AS explains that in certain mixed competitions, it is only men in the leaderboard wining all the prizes. GW was just questioning about it and that finally he thinks that a mixed competition is a mixed competition and winners are a man or a lady. LF thinks that we should leave it as it is in the monthly mixed competitions, however special events like 3 kings, there should be men´s prizes and ladies prizes with such a big field, or to do something similar to what is done in the quadrangular matches.
SD thinks that a mixed is a mixed and that it is obvious average reason that being less ladies playing, there will be less chance of ladies winning.
GW & NT will review 3 kings prizes nearer the date.
AS confirms that it is agreed that whoever wins, wins independently if it is a man or a lady and mixed competitions remain the same.

11)AOB
AS asks GW if there is anything in regard to the HCC. GW confirms JF is now in charge of this committee and wishes him best of luck in his new position. JF explains that he has been asked several times by low handicappers the possibility to include two categories of hcp prizes in all competitions in general, due to the fact that for them it is very difficult to win. AS reminds that these competitions are stableford, in any case since DT is captain, the best gross has been rewarded. AS also considers that to add extra prizes for extra people does not make sense. Additionally, AS reminds that we already do the 2 categories when we have over 40 players. DT informs that it is being considered to go down to 30. No need to vote as everyone agrees to leave it as it is.
Being today the last commission meeting for DT and LF, SD gives them a BIG BIG thank you and all present clap them for their valuable and hard job during their captaincy. AS also thanks them for their captaincy and for having joined the commission meetings over the last year.
GW asks AS about any updates on PCC after all the changes– AS reports that there are no new entries, so they are still a team of five and that they are not doing anything at this moment. An email will be sent after summer again asking again if any past captains want to join them.

12)Next meeting: Tuesday 21 May 2024