Minutes 9 feb

Minutes 9 feb 2023

PRESENT AT THE MEETING

Present: Stephen Dundas (SD), Paul Holliday (PH), Tina Ducker (TD), Linda Fletcher (LF),
Debbie Richards (DR), Andy Stanford (AS) Gary Ward (GW), Josué Mascuñán (JM),
Ramón Martínez (RM) & Alicia Riquelme (AR).

Remotely: David Tyler (DT)

AS welcomes everyone to the first 2023 commission meeting.

COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES

 

1) Last meeting minutes

The last meeting minutes are distributed. Everyone agrees.

2) Chairman proposes Debbie Richards from the PCC to be appointed to the
Commission due to weighting of Captains and Vices to rest of Commission in
addition to the male female split.
Everyone is happy and Debbie is welcome as new member of the Commission.
3) PCC recommendations for Vice Captains
AS distributes a letter which states the PCC recommendation for the next vice captaincy: This is
Nicky Triay and Duncan Quigley. This is ratified by the Commission. AS will confirm to AR when
the announcement letter to the members can be sent after he has contacted with those who
have not been selected.
4) Suites and New Course Update
Suites
SD informs that in fact this same week he has had a lot of meeting with the hotel team and to
make a long history short, they anticipate it will be open by June. They cannot confirm yet if it
will be fully or partially open. They are creating 150 rooms for a total of 400 people (rooms for
2, for 3 or for 4 people). There will be the existing swimming pool and they will do a small one
for kids so it will become a family friendly hotel. They will also be building a spa and a gym.
These are the last facilities they will build so it may not be ready until October more or less.
They will have their own restaurant which will have a capacity for 80-100 pax. They feel
confident that in 20 days they will have one building ready for people to see. The price will be,
depending on the season, between 200-250 euros per night so they are categorized as 4 stars
or 4-stars plus. The general manager expressed their intention to offer us special deals on
room rates.
New Course
SD informs he had a meeting with the Town Hall two weeks ago to meet with their legal
department. Basically, there are three phases: First phase happened in November when it was
announced to the public by the Major that we had given back the keys technically and this was
approved. The second phase is the legal department. They will have a meeting on the 24th of
February to basically stamp that all is legal. The three phase is for the Town Hall to actively seek another company to take it over and start a bidding process. That may happen in March
and after that, everything is the hands of the Town Hall. We don’t know if this can go for
months or for years. SD thinks it will not take very long because for every month it goes, the
Town Hall is not paid, so this leads us to think they are incentivized to find someone else or to
renegotiate with us which was kind of the point cancelling the contract.
SD says he has been approached by someone who looks very interested in taking it over just
the hotel, not the golf course. They are expertise in hotel industry so their suggestion is that
we can do it jointly. This would be the perfect scenario, not only for the Town Hall because
they get the hotel built, but also for us that we really want to keep the new course. SD expects
to find out something concrete about this matter in September.
AS asks if it is viable another hotel together with the Suites Hotel and the Boarding school
which they are trying to sell. SD thinks they will find it difficult to sell based on the price they
are asking, but this is their business if they want to build here a hotel.
This has made SD think about what our plans will be for the Tony Jacklin House as well. There
is no point for us to build a hotel, so we are looking at a few other different options on that. DT
asks what the other options are for the TJ House however SD prefers not to say anything now
as they are only ideas and until he does not have real numbers, he would not like to commit on
anything but there are two or three ideas, and they are now studying what would be feasible.
SD would like to talk about something that it is not included in the agenda, but it will be
reinforced from today and sent by email to all the members. We are finding more and more
that members are questioning what is in their levies. The main reason is because members ask
staff to put it on their levies and just walk out without signing. Then two months later, the
member says this is not his or someone else used his levy. So, staff has been instructed to ask
members to sign the ticket every time you use your levy. This way we will avoid any complaints
or misunderstandings. As standards, the staff will also ask you to sign first round of drinks,
then if there is a second, staff will ask the ticket to be signed and so on. This is also applicable
for the proshop.
5) 2023/2024 Calendar for approval
AS says this point was discussed in the PCC meeting yesterday regarding certain aspects, one is
the order of play of ladies and men at midweek Tuesdays and Thursday’s competitions. AS
notes that in this calendar ladies will play first in the summer months while men will play first
in the winter months. AS informs that this was not met by the approval of many in PCC due to
the fact previous captains were committed to offering both men and ladies an equitable order
of play throughout the year, so DT and LF are kindly asked to reconsider it. After some
discussion, SD thinks that our current Captains are doing this year could be a bit complicated,
he would suggest doing it per year, i.e., one year ladies first, following year men first. DR
suggests that same option but per month, that is, one month ladies play first, following month
men play first… DT and LF are happy with this option, and this is what finally is agreed for their
captaincy year. SD suggests that this is becoming an annual topic in each change of captaincy,
so SD would suggest implementing for future whatever is agreed today.
It is agreed that alternating months is the best option to try to please and be fair with
everyone.
The same rule applies to Medals and Rankings.
AS asks DT and LF to try please to balance the number of ranking and medals on Saturdays and
Sundays.

6) Tue/Thurs change in administration to Captains and HCC
AS has brought up this point just because he would like to know how it works as he has been
asked by some members about it too.
From the moment someone puts down his/her name through the APP or by email, AS asks
how the process is. PH explains the team doing the rota get all the emails from the proshop,
select the flights, build the lists, then they pass it though to the club to be sent out and then
captains do the results… LF expresses her concern that there may be too many people doing
it… in the women’s section, there are 3: Linda, Nicky and Agi and in the men ́s, another 3:
David, Vice and Gary. RM also adds he has added some folders to have all the information well
organized and distributed in the main computer.
Prize presentation: When the captain nor the vice are available, AS asks who they delegate to
be in charge of the prize presentation as historically it used to be a Past Captain. PH says that
he primordiality delegates in an HCC member and if not available, then a Past Captain. DT
agrees with PH as he thinks a member of the HCC is more likely to be able to solve any
problems of handicaps, any discrepancy with results…
AS thinks that because we are asking to the members to enter their own cards on the APP, the
main computer would not be necessary in that prospect. GW explains that the original plan
was that members would enter from their phones, that there would be a limited version of the
APP that would run on the PC so members would put in their own cards in that computer
directly, with no access to anything else, just the results. The situation now is that a member of
the HCC or captain rota team is entering the cards in the main computer… SD thinks they still
have to deal with the cards and still they need to check all the cards when playing a
tournament. RM says it must be always a person in charge of the cards registration. SD thinks
it must be the marker who should provide the results of the person who is marking and
viceversa.
As a glossary, it is agreed that Ramon sends out an email explaining the members how the
scoring process works and what they should do: This is to encourage as many of the members
as possible to use more GolfDirecto whether going round the course or at the end with the
intention to reduce the time of scores registration. Just sit down for two minutes to enter your
scorecards. Once this is done, member should deliver his card to captains or proshop,
depending on if it is a weekend or midweek competition.
The weekend confirmations are confirmed to be run by the club, so no intention to pass them
to the captains.
Live scores: It is agreed to deactivate live scoring in the competitions as results will be known
before the prize giving. Also, because this does not make sense when for instance it is only one
person in the flight using the APP. When more people use it, then this can be again
reactivated.
7) Ranking / Medals flights – has been 3 balls however there have been 2 balls in the

middle!! – GW explains that this is always due to some late cancellations or non-
shows. So, it has never been a plan to do it.

8) Maintenance of mulch and course definition
Course closed (so far) 15-22 May, 10-17 July and 28-30 August – Is there a problem?
DT thinks there are several mulch areas in the back 9 (specially holes 13 & 14) where
the ball can easily go into the mulch which means a disruption. He thinks anyway greenkeepers have been doing a great job in the last months and it would not mean a
problem as long as it is well-maintained. SD would like to point out that the main time
period that members started to discuss about mulch was Christmas time when we had
8 days of constant rain and we were low of staff as it was Christmas holidays, so this
took more than usual for that to be made better… the worst area is on the 6th
, actually
greenkeeping team are now working in this area, taking all the mulch out, soiling it and
then replenish the mulch to make it a bit firmer… one important thing to remember is
that these areas used to be rough so it is not supposed to be perfect or maintained. In
any case, SD appreciates the point about certain areas definitively needs more
attention than others.
Regarding the definition, SD explains that the plan last week was to spray/paint the
fairways but because of the weather rain forecast is postponed to next week. This will
give a good definition to clearly see what is fairway and what is rough.
About the question of DT that course will be closed for three setting times making a
total of two weeks and two days, SD recalls that last year the course closed for 2
weeks. The reason why this is split into two periods is because underneath there is
organic matter… as a good practise, a 15% of this organic matter should be removed
from the greens in total… this makes sure greens stay firm and drain properly… if we
try to do this in one week, this is not possible; so first closing a 7% will be taken out
and second period a 8%. The one in August is for spraying.
AS says that lately there have been several days of topdressing and so on others and
they wonder if there is a problem with the course. SD confirms there is no problem at
all and that everything is done so as not to have problems in the future; otherwise, we
will have soft areas, huge problems with the greens, weeds, etc… the result of not
doing what we do, would be the new course… many years of neglect maintenance of
the new course.
SD would like to add one point which is not in the agenda and would like to record:
Julian Menashe wrote a 12-page letter which DT and PH looked at, who confirm that
there are no important points, so SD will happily answer Julian as majority is for him to
reply.
DT informs that he has also received a long letter from Julian about the calendar. LF
and DT will review and answer him back.
9) Catering, Wine Selection and closing times.
SD informs that wine testing went very well and there has been a clear decision about
house red, white and rose wines we will use going forward. We have an agreement with
VinoMarket who will provide us with the house wines at least for the remaining of this
year.
About catering, DT thinks there is still a bit of inconsistency related to portion sizes, bizarre
things in breakfasts… SD confesses to being somewhat surprised as most of the feedback
in the last couple of months have been quite positive. DT agrees but still certain things still
happen when they shouldn’t… so SD invites DT not to accept anything he is not happy
with. Otherwise, kitchen will never know if something was wrong. SD strongly
recommends members to send it back if it is not right.
AS thinks bar closes early even with some players still on the course. SD says that as soon
as we have more daylight, opening hours will be incremented by half an hour… about
players on the course, sometimes it is 2/4 people so we are just trying to find the right
balance between a business aspect and service.

10) How is the Pace of Play working?
AS asks if it needs to be adjusted or if we need to give more information. RM says it is only on
two occasions they have had to ask a player to jump a hole. SD confirms it does not happen
very often. DT says the rules should be implemented and we should not relax and control and
monitor the pace of play throughout the year.
AS mention that due to the fact that some markers have been brought back away from the
greens, it ́s been noticed that from the markers to the greens the amount of divots has
increased. SD considers this is a good point and that he will talk to the greenkeeping team.
11) Changes to the Captain ́s Book
AS informs that last week Debbie, David, Gary, Linda and himself had a premeeting to discuss a
number of points and selected 4 points to bring them to the commission ́s attention. The other
ones were just changing of wording.
Disputes: DS explains that the Captain ́s Book says in this respect “All disputes will be referred
to and settled by The Captains, when possible. If further action is required, the dispute can be
passed to the Commission for judgement”. However, they think that any dispute should be
expanded and passed to the HCC, the Commission or the President, depending on the nature
of the dispute. – this change is agreed.
EDC Cards: GW explains that having in mind that the Spanish Federation only allows one extra
day card per month, he has discovered that one particular player have not played any
competition here or anywhere else, but he is putting one EDC per month, almost the first day
of the month to maintain the number of cards in the system., but he has no competition cards.
GW has written to the Spanish Federation who has answered there is nothing we can do about
it. So, to avoid this situation, it is suggested to rule that it is required to submit a minimum of
four official federated worldwide competition rounds in a year. – this addition is agreed.
No shows – letter: the question on this point is who should be doing it, whether initially one of
the captains should talk to them and ask them why they did not show, and if they do it again,
they should receive a letter from the club. DS reads a suggestion for the wording of this letter:
“depending on the circumstances, a no-show may make player liable to this kind of reaction
which would involve a written warning, and should there be further infringement, it could be a
four-weeks suspension” – This no-show ruling is approved.
Captains ́ Newsletter: AS asks on behalf of DT whether it is necessary once a week or it could
be monthly. AS thinks it should stay weekly just to keep people, mainly those who are not here
often, informed; it does not need to be lengthy but just informative. SD agrees, he thinks most
of the people would look forward to it. One of the good comments we usually receive is the
great communication so a two-weeks or monthly newsletter would be considered as a decline
of communication. It is agreed newsletters will remain weekly.
AR asks if next captains ́ newsletters are going to be separate for ladies and for men or just one
for everyone… DT and LF confirm they will be separate.
Accident Book: there is one book at the proshop. DT brought SD ́s attention on this point. AS
asks DS to add it to the Captain ́s Book. LF asks SD if there are staff who have been trained in
first aids. SD confirms that there is at least one person in every department who is trained. LF
thinks it would be good for the captains to know who they are in case of an accident. SD will
send the names and informs there is a defibrillator at the main entrance.

12) Bell on the 11th? – deleted.
13) Brief questions
– Floating Duck House (from a previous meeting): TD explains this was her because we
had all the baby ducks on the 8th and they could be taken out by the foxes and she just
thought it would be a nice gesture.
– Dress Code – shorts shorts!!: AS asks if they are allowed. SD confirms yes, they are
allowed. If we see European ladies, they are all in golfing shorts. DS reads the Dress
code section at the captain’s book:
“All players and guests at The San Roque Golf Club must adhere to the club dress code
when playing both the Old and New Courses.
Trousers – must be tailored, full length and not be made of denim nor tracksuit fabric.
Shorts – must be tailored and of Bermuda length. Socks must be worn with shorts. No
beach shorts.
Men’s shirt – proper golf shirts must be worn.
Ladies’ shirt – proper golf shirts must be worn.
Shoes – must have soft spikes or pimpled soles. Spiked shoes are not permitted
anywhere within the golf resort. No exception will be made for non-removable spikes.
The San Roque Club adopts a more casual approach for members and guests alike in
and around the Clubhouse and Driving Range. However, Football Shirts and Swimwear
are NOT permitted anywhere within the complex”.
SD kindly asks to change the dress code of the shorts above-mentioned to just “golf
shorts”.
– Number of guests per member? In or outside members tee times: AS asks what the
rule is. SD explains that officially the rule is if a member is not playing with the guest,
we charge €140. In his time at the club, he has not done it yet and extended the
members guest rate to the whole group of guests. SD also confirms that if the guests
are playing with the member or just behind him it can be in the members tee times. SD
explains that because there was a lot of talk about the members guest rate, this is the
club compromise to offer the €100 even if a member is bringing more than 3 guests.
TD asks if there is a limit of how many guests a member can bring over the year. AR
says same person no more than 6 times per year. SD says that this is again officially,
but the club is not deliberately controlling it.
– Is the computer for general use by members and Floyd Academy? SD says the club will
absolutely not police at all the use of that computer. If something is not policed, then
there is no point to have a rule. The sign says “Members Only” so if a member is using,
this is fine as long as it is not when captaincy team needs to use it. So, no restrictions
for a member to use it, it is not exclusively for HCC. RM kindly asks them to make sure
they lock it as he has found the computer open in some occasions.
– Acorns on the course: Because in the last couple of months there are acorns all over
the areas, AS kindly asks if maintenance team could take them off. SD explains that
they are collected by November / December / January is the time when they are
accumulated. Last Christmas Ben brought 7 guys to work for him. Now it is when we
start to see a lot of things tidied up and cleaned up. As a standard, they normally do
that; it is just they are catching up a little bit from Christmas period. 

– New Course designs: AS asks, when we get the new course management back, what
are the club ́s intentions in terms of the design? SD explains that a couple of years ago,
we had plans to completely redesign it in the same level we have done on the old
course but financially it is not viable. So, the priority plans are to lifting everything up
on the greens, redoing the greens, filling up a few bunkers, get the fairways in better
conditions, a general tidy up, but the main thing will be the greens. And probably a bit
around the greens as well. Our current green fees on this course goes from 50 to 85€,
after these works, we would go for something around €120 gf. Plans are to close for 6
months from January to July 2024.
– 11am-12am Tuesdays, Thursdays and weekends during July and August: AS would like to confirm which are the months as he thought one of the was June. DS says she understands they are April, July, August and September – These are the correct
months.
A further discussion PCC have had with regards to the extended members tee times,
they would ask whether members could get further extended hours from 11.00 to
12.00 on other months on Tuesdays and Thursdays and then the club could be given
back tee times open for visitors up until 9.00am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday
to try to compensate. This request is in the basis that recently in certain competitions they have had to squeeze and looking ahead at the upcoming busier season. SD
considers this is a big decision so he will think about it and come back with an answer.
14) AOB DT would like to know what the current situation is about stroke indexes. For the federation, we have a stroke index for tees 49 and 56 and a different stroke index for 60 and 63, based on distance and not gender.
GW explains that if you are playing from the 56s or 63s or whatever, the index does not say if it must be a lady or a man playing from those tees, so he personally does not see why we cannot keep the indexes.
However, DT and PH think we should have differentiated stroke indexes for men and for
women. His understanding is that the stroke indexes should be gendered as well as the tees,
but this is not the case since Federation has implemented a unisex stroke index in the tees.
Nothing is firmly confirmed so the club will stick to the current situation.
LF asks if it would be possible for the ladies only in monthly medal competitions, and just for
consistency each month, to play off the rocks. SD says is absolutely fine.
15) Next meetings during 2023 April, July and October
It is agreed to have a meeting before 6

th April that is when Paul and Tina finish their captaincy

on Paul and Tina finish their captaincy.
Agreed date for next meeting is Thursday 30th  March 2023 at 3.30pm

BOOK A TEE TIME

What are you waiting for?

PRIVATE MEMBERS AREA LOGIN