MINUTES 8TH OCTOBER 2019

Attendees: Stephen Dundas, Jon Hale, Elisa Runo, David MacGregor, Liz Griffiths, Frank O ́Hara, Alex Medina, Lidia Muñoz & Alicia Riquelme.

Stephen starts the meeting by welcoming and thanking everyone for attending the meeting.

He starts giving some updates: Craig Hanney from Turfgrass Company is now at the club permanently working on a daily basis. John Clarkin will still be coming on a regular basis. About the tree programme, it looks much cleaner and tidier and from 1st November onwards it will be best ever done. It’s been a very good job.

Permits Old Course: Both Gonzalo and Manuel Piñero are in charge of this. Hopefully we will get the permits by mid-October. Then we will do a press conference to explain:

· More about our ownership.
· Negotiations with the Town Hall
· Plans of how the course and the clubhouse will look like after the works.

Stephen shows a video of how the course will look during the construction works. We will do our own video every couple of weeks and will be sent to the members. Residents must also keep away from the course during the works as it is dangerous.

All the plans are going according to plan. There are now 5 constructors (2 Spanish and 3 international) and it will be next week when the decision will be taken of who is going to be the responsible of these works.

Membership: There are only 5 left till end of October. Then there will be a third lot of 26 memberships again with increased joining fees. We are all happy with the response of this market action. During the upcoming Members Invitational Day, Jon will announce this situation.

Clubhouse: all is going well, and works are going according to plan. It is supposed to be finished by the end of November. However, probably there will be a delay in what equipment is concerned. Stephen shows a presentation how the bar/restaurant will look like.

David asks if members will be moved over from Tony Jacklin house to the main clubhouse once this is ready. Stephen answers that because the works on the course will go from 9th hole to the clubhouse, it will not be nice to have workers and machine in front. But this can be decided nearer the date. David also asks if the proshop will remain there or if there are any plans to move it. Stephen confirms that there are no plans at all to move anything from the proshop. He also adds that New Year ́s Eve party is planned to be organised at the new clubhouse. In case of any inconvenience, plan B will be Tony Jacklin house.

Stephen thinks that in general terms, there are good comments among the membership. As said in his letter sent in August, the works will gradually tip over. In his inspection lap today,
and considering the time spent on the Old Course now, he thinks it is really in good conditions. Robert is doing a great job despite he is working a lot on the New Course, which will be much better than ever seen before from 1st November.

David thinks that there are a lot of pitch markers on the Old Course to which Stephen says that people lazy and disrespectful really annoys him, but unfortunately this happens in every single golf course in the world, being a general society issue.

Frank mentions how important marshalling will be now with everyone on one course. Stephen explains that we are giving special attention to this matter. He thinks this is one of the hardest works, so we will have a marshal who will be monitoring the game. Staff will receive special training about marshalling the course. David thinks that it will help a lot if the marshal informs the players that the game will be marshalled and that there will be an estimated timing to play the course.

Frank adds that there is a general perception that the New Course is a difficult course so thinking in the year ahead, thinks it would be convenient to move forward the society tees to make it more enjoyable and make people feel more attracted by this course. Jon also brings this same point from some members. A possibility would be that the tees would be numbered instead of colours, giving the player the option to choose which tee they want to play from.

F&B: Stephen informs that there is a new member of staff who will control the numbers and finances of this department, so Olivier has been released from these duties. Jon reports some incidents at the restaurant, for instance, of receiving different meal to the one requested. Lidia explains this is related to some problems with the POS (point of sale) system, which is being repaired by our IT Company. Jon also thinks that the presentation of the food is different when Cristina is not on duty. In any case, Frank says that the quality of the food is very good. There are also plans to offer a tasting menu on a Friday per month.

Another point by Jon is that there are comments about Jason Floyd students who are taking putting greens and so on. Stephen says he will inform Jason about it. Jon explains that they are not behaving badly but it is just a matter of protocol.

Golf Academy: This should be ready by 1st of July 2020 and they will use the new course area and putting green until then.

The chipping and the green surrounding bunkers will be synthetic green. This only brings advantages such as no need of maintenance, Robert will not need to cut it and it will be 365 days consistent, apart from looking always clean and tidy.

After all the testing of different types of grasses, the chosen for the Old Course is called Latitude 36. During the first winter, we will be able to see how much dormant this grass is.

There are plans to invite members for a little tour to the Old Course once the works are more advanced (maybe in August) and when cart paths are ready.

There will not be dramatic changes in the layout of the course or shape of the holes, but it will look more aesthetic. Frank thinks that the Taylor Wimpey houses on the tee 2 of the Old course are in line with the drive. Stephen explains that the changes on the course have been considered even to protect the houses, especially hole 1 and hole 3. Following day during the inspection lap, Stephen and the team will go hole by hole to take final decision on each of them and he will consider Frank ́s point about tee 2.

Quadrangular: Firstly, Jon thanks Alicia for the long and great job to manage to put the 4 clubs in agreement and find a suitable date for everyone, which is 28th October. However, the other clubs have showed their concern about the conditions of the Old Course 3 days before closing. So, Stephen has invited them to come to the club for lunch and for an inspection tour on 22nd October. Final decision will be taken this day.

Jon asks for permission if members could dig on 5th green the day of closure of the Old Course (31st October). Afterwards, they will attend Halloween party at the clubhouse.

Following the email sent to the members from outgoing and incoming captains about changes of the calendar, Alicia informs that 100 members have voted for “confirming acceptance” and 10 have voted for “Status Quo is maintained”. So the proposed changes of the calendar are ratified.

About new candidates for the commission, Stephen says that he would like to have new members added to the commission who represent the different profiles of the membership, such as a new member, other different nationality than British… Alicia distributes the names and messages received from those members who have put forward their names to be considered member of the commission.

All present go through a tough selection as all candidates are perfect candidates. However, there are only 3 places available and the members finally selected are: Frank Murray, Joost Blanckaert and Anne Middlehurst. Members of the commission will rotate every three years.

It is also ratified the constitution of a Past Captains Committee which will be a sub-committee to report to the Commission. An email will be sent to the former captains for those who wish to be part if this inaugural committee.

Frank suggests that having had to face such difficult circumstances this year and having showed their great skills, Jon and Elisa stay one year more at the commission. Stephen is happy with that.

NEXT COMMISSION MEETING TUESDAY 12th NOVEMBER 2019 – 3.00pm (after roll up) at TJ HOUSE

La entrada MINUTES 8TH OCTOBER 2019 se publicó primero en San Roque Golf Club.