ESPICHE CLUBE DE GOLFE

MEMBERS NEWSLETTER

The Course

The course has been designed by Peter Sauerman from South Africa the par is 72 for both ladies and men and the length is 5862 metres from the men's white tees and 5026 metres from the ladies red tees. For men the course rating is 71.6 and the slope rating 128 and for ladies the course rating is 72.2 with a slope of 125. The grass on Greens is Paspalum. Elsewhere, Bermuda grasses are used.
The course has two starting points, the first and the tenth, and players will be able to use both tees depending of time of day and whether any competitions are in progress.

The land on which the course is built is environmentally sensitive and is classified as an Ecological Reserve. This means that the land is made of a geological structure of a karst rock (Lime Stone) which has a water lens" Aquifer" below it. The covering landscape is of a fragile morphology that has taken years to establish and in its structure stops erosion and helps the percolation of water through its root system to the veniqualer rock passage to the replenishment of the Aquifer below in times of rain fall. This means that Espiche Golf has a special responsibility in the way it carries out its maintenance making sure that it maintains the quality of the Aquifer and its surrounding landscape.

Espiche Golf has a history in environmental research and is a monitored course on an environmental program linked to the University of Algarve and various departments within The Commission Of Coordination of Algarve "C.C.D.R.A". The mixture of grasses ensures a playable sustainable course that is environmentally compatible and enriching to the existing landscape in this Ecological Reserve.

Facilities

At this time there is not a Clubhouse but this is in the planning stage and it is hoped a club house will be available by end of 2012. In the meantime there are temporary facilities to allow players to relax after a game.
There is a practice range with balls available for hire.

Membership

The Club is affiliated to the Portuguese Golf Federation. The process of being accepted by the PGF as a handicapping authority is now in train. Once this has been agreed there will be qualifying events every month included in the twice weekly member competitions. There will be the usual mix of different types of fourball competitions together with medal and stableford games. There will be a mix of entered and drawn competitions but the reservation of specific tee times in any competition will not be allowed apart from requests for early or late starts which will be accommodated as far as possible. To enter a competition, members will need to contact reception and ask for their names to be added to the draw sheet. Members will not be able to enter a number of players apart from husbands and wives, partners and family members. The reception will be fully aware of these conditions. Obviously in entered team competitions one member of the team may enter the names of the other team members.

The Rules for the Members as far competitions conduct etc. are in the process of being agreed by the owners of the club and any amendment to these rules can only be agreed by the Management Committee. These rules will be available to members.

Initially there will need to be a committee to run the competitions and members will be invited to offer their services to work on this committee and others which will need to be formed. The Application Form offers the opportunity to let the club know of your experience and therefore please complete this section as fully as possible. The first elections for committee members will take place at the end of 2012 which will allow the membership numbers to grow and thereby a wider base of candidates. In the meantime Bob Wood who will be the Membership Chairman of the club will Chair an ad hoc committee in order for the members' to have competitions twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Members will have guaranteed tee times from 8.00 a.m. until 9.00 a.m. Outside these times members will need to book tee times through the booking system either online or through reception.

The committee will also arrange social events which, until the clubhouse is completed, will have to be held at an outside venue.

Involvement in the Interclub league will very much depend upon the demand from members to play in this competition and Bob Wood has already spoken to the organizers of the league regarding participation.

Any queries/enquiries should be sent by email to info@espiche-golf.com.

Peter Thornton
Presidente da Direcção
President of the Management Committee