men with 35 and 34.

But it was quickly back to the Dusit for a change into the New Year Party gear. The theme this year was Palace Magic and boy did the Greencarders push to boat out. John Ward came as the Wizard from Harry Potter and Gary Corbett was Harry Potter. Reuben Fielding was the court Jester and Anthony Trafford was Father Christmas. Sally was an excellent Fairy Godmother and Paulette and Tashay were match-ing Minnie Mice! The costumes were fabulous if a trifle over dressed for the climate.

After an excellent cocktail in the lobby we adjourned to the gar-dens for the party and as usual the show was superb. Victor, our lisping host, prattled on a bit too long whilst our pantomime cast were getting hot under the collar, but when eventually the judges declared the results they were never in doubt. Greencard were first, second and third in the adults and Tashay and Mimi were first and second in the kids sec-

For the past 5 years we have spent New Year at the Dusit Thani in Hua Hin, Thailand. Num-bers have gradually been dwin-dling and this year we were just 20 stalwarts for the event. Obvi-ously some of this is a sign of the times but also I think people are looking for a change of venue. It is a shame as I honestly believe that there is nowhere better to spend the New Year than in Hua Hin. The weather is perfect, golf courses are great, the hotel staff is superb and the Party itself is acknowledged to be the best in Thailand.

But sometimes change must happen simply for change’s sake and so reluctantly we will be look-ing for another venue in 2012.

Nevertheless, in spite of the small field this was still an excel-lent trip. Old friends reunited and there was an excellent spirit. We all assembled over the course of 3 days with a Welcome Cocktail on each night and then it was time for golf.

As usual we started at Banyan with an Am Am. Last year Alan Baxter’s team won with 117 and were 29 shots clear of the field.

This year Chris Spencer-Phillips team of Peter and Gung Barring-ton and Reuben Fielding won with 117 but they were only 3 shots better than the next team. As you can see Peter has married his girlfriend Gung in December and they are now a fearsome team on the course. Gung, meaning Shrimp, used to be a caddy and has taken to golf like a shrimp to water so to speak. Her handicap has come down in the space of a few short months from 36 to 27.

Some would say that wasn’t fast enough but in the first round of the competition she did nothing spectacular with just 30 points at the immaculate Black Mountain course. Paul Kaye played beauti-fully for 36 and Chris Spencer-Phillips continued in good form with 34 alongside Gary Corbett. Simon Fisher making his Green-card comeback after 12 years in the wilderness shot 33.

On New Year’s Eve though at Springfield, Gung’s home course, it was Girls on Top as she and Sally Ward top scored with 39 and 37. Anthony Trafford and Reuben Fielding being the top

Bill Coupe, Brain Haynes, Su Mawhinney & Dave Simpson in Turkey

SALLY DEVOURS A SHRIMP

C o n t e n t s

New Year Cont 2

River Kwai 3

Henney in Hanoi 4,5

Looking Forward to 2013

9

Birthday Blues 10

Grand Finals Quinta do Lago

10

When Will I See You Again

8

A Tale of Two Cities

6,7

G r e e n c a r d G o l f H o l i d a y s 3 P a g e s Y a r d , C h u r c h S t r e e t , L o n d o n W 4 2 P A T e l : 0 1 2 4 9 8 2 1 5 0 9 Golfer

M a r c h 2 0 1 2 V o l u m e 1 , I s s u e 4

In Th is Issue

Thai New Year

River Kwai

North Vietnam

Chile & Argen-

tina

What’s Happen-

ing in the Rest

of 2012

Looking for-

ward to 2013

“The Birthday-

Grand Finals”

The

Thailand New Year Results—Full

Lyndsey & Traff, John & Sally with Reuben & Gary at the New Year’s Eve Party

1 WARD SALLY 25 37 42 40 144 2 BARRINGTON GUNG 30 39 31 41 141 3 KAYE PAUL 36 33 36 34 139 4 GILLAM NEIL 31 33 37 32 133 5 BARRINGTON PETER 31 32 30 34 127 6 TRAFFORD ANTHONY 31 35 28 33 127 7 CORBETT GARY 34 32 30 30 126 8 GENTLE GERRY 26 33 31 35 125 9 SPENCER-PHILLIPS CHR 34 30 24 33 121

10 FIELDING REUBEN 30 34 24 32 120 11 WARD JOHN 28 27 25 31 111 12 KOLP EDITH 21 29 27 32 109 13 PEIFER LEN 27 30 30 22 109 14 FIELDING GWYNNETH 19 28 24 34 105 15 WALTERS STUART 19 28 29 27 103 16 BLACKBURN CHRISTINA 23 28 20 31 102 17 FISHER SIMON 33 23 24 22 102 18 CORBETT JEAN 26 26 21 28 101 19 LYNAM MARY 23 26 26 26 101 20 BACH KIKI 25 31 20 22 98

P a g e 2

“Eight

early

qualifiers

for the

Finals

with

some

familiar

names

already.”

Paul Kaye, Sally Ward, Gung Bar-rington and Neil Gillam

tion. The fireworks were superb and the dancing carried on until 2am. Greencarders mostly awoke with stinking hangovers which is de rigeur for a good party.

After a day of recovery on the beach we went to Sea Pines, the new kid on the block here in Hua Hin. Set right on the beach it is a lovely addition to the area. Easy to walk and not too hard with some sensational views along the coast it was an immediate hit. But this time Sally showed why playing her golf at Lytham pays off at the sea-side with a terrific 42 points. Neil Gillam’s 37 was also excellent but

Paul maintained his lead overall with 36. Gung slipped back with 31.

So with just one round to go at Springfield Paul led sally by one, with Neil and Gung 3 and 4 fur-ther back.

But being at Springfield was surely going to give Gung a chance. She took it with both hands and played beautifully for 42 points and would surely have won but for the fact that Sally has a gritty determination be-neath that smiling exterior and she finished with 40 to hang onto her lead. Gerry Gentle’s 35

River Kwai Results—Stableford

was best man on the day and Pe-ter, Gwyneth and Paul all shot 34s which was enough to keep Paul in 3rd place and Neil in 4th.

It was a lovely trip, but regulars said that maybe the Party wasn’t as good as previous years and that Hua Hin was changing and both were probably true. But nowhere stands still and with Thailand’s phenomenal growth rate towns change rapidly. Nowhere more so than Hua Hin, but the little town centre is just the same. The Night Market and restaurants are all still there and there are enough bars and clubs to keep the young enter-tained.

In looking to 2013 we have consid-ered Florida, Qatar and Dubai but when push comes to shove at this time of year nowhere comes close to Thailand. The weather is su-perb, the beaches are great and the food fabulous. Not to mention the golf courses. So a change from Hua Hin but stay in Thailand.

Three Nights at the Meridien in Chiang Rai playing a couple of games at the magnificent San-tiburi course. A quck drive down the road to Chiang Mai for a four night stay at The Chedi playing Royal Chiang Mai and CM High-lands. Then fly non stop to Phuket for 7 nights at Naithonburi on a quite beach in the North of Phuket playing Blue Canyon and Laguna courses. It doesn’t get much bet-ter than that.

THE RACE TO THE ALGARVE AFTER CHILE

Gung Barrington 23 22 Springfield Geoffrey Henney 4 18 Aldeburgh Peter Barrington 16 14 Springfield Paul Kaye 6 13 Brough

Gerald Gentle 14 11 John O'Gaunt John O'Keeffe 13 10 The Wisley Sally Ward 19 10 Royal Lytham John Delaney 6 9 Paul Holyhead 13 9 Nelson

Neil Gillam 10 7 Wentworth

Chris Hinvest 9 7 Woburn Barclay Forrest 14 6 Muirfield

Elspeth Baxter 23 5 Mere

Anthony Trafford 14 5 Eaton Gary Corbett 8 4 Mere Maia Fontana Bertran 18 4 Santa Maria

Godfrey Horsford 12 3 St Ives Alan J Baxter 6 2 Mere

Barry Birdsall 14 2 Woburn Chris Spencer-Phillips 6 2 Rye Anne Archer 10 1 Ipswich Reuben Fielding 11 1 Davenport Jane Twigden 19 1 Woburn

Martin Fell 4 13 Copt Heath

June Gauke 18 1 Torksey

Christine Richardson 22 7 Celtic Manor 2010

Tony Ralton 4 9 Hesketh Fiona Rickard 12 8 Wentworth

Hugh Goldstein 18 6 Torksey

Trish Whelan 23 5 Santa Maria

Sharon Fell 25 3 Redditch

John Rushton 8 2 Tytherington

1 O'KEEFFE JOHN 34 37 35 35 141

2 DELANEY JOHN 31 37 34 38 140

3 HENNEY GEOFF 27 38 40 35 140

4 HINVEST CHRIS 30 41 32 34 137

5 BARRINGTON GUNG 32 32 31 41 136

6 KAYE PAUL 30 37 30 33 130

7 GENTLE GERRY 28 35 32 34 129

8 HORSFORD GODFREY 26 37 35 31 129

9 BIRDSALL BARRY 32 31 32 32 127

10 TWIGDEN JANE 35 29 31 31 126

11 TWIGDEN PAUL 26 32 31 36 125

12 MCKEOWN GEOFF 29 34 31 31 125

13 MCGARVA NEIL 27 31 33 33 124

14 BIRDSALL KATHLEEN 33 29 28 32 122

15 ARCHER ANNE 29 38 24 31 122

16 GARRINGTON RUSS 28 27 38 29 122

17 MAWHINNEY SUE 27 33 25 36 121

18 BARRINGTON PETER 31 29 25 36 121 19 O'KEEFFE JEANNIE 26 32 33 29 120

20 HOLYHEAD PAUL 30 33 30 27 120

.

JOHN HEEDS HIS INNER CADDY knots in a plume of spray. First we went under the Bridge and then on down to the Chungkai War Cemetery which was built on the site of one of the POW hospitals; 1,100 graves of young British soldiers and 340 Dutch home guards. The average age was about 24 amongst the soldiers. The inscriptions were poignant and no one left without a little tear.

From there we went down to Hellfire Pass to see one of the cuttings that were chis-elled through the granite mountains be-fore going back upriver to the Kwai Mu-seum; a little replica of a POW camp with photos and paintings from the camps, many by Ronald Searle. Finally we had a stroll across the Bridge and many stopped for a bite of lunch on a floating restaurant in sight of it. It’s sometimes hard to think that these things were happening just 70 years ago. It was enough to make one cancel that Lexus.

Kanchanaburi is better know for its pre-cious stones than its golf courses, but Blue Sapphire has a very challenging Canyon course and an almost unplayable Ocean course. Luckily we were on the Canyon and hugely enjoyable it was too. In blistering heat in the disused mine Paul Twigden once again led his team to victory with Jackie Phillips, Gung Barrington and Godfrey Horsford. It was a long day and although the area has become a little more lively of late it was definitely time for the beach.

We had a good field at Hua Hin for the main competition with 51 competitors. Banyan was the venue for the first round and as ever it was in great shape. They set the course up nicely for us with a mix of Blue and White Tees to slightly soften the tougher driving holes but it was two girls who led the way with Jane Twigden on 35 and Norma Stevens on 34 along-side John O’Keeffe with Kathy Birdsall and Gung Barrington just behind. Four girls in the top five and tongues were already wagging.

Next up was Sea Pines. In the previous event we played it off the Blue tees and generally the scoring was poor. This time we went off the whites and people gener-ally enjoyed the course. None more so than Chris Hinvest who shot 41, three better than Anne Archer and Geoff Hen-ney. Half the field scored 30+ and so all were in a good mood going home.

So at halfway Chris and John O’Keeffe were tied 3 ahead of John Delaney with Anne Archer and Paul Kaye one further back. But Black Mountain is a real chal-lenge and usually sorts the men from the boys. In this case the Man was Geoff Hen-ney with 40 and Russ Garrington just be-hind on 38. Frank Ryan showed that you

Too often over the last few years John O’Keeffe has played himself into con-tention only to let the demons of the mind get to him over the final stretch. This is doubly embarrassing as John has come up with the concept of the Inner Caddy and translated it into a coaching manual with the help of Den-nis Pugh. The theory being that golfers spend most of their time secretly chas-tising themselves, whereas the “Inner Caddy” will talk to them in a much more positive manner.

His catchphrase – Spiral Up or Spiral Down – is very much a case in point. Do we let a bad shot bring down the castle we were patiently building or do we manage to see it as a little bit of loose mortar that can easily be re-paired. All the more galling then that his wife Jeannie has a cabinet full of trophies.

But after our tour of Thailand that took us from the banks of the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok to the Bridge on the River Kwai and back to the beaches of Hua Hin John has his own Greencard trophy to put on the shelf.

We started at the Dusit Thani, Bang-kok. As we were all in Club Rooms the trip got off to a flying start with two exceedingly generous cocktails in the Club Lounge. The floods had long since subsided before we set off on a long tail boat around the klongs taking us through the back water alleys before finishing at the Royal Temple and Pal-ace. For those who have never seen the temple before it was quite an amazing example of Thai craftsman-ship. For those who have, the memory of getting on and off the boats on the choppy river will probably be foremost in their minds. But it was a fun way of getting acclimatised and prepared us for the trip up to Suwan, a Thai Open venue, for our first game of golf.

On lightning fast greens and surrounded by an abundance of water this course is a must play for anyone in the Bangkok area. Geoff Henney led his team of Audrey Oc-ton, Sandra Garrington and Simon Klimcke to victory with just 101 points, 6 better than their nearest rivals but 7 over par: Testament to the difficulty of the course.

Before setting off for the 2 hr journey to Kanchanburi and the River Kwai I decided it would be better to have a late lunch at the club washed down with plenty of beer before Beri Beri set in. Having despatched the luggage by separate truck in the morn-ing from Bangkok I was a little perturbed to find it hadn’t arrived by 7pm but I needn’t have worried it was just a typical man too proud to wind down the window and ask for directions.

The Dheva Mantra is a new hotel right on the banks of the river Kwai, although only 4 star it does have 5 star facilities. It pro-vided a perfect base for our 4 days up country. Our first course was Evergreen Hills. This delightful little club is a well kept secret and although not nearly as intimidating as Suwan the scoring was still low. Paul Twigden was the winning captain with Tessa Forrest, Peter Barrington and Anne Tilbury on 102.

But the point of visiting the River Kwai is to see a little bit of history. To those of us whose fathers fought in WW2 the story of the building of the Burma Railway by the Japanese in 1943 using forced labour and POW’s in quite inhuman conditions is etched in our memories, and although movies such as David Lean’s Bridge on the River Kwai and David Bowie’s Merry Christ-mas Mr Lawrence can portray quite vividly the cruelty, it is only by actually visiting the place that one can really imagine the suf-fering.

And so I assembled seven brightly painted longtail boats with their massive V8 en-gines and we sped off down the river at 30

P a g e P a g e 3

Cont Page 8 …….

Geoff Henney, Gung Barrington, John O’Keeffe and Chris Hinvest

P a g e 4

“ It was

only a small

shunt but

our guide

jumped out

and

explained

to me with

a perfectly

straight

face that

the truck

had

“backed

into us”!”

Gung, Geoff, Paul and Peter before the final round at Mont-gomerie Links

HENNEY IN HANOI

Hanoi on our arrival was, as antici-pated, shrouded in a dull, dank mist. Low cloud hung over the city and the temperature refused to climb to 20C. The “City between the Rivers” which sparkles in the sunshine with its many lakes took on a drab appear-ance.

We were forewarned that Hanoi doesn’t see much sunshine in the winter but we hadn’t realised that the headline temperatures actually feel much colder. Hanoi’s people huddled round pavement fires eating noodle soup, wearing overcoats and generally looking miserable. But they were overdoing the gloom. The Old Quarter of the city is still a fasci-nating blend of modern shops and old fashioned retailers with a stack ‘em high and dust ‘em off approach. The art of display hasn’t yet arrived.

But from the Sofitel Metropole, our refuge with more than a nod to for-mer decadence, we made our sorties to see Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and the War Museum. We did our shopping and hoped that tomorrow would be a bit brighter. Well it was-n’t and as we made our way slowly through the drab countryside on our way to Tam Dao Golf Club we watched the farmers bending their backs in the chilly rice paddies.

Unsurprisingly in these conditions the grass is dormant and so we were more than a little disappointed to find the course looking rather scruffy. But we were playing golf again and the conditions looked far worse than they were. The course is nestled in a valley in the foothills of the moun-tains that separate Vietnam from China and on a sunny day is truly spectacular. Unfortunately they had

to take my word for it. But Anne Archer captained the winning Am Am team of Peter Barrington, Rosemary Limb and Nick Wigzell to a good two point victory over Alan Baxter’s team.

We had another day of shopping and sightseeing in Hanoi with many going to play golf at King Island before we went to the top club in Hanoi; Van Tri. This is a modern American style course and is very exclusive and even though the conditions remained unchanged it was in superb condi-tion. Water comes into play on al-most every hole and from the blue tees some of the carries to just reach the fairways were too long for many. But once again Anne Archer and Peter B teamed up and together with Norma Stevens and Simon Klimcke they won the event by 5 shots.

It was a fun day but by then we had seen enough of Hanoi and we were ready for the drive to the coast and Halong Bay. It took just over 3 hours and on the way our driver ran into the back of a truck he had been try-

ing to overtake. It was only a small shunt but our guide jumped out and explained to me with a perfectly straight face that the truck had “backed into us”. It was a stagger-ing distortion of the truth that led me to question his conviction that “Uncle Ho” was a genius who saved Vietnam from the perils of liberal democracy.

The Paradise Cruisers were way above the expectations of the group. We checked into our nicely appointed cabins and were soon underway, nosing out of the har-bour into the World Heritage site. The limestone karsts soared out of the sea in what the locals call the Bay of Descending Dragons. The misty conditions actually enhanced the experience. After a superb on board lunch we drifted noiselessly through the little islets until we reached the famous caves. We climbed 120 steps to the entrance and even the most inveterate trav-ellers confessed that they were impressed. The three enormous caves are beautifully lit and well ordered so that the hundreds of visitors passing through can take their photos.

Later those who hadn’t succumbed to an afternoon snooze visited an-other island where we climbed at least 300 steps to the top of a mountain that afforded the most fabulous views over the Bay. Our calves and thighs ached in the morning but it was well worth the effort. As our flight to Danang was-n’t until early evening we had a whip round and for $5 each we were able to extend our cruise by another 90 minutes. It was perfect. Sea eagles glided over the boats as we passed fishermen casting their nets. Our three boats, rechristened Santa Maria, Nina and Pinta visited

Shangri La Tanjung Aru

On the Beach at The Victoria

P a g e 5

parts of the bay the crowds never see.

After a long haul back to Hanoi we flew to Danang and arrived at the Victoria Resort in the dark. Everyone had been warned that we would be going 4 star and I think most were pleasantly surprised. We had all the Beach Front rooms and Suites and we could hear the waves crashing on the beach. Everyone enjoyed the Seafood Buffet and went to bed happy campers. Even more so when they awoke the fol-lowing morning with the sun streaming down on the beach and they realised just how nice an hotel we were in.

A day spent on the beach and an evening in Hoi An, quite the most picturesque little town we have ever visited, was the per-fect tonic after Hanoi. A touch of the Pol-perro’s maybe, but the little Chinese lan-terns hanging from every shop and every tree, with arts and crafts shops, restau-rants, bars and galleries it has everything a tourist could want.

But we were here for the golf and just 10 mins from the hotel are two champion-ship courses: The Montgomerie Links and Danang Golf Club by Greg Norman. The Monty has wide fairways and Ameri-can style bunkers, the Norman was a more traditional links design, totally con-trasting and both superb.

Round One was on the Monty and we played from the medal tees as its length is its defence. The over 70’s complained that it was too long so I agreed to offer a special Over 70’s Prize. In round one it was Barclay Forrest, a spritely 70 year old from Muirfield who led the way with 38. Geoff Henney was solid as ever with 36, Simon Klimcke showed a welcome return to form with 35 and Rosemary Limb led the girls with 34.

Next day was the Norman links and I asked the club to move the forward tees back a bit as it is too tough from the Blues. Instead they moved them forward 200 yards and made a mockery of the course. Peter and Gung Barrington took full advantage with 42 & 40 pts and Paul Holyhead 37, Sandie Klimcke, 36 and Bill Walker and Barclay Forrest (35) all en-

joyed it. The ladies were not so happy so next time we promised them an extra couple of courtesy shots in compensation and a rebellion was quelled.

Typically the free day was overcast but it was still warm and ideal for shopping but one sensed that with one more dodgy day I might be walking the plank.

But it didn’t happen. For the rest of the week the weather was beautiful and when we played Danang again the tees were in the right place and all was right with the world. Paul shot another 37 and the Baxters both shot 36, as did Anne Archer, Geoff Henney and Sandie Klim-cke. But Peter Barrington’s 34 was enough to keep him in the lead, 3 shots ahead of Geoff and 5 shots clear of his wife Gung and Paul.

On the free day many of us lazed on the beach or took a boat trip down the river and into town past the fishing villages; a beautiful way to spend a warm sunny day. Next year though we’ll take the taxi in and the boat back as it is half price!!

And so to the final round at the Monty; Peter looked nervous, Gung was relaxed, Paul was making bad jokes and Geoff looked determined. Being a weekend the course was busy and high ranking Viet-namese and arrogant Koreans didn’t appreciate being told that they had to wait for their second round of the day but we all got away and apart from a little verbal sparring at the turn it was very enjoyable.

First to show was Barclay who arrived on the 11th tee with 26 points but he faded on the back nine. Neither Peter nor Gung were able to find their consistency and Geoff as ever was steady as a rock, the length of the course suiting him to a tee. Paul was the only one keeping in touch and coming to the last he was just 3 shots behind. Geoff pulled his tee shot and struggled on the hole eventually missing a 4 footer for a point but Paul required a birdie and it didn’t happen.

Ellie Baxter with 33 moved decisively above husband Alan and Gerry did enough to qualify for the finals.

For prize giving we returned to the Sea-food Buffet and with a half bottle of wine each thrown in a good evening was guar-anteed. What we didn’t know was that David & Audrey Octon could have won “Strictly” closely followed by David Hack and Norma Stevens. They set a trend and much to the amusement of the other

guests the Greencarders started to party like it was the last school Prom. Exhausted we retired to bed vowing to return next year if only we could find our way back to the rooms.

And we will return. However we will not do Hanoi and Halong but instead we will go to Saigon for 4 nights, doing the Cu Chi Tunnels and playing Long Than Golf Club. We will then fly to Dalat in the mountains for 4 nights before finishing at Danang for 8 nights just like this year. Hopefully the party will be as good. Hoi An cannot remain for-ever as it is with all the new hotels springing up nearby and so while the beers are still under £1 and a great meal out is £12 includ-ing wine and beers it is time to see it for yourselves. By starting in the South we will be sure of good weather and so all will be right with the world. In January and February there is nowhere to beat South East Asia.

1 HENNEY GEOFF 36 34 36 35 141 2 HOLYHEAD PAUL 30 37 37 35 139 3 BARRINGTON PETER 33 42 34 28 137 4 BARRINGTON GUNG 31 40 33 31 135 5 FORREST BARCLAY 38 35 28 32 133 6 BAXTER ELLIE 27 34 36 33 130 7 GENTLE GERRY 30 33 34 33 130 8 FELL MARTIN 33 33 33 30 129 9 BAXTER ALAN 29 30 36 32 127

10 ARCHER ANNE 29 33 36 29 127 11 KLIMCKE SANDIE 24 36 36 29 125 12 TATE JOHN 32 30 25 34 121 13 KLIMCKE SIMON 35 28 33 23 119 14 HENNEY SUE 30 31 28 29 118 15 WALKER CHRISTINE 31 27 28 30 116 16 LEONARD ALUN 25 34 30 27 116 17 WIGZELL NICK 29 29 25 32 115 18 ARCHER PETER 26 32 26 31 115 19 O'KEEFFE JEANNIE 33 27 30 25 115 20 SCHLINGEMANN L’WIJK 26 29 30 29 114

Vietnam Results—Stableford

Dick’s Divas at The Green Chilli

Heading for the Caves

P a g e 6

Tony Ralton and Martin Fell hav-ing fun with Fiona

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

Our trip to Chile and Argentina was primarily centred on the two South American cities of Santiago and Bue-nos Aires. They are separated by the Andes Mountains but ithe gap between the two is far wider.

When we arrived in Santiago the weather was beautiful. Clear blue skies meant the city had the mountains as a backdrop every day. The Radisson Plaza was in the shadow of South America’s tallest building which was part of a huge office and shopping complex that was started in 2008. It was supposed to be completed over a year ago but delays meant that instead of being opposite a gleaming new shop-ping centre we were opposite a mas-sive construction site that carried on working all night.

It was disappointing but Pablo in the bar ensured that most of us had enough anaesthetic to sleep through it.

Santiago is booming. Riding on the back of the demand for copper and other raw materials the country is grow-ing extraordinarily quickly. There are almost as many cranes as in Dubai in its heyday. In the mornings sharp suited young people pour out of the metro and into the glass fronted build-ings talking on their iPhones.

The restaurants were busy and there was an atmosphere of optimism. We are finishing the tour under grey Bue-nos Aires skies where a morning thun-derstorm has washed out the last round. It is a fitting epitaph to the city really. Since our last visit BA seems to have regressed into a permanent de-pression. For Rent, For Sale and Clos-ing Down Sales signs and graffiti is everywhere and beggars sleep in the doorways.

As one kindly Argentinian gentleman told me on the tee, “We only remem-ber the Falklands when inflation is over 20%”.

In parts of the city there is astonish-ing wealth alongside the most ab-ject poverty which was invisible in Chile. That is not to say it is non-existent there but if it is you can’t see it. The gentleman lamented that Argentina has 10 times the resources of Chile but fails to find the leadership required to exploit it for the benefit of the country. Since they came to power in 2003 it is estimated that the Kirchner’s wealth has grown by more than 1000% to over $20 million.

The country seems expensive to us. Prices have increased dramatically, which is usually a sign that the cur-rency is due for a fall. To those who think that a Greek default is the

cure for all economic ills I would recom-mend taking a close look at Argentina.

Nevertheless, in spite of the economic problems this was a wonderful tour. We started in Santiago at one of the city’s oldest courses – Lomas de la Dehesa. Golf is an exclusive sport there and it is a privilege to be allowed to play at all.

Another surprise was the lack of buggies. Having been promised 6 it turned out that there were none. However the caddies did well and on an undulating course John Rushton led his team of Jackie Knapp, Sharon Fell and Angeles Bertran to victory.

On the Free Day we all went wine tasting. We visited two vineyards and had lunch at the second. It was a glorious day but we returned to the hotel exhausted and a little emotional!

For our next game in Santiago we went to one of the new courses North of the city called Hacienda de Chicureo, a complete contrast to Lomas being almost Arizona like in design. The conditions were su-perb and on a scorching day Sharon Fell and Angeles Bertran topped the field with 36, closely pursued by Hugh Goldstein on 35 and Christine Richardson on 34.

But it was time to leave Santiago and fly South to Puerto Montt for the centrepiece of the holiday – crossing the Andes by boat and coach. It was just a short flight but the difference in temperature was marked and as we checked into the mag-nificent Hotel Patagonico in Puerto Varas the rain began to fall. We put a brave face on it and did what Greencarders do best. Searched out the best bars and restaurants and drank the wines.

For the crossing we really wanted fine weather and in the morning the rain had ceased and although it wasn’t very sunny

The View from the Cable Car

P a g e 5

there were patches of blue. We donned our thermal vests and boarded the coach which took us past the main lake and onto Petrohue in the shadow of Mt Osorno, a snow capped volcano, passing by a very scenic waterfall and rapids.

We then took our first boat for the 1.5hr crossing of Lake Todos Los Santos to Panhuel where we stopped for lunch. A long lunch. Too long in fact as the weather turned on us and it started to rain while the bottles of wine racked up. But we boarded the buses again and went all of 200 metres before being told to get off and show our passports. We then set off on a frightening bus journey on unmade roads up mountains and through the valleys until we reached the Argentinian frontier and once again we were all told to disembark and show our passports.

Our next boat arrived and we crossed the milky waters of Lake Frias in 40 mins and once again boarded the buses for a short 5 mins drive to Puerto Blest and our final boat which took us to the port directly in front of Llao Llao, our next hotel.

It was a stunning day, 12 hours in total but well worth the effort. Although the mountains weren’t as high as we might have been hoping the scenery every step of the way was memorable.

Llao Llao welcomed us in their usual in-imitable style and we settled into the sofas in the bar exhausted but content.

But we needed to golf again and so we awoke early next day for what was sup-posed to be round two of the competition but on arrival at the club the promised 15 caddies weren’t there and the troops were looking mutinous. So we rearranged the day to play an Am Am and the three girls who were flying off to Rio that night played their competition round with me as caddy!! Tony Ralton led his team of Chris-tine, Sharon Fell and June Gauke to vic-tory by a large margin

The lynching was averted and everyone was happy. But there are two courses in Bariloche and so next day we were off to

Arelauquen. The weather by now was chilly but beautifully sunny. There was a fall of snow on the mountains overnight that just set the scene perfectly. Arelau-quen nestles in a valley between the mountains and the setting is magnificent. Again no caddies but a couple more bug-gies were found and some electric trollies and we played another Am Am.

It was another Ralton team victory with Susan Edwards, Hugh Goldstein and June Gauke and everyone pronounced it a much superior course, which it is, but with OB on almost very hole it is very challenging.

For the Free Day in Llao Llao some went on a tour and others used the Spa and most went up the cable car to get some of the most spectacular views on earth. The weather was beautiful and the skies were clear with just a hint of the volcanic ash in a trail on the horizon giving a clue as to what it must have been like in July last year.

In the evenings we ate steak and more steak and drank Malbec and more Mal-bec and relaxed totally into the Patago-nian way of life, at least the way of life of those who can afford Llao Llao.

But it was time for more golf and Round Two of the comp. Martin Fell added a 33 to his 32 in the first round and headed the leaderboard. John Rushton was next on 32 and Tony Ralton third on 30. Which goes to show that if you stretch a 6000 yds Par 70 to its tips it is never easy.

And so with heavy hearts we bade fare-well to Llao Llao and at the airport to our delight we found the flight with LAN once again on time. Such a contrast to Aerolineas Argentinas.

We landed in Buenos Aires in the early evening and of course the contrast with Llao Llao was stunning. The Melia is certainly not the finest hotel in BA but it has a good location. close to the Avda Florida for shopping and the Puerto Madero for eating. But after Llao Llao only the Four Seasons would have done.

Hardly having time to find our feet we were off for round three of the comp at Buenos Aires Golf Club. A superb Bob Van Hagge (Les Bordes) design and one of BA’s best. Once again they seemed largely unprepared to welcome us and having told us that a caddy was compulsory with each group they were one short.

But it was a great course and everyone en-joyed it, none more than Fiona Rickard who moved into the top 3 with a superb 36 beat-ing Martin and Tony by 4. Great golf and a complete shake up of the leader board with Hugh and Trish Whelan declining and Chris-tine and Fiona rising.

So the tournament was perfectly set up for a thrilling climax at the Jockey Club with just 3 points separating 4th & 9th places, but it was not to be. The back clouds gathered and lightning flashed and the course was closed. So Martin won and Tony was second and Fiona and Christine 3rd & 4th. They say light-ning doesn’t strike twice but this was a re-peat of 2007 when the last round was washed out.

But these trips are not just about the golf and we had some tremendous moments that many will remember for ever. On the way back from the BAGC we ran into a lorry driver’s strike and they blocked the road for a frustrating 2 hrs. Jimmy Barton decided it was a good time to bring up the Malvinas, but luckily the drivers could see the Mancu-nian humour, or he probably wouldn’t have been with us today.

Argentina has so much to offer and I am sure we will be back. There are now 3 excel-lent courses at Punta del Este on the other side of the River Plate near Montevideo and we haven’t yet visited Mendoza for the wines or Chapelco for the country’s best course and so there is plenty more to do. But next year we will return to South Africa and we will have to plan that trip for 2014 maybe.

Argentina Results—Stableford

Moments before the storm

1 FELL MARTIN 32 33 32 97

2 RALTON TONY 31 30 32 93

3 RICKARD FIONA 30 25 36 91

4 RICHARDSON CHRISTINE 34 26 26 86

5 GOLDSTEIN HUGH 35 28 23 86

6 WHELAN TRISH 32 28 24 84

7 BERTRAN ANGELES 36 20 27 83

8 FELL SHARON 36 23 24 83

9 RUSHTON JOHN 27 32 24 83

10 GAUKE JUNE 26 26 29 81

11 GOLDSTEIN STELLA 30 23 27 80

12 THOMAS ROS 30 22 26 78

13 LAVIN JANET 27 26 25 78

14 ANDERSON HEATHER 25 24 23 72

15 GAUKE JIM 22 28 21 71

16 STRATTON BARRY 22 19 28 69

17 STRATTON JANE 24 23 21 68

18 STEPHENSON ANNE 25 22 18 65

19 BARTON SANDRA 26 23 14 63

20 KNAPP JACQUELINE 18 21 21 60

P a g e 8

WHEN WILL I SEE YOU AGAIN?

Chantilly has just 6 golf spaces left and we have said it before that this will be the last chance that you will probably ever have of playing Europe’s most ex-clusive golf course. Morfontaine does not do visitors and we are only able to play there thanks to the kind invitation of our oldest playing member—Dr Jean Natali who is still striking it firmly at the age of 90. Not only is it a great course but they do a delicious buffet and to go with it we will be playing two other Tom Simpson courses both of which are in the Top 10—Chantilly Vineuil and St Germain. I would love to see you there and I promise a memorable event. It all

takes place on the Queen’s Jubi-lee weekend.

Likewise I shall be at Lake Bled. One of the most beautiful places we visit. Our hotel overlooks the lake and we can walk to the many bars and restaurants . It is just a 2 hr Easyjet flight from Stansted. If you have never been there you are missing a wonder-ful place in the mountains.

Our Irish trip this year is to the area just North of Dublin. Easy to get to and a lovely hotel on it’s own course at Kingstbrook, In addition we will play at Solheim Cup venue Killeen Castle, Head-fort New and Baltray home of so many Greencard members and one of the best Links in Ireland.

Our UK venues this year feature Carnoustie and Ganton and as they are back to back you can do two tournaments in a week on some of the best courses in York-shire and Scotland.

Later in the year Mauritius is filling nicely but be warned, when we have filled our quota of 22 rooms we will not be able to get any more as the hotel is full. I shall be there too on my way back to UK for the Grand Finals and my birthday celebrations. If you are coming to the Grand Finals to help me celebrate don’t forget to send the £100 deposit.

But before that in early Septem-ber we have two superb trips. The first is to Charleston in South Carolina, a lovely town and un-usual for America in that you can walk out of the hotel and walk to the bars and restaurants in the old town. Fabulous golf courses and some wonderful seafood makes this a great destination.

The other September venue is Emporda on the Costa Brava. A lovely modern hotel on two chal-lenging Bob Van Hagge (Les Bordes) courses. Also included is PGA Catalunya. A short drive from the old town of Begur and its restaurants and served by Barcelona and Girona airports it is easy to get to.

When will we see you again?

can be unorthodox with his reverse grip and still score 36 but there were many players on 35/34 including the to John’s.

Our final round was as usual at Spring-field. John O’K led Geoff by one and Chris Hinvest was 2 further back with John Delaney one behind him on 102. The winner must surely come from these four.

The island green at the 18th is a great hole. Reachable for the long hitters in 2 and birdie-able by the conventional pitch and putt, but coming to the last it was very tight. John O’Keeffe was on 137 two behind Geoff and John De-laney who were both on 139. John O’K had a shot but having led overnight he needed to win by a clear stroke.

John Delaney was first to play and from prime position he chunked his ap-proach which just stayed out of the water and he holed out for a 6 for 1. Geoff Henney was in a fabulous posi-tion off the tee and decided to go for the green. His shot was desperately unlucky to take a hard bounce and just ran off into the lake he also took 6/1 which left John O’Keeffe needing 4

points for victory. He played a perfect approach over the lake to 5 feet and calmly holed the putt. The Inner Caddy finally spoke up. Well done John.

It was an odd week in some respects with a great group who got on famously but with a couple of little on course dis-putes that ignited out of all proportion. This is something that has always seemed a mystery to me. Nobody knows all the rules and some have been playing by the wrong rules all their lives thinking they are doing it correctly. Lateral Water Hazards are famous for tripping people up and so in the interests of future har-mony I shall reprint a diagram from the R & A which explains your options once and for all.

The Dusit rooms are now a little beyond tired and although it grieves me to say this unless they are refurbished before next year we will have to look elsewhere. But Hua Hin remains in January the best place in the world to play golf without one shadow of a doubt. Great courses, great weather, superb food and excellent shopping, not to mention a beautiful beach. I think I might get the paint brushes out myself.

The Three Degrees sang that in 1974. I am penning this in the Lounge at Doha 27 hrs after leaving the hotel in Buenos Aires and still another 12 hrs before I get home thanks to a thunderstorm in Rio and a missed connection.

I will be in this Lounge again in a few weeks on my way to Chantilly and Lake Bled but before that we have the Dubai World Cup, Mallorca and Turkey events. Richard Munroe will be hosting those and although bookings are not strong they will all run and should all be great fun looking at the cast of characters already inscribed.

JOHN HEEDS IS INNER CADDY (Cont.. from Page 3)

Emporda Forest Course

AN EARLY LOOK AT 2013

ing to Dalat in the mountains. So 3 nights at the brand new Intercontinental with a chance to see the Cu Chi tunnels and a game at Long Than before a short flight into the mountains to Dalat and the magnificent Palace Hotel. After 4 nights and 2 games of golf we fly up to Danang and once again settle into our beach front rooms at the Victoria and get ready for some more great food in Hoi An, not to mention the superb golf at the Montgomerie and Norman courses.

Western Cape, South Africa

We missed South Africa this year to go to South America. Good as it was, nothing quite compares to the beauty and quality of a golf holiday around Cape Town and the Garden Route.

So we fly into Cape Town arriving on 24th Feb and check into one of our fa-vourite hotels in Africa—The Vineyard—for 6 nights. Whilst there we will play Royal Cape, Erinvale (or maybe Steenberg) and of course Pearl Valley.

From there we will drive over Sir Lowry’s Pass to Arabella, a sumptuous 5 star hotel outside Hermanus, for 4 nights playing their superb course twice.

It is quite a drive across the Little Karoo to the Hyatt at Oubaai, home to Ernie Els first course on the cliffs above the Indian Ocean. Three nights there before moving on to Fan-court. We will play the Outeniqua and Montagu in our 3 nights and we will have an optional one night extension for those who want to play the top course in SA—The Links. Too tough for some which

is why we haven’t included it on the tour but for those who relish a challenge Gary Player’s masterpiece is worth every penny of the £150 green fee.

We fly back from George via either J’burg or Cape Town on 12th March (13th if playing the Links).

Egypt and Soma Bay

Although Egypt’s unrest wouldn't make it an obvious choice for a holiday, on the Red Sea coast south of Hurghada is a superb Gary Player course and a beauti-ful 5* hotel at Soma Bay. Egypt’s current troubles relate to the delay in bringing in elections. It is not remotely aimed at tourism. Obviously we will keep a watch on it but prices are good right now and it has a great climate. Looking at end of March.

Yas Links and Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi up until now only had one club, with 2 courses. But there is a new kid on the block and he’s big for his age. The Yas Links is a sensational, no ex-pense spared set up. Rotana have a hotel on the island and with the Abu Dhabi National, Yas Links and direct flight from Manchester and London with Etihad it looks a winner for mid April.

North Wales

We are also looking at putting a UK tour together in North Wales including Royal St Davids and Conwy. This is still in the development stage.

The Trent Jones Trail

Later in the year in September we are looking at a return to Alabama and the Trent Jones Trail. We last did this in the aftermath of 9/11 and it has to be said that there was a sense of gloom in the States. This time we will hope for a more cheerful reception. Flights would be into Atlanta and it is about a 90 mins drive to the first hotel.

There was a time that when we pub-lished the brochure in September it was met with surprise. Not any more, as the cost of long haul flights continues to rise people want to book flights as soon as possible. So here is a brief preview of what is likely to happen next year.

New Year—Chiang Rai, Mai and Phuket

New Year is always a tricky one, but in the end the main reason I chose to live in Thailand is the climate. If you want to be sure of good weather in January there is nowhere quite like it. But Hua Hin’s party is now old hat and so we are going North. It is a long time since we went to Chiang Rai and so we will do 3 Nights at the Meridien there arriving on 27th Dec playing Santiburi GC and then moving down to Chiang Mai and The Chedi for the four nights over New Year playing Royal CM and CM Highlands. We then fly non-stop to Phuket and have a week on the beach at Naithonburi playing Blue Canyon and Laguna. The return flights will be on 10th Jan but last golf will be on 8th to enable those who need to get back to work to slip away.

Cambodia and Hua Hin

After that we will return to Siem Reap, in Cambodai, and Angkor Wat. There are now 3 superb courses there and al-though the flight up there is ridiculously overpriced (Bangkok Air has a monopoly) it shouldn’t put us off. The Sofitel is a wonderful hotel and the old quarter of Siem Reap has some lovely bars and restaurants. First night in Cambodia is probably 12th Jan. The flight back from Hua Hin would be 26th Jan.

South Vietnam and Danang

Although we have visited Saigon before we need to congregate there before fly-

Yas Island Links, Abu Dhabi

Cascades at Soma Bay

BIRTHDAY BLUES

When I was born back in 1952 there were just 2.6 billion people on the planet. There are now nearly 7 billion. The principal reason for this explosion is vastly improved health care.

When I was training as an accountant we audited Metal Box’s pension fund and they calculated that the average life expectancy of an MB pensioner was 3.8 years after retirement. He was ex-pected to kick the bucket at 68.8 yrs.

In the space of just 35 years that has increased to 18 years, and that is the dilemma that is facing the developed world. We have grown up expecting to contribute for 40 years and then be taken care of in our dotage, which is now often longer than we ever worked. Early retirement schemes for the Police and civil servants are even more fanci-ful.

It never occurred to us that working for 40 years and saving 10% of our salaries would not be sufficient to pay for us to live to see our 90th Birthdays. The sim-

ple fact is that we haven’t saved enough and whatever rate of taxation is imposed on us it will never be enough to pay for it.

This fundamental truth is never discussed. Until now it has been disguised by borrow-ing money to pay for the healthcare and benefits of today’s elderly, but with a de-clining working population and an increas-ing age demographic the inevitable has happened. We’ve run out of money and the ability to borrow it.

So we have resorted to printing it. All over the West the central banks are cranking up the presses and using all sorts of euphe-misms to hide the fact that the world de-mand for paper and ink is on the increase.

Whilst I was in favour of some QE to avert a complete economic collapse I expected it to be accompanied by a mature debate on the future financing of public expenditure. But in the four years since the beginning of the crisis we hear absolutely nothing. There are no “Cuts”, only a decrease in the rate of borrowing. With the state of the economy still in some kind of twilight zone

the hope of some growth led path to sal-vation is a hubble-bubble pipe dream.

There is no political party in the Western world prepared to stand up and tell us that the game is up. From now on we must stop expecting the State to take care of us and we must fend for our-selves, as they do in Asia. Families take care of the elderly themselves.

We have becomes so addicted to “entitlements” that no MP dare suggest that they will be withdrawn, In the mean-time we keep our doors open so that all those Greeks who have lost their jobs will even now be wondering whether Ryan Air or Easyjet is their best route to sign on to the most benevolent free lunch in the world.

Globalisation has brought us enormous benefits but it has cost us the greatest benefit of all—access to jobs for all. A day spent walking around Athens or Buenos Aires shows us the future and it isn’t pretty. In the very near future our secu-rity will be our greatest concern.

By some bizarre coincidence the Grand Finals this year coincide with my 60th Birthday on 28th October. So we are go-ing to have a party. A Big Party. Proceed-ings will commence with a 60th Birthday Pairs event on the South Course with vari-ous categories. Then in the evening there will be a superb buffet and free flow wine and beer and dancing to the Six Irishmen until the early hours. The only trouble is places are limited. We have to keep 35 for the Finalists which leaves us just 55 for the Masters.

If you are planning on coming the only way to guarantee your place is to send a deposit of £100 pp. The event is al-ready more than half full.

This event was a huge success in 2011 and we feel at last we have found a venue truly worthy of the Finals. The 5 * Monte da Quinta Suites with their 1 & 2 bedroom

apartments and the 3 Q de L courses—North, South & Laranjal are real quality. The 2 Bedroom Suites are ideal for 2 single peo-ple to share with only a small single supp.

Included for Qualifiers 7 Nights b & b in a shared room 1 Bed-

room apartment at the 5 star Monte da Quinta Suites

7 days car hire between 2 5 rounds of golf on the Q de L North,

South (2) and Laranjal (2) Birthday Party & Prize Giving Cocktails All tournament fees Upgrade Prices Single Supplement 1 Bed Apt £149

Single Supplement 2 Bed Apt £79

Extra Night 1 Bed Apt p Apt £80

Extra Night 2 Bed Apt p Apt £100

The Greencard Masters As always we will be proposing a tour-nament for the non-qualifiers as well. The Greencard Masters will be the usual format of an Am Am followed by 4 rounds of stableford with some great prizes. Be there to crown the 2012 Champion and see me officially declared an “Old Sod”.

Prices for the Greencard Masters Golfer 1 Bed Apartment £899

Golfer 2 Bed Apartment £819

Non Golfer -£240

Single Room Supp 1 Bed Apt £149

Single Room Supp 2 Bed Apt £79

Golf Only £599

FLIGHT NOT INCLUDED

Grand Finals at Quinta do Lago—October 27th to November 3rd The Monte da Quinta Suites Laranjal Golf Course