commodated in the same build-ing as those in the 1 bedroom suites. There were no more sec-ond class citizens and everyone could assemble in the hotel bar each evening.

The Quinta do Lago area has everything you could want, su-perb shopping, wonderful restau-rants, lively bars and above all three of the best courses in Por-tugal. The South Course was for many years the home to the Por-tuguese Open. The North course came later and the most recent addition, Laranjal, is undoubtedly the best. The main feature of these courses is their wide Ber-muda fairways and huge recep-tive greens. Of course it wouldn’t be do Lago if there wasn’t also a fair amount of water. But most important of all these courses are extremely fair to both Men and Ladies which is the essential if we are to have a “fair” tourna-ment.

Our week began in warm autum-nal sunshine on the South Course for our traditional warm up Am Am with both the Tour players and The Masters all mixed together. Neil Gillam, Jackie Carter, Lewis Mosse and Sean Duxbury just edged out Ian Harris’ team of Neil Ratcliffe, Jenny Staines and Phil Crossland on count back with 112.

But Monday was the start of main event down at Laranjal. The only cloud was the appalling car accident that Carol Jones and John Meagher suffered when a local lad smashed into the back of their car and flew over their roof and landed back on the road finishing 50 yards down the road. Unbelievably no one appeared to be too badly hurt and after a brief Police interview John and Carol were allowed (and able) to play their round. Unsurprisingly they didn’t perform as they would

Brian Haynes added his name to the long list of Greencard Tour Champions with an em-phatic victory in the Finals at our new Portuguese venue at Quinta do Lago.

In recent years with the decline of the Pound against the Euro it had become harder and harder to find a venue for the Tour Finals that provided a suffi-ciently high standard of accom-modation and top quality golf courses worthy of such a tour-nament. Traditionally we have provided a flight from your local airport inc golf clubs, share of a hire car and shared accommo-dation in a 2 bedroom apart-ment.

The cost of the free places at the Finals is of course shared by all the year’s participants. 25 years ago this was provided by La Manga Club for less than £300. Those that wanted to upgrade their Free holiday to the hotel or to a single room could do so for a price.

But gradually the price rose and although we had an excellent relationship with the resort in recent years it wasn’t so much

the overall cost of the holiday that hurt but the cost to the cli-ents of a buggy or a beer. Finally they went bust and we started the search for another venue. Abu Dhabi was tried and proved to be a huge success, but the “3 year contact” was ripped up even before we arrived. Then we tried Vila Sol. The hotel and apart-ments were fine but the 27 holes were simply not of the standard required for such a prestigious event.

So last year I stood in front of the troops and announced that we could no longer afford to pay for the flights to the Finals but in return we would hugely improve the quality of both the accommo-dation and the courses. After looking at the four Vilamoura courses and Quinta do Lago there was really no contest. The Monte da Quinta Suites have everything you could want as a holidaying golfer. The 1 and 2 bedroom apartments are beauti-fully equipped with fully fitted kitchens, flat screen TVs, free wi fi and even an extra shower/bathroom. But the best thing is that those who wanted to share a 2 bedroom apartment were ac-

Brian Leaves the green with a grin and Neil gets a consolation kiss from Felicity

BRIAN HAYNES CONQUERS QUINTA

C o n t e n t s

Grand Finals

Quinta do Lago

2

Grand Finals (cont)

3

Mauritius 4 & 5

Canada 6 & 7

Final Tour Points 7

Leaping into 2012

9

Democratic Deficit

10

Merry Christmas & Brochure Cor-rections

10

G r e e n c a r d G o l f H o l i d a y s 8 0 C u r l e w D r i v e , C h i p p e n h a m S N 1 4 6 Y Q T e l : 0 1 2 4 9 8 2 1 5 0 7 F a x : 0 1 2 4 9 8 2 1 4 5 8 W e b : w w w . g r e e n c a r d g o l f .c o . u k Golfer

N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 1 V o l u m e 3 , I s s u e 4

In Th is Is-sue

Quinta do Lago

Grand Finals

Mauritius

Canada

Final Tour Points

Cascais

An End to De-

mocracy

Brochure Correc-

tions

The

P a g e 2

have wanted but if ever there was an example of why it is important to en-sure that you are covered for the in-creasing amounts of “Excess” now demanded by car hire companies this was it. It doesn’t matter how well you drive if a madman is looking at his mobile phone. You can cover yourself against the €800 excess by taking out inexpensive annual or single trip insur-ance available from many companies on the web. If you are a frequent hirer of cars make this your New Year’s Resolution.

Anyway back at the course the Tour was underway and Brian Haynes shot a remarkable 39 points beating Bobby Kerr by one and Neil Gillam by two. Shirley Halhead was leading lady on 34.

We played the Tour from the White and Blue tees but opted for the Yellow and Red for the Masters. The differ-ence was significant in that Jeannie O’Keeffe headed the board with 38, Julie Harris was 3 back and Stella completed the top 3 with 34 alongside the male leader Chris Clarkson.

In round two the weather remained blissful and we were once again at Laranjal. Brian led once again with 36 alongside Ian Harris and Carol Jones who showed what she could do when not completely traumatised.

In the Masters it was another superb effort from Julie with 38 and Lodewijk Schlingemann consolidated his position with a 36 to add to his 34 from Round One. Sue Henderson and James Field-ing were two behind him.

As evening drew in so did the clouds and the forecast for our Free Day was discouraging to say the least. When we awoke the forecasters were proved correct and dark, low, rain filled clouds

hurried across the estate dumping regular amounts of water upon us. Some brave souls ventured out for a round at 11.30 but by 2pm they were back in the clubhouse arguing for a refund. The rain was torrential.

Unfortunately the following day wasn’t supposed to be much better but exten-sive use of my newly acquired prayer mats paid massive dividends and un-believably we had a very pleasant day

JEANNIE O’KEEFFE TAKES MASTERS TITLE

Quinta do Lago Masters—Final Results Quinta do Lago Tour—Grand Finals Results

1 O'KEEFFE JEANNIE 38 31 35 36 140

2 CLARKSON CHRIS 34 31 37 36 138

3 HARRIS JULIE 35 38 29 31 133

4 GOLDSTEIN STELLA 34 31 34 33 132

5 GOLDSTEIN HUGH 29 32 32 38 131

6 SCHLINGEMANN L 33 36 32 30 131

7 FIELDING JAMES 31 35 34 30 130

8 LUCEY KATHLEEN 28 31 33 35 127

9 FERN MELVYN 31 28 35 32 126

10 COATES STEVE 32 27 33 33 125

11 FERN ANNE 32 33 30 30 125

12 HEGARTY CHRIS 30 31 30 33 124

13 STAINES BRIAN 31 30 31 32 124

14 BOLGER TOM 33 26 34 31 124

15 MEAGHER JOHN 31 28 37 27 123

16 DUXBURY SEAN 30 29 28 34 121

17 HENDERSON SUE 29 35 27 30 121

18 O'KEEFFE JOHN 30 27 40 24 121

19 WARD JOHN 26 34 25 35 120

20 BROWN NEIL 32 33 24 30 119

1 HAYNES BRIAN 39 36 37 34 146

2 RATCLIFFE NEIL 36 30 38 38 142

3 SPEAKMAN PAUL 31 30 40 36 137

4 DUXBURY MICHELLE 32 30 38 32 132

5 COUPE BILL 31 33 32 35 131

6 ROBINSON IAN 28 32 36 34 130

7 COATES FELICITY 30 33 39 28 130

8 DALTON NEIL 30 30 36 33 129

9 GILLAM NEIL 37 28 27 36 128

10 CARTER JACKIE 34 30 34 30 128

11 BAXTER ALAN 28 33 32 34 127

12 GOOCH PETER 31 31 32 33 127

13 MUNROE RICHARD 32 31 33 31 127

14 HALHEAD SHIRLEY 34 26 31 34 125

15 KERR ROBERT 38 20 33 33 124

16 WELLS TONY 31 33 27 32 123

17 GENTLE GERRY 33 28 31 31 123

18 HARRIS IAN 30 36 26 31 123

19 KAYE PAUL 30 28 32 31 121

20 FIELDING REUBEN 33 29 30 29 121

Chris Clarkson with Jeannie O’Keeffe and with Julie Harris

and Stella Goldstein

these days and it didn’t let him down. He opened with 3 pars and nothing that Neil could do from then on was going to help his cause and Brian ran out a comfort-able winner by 4 shots. Paul consoli-dated his 3rd place with 36 and Michelle Duxbury edged Felicity for the Ladies Prize. Bill Coupe did his bit for the Sen-iors by finishing in 5th proving that the old campaigner is still the man to beat 20 years after his Greencard debut.

But it was the overall event that was the winner, proving once again that our cli-ents can play serious golf with a sense of humour. I think we can safely say that this was one of the friendliest finals I can remember. The combination of superb accommodation, wonderful courses and a great venue has convinced us to sign a three year deal with Quinta do Lago and the Suites.

In 2012, as I have already said, it will be my 60th Birthday on the first Sunday of the event. After our Prize Giving dinner some of us went the The Barra Irish Pub to see an act that we thought might go down well at the party. Called Six Irish Men this talented sextet hail from Portu-gal. Their mix of Irish ballads, Bluegrass and 70’s classics, played with unbeliev-able verve will ensure that the party will go off with a bang. We may need a later tee off the following day.

We will be having the 60th Competition on the South Course on the Sunday morning and the party in the evening. We have arranged the accommodation so that those who can’t take a week off could fly down and stay for 2 nights and return on the Monday morning. We will endeavour to announce prices for this as soon as possible. Spaces will be limited to 120 players so if you want to be at an event that I never thought would take

year and the Masters this year. She must find Portuguese water invigorat-ing.

Julie just pipped Stella Goldstein who seemed to be happier that she beat Hugh by one. But now all eyes turned to the final green. Would Brian have a stroll in the park or could Neil Ratcliffe close that 8 shot lead?

Both players had shown their nerves on the first failing to score but thereafter Neil launched a serious challenge scor-ing 21 to Brian’s 16 on the front nine. But Brian’s swing is much improved

back on the South course with just the odd tiny shower. The Ladies were happier off the reds and Felicity Coates and Michelle Duxbury on 39 and 38 were only eclipsed by a sensa-tional 40 from Paul Speakman. But Brian was not to be outdone with 37 and his only serious pursuer Neil Ratcliffe again turned in a solid round of 38 to close the gap to 8 points.

In the Masters it was the Greencard Guru John O’Keeffe who matched Paul’s 40 ahead of Chris Clarkson and John Meagher on 37. But it takes more than that to shake off our Golfing Granny Jeannie who tied with Melvyn on 35 to secure a two shot lead over defending champion Chris Clarkson and Julie. Lodewijk was hanging one back and James Fielding was outperforming his Dad.

The final round was on the North Course and once again thick black clouds threatened to swamp us but miraculously the prayer mats worked again and apart from a heavy shower at the start and finish the round was mostly played in the dry.

We put the Masters out first and a remarkable thing happened. Dear old Colin Loveridge who had been prop-ping up the field, suddenly rediscov-ered his form and shot a magnificent 39 just beating Hugh Goldstein on 38, scores which opened speculation that big turnarounds may be possible on the course. Chris did indeed do his best with 36 but the experienced Jeannie held him off matching him shot for shot. She won the Tour last

Michelle Tees off in the Final Round watched by Paul Speakman

You don’t have to be a Winner to enjoy it. Brian Staines and Chris Hegarty having a laugh.

P a g e 4

“Sally not

only proved

that her

golf was up

to scratch

but many

on the

beach

marvelled

at her as

she mono-

skied across

the bay.”

Traff and his two blondes—Sally Ward and Beth Attwell

SALLY WARD WALKS ON WATER

This was Greencard's first visit to Mauritius, it was a venue we have looked at several times in the past but the problem we faced was that the majority of hotels are on a half board basis and the drinks are in-credibly expensive. So when the Octon Eight returned from Mauritius a couple of years ago singing the praises the Heritage Awali, a four star top quality hotel right on the beach with a superb golf course be-hind our ears pricked up. Even better it offers an excellent all inclusive accommodation and golf package on their own course located just a cou-ple of minutes drive by complimen-tary transfer.

Golf on the Heritage course was unlimited and so we played 4 rounds there during our 10 night stay but in

addition there are two other courses close by—La Tamarina and Le Para-dis.

The first morning we awoke to blue skies, sun but quite a strong wind, which would prove to be a test for the opening Am Am round held on the Heritage. The course designed by South African Peter Matkovich is a real gem with the right balance and variation in length of holes, width of fairways, green sizes and ultimately the risk and reward ele-ment that is crucial on any Champi-onship layout.

The winning team was led by Mal-colm Barker and included Sue Mass-ingham, Bill Attwell and Rita Barker. Their winning score of 103 was just enough to hold off the challenge from John Ward, Linda Crossland,

Lodewijk Schlingemann and Ann Finett.

The following day was the first round of the individual stableford and took place at La Tamarina. The course is about 50 minutes drive from the hotel and is rela-tively new, it is one of the longest courses in Mauritius and with the wind still playing a factor it proved a tough test of golf. This was cer-tainly reflected in the scores with Sally Ward's 31 being the best of the day, Tim Elliott finished with 30 and Malcolm Barker one further back.

The second round was played on the Heritage, the attention to detail around the course and the greens are far superior to La Tamarina. It appeared to be ladies' day as the top spots were taken by Frances Allwork and Sally Ward both with 35 points followed by Beth Attwell 33 and Ann Saunders 31. The leading man for the day was An-thony Trafford with 31.

So at the half way stage Sally had a five point lead over Frances and Beth. Traff was seven behind the leader but was hitting form at the right time.

Although the Heritage offers unlim-ited golf the group took the oppor-tunity on the free days to enjoy the wonderful beach, pools, water-sports and of course the unlimited food and drink on offer.

One of the highlights on the free day was the waterskiing, which is included as part of the package. Sally not only proved that her golf was up to scratch but many on the beach marvelled at her as she mono-skied across the bay. Traff was next and up he went at the first time of asking, not falling once and looking like he was just born to be on skis!

After the skiing, more swimming and sunbathing and just chilling before the sundowners . Back to the room for a quick shower and down to dinner. It sure is a tough life in Mauritius which probably accounts for the fact that the lo-cals are some of the most welcom-ing people on the planet.

Dinner can be taken in any of the 5 restaurants and also at their sister hotel Le Telfair next door.

Although this year there were some supplements as some of the outlets and the golf course in

The Heritage course and clubhouse

2012 these too will be included in the All Inclusive package. Then of course there is the Seven Col-ours Spa.

It was soon time to return to work and we headed back to the Heri-tage to play a Texas Scramble. This time the winning team was captained by Anthony Trafford and included Frances Allwork, Bill Attwell and Margaret Bence. Their net score of 58.2 was enough to see off the challenge from Malcolm Barker, Ann Saun-ders, Lodewijk Schlingemann and Eleanor Bairdow who finished with 62.4. It was a fun day as always. It would be nice to in-clude more Texas Scrambles but we feel that on a holiday when we play a course only once everyone prefers to play their own ball.

The third round of the individual stableford was held at Le Paradis golf club. Although slightly

shorter than the Heritage, the amount of water on the course ensures that this is still a test of golf with accuracy the key. It is arguably one of the most pic-turesque courses on the island and is in a wonderful setting. Several of the holes were simply stunning with the beautiful aquamarine water and the mountain backdrop to the fairways.

Traff continued his form from the previ-ous day and came in with the days' best score of 33, Ann Saunders, Beth Attwell, Linda Crossland and Sally all finished with 32 points. John Ward was making a late claim for the places with a solid round of 31.

So with one round to go Sally had a five point lead from Beth who was one ahead of Traff. Ann was a further three points behind but anything could hap-pen on the final day especially if the wind got up again.

Traff needed just two points to qualify for the finals week and although that

was all but confirmed before he went out the question remained whether he or one of the ladies could catch Sally. As the results came in the leading score of the day belonged to Tim Elliott with 34, this ensured him fourth place and qualification for the Tour finals. Ann didn’t have one of her better rounds and so it was up to Traff or Beth but neither could do enough to close the gap. Sally's 29 points was enough to secure victory and a final total of 127. Traff finished with 119 and came sec-ond just one point ahead of Beth.

We have already confirmed Mauritius for October 2012, and this time we will be contracting directly with the hotel which means that we will benefit from keener prices and so the 10 day pack-age will be £200 cheaper than this year. The only change we are making is to play two rounds at Le Paradis and to drop La Tamarina. It’s not that it isn’t any good but the round trip to the course is tiring and the course is very tough leading to slow rounds. Anyone can of course go and play on one of the free days but we question the £80 green fee.

The Heritage Awali is a wonderful setup and is without question one to tick off. The combination of sun, sea, sand and golf, not to mention unlimited free drinks makes this the perfect destina-tion when the rest of Asia is in the mid-dle of the rainy season. Next year Rich-ard V will be there to see if he can still handle a catamaran. Do I have any volunteers for crew?

Le Paradis

1 WARD SALLY 31 35 32 29 127

2 TRAFFORD ANTHONY 28 31 33 27 119 3 ATTWELL BETH 28 33 32 25 118 4 ELLIOTT TIM 30 29 24 34 117 5 WARD JOHN 28 25 31 27 111 6 SAUNDERS ANN 26 31 32 20 109

7 CROSSLAND PHIL 24 29 27 27 107 8 SCHLINGEMANN L. 27 25 24 30 106 9 BARKER MALCOLM 29 19 28 26 102 10 NICHOLLS ROGER 24 31 24 23 102 11 NICHOLLS JANET 17 27 19 37 100

12 ALLWORK FRANCES 26 35 15 23 99 13 WEBSTER MARY 18 24 22 33 97 14 CROSSLAND LINDA 26 16 32 23 97 15 EVANS SUE 14 27 19 31 91

16 BENCE MARGARET 11 29 24 27 91 17 FINNETT ANN 23 24 20 24 91 18 ATTWELL BILL 15 22 29 22 88 19 BARKER RITA 15 26 19 23 83 20 PAINTER BRIAN 17 19 20 20 76

Mauritius—Final Results

The beach at Heritage Awali

CLARE HOLDS OFF THE GRIZZLY BEAR

This was Greencard's first visit to Canada and we spent some con-siderable time looking at the many options the country has to offer in terms of golf and the wonderful scenery.

We decided to base ourselves on Vancouver Island for the first part of the trip staying for six nights at the Bear Mountain Resort. This boasts two Jack Nicklaus designed courses, the Valley and the Moun-tain. Both are set amongst spec-tacular scenery, a theme which would continue throughout the event.

The majority of the group met in Vancouver and had one night at the Westin Bayshore before a pri-vate transfer took us over to Van-couver Island by ferry. The views from the ferry on the 90 minute crossing were simply breathtak-ing. We docked in Victoria and the hotel was a further 35 minutes drive.

We had been assured that the weather was going to be fine and we were not to be disap-pointed. Sunshine and blue skies greeted everybody on the first morning and stayed until the last couple of days in Whistler, tem-peratures were well into the high 20's if not touching 30 degrees.

The first AM AM was played on the Valley course, a tight but enjoyable track with some tremendous risk and reward holes. Clare Bolger's team which included Martin Batty,

Reuben Fielding and Gillian Reynolds won by 9 points.

Tuesday was a day off and many took the opportunity to visit downtown Victoria, or take one of the charters to see the killer whales in their natural habitat.

The following day we had our second Am Am but this time on the Mountain course. Another great design with some testing carries off the tee. Ian Harris' team took the honours with a total of 107 on count back from Chris Reynolds, Vaughan Hart, Elfi Prandl and Neil Brown.

We revisited the Mountain course the next day for the first round of the individual stableford competition and it was the girls

who took the early initiative. Elfe Prandl carded the day's best score with 38. Clare Bolger finished with 35 and Chris Reynolds had 33.

The remaining three rounds would take place in Whistler. However, before that we took the opportu-nity of returning to the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver for two nights before heading north. Vancouver is a great city with so much on offer, whether it is hiring a bicycle and taking a trip through Stanley Park, taking a flight on a seaplane, shopping or simply walking through the city taking in the many sights.

After the second night in Vancou-ver we had a very early start as we were heading up to Whistler and taking the world famous Rocky Mountaineer on the Sea to Sky Climb. The journey time was around three and a half hours and while we had breakfast and the odd glass of wine on board we passed through some great views of cascading waterfalls, rivers and mountains.

On arrival in Whistler we were taken by private transfer to the Westin Hotel located in the heart of the town. Of course Whistler is famous for being a tremendous ski resort and you can see from the many restaurants and bars situated at the bottom of the main gondolas and chairlifts that the atmosphere in the winter must be tremendous. The summer months offers people the opportunity to take these same lifts up to the summit of the two peaks. Other activities on offer include zip lining and white water rafting. It was amazing that we had the time to fit in the other three rounds!

We would be playing on three different courses in the area, the Arnold Palmer Whistler Golf Club, The Chateau Fairmont and the Nicklaus North. The first of the three rounds here was on the Whistler Golf Club located in the foot of the valley and offering more dramatic views. It was the turn of Reuben Fielding to come to the fore with a wonderful 37 points. Julie Harris finished the day one behind on 36 with Ian Harris a further shot back. Clare came in with a very respectable 34 points and this was enough to

Reuben Fielding, Clare Bolger, Julie Harris and Grizzlies

1 MUNROE RICHARD 37 35 31 31 134 2 BOLGER CLARE 35 34 34 22 125 3 FIELDING REUBEN 28 37 29 29 123 4 HARRIS JULIE 26 36 31 27 120 5 HARRIS IAN 32 35 20 31 118 6 REYNOLDS CHRIS 33 27 28 28 116 7 REYNOLDS GILL 30 28 29 28 115 8 PRANDL ELFE 38 21 32 24 115 9 HART VAUGHAN 31 32 25 24 112

10 CORBETT GARY 29 27 27 26 109 11 JAGGER JOHN 24 23 29 29 105 12 JAGGER JANE 29 31 24 21 105 13 BOLGER TOM 24 30 24 24 102 14 STAUSBERG HANS 21 26 28 24 99 15 DANGERFIELD ANGELA 22 21 28 27 98 16 DANGERFIELD NEIL 14 30 24 24 92 17 BROWN NEIL 29 22 21 19 91 18 CORBETT JEAN 20 24 25 20 89 19 NATALI JEAN 18 30 19 16 83 20 CARRANCE FRANCOISE 23 22 20 14 79

Canada—Final Results

give her a two shot lead at the half way stage from Ian, Reuben was lying in third place a further two points behind.

The following day we headed over to the wonderful Chateau course, located at a higher altitude to the Whistler GC, many of the holes were tight and undulating giving us a real test. Clare continued her tremendous form carding a 34, Ian dropped down after a tough day but Reuben was hanging in there with 29. Julie's 31 was enough to put her into third. However, the main talking point of the day was the first sighting of a black bear on the 18th fairway!

This meant that going into the final round Clare had a 9 shot lead over Reu-ben and 10 over Julie. We had one more free day before taking on Nicklaus North and the clouds started to de-scend, however, it didn't stop more of the group taking to the mountains and white water rafting again!

So the final round at the Nicklaus North started in the wet, it is always incredible just how quickly the weather can turn in the mountains. However, the rain did ease considerably as the round pro-gressed. We all thought that it was a foregone conclusion that Clare would stroll to a well deserved victory, but after a shaky start and even more shaky

middle memories of Norman vs Faldo came to mind! Reuben just battled on and suddenly as we entered the last few holes he had a realistic opportunity of pipping Clare to the winning line.

The final hole is a dramatic par 4 where it is necessary to hit over a ravine onto the green. Reuben after a solid drive didn’t make the connection he was look-ing for with his approach shot but man-aged to get over just short of the green. Clare had to make the shot and

after a difficult round it was a real test, however, it was one she matched and a bogey by both players meant that ulti-mately Clare snuck home by just 2 points. Julie's 27 points was enough to secure third place from Ian who came back to form with a fine 31.

This really is a wonderful country with some magnificent scenery, great outdoor activi-ties and superb golf. It is highly recom-mended and we look forward to another Greencard event in Canada.

Trouble Bruin!— A Brown Bear crosses the 18th Fairway. photo courtesy of Neil Dangerfield

2011 FINAL TOUR POINTS TABLE Paul Holyhead 13 24 Nelson John Shearan 6 24 Co Louth Reuben Fielding 12 22 Tytherington Bill Coupe 7 19 Lancaster Shirley Halhead 10 19 Lancaster Janette Brown 17 19 Nelson Alan J Baxter 6 18 Mere Gerald Gentle 13 17 John O'Gaunt Neil Gillam 9 17 Wentworth Ian Harris 8 17 Domaine Imperial Brian Haynes 10 17 Sundridge Park An-thony Trafford 14 17 Eaton Carol Jones 27 16 Saffron Walden Paul Kaye 6 16 Brough Neil Dalton 11 13 Meon Valley Robert Kerr 7 13 Troon Welbeck Peter Barrington 15 12 Lee Park Tony Wells 8 12 Triangle Ian Robinson 7 11 Rufford Park Sally Ward 22 11 Royal Lytham Peter Archer 10 10 Ipswich Clare Bolger 7 10 Ham Manor Felicity Coates 22 10 Woburn Mi-chelle Duxbury 15 10 Shaw Hill Peter Gooch 16 10 Cranleigh Glenn Harris 12 10 Wellingborough Neil Ratcliffe 7 10 Derby Paul Speakman 9 10 Workington Graham Steel 10 10 Moor Park Jackie Carter 14 10 Rufford Park Ian MacDonald 8 10 Anglesey Tim Elliott 15 10 Hankley Common Geoff Bickerton 3 9 Golf del Sur Chris Clarkson 5 9 Brough Martin Fell 6 9 Copt Heath

Helen Bernard 28 4 Domaine Imperial Gary Corbett 8 4 Mere Pauline Crosthwaite 6 4 Hankley Common George Davis 10 4 Lee Park Anne Day 18 4 Dulwich & Syd’ham William McGinnes 13 4 Troon Welbeck John Meagher 10 4 Forest Pines Elfi Prandl 19 4 Gut Larchenhof Len Ramsbottom 17 4 Diss Paul Twigden 10 4 Woburn Angela Wyer 23 4 Lodewijk Schlingemann 18 4 Moscow CC Claire Bamber 30 3 Adrian Carran 9 3 Ladbrook Park Steve Coates 12 3 Woburn Vaughan Hart 14 3 Lewis Mosse 13 3 Teignmouth Peter Quinn 18 3 Greenore Edward Ricketts 10 3 Farnham Nick Wigzell 18 3 Orchardleigh Mahesh Patel 18 3 Gillingham Anne Archer 10 2 Ipswich Richard Bleakley 14 2 North Wales Bruce Ferguson 14 2 Troon Welbeck Melvyn Fern 13 2 Willesley Park David Martin 15 2 Wellingborough Dave Simpson 14 2 Sundridge Park Pat Robinson 20 2 Malton & Norton Malcolm Barker 10 2 Harewood Downs Peter Abbott 14 1 Ladbrook Park Andrew Baker 9 1 Royal Wimbledon Linda Crossland 15 1 Southp’t Old Links Howard Domney 10 1 Mere Edwina Grace 11 1 Ham Manor Chris Hegarty 7 1 Chorlton-c-Hardy John Jagger 23 1 Alwoodley Roger Nicholls 14 1

Caryn James Bailey 31 9 Broke Hill John O'Keeffe 12 9 The Wisley Alan Orritt 10 9 Penwortham Len Peifer 8 9 Santa Maria Philip Crossland 14 9 Southport Old Links Kevin Shearan 13 8 Co Louth Neil Bamber 7 8 Preston Vince Hallam 13 8 Lutterworth Julie Harris 14 8 Domaine Imperial Alan McLaughlin 11 8 Braintree Lindsey Parker 25 8 Woburn Jane Twigden 19 8 Woburn Sheree Wilde 5 8 Chobham Beth Attwell 13 8 Tytherington Neil Brown 11 7 Paula Farrell 19 7 Clontarf Gail Hegarty 12 7 Chorlton cum Hardy

Fiona Ricard 12 7 Wentworth Mike Wilde 5 7 Chobham John Ward 14 6 Shaw Hill Kim Clark 16 6 Moor Park David Hayman 17 6 East Devon Tony Marshall 13 6 Wildwood David Newmarch 12 6 Abridge Chris Reynolds 8 6 West Sussex Angela Bertran 18 5 Santa Maria Dorothy Blackburn 15 5 Aspley Guise Frank Bristow 11 5 Anne Saunders 16 5 Little Aston Richard Burke 12 5 Santa Maria Geoff Henney 3 5 Woodbridge Sandie Klimcke 12 5 Clandon Regis Robert Milne 6 5 Colin Robinson 8 5 Malton & Norton Gillian Reynolds 11 5 West Sussex

Not only is 2012 a Leap Year it is also the year of the London Olympics. It is 64 years since London hosted the Games when the “Flying Housewife”, Fanny Blankers-Koen, won four athletics gold medals. Not bad for a 30 year old mother of three.

Having been a Londoner nearly all my life I am not too unhappy to miss this great event. It is already shrouded in ticket scandals, mostly it seems, involv-ing the ladies Beach Volley ball. Call me old fashioned but surely if you want to get a close up of scantily clad athletic young ladies it would be easier to head over to Stringfellows.

Although the Games are undoubtedly a great spectacle they have become bloated to the point of ridicule. Who on earth needs to see more tennis, football or BMX biking? Then of course there are all those sports that need judging like diving, dressage and gymnastics where the French judge must vote for the German and vice versa.

The best seat is always the sofa in front of the 42” flat screen TV and so with that in mind we have left most of the period 27th July to 12 August free in our calendar. But don’t forget our first visit to Ganton and the Yorkshire’s Finest.

Unfortunately 2012 also has the less edifying spectacle of the Euro 2012 Finals as 16 teams of overpaid prima donnas do their best to cheat their way to the trophy, with most matches de-cided by a penalty shoot out which bears no relation to the skills of either side. Surely it is not beyond the collec-tive cognition of UEFA to come up with a better method of deciding ties. My pre-ferred solution is to take off two players after full time and play 10 mins of 9-a-side. Then 10mins of 7-a-side, then 10mins of 5-a-side etc, etc. Golden goal applies.

Lake Bled

For those who don’t find it necessary to watch every game we have our event at Lake Bled. Slovenia is passionate about football and you can see all the games on a huge screen at the Bled Pub a short walk from the hotel and best of all beer is £1.50 a pint. We sense that this event will be very popular and if you book your ticket now from Stansted to Ljubljana it will cost £168 including clubs.

Carnoustie

Two other events are showing strong inter-est—Chantilly and Val d’Oise—because of course our return to Morfontaine and also our Carnoustie event. In particular if you are planning to go to Carnoustie we would really like to hear from you. We have booked for 40 but I suspect we need to increase that but as we have to pay for the green fees in advance I am not prepared to book more places unless we have firm bookings with deposits. Don’t get left out as this event will soon be full.

Thailand Unfortunately travelling to Thailand for our New Year event will now be expensive but we can still find flights for around £850. But for Thailand Two EVA Air and Thai still have non-stop seats for £608 and £628 respectively. This will be a superb trip up the River Kwai and then on the beach in Hua Hin. We have nearly 40 bookings already. The best place in the world in January is Thailand. And don’t let the flooding scenes in Bangkok put you off. They are very localised and nowhere near where we will be going and anyway they will be gone well before Christmas as the rainy season is over.

Vietnam The same applies to our visit to North Viet-nam. We have nearly 40 booked and with two boats cruising on Halong Bay it is sure to be a memorable event. The two new

courses in Danang have been voted the best in Vietnam and so we are all set for a crack-ing trip. Flights are still available from Qatar and Thai for around £700.

Argentina & Chile

For something completely different we have our return to South America. It is now 5 years since we were there and it is beautiful as ever. For this trip we will also be visiting Santiago and then flying down to the Chilean lakes for our epic crossing of the Andes by bus and boat. As all the luggage goes by road it is not difficult at all. We just have to hope that the weather is fine to enjoy the views. There is already a good turnout on this with several adding on an Ushuaia trip or Iguazu to see the falls.

Flights are generally best value with Air France from all major UK airports for round £850 or with Iberia for £950. Call us for details. It will be some time before we return as in 2013 it is back to South Africa.

Other Highlights Those who have just returned from Mauritius will testify how good that trip is and so no need to go into details except to say we have cut the price by £200.

Emporda in September has some of the best golf in Catalunya. If you liked Les Bordes then you will love Emporda. Bob Van Hagge designed the two contrasting courses and to cap it all we have PGA Catalunya. Although the hotel is a little isolated it is excellent and there are not many prettier places than Be-gur, 15 mins drive away, to stroll around and find a good restaurant.

Charleston in South Carolina is a first for us. The Mills House is right in the middle of town and you can walk out at night to eat in nu-merous bars and restaurants in the famous Old Quarter. There is no need to spend a fortune on the Kiawah courses as there are plenty of top quality courses near town for half the price. A first class venue.

The Dubai World Cup is the world’s richest horse race and even if watching quadrupeds is not your cuppa the whole atmosphere at this extravaganza will capture you. Watching the bipeds is just as fascinating. One thing to note is that when we first announced this event we thought the DWC would be 1 week earlier and so we thought we would be play-ing Fire, but by moving it back a week it will be Earth.

If Mallorca looks expensive then it probably is but the cost is almost entirely in the green fees at Alcanada, a truly superb golf course with sensational views. We wouldn’t be go-ing if we didn’t think it was worth it.

Book your flights to all events now. The age of Last Minute deals is well and truly behind us. Call us if you need help. We look for-ward to seeing you again soon in 2012.

LEAPING INTO 2012

Flying Fanny

“Ian

sprinted

like

Usain

Bolt to

save the

day.”

CALAMITY CARTER CROWNED IN CASCAIS

worth adding to the list of places to visit. The views alone are simply stunning and the mix of reachable par 5s, tremendous par 3s and the odd short par 4 thrown in for good measure result in a very playable golf course yet one which will test your game and course management.

Jackie Carter, who needed to finish the tournament sixth or better to qualify for the finals week came in with the day's best score of 35, three better than John Shearan and five ahead of Kevin who were both con-tinuing their form from the previous day.

The following day we travelled the 20 minutes or so to play Penha Longa Atlantico. A completely different golfing experience from Oitavos, one which is vastly improved if you take a buggy! This is an extremely hilly course and many of the holes require approach shots to raised greens making club selection the key to success. The greens were very good but the fairways were not quite to same standard as Oitavos. Jackie again shone through with another great round carding 36 points. John again came second in the day's scor-ing with 35 and Kevin finished the round with 34.

At the half way mark, Jackie had a four shot lead over John, Kevin was a further three back and Ian Robinson who had finally understood where his glasses were was eleven behind our leader.

The sun was still shining and more blue skies greeted us on our return to Oitavos for the third round. Jackie again was the star of the show in more ways than one! She was play-ing with Ian, Kevin and John, who

were coming down the fairway on the eighth hole when there was suddenly a cry for help from the nearby trees. Ian recognising the voice behind the shouts sprinted like Usain Bolt to save the day. John thought about assisting but couldn't quite get his buggy in gear in time.

Jackie had managed to secure the door to the on course rest room but couldn't get out! Locked in the portacabin in the woods and with her qualification to the Greencard finals suddenly under threat from not being able to complete her round she resorted to shouting at the maximum volume! Despite this shock to the system Jackie still man-aged to compose herself and come in with a wonderful 40 points. John con-tinued his runner up spot with 34, Kevin finished the day on 33, a score matched by Colin Robinson who had hit some form after finally finding where he had parked his car!

So as we approached the final round Jackie had a 10 shot lead over John and a 14 shots over Kevin. Qualifica-tion to the finals was a given but the question was whether she could claim her first Greencard Tour victory. We couldn't believe the news filtering through by the time we had reached the back nine that Jackie had again got stuck in another on course toilet! Yet again she had escaped and continued to play quite brilliant golf. By the time the final group had reached the closing holes and there were no more toilets to pass it was clear that Jackie had done enough to hold off any challenge from her fellow players.

Jackie's 34 points gave her an eventual total of 145. Despite a solid final round from John scoring 35 it was not enough to make an impression on the lead, however, his consistent form all week confirmed the runners up place. Kevin finished with the day's best score for third place.

Congratulations must also go to Ian, his fourth position was enough to confirm his qualification to the finals.

It is several years since Greencard last visited the Lisbon area. One of the problems was the choice of flights. However, with Easyjet now flying here and TAP offering some great fares and free golf club car-riage we decided to have another look at returning. We eventually decided to base ourselves at the new five star Viva Marinha Hotel and Spa playing three rounds on the wonderful Oitavos course, lo-cated just a couple of minutes drive from the Hotel, one round on Penha Longa Atlantic and one on Quinta da Marinha.

The drive from the airport is nor-mally around 35 minutes and the bustling area of Cascais is only 10 minutes drive from the hotel. There are plenty of restaurants from which to choose and the atmos-phere when eating in the square is great.

We were promised unseasonably hot weather and that is exactly how it turned out with blue skies and temperatures into the high 20's, ideal golfing conditions.

The first round which was a pairs event was played at Quinta da Marinha. Not too tricky and with excellent greens it proved to be a perfect opening venue for the week. The father and son combina-tion of Kevin and John Shearan came through with a wonderful better ball score of 46.

The opening round of the individual stableford gave us our first taster of Oitavos, a wonderful golf course. Immaculately maintained it really is a jewel in this part of the world and if you haven't experi-enced playing here, it is definitely

1 CARTER JACKIE 35 36 40 34 145

2 SHEARAN JOHN 32 35 34 35 136

3 SHEARAN KEVIN 30 34 33 36 133

4 ROBINSON IAN 28 32 29 32 121

5 HOLYHEAD PAUL 28 31 31 28 118

6 MUNROE RICHARD 30 27 30 30 117

7 ROBINSON COLIN 23 22 33 31 109

8 BROWN JANETTE 23 25 26 32 106

9 PATEL MAHESH 22 24 31 19 96 10 ROBINSON PAT 16 14 19 19 68

Cascais—Final Results

Jackie with Kevin and John Shearan

place you need to get your name down quickly.

BROCHURE CORRECTIONS

DEMOCRACY IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH EUROPE “Democracy is the worst form of gov-ernment except for all the others.” said Sir Winston.

I think Peter Mandelson was first to say, “We are living in a post-democratic era.” How right he was, as first George Papandreou and then Silvio “Bunga Bunga” Berlusconi were forced from office to be replaced by governments of national unity without the irritating need for an election.

The reason for their departures is broadly the same. They have ques-tioned whether slashing domestic budgets coupled with a tight fiscal pol-icy is the correct path for their coun-tries. If they had any doubt about it they might care to read the causes of the Great Depression of the 30’s. It was the blinkered tenacity to the gold standard that caused stagnation and deflation across the US and Europe. Britain abandoned it in 1931 and re-covered far quicker than both of them.

The modern equivalent of the gold standard is of course the Euro. Dispa-rate economies are desperately trying to stay within a currency zone that is run primarily for the benefit of its strongest member. Lack of growth in many countries has caused serious

difficulties in paying the interest on govern-ment debt, and the consequent increase in unemployment has increased government spending just as they are trying to cut their deficits.

The results of this policy insanity are clear for all to see. The sadness is that there is an alternative for Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal. The European Central Bank has within its grasp the means to relax fiscal policy, as in US, UK and Japan, that would give respite to those peripheral countries so that they might then be able to put their public finances in order.

However their remit doesn’t allow the ECB to become a lender of last resort and buy the bonds of the weaker countries (ie print money) for one simple reason—Germany’s fear of inflation and a return to Weimar economics.

It is increasingly clear to all but the most myopic in Brussels that current austerity policies are going to lead to incredible hard-ship within those economies to a point where many question the wisdom of trying to remain within the Eurozone straitjacket.

Mr Papandreou suggested that perhaps the people should be consulted before they are thrown on the scrapheap. He was told in no uncertain terms that if you dare ask the

people and they reject the terms we are imposing for another chunk of bailout money, we will throw you out of the EZ and the EU.

This isn’t democracy in any shape or form that Churchill would recognise. The EU Nomenclature have decided that the Na-tion State is dead and that we are all Europeans now. The concept of Greek and German, French and Finn is over. Your new government is in Brussels and if you don’t like it we have the Euro Gendar-merie to keep you in your place.

Churchill also said: "We are with Europe but not of it. We are linked but not com-prised. We are associated but not ab-sorbed. If Britain must choose between Europe and the open sea, she must al-ways choose the open sea."

I fervently hope that Cameron has read his history and has a plan for a fully de-mocratic Britain outside of the EU. There can be little doubt now that the current EU course will lead to the worst unrest since the 60’s and possibly much worse.

As Ben Franklin said, ”They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little tem-porary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.” Politicians ignore the will of the people at their peril.

Mauritius Price Slash Since going to press with the brochure we have managed to sign a direct contract with Heritage Hotels which enables us to significantly reduce the cost of Mauritius.

The new price is £200 lower at £1449 for a Golfer, £1249 for a Non Golfer and £279 Single Supplement. Extra nights are £105 pp. This year’s trip was a great suc-cess and we will be looking forward to our return in Oct 2012.

One other small correction is that we will be playing Le Paradis twice and missing out La Tamarina which we felt was not worth the hour’s transfer whereas Le Para-dis was definitely worth a return trip.

St Germain Replaces Paris International

Unfortunately for our June event in Chan-tilly, Paris International which was to have hosted the final round, has decided from 1st January to close its gates to visitors. It’s a shame as this was a great venue for the final round with its imposing club-house overlooking the 18th green. We really only had two choices—a return to

Apremont which occasionally suffers from poor conditions or take the opportunity to play the St Germain course but with a £30 supplement,

In the end there wasn’t really a choice. St Germain, is a superb Harry Colt design and 9 times French Open venue and it will really complement our other two main courses of Chantilly and Morfontaine. All three are in the French top 10.

So the price for a Golfer has risen to £809. We are truly sorry about this but at the same time it is impossible to empha-sise enough how wonderful these 3 courses are.

Small Details As always when we print the brochure in spite of our best efforts at proof reading a few small errors always seem to slip through.

Carnoustie—The Non Golfer should be £189 not £289, the Single Supplement should be £105 not £60. The Extra night in a single should be £89 not £69.

Lake Bled—The Single Room Supplement in Slovenia should be £149 not £139.

Back once again with my family after our Grand Finals week in Portugal our thoughts move on towards Christmas which my kids never stop reminding me is only 6 weeks away.

Greencard has had another excellent year thanks to our customers and so it is with heartfelt gratitude that both Richard Munroe and I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and above all the very best of health in the coming year.

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Argentina– The Lake View Supplement should be £130pp for the 5 nights.

Did You Get Your Copy We sent out the brochures last month. If you didn’t get your copy please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01249 821507.