Hugh Goldstein and Lindsay Traf-ford were the first on the dance floor midway through the second number but by the end of the 3rd song nearly all 103 invitees were bopping away and bawling out the words to the songs they knew so well.

One of the hardest things I have ever done was to ask them to stop. After 90 mins I suggested two more numbers and cleverly they played a medley of songs that went on for 15 more min-utes.

They retired to rapturous ap-plause and in the interval as the bands changed over Richard Munroe chose an easy target for a very humorous little speech.

Next band up was The Six Irish-men, all from Loule just up the road. They came on in their kilts and played a lively jig and every-one sat glum faced as if the punch bowl had been removed. The next number caught every-one’s attention but they all sat as if in a concert and I became more than a little concerned. I whis-pered to Nam that come what may we were going to dance the next number whatever it was.

We were quickly joined by Hugh and Lindsay and pretty soon the whole party was up and buzzing again. It required a little musical adjustment before everyone real-ised that the Portuguese Irish-men were truly accomplished musicians and their lead singer Dario was more than a little off the wall in a cross between Buddy Holly and Leapy Lee. He didn’t stop looning about for 2 hours. By the time they played “Come on Eileen” the Bottles had been forgotten and the dancing grew more and more wild. So much so that people forgot to drink. All those gin and vodka bottles remained largely un-touched.

The theme for my 60th Birthday Party was Welcome Aboard: Dress Nautical. Back in the 50’s they made a film about the Titanic called a Night to Re-member and on our fantasy voyage from Liverpool to Dublin aboard the good ship Green-card we enjoyed a party that will be engraved in all our memo-ries – but for all the right rea-sons.

For days beforehand our little team of party organisers got to work decorating a conference room in an attempt to turn a bland beige background into a party venue. 450 balloons were inflated and table cloths and chair covers were imported. Miniature sailing boats and table lamps were brought from Thailand and bottles of gin and vodka were put on every table. Claire Bamber, Paulette Gillam and my wife Nam worked tire-lessly to make things look per-fect.

The bands arrived and set up the stage and the hotel laid out the dance floor. The chefs pre-pared a superb buffet and the technicians set up the slide-shows and music to eat by.

All that could be known was known but what couldn’t be known was if the guests would enjoy it. I was much relieved when I saw the first guests start to arrive. We had Popeye and Captain Hook. We had Russian Naval officers and French mate-lots, deck hands and Admirals, Captains and concubines, Swiss Navy WRENS and round the world yachtsmen. The fancy dress costumes were fabulous.

We kicked off with a champagne cocktail and then moved into the party venue. Tables were named after famous shipping disasters and the buffet began. It was soon clear that the food met expectations as the crowds sur-rounding the groaning tables didn’t diminish.

But the real test was still to come. A party without music is not a party and a party with bad music is even worse. Just 3 weeks before the event I decided to get an extra band instead of a DJ or Karaoke singer. The first band was called The Bottles and complete with wigs and suits this Beatles tribute band of young musicians kicked off the party.

Cap’n Vine surrounded by his motley crew

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

C o n t e n t s

Grand Finals

Quinta do Lago

2

Grand Finals (cont)

3

Mauritius 4 & 5

Emporda 6 & 7

Final Tour Points 7

The End of the World

8

Am I British or European?

9

Merry Christmas & Brochure Cor-rections

9

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 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 2 V o l u m e 4 , I s s u e 4

In Th is Is-sue

Quinta do Lago

Grand Finals

Mauritius

Emporda

Final Tour Points

The End of the

World

Am I British or

European?

Brochure Correc-

tions

The

P a g e 2

When 1am rolled around I can hon-estly say that no one on the dance floor wanted to stop. We retired to the bar singing “I would walk 500 miles” as we trouped up the stairs with our bottles of gin to gossip about the evening. Thankfully the morrow was our free day and hangovers could be nursed. Never in the annals of Green-card have so many old men behaved as though they were 25 again.

But of course my 60th Birthday was not the reason we were there. It was Grand Finals week and some serious golf had to be played. The Tour Finals this year had 24 attendees with a couple of noticeable absentees but the field was one of the strongest in years.

The Quinta do Lago courses all have their own unique character but with one common attribute. The greens are all wonderfully receptive and true. The week prior to our arrival had been incredibly wet and so the courses were rather soggy but not enough to spoil the game.

The South Course was the scene of the Am Am and with such a big field we assembled on 1st & 10th Tees at 8am for the little fun game before the big event. With 20 teams it was one of the biggest in years. It was breezy but very playable and the scores re-flected this. Geoff Henney, George Chambers, Julie Harris and Brian Haynes came in with a score of 124 which is a score we normally associate with short little courses like Royal Mar-rakech. The runners up were Alan Baxter, Sue Henney, Dave Newmarch and Roger Lascelles.

Round One of the Tour Finals took place at Laranjal, the new course at

Quinta. From the white and blue tees this is a real test of golf. On another breezy day John O’Keeffe set the pace with 38. It was a terrific score leading Paul Speakman by 3 and the trio of John Shearan, Geoff Henney and Julie Harris by 4.

Round Two was back at the South course and as conditions had been good for two days the winter rules were suspended. On the whole it was the right decision although there was some very soggy spots around the raised greens which made it tricky for chipping, but of course that didn’t affect those who hit the greens. John Shearan moved to the top of the leader board with a stunning gross 73 to beat Reu-ben Fielding (38) by three and the trio of Geoff Henney, Neil Ratcliffe and Robert Kerr (36) by 2.

That night the rain poured down again but the partygoers didn’t care and the Free Day and night were drizzly. So for Round Three we were once again on Winter Rules for our round on the North course.

The tees seem to have been moved a little forward and pin positions were lenient and the scores reflected this. Neil Ratcliffe shot 40 points and Martin Fell and Neil McGarva both shot 38. Christine Richardson, John Shearan and Geoff Henney all shot 37 and Neil Gil-lam and David Rothwell shot 36.

So with the Final round to come at La-ranjal the field was nicely poised. John Shearan led on 112, Neil Ratcliffe was second on 109 and Geoff Henney was 3rd on 107. John O’Keeffe was still in with a shout on 105 and the ladies was really between Julie Harris on 103 and Christine Richardson on 102.

The conditions for the final round were as benign as we could wish for. Warm sunshine and no wind but Laranjal is a tough course with some terrific par 3’s. RM arranged for us to play the course back to front so that we could finish in front of the clubhouse. It was an in-spired decision as tension mounted as the leaders came into view. First to post a winning total was Martin Fell whose 39 ensured that the leaders would have to play well.

In the Ladies it was clear from Chris-tine’s body language that Julie had won the day and John O’Keeffe and Geoff Henney were going through the mo-tions but Gerry Gentle battled to the last with 37 and Neil Gillam moved up the leader board with 35.

But provided that Neil and John broke 30 the winner was going to come from this pair. The whispers from the course implied that standing on the 18th tee they were level but of course if it re-mained that way Neil would win on count back. Both played safely to the isthmus between the two lakes and John played first firing straight at the flag stopping about 6 feet short. Neil hit his approach about 30 feet past the flag on to the higher level at the back of the green. Neil putted first getting the ball to 3 feet leaving John his birdie putt. All went quiet around the green as he stepped up, the ball shaved the hole and failed to drop. Neil holed out bravely and the scores were tied. Neil was thus declared the winner as sud-den death play offs are not always available due to people on the course and of course at this time of year the light.

Neil has won this title twice before in 2006 and 2009, and he has been run-ner up in both 2010 and 2011. He was 4th in 2008 and 5th in 2007. This is remarkable consistency from a player whose handicap has risen from 6 to 10 during that period. (Although he played off 9 in this event). We feel it is a little too consistent in that he has scored more than 36 points in 8 of his last 19 Greencard rounds with no score lower than 30. Whilst we would in no way doubt the veracity of his handicap it is clear that this level of performance is too good for ordinary Greencard mor-tals. It is always our objective that at the start of every competition that all competitors must believe that they have an equal chance of winning. We don’t believe that this is the case with Neil playing off 9. So I have informed him that in all future Greencard events he will return to his 2010 handicap of 7 until such time that his Greencard scores justify an increase. I have no doubt that he will return next year with even greater desire for victory.

Julie Harris, John Shearan and Martin Fell with winner Neil Ratcliffe (apologies for the picture quality)

of golf and always in great shape. This year they have suffered a little from the year long drought which was followed by torrential rain but the fairways and greens were in great shape for our event.

Of course the party gave the even an extra fillip this year but as many people remarked why not have an end of term party every year. Now that we have done the groundwork we know where the bands are and we know the hotel puts on a good spread. So why not? It would add a few Euros to the trip but by next year you probably won’t notice.

We need to decide which night to hold the party as some suggested that it should be before the Free Day whilst others agreed with me that it should be after the prize giving. The principal objec-tion to the last night was from those with early flights. But this year nearly all flights were between 11am and 1pm with just a handful leaving early and I suspect that a later flight could be booked if it was known that it was likely to be a late night.

I am all in favour of the party and I am sure that one or both of the bands would love to attend again. Both have told me how much they liked playing at the party as so many people seemed to enjoy themselves.

The only other little fly in the ointment was the clash of dates with half term making the flights much more expensive than usual. For the moment we are plan-ning to make the event 1 week later to try and avoid this but we need to be sure that the new half term dates don’t go this late.

All in all it was a fabulous week with a terrific atmosphere of competitive cama-raderie and that after all is what Green-card is about.

trees have grown tall and the fairways have narrowed. Those umbrella pines absorb the impact of a ball and drop it gently to the floor as if caught by a driv-ing range net. Chris Clarkson showed his class with another 39 to take the lead whilst Lewis Mosse showed a lot of local knowledge whilst constructing an excellent 38. Ian Robinson (36), Anne Fern (35) and Hugh Goldstein (34) all kept up the chase but Neil dropped back with just 29 points. It was a bright and sunny day and the atmosphere on the clubhouse terrace was brilliant. There was a lot of anticipation for the Party that night. I completely failed to celebrate my birthday on the course with a miserable 22!

It has to be said that the North course was playing very short and so scoring was good as expected. Isiah Ramdeen shot 41 ahead of Ian Harris, Tony Wells and Ian Robinson on 37. Izzy’s girl-friend Anne Bridges also played well with 36. They would make a formidable pair. Chris Clarkson lost his way a little with 29 when he could have closed it out and Neil recovered 3rd place with a good 32.

Anne Fern held off new-comer Janette Roe for the Ladies prize, and the rest as they say was history.

It was our second visit to Quinta do Lago and the Monte da Quinta Suites and dare I say it but it was even better than last year. The apartments are really nice and beautifully equipped and the three courses are excellent tests

After 17 years on Tour Neil Dalton finally struck a consistent vein of form around the Quinta do Lago courses whilst playing in the Greencard Mas-ters, the event we run alongside the Tour Finals. And what a victory it was with a strong field of 50. But it was also incredibly close.

After 3 rounds just 6 points separated the top 6. Chris Clarkson on 107 led Ian Robinson by one and Neil by three. Ian Harris and Hugh Goldstein were one further back and Lewis Mosse on 101 was just 2 behind them.

Laranjal is a course that suits the longer hitters as a wild tee shot can usually be found and a recovery shot is quite often on. Neil is not always known for his accuracy off the tee and so this played into his hands. In an absolutely nail biting finish he shot 41 to beat Ian Robinson (39) on count back. Chris Clarkson, the low-est handicap in the group could count himself unlucky to shoot 37 and lose by one. Ian, who shot 34 could only shrug his shoulders, what can a man do against such fire power.

I should think Neil has competed in an average of 3 events a year for those 17 years and so to finally get a trophy after 50 events is a superb achievement and one that was warmly received by all the competi-tors.

Neil showed his liking for Laranjal in the first round as well with an amaz-ing 43 just beating Hugh Goldstein by one, Chris Clarkson shot 39 and Ann Fern 36. The South course though is an altogether different proposition. Being the oldest of the courses the

NEIL DALTON WINS AT LAST

Runner-up Chris Clarkson with Neil, Anne Fern and Ian Robinson

P a g e 4

“The plane

comes in low

over the reef

with white

surf breaking

into the azure

blue waters

of the lagoon

before

touching

down on a

palm fringed

runway.”

Sally with Alan Baxter, Howard “3 Brollies” Domney and David Roberts

SALLY WARD DOES IT AGAIN

Coming into land at Mauritius is a similar feeling to landing in most Caribbean airports. The plane comes in low over the reef with white surf breaking into the azure blue waters of the lagoon before touching down on a palm fringed runway. Almost the entire island is ringed by this reef and unusually for a volcanic island the sands are a beautiful white. This enables Mauritians to exploit the high end of the travel industry. Exclusively low rise hotels nestle in amongst the palms and casuarinas and are hardly visible from the sea. The reef allows for calm waters for all manner of water sports and the fertile hinter-land is now home to several excellent golf courses.

As soon as you arrive at immigration the contrasts with the Caribbean

begin. Friendly smiling faces wel-come you to the island swiftly getting you through the airport and off to your hotel.

For our second visit we returned to the South of the island and the Heri-tage Awali that sits on beautiful stretch of beach next door to its sister hotel Le Telfair. As we were on an all inclusive package we were able to use the restaurants in both hotels which gave us great variety. The Awali has a distinctly African look with the thatch roofed build-ings. They have a main restaurant and bar overlooking the main pool and a smaller beach bar called Infin-ity Blue which is right on the beach and a perfect spot to watch the sun sink slowly behind the reef.

But we were here for the golf and

the fresh breeze guaranteed that the Heritage course would prove tough. We started with an Am Am and the wind blew strongly down the first making it all but unreach-able. But the course was well de-signed and the wide fairways al-lowed for the vagaries of the wind. Sean Duxbury led his team that included his wife Michelle, Helen Domney and Alan McLaughlin to a comfortable victory, possibly aided by the fact that they didn’t get soaked on the last 3 holes.

The next day was a free day for beach activities but the slightly overcast conditions and stiff breeze made it just a little cool for serious sunbathing, but perfect for downing a pint or two and a bottle of wine.

Thankfully that was the last of the indifferent weather and for the first round of the competition we had a warm sun and only a moderate breeze. In fact conditions re-markably similar to Royal Lytham in summer and Sally Ward took full advantage with 39 ahead of How-ard Domney (36) and Alan Baxter (35).

For round two we boarded the mini vans and set off for a lovely little drive round the coast road to Le Paradis which shelters under a mountain and has one of the is-land’s oldest courses. A beautiful course to walk with absolutely stunning views and immaculate greens was almost enough to make us forget that it was fiend-ishly tough in the ever present breeze. Tough for everyone but Sally (38) and Lodewijk Schlinge-mann (37). Only 3 other players broke 30 and one of them was Alan Baxter (33) who kept his chal-lenge alive.

Another free day followed with much more amenable tempera-tures and loungers were out in force. It was a pity that the low tides and shallow water made waterskiing and sailing impossible.

For the next round we played a little Texas Scramble in teams of three with 5 drives each. As al-ways it was great fun and Karl Dixon, Francoise Carrance and Michelle Duxbury blew away the field with an excellent 62.7 (we took away 10% of handicaps).

Next day we boarded the bus and returned to Le Paradis. Some were dreading it but actually hav-

The Heritage course and clubhouse

ing played it once it became a tame pussycat and scoring was much improved. John Ward (35) and Alan Baxter (34) led the way but Sally consolidated her position on top of the leader board with 32. She was 7 points clear of Alan with just one round to go.

Another free day and at last some water sports as the tide rose so muscles were stretched and torn in a highly entertaining day. Time seemed to just fly by in a haze of sunshine, beach and rum punch and before we knew it we were looking at the last round and de-partures. All talk was of how su-perb this place was for a golf holi-day. An excellent course, a very satisfactory hotel, an all inclusive formula that despite one or two quirks was more than adequate and an absolutely stunning loca-tion add up to a little slice of Para-dise. Although Le Telfair is clearly

a superior hotel, the fact that it is pre-dominantly half board gave it a dis-tinctly subdued at-mosphere compared to our carefree Awali. I know where I would rather stay.

But back at the course for the final round we played in perfect, but windy conditions. Alan shot

the round of the day with 38 but it was-n’t nearly enough to dislodge Sally (35). Lodewijk had some scary moments in pursuit of his 2 tour points but his multi-lingual swearing skills saw him home by a narrow margin and John Ward will be joining his wife in the finals with an ex-cellent come back over the last two rounds to take 5th place and get his 10 tour points. Keeping his head below the parapet David Rob-erts slowly but surely im-proved his position each day to finish in 3rd and Howard Domney finished as he started with a flourish to get 4th place.

Next year we are going to give Mauritius a break as we are off to Naples in Florida, but you can be sure that in 2014 the Awali will be welcoming us again with their smiling faces and excellent service. I am sure that many of the group will return.

Le Paradis

Mauritius—Final Results

The beach at Heritage Awali

1 WARD SALLY 39 38 32 35 144

2 BAXTER ALAN 35 33 34 38 140

3 ROBERTS DAVID 32 27 30 36 125

4 DOMNEY HOWARD 36 23 29 36 124

5 WARD JOHN 28 25 35 33 121

6 SCHLINGEMANN L’WIJK 25 37 30 29 121

7 DIXON KARL 30 26 33 28 117

8 DUXBURY SEAN 28 30 31 28 117

9 MCLAUGHLIN ALAN 31 25 25 34 115

10 FIELDING GWYNNETH 26 31 26 32 115

11 DUXBURY MICHELLE 28 23 27 36 114

12 FIELDING REUBEN 32 20 30 31 113

13 BAXTER ELLIE 32 25 22 30 109

14 ROBERTS MELANIE 30 26 24 29 109

15 SHEPPARD TIM 26 22 27 27 102

16 FULFORD JOHN 24 22 27 26 99

17 VINE RICHARD 20 20 28 29 97

18 DOMNEY HELEN 33 23 1 28 85

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

1 RATCLIFFE NEIL 33 36 40 35 144

2 SHEARAN JOHN 34 41 37 32 144

3 FELL MARTIN 33 30 38 39 140

4 HARRIS JULIE 34 35 34 37 140

5 GENTLE GERRY 31 35 33 37 136

6 HENNEY GEOFF 34 36 37 29 136

7 MCGARVA NEIL 31 33 38 32 134

8 GILLAM NEIL 28 34 36 35 133

9 O'KEEFFE JOHN 38 34 33 25 130

10 SPEAKMAN PAUL 35 32 33 29 129

11 ROTHWELL DAVID 32 26 36 33 127

12 KERR ROBERT 29 36 30 31 126

13 RICHARDSON CHRISTINE 30 35 37 23 125

14 CARTER JACKIE 31 29 35 29 124

15 MEAGHER JOHN 31 33 35 24 123

16 HAYNES BRIAN 29 28 32 33 122

17 KAYE PAUL 31 29 31 30 121

18 BAXTER ALAN 32 26 31 31 120

19 WARD JOHN 25 33 27 34 119

20 TRAFFORD ANTHONY 28 32 28 31 119

1 DALTON NEIL 43 29 32 41 145

2 ROBINSON IAN 33 36 37 39 145

3 CLARKSON CHRIS 39 39 29 37 144

4 HARRIS IAN 33 33 37 34 137

5 FERN ANNE 36 35 27 37 135

6 ROE JANETTE 33 33 33 33 132

7 RAMDEEN ISIAH 30 24 41 33 128

8 GOLDSTEIN HUGH 42 34 27 24 127

9 BRIDGES ANNE 29 29 36 32 126

10 MOSSE LEWIS 33 38 30 25 126

11 BROWN NEIL 31 29 29 36 125

12 VAULKHARD PATRICK 33 30 33 29 125

13 WELLS TONY 27 30 37 30 124

14 TRENTER KEITH 35 30 29 29 123

15 FERN MELVYN 33 24 34 31 122

16 MCGINNES WILLIAM 30 32 29 30 121

17 KLIMCKE SANDIE 25 29 34 32 120

18 VINE RICHARD 34 22 36 28 120

19 O'KEEFFE JEANNIE 31 28 33 28 120

20 DALTON JEAN 30 24 30 35 119

REUBEN RULES THE ROOST IN SPAIN

Greencard last visited the Gerona region several years ago. At that time the group was based in Aigua Blava and travelled to the golf courses each day. The recent development of the Emporda Golf Hotel was an exciting prospect with two excellent courses within a short walk of the reception.

We left Gatwick on a bright sunny morning and landed into Gerona a couple of hours later in heavy cloud! Surely this should have been the other way around? However, our captain assured us that the cloud would burn off during the day and we would be enjoying the sunshine very shortly. There were needless to say a few sceptical faces aboard the happy Thomson Airways flight!

Avid readers of these reports may remember “advanced driver Ian” from Mallorca in April. Well he was back on tour and obviously had been prac-tising his skills as Pauline had now agreed to share a car with the James Baileys! We left the airport in convoy and within minutes came across ADI’s biggest hurdle, roundabouts abroad. After exiting onto the main road we soon realised that this was a step too far, too early with the result being one less car in the convoy!

However, the major change this time was that ADI now had the back up of having an iphone 5 with the new 3d maps and needless to say they beat us to the hotel!

Having arrived at the hotel, the sun had indeed appeared and we decided to have a spot of lunch at the golf club whilst waiting for other Greencard members to arrive. We had only been there a matter of min-utes when a helicopter landed on the first tee, much to the surprise of the four ball about to tee off. I mean golf is hard enough without such interference! We waited for Gerry to climb out as we had heard rumours that he was now safer flying than driving and after all helicopters don’t have wing mirrors so it did make sense! However, it turned out to be nothing to do with Greencard and lunch was resumed.

The programme for the week was two

rounds on each of the Emporda courses, Forest and Links with the final round being held at PGA Cata-lunya.

The opening round on the Forest course was the usual AM AM affair. The course offers a really good test of golf with some lovely holes. The winning team captained by Pauline Crosthwaite and including Neil Bamber, Gerry Gentle and Tony Marshall finished with 112, a clear 7 points ahead of the runners up.

After the welcome cocktail that evening we went to a nearby res-taurant, where Alan’s Spanish was put to the test. We soon came to the conclusion that his version just required an “os” to be added to any word and bingo you are more or less fluent! It obviously worked as we enjoyed the local cuisine and wine. It was a lovely evening and some would agree was a bargain price for the amount consumed.

The following morning we took on the challenge of making the wait-ress smile in breakfast. This was always going to be a tough call and I thought we were making headway but then all our good work went out the window as Claire asked for a cup of coffee! You would think this was a reasonable request at break-fast, but you had to be brave to take on “smile a while”. Anyway having informed Claire that this was not her problem, we realised that we would have to resume our challenge the following day.

Halfway through the week a large group of French golfers arrived and soon breakfast was a busy place, although Caryn had to draw the line when orders for croque monsieurs came through.

After breakfast the sun was shining as we took on the challenge of the Links course. Although more open than the Forest, the Links similarly is a great test and any wayward shots can easily find trouble in the heavy rough or water. Neil Bamber continued his winning form with the days’ best score of 37, a score matched by Reuben Fielding who was one of several players chasing the last few points to qualify for the

Emporda—Final Results 1 Reuben Fielding 37 31 33 34 135

2 Richard Munroe 31 34 31 36 132

3 Pauline Crosthwaite 30 33 35 32 130

4 Tony Marshall 33 27 34 34 128

5 Val Smith 34 31 33 29 127

6 Brian Haynes 29 31 27 38 125

7 Neil Bamber 37 26 34 26 123

8 Simon Draper 27 30 35 30 122

9 Gerry Gentle 33 29 35 24 121

10 Ian James Bailey 32 34 34 19 119

11 Neil Marr 30 29 37 22 118

12 Caryn James Bailey 28 34 36 20 118

13 Anthony Trafford 31 29 30 24 114

14 Stephen Gregson 30 22 29 29 110

15 Linda Whitworth 32 30 21 22 105

Reuben with Pauline Crosthwaite, Val Smith & Tony Marshall at Emporda

finals week in Portugal. Val Smith had a good round with 34, with Gerry and Tony Marshall one point further back.

The second round was played on the Forest course, the first tee here is lo-cated next to a lake which is full of ducks. It must be the duck equivalent to the central underground line in London’s rush hour. Not only that but they wait until the downswing to laugh at you caus-ing many a victim to put their tee shot in the water. Mind you ducks are one thing but trying to tee off over a helicopter on the links course is a totally different ball game. What is it with the Spanish and first tees?

Anyway the ducks didn’t seem to affect Ian and Caryn who both shot an impres-sive 34 points (did we mention that he has the new iphone 5?). Pauline carded a 33 and Reuben, Val and Brian Haynes finished the day with 31. So at the half way stage Reuben with 68 points had a two shot lead over iphone 5. Val was on 65 points and Pauline and Neil were two further back.

The free day allowed more golf at the PGA Cataluyna or the opportunity to ex-plore the area. There are some amazing little villages just a short drive from the

hotel.

The third round was back on the Links course and although it was a dry and warm day the wind had definitely in-creased and would no doubt cause a few problems when judging shots over water. Although this wasn’t the case with “Nice Neil” Marr who shot a tremendous 37 points, his highest Greencard score. Caryn’s form continued with another great round of 36. Simon Draper and Gerry both finished with 35. The leaders had slipped back a little with Reuben scoring 33 and Ian 34. Pauline and Val were still very much in with a chance after 35 and 33.

So into the final round and Reuben had a slender one point lead over ADI and three points over Caryn, Pauline and Val. PGA Catalunya is a tough course in places and coming home with a decent score would not be easy.

Caryn started superbly with four points on the first hole, would this knock Reuben out of his stride. He was still wondering what possessed him to sell his pick up truck and now have to buy another one to replace it, and with his mind not fully on the game this could be his downfall.

Meanwhile Ian didn’t have the strongest start to the round and after playing well all week was searching for an app to help him. Disappointingly it appears that the new iphone only covers rounds one to three. Ian was not the only one to struggle as Caryn’s sandwich burden finally took its toll on her golf. Nice Neil had been celebrating all night after his efforts in round three and his form also took a dive. The door was now well and truly open wide enough for both Reuben and his pick up truck to drive through. He did not disappoint and fin-ished the day with 34 points to take the victory. Pauline’s 32 proved enough to secure the runner’s up spot and qualifica-tion to the finals. However, the best score of the round came from Brian Haynes who needed three points to qualify, he achieved this with a great 38 points, including bird-ies on the 16th and 17th holes.

As we left the hotel on the Saturday the rain came pouring down, we made our way back to the airport having checked out of the hotel with our complementary Allen key as a souvenir from the hotel. We never did manage a smile from the waitress at break-fast. As we approached Gatwick we were told that there were a few clouds but the sun would soon come through…., was this the same captain?

2013 FINAL TOUR POINTS TABLE Martin Fell 5 39 Copt Heath Gerald Gentle 13 24 John O'Gaunt Sally Ward 19 23 Royal Lytham Gung Barrington 23 22 Springfield Alan Baxter 6 20 Mere John Meagher 10 19 Forest Pines Anthony Trafford 14 19 Eaton Pauline Crosthwaite 6 18 Hankley Common Geoffrey Henney 4 18 Aldeburgh John Delaney 6 17 Worsley Neil Gillam 10 17 Wentworth Alan Orritt 9 17 Penwortham Reuben Fielding 11 15 Davenport Neil Ratcliffe 9 15 Horsley Lodge Peter Barrington 16 14 Springfield Neil McGarva 6 14 Kilmacolm Christine Richardson 22 14 Celtic Manor 2010 Brian Haynes 10 13 Sundridge Park Paul Kaye 6 13 Brough Lodewijk Schlingemann 18 13 Moscow C C Paul Speakman 9 12 Workington John Ward 14 12 Anglesey Jackie Carter 14 11 Rufford Park Kathleen Lucey 10 11 Addington Palace Julie Harris 14 10 Domaine Imperial Robert Kerr 9 10 Troon Welbeck John O'Keeffe 12 10 The Wisley David Rothwell 7 10 Shaw Hill John Shearan 6 10 Co Louth Anna Tyrrell 24 10 West Surrey Philip Crossland 14 9 Southport Old Paul Holyhead 13 9 Nelson Oliver Newman 4 9 Delamere

Anthony Ralton 4 9 Hesketh Stephen Gregson 14 8 Tony Marshall 12 8 Wildwood Fiona Rickard 12 8 Wentworth David Roberts 11 8 Northwood Gary Coleman 16 7 Elsham Howard Domney 10 7 Mere Chris Hinvest 9 7 Woburn Inge Kent 17 7 Windlesham Valerie Smith 16 7 Woburn Alan Chlopas 11 6 Tim Elliott 15 6 Hankley Common Barclay Forrest 14 6 Muirfield Hugh Goldstein 19 6 Torksey Ian James Bailey 14 6 Broke Hill Robert Milne 6 6 Simon Newman 5 6 Notts Ian Robinson 7 6 Rufford Park Paula Robinson 14 6 Sandy Lodge Neil Bamber 8 5 Pinheiros Altos Elspeth Baxter 23 5 Mere Ann-Marie Coleman 6 5 Elsham Susan Hill 23 5 La Moye Seamus McConalogue 8 5 Ballyliffin Stuart Munday 13 5 Teignmouth Alistair Walker 7 5 Copt Heath Patricia Whelan 23 5 Paul Wright 15 5 Louise Andrews 23 4 Petersfield Gary Corbett 8 4 Mere Karl Dixon 11 4 Forest Pines Simon Draper 6 4 Woburn Angeles F Bertran 18 4 Santa Maria

Chris Hegarty 8 4 Chorlton/Hardy Roger Lascelles 14 4 Patrick Vaulkhard 18 4 Beeston Fields Paul Borrell 6 3 Holme Hall Anne Bridges 4 3 Birchwood Janette Brown 17 3 Nelson Sean Duxbury 7 3 Shaw Hill Sharon Fell 25 3 Redditch

Godfrey Horsford 12 3 St Ives Caryn James Bailey 28 3 Broke Hill John Shenton 18 3 Congleton Sam Benton 0 2 Barry Birdsall 14 2 Woburn Neil Dalton 12 2 Meon Valley Simon Fisher 17 2 Red Libbitt

Gail Hegarty 11 2 Chorlton/Hardy William McGinnes 15 2 Troon Welbeck Alan McLaughlin 11 2 Braintree John Rushton 8 2 Tytherington Chris Spencer-Phillips 6 2 Rye Rupert Webb 23 2 Wilmslow Irene Agass 27 1 Teignmouth

Anne Archer 10 1 Ipswich Helen Bernard 28 1 Domaine Imperial Gwyneth Fielding 19 1 Davenport June Gauke 20 1 Lincoln Ian Harris 8 1 Domaine Imperial

Neil Marr 18 1 Channipha Sims 13 1 St George's Hill Brian Staines 11 1 Bishop Stortford Paul Traynor 15 1 Ashbourne Jane Twigden 19 1 Woburn

According to Mayan Long Count theory a juxtaposition of certain astronomical bodies will bring about a cataclysmic event of biblical proportions so that the world will end on December 21st 2012. Alternatively it may be a moment of spiritual renewal and the start of a new age of peace and understanding.

Well in the unlikely event that Earth will shortly collide with Nibiru or that the powers that be decide to cancel all world debt I feel we should be planning on 2013 being pretty much business as usual.

In other words there will be endless predictions of Greek default and the collapse of the Euro, imminent war with Iran, imposition of wealth taxes, the continuation of QE and zero interest rates and economic stagnation. The latter will of course continue until such time as the banks are forced to publicly acknowledge the extent of their liabili-ties and if they can’t raise money they should go to the wall. Only then will there be economic green shoots but that’s for another chapter.

Business as usual at Greencard though means more excellent golf holidays in the sun in convivial company on some of the finest fairways in the world. And with that in mind may I highlight a few of the events.

New Year in Thailand

Due to popular demand we changed our venue at New Year from the Dusit in Hua Hin to do a longer three centre tour to the North of Thailand and Phuket. The actual party being at The Chedi in Chiang Mai. This is a fantastic trip but we do acknowledge that at this time of year it is quite expensive. It isn’t a large party but enough to make a bit of a noise on NYE. Space is getting a little tight at the hotels on this trip so please let us know soonest if you are planning to attend.

Cambodia and Hua Hin

This is a repeat of the 2008 tour where we will spend 5 days in Siem Reap pretending to be Raiders of the Lost Ark in the tem-ples of Angkor followed by 9 days on the beach in Hua Hin. This trip is well at-tended and we only have 3 more rooms in Angkor. Flight prices are still very reason-able.

Vietnam

This will be our fourth trip to Vietnam and we feel it combines all the best bits. Sai-gon and its French colonial feel, Dalat their summer mountain retreat and Hoi An, the World Heritage Site on the beach. The golf is simply superb and the culture fascinating. Plenty more space in the hotels but flights are very busy at this time of year being Chinese New Year.

Cape Town and the Garden Route

Another popular trip is our annual pilgrim-age to the Western Cape. This stunningly beautiful part of the world really does have it all. Beautiful scenery, challenging golf courses, delicious food and excellent wines. The hotels on this tour are 4 of the best in Southern Africa and we will of course only be playing the top courses.

If you don’t fancy driving over there we are offering a chauffeured mini bus and so there really is no excuse not to join us.

Abu Dhabi & Dubai

It is 7 long years since we went to Abu Dhabi for the Greencard Finals. We will return to the Beach Towers Rotana which is on the beach but right in town with a back entrance to the shopping mall. The new Yas Links will be in the programme as well as our favourite Abu Dhabi National. After 3 nights here we move over to Dubai for the final 5 nights. Once again we will be playing the best and finishing on the magnificent Majlis at The Emirates. Dubai is not so brash as before and is all the better for that.

Cornelia—Turkey

The reputation oif the Cornelia Diamond strides before it so no need to say much apart from the fact that this all inclusive holiday is now Saturday to Saturday 27th April to 4th May.

Madeira

This is a new destination for us. A beautiful island in the middle of the Atlantic. Portu-gal’s stepping stone to its former colonies. It has two beautiful courses high on the hills above Funchal affording magnificent views over the ocean and islands. There are direct flights from Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, E Midlands, Bristol and Gatwick. The Melia is a lovely hotel on the coast just on the edge of town making it easy to get to restaurants and shopping etc. It’s a first for Greencard so give it a try.

Denmark

One of our first business links was with a Danish golf resort in Jutland. We went there three years running in the early 80’s and it was fabulous. Long summer evenings meant we could play twice a day and the people were so friendly.

Fly into Billund or take the ferry to Esbjerg from Harwich. The courses are magnificent being very similar to fir pine lined Scottish courses such as Blairgowrie.

Co Sligo Links

We have been to Sligo many times in the past and that is no reason not to return. The SAS Radisson is a lovely hotel, perfect for golfers, and the 4 links courses of Strandhill, Enniscrone, Murvagh and Rosses Point are some of the best Irleand has to offer. Fly into Knock from just about anywhere.

Yorkshire and Scotland

These events are pretty self explanatory. The best courses on offer in their area. The events being back to back so that you can have two tournaments in one week.

Sandwich & Bruges

The same principle applies to Sandwich and Bruge. Two tournaments back to back the difference here is that these are in my back-yard and so I can show you some wonderful little country pubs in the area.

Naples, Florida

The name Waldorf Astoria conjures up im-ages of Some Like it Hot with Marilyn Mon-roe and Tony Curtis but this grand old dame is a perfect base for playing some of the best courses in Florida.

The event promises to be a sell out and as tickets go on sale very shortly you would be advised to get your seats now. RM loves a rack of ribs and fries and so he will be your host over there. Enjoy.

AFTER THE END OF THE WORLD

Artist’s representation of the end of the world!

BROCHURE CORRECTIONS

AM I BRITISH OR EUROPEAN? Until I was about 40 years old that would have been an odd question. I was born to British parents and I have a British passport ergo: I am British.

But all is not quite what it would seem. My ancestry dates back to the Domes-day Book and the Norman Conquest. At school I learnt about King Alfred burning the cakes and Ethelred the Unready being… well not quite ready. And Harold getting one in the eye from the French before Henry V gave it back with lumps on at Agincourt.

The English defeated the Spanish Ar-mada and founded the 13 colonies of America. We fought the French in every theatre and gained the greatest Empire ever seen. We squandered a genera-tion in the fields of Flanders and fought Nazi tyranny alone in 1940. (We didn’t actually but that’s a detail).

British inventors changed the world. We invented the steam engine and jet en-gine, the telephone and TV, the nautical clock and radar. My old school alumni, Alan Turing, invented the first program-mable computer and Tim Berners-Lee invented the worldwide web and per-haps the greatest invention of all is the English language. I have long held the theory that one’s ability to think is lim-ited by one’s language. It is no accident that English speakers are the Mothers of Invention.

Hardly surprising then that when they start singing Land of Hope and Glory and Rule Britannia my heart skips a beat and I get a lump in the throat.

But since my hardback blue passport was replaced with a flimsy burgundy affair this old certainty is becoming a little shaky.

I had to raise an eyebrow the other day when the EU was presented with the Nobel Peace Prize. This of course conforms with the propaganda, emanating mostly from Germany, that it is because of the EU that there hasn’t been a European war since 1945, citing that it would now be impossi-ble to imagine France invading Belgium (forgetting of course that a more likely sce-nario would be Germany invading France). Now make of this what you will but I would have thought that a much greater deterrent to war in Europe came from the NATO dic-tum that “an attack on a member state is an attack on all” and it is backed up by an enormous arsenal of nuclear weapons.

But leaving aside any justifications for such a claim it was the timing that really sur-prised me as at the same moment protest-ers in Athens and Madrid were marching through the streets carrying placards de-picting Merkel as Hitler and hurling fire bombs at the police.

In the new Europe museum in Brussels World War II is referred to as the European Civil War and out of the flames rose this Brotherhood of Nations. But it seems to me that this autocratically imposed superstate is far more likely to lead to a real European civil war than if we were all left to our own devices in a Free Trade area with freedom of movement, but critically no Right of Abode.

Whilst I can appreciate that many of the smaller countries in Europe having recently lived under dictatorships or Russian hegem-ony are fearful of going back, it makes much less sense to an Englishman.

History is being rewritten so that our chil-dren no longer derive a sense of patriotism from a shared cultural identity. Immigration is diluting the Anglo Saxon bloodline to such

an extent that by 2050 less than half the population will be able to trace their Brit-ish heritage back beyond 1945.

But am I just an old dinosaur and had I been born a Czech would I see things differently? If one was used to appalling corrupt government, putting one’s faith in a Commission of Europeans might seem appealing. But I wasn’t and so I can’t.

I believe that as individuals our first re-sponsibility is to our families and local communities and that we will always be prepared to do whatever it takes to de-fend them. In modern terminology that more often than not means paying our taxes. Where I think all this is beginning to unravel is that I am not prepared to pay increased taxes to subsidise North African immigrants in Marseille. I don’t share any cultural bond with them. Happily I will not be required so to do, but the Germans and my fellow Brits will be. And therein lies the rub. The only thing that we Euro-peans really share is our passport.

I am minded once again of George Orwell in 1984 when Newspeak was the norm and the world was kept in a permanent state of war between Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. I worry that the creation of “Eurasia” is potentially dangerous for world peace and that any further integra-tion requires a full pan-European public debate about whether the abolition of 27 self determining democracies in favour of a European autocracy is in the best inter-ests of the people or solely the autocrats. Full European integration shouldn’t just be about saving the Euro. Decapitation might well cure a headache but it may not be in the best interests of the patient.

I would also be much happier if the BBC was allowed no part in the debate.

According to Lewis there are more than 50 typographical errors in the brochure. I haven’t had time to find them all but here are the salient corrections.

Turkey Saturday to Saturday No sooner had we launched the brochure than it quickly became clear that flights to Antalya on Saturday were considerably cheaper than on Sunday. So the dates are 27th April to 4th May at the superb Corne-lia Diamond All Inclusive 5 star hotel.

Scotland Price Increase For our Scottish event we booked a pack-age of green fees to play at 3 courses, it was only after they confirmed the actual times in September that we were informed that the start times at Western Gailes had to be after 2pm. Hence we have had to renegotiate and the price has sadly risen £20 to £799.

Madeira Another little tweak here to make this event Monday to Monday that suits more UK airports than Sunday to Sunday as per the brochure. So make a note that it is now 21st to 28th May.

Co Sligo It says in the brochure that Co Sligo is from 7—11 Jul, Sun—Fri. That should of course be 7th to 12th July.

Did You Get Your Copy We sent out the brochures last month. If you didn’t get your copy please don’t hesi-tate to contact us on 01249 821507 or e mail richard@greencardgolf.co.uk.

Remember our address is 3 (not 4) Pages Yard, Church Street, London W4 2PA.

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Richard and I have once again really enjoyed our year travelling in your com-pany. I am sure you will all join me in wishing Richard & Lynne much happi-ness for the future when they marry in early March. The highlight of the year for me was the amazing camaraderie on display at my birthday party.

It is this more than anything else that spurs us on each year. Working with such an amazing clientele has been and always will be a pleasure.

Merry Christmas and health and pros-perity to you all in 2013.