The

River Cloud Results—Full Handicap 1 KLIMCKE SANDIE 35 41 32 34 142

2 PEIFER LEN 35 35 35 32 137

3 HARRIS JULIE 30 31 35 36 132

4 QUINN PETER 25 40 35 32 132

5 TURTON PETER 33 36 34 29 132

6 TRAFFORD ANTHONY 30 36 39 25 130

7 DANGERFIELD NEIL 33 34 26 34 127

8 KLIMCKE SIMON 29 39 33 26 127

9 HARRIS IAN 25 28 34 32 119

10 HUDSON DI 26 32 30 31 119

11 BARKER MALCOLM 30 28 29 29 116

12 SINGLETON MIKE 23 33 37 23 116

13 BICHARD JOAN 29 30 26 29 114

14 WEBSTER MARY 28 27 28 30 113

15 JAGGER JOHN 28 33 22 29 112

16 CROSSLAND DENISE 28 30 27 26 111

17 LE MAISTRE JANE 26 34 20 30 110

18 QUINN MICHELLE 24 30 27 27 108

19 BACH KIKI 25 33 23 26 107

20 LONG JOSIE 23 30 26 21 100

with wine and beer and set of for the little island. On arrival our handsome oarsman took off his shirt and went for a swim. A highlight of the week for the girls I think.

In Round Three Gerry consoli-dated his position with 36 to put himself 11 shots clear of Anne. Simon Fisher finally found some form with 34 and Sue Hill en-joyed her day with 33.

So the final round was all about who would come second, with Christine, Anne and Kathleen all within a point of each other. After an interminable round fol-lowing a group of Slovenian and Russian businessmen playing a big money match we were all exhausted in the heat.

The scores were all quite close but Anne took second with 34 and Kathleen secured third place with 30. Christine faded but still did enough to gain her place in the finals.

All in all it was an excellent week and I know that we will be back in Bled before long. But next year we feel like returning to our Geencard roots in Denmark in the June slot. Keep an eye on the website for details.

Lake Bled nestles high in the Julian Alps. An idyllic little town with a medieval castle perched on the soaring cliffs on one side of the lake, a picture postcard island with a church in the mid-dle of the lake and all over-looked by Tito’s villa on the far bank. No motor boats are al-lowed and the scene remains tranquil and serene. This is especially true if it is bathed in sunshine. For our week in Slo-venia the temperatures never dipped below 24C and finished the week in the 30’s. The course was in superb condition and all was set for a perfect week.

The main disappointment was that we were only a small party, this was partly due to the Euro Football and more importantly the withdrawal of the direct flight from Manchester. But nevertheless our little party stuck together and we spent some wonderful evenings din-ing together by the lake.

For our first round we played the usual Am Am in teams of three. Gerry Gentle’s team of Anne Tilbury and Shirley Darrah

romped home by five shots. A cursory glance at Gerry’s score showed a stunning 43 points which guaranteed a one shot cut before the competition. This news wasn’t received with over-whelming joy but was graciously accepted.

So the competition got under way and in round one it was Anne Tilbury who played brilliantly for 36 points beating Kathleen Lu-cey by 1 shot. Christine Richard-son was third on 34.

Round Two was on the Lakes and Gerry shot a magnificent 39 points and put paid to any more discussion of his handicap. Anne was runner up on 33 and Kath-leen shot 31.

On the Free Day many of us went into Ljubljana for a walking tour. This picturesque little town is one of Europe’s newest capitals. Our guide gave us a good tour of the town and Slovenia’s history, per-haps slightly glossing over their role in the break up of Yugoslavia but she was very informative.

In the evening we got a boatman to row a kind of gondola out to the church. We loaded his boat

Anne Tilbury with Gerry Gentle, Christine Richardson & Kathleen Lucey at Lake Bled

GERRY GENTLE COASTS HOME IN BLED

C o n t e n t s

Tour Points 2

Ireland 3

Yorkshire 4

Carnoustie 5

2013 Lots of Links

6 & 7

Arrest the

Decline

11

Grand Finals Quinta do Lago

11

Have I Got NewZ for You

8, 9 & 10

Last Chance to Qualify

7

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

S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 2 V o l u m e 4 , I s s u e 3

In Th is Issue

Lake Bled

Ireland

Yorkshire

Carnoustie

2013 Brochure

New Zealand

Research

Grand Finals

Venue

Lake Bled Results—Stableford

1 Gerry Gentle 31 39 36 32 138

2 Anne Tilbury 36 33 25 34 128

3 Kathleen Lucey 35 31 27 30 123

4 Christine Richardson 34 30 31 25 120

5 Paula Robinson 26 30 29 30 115

6 Susan Hill 27 25 33 29 114

7 Shirley Darrah 25 25 28 33 111

8 Roger Lascelles 30 24 30 27 111

9 John Shenton 26 25 28 31 110

10 Simon Fisher 19 22 34 30 105

11 Richard Vine 22 24 24 29 99

12 Margaret Shenton 22 24 19 15 80

P a g e 2

after a good tee and second shot on the par 5 18th he slightly pulled his approach into a difficult lie in the rough. His next shot then found sand, after escaping from here his putt rolled agonisingly wide of the hole. It would be a blob that would later prove to cost him a place at the finals as he missed sixth place by a single point. However, it was a tremendous round of 37 points and I am sure he will gain the extra point before October. Meanwhile coming to the final holes it was now clear that Martin was not having the best of days and had fallen behind Neil and John.

It was now between “Bath Tub

John” and Neil. Both hit good drives on the final hole before “BTJ” hit the green with his second shot which would secure his birdie. Neil man-aged to par the hole and when the cards were handed in both players, off a handicap of 5 had shot a tre-mendous 35 points. An excellent effort by both but it was John who came out on top after countback.

Martin would eventually finish in fourth place with John Delaney’s 33 points securing him third. Jackie was indeed the leading lady.

Our congratulations to John Shearan, Neil McGarva and John Delaney who all qualified for the finals week at the end of October at Quinta do Lago.

Ireland Results—Stableford

THE RACE TO QUINTA DO LAGO AFTER SCOTLAND

1 SHEARAN JOHN 28 31 36 35 130

2 MCGARVA NEIL 27 34 34 35 130

3 DELANEY JOHN 33 34 27 33 127

4 FELL MARTIN 36 30 35 25 126

5 ROBINSON IAN 26 28 29 33 116

6 MCCONALOGUE SEAMUS 30 25 31 30 116

7 CROSSLAND PHIL 24 23 31 37 115

8 CARTER JACKIE 24 33 28 29 114

9 DALTON NEIL 25 25 31 32 113

10 TRAYNOR PAUL 26 28 21 34 109

11 TRAFFORD ANTHONY 33 27 23 24 107

12 MUNROE RICHARD 23 26 28 29 106

13 WARD JOHN 20 28 21 31 100

14 WARD SALLY 18 26 26 30 100

15 STEWART PAT 27 24 31 18 100

16 VAULKHARD PATRICK 23 19 28 25 95

17 DALTON JEAN 16 26 28 23 93

18 FELL SHARON 19 29 22 18 88

19 MOIR CAROLYN 16 25 22 21 84

20 CROSSLAND LINDA 13 15 23 28 79

Martin Fell 5 39 Copt Heath

Gung Barrington 23 22 Springfield

Gerald Gentle 13 21 John O'Gaunt

John Meagher 10 19 Forest Pines

Anthony Trafford 14 19 Eaton

Geoffrey Henney 4 18 Aldeburgh

John Delaney 6 17 Worsley

Neil Gillam 10 17 Wentworth

Alan Orritt 10 17 Penwortham

Neil Ratcliffe 7 15 Horsley Lodge

Peter Barrington 16 14 Springfield

Neil McGarva 6 14 Kilmacolm

Christine Richardson 22 14

Paul Kaye 6 13 Brough

Sally Ward 19 13 Royal Lytham

Paul Speakman 9 12 Workington

Alan Baxter 6 11 Mere

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

Anna Tyrrell 26 10 West Surrey

Philip Crossland 14 9 S’port Old Links

Pauline Crosthwaite 6 9 Hankley Common

Paul Holyhead 13 9 Nelson

Oliver Newman 4 9 Delamere Antony Ralton 4 9 Hesketh

Paula Robinson 14 6 Sandy Lodge

John Ward 14 6 Anglesey

Elspeth Baxter 23 5 Mere

Ann-Marie Coleman 6 5 Elsham

Reuben Fielding 11 5 Davenport

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

Angeles Bertran 18 4 Santa Maria Chris Hegarty 8 4 Chorlton/Hardy

Irene Agass 27 1 Teignmouth

Anne Archer 10 1 Ipswich

Helen Bernard 28 1 Domaine Imperial

June Gauke 20 1 Lincoln

Ian Harris 8 1 Domaine Imperial

Channipha Sims 13 1 St George's Hill

Brian Staines 11 1 Bishop Stortford

Paul Traynor 15 1 Ashbourne

Jane Twigden 19 1 Woburn

Chris Hinvest 9 7 Woburn

Inge Kent 17 7 Windlesham

Alan Chlopas 11 6

Tim Elliott 15 6 Hankley Common

Barclay Forrest 14 6 Muirfield

Hugh Goldstein 19 6 Torksey

Robert Milne 6 6

Simon Newman 5 6 Notts

Ian Robinson 7 6 Rufford Park

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

John Rushton 8 2 Tytherington

Chris S-Phillips 6 2 Rye

Rupert Webb 23 2 Wilmslow

Stephen Gregson 14 8

Fiona Rickard 12 8 Wentworth

Lodewijk Schlingemann 18 8 Moscow C Club

Gary Coleman 16 7 Elsham

Brian Haynes 10 7 Sundridge Park

Ian James Bailey 14 4 Broke Hill

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

Sharon Fell 25 3 Redditch

Godfrey Horsford 12 3 St Ives

Caryn James Bailey 28 3 Broke Hill

John Shenton 18 3 Congleton

Name Hcp Points Club Name Hcp Points Club Name Hcp Points Club

Cont from Page 3… (above) Co Louth GC

Seamus & John Shearan stand on the step below so as not to tower over Glen and Jackie

P a g e 3

John Shearan, Jackie Carter & Neil McGarva at Co Louth Golf Club

JOHN SHEARAN COMFORTABLE AT HOME

This time last year I took a quick trip over to Dublin to research Knightsbrook Golf resort and the surrounding courses for the 2012 calendar. We already knew that Co Louth was a quality course but we wanted to check the other three courses and ho-tel. It quickly became evident that the combination of Killeen Castle, home of the recent Solheim Cup, Headfort New, Knightsbrook together with Co Louth would provide an excellent test of golf.

The weather was very pleasant during my brief stay in Dublin and I remember think-ing that it would make a real difference to these courses if the sun was to shine. Twelve months on and with the rain still hammering down across the UK on a daily basis, it was with some apprehension that I boarded my flight to Dublin! The forecast wasn’t too bad but rain was, it seemed, inevitable and needless to say that the brolly was safely packed in the golf bag well before the 3 wood!

It was with some surprise then that the shades were needed for the first time in several weeks for the drive from the air-port to the hotel. As the sun set we won-dered if we were about to have a sun drenched week. The following morning we were half correct in that we all got thor-oughly drenched! Although we delayed the start by a couple of hours to try and avoid the worst of the weather, we headed off from the first tee knowing that playing Killeen Castle in perfect conditions would provide a good test so the conditions would only serve to make things tougher. The scores in general reflected this thought, however, there were some excep-tions with four players scoring 30 and above. The best score of the day came from Martin Fell with 36. John Delaney

and Traff both had 33 with Seamus just behind with 30.

The second round was held at Headfort New, this is a great course with water coming into play on the majority of holes. It did seem for a while that the rain may not be as heavy as the previous day but unfortunately this did not prove to be the case and for the second con-secutive day the majority of the round was played in the wet.

Nevertheless there are some wonderful holes on this course and the feeling amongst most was that they would love to return to play in better conditions. This time five players made the 30 mark with Neil McGarva top of the tree, on count back, with 34, a score matched by John Delaney. Jackie Carter had a great round with 33. John Shearan had a bet-ter round with 31, Martin scored 30.

At the half way stage John Delaney had a slender one shot lead over Martin. Neil McGarva was five further back in third place. Jackie was still leading lady by eight points.

With this being a four day event there is no free day and so the third round took place the following day at Knights-brook. This time we awoke to more promising skies with the forecast telling us that although rain was due it was not planned until 2pm. Hope mounted amongst the ranks that a dry round was now a possibility. Although essentially a resort course, Knightsbrook has recently held the junior Solheim Cup and with all the rain it was playing its full length pro-viding a good test of golf. As we ap-proached the 18th hole the sky was turning a definite shade of black and the final couple of groups did catch the be-

ginning of what turned out to a heavy downpour for a couple of hours. Local boy John Shearan finally found some form and came in with the day’s best score of 36. Martin had another solid round finish-ing with 35. Neil still had ambitions of taking the title with a score of 34. Mean-while John Delaney’s challenge wilted slightly with a 27 which dropped him down to fourth place.

As John Shearan came off the final green he had quite a steamy confrontation with a fellow Irishman, not part of our group about the best place to park a buggy. Whilst we struggled to understand most of the conversation it was clear that Mr Shearan was less than happy. However, it was suggested that a couple of cokes and a bath would help calm him down as a big day lay ahead.

So as the final round approached at Co Louth, Martin had a commanding 6 shot lead over John and Neil. However, there was more drama happening off the golf course, as rumours were mounting that John Shearan had actually got stuck in his bath. With our local boy possibly out of the equation this would leave the door open for Martin, Neil and John Delaney to battle it out for the win.

The length of time it took John to escape from his bath was never revealed to the public. At this time no foul play can be confirmed but the search is still on for an Irishman driving a buggy erratically around the area and parking in strange places. Anyway the main thing is that he made his tee time and if nothing else was extremely clean!

So with the drama off the course sorted out the focus turned back to events on the course. The weather had improved again and there was a hint of blue in the sky as we headed out on this wonderful links. John Shearan and Neil made solid starts to the day but Martin was not playing to his usual high standard which gave the chas-ing pack the initiative. There were also moves happening further down the leader-board, noticeably with Phil Crossland being 2 over gross at at the turn and having 24 points on his card at the half way stage. Phil needed to finish sixth overall or better to qualify for the finals. Jackie playing with Seamus and John Delaney looked to have the leading lady spot secured after a good front nine.

As the field headed down the back nine there were several stories still to un-fold. The first of these belonged to Phil who had had a solid 8 holes coming home,

Continued Page 2 ……...

John Shearan, Jackie Carter & Neil McGarva at Co Louth Golf Club

Marshall was just one point back and this was followed by a three shot gap to Brian Haynes in third.

The following day the average score in the field had increased but the best remained at 33 points. Linda Crossland was all but an inch from recording a wonderful hole in one, I believe it was an arrowed 3 iron which rattled the pin!

However, the day belonged to Carol Jones on her first Greencard event and Alan McLaughlin who shared the top spot. At the half way mark Alan was leading the field on 62 points with Brian, Lewis and Tony all hot on his heels with 60.

The sun was still shining and the temperature was still rising as we teed off on the Sunday morn-ing. The scores dramatically im-proved with over half the field shooting over 30. However, it was Geoff Bickerton playing off a handicap of 3 who came into form with 36 points. Brian continued to play well and finished the day on 35. Lindsey Parker shot 34 and was enough to secure her spot in the final four ball in the last round.

So as we began the last round Brian held a slender two shot ad-vantage over Lindsey and three shots over Geoff and Tony.

Bowood is a course where you really cannot relax on any hole. You really do have to play well to achieve a good score

here. Despite some horrendous lies in the bunkers Geoff battled away and showed just why he is playing off 3. His 36 points was well de-served but Brian ensured that the door was firmly closed as he carded par upon par. His final round of 40 points really was excellent to watch and despite the pressure, by the 17th the tournament winner had all but been decided.

Our congratulations to Brian who qualifies for the Greencard Finals in October at the wonderful Monte da Quinta in Portugal. Geoff Bickerton eventually finished in second place with Lindsey Parker taking third spot. Carol Jones' great round of 41 points on the last day was enough to secure fifth.

Thanks to all who attended the event. The overall feedback for the hotel and golf setup at Bowood was very positive and we hope to revisit in the near future.

It has been many years since the Greencard Tour visited Bowood, indeed since our last event there much has changed. The problem in the past was the question of where to stay, as hotels within easy reach really are limited.

However, there is now a wonderful hotel and spa on site which al-lowed us to return. The layout of this fabulous course in the grounds of Bowood House course has been altered as the order the two nines are played have been reversed. This Dave Thomas de-sign laid out in beautiful Capability Brown parkland, has already gained a very good reputation.

As always with the UK events you are wary of the forecast as the date approaches. In this instance we really couldn't have timed it better, we enjoyed glorious weather for the four days and the only time an umbrella was seen was to protect its owner against the sun!

With our shorter events we miss out the AM AM and head straight into the main competition. We decided to play the course from the white tees which gave the men a testing 6890 yards to negoti-ate. The ladies par was 75 but again was a good distance at a touch over 6000 yards.

The scores on the first round were reasonably low with the highest being just 33. This belonged to Lewis Mosse who was again find-ing his form after an excellent 2010 on the Greencard Tour. Tony

P a g e 4

“The food was excellent, but with over one hundred and forty covers and only one chef there was an hour and a half wait. Even those who take 5 hours to play a round of holes of golf were complaining!”

Jackie Carter, Julie Harris and Chicken Orrit at Fulford .

JULIE HARRIS OUTPACES THE CHICKEN

York Results—Stableford

The first part of our UK Greencard tour this year took us to York, this would be a three round event and include rounds at York, Ganton and finally Fulford. After the rather wet summer it did seem odds on that rain would play a part in affairs, waterproofs were packed and at the ready. How-ever, when we arrived for the first round at York GC we were pleas-antly surprised to find the sun shining and seemingly set fair for the next few days.

The course was reasonably tight in places and although requiring a degree of accuracy from the tee it was not the longest by any means and the scores reflected this with over two thirds of the field reach-ing 30 points and above. Julie Harris and Jackie Carter led the way with 39, one ahead of debu-tant Hugh Patterson. Gary Cole-man and the ever reliable Neil Ratcliffe came in with 37.

After the welcome cocktail the majority of the group headed to the recommended pub opposite the hotel. The food was excellent, however, their usual number of covers for a weekday is around the forty mark, this night they hit over one hundred and forty covers and still had the one chef! The result was an hour and a half wait from ordering to receiving and at times even those who take over 5 hours to play eighteen holes of golf were complaining!

The following day we awoke to

more sunshine and this is exactly how we hoped the weather would be when playing Ganton. It is one of golf’s historical shrines, a wonderful course and a reputation that stretches around the world. It has played host in the past to the Ryder Cup, Walker Cup and Curtis Cup and after playing nine holes you realise why it was selected! The bunkers are severe and placed in such a manner that one may think they have hit a decent drive only to dis-cover the ball against the face of yet another bunker! Patience, skill and perseverance are essential in ensur-ing a good score. The scores re-flected just how tough this course is with only 7 players from a field of 43 managing to break 30 points and 15 wasn’t a low enough number to prop up the field! However, amid all of this Julie Harris continued her form with a tremendous 36 points, Alan Orritt was the closest con-tender with 33.

After two rounds Julie Harris held a six point lead from Neil Ratcliffe. John Meagher was two further back and Alan’s solid performance at Ganton was enough to secure his place in the final fourball.

The final round was held at Fulford Golf Club. Another lovely course which has hosted the British Mas-ters and famously was the venue of Bernard Langer’s tree shot on the 17th hole. The sun continued to shine and the course in comparison to the previous day was very play-able, I anticipated the scores would

be somewhat higher. Anne Marie Coleman topped the day with a su-perb 41 playing off a 6 handicap. Congratulations to Jackie Carter who finished just one point back on 40, which was to prove enough to secure qualification to the finals week in October.

Our attention now turned to the final group, as news had filtered through that Alan Orritt was on one of his famous “chicken runs” and had Julie in the headlights. John wasn’t hav-ing one of his better days and sur-prisingly Neil was a little too far back to threaten the lead coming in to the final couple of holes. Despite Alan’s best efforts and a tremendous 40 points, Julie’s 34 proved enough to clinch the victory by 3 shots. Jackie finished third and another 37 from Gary Coleman gave him fourth place.

Our congratulations to Julie on a great victory and Alan who second place gave him enough tour points to join Julie and Jackie at the finals.

1 HARRIS JULIE 39 36 34 109

2 ORRITT ALAN 33 33 40 106

3 CARTER JACKIE 39 26 40 105

4 COLEMAN GARY 37 29 37 103

5 RATCLIFFE NEIL 37 32 34 103

6 COLEMAN ANNE MARIE 31 29 41 101

7 SPEAKMAN PAUL 31 31 37 99

8 WARD SALLY 35 25 37 97

9 VAULKHARD PATRICK 31 29 37 97

10 HARRIS IAN 28 32 36 96

11 ROBINSON IAN 33 29 34 96

12 MCGARVA NEIL 35 28 33 96

13 DALY TONY 33 23 38 94

14 TRAFFORD ANTHONY 36 24 34 94

15 FIELDING REUBEN 30 32 32 94

16 ABBOTT PETER 36 25 32 93

17 MEAGHER JOHN 36 31 25 92

18 RALTON TONY 32 28 31 91

19 FELL MARTIN 32 28 31 91

20 MIDDLE ALAN 28 29 32 89

21 ANDREWS LOUISE 30 22 36 88

22 SUMNER PETER 30 27 31 88

23 FELL SHARON 34 22 30 86

24 PATTERSON HUGH 38 19 29 86

25 STOCK BRYAN 29 25 31 85

noon, which was fine. However, there was a sea mist which although had lifted slightly by the time we started teeing off, made play very difficult for the first six holes or so. Once the mist had lifted com-pletely and we could see where we were playing the wind then picked up! The last five holes are brutal on the championship course, particularly when it is windy. The 18th hole which looks so easy from the hotel is so tough having to cross water twice, out of bounds on the left and the wind directly against! Few made it to the green in regulation and others definitely followed the example left by Van de Velde!

The feeling in the clubhouse was that it was between Martin and Neil, and as the final group made its way to the 18th green, it was apparent both had visited the burn. Neil needed to get up and down to force a tie but his putt drifted wide and Martin took the victory by a single point. As a consolation Neil did have the best score of the day with 33, only three players broke 30 and one of those Sam Benton was playing off a scratch handicap, which shows how well Neil played. Paul Speak-man finished in third place with Inge tak-ing fourth. Congratulations to Martin for a well deserved win.

The second part of our UK tour this year was to Carnoustie. Several of the group travelled up from York to Scotland, the views on the drive were spectacular at times and the duration was a touch over five hours. Although the golf courses are very much the focal point in Carnoustie there were one or two places to eat in the eve-ning but all in all it is certainly a sleepy town. Having said that we were there for the golf and we very much hoped the good weather from York would continue. The order of play would be the Buddon, Burnside, Moni-fieth with the final round on the cham-pionship course.

The Buddon is by far the shortest of the three courses at Carnoustie, there used to be eight par 3’s on this course but the addition of a new club-house resulted in the opening hole being reduced from a par 4 to a par 3. The course planners and gps devices were still showing this as a par 4 which caused some confusion. This was displayed in no finer manner than by Tony Williams who, having programmed in his gps, looked at Paul Borrell in disbelief at the opening par 3 measuring some 380 yards declaring that he didn’t have a club or a shot for that distance. It was only after Paul had explained that it was taking the distance from where he was standing, in the practise area rather than the tee that Mr Williams relaxed a little!

In actual fact only five players from the field of 46 managed to hit the first green! However, things improved as

the scores were reasonably high with Mar-tin Fell and Kathleen Lucey leading the way, each scoring 39 points. Paul Speak-man and Robert Milne were one shot back, while Neil Ratcliffe found his form again with a solid 37, a score matched by John Meagher.

The second round took place on the Burn-side course, although overshadowed by its illustrious neighbour the course has some great holes and is good test of golf. The par 3 fifth hole which is surrounded by water on three sides and the tough par 4 17th hole are particularly challenging. However, the scoring was still high with Neil Ratcliffe carding 39 points. The near-est challenge came from Martin Fell and Neil Dalton both with 36. Oli Newman, Linda Worth, Paul Speakman and Paul Wright all finished with 33.

At the half way stage Neil had a one shot lead over Martin, Paul Speakman was a further four points back. The following day we took the short journey over to Monifieth for the third round. The course was in tremendous condition and looked stunning when the sun came out and blue skies were overhead. Martin Fell shot one of the best rounds of his Greencard career as he came home with 41 points. Robert Milne had the second best score of the day with 36 and Neil continued his good form with 35. Inge Kent who was back on Tour fin-ished with 34, a score matched by Brian Staines. So with one round to go it seemed to be a shoot-out between Martin and Neil.

The final round took place on the Car-noustie championship course, the weather forecast showed rain coming in late after-

MARTIN FELL GETS SECOND WIN IN 2012

Paul Speakman, Martin Fell, Neil Ratcliffe and Inge Kent at Carnoustie

Carnoustie Results—Stableford

1 FELL MARTIN 39 36 41 29 145

2 RATCLIFFE NEIL 37 39 35 33 144

3 SPEAKMAN PAUL 38 33 33 29 133

4 KENT INGE 34 29 34 29 126

5 MILNE ROBERT 38 30 36 22 126

6 WRIGHT PAUL 29 33 31 32 125

7 MEAGHER JOHN 37 32 32 22 123

8 LUCEY KATHLEEN 39 29 32 22 122

9 BENTON SAM 28 30 32 31 121

10 STAINES BRIAN 33 30 34 24 121

11 NEWMAN OLIVER 32 33 26 28 119

12 ROBINSON IAN 33 32 27 26 118

13 COLEMAN A-MARIE 30 26 33 28 117

14 MCGARVA NEIL 33 25 32 27 117

15 WYER ANGELA 36 28 30 23 117

16 FELL SHARON 31 26 29 29 115

17 ANDREWS LOUISE 31 32 28 24 115

18 FERN MELVYN 28 29 32 25 114

19 WORTH LINDA 36 33 26 19 114

20 SUMNER PETER 35 25 32 21 113

21 WILLIAMS TONY 30 32 26 24 112

22 DALTON NEIL 22 36 30 24 112

23 MUNROE RICHARD 28 24 33 25 110

24 BORRELL PAUL 28 29 29 24 110

25 PEPPER KEVIN 28 32 28 22 110

LET’S DO EL ROMPIDO

£499

FINALISTS FLIGHTS WILL NOT BE IN-CLUDED IN 2011

We have reluctantly decided that the flights to the Grand Finals in 2011 will not be included in the winners’ package. The reasons are quite simply cost. The price of tak-ing golf clubs alone is now over £50 on many airlines and when you throw in some hold luggage the flights are costing nearly £200.

We feel it would be better to im-prove the quality of the accommoda-tion and for this reason Finalists will receive a larger voucher that will enable them to stay in the hotel in future and if they choose the apart-ments they will receive the balance towards the cost of their flights. We believe this will enable us to offer everyone a better Finals Week.

2013—LOTS OF LINKS

Although Hua Hin has expanded quite rapidly it is still a wonderful resort with superb golf courses.

The Best of Vietnam We love Vietnam. Whilst a close neighbour to Thailand the ambience is totally different. For a start Vietnam is 10 years behind in development. The buzz in Saigon as everyone scrambles for a piece of the action is contagious. This is a country on the move and the only way is Up. We are only spending 3 nights in Saigon as many of us have already been there but if you haven’t been we would recommend an extra night or two.

From there it is a short flight up to Da-lat, the mountain retreat of the old French colonialists. The cool air is a welcome respite from sultry Saigon and the Dalat Palace and nearby golf course are a throwback to a bygone era. Plenty to do there on the Free Day with the old train, waterfall, pagoda etc.

But now back down to the beach and the impossibly quaint little town of Hoi An with its abundance of restaurants and bars and tailors. The Victoria gives us rooms right on the beach. Go to sleep and awake to the sound of the waves breaking on the beach. Plus of course two superb championship courses.

Cape Town & the Garden Route Well we’ve been to the Western Cape many times and each time we go we are reminded that there are few golf desti-nations that come close to South Africa. Hardly surprising that the first Europe-ans to land here proclaimed it God’s country and settled. From The Vineyard Hotel in the shadow of Table Mountain and the V & A Waterfront we travel slowly along the garden route stopping at Arabella near Hermanus and then on to George and the Hyatt at Oubaai be-fore finishing at their illustrious neighbour Fancourt. There is just so much to do there: Visit the Cape and see the baboons, zebra and penguins on the way. Take a boat out to Robben Island or a cable care up the mountain. Drive out to Stellenbosch or Franschoek for a spot of wine tasting and lunch or

just play more golf. The hotels are first class and the wine and food second to none. If you have never been don’t be put off by stories of violence. We don’t go near the townships and although Johannesburg has a bad reputation Cape Town is far more civilised.

Abu Dhabi & Dubai We have only once been to Abu Dhabi, for the Finals in 2005, and it was pro-nounced one of the best trips we have done. Whilst the Beach Rotana no longer enjoys the views it had because of development it is still a lovely hotel on the beach and in town. Loads of restaurants and a shopping mall right behind. But the best news in Dubai is the development of Yas Links. To-gether with the fabulous Abu Dhabi national this is a superb destination. But a week there might be a bit too much so we are going to split the time with 4 nights in Dubai at our old favour-ite the Al Bustan. We will arrange a game of golf on the transfer day so that the 90 mins journey is nicely broken.

Cornelia Diamond in Turkey The Gloria has been good to us but the hotel was built in the 90’s and their continual additions mean that it now feels more crowded than before. The up and coming resort on the Belek coast is now the Cornelia Diamond. A five star all inclusive venue with its own 27 hole Faldo golf course. In addition to the rounds there we will also play Cayra and Kaya Eagles during the week. Being all inclusive makes the trip a little more expensive but of course the only spending money you will need is a beer after the games away from home.

Madeira This is a name that has come up many times in the past. I never did it before because we were always looking to fill a March or April spot and the weather at that time of year in this mid Atlantic island can be decidedly soggy. But by May the area around Funchal is almost dry with pleasant day time temps of around 24C. Two golf courses, Santo de Serra and Palheiro, in the hills

For 2013 we have come up with a pro-gramme that offers several new venues and a fresh approach to some of the older ones. As always we try to play the best courses but at the same time keeping an eye on the cost. Whilst we all like nice hotels, we need to keep a balance. Given that we spend a large amount of the day on the course, to spend large sums on accommodation when we are hardly ever in it is a little pointless. Our policy has always been to go for slightly more modest hotels on the short trips where we play every day, good hotels where we have a free day or two and top hotels on long haul. After all whilst it would be great to have a Ritz Carlton or Four Seasons at every venue we also need to attract competi-tors for without a good field the events lose appeal.

So with this in mind we would like to present the 2013 programme. Most of it is already on the website but one or two events are waiting for a price or date to be confirmed.

Thailand for New Year After 5 years we were conscious that the Dusit Hua Hin’s New Year Party had reached its sell by date. New Year always poses a problem because flights are so expensive. The choice of venues is really quite limited if we want guaranteed good weather. So we opted to stay with Thailand but this time combining a week in the North at Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai followed by a week in Phuket.

The cooler climate in the North allows you to acclimatise before finishing with a week on the beautiful Nai Yang beach, just a drive a flick from Blue Canyon.

Angkor Wat and Hua Hin Following on from Phuket we felt that it was time to return to Cambodia and Siem Reap. Since our visit in 2008 they have opened 2 more courses mak-ing it a top class golf destination as well as the world famous home to the Temples of Angkor. After 5 nights in Cambodia we fly down to Bangkok and on to Hua HIn for our traditional 9 night break in Hua Hin at the Dusit Thani.

LET’S DO EL ROMPIDO

£499 AND BEAUTIFUL BEACHES

Co Sligo, Ireland We just love links golf and although we have been to Sligo many times in the past we feel it is always worth returning and this year we will be playing four courses— Strandhill, Enniscrone, Murvagh and Rosses Point. As ever staying in the SAS Radisson just outside town. Fly to Knock from almost anywhere and be prepared for some superb golf.

Three UK Events The success of this year’s back to back in Yorkshire and Scotland made us feel that this formula would be worth repeating and so this time in Yorkshire we will be basing ourselves in Leeds and playing Ilkley, Moortown and Alwoodley—three of Alastair Mackenzie’s finest. We will stay at the nearby De Vere Village hotel.

After that get back in the car and set off for the Ayrshire coast and a real gem in-cludng Royal Troon, Dundonald and Glas-gow and Western Gailes.

Club Sandwich I grew up a bicycle ride from Royal Cinque Ports at Deal and often caddied there. I got the sack for laughing when a pom-pous gentleman got out of his Rolls Royce and hit his tee shot on the first into the ladies’ tee box and the ball flew back over our heads and landed on the 18th green.

I handed him his putter but he didn’t see the joke. I have always wanted to run an event on this delightful corner of the Kent coast and now we can because there is finally an hotel close by. The Lodge at Prince’s has been restored from the burnt out remains of the old clubhouse and has a combination of rooms and apartments and a superb restaurant.

We will start on the first Wednesday of September at Royal Cinque Ports and have dinner at The Lodge and then play Royal St George’s and have dinner in the Clubhouse before the final round at Prince’s.

Royal Golf in Belgium, Bruges Following immediately on from the Sand-wich event we will cross the channel to play at Royal Zoute, Royal Ostende, Royal Latem and Damme CC basing ourselves in the beautiful city of Bruges. All just an hour from Calais. Another superb double header where you can play either one or both of the events.

Naples, Florida Our final big event of the year will be in Naples, Florida. Details are still being finalised but it will be in early October staying at the Inn at Pelican Bay close to some superb restaurants and shopping at very close to the beach.

above Funchal give stunning views of the surrounding area. Designers Trent Jones and Cabell Robinson have ensured top quality golf.

Jutland, Denmark Back in the very early days of Green-card we formed a relationship with a Country Club in Jutland called Him-merlands. Each year we travelled over by DFDS ferry from Harwich and played a week of superb golf whilst staying in their A Frame cottages. Very Sandinavian. But one thing stuck in the memory and that was the qual-ity of the surrounding courses—Aalborg, Esbjerg, Silkeborg and Hol-stebro were all on our schedule. The Jutland peninsula is remarkable for more than just the fact that it is practi-cally the only one that points North. It feels like a flatter Scotland but the similarity ends there. The people are welcoming and there is a sense of civic pride lacking in UK. The Danish flag flies from almost very house and the place is spotlessly clean. Our chosen hotel, the SAS Radisson in Silkeborg, is in a converted paper mill, close to shops and restaurants.

We’ll be playing Silkeborg, Holstebro and the new kid on the block—Lubker. Now of course you can fly in to Billund from many UK airports.

LAST CHANCE TO QUALIFY FOR THE FINALS Emporda We have 24 qualifiers already for the Grand Finals with just two events remaining. The first of those is at Emporda in Northern Spain on 22nd September. A 20 min drive from Ger-ona, or 90 mins from Barcelona this wonderful 36 hole resort with a mod-ernistic 4 star hotel is home to two fabulous contrasting Bob Van Hagge courses.

Van Hagge is best known to Green-card for his masterpiece at Les Bordes but he has designed many other superb courses in Europe and around the world such as Seignosse, Royal Mougins and Le Golf National in

France. At Emporda he has two distinct styles. Links and Forest which are both what they say on the box. Two rounds on each of these superb courses before finishing on the fabulous PGA Catalunya Stadium course. Nearby is the beautiful medieval coastal town of Begur. Cobbled streets and lovely restaurants either in town or in the little coves by the water’s edge.

As it stands only 17 players in the event and every chance of picking up a few points. Just £819 for the week.

Mauritius After that on 5th October we have our trip to Heritage Awali, the All Inclusive resort

on the southern coast. 10 days of sun, sea, sand and sangria. Free golf every day if you wish. We will be playing 6 or-ganized rounds with 4 at the Heritage course and 2 on the nearby Paradis. This is a beautiful resort right on the beach with sparkling seas, free water sports and as much as you can eat and drink. Unbe-lievable value for £1449 for 10 days.

Flights via Paris from £844 but hurry there are not many seats left at this price.

At present you have 21 to beat to get those last few tour points. But if you sim-ply can’t be bothered and just want to come to the Grand Finals anyway we have 60 players in the Masters and it promises to be a great week at Quinta do Lago.

HAVE I GOT NEW Z FOR YOU!

I landed at Auckland brimming with anticipa-tion about my first trip to New Zealand. I have been asked many times to run a tour there and decided that as none of us are getting any younger now was as good a time as any.

My good cheer rapidly evaporated at the car hire desk when I realised that my driving licence must be at the Europcar desk in Slovenia. Luckily I was travelling with my good pal Tom, an Australian educated Thai, who happens to be a New World wine buff who for some bizarre reason fancied a tour of NZ from Bay of Islands to Queenstown in 8 days. He got the car but made it quite clear that he wouldn’t be doing any driving!

So off we went to see Titirangi and Muriwai courses. The former is the only MacKenzie design in NZ and Muriwai is one of the few genuine links courses in the North Island. Both were very friendly clubs and would make ideal entries to the tour.

From there we went to the Sofitel on Auck-land Harbour but had a quick look at The Langham on the way through. It was a nice 5 star with a good atmosphere but in a rather secluded part of town. The Sofitel was a short walk from the Viaduct with all the restaurants and bars and a really vibrant social scene. It was a very comfortable hotel with extremely well equipped rooms but with no views. We then had a superb, but very pricey, dinner at Clooneys where one of Tom’s mates chose the wine. Never again!!

Up at 6am for the 3.30 hr drive to Kauri Cliffs, rated New Zealand’s No 2 course, perched on cliffs overlooking the Islands. It poured with rain all the way up but the roads were empty. As I turned onto the club drive-way an enormous rainbow appeared that

was so strong it looked as though it was made of concrete. After a very friendly chat with Paul, the golf director, I drove off to Pai-hia for the much harder task of finding a suitable hotel. Paihia is a delightful little town opposite Russell which was NZ’s first capi-tal. There are many guesthouses and apart-hotels of varying quality but only two ho-tels. The Paihia Beach Resort would be ideal but only had 20 rooms and initial enquiries indicated a rate of £275 a night which was way higher than Auckland, but a good discus-sion with management soon brought that down as long as I missed Waitangi Treaty Day (6 Feb) which is a big celebration in Paihia of the signing of the treaty that ended the Maori Wars.

On the way back I dropped in on Gulf Har-bour, a Trent Jones course that has hosted the World Cup. I found the course closed from the recent floods and my meeting was aborted. So I went back to our next hotel, The Hilton, where I caught up with Tom who was sampling a rather fine Chardonnay on the balcony. He was celebrating that we had been upgraded to their famous Bow Suites which are shaped like the bow of a ship with 270 degree views of the famous Harbour. It has to be said they were stunning but of course not the rooms that we were negotiat-ing. It didn’t take long to establish that in summer the cruise ships moor on the pier alongside, towering over the hotel and block-ing the views and giving the cruise passen-gers uninterrupted views of your bathroom.

No time to dwell on this as we were back in the car for the drive to Taupo via Rotorua. It was a nice drive but nothing stunning. More like a trip across Ireland. If we were to leave the Bay of Islands and drive to Taupo it would take 9 hrs. A solution would be required for

that. We stopped for a bite and took a stroll through the thermal park at Rotorua to see the mud springs and geysers. There was a strong smell of sulphur and the steaming rocks were interesting but since they built the geo-thermal power station down the road the geyser only shoots to order instead of every 20 mins. As we appeared to have just missed it we decided to press on to Taupo just 70 kms away.

Just out of town is the famous Wairakei course, one of the best parkland courses in the country, and the same distance in the other direction is Kinloch, a Jack Nicklaus course which is reportedly a real toughy. We checked into the Hilton in Taupo with views over the lake to the snow capped mountains beyond. Over a superb dinner in their award winning restaurant we dis-cussed how we could overcome the Paihia to Taupo problem.

We discovered that Air Nelson flies little 50 seaters between many of NZ’s smaller airports. So a bit of research quickly estab-lished that there was a morning flight from Keri Keri near Paihia to Auckland and a connecting flight from there to Taupo. Now all it required was to come to an agree-ment for us to buy all the seats on both flights and hijack the plane straight to Taupo. They cottoned on immediately and suddenly a 9hr nightmare became a 70 mins flight.

So when we set off for Napier next morning on a beautiful day I was beginning to feel pretty good about this trip. Napier is home to NZ’s most famous course – Cape Kid-nappers - and some of the best wines at Hawkes Bay. The only drawback is that this delightful little town known as the art deco

capital of the world has no really decent hotels. There is the Crown on the Water-front which is a recent redevelopment of the old harbour but with nothing much else around, or the Scenic Te Pania on the sea-front in the old town. At the end of the day I judged that if it is only for two nights the Scenic would be OK. It is a modern three star with superb Pacific views from all rooms but, apart from its 42ins TV’s, it was more Novotel than Sofitel. However if that’s all there is then that’s what we’ll take. The town is delightful and from the hotel you can walk to many wonderful restaurants and bars and at the same time marvel at all the art deco buildings. At night the sound of the waves crashing on the beach lulls you to sleep so it is a small price to pay for the privilege of playing Cape Kidnappers. Set on the cliffs high above the Pacific in a 6000 acre sheep farm this course is one of the most spectacular I have ever seen and in the middle of winter it was in immaculate condition.

Another early start saw us on the red eye from Napier to Christchurch on one of the little 50 seaters. This aspect of the tour was always going to be the hardest as the city is a long way from recovering from the earthquake 2 years ago. So much so that there is only one decent hotel left - The George—which was really very nice with beautiful rooms overlooking their gardens and a park but apart from a couple of res-taurants around the corner the city is still a building site and still will be 2 years from now. We drove out to Clearwater and Pega-sus golf courses, both of which were excel-lent but not unique in the same way that Kauri, Kidnappers, Kinloch etc were. So we drove out of town for the 90 min trip to Terrace Downs under the magnificent snow capped Mount Hutt. Now this was the New Zealand that we all hear about, Big Sky country.

The only accommodation at Terrace Downs is their two bedroom apartments. A slight problem is that they don’t have enough of them for our group to have one per couple

(14 in total) but they are extremely comfort-able and I felt that for a couple of nights it wouldn’t be too much of a hardship for 2 couples to share one of the apartments especially as they are huge and so nicely equipped and the two bedrooms are both very comfortable and en suite. The apart-ments have large terraces looking towards the mountains with a beautifully equipped kitchen with laundry facilities which would be very useful by this stage of the tour.

Next we had an even bigger dilemma: When driving south should we take the coast road past the famous Franz Josef and Fox gla-ciers and stay a night at Franz Josef on the way to Wanaka, a total drive time of 9 hrs but pretty spectacular or should we drive through the MacKenzie basin - Lord of the Rings country, a journey of nearer 4 hrs and easily done in a day.

We decided to take the Mackenzie route and didn’t regret it. The scenery was unbe-lievable. Halfway we reached Lake Te-

kapo and I dropped in to the office of Air Sa-faris who fly small 15 seater aircraft on sce-nic flights over Mt Cook and the glaciers. Although quite expensive I felt that this would be a superb way of breaking the journey es-pecially as they could land in Twizel which was about an hour down the road. So we would send the bus down there alone and the planes would meet it. A great solution.

As we rolled into Wanaka I was stopped by the police for speeding. He gave me a cau-tion and didn’t even ask for my licence. Truly somebody up there likes me. We were ready for a beer and as luck would have it Kai Bar has its own brewery and so we enjoyed a wonderful pint sitting outside in glorious sun-shine overlooking the lake with the snow capped peaks in the background surrounded by Kiwis in their ski gear.

We checked into the Edgewater which was the best hotel in town although again no Sofitel but their huge rooms all have superb lake views to make up for that. The staff was

Kauri Cliffs

really welcoming and I felt that this little town would make a great stop. Wanaka golf course is only rated about 27th but the views of the mountains were su-perb. So a couple of nights here to enjoy the tranquillity and the town’s excellent eateries would be fine.

But when on a research trip you have to keep going and so next day we headed over the Crown Range through Cardrona and on to Arrowtown. This fabulous little mining outpost has now become a chic little refuge for those who prefer their skiing with a little less hustle and bus-tle. Loads of beautiful stone built cot-tages housing restaurants and wine bars of a very high quality but on the exterior looking just like a Wild West frontier town. Just down the road was Arrowtown course, a quirky little number in a Scot-tish style with large boulders in the fair-ways and burns running through the course. From the clubhouse you could look over the road to their illustrious neighbour The Hills. Breathtaking views on a no expense spared course and club-house: The most perfect course for a final round and dinner.

Next on the agenda was Millbrook which nearly always wins NZ’s best golf resort award. Not so much for the quality of the course but the all round quality of the resort. It has beautiful one bedroom apartments that have all been refur-bished to a very high standard and in reality just a good couple of par 5s walk from Arrowtown although they do have a shuttle. Originally I intended to stay in Queesntown for 7 nights and play these courses from our base there but having spent an evening in Arrowtown it is just so Greencard that I have decided to split our time there between Arrow and Queens. I didn’t want another move but this cries out for it.

Finally we arrived in Queenstown where we had dinner in the Sofitel, a beautiful property in town, but we stayed at the Hilton across the lake. Here was a diffi-cult choice. If we are only going to have the final 3 nights there then I think the Sofitel is best. Queenstown is a young vibrant place with loads of shopping, bars

and restaurants. In the ski season it can be a bit boisterous but I am assured that the sum-mer crowd are more family orientated.

Over at the Hilton you look across the lake at the mountains but there is a feeling of isola-tion. They have a fabulous water taxi that whisks you at high speed across the lake to town for £8 return which is fun but would be annoying more than once. So a difficult deci-sion there. I am bending towards the Sofitel. It is so nice and it is much better to be able to just walk out of the hotel down to the lake front and enjoy a beer or a meal or a lake cruise on the steam ship or rather faster in a jet boat.

The final two courses we saw were the old Queenstown golf course on a peninsular over-looking the lake on three sides and Jack’s Point that has the mighty Remarkable Moun-tains as a backdrop. This was another abso-lutely superb course in the middle of nature with a kind of Arizona feel which maybe be-cause the grass was dormant but even if it greened up it would still remind me of Grey-hawk.

No time to play the courses and with daytime temps of 2 or 3 C it was never a temptation but I have come away with a view of the country that has far exceeded my expectations. As a cynical old traveller it takes lot to impress me

these days but I was impressed. One stunning vista after another. New Zea-land is not a cheap destination as the Kiwi $ is linked to the powerful Aus $ at the moment but neither is it outrageously expensive.

The tour I am proposing will be 23 nights with 14 rounds of golf. There will be sev-eral changes of hotel (eight in all) and most stays will only be two or three nights, but you can’t see a whole country by stay-ing in the same place. From Auckland and the City of Sails, to Paihia and swimming with Dolphins in the Bay of Islands, on down to the extraordinary geothermal area around Taupo with its Maori culture and steaming rocks, then over to the pretty art deco town of Napier and then on to the Big Country of the South Island. Here when you look at the night sky it seems as though someone has thrown a bucket of paint up there to create the Milky Way.

If the population is 4.5 million half of them must be in Earls Court and half of the rest in Auckland because the overwhelming impression is of emptiness. Each cow and sheep has an acre to itself and the result is the most delicious lamb shanks and steaks you have ever tasted and I include Argentina in that. Wherever you are in the country it feels as though that place be-longs to you.

February 2014 is a long way off but if you really want to have you senses awakened and to play some of the most magnificent courses in the world then start putting your pennies in the piggy bank because it won’t be cheap. I will probably break the trip into two halves—North Island and South Island. The North Island has most of the big name courses but the South Island has the views. Each tour will be 12 nights long.

Spaces will be limited to 36 on each tour because of logistics as I only want one coach, the 50 seater planes can’t take more than that with bags and golf bags and some of the hotels are quite small. But I can guarantee that this will be one golfing holiday that will rival all of our other trips put together.

Arrowtown

ARREST THE DECLINE! It seems half a lifetime since the start of the crisis, now referred to almost every-where as the GFC. We at Greencard first noticed it towards the end of 2007 when the Pound started its steady slide from $2 and €1.60 to $1.55 and €1.10. Now 5 years later things seem to be as bad as ever. In spite of some £375bn of QE the only effect on the economy is that asset prices have been inflated. All those pre-dictions of a declining deficit by 2015 were predicated on 2.5% growth resuming but there is no growth, nor is there likely to be in the near future.

Quite apart from the dire state of the Euro-zone whose politicians seem singularly unable to see further than the end of their snouts, the Chinese are now beginning to stall. Whenever there is a hint of growth the price of oil immediately rises to snuff out the sparks.

This coalition government, for whom I had high hopes, has proved itself almost as incapable as Incapability Brown. Hardly a Quango has disappeared, spending on welfare is rising at a frightening rate and the only cuts have been in infrastructure projects that might conceivably have helped unemployment and growth or at the very least lay the foundations for a stronger economy in the future.

Where is the magic ingredient required to

kick start world growth? In previous reces-sions we all used to look to America to pull us out of the slump and more recently we turned to the Chinese to stimulate their economy but this last was a false hope. China has only its own interests at heart and having manipu-lated its currency for the best part of 20 years in a blatant mercantilist grab for world manu-facturing it is hardly likely to turn round and help the West.

I am afraid that any prospects for growth must be home grown. So how could Cameron arrest the decline? Well for a start the econ-omy needs rebalancing away from services and towards manufacturing. All those jobs that have been exported to the Far East need to be repatriated. Far more flexible labour laws, fewer labour taxes, lower business rates, cut the form filling and start by making the assumption that employers and employ-ees are sufficiently mature to make their own contracts without help from EU Directives.

Target infrastructure projects that directly utilise British manufacturing. What on earth is the point of HS2 if the trains and tracks are to be built in Germany. Start acting like the French. No government contracts to compa-nies that outsource to foreign companies.

So scrap HS2 and build the 3rd runway at Heathrow. Build cheap housing on disused airfields and make it clear that this is what you get on housing benefit. No more £2000

a week houses in Kensington for immi-grants. This will help reduce rents, increase labour mobility and help cap house prices.

All over the West we have reached a tipping point where more people benefit from gov-ernment largesse - public employees and benefit recipients - than those who contrib-ute - private sector working taxpayers. The inevitable result is that elections will be won only by those promising to give them more of the same. If the Cameron government can be demonised as “heartless spending cutters” by the BBC when they are presiding over a 30% increase (£600bn) in govt debt over the course of this parliament then there is little hope that he or anyone can reverse the decline. Much easier to concen-trate on gay marriage and Lords reform. Give them bread and circuses.

Talking of circuses what a pleasure it was to see Britain make such a success of the Olympics. I loved the opening ceremony. So many hidden references that only a Brit would understand (it helped to be a Pink Floyd fan) whilst at the same time keeping a show going that the world could enjoy. And what about Team GB’s performance. Now that’s how you build a feel good factor and a sense of pride. If only they could direct it to rebuilding Britain. instead of a circus. The difference between success and failure is all just a matter of confidence.

By some bizarre coincidence the Grand Finals this year coincide with my 60th Birthday on 28th October. So we are going to have a party. A Big Party. Proceedings will commence with a 60th Birthday Pairs event on the South with various categories. Then in the evening there will be a superb buffet and free flow wine and beer and dancing to the Six Irishmen until the early hours. The only trouble is places are lim-ited. We have to keep 30 for the Finalists which leaves us just 60 for the Masters. We have just 10 spaces left at this time.

This event was a huge success in 2011 and we feel at last we have found a venue truly worthy of the Finals. The 5 * Monte da Quinta Suites with their 1 & 2 bedroom apartments and the 3 Q de L courses—North, South & Laranjal are real quality. The 2 Bedroom Suites are ideal for 2 single people to share with only a small single supp.

Included for Qualifiers

7 Nights b & b in a shared room 1 Bedroom apartment at the 5 star Monte da Quinta Suites

7 days car hire between 2

5 rounds of golf on the Q de L North, South (2) and Laranjal (2)

Birthday Party & Prize Giving Cocktails

All tournament fees Upgrade Prices

Single Supplement 1 Bed Apt £149

Single Supplement 2 Bed Apt £79

Extra Night 1 Bed Apt p Apt £80

Extra Night 2 Bed Apt p Apt £100

The Greencard Masters

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

Prices for the Greencard Masters

Golfer 1 Bed Apartment £899

Golfer 2 Bed Apartment £819

Non Golfer -£240

Single Room Supp 1 Bed Apt £149

Single Room Supp 2 Bed Apt £79

Golf Only £499

FLIGHT NOT INCLUDED

Grand Finals at Quinta do Lago—October 25th to November 1st The Monte da Quinta Suites Laranjal Golf Course