who shot a tremendous 40 points. It would prove to be the best score of the week and enable him to hold top spot at the half way mark by 2 points from Sue Mawhinney, who en-joyed another strong round with 38 points. Dave Simpson was in third place just 3 shots off the lead.

The free day allowed people to play some more golf on one of the many surrounding champi-onship courses, visit the local town of Belek or simply enjoy the Gloria's wonderful swim-ming pools, gardens and private beach. In addition the enter-tainment offered by the hotel in the evenings was wonderful with garden parties and a ver-sion of the Riverdance in the superb new amphitheatre just two of the events on offer dur-ing the week.

For the third round we moved to the aforementioned Carya.

The Gloria Golf Resort has be-come a regular fixture in the Greencard Tour calendar.

We are constantly looking for new venues but the Gloria ticks all the boxes in terms of the golf, accommodation and over-all relaxed atmosphere. This year was no different and with blue skies and temperatures reaching into the 30's, it proved to be a fantastic week.

The golf programme whilst stay-ing at the Gloria includes two rounds on each of their courses and one round on an additional course. In the past we have used the Nobilis, located oppo-site the hotel, and the National. However, on the free day in 2009 a few of us tried to the new Carya course and were hugely impressed, thus it be-came the third course in the 2010 event.

The week began with the usual Am-Am on the Gloria Old course. The course was again in great shape and, as those who have ventured to these parts before know, a great test of golf with accuracy from the tee avoiding the fir trees abso-

lutely key to achieving a good score.

The event was won convincingly by the team led by Karl Dixon and including David Savory and Gail Hegarty with a score of 78. The nearest challenge came from Su Worthington, Anne Stephenson and Jim Fry with 77.

Round one was played on the Gloria New, the course was in fantastic condition and although not as tight as the Old Course is a tremen-dous test of golf. Karl Dixon continued his form from the AM AM and topped the list with 39 points. A score matched by Dave Simpson. Bill Coupe finished the opening day with 35 and Sue Mawhinney was 3 points further back.

The second round was back on the Glo-ria Old course. The tight layout obviously suited Brian Haynes

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

BRIAN HOLDS OFF BILLY COUPE

C o n t e n t s

Turkey Cont.

& Tour Points

2

Formosa Park 3

Researching in Malaysia

4,5

Thailand in Tur-moil

8

Looking Ahead to 2011

9

Grand Finals Vila Sol

9

Toffs on Top 7

The Year so Far 6

G r e e n c a r d G o l f H o l i d a y s 4 H i l l c r o f t , A n c h o r R o a d , C a l n e S N 1 1 8 H R T e l : 0 8 7 0 3 0 0 0 8 8 0 Golfer

J u n e 2 0 1 0 V o l u m e 2 , I s s u e 2

In Th is Issue

Turkey

Formosa Park

Researching

Malaysia

Looking For-

ward to 2011

Smashie &

Nicey

Thailand in

Turmoil

Grand Finals

Vila Sol

The

Turkey Results—Full Handicap 1 Brian Haynes 35 40 36 34 145 2 Bill Coupe 38 32 38 33 141 3 Richard Munroe 37 33 38 30 138 4 Sue Mawhinney 35 38 30 32 135 5 David Simpson 39 33 29 33 134 6 Karl Dixon 39 30 33 29 131 7 Chris Hegarty 32 35 29 32 128 8 Simon Ormerod 35 30 34 29 128 9 Bob Kerr 34 32 30 31 127 10 Su Worthington 32 31 27 35 125 11 Malcolm Baker 30 33 34 27 124 12 Sue Massingham 25 23 37 32 117 13 Shirley Halhead 26 30 31 30 117 14 Jim Fry 25 27 31 33 116 15 Yvonne Moir 27 32 32 25 116 16 Gail Hegarty 30 28 25 31 114 17 Sid Selfe 26 22 39 27 114 18 Gillian Lamond 35 18 31 28 112 19 Dave Sullivan 33 26 25 28 112 20 Willie McGinnes 24 25 36 23 108

P a g e 2

So far there

are 13

qualifiers

for Vila Sol,

but there

are many

now

needing

just a point

or two. Will

they be

content to

sit it out at

home or

will we see

them make

another

attempt to

qualify?”

Although less than 2 years old the course, like so many in the area is carved through a forest of pine trees. The layout is simply stunning and tests players of all abilities. Sid Selfe certainly en-joyed the day and came home with an impressive 39 points. Bill Coupe was hot on his heels with 38 while Brian consolidated his top spot after “moving day” with another solid round of 36.

So as we approached the final day Brian on 111 had a lead of 3 points from Bill Coupe and 5 points over Sue Mawhinney. Karl Dixon on 102 was the fourth member of the final four ball group.

For the final round we returned to the Gloria New Course. Su Wor-thington shot the day’s best score with 35 points. However, this wasn't quite enough to catch

Sue Mawhinney who took the position of leading lady after a closing round of 32 points.

Meanwhile in the final group, after nine holes Bill had clawed one point back from Brian’s lead and it looked as though things could get very close, especially considering the amount of water to negotiate over the closing holes. How-ever, Brian held his nerve and by the time the group had reached the 18th tee the tro-phy was only heading in one direction.

Our congratulations to Brian for winning a Greencard Tour Event for the third time, and of course his place at the finals later this year.

Before leaving we visited the Cornelia Diamond resort as we had heard good reports, with a

view to maybe including it in the programme for 2011 instead of the Gloria. But those that accom-panied me agreed that it was just too big and impersonal. The Glo-ria is a tough act to beat. It’s huge gardens give one a sense of space even though the hotel can comfortably accommodate 1200 people at full capacity. In May though they are no where near full and for us it has to be Green-card’s home in Turkey.

The Gloria is unquestionably a wonderful golf resort, with 2 championship courses and excel-lent hotel facilities. The weather could not have been any better and we did not see one hint of a cloud all week with temperatures over 30 degrees every day. We look forward to our next event in Turkey and hope you can join us, you won't be disappointed.

THE RACE TO VILA SOL AFTER TURKEY Names H’Cap T Points Club Names H’Cap T Points Club Bill Coupe 7 19 Lancaster Richard Burke 12 17 Santa Maria Colin Robinson 8 14 Malton & Norton Roger Hunt 10 12 Wrag Barn Alan Baxter 6 11 Mere Lewis Mosse 14 11 Teignmouth Reuben Fielding 12 10 Tytherington Paul Holyhead 14 10 Nelson Paul Kaye 6 10 Brough Alan Orritt 10 10 Penwortham Julie Rotchell 14 10 Monmouthshire Brian Haynes 11 10 Sundridge Park Martin Fell 6 10 Copt Heath Elizabeth Fern 10 9 Willesley Park Julie Harris 14 9 Castle Eden Geoffrey Henney 4 9 Woodbridge Russell Smit 4 9 Woburn Ian Robinson 5 9 Rufford Park Janette Brown 16 8 Nelson Neil Bamber 6 8 Pinheiros Altos Gary Corbett 8 8 Mere John Shearan 5 8 Co Louth Ian Harris 8 8 Winyard Jeannie O'Keeffe 5 8 Hankley Common

Sue Mawhinney 19 8 Woodcote Park Chris Hegarty 9 8 Chorlton/Hardy Peter Sumner 7 7 South Herts Len Peifer 8 7 Santa Maria Frank Ryan 21 7 Royal Dublin Dave Simpson 16 7 Sundridge Park

Kathleen Birdsall 23 6 Woburn Tony Marshall 13 6 Wildwood Park Tim Elliott 15 6 Hankley Common Keith Dawkins 17 6 David Newmarch 16 6 Abridge John O'Keeffe 12 6 The Wisley

Sharon Fell 30 5 Redditch Gordon Geddes 12 5 Wrag Barn Wallace Grace 18 5 Ham Manor Geoffrey McKeown 9 5 Channels Anthony Trafford 15 5 Weston Park Stella Brewin 18 4 Torksey Chris Lord 14 4 Moortown Kiki Bach 19 4 Santa Maria Marian Martin 18 4 Santa Maria Neil McGarva 6 4 Kilmacolm Jackie Carter 14 4 Rufford Park Simon Ormerod 9 4 Shaw Hill Rosie Chisholm Hill 9 3 Ifield Lawrence Graham 5 3 Royal Guernsey Gwynneth Fielding 19 3 Davenport Bob Kerr 6 3 Troon Welbeck Godfrey Horsford 12 3 St Ives Rosemary Milton 17 3 Royal Mid Surrey Diane Simpson 9 3 Goodwood Park

Julia Allen 26 2 Langley Park Jenny Staines 21 2 Bishops Stortford Anne Archer 10 2 Ipswich

Barry Birdsall 14 2 Woburn John Ward 14 2 Shaw Hill Su Worthington 6 2 Bristol & Clifton Elspeth Baxter 23 1 Mere

Lodewijk Schlingemann 18 1 Moscow CC Oliver Egan 15 1 Royal Dublin Neil Gillam 9 1 Wentworth

Brian Henderson 4 1 St Andrews Gail Hegarty 14 1 Chorlton-c-Hardy Roger Lascelles 14 1 Malcolm Baker 9 1 East Devon

Karl Dixon 14 6 Forest Pines Peter Quinn 17 6 Greenore

BILLY THE KID SHOOTS HIS AGE had a 32 in round three, held a 3 point lead from Ian. John was only one shot further back. Colin Robinson made the final member of the last fourball but was 9 shots off the lead.

Even taking into account Bill's current form the closing holes at Pinheiros involve a fair amount of water, including the 17th, par 3 island green and a lead can quickly disappear. However, we need not have had such doubts as Bill came home equal-ling the day’s best score of 37 points set earlier by Shirley!

The final winning margin was six points. Ian and John both shot 34 on the last round to secure second and third places respectively. Colin hung onto fourth place, despite a late charge from Tony Marshall, which ensured his qualification to the Vila Sol finals. Lewis Mosse also qualified for the finals after strong performances in the last two rounds. Jackie Carter just beat Diane to leading lady by a single point.

The last round of the week was the Am Am and was won with a total of 111 points by the team led by Phil Raybone and includ-ing Jackie Tenniswood, Gabriel Gallagher and Kevin Shearan. The nearest chal-lenge came from Shirley Halhead, Tony Marshall, Lewis Mosse and Vince Hallam who finished on 110.

I have to say that whilst it is true that we all had to accept a level of compromise with the order the courses were played and the fact that two hotels were used rather than the usual one. The sun shone all week, the courses were in excellent condition and company was up to its usual high standard. I think overall we had a wonderful week of golf.

The Formosa Park event was to be held in the middle of April. However, when we were planning the tournament cal-endar last year we were, of course, unaware that a volcano with an unpro-nounceable name located in Iceland was going to have such an incredible impact on air travel.

When news of the ash problem first surfaced we thought that all would be well by the time we were due to depart. However, as time marched on and the problem grew the warning signs were well and truly apparent.

The main issue was that the event was not cancelled yet obviously nobody was able to travel. This in turn caused a huge headache as to who should be responsible, the suppliers had already been paid in full for the group. After several days of communicating with our agents in Portugal we managed to con-firm new dates for the event, all be it that there would have to be some com-promise with tee times, the free day and the group being split between two hotels. The airlines were refunding or allowing changes to the original book-ings and so we felt that this was the best possible option. We were de-lighted that we still had a field of 32 golfers for the new dates and would like to pass on our thanks to everybody who was able to reschedule their com-mitments to attend the week which, ultimately we feel, was a success.

The golf schedule for the week re-mained as per the original itinerary with two rounds on San Lorenzo and three rounds on Pinheiros Altos. How-ever, the order the courses were to be played did have to be altered. The first two rounds were now going to be held at San Lorenzo and as we felt that these rounds should be part of the main competition the Am Am was moved to the end of the week.

Formosa Park Results—Stableford

San Lorenzo is a wonderful golf course but even more so when the weather brings blue skies and sun. Peter Sumner took advantage of the superb conditions and showed some early form with 37 points. Paul Borrell had 36, with John Shearan and Gabriel Gallagher just one further back.

The second round, also at San Lorenzo, brought us the performance of the week with Bill Coupe, 72 this year, shooting a one under gross 71. It is not often a golfer shoots his age or better. It included an eagle on a par 4 with Bill holing out with a 7 iron approach shot. It was an incredible performance and our congratulations go to Bill for adding another memorable Green-card moment.

Ian Robinson also had a strong round fin-ishing with 37 points, whilst Peter Sumner came in with 35, a score matched by Jackie Carter who was also starting to show some form. John Shearan finished the day with 34.

So at the half way stage Bill on 76 held a four point lead from Peter Sumner. John Shearan was on 69 with Ian Robinson just one further back.

The venue changed for the remaining rounds as we switched to the nearby Pin-heiros Altos. Ian Robinson continued his excellent form with another 37 points, and later celebrated by purchasing a red and yellow convertible car!! I believe that the shipping arrangements are still ongoing but you may well see Ian at a future UK event in this very special vehicle.

Diane Simpson shot 36 points and with Jackie having 35 the competition for the position of leading lady was very much alive going into the final round as both were lying on 98 points. It was also a good day for the Shearans with John and Kevin both finishing with 35.

As we headed into the final round Bill, who

John Shearan with Ian Robinson, Jackie Carter and Bill Coupe

P a g e P a g e 3

1 Bill Coupe 32 44 32 37 145

2 Ian Robinson 31 37 37 34 139

3 John Shearan 35 34 35 34 138

4 Richard Munroe 36 31 31 36 134

5 Colin Robinson 34 31 34 31 130

6 Tony Marshall 30 29 34 36 129

7 Peter Sumner 37 35 26 31 129

8 Jackie Carter 28 35 35 28 126

9 Diane Simpson 34 28 36 27 125

10 Lewis Mosse 25 29 35 35 124

11 Brian Henderson 33 26 30 35 124

12 John Lahiff 34 30 29 30 123

13 Gabriel Gallagher 35 28 33 26 122

14 Sue Massingham 30 32 29 29 120

15 Kevin Shearan 29 32 35 24 120

16 Paul Borrell 36 26 30 27 119

17 Marian Raybone 31 33 32 21 117

18 Paul Speakman 30 29 31 25 115

19 Vince Hallam 26 26 30 31 113

20 Anthony Trafford 33 27 22 30 112

P a g e 4

“ In fact

it was so

popular

with

expats

that all

those

looking

for an

expat

husband

were also

there. !”

The Shangri La Rasa Ria in Borneo

MALAYSIA TRULY ASIA

To an Asian ex-pat Malaysia’s Tourist slogan might seem a little presump-tuous, after all S East Asian countries are as diverse as Greece from Ger-many, but to some extent it is justi-fied because they have a little of everything. Fuelled by petrodollars Kuala Lumpur is the image of a mod-ern, organised city closer to Hong Kong and Singapore than Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh. The beaches of Langkawi and Sabah rival anything that Phuket can offer and the racial mix within the country reflects its place as a crossroads of Asia. The Chinese, Malay, Christian and Hindu societies all exist in a racial harmony and tolerance not seen elsewhere.

We have travelled now to practically every country in Asia and it was inevi-table that we would get around to Malaysia. The golf course on Lang-kawi and the two luxury hotels have an enviable reputation in the travel industry and the quality of the courses around Kuala Lumpur are worthy of many PGA events.

So I set off last week in anticipation of finding a country relaxed in its new found oil wealth and confident in its budding tourist industry.

The first impression on landing in KL is palm trees. Acres and acres of them, covering fields as far as the eye can see. Palm oil is used for cooking across Asia and is now a considerable source of bio fuels. Malaysia is one of the main produc-ers. The roads into the city are first world quality and one is struck at how green it is. All tree lined ave-nues, parks and gardens. Every spare piece of land is landscaped.

My first port of call was Saujana G & CC, a hotel with a 36 hole golf course just 20 mins from the city centre. The Club at Saujana is a Leading

Hotel of the World and I wanted to use this on a weekend because courses in the capital are busy. The hotel is very nice but the first bad news came from the Golf Director who announced that the club was closing one of the 9’s, for 6 months at a time and because of this mem-bers had priority over hotel guests. So no chance of getting a booking at a weekend.

Immediately I was thinking that my carefully laid plans would need changing. I set off to the city centre Golden Triangle area and the Shangri La hotel. Just a short walk from the glittering twin Petronas Towers the hotel is a haven of tranquillity in a busy city. The rooms are very com-fortable and the service superb. Perfect for Greencard and the best breakfast I have seen anywhere.

That evening I set off to explore the area. Just across the street was an avenue of bars and restaurants that looked very lively. I was particularly looking to find a good Malaysian restaurant but didn’t spot anything and so ended up eating Italian. In fact there was just about everything

but Malaysian. After dinner I visited the Beach Club bar. This was a very popular expat hangout and It is a being a Friday night it was buzzing. A large bar with an excellent Filipino live band and plenty of space out-side to get away from the noise. In fact it was so popular with expats that all those looking for an expat husband were also there. A terrific combination and a great place for a party.

This was just one of half a dozen similar places on the street. The next night I ventured further along to the Twin Towers and did a bit of light shopping in the ultramodern shopping mall. Here there were dozens of restaurants to suit all tastes, but in truth if you don’t mind paying that little bit more you would be hard pushed to beat the dining choices in the Shangri La.

During the day I hired a taxi and visited as many courses as possi-ble. Kuala Lumpur GCC is by far the best club close to town and has two great courses. Glenmarie was also good and so was Saujana (if we wanted to play midweek).

Next day I was back at the airport for the short flight to Langkawi. I hired a car on landing and drove around the island to take a look at the tourist area around Pantai Ce-nang and then across the other side of the island to Gunung Raya GC. The drive up to the club didn’t inspire and I was disappointed to find the course clearly lacking in-vestment and water. I was begin-ning to get premonitions about this trip. But there was still The Anda-man and Datai Bay GC to see and these were reputed throughout the world so even if Langkawi was to be a one course destination at least it would be a good one.

Shangri La Tanjung Aru

P a g e 5

The Andaman is located on Datai Bay, about 40 mins from Cenang. A beautiful crescent white sand beach, fringed with palms and mangroves and a backdrop of stunning mountainous rain forest. Truly one of the most spectacular and unspoilt resort locations I have ever seen.

But when I parked the car and entered the hotel I wasn’t uplifted. The lobby is dark and cavernous. I sat down and had my welcome drink on the terrace where the sea is just visible through the trees. I was shown to my room, which I was told was an upgrade to sea view. The long walk down the concrete corridors seemed interminable and when my door was opened I was disappointed to find a room that didn’t seem to have been refurb’ed since the 80’s. (I was wrong, it had been upgraded quite recently, but the other forest view rooms were even older.

But the view was still spectacular and if a little disappointing it was still very nice. So I headed off down to the beach past the monkeys and made my way to the beach bar. On the way I passed the pool area which was very shaded by trees and consequently full of leaves. The overall impression I was getting was one of com-placency. The staff in the Beach Bar did their best to lift the mood but after a brief squall I went for a swim and found that just below the waterline there are rocks and stones as sharp as coral. This made it virtually impossible to swim.

As Cenang was 40 mins away along wind-ing roads I ate in at the main restaurant. The menu was quite varied but expensive. When the food came it was fine but unin-spiring, certainly not good value at £100 for two. In the evening everyone seemed to go to bed very early and why not with beers at £6 a bottle.

Up early I went over to the golf course which certainly was spectacular. Winding its way through the jungle it is filled with marvellous sights and sounds. It is no push over either, the scores in their re-cent Open competition were still on the board. The winner after 3 rounds was a 3 handicapper who was 12 over his hcp.

I had been quoted £90 a round here and

now that we would have to play 3 times this was going to be expensive. I man-aged to beat them down to £70 but in my heart I knew we wouldn’t be coming.

The massive thunderstorm over the air-port pretty much summed up this re-search. All that was left intact of the original idea was a superb 5 star hotel in town and two fabulous courses.

Back home and some serious thought. The only other place that tempted me was Borneo, home to headhunters and long nosed orang-u-tans. The capital of Sabah in Northern Borneo is the marvel-lously alliterative Kota Kinabalu. So after a weekend sailing in the Gulf of Thailand I returned to the airport and flew to KK. Arriving just after midnight I took a taxi to the Shangri La hotel and was deposited in front of some seedy looking place called the Shangri La in town. This clearly wasn’t the 5 star resort I had booked and so I told the driver to take me to the real Shangri La. He refused, so I refused to get out. Then he drove me to the Police station where the officer told him to grow up and take me to the SL Tanjung Aru and told me to tip him 10 Ringgits (£2).

So I arrived furious at 1.30am. I leapt out of the cab and left my passport on the seat. At check in I realised that a night-mare was about to begin unless my taxi man was struck by some kind of noctur-nal benevolent epiphany. He wasn’t. I woke next morning needing to hire a car with no passport. By midday he obviously wasn’t coming and the reality of being unable to return to Thailand set in. The concierge signed the car for me and I set about doing the job I had come for.

The first call was Borneo GCC. This Jack Nicklaus design came with glowing re-views and so I thought it well worth the 75 min drive south. It wasn’t. As I drove in the dilapidated gates one could clearly see what might once have been a terrific course if it wasn’t obscured by the weeds growing in the bunkers and the general air of dereliction. Such a pity but even more astonishing was the air with which the manager assured me he couldn’t discount the green fee below the £80

published rate, even for a group of 40.

So back up to KK and my next course, Bor-neo’s oldest, Sabah CC. Now this was more like it. A beautiful undulating course, with lakes and jungle and wildlife and ambience. Just 20 mins from the hotel and welcoming open arms. No worries about playing here twice and so I went back to the job in hand. Lost passport. First I went back to the Police Station in the hope they might have made a report with his name. No such luck. So I got my Police Report that it had been lost and then made a tour of the taxi depots, starting at the airport. I asked if anyone knew of a driver with my lost passport. Blank faces.

So then I said I had a row with a taxi driver last night and he drove me to the Police. Did anyone know about that story? Everyone became incredibly animated. Apin was really angry with you, they said, he wanted to kill you he was so mad. Yes, yes, yes, he’ll have to get in the queue, but where is he? Oh he’s not working today. Does anyone have his number. Sure. Well can you call him and tell him if he brings it I will give him 100 MYR (£20). Sure. He has it? Great. How long will he take? 20 mins. Rarely have I felt such relief since losing my virginity. In 32 years of constant travel I have never lost my docs.

So rather than eating in the hotel that night I set off to explore the town of KK. Earlier in the day I had spotted a Waterfront area and sure enough in the evening it was buzzing. About a dozen restaurants; Indian, Italian, Thai, Seafood, Chinese, Malay vied for space with The Cock and Bull and other live music pubs. All along the front were tables and chairs so all could eat in or out overlooking the bay and the islands. A great little spot for the golf post-mortem.

A beautiful sunrise revealed the stunning view from my room over the South China Sea. After another enormous Shangri La breakfast I drove over to Karambunai Nexus resort about 40 mins north of the city. This was a beautiful mature course down by the sea and the mangroves with colourful blos-som in the trees. From there it is just 15 mins to the Shangri La Rasa Ria resort.

This resort is also on the beach and the golf course behind, Dalit Bay, is probably now the number one in the region. Perfectly pre-sented it will be a great challenge for our final two rounds.

The Rasa Ria is more isolated than Tanjung Aru and so I paid more attention to the din-ing arrangements. There is an international buffet and a Malaysian buffet every night for £22 nett and two award winning restaurants – Naan Indian and Coast – as well as a Te-panyaki.

The beautiful white sand beach will be the perfect place to end our stay. Three Shangri La’s all excellent in their own way, some wonderful golf courses and of course the great Asian climate will make for a memora-ble holiday. Maybe Malaysia really is Truly Asia after all.

Another Sabah Sunset

P a g e 6

“…..if you

want

protection

under our

ATOL licence

you must let

us buy the

flights.."

The Ash Cloud billows over Iceland

THROUGH AN ASH CLOUD DARKLY

body who didn’t make it was a “No Show”. We did manage to reschedule this event, a much harder task than reorganising a group of 6 from Stansted. Hap-pily nearly everyone on the origi-nal trip was able to make the new dates. It is still not clear where we stand with regards refunds from the hotel/golf courses for those who couldn’t attend. I suspect that while we are there this week that we will be able to resolve it all amicably. But there is a lesson here.

The volcanic ash was different from nearly every other kind of disruption to a holiday. There was no war, no strikes, no civil unrest, no floods. There was just a Govt agency telling airlines they can’t fly. We have said many times before that if you want protection under our ATOL li-cence you must let us buy the flights. We have never made a penny from selling a flight ticket. We simply buy the flight and add the cost to your bill.

If you see a flight that you want simply tell us and we will buy it for you. From that moment your holiday is protected. In this in-stance because we were able to reschedule this hasn’t really been an issue. But please don’t take it for granted that if your holiday fails to take place be-cause of an Act of God that you are protected. As many of you found out, your insurance won’t cover you. Nor will ours. You have been warned. Buy the whole package from us or be unprotected. Happy holidays.

The biggest disappointment for us in 2010 has been the failure of our Eurobusters events to take off. The biggest surprise is how well our long haul events have held up.

It seems that the money is still there for the main holiday but that the short weekend breaks are above and beyond the new budgets.

For the remainder of this year we have some superb trips to come. First up is St Pierre, just over the Severn Bridge with easy access from the M4 and M5. Four nights, d, b & b and 4 rounds for just £559. Terrific value and with not too big a field a great place to pick up some Tour Points.

Carton House in Ireland is now filling very nicely and our usual crowd on the Irish tour are guar-anteed a great time and this superb golf resort. But I know space is getting limited in the hotel so don’t delay if you are thinking of joining us.

The Danube trip is full unless you are a multi millionaire as all the discounts and cheap cabins have gone but Woodhall Spa has plenty of space. Two fantastic courses in the centre of England. Easy for everyone to get to. An-other great spot to pick up some tour points.

Then of course we have the final Eurobuster. El Rompido is a su-perb 5 star hotel on its own 36 hole golf course. At just £499 for 4 nights d, b & b and 4 rounds of golf and car hire it is a real qual-ity venue at an unbelievable price. We have some interest here and so we are hoping it will run. Please get in touch soonest if you are thinking of coming.

Don’t forget though our two weekend strokeplay events at Portal in Cheshire and Bowood in Wilts. Specially designed for all those convinced that bandits win everything. 10 handicap max.

Finally there is Arizona. Our first ever trip there and destined to be one of the best. With a large turnout Scottsdale will be jump-ing to the sound of English ac-cents in October. We could probably squeeze in a couple

Having comprehensively told the UK government where to go when we asked for our money back from their failed banks, the plucky little Icelanders have given the most emphatic two finger salute. By launching a cloud of volcanic ash onto the winds of the North Atlantic they succeeded in costing European industry billions more than we lost in their banks.

But all the time that the airports were shut and the planes were on the ground I had a sneaking sus-picion that we were perhaps overegging the ‘elf and safety aspect again. More computer models from the Met Office were telling us it was unsafe to fly. Based on what assumptions? Welcome to the new century of hypocrisy. To prevent the possibil-ity of an air crash we have to bankrupt hundreds of businesses across Europe leading to the kind of human misery that causes in-creases in suicides.

Happily sense seems to have prevailed but not before it com-pletely trashed our trip to For-mosa Park. 54 happy golfers were all packed and ready to go when the news broke. Of these 54 we bought the air tickets for just 7 of them. They were covered by our ATOL licence and are enti-tled to a full refund.

For the other 47 the situation is as murky as the ash cloud itself. We, as always, paid our suppli-ers—the hotels and courses - in advance. On that fateful Saturday morning the hotels were waiting for out customers. They were open and ready to do business. As far as they are concerned any-

WHAT’S LEFT FOR THIS SEASON

THE WORLD HAS BEEN SAVED—GORDON HAS GONE

P a g e 9

Even from 5,000 miles one could almost sense the relief that Clegg Minor finally opted to sleep in the Tory dorm. For two interminable days it looked as though he was going to become Gordon’s fag and start polishing his boots and making his coffee. When Clegg Minor told the Head-master that he really liked Labour House best but he would rather fag for some-one else, Mr Handlebum said if he would just fag for Gordon until the Autumn he would ensure that he got a new prefect.

As if! Gordon would have declared in the summer that there were no other suit-able candidates for Head Boy and would have called another election in the hope that he could win a few more seats.

But in the end Cleggy realised that the boys in Tory dorm were nicer and anyway “Matey” promised that he wouldn’t have to do any fagging and he could go straight into the 6th Form. Oh Joy! Hands in pockets, jacket undone, flowery waistcoat and his very own fag.

Could it really have ended any other way. Two caricatures of the typical English Public Schoolboy have finally seen off the Scottish mafia.

“Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive But to be young was very heaven!--Oh! times, In which the meagre, stale, forbidding ways Of custom, law, and statute, took at once The attraction of a country in romance! “

Although I am now 57 and the formation of the coalition was hardly comparable with the French Revolution I think I know what Wordsworth was driving at.

The party that gave us 3,000 new ways to be a criminal. The party that ensured that we are all stars in our own Truman Show with over 1 million CCTV cameras. The party that took more care of crimi-nals than victims, that could see nothing wrong with taxing people and then giving them back their money in credits. The party that destroyed our pensions by taxing dividends and then forced them to

invest in bonds guaranteeing we missed the ensu-ing Stock Market rise.

The party that went to war on a lie and discovered that if the public were so gullible as to believe that whopper then why stop there. The party that became

known as NuLiebore has gone at last.

I could of course go on and on but you get the drift. An unpleasant 13 year ex-periment in social engineering has ended and I do believe that our two toffs have got what it takes to sort it all out. One toff alone would have struggled but with an Oxford educated Old Etonian to lead and a Cambridge Old Wet as deputy we have a “Smashie & Nicey” pairing that genuinely represents what the English voted for. Tories with a soft centre.

The scale of Labour’s incompetence is now being uncovered and the departing Liam Byrne’s little “joke” that there’s no money left is being seen to be true. Gordon’s claim to have saved the world by transferring debt from banks to the State is now being shown for what it was—Hubris. Sovereign debt is now the world’s greatest problem and the buck stops there. From now on those nations that want to borrow are going to have to appear in the beauty parade because there simply won’t be enough money to go round.

For make no mistake that as just one of dozens of countries with your hand out for loans you are going to have to paint your nails and do your hair if you want the lenders to invite you to dance.

But don’t despair. If on June 22nd “Ozzy” Osborne does give us the £6bn in Cuts and does raise VAT to 20% the markets will begin to take the Dynamic Duo seri-ously and you will see the economy begin its long crawl back to health.

There will be massive problems on the way to Nirvana but the traditional British stoicism will see us through. If you take a look at Ireland, Italy, Greece and Portugal you will see the kind of austerity meas-ures that will shortly be upon us.

The big dark ash cloud on the horizon is

that if all countries race to eliminate their deficits at the same time it could cause the mother of all global depressions.

The fact that the World’s biggest debtor ap-pears not to want to even go to the Ball will ensure that sooner or later the dollar will start to slide. For now it is a safe haven against Euro troubles but if you are going to Arizona with us in October it is too early to be buying your dollars just yet. But it might just be that the Yanks are right. This tsunami of sovereign debt maybe too big to swallow and default might be the better option. When you own the World’s reserve currency that is the World’s, and especially China’s, problem.

If anyone believes as does Gordon that not only has he saved the world but ensured the recovery then it is time to call for Nursey. This sovereign debt crisis is the centre of the storm that has been brewing since 2007. Right now it is hovering over Greece but it will soon move over Whitehall. Let’s hope that Smashie and Nicey have what it takes.

TOO MANY IN THE EURO LIFEBOAT

Just as the Duke of Wellington decided to fight the Battle of Waterloo to the last drop of Irish blood by putting the Enniskillen's bang in front of the French cannons, the EU technocrats are determined to win the battle of the Euro by sacrificing the Greeks and maybe the Portuguese.

These countries are being forced into wage and price deflation in order to restore their competitiveness within the Euro zone. Any-one who has travelled to these countries knows that prices have rocketed. But defla-tion is a terrible price to pay for the notional benefit of keeping the Eurozone intact.

Deflation means bankruptcies, unemploy-ment and repossessions. The Irish have already imposed civil service pay cuts across the board and it is hurting. But in Ireland there is possibly a sense that they were all invited to the party. But that is not the case in Athens and Portugal. It is largely per-ceived that the ruling classes stole the bene-fits. It is hard to imagine that the ordinary Greek will take this lying down.

But to the EU technocrats saving the Euro is paramount. “The Project” must not be al-lowed to falter, let alone fail. To throw the Greeks and Portuguese out of the Euro would be seen as failure. To this end all EU taxpayers must cough up €750bn to bail them out. And when that runs out, as it surely will, the boat will still be sinking. The Greeks will be swimming soon and the bank-ers will have trousered another €750bn. The Gods on Brussels’ Mt Olympus fail to see the suffering of the mere mortals below.

DOES SANTA WEAR A RED SHIRT?

the demonstrators resulted in 23 deaths.

PM Abhisit then agreed to televised ne-gotiations with the Red Shirt leaders which led to the offer of a new election later this year. The Red Shirts rejected it because they wanted a quick election where the usual corruption could go unhindered. So to save face they also demanded a pardon for Thaksin and the arrest of the Deputy PM for ordering the Army to try and end the demo.

At that point ordinary Thais lost patience. Abhisit sensed that the time was right and sent in the Army to break up the fortress. The results were broadcast to the world. Targeted assassinations of the militia leaders culminated in the final assault. Weeks of propaganda from the Red’s stage inciting their supporters to burn Bangkok to the ground if the Army attacked appears to have been ab-sorbed.

But the day belonged to the Govern-ment. I believe that the best PM Thai-land has ever had will now, with a strengthened hand, go forward and bring reconciliation to the poor of the North. A programme that he had already started by reinstating free schools to 16 yrs and interest free loans to farmers.

Not only did he take on Thaksin but he also defeated the shadowy figures be-hind the scenes who wanted no compro-mise with the peasants. His masterful diplomacy completely wrong footed his opponents and leaves him in an unas-sailable position. He is now the next most popular Thai after the King.

This has been a hugely expensive opera-tion for Thaksin and hopefully was his

last throw of the dice. His henchmen have fled or been arrested. The Reds have lost all credibility and I seriously believe that Abhisit will win the election when it is called.

I also believe that peace will break out and calm will return to the country. The Western Media has continually tried to portray this upheaval as a fight for de-mocracy against an unelected govern-ment and the rights of the poor underprivi-leged peasants from the North. When in reality it was an at-tempt by a fugitive ex-PM to bring about a revolution that would see him in power when the forthcoming Royal succession takes place, and then who knows…...

There is no doubt that Thaksin’s brief 6 yr reign benefitted the poor, with his 30 baht health scheme and free education up to 16 yrs. Poverty halved in that time. And for these things many see him as a kind of Robin Hood. But what they didn’t see was that for every baht he gave to the poor he kept 10 for him-self. He sold state land to his family at knock down prices and arranged loans to Burma with massive kickbacks. His War on Drugs, although popular, re-sulted in 2500 extrajudicial murders by police for which no one has been charged. The poor peasants believe his return will bring back the good old days but like Gordon he rode the boom and has no policy for the bust.

Where does this all leave Greencard with our traditional Thai trips in Janu-ary? The straight answer has to be wait and see. Several have already bought their flights and without doubt the Thais desperately need the tourists to return. Just as we went to Phuket right after the Tsunami when the FO was advising against all travel I sense that we should return to Thailand in January. The FO is again advising tourists to stay away and I would agree that Bangkok and the N East may be unstable for a week or two more but here in Hua Hin you wouldn’t know anything had happened. The Thais have no stomach for revolution and it is to be hoped that when the demonstrators return home they will sense that they have lost all support because of their actions. Stay tuned.

I could write a book on Thai politics but in a few brief paragraphs I shall attempt to explain the events of the last 4 weeks. An explanation that you won’t get from the BBC.

The scenes from Bangkok have been particularly distressing to the vast major-ity of Thais who wanted nothing to do with the Red Shirt insurrection—for that is what it was. Contrary to media report-ing of unarmed peasants, the black shirted militia in amongst the Reds were heavily armed with M79 RPGs, pistols and semi-automatics. Ex-PM Thaksin paid the poor from the North between 500—1000 baht (£10—£20) a day to go to Bangkok and protest. A normal farm worker’s daily wage would be 200B.

He expected his paid militia to be joined by hundreds of thousands of ordinary Thais in their fight for “democracy”, by which he meant another election where he could once again buy the votes and regain his position and more importantly his $billions. At no point did more than 10,000 appear on the streets in support, most of them on the payroll.

The Reds built a fortress that was occu-pying an area of Bangkok equivalent in size and importance to the area bounded by Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. From their stronghold they launched forays into Government buildings and TV stations. When local Bangkokians demonstrated their opposition because they wanted to return to work, the Reds launched gre-nades at them killing one and wounding many. The hopelessly ineffectual Police just stood by. Thaksin was of course a Police Officer. At that point the Army were called in and an attempt to remove

“ His masterful

diplomacy

completely wrong

footed his

opponents and

leaves him in an

unassailable

position.”

Bangkok Burns for one man’s vanity

Page 9

VILA SOL FOR THE GRAND FINALS

LOOKING FORWARD TO 2011 The big new destination for the early part of the year will of course be Malaysia. But we have written already about that trip. All that I would like to add is that as the trip overlaps with Chinese New Year flights back from Kota Kinabalu at the end will be busy so if you have already bought your flights to Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok please let us have the details so we can book your return flight to get good connections.

As I predicted when I wrote the piece about Bangkok burning peace has now broken out in Thailand. There is no sense at all that it is an uneasy peace, more a shocked recognition that what happened was a disaster for the country.

I would have no hesitation in recommend-ing both of our Thailand trips. Hua Hin, as regulars know is the Royal City and as such is above politics. While the troubles were going on you would never have known anything was amiss here. The New Year’s Eve party is still unbeatable and many of our regulars have already booked.

For Thailand Two we will be returning to Chiang Mai in the North. Since our last visit 7 years ago there has been a golf course con-struction boom. Some terrific new courses and we have booked into the Chedi (pronounced Chedee) which is the top hotel in town there. Right on the River it is the ultimate in cool oriental Chic.

Anyone booking either Thailand trip before 31st August will be entitled to 1 hour Free Spa treatment or 1 Free Dinner at both the Dusit in Hua Hin and the Chedi in Chiang Mai.

We are undecided about February as we felt maybe a change from Marrakech to Tunisia might be good, but the weather is less certain and the half board options in the hotels don’t appeal as much as the great food in Morocco.

South Africa will shortly be in the spotlight and next year we have decided to do one trip but with three stops—The Vineyard in Cape Town, Arabella and Fancourt. 15 nights and some of the best golf anywhere.

We will return to Portugal at the end of April and we may well put in a European event in

March, probably in Spain as there are some great deals about.

Turkey in May at the Gloria is now almost a permanent fixture. We have looked at the other hotels but although All Inclusive has its attractions it also has its drawbacks, and anyway you can always take the AI option at The Gloria.

We are currently looking at Bulgaria. There are now three courses on the Black Sea coast above Varna. Flights are quite pricey but Gary Player and Ian Woosnam have designed the courses and the hotels and golf are cheap. Full details will be on the website next week.

Our Irish trip is to return to our original base of Killarney. Probably the best craic anywhere in Ireland. Dooks, Killarney—both courses and Ring of Kerry make up the four.

Then we are holding back our surprise event for the year—Canada. Vancouver and Whistler with a trip in the Rocky Moun-taineer train. Full details will be a while yet but it looks a distinct possibility.

After the huge success of our Grand Finals Week at Vila Sol in 2009 we have decided to return in 2010. The resort has everything we need for our season closing festival of golf: an excellent choice of accommodation be-tween the 5 star hotel and superbly appointed apartments, and of course a challenging 27 hole course.

The flight will be into Faro and from there it is a 30 mins drive to this fabulous 5 star resort.

This hotel is right on the golf courses and so there is a minimum of driving and it is very close to Vilamoura with its plethora of bars and restaurants.

We have held prices this year and we have negotiated 20% discounts on all food & bev-erages in the resort, including the club house, which should help offset the sickly Pound.

Included for Qualifiers

Return flight from your local airport

7 Nights b & b in shared room at the Vila Sol Apartments

7 days car hire between 2

5 rounds of golf on the Vila Sol courses

All tournament fees

Upgrade Prices Hotel £140

Single Supplement Hotel £269

Single Supplement Apt £149

Extra Night Hotel p room £100

Extra Night per Apartment £100

The Greencard Masters

As always we will be proposing a tourna-ment for the non-qualifiers as well. The Greencard Masters will be the usual format of an Am Am followed by 4 rounds of sta-bleford with some great prizes. Be there to crown the 2009 Champion.

Prices for the Greencard Masters Golfer Hotel £759

Golfer 2 Bed Apartment £619

Non Golfer -£200

Single Room Supp Hotel £269

Single Room Supp Apt £149 Golf Only £379

FLIGHT NOT INCLUDED

Grand Finals & Greencard Masters—October 30th to November 6th

Vila Sol Hotel Vila Sol Apartment Village