Sandie Klimcke. New boy Peter

Turton was matched by Neil Dan-

gerfield two points behind.

But after three nights at the Hotel

Maximilian it was time to board

the River Cloud II, our home on

the mighty Danube for the next 7

nights. I took the minibus back to

Munich and returned to Vilshofen

courtesy of Deutsche Bahn, the

excellent German rail network.

Network South East has some

way to go! We went aboard on

another damp and dismal day

which was soon brightened by the

discovery of a bottle of cham-

pagne in the cabins, which hap-

pily were larger than many had

feared. After a brief lecture from

Barbara our Cruise Director, River

Cloud slipped her moorings and

joined the busy fast flowing water-

way. That first night was only as

far as Passau, 30 miles down-

stream, where three rivers meet

and the cathedral organ has

17,500 pipes. Of greater interest

was the amazing number of

We were greeted on arrival in

Munich with torrential rain. Given

the extortionate price of coach

transfers in Germany I decided to

rent a mini bus and do some of

them myself. When I eventually

found where they had parked my

van, and soaked to the skin, we

set off down the autobahns for the

spa town of Bad Griesbach in

deepest Bavaria. On the way we

were overtaken by endless

streams of black Mercs and

BMWs doing at least 120mph in

clouds of spray that would frighten

even Lewis Hamilton.

But the transfers all worked like

clockwork and gradually we all

assembled in the somewhat artifi-

cial little town that seemed to

have been purpose built around

the Thermal Baths. We crossed

the street and ate in a charming

little Brauhaus and retired hoping

for better weather in the morning.

As well as the spa Bad Griesbach

is also known as the golf centre of

Germany. There are nine 18-hole

courses as well as practice areas

and driving ranges all scattered

across the rolling farmland. If you

blinked you could just see Steve

McQueen on his motorbike roar-

ing across the fields.

We played the Am Am in beautiful

sunshine on the Langer designed

Brunnweis course. Described as

gently undulating in the literature,

most found it hilly. But it was a

good course with little trouble from

the tee and the result was surpris-

ing when Joan Bichard’s team of

John Jagger, Kiki Bach

and your humble nar-

rator triumphed.

The next game, round

one of the tournament,

was on the Mercedes

Benz course. . This

was an altogether

much severer test of

golf. Built along the

river valley it was lit-

tered with lakes and

streams and plenty of

OB. Thankfully the

green keeper had the

idea of putting out a

basket of lake balls

and an honesty box

(50c a ball) at the turn.

Without him many of

us wouldn’t have got

round. But if you were

on your game it was a

fun track. Len Peifer

was steady as ever

with 35, alongside

Peter Quinn, Sandie Klimcke, Julie Harris and Len Piefer in Budapest

DRIFTING DOWN THE DANUBE

C o n t e n t s

River Cloud II

(Cont)

2

Carton House 3

Woodhall Spa 4

Let’s Do

El Rompido

6

The 2011

Programme

8

Grand Finals

Vila Sol

8

Go and see the

Headmaster

6

St Pierre 5

The Website

Tour Points

7

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

I n T h i s

I s s u e

River Cloud II

Carton House

St Pierre

Woodhall Spa

Odds and Ends

New Website

Grand Finals

Vila Sol

The The The 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

P a g e 2

places to sample the local Pilsener lager.

Some made it to the city tour next day and heard the organ whilst others wan-dered aimlessly round the pretty little town before we were herded back on board for lunch and our departure for Melk in Austria. This became the theme of the voyage: Brief moments of culture or golf between meals. The food was beautifully prepared and presented, if a little mid-European for some tastes, along with a large selection of wines from the various regions on our voyage.

Having everyone together on board was a unifying experience for most, eating on board was usually on tables of eight and people just sat where they wanted. There was a little of the Anglophile’s vs The Rest but on the whole we all mixed very well. After the sixth round of topping up the glasses the decibel level in-creased and so did the laughter.

We bumped into Melk in the middle of the night and boarded our bus for the little Austrian course of Ottenstein high in the hills above the river. It was a pretty course and a very friendly club that in the natural order of things we would never visit. No big name events there, but it was in beautiful condition and the sun shone brightly. Sandie made her move with a stunning 41 whilst Peter Quinn chased her down with 40 and husband Simon Klimcke was next on 39. We boarded the bus back to Krems to the sound of rolling thunder and before long the rains returned. In spite of the crew bringing us brollies to the bus we all got soaked getting back to the boat. But once on board hot soup and sandwiches awaited and spirits revived.

That evening we held the event of the week – The Musical Quiz – hosted by Malcolm and Rita Barker. Although by his own admission he can’t read music, Malcolm has an unbelievable repertoire of songs on the piano and the four sec-tions of the quiz – Beatles, Cocktail, Abba and Show Tunes tested the 8 teams to the maximum. Kiki’s Courtiers won the contest which was great fun and gained the golfers maximum kudos.

Another move during the night through the locks took us to Vienna. We awoke to find ourselves penned in by a boat on either side, hence darkened cabins. The weather was drizzly and the mood matched. Vi-enna is a beautiful city but in the rain it loses its charm. The Greencarders duti-fully did the cultural bit but with little enthu-siasm and it seems that Vienna closes down in high summer so the Opera House had no concerts. The Lippizanner horses were on holiday and the only highlight was the number of people careering round on Segways.

Thankfully we were golfing again next day and the weather cheered up. Colony GC has two beautiful parkland courses and we played the West. We decided on forward tees which was lucky because it was tough. Anthony Trafford surpassed himself with 39 and Mike Singleton (37) improved his position but Len was solid once again with another 35 along with Trevor Boyce. Julie and Ian Harris and Peter Quinn all made their way up the leader board ready to challenge for Tour Points and a place in the final. But Sandie on 32 wasn’t far be-hind and maintained her overall lead albeit slightly reduced from Len.

Back on board and more champagne but we were still moored up in a boat sandwich and we really wanted to cruise, but the boat was more interested in selling con-certs and so another evening was spent alongside. Again we sailed in the night for the short journey to Bratislava arriving at 7am next day. This is a beautiful city with the old quarter close to the river. How nice it would have been to have arrived the day before and to have spent the evening there as well. As it was we just had time for a quick tour of the town and then back on board for lunch. The sun was out and we cruised down the river through wetlands, through locks and along canals, lunch was served on deck, and at last we were truly cruising. It was a magical day and the highlight was the arrival by night in Buda-pest. The bridges were all illuminated and the churches and palaces towered over the town. As we cruised gently down the river through the city we were silenced by the sheer splendour of the monuments.

Next day was beautiful and warm and the

Greencarders were enthusiastic sightse-ers. Budapest, apart from its historic buildings, is a great city for tourists with large pedestrian areas, street cafes and restaurants along with excellent shopping. It was our last night on board and we rather sadly sat down to the captain’s farewell dinner. We had met some inter-esting people along the way – a Texan dermatologist with his tales of his 100,000 acre ranch and private plane and potions to make us all look 10 years younger, a couple from Bermuda who joined us for golf and not forgetting Mabel, the bag lady from Munich, who seemed to dodge the shower each morning but who was clearly extremely wealthy. How looks can de-ceive.

We disembarked and checked into the Sofitel overlooking the river and breathed a sigh of relief to be able to spread out again. Some headed for the course for a practice round where thunder and light-ning once again intruded and others went shopping.

Our final round was at Pannonia – Hun-gary’s best course. Not a vintage champi-onship course but perfectly acceptable for this event. Immaculate fairways and light-ning greens were always going to make winning the event a trial. But Sandie was up to the task and cruised home 5 points clear of Len. Julie Harris moved into third place with an excellent 34 beating Peter Quinn and Peter Turton into 4th and 5th place on count back.

Prize giving was on the beautiful golf club terrace in the warm sunshine and some-how our journey to Budapest, having started out in Munich over 800 kms away, had seemed a perfectly stress free experi-ence – and that was nothing less than our expectations. River Cloud II is a wonder-ful boat with just 40 cabins and there is an intimacy on board that other boats cannot achieve, but it comes at a price.

We have done two waterborne trips in recent years and I think that will be all for the moment. Next year we swap the “barge” for the train as we board The Rocky Mountaineer for the Sea to Sky journey from Vancouver to Whistler. Will the dynamic duo ever run out of ideas!

.

SHEARAN SHEARS ‘EM Glenn (36). But given how long and hard these courses are my round of the day

went to Jackie Carter with 37.

We returned to the Monty for the final round and John was 6 points clear of Sea-mus with Joe and Glenn hot on his heels. Again the forecast was dreadful and when we teed off at 8.30 the rain was blowing in hard and cold straight into our faces. But by the time the last group were away it was already dry and brightening up. They had a couple of heavy showers but not

enough to make it really unpleasant.

If Seamus had pretensions of catching John he did his cause no good by knock-ing it into the River Wye off the tee at the first. John parred for 3 points and then there was a 9 point gap. But Seamus fought back hard and turned only 5 be-hind. But coming down the stretch he was obliged to push and then of course the Monty snared him. John cruised home with 34 and finished 10 points ahead of Glenn and Seamus. Ian Robinson also shot 34 and moved into 4th place and qualified for the finals. Val Smyth also shot 34 in one of his rare appearances on

tour these days.

Jackie Carter was leading lady by 6 shots from Trish Belford who was also making a long awaited comeback. I have never missed the Irish event in 28 years and never will until I retire. For some bizarre reason the atmosphere on this event is the best. When people ask me which is my favourite venue I always reply Ireland, which surprises a few. Next year we have a fabulous event in Killarney in the South West. It is back where we started our Irish tours in one of the best party towns in Ireland, Although we are not playing the big names we have included the wonder-ful old links at Dooks and this year’s Irish

Open course at Killarney.

We wanted to visit Carton House since it opened. The stately home is sur-rounded by acres and acres of undulat-ing parkland. Back in 2002 the new owners commissioned Colin Mont-gomerie and Mark O’Meara to design two contrasting golf courses. O’Meara stayed with the parkland theme and Monty designed an inland links style

course with 188 pot bunkers.

The house was extended with a new hotel wing with 165 large modern rooms. Just outside Dublin and only 30 mins from the airport it makes a per-fect golfing venue and has hosted many professional tournaments includ-

ing the Irish Open.

We all assembled for a cocktail on the Sunday night and declared the Guin-ness to be Good for Us. Some ate in the clubhouse and watched the World Cup Final while the rest of us went into

Maynooth for a cheap Italian.

On Monday the sun was shining and a balmy 25C, so the waterproofs were put back in the bag and out came the shorts. We teed off on the Monty and quickly came to understand why the course should be renamed the Mon-ster. Every fairway was littered with bunkers and although there was plenty of space, if you missed a fairway you were in sheep grazing country. At first sight the course looks quite playable but hole after hole you found that if you missed the fairways you ended with an approach over the greenside bunkers

to tricky pins. Shots just melted away.

Doc Martin, an Irish Tour regular, led the way with a superb 35 ahead of a resurrected Seamus McConalogue on 34. Ian Robinson and Glenn Harris were next on 33. All in all I thought the

scoring was excellent.

That night we had a bit of drama when the hotel announced that they were

Carton House ResultsCarton House ResultsCarton House ResultsCarton House Results————StablefordStablefordStablefordStableford

overbooked and asked whether Seamus from Donegal would mind sharing with George from Belfast. It was a strange thing to do given that it was July 12th and all over the North they were marching about celebrating the victory of King Billy at the Battle of the Boyne. When George complained that he wouldn’t be able to blow his flute and beat his drum in the middle of the night I went to reception and made it quite clear that unless they were given a room each before we came back from supper I wouldn’t pay for their rooms

for the remaining 3 nights.

We had a big laugh over dinner and Sea-mus and George got on great but it wasn’t the point. In a 5* hotel you don’t expect to be told at check in that instead of the sin-gle room you booked you are going to share with a stranger from the other side of the Falls Road. But they didn’t sort it out and so they ended up sharing for the first night. At the end of the week I sof-tened a little and with the hotel’s agree-ment I refunded them two nights each. Right until the end the hotel didn’t seem to

think it was wrong to ask people to share.

In round two conditions were decidedly chillier but the course was much friendlier. It was only on the back nine that we had a few holes where the tee shots had to be straight and true. John Shearan played a very tidy round for 42 and on the rare occa-sion that he got into trouble he invariably got up and down. Brilliant stuff. Joe War-ren was next on 39 two ahead of Glenn

Harris. Twenty players broke 30 points.

The forecast for round three was awful but as so often happens in Ireland the showers don’t all fall in the same place. We had a couple of sprinkles but nothing very seri-ous. If there was any doubt that John’s was a flash in the pan he dispelled any doubts with another 41 points. Not bad off a handicap of 6. Seamus, after a good night’s sleep shot 40 points to move into contention and Joe’s 38 moved him past

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

P a g e 3

1 SHEARAN JOHN 31 42 41 34 148

2 HARRIS GLENN 33 37 36 32 138

3 MCCONALOGUE SEAMUS 34 34 40 30 138

4 ROBINSON IAN 33 36 33 34 136

5 WARREN JOE 30 39 38 25 132

6 SMYTH VAL 31 28 37 34 130

7 GILLAM NEIL 29 35 35 29 128

8 MOSSE LEWIS 29 33 34 30 126

9 MCGARVA NEIL 31 32 34 29 126

10 CARTER JACKIE 27 34 37 27 125

11 GOLDSTEIN HUGH 30 35 34 25 124

12 VAULKHARD PATRICK 32 35 32 25 124

13 PEPPER GLYN 30 33 35 25 123

14 PEPPER KEVIN 28 35 36 24 123

15 MARTIN DAVID 35 30 35 22 122

16 BELFORD TRICIA 27 33 32 27 119

17 TAYLOR JANE 26 30 31 29 116

18 SHEARAN KEVIN 20 33 31 29 113

19 STEVENSON MAGGIE 21 32 28 31 112

20 STAUSBERG HANS 26 32 27 19 104

P a g e 4

“….he

fought

back and

holed

some

testing

putts,

including

a huge

one from

off the

green on

the 17th.”

Malcolm Bu-Malcolm Bu-Malcolm Bu-Malcolm Bu-

chanan, Neil chanan, Neil chanan, Neil chanan, Neil

Ratcliffe, Anne Ratcliffe, Anne Ratcliffe, Anne Ratcliffe, Anne

Bridges and Bridges and Bridges and Bridges and

John Shearan John Shearan John Shearan John Shearan

in Woodhall in Woodhall in Woodhall in Woodhall

SpaSpaSpaSpa

BUCHANAN SLIPS AT THE LAST

The Hotchkin course at Woodhall Spa is rated as number 4 in the list of the top 100 courses in England. It is a fantastic setting which keeps bring-ing us back. This year we stayed at the Golf Hotel and played three rounds on the Hotchkin and one on

the Bracken.

Last year Ian Robinson and Jackie Carter invited everybody on the event for a pre tournament round at their course, Rufford Park. Everyone really enjoyed it last year, so many of us visited the again this year on the way to Lincoln. It was another successful appetiser, enjoyed by all, and many thanks must go to Ian and Jackie for

arranging the day.

Greencard always receives a warm welcome at Woodhall Spa and this year was no different. The staff are so helpful and it always a pleasure to see Keith on the first tee starting the group. The first round was held on the Hotchkin, the course is such a pleasure to play, it was in great condi-tion as ever and it really offers all

players a great test of their game.

The weather was fine for golf as we teed up on the first morning. John Shearan took the early lead with a tremendous 38 points and Malcolm

Buchanan was just behind with 36.

We returned the following morning to tackle the Hotchkin for a second time. It was Malcolm's turn to hit the front shooting a wonderful 40 points. John Mac also had a good the day coming in with 37. Anne Bridges and

Neil Dalton both scored 36.

By the half way point Malcolm had an impressive 7 shot lead over Anne Bridges and John Shearan. John Mac and Neil Dalton were one point fur-

ther back.

For the third round we moved across the road to the Bracken course. Al-though situated on the same terrain as the Hotchkin it has a totally differ-ent feel. Designed by Donald Steel, it is a parkland course with fewer bun-kers but more trees and raised

greens.

Neil Ratcliffe had the day's best score with a superb 40 points, enough to

move him into second position over-all. However, Malcolm was not sur-rendering his position at the top of the leader board and came in with a solid 36. Jackie Carter and John Shearan both had 35. This all re-sulted in Malcolm taking his 7 shot

advantage into the final day's play.

For the last round it was back to the Hotchkin where many a lead has been lost on the home stretch. How-ever, the way Malcolm had been playing all week he had to be the favourite to wrap up the victory over

the chasing pack.

Neil Ratcliffe though, had clearly found some real form and despite starting with two blobs in the first few holes he fought back and holed some testing putts including a huge one from off the green on the 17th. His par on the 18th gave him 38 points. Malcolm started the round with a 7 shot lead and so needed 32 to win (Neil had the final round and so would have won on a count back). Incredibly he finished the day with just 30 points and therefore Neil claimed what had seemed an unlikely victory. John Shearan's consistent form gave him third place and Anne Bridges in fourth took the

prize for leading lady.

This is always a wonderful week of golf. The negative points to address from this year’s event all came from the quality and service we experi-enced at the hotel. We were very disappointed with the quality service given by the Golf Hotel and next year we are very much looking forward to returning to the Woodhall Spa Hotel, a hotel that worked well for us in 2008, where we are extremely confi-dent that the service and quality will match the expectations of the

Greencard clientele.

1 Neil Ratcliffe 9 31 34 40 38 143

2 Malcolm Buchanan 11 36 40 36 30 142

3 John Shearan 6 38 31 35 35 139

4 Anne Bridges 4 33 36 26 34 129

5 John Mac 8 31 37 27 30 125

6 Neil Dalton 13 32 36 30 26 124

7 Lewis Mosse 13 31 28 32 32 123

8 Bill Coupe 7 28 34 29 31 122

9 Paul Speakman 9 31 35 26 30 122

10 Ian Robinson 5 28 34 30 30 122

11 Jean Dalton 13 31 31 32 28 122

12 Peter Archer 13 27 26 33 34 120

13 Richard Munroe 12 29 32 31 27 119

14 Kevin Shearan 14 34 31 32 20 117

15 Melanie Roberts 17 31 26 26 33 116

16 Anne Laming 15 24 30 30 32 116

17 Jan Kruijne 11 30 32 26 28 116

18 Jackie Carter 13 30 24 35 26 115

19 David Roberts 12 28 34 27 26 115

20 Mike Hicks 11 30 33 24 27 114

Woodhall Results—Stableford

HotchkinHotchkinHotchkinHotchkin————5th Hole5th Hole5th Hole5th Hole

SALLY WARD BACK TO TOP FORM move the tee times to an earlier start to ensure all would be finished before Eng-land played Germany in the World Cup. After watching the game the overwhelm-ing feeling was that we should have left the original tee times in place and had

another hour in bed!!

Sally Ward continued where she had left off from the previous day and shot an impressive 37 points, a score matched by Anne Laming. Lewis Mosse also had a good day with 36 points, although this was nothing compared to what he was

going to experience on the final day!!

So going into the final round Sally had increased her lead over the field to 9 points, Anne Laming's excellent third round had lifted her into second position overall. Geoff McKeown was lying in third equal with Peter Sumner on 93. Melvyn and John Mac had slipped down to equal

fifth.

We returned to the Old Course for the final round. The sun was still very much with us as we headed out and surely with a nine shot lead Sally would ease her way to victory and let the other players compete

for places.

The penultimate group included Lewis Mosse and nobody could quite believe his scorecard. His total for the round was 42, a fantastic score, however, it is even more impressive as his score on the front nine was only 15! A stunning 27 points on the back nine made this a round Lewis will

never forget!

However, ultimately it was to be Sally's day and as the last group left the 18th green her score of 40 points confirmed a resounding and very well deserved victory. Lewis's unbelievable final round was enough to lift him into second place over-all and John Mac's solid last round per-

formance secured third position.

St Pierre used to be a regular venue on the Greencard Tour and so after an absence of several years we felt that a return was long overdue. The Old course has been instrumental in estab-lishing the resort as one of the best in Wales. All we needed was the weather to be on our side. As with all UK events one has a keen eye on the weather forecast for several days prior to the start date. However, we need not have worried the weather was absolutely superb from start to finish which only

added to the venue's appeal.

The opening round was played on the Old Course, which has an illustrious history having hosted the Solheim cup

and fourteen European Tour events.

Paul Gamble took an early lead scoring 34 points with Bernie O'Donnell, John Mac and John Ward all finishing the

St Pierre ResultsSt Pierre ResultsSt Pierre ResultsSt Pierre Results————StablefordStablefordStablefordStableford

first round just one point behind.

Round Two was also played on the Old Course and this time it was Sally Ward's turn to hit the front of the field with an excellent 36 points. Melvyn Fern and Geoff McKeown both posted 34 with Bernie O'Donnell maintained her form from

the opening round, one point further back.

At the half way stage the leader board was looking quite tight with Sally Ward leading with 68 from Bernie O'Donnell on 66. Melvyn was lying third with 64, whilst John

Mac had 63.

The third round was played on the second course at St Pierre, the Mathern. It is much the shorter of the two but neverthe-less has its own challenges. If the tee shot finishes in the wrong position then the approach shot can easily be blocked out. It was therefore very much a matter of accuracy over distance. We managed to

Lewis still wearing a grin, Sally Ward, John Mac and Anne Laming at St PierreLewis still wearing a grin, Sally Ward, John Mac and Anne Laming at St PierreLewis still wearing a grin, Sally Ward, John Mac and Anne Laming at St PierreLewis still wearing a grin, Sally Ward, John Mac and Anne Laming at St Pierre

1 Sally Ward 24 32 36 37 40 145

2 Lewis Mosse 14 28 28 36 42 134

3 John Mac 8 33 30 29 35 127

4 Anne Laming 15 28 29 37 30 124

5 Peter Sumner 7 29 33 31 30 123

6 John Ward 14 29 33 31 30 122

7 Russ Garrington 12 30 28 34 30 122

8 Melvyn Fern 14 30 34 28 30 122

9 Richard Munroe 12 33 24 29 34 120

10 Geoff McKeown 9 27 34 32 27 120

11 Anne Fern 10 26 30 32 30 118

12 Michelle Rhodes 15 28 29 34 27 118

13 Neil Gillam 9 29 26 29 33 117

14 Paul Gamble 7 34 26 24 30 114

15 Paul Speakman 9 28 32 22 25 107

“…..the

boulder in

the middle

of the

road is

called

Deflation.”

The late,

great Jimmy

Edwards

TWO HOURS DETENTION

FOR YOU VINE!

town. But emergency measures have been lifted practically every-where and The Chedi, one of Thailand’s best hotels, on the banks of the Mae Ping River is waiting to welcome us. Believe me when 10th January comes around, if you are still in the UK, you will wish you were there with

us!

Whilst it is difficult to look to the future with any great confidence I suspect that if we get through the traditional Autumn financial storms with the Euro still intact then we will see the start of the long, hard slog back up the mountain called growth and pros-perity. As I have said before the boulder in the middle of the road is called Deflation. Nearly every Western economy, apart from USA has started to cut their defi-cits. It is a long way from there to debt repayment, but the effects

will be felt.

The Keynesians say that this is suicide and more spending (ie borrowing & printing) is required to ensure the recovery. The Aus-trian School of economists say this is garbage, you can’t cure debt with more debt. There needs to a purge of the system to allow enterprise to come through

and real jobs to be created.

I suspect the truth is rather greyer. Deficits do need to be reduced but not at a rate that sends the economy into a tail spin. Western economies have done an awful lot of consuming in recent times and it is hard to see a pick up soon. The best hope is that the Far Eastern economies develop a taste for Western goods. They probably would if there were fewer barriers

On 23rd September the only Euro-

buster to have survived takes place

at El Rompido on the Costa de la

Luz.

Fly into Faro on the Thursday, pick

up your hire car and drive the 75

mins to this fabulous 5 star hotel.

Arrive in time for dinner, or even a

practice round, and settle into your

room.

Play golf on Friday, Saturday, Sun-

day and early Monday and fly back

to UK on Monday evening.

Every night enjoy dinner at the hotel

in the company of the other com-

petitors, for this trip is half board,

all dinners are included.

Bookings are not great and so the

chances of easy Tour Points have

never been greater. There are 36

people on 5 points or more so this

will be your last chance to qualify

for the Grand Finals at Vila Sol.

You know it makes sense. Just

£499 for 4 nights, 4 rounds and 4

dinners in 5 star luxury. Only £80

supplement for singles. Richard

Munroe will be there to ensure a

great Party. Be there or be square

I was hauled in front of the Head Master after the last issue for my “biased political tripe” and it is true that my little satire on Smashie and Nicey was just a teensy bit beastly to dear old Gordon. But I guess I was just pleased to see the back of the man who has pretty much singled handed destroyed the value of the great British Pound. The exchange rate is so critical to the running of this business that the last two years, 2008/2009, have been nothing short of a nightmare which has seen off a good number of our

competitors.

But the word “tripe” jars a little. In the last issue I made a couple of predictions: Don’t buy your US$ for Arizona at 1.44, the dollar is at its high point. And if the Coalition raises VAT to 20% in the Budget you can expect to see the GP£

stabilise.

If you took my advice you would have been able to buy the $$ in August for $.1.59 to the £ (now $1.54) and sure enough the VAT rate of 20% was announced and surprise, surprise the £ has stopped its wild gyrations against

the Euro.

I also predicted that the trouble in Bangkok would die down as the insurrection was ex PM Thaksin’s last throw of the dice. Since May things have returned to normal here. In the area where the Red Shirts had their camp you would never know there had been any trouble. Nobody is interested any-more. The rains have arrived and

the crops are in and peace reigns.

This of course bodes well for our trip in January to the Northern city of Chiang Mai—Thaksin’s home

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.

Lewis Mosse 12 27 Teignmouth

Bill Coupe 7 22 Lancaster

Richard Burke 12 17 Santa Maria

Julie Harris 14 17 Domaine Imperial

Ian Robinson 6 17 Rufford Park

Leonard Peifer 8 16 Santa Maria

Colin Robinson 10 14 Malton & Norton

John Mac 8 13

Peter Quinn 18 13 Greenore

Peter Sumner 7 13 South Herts GC

Roger Hunt 10 12 Wrag Barn

Alan Baxter 6 11 Mere

Martin Fell 6 10 Copt Heath

Elizabeth Fern 10 10 Willesley Park

Reuben Fielding 12 10 Tytherington

Ian Harris 8 10 Domaine Imperial

Brian Haynes 11 10 Sundridge Park

Paul Holyhead 14 10 Nelson

Paul Kaye 6 10 Brough

Sandie Klimcke 12 10 Clandon Regis

Alan Orritt 10 10 Penwortham

Neil Ratcliffe 7 10 Derby

Julie Rotchell 14 10 Monmouthshire

Anthony Trafford 15 10 Weston Park

Sally Ward 26 10 Shaw Hill

Malcolm Buchanan 11 9 Preston

Glenn Harris 13 9 Wellingborough

Geoffrey Henney 4 9 Woodbridge

Russell Smit 4 9 Woburn

Neil Bamber 6 8 Preston

Janette Brown 16 8 Nelson

Gary Corbett 8 8 Mere

Christopher Hegarty 9 8 Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Sue Mawhinney 19 8 Woodcote Park

Seamus McConalogue 8 8 Ballyliffin

Jeannie O'Keeffe 5 8 Hankley Common

John Shearan 6 8 Co Louth

John Shearan 6 8

Anne Bridges 5 7 Birchwood

Anne Laming 15 7

Neil McGarva 6 7 Kilmacolm

Geoffrey McKeown 9 7 Channels

Frank Ryan 21 7 Royal Dublin

Dave Simpson 16 7 Sundridge Park

John Ward 14 7 Shaw Hill

Kathleen Birdsall 23 6 Woburn

Neil Dangerfield 27 6 La Moye

Keith Dawkins 17 6

Tim Elliott 15 6 Hankley Common

Tony Marshall 13 6 Wildwood Golf Club

David Newmarch 16 6 Abridge

John O'Keeffe 12 6 The Wisley

Joe Warren 13 6 Co Louth

Jackie Carter 13 5 Rufford Park

Neil Dalton 13 5 Meon Valley

Sharon Fell 30 5 Redditch

Gordon Geddes 12 5 Wrag Barn

Neil Gillam 9 5 Wentworth

Wallace Grace 18 5 Ham Manor

Val Smyth 3 5 Co Louth

Peter Turton 17 5

Stella Brewin 16 4 Torksey

Russell Garrington 10 4 Burton-On-Trent

Chris Lord 14 4 Moortown

Marian Martin 18 4 Santa Maria

Simon Ormerod 13 4 Shaw Hill

Inge Steinle 19 4 Santa Maria

Rosie Chisholm Hill 9 3 Ifield

Melvyn Fern 13 3 Willesley Park

Gwynneth Fielding 19 3 Davenport

Laurence Graham 5 3 Royal Guernsey

Godfrey Horsford 12 3 St Ives

Robert Kerr 6 3 Troon Welbeck

Simon Klimcke 17 3 Clandon Regis

Rosemary Milton 17 3 Royal Mid Surrey

Julia Allen 26 2 Langley Park

Anne Archer 10 2 Ipswich

Barry Birdsall 14 2 Woburn

Paul Speakman 9 2 Workington

Jenny Staines 21 2 Bishop Stortford

Su Worthington 6 2 Bristol & Clifton

Malcolm Baker 9 1 East Devon

Elspeth Baxter 23 1 Mere

Oliver Egan 15 1

Gail Hegarty 14 1 Chorlton-cum-Hardy

Brian Henderson 4 1 St Andrews

Diana Hudson 8 1 Royal Guernsey

Roger Lascelles 14 1

Lodewijk Schlingemann 18 1 Moscow Country Club

NameNameNameName H’Cap Tour Points Club H’Cap Tour Points Club H’Cap Tour Points Club H’Cap Tour Points Club Name Name Name Name H’Cap H’Cap H’Cap H’Cap Tour Points ClubTour Points ClubTour Points ClubTour Points Club

TOUR POINTS TABLE AFTER WOODHALL SPA

I consider the new website to be my

Sistine Chapel. The sheer number of

destinations that we offer and the

consequent gallery of photos that is

required will probably take me until

this time next year to complete. Just

finding suitable photos takes a lot of

time. Then each photo has to be

downloaded, cropped, resized, and

uploaded. It is a Sisyphean task which

will probably be outdated before it is

complete.

However, we do believe that it is a

great improvement on the previous

version. It allows our clients to get a

very good idea of both the hotels and

the courses that we will be using for

each trip. Large pictures cannot hide

the truth and so each of our destina-

tions is there in all its glory, plus of

course there are links to their own web-

sites if you require any further informa-

tion about the services offered.

In addition we have the Brochure and

Newsletters online and a simple click

enables you to read them in Magazine

format. Do you want to see who has

qualified for the Finals—click on Order of

Merit? Want to see what the scores are

at an ongoing event– click on Live

Scores?

We can see from the number of hits on

the site that it is proving incredibly

popular.

One aspect of trying to become an inter-

net only company is the frustration with

the number of e mail addresses that

bounce back at us if we do a bulk mailing.

These are mostly those e mail addresses

that end yahoo.com, yahoo.co.uk, hot-yahoo.com, yahoo.co.uk, hot-yahoo.com, yahoo.co.uk, hot-yahoo.com, yahoo.co.uk, hot-

mail.com, sky.com, aol.com and ntl.com.mail.com, sky.com, aol.com and ntl.com.mail.com, sky.com, aol.com and ntl.com.mail.com, sky.com, aol.com and ntl.com.

Whatever your e mail address please do

add our e mail address to your contacts

list: info@greencardgolf.co.uk info@greencardgolf.co.uk info@greencardgolf.co.uk info@greencardgolf.co.uk and rich-rich-rich-rich-

ard@greencardgolf.co.ukard@greencardgolf.co.ukard@greencardgolf.co.ukard@greencardgolf.co.uk. This way you

will be sure to get the news when it hap-

pens.

Also we are aware that for some reason

some people haven’t been able to see the

website. We recently changed the server

and we hope this is now cured. Please let

me know urgently if you are still having

difficulties. I would have great difficulty

sleeping if I thought you couldn’t see us

CAN YOU SEE THE WEBSITE?

LAST CALL FOR THE GRAND FINALS

2011 PROGRAMME TAKES SOME BEATING By the time you are reading this the 2011

Brochure should be uploaded to the web-

site. You will have been e mailed a link to

it that enables you to read it online or

download it and print it.

Although we will be printing a few copies

and regular customers will receive a copy

it will not be delivered for a week or two

yet. If you don’t get a copy please let us

know.

As ever the world is changing. None of

our competitors now produces a brochure

and it would be foolish to think that we

can compete with them if we continue to

spend £15,000 pa on printing.

Instead we have upgraded the website

and will concentrate on driving people to

view the site. On average 50 people look

at it every day and they spend an average

6 minutes looking at it, viewing over

6,000 pages a month. Our brochure

would never have achieved those viewing

figures.

As ever when Richard Munroe and I sit

down in February and discuss what we

will put in the programme for the following

year it seems an impossible task to keep

things fresh. Yet once again we are pleased

to offer a calendar stuffed full of new destina-

tions.

I know that New Year in Thailand will now be

in its 4th year but it is without a doubt the

best venue we have used for this event.

Thailand has been running. The weather is

always superb, the hotel is one of the best we

use, the courses are excellent and the New

Year’s Eve party is simply a magnificent ex-

travaganza. Where else would you rather be?

We follow this by a month in Asia with an-

other 2 weeks in Thailand, this time back to

Chiang Mai for the first time in 6 years, since

when they have built some superb new

courses with the second half in Hua Hin. And

then we visit Malaysia for the first time.

Kuala Lumpur and Sabah, in Borneo. A vi-

brant city followed by more beach an golf. UK

doesn’t have much going for it in February,

Asia does.

For Morocco we move down to the coast and

we are playing the 3 wonderful courses in

Agadir, whilst staying at the 5 star Sofitel,

right on the beach. Even if the weather

might not be quite warm enough for a

day’s sunbathing it should be perfect for

golf. And the Atlantic rollers will keep up

their spectacular display all week.

Back down to South Africa to perhaps our

favourite destination: beautiful hotels and

courses and great food and wine. On the

way back stop off for another tournament

in Dubai staying at the Al Bustan.

Quinta do Lago in Portugal followed by the

Gloria in Turkey and then another new

sensation—Bulgaria.

In Ireland it is back to Killarney for the first

time in 15 years but then the real fun be-

gins with a great trip to Vancouver and

Whistler, followed by Portugal’s No 1 links

at Oitavos outside Cascais and then if you

feel exhausted by all that it will be time to

unwind on the beach in Mauritius.

You can’t do them all but once again we

hope that there is something for everyone.

Now how can we cap that programme in

2012?

This is the last chance to book for the Grand

Finals in Vila Sol. With more than 50 already

signed up this will surely be a great finale.

The resort has everything we need for our

season closing festival of golf: an excellent

choice of accommodation between 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 HotelVila Sol HotelVila Sol HotelVila Sol Hotel Vila Sol Apartment VillageVila Sol Apartment VillageVila Sol Apartment VillageVila Sol Apartment Village