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

Speakman and another new girl Angie Wyer were just behind on 34. The general opinion was that Dooks was a superb little gem.

Saturday was long flagged as being the Beast and sure enough as we made our way to the tee the wind was bringing icy horizontal showers across the lake and onto Mahony’s Point course at Killar-ney. Although never a really tough course it has to be said that the 39 points scored by Sally Ward, the 38 from John Shearan and the 37 from Ian James Bailey were exceptional scores in the conditions. But they weren’t really enough to separate them from the field as the next 9 players all scored 35 and 34 points.

Paula remained on top but her nearest challengers were last year’s winner and runner up John Shearan and Glenn just 2 points behind. Of course Satur-day night in Killarney is one of the main reasons we go. The town literally jumps to the sound of live music and people from all over the country come to celebrate stag nights and hen nights. Young girls in hope-lessly inappropriate clothing tip toe up and down Main Street on stiletto heels tugging at their hemlines in a forlorn attempt at modesty whilst trawling the bars to find the perfect Craic. The mood is infectious and if you happen to stay for just one more it is likely to be a long night.

The faces at breakfast told the story. But there was golf to be played and so we set off in the opposite direction towards Ken-mare on the mountain pass road through the Killarney Na-tional Park. The views are quite spectacular. At least they were

We first went to Ireland back in 1985 and for ten years we re-peated the trip to Killarney. In all those years we rarely had outstanding weather but usually just one of the rounds was rain affected and many times none at all. In 2011 we suffered five consecutive days of rain mixed with showers and gales with the occasional downpour inter-spersed with misty fog and sleet. Playing golf in the Open at Sandwich didn’t look much fun but the weekend in Killar-ney was miserable. At least the Pros in Sandwich had a million pound jackpot to play for, the poor old amateurs on the Greencard Tour were hoping for a Kindle.

For those arriving early it all started sublimely. Our arrival in Ireland, whether in Cork or Rosslare, was greeted with beautiful summer weather. The countryside never looked bet-ter, fat juicy Wexford strawber-ries by the side of the road hinted at a glorious summer and Killarney was a picture at the end of Race Week with the evening races bathed in sun-

shine. But next day our arrival on the tee of the Lackabane for the practice round saw the first wave of rain blast down from the Macgillycuddy Reeks, riding across the lake like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and drowning those brave souls who dared attempt to make the first in two.

After the usual Greencard cock-tail at the Riverside Hotel it was possible to forget briefly the ap-palling weather forecast and as is so often the case in Ireland the day dawned far brighter then we dared hope. We drove over to Dooks, a course on the Ring of Kerry that has improved immeas-urably since we first played it 20 years ago, with only the merest hint of rain. And on the whole it wasn’t a bad day. The showers mostly skirted the course and although the rain gear was re-quired it was an on off sort of day.

Two players shared the lead on 38 points, new girl on Tour Paula Farrell and old Irish hand “Doc” Martin. Gerry Gentle and Glenn Harris were next on 35 and Paul

Paula Farrell, Glenn Harris and John Shearan bask in the only ray of sunshine

GLENN HARRIS PADDLES TO VICTORY

C o n t e n t s

Killarney… and Tour Points

2

Bulgaria 3

Bowood 4

Woodhall Spa 5

2012 A Vintage Year

6 & 7

Sell in May and Go Away

8

Grand Finals Quinta do Lago

8

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

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

In Th is Issue

Killarney

Bulgaria

Bowood

Woodhall Spa

2012 Brochure

Buy or Stay Away

until next St

Leger Day?

Grand Finals

Venue

P a g e 2

in the postcards but we saw noth-ing as we drove through misty driz-zle over to the Ring Of Kerry Golf Club. It is a new course built on the side of a hill. Days of inces-sant rain meant that the going was heavy and it rained non stop for the first 3 hours of play. Tight fairways and a few blind shots did nothing to lighten the mood. But it was all quickly forgotten as we returned to the Club House to watch Darren Clark become the most popular Open winner ever… well at least in Ireland! But Vince Hallam and John Shearan shared the honours on 33 with Ann Saun-ders, Ian Robinson and Anthony Trafford 2 back on 31.

So with one round to go John was three ahead of Glenn with Paula one back and Vince hanging in there for 4th place, six behind John.

But Monday was to be the round we were looking forward to all weekend. We had seen the tents and grandstands being erected all round the Killeen course in prepa-ration for the Irish Open and we were about to play it. In spite of the fact that the course had been closed to members and visitors for a week the flags and tee markers were put out especially for

us. Mind you with another bitingly cold rain blowing in from the lake it is doubtful that anyone would have joined us but the fact remains that the club opened for us and only us on that day. Big thanks to Maurice the Club Sec for that gesture. It meant an awful lot to our bedrag-gled party.

There were signs early on that an upset might be on the cards as the first card in from Neil Marr showed 39 points and Paul Speakman shot 38 from back in the field. So mixed in with the 22s and 23s there were some excellent scores. Rob Milne was the next to post a good one with 36 including a grandstand tap in birdie at the last. All eyes were on the final group, admittedly from the warmth of the club house. Would any of them upset Mr “Consistent” Shearan? Glenn answered emphati-cally as he shot one of the rounds of his life to overturn a three point lead and win by four. Vince moved past Paula for third place but our new girl was still leading lady in fourth.

Paul’s 38 shot him up from 9th to 5th and so he qualified for the Fi-nals.

There was not much more to be said about the week really. The hotel

Killarney Results—Stableford

THE RACE TO QUINTA DO LAGO AFTER WOODHAL

needed a drying room but otherwise they were a good host for the money and the venue was as good as we remembered all those years ago. But ………. I doubt many would return to Kerry until the memory of the Saturday night Craic overtakes the memory of the rain.

Next year’s tour will be back on the East Coast!!

1 HARRIS GLENN 35 35 30 39 139

2 SHEARAN JOHN 32 38 33 32 135

3 HALLAM VINCE 30 34 33 34 131

4 FARRELL PAULA 38 34 27 29 128

5 SPEAKMAN PAUL 34 27 28 38 127

6 MILNE ROB 29 34 27 36 126

7 WYER ANGIE 34 32 23 34 123

8 GENTLE GERRY 35 32 29 27 123

9 MARTIN DAVID 38 31 26 27 122

10 ROBINSON IAN 26 31 31 31 119

11 LEONARD ALUN 33 32 27 27 119

12 MCGARVA NEIL 32 35 21 30 118

13 BAILEY CARYN 28 35 22 32 117

14 SAUNDERS ANN 26 30 31 28 115

15 PEPPER KEVIN 26 35 25 28 114

16 MEAGHER JOHN 28 29 23 33 113

17 SHEARAN KEVIN 31 35 20 27 113

18 WARD JOHN 28 35 23 27 113

19 PEPPER GLYN 28 29 24 30 111

20 WARD SALLY 25 39 22 25 111

Bill Coupe 7 19 Lancaster

Shirley Halhead 10 19 Lancaster

Alan Baxter 6 18 Mere

Paul Holyhead 13 18 Nelson

Gerald Gentle 13 17 John O'Gaunt

Neil Gillam 9 17 Wentworth

Brian Haynes 10 17 Sundridge Park

Carol Jones 27 16 Saffron Walden

Paul Kaye 6 16 Brough

Janette Brown 17 15 Nelson

John Shearan 6 15 Co Louth

Neil Dalton 11 13 Meon Valley

Reuben Fielding 12 13 Tytherington

Robert Kerr 7 13 Troon Welbeck

Peter Barrington 15 12 Lee Park

Tony Wells 8 12 Triangle

Peter Archer 10 10 Ipswich

Felicity Coates 22 10 Woburn

Michelle Duxbury 15 10 Shaw Hill

Peter Gooch 16 10 Cranleigh

Glenn Harris 12 10 Wellingborough

Ian Harris 8 10 Domaine Imperial

Neil Ratcliffe 7 10 Derby

Paul Speakman 9 10 Workington

Graham Steel 10 10 Moor Park

Geoff Bickerton 3 9 Golf del Sur

Chris Clarkson 5 9 Brough

Martin Fell 6 9 Copt Heath

Caryn James Bailey 31 9 Broke Hill John O'Keeffe 12 9 The Wisley

Alan Orritt 10 9 Penwortham

Leonard Peifer 8 9 Santa Maria

Neil Bamber 7 8 Preston

Vince Hallam 13 8 Lutterworth

Alan McLaughlin 11 8 Braintree

Lindsey Parker 25 8 Woburn

Anthony Trafford 14 8 Weston Park

Jane Twigden 19 8 Woburn

Sheree Wilde 5 8 Chobham

Neil Brown 11 7

Paula Farrell 19 7 Clontarf

Gail Hegarty 12 7 Chorlton c/Hardy

Fiona Ricard 12 7 Wentworth

Mike Wilde 5 7 Chobham

Kim Clark 16 6 Moor Park

David Hayman 17 6 East Devon

Tony Marshall 13 6 Wildwood

David Newmarch 12 6 Abridge

Angela Bertran 18 5 Santa Maria

Dorothy Blackburn 15 5 Aspley Guise & Woburn Sands

Frank Bristow 11 5

Richard Burke 12 5 Santa Maria

Jackie Carter 14 5 Rufford Park

Philip Crossland 14 5 Southport Old

Geoffrey Henney 3 5 Woodbridge

Sandie Klimcke 12 5 Clandon Regis

Robert Milne 6 5

Helen Bernard 28 4 Domaine Imperial

Pauline Crosthwaite 6 4 Hankley Common George Davis 10 4 Lee Park

Anne Day 18 4 Dulwich & Syden-ham

William McGinnes 13 4 Troon Welbeck

John Meagher 10 4 Forest Pines

Len Ramsbottom 17 4 Diss

Ian Robinson 7 4 Rufford Park

Paul Twigden 10 4 Woburn

Angela Wyer 23 4

Claire Bamber 30 3

Adrian Carran 9 3 Ladbrook Park

Steve Coates 12 3 Woburn

Tim Elliott 15 3 Hankley Common

Lewis Mosse 13 3 Teignmouth

Peter Quinn 18 3 Greenore

Edward Ricketts 10 3 Farnham

Nick Wigzell 18 3 Orchardleigh

Anne Archer 10 2 Ipswich

Richard Bleakley 14 2 North Wales

Gary Corbett 8 2 Mere

Bruce Ferguson 14 2 Troon Welbeck

Melvyn Fern 13 2 Willesley Park

David Martin 15 2 Wellingborough

Dave Simpson 14 2 Sundridge Park

Peter Abbott 14 1 Ladbrook Park

Andrew Baker 9 1 Royal Wimbledon

Linda Crossland 15 1 Southport Old

Howard Domney 10 1 Mere

Edwina Grace 11 1 Ham Manor

Chris Hegarty 7 1 Chorlton c/Hardy

Lodewijk Schlingemann 18 1 Moscow CC Sally Ward 22 1 Royal Lytham

Carton House Results—Stableford

Seamus & 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

PETER GOOCH GRABS THE GLORY of Balchik.

The next day we headed over to Black Sea Rama for the third round. The weather continued to impress as did Peter and Paul. Both players coming in with 36 points. The course has a tremendous par 3 to finish, anything slightly to the right is over the cliffs and never to be seen again! It is fair to say that as we left the club for the final time that week everybody wanted another game there!

So as we approached the final round Paul held a one shot lead over Peter. David had slipped back after his 28 in round three and was now 7 behind the leader. How-ever, we knew that Thracian Cliffs would test all concerned and things could easily change.

After the first two holes the positions had-n't changed. However, Peter continued to press and after nine holes had scored 20 points compared to Paul's 17. This gave Peter a two shot lead going into the final 9 holes. Unfortunately for Paul he didn't score on a couple of the early holes on the back 9 whilst Peter piled on the points. By the time they reached the 17th tee it was all but over and despite pulling his tee shot into the rough on the final par 3 hole over water a chip out and two putts were enough for Peter to take victory and con-firm his place in our finals week in Portu-gal at the end of October. His 39 points in the final round gave him a total of 143.

Paul eventually finished 7 shots back but am delighted to say he still qualified. Janette finished in third place and con-gratulations must go to her and Bob Kerr who gained sufficient tour points to qualify for the finals week.

It was only a relatively small group who travelled over to Bulgaria and this may of course reflect on whether we return in the future. However, I have to say it will be a real shame if we don't as the event offers very reasonable prices for both food and drink, a very relaxed atmosphere around the hotel and truly stunning golf courses.

This was our first venture into Bulgaria. We flew into Varna and transferred the 40kms to our hotel located in Balchik, a coastal town in Northern Bulgaria. Dur-ing the time of the Romanian occupa-tion, the Balchik Palace was the favour-ite summer residence of Queen Marie of Romania and her immediate family. Today, the Balchik Palace and the adja-cent Balchik Botanical Garden are the town's most popular landmarks.

There were several restaurants and bars within minutes of the hotel and as we had arranged transfers for both the airport and golf courses driving was not required. This all made for a very relax-ing week in a lovely little area of Bul-garia.

The hotel Mistral is officially a four star, however, we had advised in our bro-chure that by our standards it is closer to a three star. Having stayed there for a week I think in some respects we had been a little harsh with this opinion. The hotel is perfectly located and all the rooms have full sea views. The staff are friendly and the drinks very reasonably priced. The breakfast was the weak point with a lack of choice being the issue! Having said that you could have a full English breakfast at the restaurant next door for just over £2.50!

As usual on our seven day events the golf schedule was five rounds. We would be playing three rounds on the Gary Player Black Sea Rama, one round on the Ian Woosnam Lighthouse and one round on Thracian Cliffs, also de-signed by Gary Player.

The first round was the practise round at Black Sea Rama. It is a classic links golf course with remarkable views of the sea. In 2009 the course was named by "Golf Inc" the "Best new course in the

world". There are also facilities available for the non golfer including an indoor swimming pool, sauna and spa.

We decided to play the practice round in a pairs format, Peter Gooch and Janette Brown won the day with a score of 40 points. This was an excellent score con-sidering the strong winds that were around on the first day.

The following morning we headed over to Lighthouse for the first round of the main competition. Although not as scenic as the Gary Player courses, the fairways were in immaculate condition. Paul Holy-head and David Hayman took the early lead with 34 points each. Peter Gooch came in with 32 just ahead of Janette on 30.

We returned to Black Sea Rama for the second round. The wind had dropped significantly with blue skies and tempera-tures heading towards the high 20's we were set for an excellent days' golf. David and Peter continued their good form, each scoring 36 points. Paul finished the day just one behind with 35. So at the half way stage David held a one shot lead over Paul with Peter just one further back.

The free day arrived and several mem-bers of the group headed over to play Thracian Cliffs which we were due to play for the final round. Located on Cape Kaliakra and framed by rugged coastal cliffs and the vast blue of the Black Sea the course must be one of the most dra-matic on earth. It really does have to be played to be believed.

Needless to say the free day was a suc-cess for those who choose to play golf. However, it gave others the opportunity to visit the nearby towns of Varna or the beachfront resort of Albena 12km south

Paul Holyhead, Peter Gooch and Janette Brown at Thracian Cliffs

Bulgaria Results—Stableford

1 Richard Munroe 38 36 39 38 151

2 Peter Gooch 32 36 36 39 143

3 Paul Holyhead 34 35 36 31 136

4 Janette Brown 30 30 35 32 127

5 Bob Kerr 26 31 35 30 122

6 David Hayman 34 36 28 22 120

7 Phil Crossland 29 29 29 29 116

8 Willie McGinnes 29 25 30 27 111

9 Tim Elliott 29 26 29 26 110

10 Bruce Ferguson 20 27 29 23 99

P a g e 4

”We enjoyed

glorious

weather for

the four days

and the only

time an

umbrella was

seen was to

protect its

owner against

the sun!”

Geoff Bicker-ton, Brian Haynes and Lyndsey Parker in front of the Bowood Clubhouse. .

BRIAN BLOWS THEM AWAY AT BOWOOD

2010 on the Greencard Tour. Tony 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 bun-kers Geoff battled away and showed just why he is playing off 3. His 36 points was well deserved 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

BOWOOD RESULTS—STABLEFORD

1 HAYNES BRIAN 29 31 35 40 135

2 BICKERTON GEOFF 26 30 36 36 128

3 PARKER LYNDSEY 27 32 34 33 126

4 JONES CAROL 24 33 25 41 123

5 MARSHALL TONY 32 28 32 28 120

6 WELLS TONY 29 26 29 34 118

7 DAY ANNE 27 29 31 31 118

8 MOSSE LEWIS 33 27 28 30 118

9 RAMSBOTTOM LEN 24 27 29 36 116

10 GILLAM NEIL 21 30 33 32 116

11 SUMNER PETER 23 31 33 29 116

12 MCLAUGHLIN ALAN 29 33 26 28 116

13 DALTON NEIL 25 28 33 27 113

14 SIMPSON DAVID 27 30 30 25 112

15 JERREAT ADAM 28 22 34 27 111

16 DALTON JEAN 27 26 26 29 108

17 ROBINSON ANN 23 26 27 27 103

18 TRAFFORD ANTHONY 22 29 28 24 103

19 PICKERSGILL JULIA 26 27 24 24 101

20 CROSSLAND PHIL 19 28 23 27 97

less than appealing. We were assured that it would be raining for the entire day; the Hotchkin is a tough enough proposi-tion when the sun is shining! However, although cloudy the rain had yet to arrive as the last round started. By the time we had reached the 9th word had come through that Carol had hit a 5 pointer on the front nine and Neil's overnight lead had been all but wiped out. The afore-mentioned rain finally arrived on the back nine and I remembered Carol telling us how she did not play well in the rain. I hoped that this hadn’t spoiled what was shaping up to be another close Woodhall finish.

The rain stayed with us for the remainder of the round and we soon discovered that Neil had stayed on track through the weather and although only beat Carol on the day by a single point he had success-fully retained his Woodhall title from last year by 5 shots finishing on 143. Chris secured third place with 132 and Tony Wells fourth with 128. The only piece of the jigsaw left was to see if Neil Dalton had done enough to recover from his is-sues from the previous round! We were not to be disappointed as he carded the best score of the day with 36 points, enough to finish in 5th place.

Our congratulations go to Neil Ratcliffe for another great victory but also to Carol Jones, Tony Wells and Neil Dalton who all qualify for the first time for the grand fi-nals in Portugal.

I also wanted to mention Malcolm Bu-chanan, we all have fond memories of him and Woodhall Spa last year was his last Greencard event. Malcolm you are missed by all.

Woodhall Spa has been the home of the August Greencard Tour event for several years now. This year would be the last one for a while as we feel that it is time for a change. After last years' hotel issues we moved our base to the Woodhall Spa Hotel which we have used in the past, we also used a B&B basis for the first time which proved to be a good move as the local Italian, Chinese, Indian and Thai restaurants didn't disappoint.

The golf programme was the usual three rounds on the Hotchkin which is now 25th in the World's top 100 and one round on its sister course the Bracken. It always amazes people that the two courses located so close together can be so different in terms of design and the land on which they are built. The Hotchkin is sand based and therefore plays very much like a links course. The Bracken on the other hand is clay based and has an American feel to it. The bunkers are less severe but then water comes into play on several holes.

We know we are heading for a quality golf experience when travelling to Woodhall, the courses are tremen-dous and the staff know how to han-dle our group. However, the one thing that cannot be controlled is the weather and once again we were very fortunate. We only saw rain on the back nine of the final round the rest of the competition was played in near perfect golfing conditions.

The opening round was played on the Hotchkin and the leading score of 35 came from Tony Wells and Chris Clarkson. Len Ramsbottom was just one point back in third, a score

matched by Neil Ratcliffe. Sandie Klimcke finished the day on 33 points and was two clear of Carol Jones.

The second round was again on the Hotch-kin and this time Neil Ratcliffe came top with a great round of 38. John Meagher shot a solid 36 while Carol was keeping the pressure on the leaders with another good round of 34.

At the half way stage Neil held a 6 shot lead from Tony Wells while John, Carol and Len were all one point further back. Neil Dalton was lying in 6th place, he need to come 8th or better to qualify for the Tour finals for the first time in his illustrious Greencard career.

The following day we headed over to the Bracken for the next round. As mentioned above this course has a more American feel to it and offers a completely different challenge to the Hotchkin. Carol Jones made a significant move on the leader board carding a wonderful 40 points. Neil Ratcliffe and Chris Clarkson both came in with 37 and Simon Klimcke was next on the list with 34 points. Tony scrambled to 30 and was hanging in as he needed to finish 6th or better to qualify for the fi-nals. However, the story of the day was with Neil Dalton after two consistent rounds and heading for qualification he shot a low 24 and slipped to 9th place overall, only a strong round on the final day would ensure his qualification. Mean-while at the top of the leader board it seemed to be a straight shootout between Carol Jones who was four shots off the leader Neil Ratcliffe. Chris Clarkson and John Meagher were 10 and 13 points re-spectively off the lead and this was surely too big a gap to close.

The weather forecast for the final day was

NEIL RATCLIFFE RETAINS HIS WOODHALL

Chris Clarkson, Neil Ratcliffe and Carol Jones at Woodhall Spa

1 RATCLIFFE NEIL 34 38 37 34 143

2 JONES CAROL 31 34 40 33 138

3 CLARKSON CHRIS 35 27 37 33 132

4 WELLS TONY 35 31 30 32 128

5 DALTON NEIL 30 34 24 36 124

6 KLIMCKE SANDIE 33 28 32 31 124

7 MEAGHER JOHN 29 36 31 25 121

8 CARRAN ADRIAN 28 33 29 29 119

9 MUNROE RICHARD 30 30 28 30 118

10 RAMSBOTTOM LEN 34 31 30 23 118

11 ABBOTT PETER 26 30 30 24 110

12 KLIMCKE SIMON 22 26 34 27 109

13 DALTON JEAN 30 22 23 32 107

14 PATEL MAHESH 24 19 32 23 98

15 STOCK BRYAN 25 19 20 25 89

16 VIVIAN ANDREW 14 23 26 22 85

Woodhall Spa Results—Stableford

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.

2012—A VINTAGE YEAR

Crossing The Andes by Boat This sounds an improbable adventure and of course it can’t be done only by boat. But that doesn’t detract from the fact that the climb from Puerto Varas in the Chil-ean Lake District up past the Osorno Vol-cano and Mt Tronodor is simply awesome. We cross 4 lakes by boat and take a bus between them. It takes the whole day but there is no finer way to arrive at Llao Llao then by boat to fully comprehend its ma-jestic location. Let’s hope we have a beautiful clear day. Before this we will have spent 5 days in the Chilean capital, Santiago, enjoying the vibrant young city, its restaurants and wine and of course their very exclusive golf courses. After Bariloche we fly up to Buenos Aires, the Paris of the South, for 5 days. I can honestly say that this is my favourite city in all the world. Huge wide avenues, tree lined streets and large street cafes. Fabulous shopping and even better food and wine. Take a stroll up Avda Florida and watch all the street theatre, or visit the market in Boca or trendy Palermo. In the evenings go to Puerto Madero or take in a Tango Show. If you have never been to South America you won’t know what you are missing. Bridge on the River Kwai Alec Guinness did some serious work for the Thai Tourist Authority when the world went to see the movie about working on the Death Railway and the building of the eponymous bridge. Unfortunately the bridge depicted in the movie was nowhere near a town and so a bit of a myth has grown up around the bridge at Kanchan-buri. This steel, box girder construction, was also a target for the Allies and was eventually destroyed by prototype guided bombs but it sometimes disappoints those expecting to see a large bamboo bridge. It shouldn’t because it too was built by POW’s and the railway that runs across it was built by the many thousands of Brit-ish, Australian, Dutch and Thai forced labourers. The life in the camps was memorably captured in such movies as

“Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence”. The lazy river lends a tranquillity which is perfect for reflecting on the evils of man and per-haps make you change your mind about that Lexus you were thinking of buying. The town itself has developed a rather quaint little tourist area alongside the river with lots of restaurants and bars reminis-cent of the old Thailand that has disap-peared under concrete in many places. The golf courses are not as wealthy as their counterparts near the big cities but they are very pretty nonetheless. Dubai World Cup The Dubai World Cup is the richest flat horse race in the World. Bigger then the Kentucky Derby or the Melbourne Cup it attracts the world’s racing elite to the de-sert kingdom every year. The new Meydan race course is brand new and the stands and facilities are befit-ting of this prestigious event. On the same race card are two other Group 1 races. It is a fabulous night un-der floodlights where rich Arabs in flowing gowns meet their western counterparts for the big showdown. We will be right there on the finish line in 2012. But Dubai is about much more than horses. There are now a dozen champion-ship courses and we will be playing the Majlis, venue for the Dubai Desert Classic, the Creek, Al Badia and The Earth during our week in the Emirates. Don’t forget to pre book your trip to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building at nearly 1km high. The Grand Northern Tour Our Woodhall Spa event rather petered out this year and so a dramatic rethgink was needed for our UK venues. We have decided to combine a week of golf on some of Britain’s top courses by running two events back to back. We start in York and play three of York-shire’s finest including the illustrious Gan-ton and also Fulford, home of the 80’s Benson & Hedges. See if you can follow Bernhard Langer up the tree on the 17th.

In February of each year I sit down at the desk with a blank year planner. Between then and August I have to fill it in with events and holidays that we hope will keep the calendar fresh and appeal to our adventurous clientele. After 31 years it doesn’t get any eas-ier. What seemed fresh and new 10 years ago now seems old hat. Although there are plenty of places to play around the world many don’t work for a variety of reasons—cost, climate, accessibility etc. But just when you feel like throwing in the towel inspira-tion lends a hand. So once again we would like to present a programme for the year that we believe is packed with un-missable highlights. These are just a few of them. North Vietnam and Halong Bay There are many World Heritage Sites and we have visited quite a few but most are man made—Great Wall, Ter-racotta Warriors, Temple of Karnak, Angkor Wat to name a few, but to me it is the natural wonders that are really impressive. The falls at Iguazu, Table Mountain, The Grand Canyon have all been part of Greencard tours and now we will be adding another—Halong Bay. Being a bit of a travel cynic I didn't expect to be impressed but the Halong Bay cruise was indeed a truly memorable trip. I particularly enjoyed watching “Indochine” with Catherine Deneuve after dinner sitting on the deck surrounded by the same sights as the movie. Hoi An is a very quaint fishing village that is probably a Vietnamese equiva-lent of Polperro. But just because it is a bit touristy doesn’t make it kitsch. It is in fact the perfect holiday town, with little traffic and great restaurants, bars and shopping, whilst being close to our hotel, which is on the white sandy beach near two superb golf courses—The Monty and The Shark. This is what a true golf holiday should be like.

Llao Llao Halong Bay Carnoustie

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.

TOP COURSES & MUST SEE SITES

This trip is expensive for 4 nights and 4 rounds of golf and a ferry crossing at £779 but in a sense it is priceless. It is limited to 40 players and will be our last visit. We are there thanks to Jean Natali who is currently playing in Vancouver cele-brating his 90th Birthday. I can’t thank him enough for risking the wrath of his members once again to give us this privi-lege. If you miss it you’ll regret it all your golfing life. Bob Van Hagge at Emporda We visited Les Bordes annually as though it was part of the seasons and then sud-denly it stopped. The money men took it over and closed it to the public. But hap-pily the designer, Bob Van Hagge, has spread his skills far and wide across Europe and one of his best projects is on the Costa Brava at Emporda. Two con-trasting courses on one site—The Forest and The Links. Both are superb tests with trees and water providing the challenge in the Forest and tall grasses, bunkers and water confronting you on The Links. But if these two aren’t enough we will be finishing at PGA Catalunya Stadium course that now happily allows carts on the fairways. This course is ranked No.4 in Europe and so if you were to do this trip and Chantilly you would have played 3 of the top 6. In addition there is a superb modern hotel in the middle of the courses and so you can hit balls at leisure before teeing off. Getting to Emporda has just become a little harder thanks to that low life Michael O’Leary pulling Ryan Air out of Girona airport in a dispute over landing fees. Thomson Fly still go there and of course Barcelona is only 90 mins down the mo-torway. If you have to go that way it is still well worth the effort. Gone With The Wind in Charleston Scarlett and Rhett may have left their Palladium Villas on their Southern planta-tions but in Charleston there is no mistak-ing where you are. America’s second oldest city was the port through which cotton and tobacco poured out and slaves

poured in. The locals got wealthy and the North got jealous. At least that’s the Southern version of events that led up to the Civil War. But Charleston also saw the fist shots in the American Revolution. You can shoot par at Stono Ferry where 230 years ago a small British contingent shot a large number of rebels. Or play at Patriot’s Point in sight of Fort Sumter. Our first trip to Charleston will have us right in the centre of the old district at the Mills House, where you can walk out and eat at a hundred different restaurants and see the museums without using the car. The most famous courses near Charleston are the Kiawah Island Five but at $250 to $400 a round we felt we could leave those for whoever might wish to play on a Free Day. There are plenty of other great courses at much more reasonable prices such as Wild Dunes, Dunes West, Links at Stono Ferry, Charleston National and River Towne. We are not on the beach for this one but there is so much to see and do in this lovely old city that you’ll hardly have time for the hotel pool. Other Highlights In addition to these fabulous trips we also have a new Irish destination at Knights-brook where we will be playing one of Ire-land’s best links at Baltray, Killeen Castle venue for the Solheim Cup as well as Knightsbrook and Headfort New. For great courses near Dublin for a super price. We will also be returning to Mauritius as there are few nicer places to be in October than the white sand beaches at the Heri-tage Awali with the golf course behind the hotel and the free bar open at the front. But we are saving the best until last. Whilst we are at The Grand Finals in Quinta do Lago between 27 October and 4 November we will be celebrating my 60th Birthday on the 28th October. We will have a fabulous 60th Birthday Tourna-ment with a great party in the evening. Even if you can’t make it for the week I hope to see all those wonderful friends who have made Greencard what it is, and

After our 54 hole event in Yorkshire the Tour rolls North to Scotland and alights at Carnoustie. It is some years since we played around here and in that time things have only got better. We can now stay at the Carnoustie Links overlooking the course. We will be playing all three Carnoustie courses and also the Open Qualifying course at neighbouring Monifieth. Whilst it would be true to say that there are better courses in the area than The Burnside and Buddon Links we feel that this gives a nice compro-mise between quality and price. On the Saturday between the two events we will probably fix a game at Gullane or Scotscraig for those driving up. So you can have a week touring the UK playing at some of the finest courses and finishing on the toughest Open venue of them all. Who said Greencard isn’t challenging anymore. The Mystery of Chantilly I can’t impress on people enough how privileged we are to be playing at Mor-fontaine our Mystery course in the brochure. This extremely private course in the forests North of Paris was designed by the rather effete Tom Simpson who knocked together a few other decent tracks; Sunningdale, Cruden Bay, Ballybunnion, Royal Ly-tham, Chantilly and the Berkshire amongst them. It ranks No.2 in France (behind Les Bordes) and No.3 in Europe (yes that much overrated Valderrama is No.1). But don’t take my word for it just Read This. And if you thought this trip to Chantilly was only about Morfontaine think again. We are also playing Simpson’s Chantilly Vineuil ranked No.6 in Europe. We will be staying at the Chateau de Maffliers, an upmarket Novotel in beautiful grounds near Paris Interna-tional our 3rd course and one of jack Nicklaus’ finest.

Dubai World Cup Bridge On The River Kwai Chateau de Chantilly

SELL IN MAY AND GO AWAY The old stock market adage has proved its worth again in 2011. The “Footsie” hit a peak of 6083 on 1st May and it has been downhill ever since bottoming today at 5103, a loss of 16%.

But should you dive back in on St Leger Day as the second half of the adage exhorts, this year falling on 10th Sep-tember, or maybe come back at Hallow-een as the Yanks prefer.

Either way you would have to have nerves of steel. Back in Nov 2008 I forecast that the banking crisis was nearly over given that governments had stepped in and removed moral hazard. In short if life were about to end then Gold should be at $2000 not $750.

Well of course the crisis might be over for bankers who have sucked up the QE and restored their bonuses but having loaded up governments with all their toxic debt it simply means that it is now Sovereign states that are insolvent. Instead of the bank’s shareholders hav-ing to worry it is now the taxpayers who are being asked to shoulder the burden.

This is far more dangerous because, although it may have escaped our be-loved leaders, the taxpayers have run

out of red blood cells. Everyway you turn now you pay taxes, fees and fines. The very idea that an economy can grow in this environment is bonkers. And yet for those countries least able to pay back their loans this is exactly what they are proposing. More taxes and more cuts until the books balance. As any economist knows if you are going to have a tight fiscal policy; spending cuts and tax increases, there needs to be a safety valve. Traditionally that means a loose monetary policy; low interest rates and printing money if necessary. Well over in Europe the governments have no control over monetary policy and they have mountains of debt to pay back in short order. In UK we could just print it and watch the pound sink (again) but over there they are between a rock and a very hard place. It doesn’t take rocket science to work out that if you can’t pay your debts getting another credit card and maxing it out isn’t going to help. Well Greece has had two new credit cards and they are both maxed out. The end game is in sight. Is it to be eviction from the club and total chaos as they renege on all their debts or is it to be a full transfer union where one state’s debts are assumed by all?

In effect that would mean Germany throwing open the bar and going to bed expecting the drinkers to retire after a couple of nightcaps. The reality is that they will wake up next morning and find the party still in full flow with the bar owner holding out the bill.

The incompetence that has been dis-played by the EU Commissioners in this crisis is simply staggering. They have torn up the Treaties and trampled over democracy in order to keep this dream alive and even in the face of a total col-lapse of civil order across Europe they blithely reaffirm that it is all the fault of Anglo Saxon casino gamblers. Well I have news for them. There is only one way out of this EU crisis and that is that they will have to tell the Germans that the Euro isn’t the D Mark any more. They are simply going to wind up the printing presses and print enough of the bloody things to pay off all the debts. The Euro will slide and the Germans will probably leave the club but the EU and the banks and the Sovereign states, and most importantly Brussels will survive.

Should you get back into the market again? Yes, paper money is about to become worthless but Caveat Emptor

This is the last call for our Grand Finals Week, with over 50 booked already we will once again be having a fabulous festival week at Quinta do Lago. I apologise for a typo in the cost of a Golfer in the two bed-room apartment that appeared in the last issue. It should have been £779 not £649.

By no longer paying for the flights we can put more budget into the venue and that means that we can have better accommodation and golf. And in Portugal there is none finer than the Monte da Quinta Suites and the 3 Q de L courses—North, South & Laranjal.

So we have signed up to a 3 year deal that will make the chase for the elusive 10 Tour Points worthwhile. It does mean that the Greencard Masters will be more expensive but the quality of the trip is superb.

Included for Qualifiers 7 Nights b & b in a shared room 1 Bed-

room 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)

Welcome and 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 2 Bedroom Suites are ideal for 2 single people to share with only a small single supp.

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 2011 Champion.

Prices for the Greencard Masters Golfer 1 Bed Apartment £869

Golfer 2 Bed Apartment £779

Non Golfer -£240

Single Room Supp 1 Bed Apt £149

Single Room Supp 2 Bed Apt £ 79 Golf Only £449

FLIGHT NOT INCLUDED

Grand Finals at Quinta do Lago—October 29th to November 5th The Monte da Quinta Suites Laranjal Golf Course