It was a great end to a great year for the society, the final tournament and cup day in honour of our President Derek Mac to mark the end of our 2006 competitions. We had the perfect number of entrants filling our allotted tees, could it get any better? Oh yes.... Although a little breezy, nothing abnormal about that you could say, but it was a beautiful day and to add to the excitement to the days competition, Dermott Haughian was running a book offering odds matching the players handicap on the day, there were many hot favourites, Billy Seaforth, Tony Fawcett, Jo McKernon and even Dermott himself!!!

  Being a cup day, we were playing off 3/4 handicaps favouring the lower handicappers slightly. I was drawn with both Billy junior and Bill Seaforth senior with Terry Johnstone making up the four. We were out on the 2nd to last tee as I was on desk duty with Margot Kenny organising the event. Billy junior got off to a flying start, with a par on the 1st. In fact in his front 9 he could hardly do anything wrong. Even on the dogleg 6th hole when he goes into the bunker with his drive, duffs his 2nd shot across the fairway into the lake, has a penalty shot for his 3rd then chips in from 60 metres for par! Had to be shot of the day that! He did, however, fall apart a little on the back 9, not enough to cause him serious harm to his overall score but enough cost him the cup. He did finish in style though with a wide drive, a duffed 2nd and a great 3rd leaving him a 4 foot putt for par which he got. I had my own moments of glory, but they were few and far between. Others it seems were fairing well. All the hot favourites in fact! There was a 5-way tie for 9th with 27 points, a 4-way tie for 5th on 28 points, a 2-way tie for 3rd and just one shot separated the top 2! We'll give a quick mention for those who came 5th, Derek Bayley, Paul Worrall (Egor), Paul Benham and Steed Ansell. In 3rd place tied on 33 points was Billy Seaforth (Junior) along with Tony Fawcett, runner-up was Jo McKernon with 36 points and the days victor, well deserved with 37 points off a ¾ handicap, Dermott Haughian. Dermott has now been cut to 9, and Jo is down to 7.
Our winning guest put on a great performance as well. Alison Tanton romped in with 29 points, beating a lot of our members on the day. Alison and her fella Dudley have since joined the society, so welcome aboard to them.


  Our President Derek Mac had lined up prizes for nearest the pins on all the par 3's. Nearest the pin on the 4th was Margot Kenny, on the 7th was Derek Bayley, on the 12th was Mike Thurman just 3 feet away and on the 15th Dermott was one of the few to stay on the green! Although there were plenty of opportunities for birdies on the par 3's, no one sank their putts for a 2 making it a rollover to our Christmas bash on the 19th December. How Mike Thurman missed his is a mystery! The lucky sweepstake winner picking out Dermott to win 50 Euro, who'd have believed it, was none other than our President Derek Mac!!!

  On the evening we had our presentation meal combined with the end of the year bash and a good excuse to have an early Christmas dinner! Held at El Rancho in Villaverde, we roped in the help of Chablis Chef, Ian to assist in the supervision of the meal. What a great job they did too, to have over 80 and all satisfied customers at the dinner is quite an achievement. The drinks flowed down at quite a pace too and after a rather memorable speak from Mr Captain, Rob Hughes, who'd manage to find a rather condemning picture of the president Derek Mac on the internet, handed the reigns over to Derek for the presentation of the prizes.


  As it was the end of the year bash, all the achievements within the societies year were mentioned. Captains Cup winner in March was Steve Cording, who couldn't make it on the night due to work, he forgot to mention it himself but Derek Mac won the Gran Canaria Salobre open, Vice Captain Dennis May won the Broncemar Cup in August, my team beat Dereks team in the Trider Cup in September. A special cup was presented to a lady who has only just started and already poses a threat to us all, Eva Krivacska was given, much to her amazement, a Rookie of the Year Trophy. This led us on to the yearly comps, the Player of the year and Eclectic Trophies. I was defending my title as player of the year for the 3rd time, but didn't quite do it this year. Managed to hold on to 3rd place though and also for the 1st time won the yearly Eclectic for the lowest eclectic round of golf. Last year the player of the year was a tie with myself and Jo McKernon, this year was also a tie but with most improved player of the year Steve Cording who has got down to 19 from 28 and Tony Fawcett who's been very consistent all year. Tony was also reining champ of the Matchplay Knockout, he came 3rd in that this year and played just last week before the AGM, the final between John Burgess and Billy Seaforth junior was won by Billy. In the side competition, Jo McKernon beat Steve Cording in the Plate final last week. All the years results and achievements are here on our website, as are the fixtures for 2007 for both courses.

  The evening was one of our most memorable, so I'm told! After the presentation, which only took 15 minutes, we carried on the party in fine style, with live music from the man himself, Derek Mac, he got everyone up dancing, including Geordie Graham Thomson who I believe even out shone Paul Benham, and believe me that takes some doing! Then out came the crooners on the Karaoke that I'd lined up, which carried on the festivities 'til the early hours. Make sure you don't miss out on any of our up and coming events of next year, be it the golf or just an excuse to dress up and enjoy our infamous parties in great company. Thanks to all the supporters of the society, Fuertenews.com for letting me ramble to the masses, the Grapevine magazine for advertising our events and of course all those who support us day in and day out by attending our golf matches and functions. We've got some great things lined up for next year so keep reading our reports to keep you informed.

  Don’t forget our first events of 2007 are on Tuesday 2nd & Sunday 7th January. Tee times are from 10.00 am at the Fuerteventura Golf Club.

  If you want to join us as a member or guest for this or any future events, or if you would like any further information about the society, please contact:

Dave Brown on (0034) 620 161360
or drop me an email

Alternatively check out our website for details & dates.

Hope to see you soon,

Dave Brown (Society Secretary)