International Golf Trip to Majorca 11-16 April 2016

8 intrepid golfers visited Portals Nous on the island of Majorca to play golf and enjoy fellowship. The trip was superbly organised by Majorcan resident Shaun Doherty who also acted as unpaid taxi driver by ferrying us about to the various courses and restaurants.

One of the highlights of the visit was an evening trip on Shaun's boat up the west coast of the island reaching a speed of 32 knots (although this was not fast enough for President Yogesh). Everyone had a turn at steering under the watchful eye of Shaun. At the end of the trip we all posed on the poop deck with glasses of bubbly trying to pretend we were famous celebrities. Even Gurnam enjoyed a glass (although a teetotaller prior to the golf trip, Gurnam was by now a connoisseur of wines and liqueurs). Because of the nautical environment we prompted Admiral John Turner to regale us with more stories of the battle of Jutland but he steadfastly refused saying that he was saving them for the next 20 instalments of his club lecture series.

We were also invited to Shaun and Lyn's Majorcan residence for drinks and nibbles. From there we walked to a restaurant in the village run by a retired bullfighter. John Turner enjoyed the traditional Majorcan vegetable soup but we had to avoid standing downwind of him the following day.

Despite Shaun's fluency in Spanish some of us tried out our own limited knowledge of the language. On one occasion Peter "point of order" Keary confused caliente with Alicante much to the amusement of the waiter.

As to the golf itself, on the last day we were almost evicted from the European Union without having to vote when John Turner mistakenly played a German's ball instead of his own. We all had our good days, good rounds, good shots to varying degrees but the overall winner and bookies' favourite was Gurnam "hit it down the middle" Basran. Congratulations to Gurnam on winning and to Shaun for organising a superb trip. The weather and fellowship were brilliant throughout.

P.S. There are more photos in the Galleries section of the website.