Manuel De Los Santos

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Manuel de los Santos is one of sport’s most inspirational figures. Growing up in the Dominican Republic, he played baseball from a young age and by 2003 was planning to turn professional. But a motorcycle accident changed his life forever when he lost his left leg above the knee.

Following this accident, he moved to France and on seeing the film, ‘The Legend of Bagger Vance’, he was inspired to take up golf. Now 26 years old, Manuel lives in Paris and plays to a handicap of just three, competing in high profile tournaments all around the world. His extraordinary golf swing has become instantly recognisable.

Peter Montgomery read about Manuel at the end of 2009 and had the idea of making a film about him. This short documentary portrait is the result.

Vale da Pinta Saturday 21st May – Weekly Competition

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The 8 times consecutive host of the European Seniors Tour Qualifying final, Vale da Pinta is rightly respected not just for its playability and challenging layout but for outstanding levels of beauty and enjoyment. Designed by the famous American golf course architect Ronald Fream and inaugurated in 1992 Vale de Pinta has earned its place as one of the best designed courses in Europe.

The Society had played it’s sister course (Gramacho) earlier this month on a charity golf day and Vale da Pinta was in equally fine condition with lush fairways and at times quick greens. A gentle breeze and bright sunshine was the order of the day.

The Society had negotiated very preferential terms to play in May so once again there was a good turnout. Newcomer Shane Hall returned a level par score of 36pts with a magnificent eagle on the 422mts Par 5 12th hole whilst Tommy Jensen’s 23pts on the back 9 was also worthy of note.

1st: Shane Hall (h/c 10) – 36pts

2nd: Tommy Jensen (h/c 18) – 35 pts

Nearest The Pin (15th): Shane Hall

Golfing funnies

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Golf can best be defined as an endless series of tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Golf! You hit down to make the ball go up. You swing left and the ball goes right. The lowest score wins. And on top of that, the winner buys the drinks.

If you find you do not mind playing golf in the rain, the snow, even during a hurricane, here’s a valuable tip: your life is in trouble.

Golfers who try to make everything perfect before taking the shot rarely make a perfect shot.

The term ‘mulligan’ is really a contraction of the phrase ‘maul it again.’

A ‘gimme’ can best be defined as an agreement between two golfers… neither of whom can putt very well.

An interesting thing about golf is that no matter how badly you play, it is always possible to get worse.

Golf’s a hard game to figure. One day you’ll go out and slice it and shank it, hit into all the traps and miss every green. The next day you go out and for no reason at all you really stink.

Golf is the only sport where the most feared opponent is you.

Golf is like marriage: If you take yourself too seriously it won’t work, and both are expensive.

The best wood in most amateurs’ bags is the pencil.