The Nomads Creed
The words we have taken for our creed are printed in the renowned extract from the Meditations of John Donne (1573-1631):
No man is an island entire of itself;
Every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main …
Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind,
and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls.
It tolls for thee.
Nomads Constitution and Rules Of Play
Aims and Objectives of Nomads
- Provide an opportunity for persons of all walks of life to meet one another at least once a month, to play a game of golf and to make new and cement old friendships.
- To encourage, promote, foster and support the game of golf.
- To generate funds for distribution to charitable causes and assist those persons, regardless of race, colour or creed, in a less fortunate position than ourselves.
Past Captains
| 1965 Ludie Ludeman | 1966 Bill Wilson | 1967 Gerry Conacher |
| 1968 Tommy Forster | 1969 Pat McGurk | 1970 Henry van den Hoogen |
| 1971 Ken McKenzie | 1972 John Coulson | 1973 Arthur Cox |
| 1974 Fred Bruton | 1975 Dudley Foaden | 1976 Carl Wentzel |
| 1977 Bobby Mercado | 1978 Derrick Mostert | 1979 Mike Stevenson |
| 1980 Kenneth Blake | 1981 Derrick Transell | 1982 Fred Smit |
| 1983 Frank Roos | 1984 Alec Saunders | 1985 Ray Parsons |
| 1986 Brian Cusins | 1987 Eben Nel | 1988 Richard Moore |
| 1989 Doug Watson | 1990 Sidney Green | 1991 Paul McCaskie |
| 1992 Peter van der Byl | 1993 Jimmy Littlewood | 1994 Peter Clayton |
| 1995 Brian Burns | 1996 Steve Sherwood | 1997 Brian Bolton |
| 1998 Butch Hindman | 1999 Cyril Ferrer | 2000 Peter Kirchmann |
| 2001 Ray Lourens | 2002 Ray Germs | 2003 Larry Bredenkamp |
| 2004 Glen Dalton | 2005 Nic du Toit | 2006 Brian Coetzee |
| 2007 Jerome Davis | 2008 Byron Price | 2009 Mike Gahagan |
| 2010 Pat Gaffney | 2011 Gavin Ditchfield | 2012 Pat Frampton |
| 2013/14 Spero Marinaki | 2014/15 Darren Holm | 2015/16 Graham Bishop |
| 2016/17 Barry Bruton | 2017/18 Sean Ledden | 2018/19 Sean Ledden |
| 2019/20 Nic du Toit | 2020/22 Eugene Marx | 2022/23 Craig Clarke |
| 2023/24 Warren Mitchell |
Past National Chairmen
| 1967/69 Anthony Handley | 1969/70 Bill Wilson |
| 1973/74 Ken McKenzie | 1976/77 Arthur Cox |
| 1985/86 Derrick Transell | 1987/88 Alec Saunders |
| 1992/93 Brian Cusins | 1999/00 Doug Watson |
| 2007/08 Glen Dalton | 2023/24 Graham Bishop |
National Tournaments & Co-Ordinators
| 1966 Kyalami – Mike Florance | 1973 Randpark – John Coulson / Fred Smit |
| 1979 Wanderers – Arthur Cox | 1986 Wanderers – Ray Parsons |
| 1995 Royal Jhb – Doug Watson | 2006 Randpark – Brian Burns |
| 2019 Randpark – Graham Bishop |
Honorary Life Members
| Gary Player | Alec Saunders | Doug Watson | Brian Burns |
Honorary Members
| David Milton | Glen Dalton | Denis Hutchinson | Spero Marinaki | Nic du Toit |
Graham Bishop
Current Founder Members
| Transvaal/Gauteng Gary Player |
A Brief History
In late 1959 Mike Florance, having been a member of a fraternity of golfers who met and played once a month, they called themselves NUMIC or Follow the Sun as the majority of the players were employed in the mining industry. Mike Florance with the approval of his fellow players formed a golfing club based on the concept under which they were already playing which was to be known as NOMADS as the club would not have any actual club premises but would approach various golf clubs requesting the use of their facilities to play their monthly games.
In April 1960 the Nomads club was established.
Mike Florance wrote the constitution and the rules of play for the club. The scoring system to be adopted for the monthly games was to be medal stableford. This method of scoring requires the player to play the course excluding ones official handicap. The points scores being as follows:- Eagle 4 points, Birdie 3 points, Par 2 points and one over 1 point if unable to score the player should pick up his ball. When the round was complete the points scored are tallied and the players handicap is added or subtracted to arrive at ones total. The club was named Transvaal Nomads the playing colours of white shirt and red trousers and later was changed to be a red shirt with black trousers. There were 106 founder members at its inception. The first game was scheduled to be played at Irene but was unfortunately washed out as was the second game to be played at Parkview.
The concept of the Nomads spread down to Natal and under the sponsorship of the Transvaal club the Natal Nomads club was established in 1963. Because of the rivalry between the two provinces an annual tournament was conceived called the Langham-Edward trophy. This tournament was to be played in Durban on the first weekend of July, coinciding with the Durban July. This was to ease the necessity of the gamblers making two trips to Durban.
Subsequently 10 more clubs have been established in South Africa and internationally, three clubs in Zimbabwe and, clubs in Botswana, New Zealand, Australia, Eswatini, Zambia and the United Kingdom.
