Nomads Golf Society 2026

Well we left Gloucestershire hoping the weather forecasts would be wrong, it was looking promising with bright skies and no sign of the promised heavy clouds. Heading past Ross and Monmouth it was still bright, but it was looking a bit grey as we approached Newport and as the Cardiff junctions came into sight on the M4 the rain began to pour. We had a few late arrivals and no shows due the the M5 closure early in the morning, causing Bristol to be grid-locked.

On arrival at the course the club-house looked great despite the heavy rain and the car park told the story with the members side pretty much empty, – nobody to blame for holding us up once we got started! So after a very tasty bacon roll and coffee it was time to tee off. The course looked really good but with all the rain the puddles were taking over from the grass on the greens. Together with putting through puddles, the other interesting aspect to the round was working out where the next tee was. So as the rain continued it was just a case of looking for the balls amongst the leaves and streams of water across the fairways. We soldiered on and then by the 10th hole the rain stopped and we had 3 or 4 holes of equivalent to Welsh spring weather, before the rain came back again. Anyway after 4.5 hours we were ready to dry off and watch to see if anybody could land a ball on the long par 3 – 18th, which was our closest to the pin hole. Congratulations to Mark Graham who won the prize money for that hole (at 42 steps according to Jitesh) as several others plugged in the fringe on the approach to the green.

Anyway the wet and bedraggled Nomads gradually returned home, most thinking that it would be nice to play the course again in the summer. All in all the scores were pretty good overall, with Stuart Perry excelling, given the conditions, with 38 points and Guy Greening and Mark Gardiner in 2nd and 3rd on count-back  with 35 points. Mark Gardiner won the longest drive and Adie Shilston winning the par 3’s with 14 points. With at least one drop-out from the starting line up for the Guillotine – it is going to be an interesting finale at Dewstow in December.

Anyway, after a tasty steak pie, chips and peas and apple tart and custard it was time to fight the Cardiff traffic once again. Thanks to all the staff at the Glamorganshire who looked after us well.

Note: Jon Ager replaced John Essom in this round of the Guillotine as next best placed reserve.

Scores:

1	Stuart Perry	England	38
2	Guy Greening	England	35
3	Mark Gardiner	England	35
4	Manny Virdi	England	33
5	Adie Shilston	England	32
6	James Farley	Ireland	32
7	Simon Howlett	England	32
8	Damian Orton	England	29
9	Steve Graham	England	29
10	Chris Pulfree	England	28
11	Brian Mills	Ireland	28
12	Gary O’Connell	Scotland	27
13	Mark Willicott	England	27
14	Jon Ager	England	27
15	Derek Freeman-Jones	Wales	27
16	Andy Alexander	Scotland	26
17	Ramesh Mistry	India	25
18	Mark Graham	England	25
19	Gurdeep Litt	India	25
20	Darren Williams	Wales	24
21	Jitesh Mistry	India	23
22	Darren Collier	England	23
23	Rich Crowcombe	England	22