Nomads Golf Society 2026

Friday, 27th April 2013

Cottrell Park, Cardiff

Celts 11.5 – Saxons 9.5

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The Captain’s Write-up

Arriving just after 8am and turning onto the course, it was an impressive 0.7 miles to the clubhouse, it was all very picturesque  with the course either side of the long drive looking in very impressive and very nicely maintained. We were not to be disappointed as the day progressed.

I had quite a busy start to begin with – as normally Simon appears with all the scores ready to go and proceeds to get the scorecards updated etc. But today we had a phone call from Simon at 8.45 am with which he termed a ‘sat nav’ malfunction – which had taken him to a similar named course the wrong side of Bath (especially for getting to Cardiff) !! Well I think he had enough stick on the day,  to mention this much more here and all I can say it that Lewis Hamilton would have been proud of his driving skills as he arrived just in time to join his group on the tee as they were ready to go! (having switched that grouping to last) . One final mention is that I think he used the same sat nav  during his  round, given some of the positions I saw him looking for his ball on the course!

Anyway we were very lucky with the weather, just 3 minutes of hail (well just enough time for Surj to get his wet gear on, before it stopped!)  Excellent result for golfing in Wales, the strong wind that seemed to be mostly in your face for much of both the rounds  and temperatures in the shade of the wind was almost spring like, but when the sun temporarily disappeared behind a cloud and the wind blew it brought back memories of Forest Hills!

Highlights from the day were:

–          Rowland chipping in from 100yds – well we heard Ged his partner shouting and assumed it had to be his partner Rowland and it was!

–          Some very tight games which changed momentum almost hole by hole and the most amazing being Mark Graham who was 4 down after 10 holes, then making a comeback against Surj such that he was 1 up after the 16^th – only for Mark to fluff the last 2 holes and Surj coming away with the afternoon points.

–          There were also some major turnarounds in form between the morning and afternoon games and well done for Steve Morgan and Horace Denny for warming up to the task and only just missing out on points in the afternoon on the 17^th and 18^th greens respectively and a very good win for Andrew Gardiner (Rich Allen you knew it would have to be mentioned).

–          The sh*ttiest shot of the day has to be vice captain JonAger  in the morning Greensomes (who spared us some relief by not wearing the lime green trousers), when Damien his partner managed to catch the ball with the bottom of the club on a short  chip to the green –s o the ball ended up about 30 yards behind the green in the rough on what could only be termed a massive pile of cow sh*t; Jon didn’t want to let his partner down by taking a drop (excuse the pun), so took on the shot (which he said afterwards had to be taken quickly as he was sinking as he stood ready to take the shot); well the only other thing to add to a good shot (all things considered) was the after-effect of playing such a shot when there is a strong wind in your face ( I think Matt Bond my partner, is still laughing now).

Anyway after the morning session, which I had been told by John and Damian looked like it was 4- 3 to the Celts. Only to find at the end that it was in fact 4-3 to the Saxons.

After lunch of sandwiches and chips, the Mackintosh beckoned and we were away just after 2pm the wind had become slightly stronger and because we were having a staggered lunch we didn’t have to tee off in front of the full gallery of players.

Anyway the course made it a real challenge with lots of blind doglegs for the 2^nd shots and Damian Orton was continuing to play well with “4 putts to get a net par” on one green. His game with Matt Bond was a real roller coaster ride, which went all the way to the 18^th with a massive slice of luck for Damian on the last after bouncing of the wall on the road back to the club house to within 10 yds of the pin! I managed a good finish to just sneak ahead of John with win of the 17^th.

The only other brief point of mention of Jon again taking his 5 wood on the 165 yd downhill par 3 – which would have been spot on if the wind hadn’t stopped blowing the exact point he made the shot – he managed to fire his ball to land on the road between 2 cars travelling at speed to the clubhouse who were no more than 10 feet apart much to the relief of Jon.

Anyway the scores were counted and the end result was a win for the Celts 11.5 – 9.5 – very close in the end –  think of all those matched that had all the twists and turns – one of those going the other way for the Saxons then it would have been a draw!!

So overall since its inception in 2000 the score now stand at Celts 6.5 – Saxons 6.5!!

The evening meal was a bit later than we had hoped – but well worth the wait with Wayne adequately finishing off all the spare meals – he must need all the energy for all those runs he does.

So points of note for the day are:

–          Thanks to James and his two mates Andy and Darren for coming along at the last minute to ensure we had full strength teams. After the event they said that we were the friendliest Society that they have played with.

–          Get the event on Calendar for future years – everybody was impressed by the courses (both golf and food!)

–          The official photographer (Jitesh) had to leave early, surprisingly there was nobody volunteered to fill the void in his absence. So he needs a appoint a deputy!

–          As Matt pointed out that one of the best shots of the day was paying for buggies as it was a long really long walk, especially between some of the holes.

–          Have a thought for Andy (James’ friend), who had told his other half that he was off to play 9 holes of golf – so explaining why he was arriving home after 11pm was going to be an interesting conversation.

–          It was pointed out that there seems to be a very high correlation between when the Celts win and when Tony doesn’t play! We will have to save up to send him for a golf holiday next year!

Also thanks to the staff of CottrellPark who were very accommodating and made the whole event very enjoyable.

Finally, hope all is well with Manny – hope to see you back as part of the Society very soon.

A long but very enjoyable day that started just before 7 am and finished on arrival home just before 11 pm!

Scores:

The greensome scores were:

Jon Ager & Damian Orton vs Gary O’Connell & Matt Bond – Celts won by 2&1

Rowland Joyce and Ged Wrench vs Darren Williams & Adrian Jones – Celts won by 4&3

Tony Burris & Mark Graham vs Jitesh Mistry & Surjit Halaith – Saxons won by 2&1

Mike Woodman & Darren Collier vs James Farley & Andy Alexander – Celts won by 4&3

John Essom & Rich Allen vs Wayne Stewart & Andrew Gardiner – Saxons won by 4&3

Guy Greening & Mark Willicott vs Steve Morgan & Horace Denny – Saxons won by 6&5

Simon Howlett & Stuart Perry vs Derek Freeman-Jones & John Thomas – Saxons won 3&2

The singles scores were:

Jon Ager vs Gary O’Connell – Celts won 2&1

Damian Orton vs Matt Bond – Saxons won 1 hole

Rowland Joyce vs Darren Williams – Celts won 2&1

Ged Wrench vs Adrian Jones – Saxons won 1 hole

Tony Burris vs Jitesh Mistry – Match halved

Mark Graham vs Surjit Halaith – Celts won 1 hole

Mike Woodman vs James Farley – Celts won 4&2

Darren Collier vs Andy Alexander – Celts won 3&2

John Essom vs Wayne Stewart – Saxons won 3&2

Rich Allen vs Andrew Gardiner – Celts won 5&3

Guy Greening vs Steve Morgan – Saxons won 2&1

Mark Willicott vs Horace Denny – Saxons won 1 hole

Simon Howlett vs Derek Freeman Jones – Celts won 5&4

Stuart Perry vs John Thomas – Celts won 3&1

Winners of the nearest the pin competitions were: Damian Orton (x2), Darren Williams (x2), Matt Bond, Jitesh Mistry, Rowland Joyce & Mike Woodman. Rich Allen won the star prize of £25 golf tee vouchers for nearest the pin with the second shot on the 18th hole in the morning course.