Nomads Golf Society 2026

BEN GREEN MEMORIAL TROPHY – Friday, 18th May 2012

Round 5 of the Nomads Order of Merit event was held at a new venue for the Society – South Cerney, just outside Cirencester in Gloucestershire.

Twenty-four members started the event which saw a win for the popular Tony Bourne  with 39 points, just pipping Rich Crowcombe on count-back. Third place was taken by the ever consistent, Darren Williams.

The other prizes went to; Nearest the Pin, Darren Williams, Longest Drive and Par 3′s, Steve Graham, while the divisional prizes went to; Derek Freeman-Jones (Div 1), Jitesh Mistry (Div 2), Mike Simpson (Div 3) and Mike Woodman (Div 4).

The day was rounded off with a fine meal of chicken and leek cheese followed by Apple Crumble.

Scores:

27th April 2012 – Forest Hills
SAXONS 14½ – CELTS 6½

The 12th edition of this friendly, but fiercely competitive event was held at Forest Hills in the Royal Forest of Dean.

The day started very wet and was in danger of being cancelled but the hardy souls of the Nomads troupe donned waterproof’s and headed out on to the first tee.

There was much banter exchanged about the number of shots the ‘Celts’ were gaining (not that it done them much good) before the first ball had been struck.

The weather cleared-up after and the ‘Saxons’ came-in for the lunch break with a 4½ to 2½ lead, so after filling-up on sandwiches and chips it was back-out for the afternoon singles.

It was more of the same after lunch, despite giving away lots of shots the ‘Saxons’ came-in with a resounding score of 10 to 4 from the singles making the final score, 14½ to 6½.

The after match presentation followed a meal of pork and vegetables, with chocolate gateau for dessert, where Nomads 2012 Captain, Steve Graham took the stage.

Following the recent sad death of Ben Green, Steve led a one minutes applause for the popular member and announced that the next competition at South Cerney will be held in his name, and a trophy will be played for every March afterwards as a fitting tribute.

Steve Morgan achieved a landmark of 100 events and was awarded a Nomads cap as a momento.

Apart from the matchplay event, there were other prizes on offer for all the par 3′s and longest drive for both rounds. Nearest the Pin winners were Peter Horlock (3), Mark Willicott, Steve Graham and Adrian Jones. The Longest Drives winners were James Farley and Rich Allen.

The members trundled out of the golf club, some 12 hours after arriving there tired, but all had had a good day.

Scores (Saxons names first):

Greensomes

1 – Steve Graham and James Farley beat Gary O’Connell and Steve Morgan 1up

2 – Peter Horlock and Simon Howlett beat Wayne Stewart and John Thomas 3 & 1

3 – Jon Ager and Damian Orton lost to Adrian Jones and Tony Griffiths 2 & 1

4 – Manny Virdi and Rich Allen beat Ajay Misra and Jitesh Mistry 8 & 7

5 – Chris Pulfree and Ged Wrench beat Derek Freeman-Jones and Pramod Mistry 2 & 1

6 – Mike Woodman and Mark Graham lost to John Essom and Gurdeep Litt 4 & 3

7 – Rowland Joyce and Mark Willicott halved with Darren Williams and Surj Halaith

Singles

1 – Steve Graham beat Gary O’Connell 3 & 2

2 – James Farley beat Steve Morgan 5 & 4

3 – Peter Horlock lost to Wayne Stewart 3 & 1

4 – Simon Howlett beat John Thomas 1up

5 – Jon Ager lost to Adrian Jones 3 & 2

6 – Damian Orton beat Tony Griffiths 1up

7 – Manny Virdi beat Ajay Misra 1up

8 – Rich Allen beat Jitesh Mistry 5 & 4

9 – Chris Pulfree beat Derek Freeman-Jones 2 & 1

10 – Ged Wrench lost to Pramod Mistry 3 & 2

11 – Mike Woodman beat John Essom 1up

12 – Mark Graham beat Gurdeep Litt 5 & 3

13 Rowland Joyce beat Darren Williams 2up

14 Mark Willicott lost to Surj Halaith 3 & 2

I have just been informed of the sad death of one of our members, Ben Green.

As you may be aware Ben was not very well at Castle Combe and was admitted to hospital shortly afterwards.  He went downhill rapidly and there was nothing they could do for him and he passed away late Monday night.

No further details are known at present and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

Ben has been playing with the Nomads on a regular basis over the last couple of years, and I am sure that you had found him a funny and lovable man, and a great joy to play with.

Mark Graham is attending a celebration of his life at Forest Hills Golf Club next Wednesday and will be representing the Nomads Golf Society.

The society, I am sure will dedicate a fitting memorial to him.

RIP Ben

Round 1 – Golf Inc Trophy (16th March 2012)

The third event of the 2012 season was held over the parkland course of Llanwern in Newport. Another good turn-out for the first round of the Golf Inc Trophy saw 32 players take to the tee.

The event saw a first win for Ajay Misra whose score of 38 points just pipped the 37 scored by Ged Wrench into second. Third place was decided on count-back with Adrian Jones getting the decision over Derek Freeman-Jones who both scored 36 points.

The other prizes went to Derek Freeman-Jones (Nearest the Pin, a share of the Par 3 competition and Division 1 winner), Jon Ager (Longest Drive), Adrian Jones and Mark Willicott (share of the Par 3 competition), Damian Orton (Division 2 winner), James Farley (Division 3) and Dave Curtis (Division 4).

The day ended with a meal and the presentation of the prizes which included the monthly raffle prize of a club cleaning kit, which was won by Gary O’Connell.

Scores:

On a cold but dry day, the second round of the 2012 season was played over the magnificent Manor Golf Course at Castle Combe, in Wiltshire.

The event was won by Mike Simpson whose 39 points just edged out Manny Virdi on countback with Mike Woodman in third position with 37 points. The society welcomed two new members in Paul Irwin and Steve Keable and it was a welcome back after a few years for Rob Eadsforth. Paul got into the prizes by taking the Nearest the Pin award, with the Longest Drive won by Damian Orton and the Par 3′s competition was headed by Gary O’Connell. The divisional prizes were won by Darren Williams (Div 1), Damian Orton (Div 2), James Farley (Div 3) and Dave Curtis (Div 4).

The day ended with a meal of pork steak in peppercorn sauce and vegetables, and the first place raffle prize of a nights stay at the Manor Hotel, with breakfast and dinner for two was won by Steve Keable, with the second prize of a ball retriever won by Paul Irwin.

Scores:

Over the stunning hill-side course at Woodlake Park near Usk, with magnificent views over the Llandegfed Reservoir and the distant snow-capped mountains of the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains, the first event of the Nomads season took place.

Thirty players braved the treacherous slopes on a sunny day on this magnificent course which proved a stern test for the golfers, with only one player breaking the 30 point mark.

That achievement went to Rowland Joyce whose 30 points was just enough to beat Michael Griffiths on 29 who was second on countback from Darren Williams.

The divisional winners were: – Derek Freeman-Jones (1), Mark Willicott (2), Wayne Stewart (3) and Dave Curtis (4).

Other prize winners were for Longest Drive. Gary O’Connell, Nearest the Pin, Derek Freeman-Jones and Par 3′s, Mark Willicott.

The day was ended with a nice meal of Leek and Potato soup, followed by Gammon and Chips. The monthly raffle was won by Mark McGirr.

Results

The 2011 Order of Merit – Final

(Best 6 scores counting)

(* new players in 2011)

The final event of the 2011 season was held on a cold but sunny day at Bristol Golf Club. The event was billed as ’2011 Finals Day’, with every group having pre-qualified had something to play for.

The overall event was won by Adrian Jones, with a stunning score of 43 points ahead of Peter Horlock with 36 and Stuart Perry on 35 points. The nearest the pin was won by Derek Freeman-Jones and the longest drive by Ajay Misra.

The first group was contested by the current captain, John Thomas, and three former captain’s, Stuart Perry (2002), Peter Horlock (2006) and Simon Howlett (2010), who played for a bottle of Glenfiddich Whisky, which was won by Peter Horlock.

Group two saw the season long final of the Guillotine event, with a prize of £50 and was won by James Farley.

The third group involved the top four players from Division 1, and the cash prize of £10 was won by Bob Hale. Group four for Division 2 players likewise, saw Jon Ager take the prize, Group five for Division 3 players won won by Ajay Misra and finally Group six for Division 4 was won by Gurdeep Litt.

For those attendees who were not qualified for the finals, there was a prize of a bottle of wine,  in Group seven the award was won by Carolyn Griffiths and in Group eight by Adrian Jones.

Following the meal and the extended presentation for the seasons winners, there was the traditional Nomads Christmas Raffle with the top prize of a wedge being won by Darren Williams, after which much merriment was had with the large array of prizes.

2011 has been a vintage year with very good attendances at the events, so looking forward to 2012 with two new courses to start off with, Woodlake Park and Castle Combe.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone.

Here are the scores:

The penultimate round of the Nomads season was held at the wonderful Rolls of Monmouth on the 7th November 2011 in surprisingly fair weather until the last couple of holes.

Star-man on the day was Derek Freeman-Jones with a storming round of 42 points which puts him an almost unassailable lead in the 2011 Order of Merit.

Second place went to yours truly, Tony Griffiths with 37 points whilst Mark Graham beat John Thomas on countback with 36 points for third.

There were prizes for the best placed players in each of the four divisions (provided they weren’t in the top 3), which went to Darren Williams (Div 1), Bob Hale (Div 2), John Thomas (Div 3) and Pramod Mistry (Div 4).

Nearest the Pin was won by Gavin Williams, the Longest Drive by Manny Virdi and there was a tie for the Par 3 prize between Jitest Mistry, Gary O’Connell and Adrian Jones.

A new concept to the Nomads events is  a monthly raffle draw which this time was a box of golf balls which was won by Keith Williams.

After the meal of fish and chips or Ham, Egg and chips, captain John Thomas made the presentations to the winners on the day.

Scores

The tenth event of the 2011 season saw thirty-one members take on the Mathern Course at St. Pierre on a bright sunny Autumn day.

The event was won by first time victor, James Cowling with 38 points just beating Manny Virdi on countback, with vice-captain Steve Graham third with 35 points.

There was a warm welcome for two new members, Adrian Jones and John Essom who both enjoyed the day.

The day was completed with a nice meal of garlic mushrooms followed by braised beef and vegetables.