Nomads Golf Society 2026

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.

Twenty eight members enjoyed a day at the seaside with the latest round being played over the links course of Weston-Super-Mare. Fortunately for the players, the weather was calm and the rain stayed away.

This event was for the ‘Links Pairs’ which saw Jon Ager and Darren Williams take away the pairs first prize with an average of 36 points, second were Steve Graham and Simon Howlett with an average of 35.5.

On the individual front, Jon Ager took the money with an excellent round of 40 points beating Mark Graham on countback with Steve Graham third with 39 points.

After an excellent meal of steak pie and apple tart, the presentations were made by vice-captain Steve Graham with a cap being awarded to Bob Hale on his 50th appearance.

The event also saw Mike Woodman and Scott Curtis make their first appearance with the Nomads – welcome boys!

Here are the results:

16 members went on the annual tour which again was at the Forest of Arden.

Here are the results.

The average of these scores will be assigned to the 2011 Order of Merit.

The sixth event of the 2011 season saw 27 players attend the all-day event at Dewstow.

The first session was a Texas Scramble over 9 holes of the Park course with the team of Darren Williams, Rich Allen, Jitesh Mistry and Tony Bourne taking the honours with an excellent score of -3. There were two nearest the pin competitions which were won by Gerry Ray and James Cowling.

The afternoon was an individual Stableford competition on the Valley course which saw a maiden win for Derek Freeman-Jones with 39 points, with Rich Allen beating Tony Bourne on countback with 36 points for the minor placings. The longest drive was won by Rich, the 18th hole nearest the pin by Mark Graham and the par 3 competition won by Derek. Best team was made-up of Derek Freeman-Jones, Mark Graham and Tony Bourne.

The event was concluded with a meal and presentation by captain John Thomas who also awarded a Nomads cap to Matt Freeman on achieving over 50 appearances, and announced the vice-captain for 2012 which will be Gary O’Connell who will lead the ‘Celts’ team in the 2012 Newton Cup. It was also good to see 2002 captain, Stuart Perry back with the society.

Here are the results:

The latest round of the 2011 season saw the Nomads play at Forest Hills in Coleford. A 9-hole Texas scramble was played as a warm-up for the main event before lunch, and the 18 hole Stableford competition was won by Manny Virdi on countback from James Farley and Gary O’Connell. Manny’s win makes him the most successful player in Nomads history so far.

Here are the results:

On a very windy but sunny day at Brickhampton in Gloucester, the Nomads made their fifth outing of the year. After an excellent full English Breakfast, twenty seven players took on this new course for the society.

The podium was decided on countback with Surj Halaith winning from Mark Graham and Derek Freeman-Jones who all tied on 39 points. Nearest the Pin was Ziggy Niblett with Simon Howlett the longest drive and the Par 3 competition won by Surj. The best team was Ziggy, Dave Curtis and Steve Graham.

The day was completed with a two course meal of Chicken Pie and vegetables followed by Strawberries and Cream.

Llanishen: Saxons beat the Celts 9.5 – 8.5

In a closely contested match over the hilly course at Llanishen, the Saxon team led by Steve Graham won back the Newton Cup after a three year period. The morning Greensomes ended all square 3-3, but the stronger Saxon team made it pay in the afternoon singles and it was left to the Celts captain, John Thomas to hand over the trophy at the end of the day.

The day saw Nomads debuts for Dale Cleaver and Martin Ballard, welcome to the society.

Celts names first:

Greensomes

1 – Darren Williams and Ziggy Niblett beat Rowland Joyce and Manny Virdi 2+1

2 – Dale Cleaver and Andrew Gardiner lost to Simon Howlett and Peter Horlock 3+2

3 – John Thomas and Martin Ballard beat Wayne Stewart and Steve Graham 3+1

4 – Tony Griffiths and Ramesh Mistry halved with James Farley and Mark Graham

5 – Gary O’Connell and Steve Morgan halved with Mark Willicott and Mike Simpson

6 – Jitesh Mistry and Derek Freeman-Jones lost to Jon Ager and Ged Wrench 5+4

Singles

1 – Ziggy Niblett beat Rowland Joyce 1 up

2 – Darren Williams halved with Manny Virdi

3 – Andrew Gardiner lost to Peter Horlock 2 up

4 – Dale Cleaver lost to Simon Howlett 6+4

5 – John Thomas lost to Steve Graham

6 – Martin Ballard beat Wayne Stewart 7+6

7 – Tony Griffiths lost to James Farley 5+4

8 – Ramesh Mistry lost to  Mark Graham 3+2

9 – Gary O’Connell beat Mark Willicott 5+4

10 – Steve Morgan beat Mike Simpson 3+1

11 – Jitesh Mistry lost to Jon Ager 3+1

12 – Derek Freeman-Jones beat Ged Wrench 2+1