My initial intention in writing these monthly inserts was to follow a diary type report. It seems however that if you would like to arrange any Nomads events in the future and are concerned that it may conflict with other events, June is the month to do it. What an uneventful time as Captain. The only thing I can attribute to this must be the onset of winter.

I think you will all agree that the committee has gone to great lengths to improve the winter clothing on offer. All our clothing is now branded and colour co-ordinated. We have sleeveless and long sleeve jackets, white and black under shirts, beanies and navy blue jerseys for after the game. Please adhere to our dress code and order your clothing from Bev.

The change in climate was certainly evident at our Bryanston game. I managed to maintain my concentration for the first two holes and then the thought of another 16 of those kicked in. Under the trying conditions, I thought that Bryanston looked in good condition and the improvements to their facilities make it a top Joburg course. It certainly played more difficult than when we there in January. At this stage I would usually thank the Captain, Vice-Captain or committee member from Bryanston for joining us on the day, but I can omit this section. I did however have the pleasure of playing with Pat Frampton on his 100^th game and Robbie Von Hagen who received his 10 year tie. Thanks to Steve Anticevich for joining us in what was almost a three ball. Unfortunately once again there were some members who finished in the dark. We tried our best to move the allocated first tee off time from 11h14 to 10h45. Unfortunately there were 7 ladies fourballs, all off one tee and our 128 players had to be a little patient.

On the day I had the privilege of buying Ken Blake and his three ball a drink on the 18^th hole. Congratulations to Ken on his 45 year tie and if that was not dedication enough, he has never missed a game. Of those 45 years, Ken has spent 40 of them on the Gauteng committee. Thanks, once again, to Ken for all his efforts and archiving – I managed to rent a bakkie from Tempest and have collected his archive files from his home.

You will slowly see that we have introduced a calendar year, to be embroidered under the Gauteng Nomads logo on the playing shirt. The year depicted on the shirt will denote the year in which that person was Captain of Gauteng/Transvaal. This is certainly not compulsory for previous Captain’s but I think it is an initiative worth supporting. As a 5 year Nomad and playing together for the first time at Houghton, how was I to know that Richard Moore was Captain in 1988? I am pleased to see that Richard has given me his shirt and it is off to Dion Cuyler for embroidery. If there are any other previous Captain’s that would like their year embroidered onto their shirt, please bring it to me at a monthly game and I will arrange it and return it at the next game.

The next few weeks of Nomads appear more eventful, starting with a trip to my 5^th Botswana Nationals. We have a team of 8 guys going up to represent South Africa. Shortly thereafter we are off to attend the Border 40^th anniversary and then the Highveld Trophy at Wingate.

Lastly – one of the reasons for attending the Boland anniversary is to represent Gauteng at the 119^th National Management Meeting. Prior to attending, I am required to submit a report that elaborates on the status of our Club. The report has taken me many hours to compile so I thought I would include a small snippet. “You may have noticed that in our minutes of our first meeting, we discussed the wearing of our red “Panaino” hats at National prize-givings. Just to clarify our position on this. One of our long standing members, Ronnie Panaino, who was inducted in June 1978 and who most people associate with the wearing of his traditional red or black hat, was going to play his 34^th and final National Tournament in 2012 at Southern Natal Nationals at Port Shepstone. For this reason we decided to introduce the red hat to acknowledge Ronnie and bid him farewell at Nationals. We have after consideration of the comments received from various people and in particular, “the wearing of a hat under a closed roof is a sign of disrespect,” decided that we will no longer be wearing these hats at any future National Tournaments.”

See you at the next game.

Graham Bishop

Finally, my first game as Captain of Gauteng Nomads under the belt. I would like to thank all the Gauteng members for electing me as Captain and assure all of you that I will continue the good work done by all my predecessors in running this great Club of ours. To my thirteen man and one woman committee, I thank you for giving of your time over the next 12 months. To all the Gauteng members who have phoned, emailed and congratulated me, I appreciate the support.

The year started with having to attend the Gauteng Ladies Golf prize giving in early May held at Randpark. Gauteng were responsible for sponsoring prizes as part of our continued support of the furtherance of golf in South Africa. There was a wonderful turnout at the event and it’s good to see that our funds are being appropriately spent. Congratulations to all the winners.

My first official game as Captain was played in Knysna. Gauteng had a rather disappointing six man contingent attending the Southern Cape 30^th anniversary. The weekend started with a cocktail party at Knysna Golf Club on the Friday evening. Thanks to John Lees for organising everything and to David Meyer (Captain at Southern Cape) for all the effort in making the event a success. To two of our national sponsors, Tempest, for arranging free transport over the weekend and to Hollard (represented by Brian Algar) for reluctantly insuring the vehicle, their continued support of Nomads is appreciated. Saturday afternoon we played Knysna (home of the 2016 National Tournament) in a betterball format. I had the pleasure of playing with Flats Huisamen, the 2016 National Co-ordinator. We shared a cart so it was good to listen to how his plans and arrangements for Nationals were coming together. I can assure all of you that this will be one to attend. The course is a great layout, not long with excellent greens that run true and hold when you manage to hit one. There is no shortage of water, but most of which is easily avoided. The traditional Cowboy bar is situated next to the clubhouse on a wooden deck with a perfect view of the 18^th green. The clubhouse has recently been upgraded and is ready to host us in 10 months. On Sunday morning we played at Plett in their monthly game. Another gem of a course that I had never played. As this was the traditional Nomads format it has been recorded as our first official away tours game. I managed to beat the other five Gauteng boys with a decent 33 points and Pat Frampton bringing up the rear with 22. Thanks to Sean, Nic, Les and Pat for attending the anniversary. A special thanks to Glen Dalton who also played and who hosted us at his guest house – Knysna Manor House – for the weekend. We have already booked the venue for 2016.

Off to Kyalami Country Club for the first game of the year. The field got off to a slow start with the Ladies taking a little longer than expected. We have been assured that next year our monthly game will not coincide with their morning field. I think the course was in great condition and if any environmentalist would like to know what is being done to stop global warming, they need look no further than the forest Kyalami have created. It was a pleasure to play with Andre Erasmus, the newly elected Captain at Kyalami, Darren Holm on his 100^th game and a friend and prospective, Russell James. It was good to hear that it was Andre’s first encounter of Nomads and is considering membership.

It was my first prize giving and I was surprised at the amount of effort it takes to prepare for it. We continually hear that prize giving is too long. We put the prize giving on the stop watch and it took 38 minutes to get through the formalities, including fines master. The entire prize giving took 55 minutes to complete. I do not think that 55 minutes is that long, considering what is involved and the fact that we use this time to acknowledge all our national and local sponsors, to award badges and ties and to inform members of upcoming events. In a field of 124 we had a 20% non-attendance at prize giving. We are monitoring attendance and are aware of those that seldom attend – in saying that, the fact that you are reading this article probably means that it does not apply to you.

See you at the next game and prize giving.

Graham Bishop