The formative years....... 1960-9 

In 1960 Mike Florance and his committee announced the formation of the NOMADS Golf Club and so the Club came into being officially in April that year.

The special "Rules of Play" used were virtually the same as those developed in the NUMIC days, and still in use today. The guiding principles being: Fellowship (fourball); Least inconvenience to Club members - avoiding slow play (stableford medal, continuous putting, calling up on short holes etc) and Courteous Behaviour (properly dressed, fines for misdemeanours etc).

For a substantial portion of the period 1960-4 Mike Florance ran the club with the help of a couple of Members and sponsors female staff. Such was the impact of this individual that whilst his strong personality did not endear him to everyone, his degree of professionalism in respect of his organisational ability and his command of both written and spoken English the movement flourished and expanded.

In 1965 Ludie Ludeman was nominated as Captain of the Transvaal club with Mike in the engine room as Match Secretary. Regrettably Ludie was unable to undertake the position and so it fell to Aussie Bill Wilson to become their first Captain.

During this period Mike relinquished his virtual total control over NOMADS with the formation of a National Management Committee and although this Committee was strongly influenced by Mike's vision of the future for NOMADS eventually with the pressures involved in handling, either directly or indirectly, the 4 clubs already in existence and the Rhodesian club already under formation, Mike handed over the running of NOMADS to a duly constituted National Executive. The first Chairman of this committee was Anthony Handley who continued in this position from 1967-9.

The club and its systems continued to develop in an orderly manner until late 1960s when a major dispute arose with the result that Mike Florance was forced to leave the club he had founded.

Among many of his other legacies at club level Mike was responsible for more widespread influences such as the formation of the SA Golf Foundation in 1960, the first National Tournament held at Kyalami in 1966 and, in 1962, devising the system which is now used at all major golf tournaments and came to be known as Golforama.

The development of the movement and its expansion into the various provincial areas is chronicled in the section labeled Club Formation.

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