THE 500 CLUB

It is a requirement of Nomads Membership that a Nomad commits himself to play a minimum of 6 Monthly Meetings per year. To some that may seem onerous but to others anything less than the full quota of 12 Monthly Meetings per year is a minor tragedy in their lives.

Upon reaching certain milestones these Nomads are recognised by having their plain Name bar replaced by one with a disc indicating the figure reached. Initially these events are recognised in lots of 100 games but as time passes the figure reduces to every 50 games.

We have Nomads who have played over 500 games consecutively since becoming a Member of an already established Club, some others have even made the 450 game level; 
we also have Members who have played every Monthly Meeting since becoming Founder Members of their respective Clubs; we also have several Members who have played every monthly meeting since becoming members and we even have one Member who has played over 550 games during his Nomadic career.

Consider the magnitude of the achievement of becoming a Member of the illustrious 500 Club where, to join, the qualification is to have teed up at 500 Monthly Meetings. Taking into consideration that one may only obtain one game credit per month towards the total this means having played the minimum equivalent of one Nomads game per month for almost 42 years.
No allowance is made for all those other multitude of games played in Gary Player Knockout Competitions, Away Tours, Club Anniversaries, Nationals in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana etc.

Our sincere congratulations go to those stalwart Nomads who have contributed to the success of our Club over the years and for whom the game of golf has brought pleasure, camaraderie and life-long friendships but above all, to the one special case who has made it to nearly 600 games, a level to which very few can even remotely expect to achieve.

We acknowledge:-

The FIRST -                                             DOUG MILNE 
                                              ex Gauteng & Natal now Member of Southern Natal
                   
Any others who manage to achieve this auspicious milestone will have their names recorded here in chronological order. We wish for them the health and strength to achieve the goal.
(The list will be continuously  updated as it grows)
   

                                                                    DAVE WHITEFIELD - WESTERN PROVINCE

                                                               KEN  BLAKE - GAUTENG
Ken has the distinction of having played all his monthly games consecutively since joining Nomads in 1970.

The background colour to the numerical part of their Name Bar is ORANGE

The ceremony at which Doug was presented with his 500 game badge was considered to be of such significance by so many that it was attended by the then current National Chairman, Gary Bray, (who did the honours), 5 Past National Chairmen and many other Nomads from around the country.
His Captain commented that "Words cannot express the pride which I experienced to have been the Captain of Southern Natal Nomads at this wonderful event. The fact that we had so many dignitaries joining us on this occasion also proves what an achievement this is. Dougie is truly an example of total commitment and dedication to the Nomads Club and we are all extremely proud to have him in our midst. Congratulations are once again extended to him."

In his speech Doug gave a brief history of his 500 games played:
"I have won 2 silver trays , 4 silver match boxes and 3 crying towels. Have scored 14660 points, excluding my handicap and a total of 21294 points including my handicap. Scored my first hole-in-one at a Nomads meeting at Kloof CC in 1982. My lowest handicap was 6 (only for one month) and my highest 21. My average handicap for the 500 games is 13.268 and the average score per rounds is 29.32. I have struck the ball 45974 times and lost 1383 golf balls. The conservative cost at today's prices (not including Nationals or away games) is:
Cost of game R100,
Ball pool and money draw R30
The 100 Club R10
Halfway eats and cold drink R16
Caddy fee and tip plus halfway R100
One round of drinks for your 4-ball R30
Subscriptions R250 pa      and 
Golf balls at R10 each
excluding Nomads uniform, petrol, and transport comes to R168080."

Irrespective of the accuracy of the information above it must have been worth every cent!!!!

Congratulations to Doug on a wonderful Nomadic achievement !  May there be many more!

The count down had begun to the 550 game badge theoretically due in September 2009.
This was duly achieved and Dougie now rapidly moves towards his 600 game badge