The following extract is taken directly from the booklet,
                                 This is the Nomads Golf Club, 
written by our Founder Michael Florance (seen below) in 1966 and as such served as the Member's Handbook at that time. Much of what then applied to three Clubs still applies to the organisation which has expanded into 5 additional countries as well as the 12 Clubs countrywide in South Africa. Such was the vision of this man that it serves as a fitting tribute to his foresight to reproduce exactly a significant portion of the booklet as an Introduction to the Nomads as it is today. 

The very title of this Club, the "NOMADS", is entirely and properly descriptive of the manner of our being .... wanderers with no fixed home.

Completely reliant as we then are on the hospitality of established golf clubs for the very basis of our existence, it is first, foremost, and above all to those clubs that our first thanks are due for the courtesy which they extend to us in their role as permissive hosts.

To every golf club in South Africa which has given us the courtesy of its course, to the officers, the members and the staff of those clubs, we owe a deep and continuing debt of gratitude, which is here most sincerely discharged.

From our point of view they have been wonderful hosts.
Let us hope that they have found, and will always continue to find, the "NOMADS" agreeable guests.

The first person singular is far from the most admirable of genders, but in the attempt to explain something of the background to the "NOMADS" Golf Club its use is virtually unavoidable - such apologies as may be proper are made ab initio. 

A long experience in and enjoyment of Golf left me, in 1959, with a deeply held feeling that there was room in this game for some kind of association or club for business and professional men to come together in a closely planned and integrated programme of golf, with all games inter-related and offering a continuing thread of interest , and that out of this activity could arise some tangible benefit to two very proper causes: to the game of Golf itself, and to those less fortunate than ourselves.

To be successful in this aim required, as I saw it then, certain fundamental considerations: it must be continuous; it must be recognisable; it must be distinctive; and it must be attractive to its participants without in any way subverting or competing with the first loyalty of all golfers.... the loyalty they owe to their Clubs. It was also highly desirable that it cater and afford common ground to golfers of all stages of proficiency in the game, from the best down to the hardest triers.

It was on this basis, on these precepts, that the "NOMADS" style of meeting  was formed, and through all our competitions there runs this common thread of interest and balance. Without labouring the point unduly, it is fair to say that whether in the golf which we play, or whether in those endeavours which arise from our playing, the "NOMADS" will not fall into proper perspective unless recognition is given to this continuum, to this inter-lacing.

Of at least equal and fundamental importance in my original view of the possibilities of this Club was that if a body of interested people could be brought together for these stated purposes, their basic goodwill could be taken for granted (it would, indeed, be a paradox were it otherwise), and that certain elementary guides and rules would thereafter suffice to sustain the Club - that, in fact, not only would we need no "constitution", but even that any constitution would tend to act as a restricting measure.

On the other hand, to proceed on the civilised basis of a general observance of reasonable guide-lines would demand equal, and high, degrees of both organisation and co-operation. It is a happy reflection that the "NOMADS' Golf Club has prospered from its very beginning; that our reputation for organisation is respected widely; that the idea has spread to various centres and may well spread further in time; that its members have felt their endeavours repaid with the satisfaction of accomplishment of many of their aims; and that no substantial advantages arising from any alternative method of conducting our affairs have ever found advocacy.

If we feel that the thought which went into the whole make-up of the "NOMADS" has been tested and been proven right, let us hope we shall not be accused of mere bigotry nor entrenched opinion. In essence it would be difficult to conceive of any club of our nature, with our aims, and acting under the circumstances in which we see our role to be played, successfully continuing on any basis but one very similar to that which we have adopted. Points of finesse, or of distinctive individualism, apart, we have done nothing which was not part of our basic concept; to provide a closely integrated programme of golf for the enjoyment of our members.

From its inception in Johannesburg in 1960 the "NOMADS" Golf Club has always had the advantage of two things: the wonderful co-operation of those golf clubs who are our hosts, and the momentum of its Members' enthusiasm. Of the original 106 "Founder" Members in the Transvaal all but a handful are still the familiar faces one sees at every monthly meeting, joined now by a larger body of members who have done so much to make the Club successful.

Following expansion of the "NOMADS" into Natal and Western Province with over 600 hundred members in these three areas...That their numbers must be limited is at once a pity and a necessity, but since a high ratio of playing appearances is demanded of "NOMADS" members, and since all our competitions are based on this continuity of interest, that limitation is an inherent factor in the light of the capacity of any golf-course.

...... although each "NOMADS" Club is an autonomous body devoting its energies to its own local causes, it will be discerned that our methods, and organisation  are common to all, just as membership of the "NOMADS" is exactly that - a member of one club is a member of all. Members' insignia, the organisation  of our meetings, our proceedings, our competitions even our prizes, all are common to all clubs, just as our aims are common even if they are devoted to similar, rather than the same, causes with the single exception of one; the game of Golf in this country. It follows, therefore, that every member of the "NOMADS" should hold in clear regard the "holism" of his membership... both as a right as well as a privilege.

IN CONCLUSION

Members will not require to be reminded that (being indeed "NOMADS") we are entirely dependent upon the courtesy and hospitality of established golf clubs.

The courtesy of courses is extend to us, often at the risk of inconvenience to the club's own members, and it is and will always remain our ardent wish that, in return for such consideration, any possible inconvenience will be kept to an absolute minimum.

With the large fields and tight schedules to which we habitually play, this will best be achieved by every member of the "NOMADS" Golf Club

STRICTLY OBSERVING HIS STARTING-TIME

which means being

ON THE TEE AND READY TO PLAY

at his appointed time and 

OBSERVING ALL THE RULES OF " NOMADS" PLAY

and especially 

SPEEDING UP PLAY

We have such wonderful hosts.
Let us, please, be always good guests.

With humility, as the founder of the "NOMADS", I have felt deep and sincere gratification that this idea has been so well received and has been impelled to its present stature through the enthusiasm of all those who have given its support, those to whom all thanks are due: the members of the "NOMADS".

With Montaigne I could well say: 
"I have made only a collection of other men's flowers, having provided nothing of my own but the cord to bind them together."
                          MiCHAEL FLORANCE