About us :
INTRODUCTION
"A Club is an Association of
Good Fellows
meeting together for a certain Purpose"
SAMUEL JOHNSON
The following extract is taken directly
from the booklet, This is the Nomads Golf Club,
written by the Nomads 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 the three original clubs still applies to the
organisation that has expanded from South Africa into 4 additional
countries as well as the 12 South African Clubs. 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 that they extend to us in their role as permissive hosts.
To every golf club in Botswana 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 guidelines 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 or 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 that 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,
every member of the “NOMADS” Golf Club will best achieve this:
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