Nomads Golf Society 2025

Archive for the ‘Newton Cup’ Category

Friday, 22nd April at Thornbury Golf Club

Friday, 17th April 2015 – Forest Hills

Played at Woodspring Golf Club, Bristol

Friday, 27th April 2013

Cottrell Park, Cardiff

Celts 11.5 – Saxons 9.5

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151658594252664&set=oa.516476118409285&type=1&theater

The Captain’s Write-up

Arriving just after 8am and turning onto the course, it was an impressive 0.7 miles to the clubhouse, it was all very picturesque  with the course either side of the long drive looking in very impressive and very nicely maintained. We were not to be disappointed as the day progressed.

I had quite a busy start to begin with – as normally Simon appears with all the scores ready to go and proceeds to get the scorecards updated etc. But today we had a phone call from Simon at 8.45 am with which he termed a ‘sat nav’ malfunction – which had taken him to a similar named course the wrong side of Bath (especially for getting to Cardiff) !! Well I think he had enough stick on the day,  to mention this much more here and all I can say it that Lewis Hamilton would have been proud of his driving skills as he arrived just in time to join his group on the tee as they were ready to go! (having switched that grouping to last) . One final mention is that I think he used the same sat nav  during his  round, given some of the positions I saw him looking for his ball on the course!

Anyway we were very lucky with the weather, just 3 minutes of hail (well just enough time for Surj to get his wet gear on, before it stopped!)  Excellent result for golfing in Wales, the strong wind that seemed to be mostly in your face for much of both the rounds  and temperatures in the shade of the wind was almost spring like, but when the sun temporarily disappeared behind a cloud and the wind blew it brought back memories of Forest Hills!

Highlights from the day were:

–          Rowland chipping in from 100yds – well we heard Ged his partner shouting and assumed it had to be his partner Rowland and it was!

–          Some very tight games which changed momentum almost hole by hole and the most amazing being Mark Graham who was 4 down after 10 holes, then making a comeback against Surj such that he was 1 up after the 16^th – only for Mark to fluff the last 2 holes and Surj coming away with the afternoon points.

–          There were also some major turnarounds in form between the morning and afternoon games and well done for Steve Morgan and Horace Denny for warming up to the task and only just missing out on points in the afternoon on the 17^th and 18^th greens respectively and a very good win for Andrew Gardiner (Rich Allen you knew it would have to be mentioned).

–          The sh*ttiest shot of the day has to be vice captain JonAger  in the morning Greensomes (who spared us some relief by not wearing the lime green trousers), when Damien his partner managed to catch the ball with the bottom of the club on a short  chip to the green –s o the ball ended up about 30 yards behind the green in the rough on what could only be termed a massive pile of cow sh*t; Jon didn’t want to let his partner down by taking a drop (excuse the pun), so took on the shot (which he said afterwards had to be taken quickly as he was sinking as he stood ready to take the shot); well the only other thing to add to a good shot (all things considered) was the after-effect of playing such a shot when there is a strong wind in your face ( I think Matt Bond my partner, is still laughing now).

Anyway after the morning session, which I had been told by John and Damian looked like it was 4- 3 to the Celts. Only to find at the end that it was in fact 4-3 to the Saxons.

After lunch of sandwiches and chips, the Mackintosh beckoned and we were away just after 2pm the wind had become slightly stronger and because we were having a staggered lunch we didn’t have to tee off in front of the full gallery of players.

Anyway the course made it a real challenge with lots of blind doglegs for the 2^nd shots and Damian Orton was continuing to play well with “4 putts to get a net par” on one green. His game with Matt Bond was a real roller coaster ride, which went all the way to the 18^th with a massive slice of luck for Damian on the last after bouncing of the wall on the road back to the club house to within 10 yds of the pin! I managed a good finish to just sneak ahead of John with win of the 17^th.

The only other brief point of mention of Jon again taking his 5 wood on the 165 yd downhill par 3 – which would have been spot on if the wind hadn’t stopped blowing the exact point he made the shot – he managed to fire his ball to land on the road between 2 cars travelling at speed to the clubhouse who were no more than 10 feet apart much to the relief of Jon.

Anyway the scores were counted and the end result was a win for the Celts 11.5 – 9.5 – very close in the end –  think of all those matched that had all the twists and turns – one of those going the other way for the Saxons then it would have been a draw!!

So overall since its inception in 2000 the score now stand at Celts 6.5 – Saxons 6.5!!

The evening meal was a bit later than we had hoped – but well worth the wait with Wayne adequately finishing off all the spare meals – he must need all the energy for all those runs he does.

So points of note for the day are:

–          Thanks to James and his two mates Andy and Darren for coming along at the last minute to ensure we had full strength teams. After the event they said that we were the friendliest Society that they have played with.

–          Get the event on Calendar for future years – everybody was impressed by the courses (both golf and food!)

–          The official photographer (Jitesh) had to leave early, surprisingly there was nobody volunteered to fill the void in his absence. So he needs a appoint a deputy!

–          As Matt pointed out that one of the best shots of the day was paying for buggies as it was a long really long walk, especially between some of the holes.

–          Have a thought for Andy (James’ friend), who had told his other half that he was off to play 9 holes of golf – so explaining why he was arriving home after 11pm was going to be an interesting conversation.

–          It was pointed out that there seems to be a very high correlation between when the Celts win and when Tony doesn’t play! We will have to save up to send him for a golf holiday next year!

Also thanks to the staff of CottrellPark who were very accommodating and made the whole event very enjoyable.

Finally, hope all is well with Manny – hope to see you back as part of the Society very soon.

A long but very enjoyable day that started just before 7 am and finished on arrival home just before 11 pm!

Scores:

The greensome scores were:

Jon Ager & Damian Orton vs Gary O’Connell & Matt Bond – Celts won by 2&1

Rowland Joyce and Ged Wrench vs Darren Williams & Adrian Jones – Celts won by 4&3

Tony Burris & Mark Graham vs Jitesh Mistry & Surjit Halaith – Saxons won by 2&1

Mike Woodman & Darren Collier vs James Farley & Andy Alexander – Celts won by 4&3

John Essom & Rich Allen vs Wayne Stewart & Andrew Gardiner – Saxons won by 4&3

Guy Greening & Mark Willicott vs Steve Morgan & Horace Denny – Saxons won by 6&5

Simon Howlett & Stuart Perry vs Derek Freeman-Jones & John Thomas – Saxons won 3&2

The singles scores were:

Jon Ager vs Gary O’Connell – Celts won 2&1

Damian Orton vs Matt Bond – Saxons won 1 hole

Rowland Joyce vs Darren Williams – Celts won 2&1

Ged Wrench vs Adrian Jones – Saxons won 1 hole

Tony Burris vs Jitesh Mistry – Match halved

Mark Graham vs Surjit Halaith – Celts won 1 hole

Mike Woodman vs James Farley – Celts won 4&2

Darren Collier vs Andy Alexander – Celts won 3&2

John Essom vs Wayne Stewart – Saxons won 3&2

Rich Allen vs Andrew Gardiner – Celts won 5&3

Guy Greening vs Steve Morgan – Saxons won 2&1

Mark Willicott vs Horace Denny – Saxons won 1 hole

Simon Howlett vs Derek Freeman Jones – Celts won 5&4

Stuart Perry vs John Thomas – Celts won 3&1

Winners of the nearest the pin competitions were: Damian Orton (x2), Darren Williams (x2), Matt Bond, Jitesh Mistry, Rowland Joyce & Mike Woodman. Rich Allen won the star prize of £25 golf tee vouchers for nearest the pin with the second shot on the 18th hole in the morning course.

27th April 2012 – Forest Hills
SAXONS 14½ – CELTS 6½

The 12th edition of this friendly, but fiercely competitive event was held at Forest Hills in the Royal Forest of Dean.

The day started very wet and was in danger of being cancelled but the hardy souls of the Nomads troupe donned waterproof’s and headed out on to the first tee.

There was much banter exchanged about the number of shots the ‘Celts’ were gaining (not that it done them much good) before the first ball had been struck.

The weather cleared-up after and the ‘Saxons’ came-in for the lunch break with a 4½ to 2½ lead, so after filling-up on sandwiches and chips it was back-out for the afternoon singles.

It was more of the same after lunch, despite giving away lots of shots the ‘Saxons’ came-in with a resounding score of 10 to 4 from the singles making the final score, 14½ to 6½.

The after match presentation followed a meal of pork and vegetables, with chocolate gateau for dessert, where Nomads 2012 Captain, Steve Graham took the stage.

Following the recent sad death of Ben Green, Steve led a one minutes applause for the popular member and announced that the next competition at South Cerney will be held in his name, and a trophy will be played for every March afterwards as a fitting tribute.

Steve Morgan achieved a landmark of 100 events and was awarded a Nomads cap as a momento.

Apart from the matchplay event, there were other prizes on offer for all the par 3′s and longest drive for both rounds. Nearest the Pin winners were Peter Horlock (3), Mark Willicott, Steve Graham and Adrian Jones. The Longest Drives winners were James Farley and Rich Allen.

The members trundled out of the golf club, some 12 hours after arriving there tired, but all had had a good day.

Scores (Saxons names first):

Greensomes

1 – Steve Graham and James Farley beat Gary O’Connell and Steve Morgan 1up

2 – Peter Horlock and Simon Howlett beat Wayne Stewart and John Thomas 3 & 1

3 – Jon Ager and Damian Orton lost to Adrian Jones and Tony Griffiths 2 & 1

4 – Manny Virdi and Rich Allen beat Ajay Misra and Jitesh Mistry 8 & 7

5 – Chris Pulfree and Ged Wrench beat Derek Freeman-Jones and Pramod Mistry 2 & 1

6 – Mike Woodman and Mark Graham lost to John Essom and Gurdeep Litt 4 & 3

7 – Rowland Joyce and Mark Willicott halved with Darren Williams and Surj Halaith

Singles

1 – Steve Graham beat Gary O’Connell 3 & 2

2 – James Farley beat Steve Morgan 5 & 4

3 – Peter Horlock lost to Wayne Stewart 3 & 1

4 – Simon Howlett beat John Thomas 1up

5 – Jon Ager lost to Adrian Jones 3 & 2

6 – Damian Orton beat Tony Griffiths 1up

7 – Manny Virdi beat Ajay Misra 1up

8 – Rich Allen beat Jitesh Mistry 5 & 4

9 – Chris Pulfree beat Derek Freeman-Jones 2 & 1

10 – Ged Wrench lost to Pramod Mistry 3 & 2

11 – Mike Woodman beat John Essom 1up

12 – Mark Graham beat Gurdeep Litt 5 & 3

13 Rowland Joyce beat Darren Williams 2up

14 Mark Willicott lost to Surj Halaith 3 & 2

Llanishen: Saxons beat the Celts 9.5 – 8.5

In a closely contested match over the hilly course at Llanishen, the Saxon team led by Steve Graham won back the Newton Cup after a three year period. The morning Greensomes ended all square 3-3, but the stronger Saxon team made it pay in the afternoon singles and it was left to the Celts captain, John Thomas to hand over the trophy at the end of the day.

The day saw Nomads debuts for Dale Cleaver and Martin Ballard, welcome to the society.

Celts names first:

Greensomes

1 – Darren Williams and Ziggy Niblett beat Rowland Joyce and Manny Virdi 2+1

2 – Dale Cleaver and Andrew Gardiner lost to Simon Howlett and Peter Horlock 3+2

3 – John Thomas and Martin Ballard beat Wayne Stewart and Steve Graham 3+1

4 – Tony Griffiths and Ramesh Mistry halved with James Farley and Mark Graham

5 – Gary O’Connell and Steve Morgan halved with Mark Willicott and Mike Simpson

6 – Jitesh Mistry and Derek Freeman-Jones lost to Jon Ager and Ged Wrench 5+4

Singles

1 – Ziggy Niblett beat Rowland Joyce 1 up

2 – Darren Williams halved with Manny Virdi

3 – Andrew Gardiner lost to Peter Horlock 2 up

4 – Dale Cleaver lost to Simon Howlett 6+4

5 – John Thomas lost to Steve Graham

6 – Martin Ballard beat Wayne Stewart 7+6

7 – Tony Griffiths lost to James Farley 5+4

8 – Ramesh Mistry lost to  Mark Graham 3+2

9 – Gary O’Connell beat Mark Willicott 5+4

10 – Steve Morgan beat Mike Simpson 3+1

11 – Jitesh Mistry lost to Jon Ager 3+1

12 – Derek Freeman-Jones beat Ged Wrench 2+1

20010 – Stinchcombe Hill, Dursley, England – Saxons 7 Celts 8

4th hole – Stinchcombe Hill

Greensomes

Match 1 – Manny Virdi / Matthew Bond (Saxons) lost to Mark Graham / Darren Williams (Celts) 3+1 (0-1)

Match 2 – Chris Pulfree (Saxons) beat Steve Graham / Jitesh Mistry (Celts) 3+2 (1-1)

Match 3 – Simon Howlett / Chris Deschanel (Saxons) halved with Wayne Stewart / Gary O’Connell (Celts) (1.5-1.5)

Match 4 – Mark Willicott / Ged Wrench (Saxons) lost to Surj Halaith / Ramesh Mistry 1up (1.5-2.5)

Match 5 – Mike Simpson / Jon Ager (Saxons) halved with John Thomas & Steve Morgan (Celts) (2–3)

SAXONS 2 CELTS 3

Singles

Match 1 – Matthew Bond (Saxons) halved with Darren Williams (Celts) (2.5-3.5)

Match 2 – Manny Virdi (Saxons) halved with Mark Graham (Celts) (3-4)

Match 3 – Chris Pulfree (Saxons) lost to Steve Graham (Celts) 2+1 (3-5)

Match 4 – Simon Howlett (Saxons) beat Jitesh Mistry (Celts) (4-5)

Match 5 – Simon Howlett (Saxons) lost to Wayne Stewart (Celts) (4-6)

Match 6 – Chris Deschanel (Saxons) beat Gary O’Connell (Celts) (5-6)

Match 7 – Mark Willicott (Saxons) lost to Ramesh Mistry (Celts) 5+4 (5-7)

Match 8 – Ged Wrench (Saxons) beat Surj Halaith (Celts) 6+5 (6-7)

Match 9 – Mike Simpson (Saxons) beat John Thomas (Celts) 3&2 or 4&3 (7-7)

Match 10 – Jon Ager (Saxons) lost to Steve Morgan (Celts) 1UP (7-8)

FINAL SCORE – SAXONS 7 CELTS 8

2009 – Forest Hills / Bells, Coleford, England (Celts 9 Saxons 6)

Forest Hills

Celts: Mark Graham (Captain), John Thomas, Stephen Morgan, Neil Gallagher, Steve Graham, Wayne Stewart, Ramesh Mistry, Surj Halaith, Darren Williams, Brendan Turbitt.

Saxons: Simon Howlett (Captain), Manny Virdi, Chris Pulfree, Jon Ager, Tony Bourne, Alan Dovey, Mark Willicott, Mike Simpson, Colin Spencer, Ged Wrench.