To the Member of the National Executive, our Honorary Life Member, Honorary Members, Members of the Club Executive, Past Captains, Fellow Members and Guests.
2009 has been a year of many incidences. The most significant being the resignation of our Captain Johnny Vermaak in July. Our Southern Natal committee must be complemented as the clubs affairs never suffered or missed a beat.
The coordination of our 25th Anniversary, the Volvo Amateur Masters and our Andrew Mentis Endowment Fund followed shortly after Johnny’s resignation and I am very pleased to report that all the events went ahead without the proverbial hiccup and were mostly unaffected by the unpleasant affair.
Feedback from our guests and members were indeed very positive and complementary. To all concerned with the planning and implementation of these special days, well done and thanks! You did Southern Natal Nomads proud.
Membership:
We are happy that the economic down turn has not greatly affected our membership and playing numbers. This is borne out by comparing the statistics at the beginning of the year until now.
Briefly -
MEMBERSHIP CATEGORY |
January 2008 |
October 2009 |
| Founder Members |
Full |
2 |
3 |
| |
Honorary |
1 |
1 |
| |
Non Playing |
1 |
1 |
| |
Associate |
2 |
1 |
| Full Members |
124 |
130 |
| Associate Members |
22 |
19 |
| Honorary Playing Members |
2 |
2 |
| Honorary Non Playing Members |
2 |
2 |
| Honorary Life Members |
1 |
1 |
| Non Playing |
6 |
5 |
| Non Active |
1 |
2 |
| Suspensive Members |
1 |
0 |
| Sponsor Members |
1 |
0 |
| Potential Members |
8 |
2 |
| Applications Under Review |
2 |
1 |
| TOTAL |
176 |
170 |
Our ‘acting’ Vice Captain, Gary Rodwell, has pledged that he will be on a recruitment drive for the next year. (He’s actually trying to bring DOWN the average of our members). Good luck Gary!
A very special milestone was reached at our last monthly game at Scottburgh, Doug Milne was awarded his 550 game badge and what an occasion that was! Our National Chairman Ken Walker was part of that memorable day and I must thank Ken for attending and for suggesting that we tee off at the back of the field so Doug could play the last hole in front of a gallery of club peers! All present witnessed Doug complete the last hole of his 550th game... and the champagne flowed. At the prize giving Doug addressed us and he read out his statistics in reaching his milestone; 4.25 million meters walked, 1375 golf balls lost, so many thousands of Rand spent on playing the 550 games, and so on .... and so on, what a record!
Doug celebrated his 79th birthday the following week and I can tell you without any fear of contradiction, he’s the youngest 79 I’ve seen around and before we all know it his 600th game will be up! Brilliant Doug, just brilliant! To crown it all Doug still works on our committee and contributes to the smooth running of our club. You are an exceptional Nomad Doug and a shining example to us all!
For the record Doug also played in his 40th National Tournament this year. The Nomads club celebrates its 50th birthday next year so Doug’s commitment to the club is truly unbelievable.
Special Events of 2009:
Southern Natal Nomads celebrated its 25th Anniversary. The celebrations were postponed from February till July to accommodate and combine another 2 of our annual events on the Nomadic calendar, namely the Drakensberg Gardens Cup and the Southern Challenge.
It was the right move as we were blessed with magnificent weather and all of us that attended the very special occasion had 3 wonderful days of fellowship, partying and golf. To Mike Lee and all involved in coordinating the event, congratulations on a job well done! From all reports there weren’t many that did not enjoy themselves.
The Volvo Amateur Masters was held 12 days later at Port Shepstone Golf Club and an amount of R18 000 was raised for the furtherance of the Junior Golf Foundation. Dale Hayes officiated at the day and his clinic and prize giving was appreciated by all. I hit the perfect ‘fluke’ on the 5th and a special thanks to Dale and Tommy Larkan for the case of Bell’s they organised for me!
Mark Bryant has been in touch with me and has requested the funds are kept in the club until such time as the Junior Golf Foundation substantiate where the funds will be spent. These funds are yet to be transferred to the Foundation and I am waiting further instructions regarding the disbursement of the monies.
Four weeks later the Andrew Mentis Endowment Fund raiser was held. We have collected just on R80 000.00 for the Genesis Trust with a special request that the funds be used to improve the facilities of the youth wing of Genesis. The importance of having a place for the youth to congregate at in a healthy environment is what is sorely needed in our community and our contribution will be used to assist in creating just such a venue.
The 2009 ‘Grand Nationals’ was held in big brother land and to Jay Van Rensburg and all involved, pat yourselves on the back, it was indeed a Nationals to remember. To Mark Bryant and your band of ‘car guards’ thank you for your warm hospitality it was great being with you for the week. Congratulations to Alistair Simmons and your team of Wee Pees on winning the Bert Hunt. I sincerely hope we can stop ‘choking’ on the last day at Nationals – this must be the 4th year of being in the ‘Hunt’ and we have walked away with nothing but dropped lips. We will prevail.....I don’t know when BUT we WILL prevail.
Next year’s National Tournament is in Blue Bull territory, we have been allocated 27 spots and 4 spots in the fringe tournament, and guys we need to ensure 27 players go north. If we don’t fill our allocation we jeopardise the number of players we can have for our own tournament in 2012. The same will apply to 2011 in the Boland, I cannot stress enough - we must fill our allocation.
Golforama and Sponsorship
Norman Sieberhagen has been custodian of these portfolios for some time now and he is to be complemented on handling them very successfully with dedication and vigour. I cannot remember the last time we did not have a sponsor for our monthly game and this is solely due to Norman’s efforts. He has unfortunately resigned from committee duties and will be sorely missed. Thank you Norman for all the hard work! Your weird, unique and verbal brevity very much contribute to the successful running of our committee. It will undoubtedly be missed. I wonder how long you can sit in the wings and not get involved. Good luck on your ‘retirement’ and may your golf scores improve. If they don’t we want to know why?
This year we decided to change the format of the annual sponsors’ party. We invited all sponsors associated with the club, to join the committee for a round of golf, followed by a cocktail party at the Port Shepstone Country Club. All were sincerely thanked for their sponsorship and continued involvement with our club and each received a small gift of our appreciation. There was positive feedback from this event and all have indicated their willingness to continue their association with our club. The new format was welcomed by all and I am sure this will be continued.
Finances
Our finances continue to be run under the watchful eye of Erich Buhr and are in a very healthy state. The 25th anniversary costs are nearly finalised and the estimate and actual are within a whisker of each other (We had budgeted R20 000.00 towards the celebrations and there will be no additional funding needed, in fact there might be a small saving on the budgeted figure.)
The increase in playing fees for the New Year will be in the region of 8%, from R120 to R130 per game.
General
To our National Chairman, Ken Walker, I would like to thank you for your guidance and valued advice whilst navigating uncharted waters, I do believe 2010 will be a lot smoother sailing than the turbulence of this year. I would also like to pay tribute to our other ‘acting’ wanderer, Gary ‘Bruce Willis’ Rodwell. Gary has been involved in every aspect of the workings of our club both inside the committee and outside, if I may say, your contribution has always been fair, critical and constructive and for that I sincerely thank you, we might not agree on all things but we most certainly can reach a reasonable and productive conclusion to most matters. Is there life after Bruce Willis? For the uninformed, B W is Gary’s pseudonym and has been during his ‘acting’ era.
To our ever present Ladies and Guy Scott Dawkins who so unselfishly give their time we are truly beholden to you. Thanks Guy and Dolls! Rather Dolls and Guy.
Indeed it would be remiss of me not mention the committee of 2009 - all you guys (Brenda you have lost your gender for a moment) are totally dedicated and brilliant, I look forward to the Gold Cup where I will pay tribute to each individual involved, but until then I would like to express my sincere thanks for your contributions. It is a job that takes dedication and you have given your time graciously. I, on behalf of all Southern Natal Nomads, thank you for this.
Finally to you, our members, current times are not easy and our records show that your support throughout the year has been committed and dedicated. Considering the distances most of you travel, (Matielele to Umkomaas a round trip of 580 km), your allegiance to Nomads is nothing short of ‘bloody marvellous’.
Both Gary and I look forward to relinquishing the titles of ‘acting’ Captain and Vice Captain respectively and I know that the two of us will do our level best to ensure that 2010 will be a year to remember in your Nomadic life.
Ian Stewart
‘Acting’ Captain
Southern Natal Nomads
