SOME people eat only carrots and drink green tea to stay healthy. Most of us just take pills, or drink Bell’s and Castle Lite. But Doug Milne (83) has found the real secret to living a long, healthy and fun life… golf!
Doug, ‘The Legend’, notched up his 600th Nomads game badge at Southbroom Golf Club on Tuesday this week.
Doug teed off in the final fourball and Nomads surrounded the 18th green to honour this remarkable achievement.
SN Nomads captain Pete Stoppel produced the champagne. National chairman Robbie Frank made sure he was there to congratulate Doug.
Doug’s wife Pat greeted him with a kiss. It looked like Doug had just won a ‘Major’. In fact, his achievement is arguably more difficult to accomplish.
When he knocked in his final putt of the day, the Nomads cheered loudly. He doffed his cap and grinned broadly.
“It means a huge amount to me, 600 games in 50 odd years,” he said. Doug missed 33 games in this time, but is still some way in front when it comes to most games played for Nomads.
To put his achievement into perspective for some of the Nomads, should they have just joined this fine organisation at the tender age of 30 and aspire to reaching Doug’s milestone: you cannot miss any of the 12 monthly games for the next 50 years!
The ‘Doug 600′ does not include Nomads Nationals, anniversary or away games, or Andrew Mentis.
As for the Over 55s, Nomads just have to pray that they can still hit a golf ball when they are well into their hundreds.
Doug’s first game was with the Transvaal Nomads in March 1961. Eight years later he moved to KwaZulu-Natal (then Natal) and joined Natal Nomads, where he stayed for 30 years.
He was captain in 1989 and later made an honorary member.
He subsequently moved to the South Coast (Doug now lives in Ramsgate) and joined Southern Natal Nomads. It wasn’t long before he was made an honorary member of this club.
Doug is currently the SN nationals’ coordinator, which keeps him relatively busy. He is currently off a Nomads handicap of 22, and in his prime was as low as six. One of his highlights was a hole-in-one at Kloof in 1982.
During the years he lost 664 balls but never his sense of humour. “I’ve loved playing Nomads, really enjoyed it. I hope I’ve got a good few miles still left in the tank,” he said.
