This week Bill Carne is delighted to talk to Simon Nicholas, a successful golfer in his own right at Milford Haven Golf Club, but who now devotes much of his spare time voluntarily organizing the club’s highly successful junior section on their specially designed six-hole mini golf course...

SIMON Nicholas has rightly been regarded as a very good golfer at Milford Haven Golf Club for over two decades and is still playing off a handicap of five but would readily admit that much of his focus is now restricted to developing the golfing skills of youngsters from six to 16 at the superb course overlooking the Cleddau Estuary.

Simon is heavily involved as the junior organiser every Monday evening with the young fellers and the same on Wednesday with the girls, as well as most of Saturday, when they not only receive tips from the likes of Simon and club pro Matthew Hearne and his assistant, Elliott Harding, but play in a variety of fun competitions.

Much of this important work takes place on the recently-constructed new mini golf course that comes as part of the Nicholas package, with six holes averaging 50 yards each and attracting upwards of 40 youngsters on Saturday between 8.30am and 5pm, which has been a wonderful success.

"The pros have been great and Owain Picton has been a real 'diamond' with so much help that I don't know how I'll manage when he steps down.

"I started out three years ago when Nigel Roberts asked me to help after many years of great work with the junior section and I gradually took over the reins, although it was a very big pair of shoes to fill.

"I had long held the view that there wasn't enough sport played in Milford Haven, especially in golf, because of the cost, and I decided to try and find a system where it would be free at the point of contact, and I had wonderful help from Alan Jones at Sport Pembrokeshire in County Hall, who runs the Community Chest system, and Golf Development Wales - and our scheme was up and running.

"Matthew and Elliott were fully supportive alongside the members, with Owain sorting out sponsorship to make it even more viable, and the response is there to see every Saturday."

Simon would readily admit that he was very lucky as a youngster because his mum Ray and dad Alun were so supportive when he started out as a ten year old after watching Nicholas senior play - and doubly fortunate that Lyn Rees, his teacher at Milford Haven Junior School, was the best golfer in the county at the time and gave him and Lyndon Brown every encouragement.

"Dad would have driven me to Timbuctoo if I wanted it - and paid for it too," admitted Simon with a chuckle!

He also has every support now from his wife Jenny and says,

"She has put up with my golf for over 20 years and I suspect she might have been slightly relieved that out daughters Emily (19 and studying at Bath University) and Lowri (14 and setting out with her GCSEs) are both very musical after giving golf a try!"

Simon took to golf straight away but there was little coaching in those days compared to today - and throughout his early teens was eager to develop his technique and gradually became very successful as he also grew stronger.

"A real boost came when I was chosen to go on a Golf Scholarship course at Eton College when I was about 16, following a sponsorship promotion from a big company where you had to be under 15 handicap - and only 12 golfers were chosen from across the whole of the UK.

"It was for a short period but was hugely intensive as coach Dave Haslam, a former pro golfer, worked us tremendously hard - and I can't even estimate how much it improved my golf, but I grew in confidence and captained a good county junior team for a while after it.

It was at this time that Simon played competitive golf in the relevant age group all over the place, followed when he moved to senior level at events like the Welsh Stroke and Match play competitions at top Welsh venues like Ashburnham, Pyle & Kenfig Hill

"Now that was different class," admitted Simon, "but again I learned a lot to help back at club level I am proud of the fact that I have won every scratch competition at Milford Haven, including the club's stroke-play championship and the Colin Davies Scratch Cup, where all players compete from scratch, as well as most of the other competitions as well.

Not content with that little lot, Simon also captained the Milford Haven 'Super Six' squad of seven players for a while which went on to become the first from the club to win the Dyfed title.

"We had players of the calibre of John Roberts, John Dyble, Matthew Hearne, Lyndon Brown, Gareth Roberts and John Davies involved and in the final at Ashburnham we were tied at three matches apiece - but Matthew showed his mettle as a youngster by going out to win the play-off at the second hole."

Outside of his golf, Simon also enjoyed a range of other sports which included playing as a sitting midfielder in hockey for Lamphey and as captain for Pembrokeshire, which again meant a lot of travel to training and to matches as far afield as Newport, Abergavenny, Cardiff and Llandarcy.

He also enjoyed football with old school pal Wayne Clarke at Milford Athletic alongside Daniel Bower and Lyndon Clarke but niggling injuries forced him to stop because it was affecting his golf.

Incidentally, all four took a 'walk down memory lane' recently as they took off together to Berkshire and played golf on some very nice courses - and Daniel proved to be a real 'pirate' as he took the kitty with some golf played way above his handicap!

Back on the golf course, Simon still plays off a handicap of five, despite only playing a round per week on average, but at the course even longer than he used to be a young man.

"We keep all the paper work regarding youngsters' progress on computer and recently had a feature done on us by 'Golf Wales', which was nice, with parents also involved and helping provide trophies for our regular events.

"We take boys and girls from age six and Elliott Harding and I decide when they progress from playing on our mini course to a few holes on the senior course and then taking on the club course - but only when we feel they are ready for it.

"When they are ready they also compete a little further afield but the emphasis is very much on having fun through being part of golf."

The next step for Simon is to attend a coaching course at Celtic Manor to enhance his coaching skills, with financial assistance provided by the Community Chest scheme at Sport Pembrokeshire.

It is more time spent in pursuit of his aim and he is really looking forward to being even more involved.

"They are a great bunch of kids and deserve every help we can give them," Simon told us, but it is a fair bet that his compliment to them would be repaid multi-fold by those participating because there is no doubt that Simon Nicholas is a great ambassador for golf and a terrific supporter of the game in his home town and club - and long may he continue to do such a brilliant job!