Hamilton began the 2011–12 season ranked number 36. Hamilton reached the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters by winning five matches, but he lost 2–5 against Mark King.&lt;ref name="WWWS 2011/2012"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; Hamilton, however couldn't qualify for the final stages of the remaining ranking tournaments, as he lost 5–6 against Marco Fu at the UK Championship, 0–5 against Tom Ford at the German Masters, 1–5 against Joe Perry at the World Open, 1–4 against Andy Hicks at the Welsh Open, 1–5 against Perry at the China Open and 9–10 against Ken Doherty at the World Championship. Hamilton also participated in 10 of the 12 Players Tour Championship events, with his best performance coming in event 11, where he reached the semi-finals, losing 3–4 against Martin Gould. Hamilton finished 42nd on the Players Tour Championship Order of Merit, outside of the top 24 who qualified for the Finals.