{"id":363306,"date":"2025-12-21T22:25:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T22:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/363306\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T22:25:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T22:25:16","slug":"the-99-year-old-golfer-helping-portsea-golf-club-celebrate-its-centenary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/363306\/","title":{"rendered":"The 99-year-old golfer helping Portsea Golf Club celebrate its centenary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Carolyn<\/p>\n

December 22, 2025 \u2014 6:16am<\/p>\n

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It counts a billionaire and AFL footballers among its members, but a lesser-known stalwart of Portsea Golf Club is about to take the spotlight.<\/p>\n

Meet 99-year-old Bill Horn who, on his twice-weekly visits, doesn\u2019t just have coffee and gaze out at the beautifully undulating course near the tip of the Mornington Peninsula.<\/p>\n

\"VintageVintage golf: Bill Horn, 99, chips a ball out of a bunker at Portsea Golf Club.Joe Armao<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll find Horn out on the course hitting drives, chips and putts, in a social group called The Niners \u2013 mostly seniors who play nine of the course\u2019s 18 holes, before heading back to the clubhouse for refreshments.<\/p>\n

Horn says golf is not just good exercise, it\u2019s a vital social outlet that keeps him going.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my second home,\u201d he said of the Portsea club where he\u2019s been a member for 36 years. \u201cI look forward to the next game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve told my mates that if I die here at the club, I\u2019ll have a smile on my face.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"InIn the swing: Bill Horn in action at Portsea Golf Club.Joe Armao<\/p>\n

The retired typewriter salesman and father of three, who turns 100 in May, is almost as old as the club itself.<\/p>\n

Portsea will celebrate its centenary on January 1, with Horn tasked with raising a flag outside the clubhouse during commemorations.<\/p>\n

Fellow \u201cNiner\u201d Brian Mollet, 86, knows how important the sport is to his mate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s his passion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Cheers:Cheers: Bill Horn, second from right with mates, from left, Walter De Laps, Peter Neville-Jones, and Brian Mollet (far right) at Portsea Golf Club\u2019s bar after playing nine holes.Joe Armao<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a good, steady golfer. He doesn\u2019t need help from anyone to get around the course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arthur Relph, who in the early 1920s in Melbourne was already captain of Riversdale Golf Club, founded the Portsea club after stumbling on a paddock while on a walk near his holiday house at Portsea and declared it a splendid site for a golf course.<\/p>\n

\"AA 1923 letter from publican and land owner Mabel Cain to Portsea Golf Club founder Arthur Relph discussing the clearing of land. Published in the club\u2019s 75th anniversary history book Within a Bull\u2019s Roar.Portsea Golf Club<\/p>\n

Relph was promptly chased by a bull, but over several years raised funds to buy the land from publican sisters Mabel and Kathleen Cain and to build an initial nine hole course.<\/p>\n

Journalist Peter Hanlon, whose history of the club will be serialised on its website across 2026, said the course was carved out of tea trees and gnarly moonah trees.<\/p>\n

Club historian Syd Thomson says for most of its history the club struggled financially, with a low local population and stiff competition for members from other Mornington Peninsula clubs.<\/p>\n

During World War II, Portsea Golf Club\u2019s membership fell to 40 and three members paid a man to mow the greens. Soldiers based at the adjacent Point Nepean set up trenches and barbed wire and did drills on the fairways.<\/p>\n

In 2004, the club was $600,000 in debt and had a membership of 900 when the golf club committee decided to sell 21 blocks of land – that had been used as a practice fairway near Port Phillip Bay – for housing.<\/p>\n

It helped turn around the club\u2019s fortunes, bringing in much-needed revenue, as has the new two-storey clubhouse, opened in 2013, which includes a hotel, dining room, pro shop and conference facilities.<\/p>\n

\"TomTom Houghton pictured on the Portsea golf club\u2019s current 18th fairway using a horse-drawn mower circa 1947. Published in Within a Bull\u2019s Roar, the club\u2019s 75th anniversary book.Portsea Golf Club<\/p>\n

Now the club has 1300 members, including billionaire property developer Max Beck, AFL players Max Gawn and Tom Lynch and broadcaster Steve Price, but also tradies, teachers and retirees.<\/p>\n

Portsea Golf Club president Steve Blunt says it\u2019s a world-class golf club but not elitist and people from all walks of life are welcome.<\/p>\n

He says rumours in 2023 that former premier Daniel Andrews would not be welcome at Portsea Golf Club were not true.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an inquiry by a member about a former premier joining but it didn\u2019t proceed, and that was the end of the inquiry,\u201d Blunt said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Everyone was welcome to apply for membership, \u201cand we have a process that is the same for everybody,\u201d Blunt said.<\/p>\n

One of the most famous players in the club\u2019s history, was five time British Open winner Peter Thomson, who died in 2018.<\/p>\n

Blunt said the club\u2019s journey has been an incredible one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a very eclectic, broad, welcoming and friendly membership. The club is in great shape financially, the course is highly regarded in Australia and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Centenary celebrations will kick of at 2pm on January 1 with the flag raising and social event and continue across the year with social and golf events including a cocktail party, a women\u2019s lunch and a community event on October 9.<\/p>\n

The club\u2019s annual celebrity Pro-Am tournament featuring Dylan Alcott, Bec Judd, and Archie Thompson will be held on January 4.<\/p>\n

For more information see the website portseagolf.com.au<\/p>\n

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