{"id":363379,"date":"2025-12-21T23:18:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T23:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/363379\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T23:18:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T23:18:11","slug":"the-99-year-old-golfer-helping-portsea-golf-club-celebrate-its-centenary-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/363379\/","title":{"rendered":"The 99-year-old golfer helping Portsea Golf Club celebrate its centenary"},"content":{"rendered":"

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:<\/p>\n

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.Credit: 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

\"A<\/p>\n

A 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.Credit: 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

\"Tom<\/p>\n

Tom 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.Credit: 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

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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fellow \u201cNiner\u201d Brian Mollet, 86, knows how important the sport is to his mate. \u201cIt\u2019s his passion,\u201d he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-363379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}