Under him Australia dominated the game \u2013 Ashes urns were retained as a matter of expectation. World Cups were lifted with cold inevitability.<\/p>\n
Less well known, at least to the public, was that away from cricket Ponting was a star in another sporting arena \u2013 Golf<\/a>.<\/p>\n His handicap was +3 (he was so good he had to give shots back). He\u2019s an ambassador for global golfing giant Callaway; he\u2019s beaten close friends and professionals Aaron Baddeley and Daniel Popovic over 18 holes. He has a career-best round of 64, which he shot on the north course at Peninsula Kingswood, a ritzy Frankston club of which he is now a member.<\/p>\n Ricky Ponting and Shane Warne during the New Zealand Open in 2017. Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n South African golfing giant Gary Player once told Ponting<\/a> during a round in Portugal that he was \u201cplaying the wrong sport\u201d. Greg Chappell, another former Test cricket captain, says Ponting is a \u201cbeautiful golfer\u201d.<\/p>\n So it was no surprise that about a month after Ponting retired from international cricket and moved with his family to Melbourne from Sydney, he set about becoming a member of one of Australia\u2019s most prestigious golf clubs: Royal Melbourne.<\/p>\n It was February 2, 2013 when an impressive group of golfers proposed Ponting \u2013 known as \u201cPunter\u201d \u2013 become a member of their club.<\/p>\n More than four years later, that bid failed. In 2017, after delays, embarrassments, rumours and knock-backs, Ponting finally withdrew his application.<\/p>\n Ponting in full flight during his cricket career: celebrating a Test hundred against South Africa in 2006.Credit: AP<\/p>\n Until now, this story has never been told.<\/p>\n So what happened on Melbourne\u2019s undulating sandbelt to lock one of Australia\u2019s most revered sporting figures out of one of its most famous clubs?<\/p>\n And what, if anything, did Sam Newman and Shane Warne have to do with it?<\/p>\n Wealth and status<\/p>\n Royal Melbourne isn\u2019t like most golf clubs. It\u2019s so well known that its name is often shortened.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere do you play your golf?\u201d one might ask.<\/p>\n \u201cRoyal,\u201d comes the reply. Those five letters signal power, wealth and exclusivity.<\/p>\n Nestled in the bayside suburb of Black Rock, Royal is down the road from some of the most expensive real estate in the country. It\u2019s one of Melbourne\u2019s famous \u201csandbelt\u201d courses, so called because of the sandy loam subsoil they are built on.<\/p>\n The Royal Melbourne gallery watches Rory McIlroy (right) in last year\u2019s Australian Open.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n Clubs like Royal Melbourne, Kingston Heath, Victoria, Commonwealth, Metropolitan, Huntingdale, and Yarra Yarra are members-only establishments that are mostly closed to the public, except for special events and tournaments like December\u2019s Australian Open at Royal, where Irish superstar Rory McIlroy was the major drawcard<\/a>.<\/p>\n But they also provide a window to Melbourne\u2019s social, sporting and business elite.<\/p>\n For purists, Royal is regarded as one of the best golf courses<\/a> on the planet. When McIlroy bluntly offered his opinion that Kingston Heath was better<\/a>, many Royal members simply shrugged, so confident were they in the quality and reputation of the club\u2019s two courses, east and west, which combine to form the composite.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, discretion is a byword at these private establishments, so when this masthead spoke to 11 people \u2013 all current Royal Melbourne members or former high-ranking officials \u2013 about Ponting, none would speak publicly.<\/p>\n Ponting playing at the New Zealand Open in 2018.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n The secret to his failure, however, can be found in the club\u2019s arcane rules.<\/p>\n It can take more than a decade on the waiting list to become a member of Royal Melbourne. There is no special treatment.<\/p>\n To even begin the process, you must have a proposer and a seconder who have each been a member for at least eight years. In addition, you must have four other sponsors who each have at least five years of membership.<\/p>\n In total, the six people proposing you must have, as a minimum, a combined 36 years of membership.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a similar process to that of the Melbourne Club, as featured in a separate series<\/a> by this masthead, which one member of that club said ensured only one kind of person was allowed in the door.<\/p>\n Royal Melbourne is rated one of the best golf courses in the world and it can take a decade to become a member.Credit: Gary Lisbon<\/p>\n When Ponting sought membership, his proposers could not have exuded more wealth or status.<\/p>\n Among them were former Essendon chairman and Cathedral Golf Club founder David Evans<\/a>, then Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland<\/a> (who now runs Golf Australia), Goldman Sachs investment banking head Christian Johnston and former Foster\u2019s and CUB mover and shaker James King.<\/p>\n The list was supposed to be like Australia\u2019s batting order during Ponting\u2019s captaincy: unstoppable.<\/p>\n The wets, the dries and the rising damps<\/p>\n But there was a hitch. And one morning in March 2013 \u2013 just weeks after his proposers lodged the paperwork on his behalf \u2013 Ponting got caught up in it.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n Ponting had been granted temporary membership because the club\u2019s hierarchy believed he could provide leadership guidance to the pennant team.<\/p>\n So, one Thursday morning in March that year, Ponting brought three of his mates to play \u2013 Shane Warne, former New Zealand cricket captain Stephen Fleming and AFL personality Sam Newman.<\/p>\n There are three main groups at Royal Melbourne who play on Thursdays. They\u2019re known as \u201cthe wets, the dries and the rising damps\u201d, say sources connected to the club.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s the insular, patronising, elite people who fear those who don\u2019t move in their own circles.\u2019<\/p>\n Sam Newman\u2019s thinking on the membership of Royal Melbourne<\/p>\n The wets enjoy themselves \u2013 they indulge in a bottle of red (each) before heading out to play. The dries are more reserved. They play in the morning field and hold off drinking until after their 18 holes.<\/p>\n The rising damps? Well, they\u2019re somewhere in between stone-cold sober and over-imbibed.<\/p>\n On this particular Thursday, the wets and the dries were both settled in at the clubhouse when Ponting, Warne, Fleming and Newman strolled in after their round.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting that all of Ponting\u2019s guests were themselves golfing tragics who played off single-figure handicaps. Warne and Newman in particular regularly played golf with Ponting.<\/p>\n Sam Newman, pictured in 2023, was a regular playing partner of Ponting on the golf course.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n For years, Chappell says he paired with Warne against Ponting and Evans in a Ryder Cup-style tournament. Ponting played off scratch and Warne off a handicap of eight<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cPunter used to hate it because he knew, no matter how well he played, he just couldn\u2019t beat Warnie because he\u2019s a good putter and a good pressure player,\u201d Chappell says. \u201cYou could see the steam coming out of Punter\u2019s ears, it was just fascinating.<\/p>\n \u201cYou were playing for bragging rights, you just wanted to be the bloke who could tip a bit of shit. That\u2019s what it was like with Ricky and Warnie.\u201d<\/p>\n Warne and Newman were known for being boisterous after 18 holes. And on that particular Thursday in March 2013, neither the wets nor the dries in the Royal clubhouse took fondly to the antics of the celebrity group.<\/p>\n Fleming politely declined to comment on the situation. Newman, on the other hand, spoke freely.<\/p>\n He dismissed claims that he, Ponting, Warne and Fleming behaved in any way poorly in the clubhouse that day. He blames the existing members for wanting to exclude those they see as outsiders.<\/p>\n Golf Australia CEO James Sutherland (centre, at Royal Melbourne in December) backed Ponting\u2019s bid to join the club.Credit: Eamon Gallagher<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the insular, patronising, elite people who fear those who don\u2019t move in their own circles,\u201d Newman said about those who disapproved of their group. \u201cThey\u2019re in a bubble that the long-term members protect, and they surround themselves with their own kind.\u201d<\/p>\n Newman, a prolific golfer, is a member at the National, another prestigious golf club on the Mornington Peninsula. The National will also feature in this masthead\u2019s series on Melbourne\u2019s elite golf clubs.<\/p>\n According to the former Geelong Australian rules champion and television star, Newman was once asked by Royal Melbourne members if he, too, wanted to join. Newman shrugged and said why not. His application, he said, was immediately rejected.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re probably fearful of people with a bit more relevance in society that will shame their draconian views of life. It\u2019s the snobbish elite who protect their space.\u201d<\/p>\n Wherever the truth lies, neither the wets nor the dries were enamoured of the group\u2019s presence. It was not the best start for Ponting\u2019s membership approval.<\/p>\n At Royal, as at many other members-only clubs, when a new person is proposed, active members are provided with an opportunity to challenge, or blackball the candidate. At Royal Melbourne, for a new applicant to be successful, seven members must vote yes for every no vote.<\/p>\n According to documents seen by this masthead, 27 people indicated they would vote against Ponting\u2019s application at a membership ballot.<\/p>\n One of the reasons given by a perturbed member was that Ponting didn\u2019t address him by name on the practice range, but simply called him \u201cmate\u201d.<\/p>\n Lyn Swinburne was the head of Royal Melbourne\u2019s membership committee at the time of Ponting\u2019s application.<\/p>\n That meant he needed 189 yes votes. In a club with a membership of more than 2000 people, getting the yeses shouldn\u2019t have been a problem. <\/p>\n But the indication that 27 people were prepared to vote no was a warning. It was a shot across the bow.<\/p>\n The membership committee<\/p>\n At the time of Ponting\u2019s application, Royal Melbourne\u2019s membership committee was run by Lyn Swinburne.<\/p>\n![\"Ricky](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/6de0dd72a6206ffebfecf63824b4db9832ec2c03.jpeg\")
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