OPINION
Peter Allan Williams
Writer and broadcaster for half a century. Now watching from the sidelines although verbalising thoughts on www.reality check.radio three days a week
peterallanwilliams.substack.com
Despite its upper-class and aristocratic origins in the UK and US, golf in New Zealand has for most of the time I’ve played been a thoroughly accessible sport.
Of the ten clubs I’ve been a member of since the 1960s, only one has required any sort of nomination and vetting process. Most of the time becoming a golf club member is a simple process of going to the office, asking to join and paying your money.
In recent times, as demand for golf club membership has increased, a few upmarket courses in both New Zealand and Australia have become more selective about who they let in.
Usually, no reason is given if membership is declined.
But when America’s Cup hero Brad Butterworth was denied entry to one of Auckland’s more exclusive clubs around fifteen years ago, it was almost certainly because one of Team New Zealand’s main sponsors was an influential member of the golf club.
Butterworth had won the Auld Mug with the sponsor’s money but left soon after to join the Swiss syndicate Alinghi. Butterworth therefore had to play his golf elsewhere. With his Alinghi salary, he could afford to.
All of the above is a long-winded preamble to one of the best stories of golfing karma I’ve heard in years.
Dan Andrews, aka Dictator Dan, the not-very-lamented former premier of Victoria, is a keen golfer, and a decent player.
But he really, really annoyed his state’s golfers during the Covid era.
As happened in New Zealand, golf courses were closed during the early stages of the pandemic. Under what logic is a vast outdoor space where you’re seldom within two metres of other people an environment where an airborne virus could be transmitted?
It was stupid and non-sensical then to close down golf courses. From a distance of three years, it’s even more stupid and non-sensical now.
In Victoria, the rules were even more bizarre. Andrews decreed that all golf courses within a hundred kilometres from the centre of Melbourne be shut, while those outside that limit were open for play. Whatever the reasoning, the rationale defies logic.
One of the victims of Dictator Dan’s edict was the Portsea Golf Club down the Mornington Peninsula, southeast of Melbourne.
In his political retirement, Andrews wants to play more golf. He thought Portsea would be an appropriate place to become a member.
But golfers have long memories.
The word is out. Portsea has rejected his application. Some reports say all the up-market private golf clubs on the Mornington Peninsula will also turn down the former Premier for membership.
If you treat your constituents with contempt, don’t be surprised if they return the compliment.
Good luck hacking it out of the rough Dan!