- Steve Price has threatened to rip up his golf club membership
- Dan Andrews is reportedly interested in joining Portsea Golf Club
- Members are divided over the ex-premier’s interest in the club
Shock jock Steve Price has threatened to ‘tear up’ his membership if former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews tries to join a golf club on the Mornington Peninsula.
‘This is the premier who stopped us playing golf for two years during Covid,’ Price told Sky News Australia.
‘This is the premier who locked down this community even though we’re 120km out of the city.
‘The same premier who let people on the other side of the bay play golf. No way that should that man come into the golf club.’
On Monday, the Herald Sun reported that the avid golf fan and now retired premier would face stern opposition from the members of the Portsea Golf club should he apply for a membership.
Steve Price has threatened to quit the Portsea Golf Club if Dan Andrews is allowed to join
Andrews, an avid golfer, attempted to join the Portsea Golf Club but was denied
While the president Phil Cramer said Mr Andrews’ application would be considered as per the club’s constitution, Price gave Mr Cramer a blistering ultimatum.
‘If Dan Andrews is allowed to join the Portsea Golf Club, I’ll quit, I’ll resign, I’ll tear up my membership and I’ll go and play golf somewhere else,’ Price said.
Former professional golfer Mark Allen also told 3AW other golf clubs along the Mornington Peninsula were considering a similar response if Mr Andrews applies for membership.
‘To the point where not only members from Portsea but members from other clubs were saying that if he’s trying to join anywhere down here, they just will not let him join,’ he said on Wednesday.
The anger was in part, due to the state’s restrictions on golf during the pandemic.
‘Remember one side of the peninsula they were able to play (golf) and get around, the other side of the peninsula, they were not allowed to play,’ Mr Allen added.
During Covid, golf enthusiasts in the metropolitan Melbourne area and parts of the Mornington Peninsula were banned from the fairways and greens – a rule that was only mirrored by the Northern Territory.
The Portsea Golf Club (above) is one of Victoria’s most elite clubs and its president said that he would consider all applications
Andrews is an avid golfer but he is not a popular figure in the Mornington Peninsula
While clubs were allowed to re-open from September 2021, toilets were forced to remain closed, earning the ire of enthusiasts.
Announcing his retirement from politics, Mr Andrews said he intended to spend more time with his family and out on the golf course.
‘In terms of what I would do next, I’ll have a bit of time off and spend some time with Cath and the kids, play bit of golf and read the pile of books that are sitting on the corner that have not been read,’ Mr Andrews said.
‘I’ll do a few things that are about me and I am going to go through what would be a fairly challenging adjustment.’
