From my Taki's Magazine column:
Read the whole thing there.
Augusta National is to aspirational Gentile corporate executives what Harvard is to ambitious high-school students. …. So why did Augusta National immediately add a black member in 1990 after Shoal Creek, site of that year's PGA Championship, was widely criticized when its founder let it slip that it was all-white? In contrast, why did Augusta National wait 22 more years to let in any women, even shrugging off a frenzied 2002 campaign against it by The New York Times? ...
The contrast is striking because race discrimination was pervasive in American country clubs up through the 1990 Shoal Creek imbroglio...
On the other hand, contrary to all the press accounts presenting Augusta National as a last relic of the Bad Old Days, all-male golf clubs have never been common in the US, and they may even now be increasing in number.
What's the story behind all this?
Read the whole thing there.
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27 comments:
I'm afraid I didn't get the answer to the question "What's the story behind all this?" You need a sentence saying "So the most likely reason Augusta quickly added a black member but dragged their feet on women is that being men-only is currently fashionable for showing you're about good technical golfing... while barring blacks is not."
So, when they say it was male only, were wives of members allowed on the premises, just not the golf course?
Maybe admission to Augusta National is still sought after, but here in flyover country, we have a glut of golf courses and a shortage of golfers. Our once-snooty local country club went belly-up last year, and a number of other new courses, often with associated housing developments, have also gone bankrupt. Of course, it may have something to do with the fact that the golf season here is only six months long.
I hate golf, so I find this all rather amusing. I'm in complete agreement with Mark Twain - golf is a good walk spoiled.
"were wives of members allowed on the premises, just not the golf course?"
Women had been averaging about 1,000 rounds per year on Augusta National as guests of members.
In contrast, some men's only clubs never allow women on the premises at all, except maybe one day each December to shop in the clubhouse for gifts for their menfolk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO7HDfrKFdU
plunger tournament
Now we know why Sailer likes LOR. It begins in Hobbitland with grass so green it could be used as a golf course.
SSPL: stuff Sailer the Plunger Likes.
Lord of the swings.
I never understood why so many women made such a fuss about Augusta National.
Oh, I understand PERFECTLY why so many women have fought to get into lesser clubs. After all, a LOT of big sales and big business deals get done over a round of golf and a few drinks at the 19th hole. So, a young female sales or marketing executive who can’t become a member of a good country club would be at a huge disadvantage relative to her male peers.
Bottom line: women generally don’t fight to get into country clubs because they loive golf. They fight because they believe, with some justice, that getting into exclusive clubs is a good career move.
I get that. All well and good. But… Augusta National is different. NO young, unknown marketing executive, male OR female, has ever been accepted as a member of Augusta National, unless he had some important connections. Membership at Augusta National is NOT a first step toward wealth and success- it’s a reward for people who are ALREADY on top of the heap!
I mean, how much higher could Condi Rice possibly go in her field? She’s already held the most important post in the Cabinet! And Darla Moore is already swimming in money- how much better could she possibly do, now that she gets to wear a green jacket?
It’s fine by me if Augusta National gives a membership to, say, Sandra Day O’Connor or Pepsi CEO Indra Nooyi. But realistically, could membership really advance either woman’s career at this point?
http://mylife24fps.blogspot.com/2012/08/rhapsodies-in-august-boozy-brunch-on.html
SWEL?
Stuff White Elites Like?
"some men's only clubs never allow women on the premises at all, except maybe one day each December to shop in the clubhouse for gifts for their menfolk."
Too bad they couldn't do their shopping by catalogue instead.
"What's the story behind all this?"
They caved.
Steve - Burning Tree in suburban MD is an example of a club that only admits women on the property 1-2 days per year. Lots of politician members, though as usual they get a pass for the thoughtcrimes that require punishment for others.
There are still a few all-male clubs in California believe it or not. They unfortunately can't take any outside income however. As such some spectacular courses such as Cypress Point and the California Golf Club no longer host USGA events. I'm sure the CA Supreme Court will eventually get around to rooting out these bastions of H8 and intolerance. Somebody somewhere is minding their own business? This must be stopped!
OT:
Bartolo Colon suspended 50 games for positive test
http://news.yahoo.com/bartolo-colon-suspended-50-games-positive-test-173546600--mlb.html
*Note that Colon is one of those wild Latin American style baseball players who chucks mainly fastballs
I wonder about your assertion that women weren't commonly excluded from golf clubs. In San Francisco, the Olympic Club got its first woman member in 1995.
She was a prominent Jewish trial lawyer. Just across Lake Merced, the uber-exclusive San Francisco Golf Club, the wives are still only allowed to play on Thursdays, and Sunday afternoons.
"As such some spectacular courses such as Cypress Point and the California Golf Club no longer host USGA events"
Condi is also a member at Cypress Point, the world's most beautiful course, so they ought to be able to go back to hosting one day of the PGA tournament at Pebble Beach like they used to before Shoal Creek so all us hoi polloi could walk Cypress Point once in our lives, but I doubt if they will bother.
"Membership at Augusta National is NOT a first step toward wealth and success- it’s a reward for people who are ALREADY on top of the heap!"
Right, Condi Rice is already a member at Shoal Creek, a nationally prestigious course, and at Cypress Point, which is unworldly beautiful, and more exclusive than Augusta National.
Big mistake Augusta.
Freedom means having YOUR standards, and choosing to stick to them despite the envy and manipulation of others.
Big mistake.
Envy know no bounds. The last 40 years of PC show that to be true.
I mean, how much higher could Condi Rice possibly go in her field? She’s already held the most important post in the Cabinet! And Darla Moore is already swimming in money- how much better could she possibly do, now that she gets to wear a green jacket?
Martha Burk wasn't rich enough then. Or now!
Augusta National is to aspirational Gentile corporate executives what Harvard is to ambitious high-school students.
This would've been stronger if you'd repeated "aspirational" instead of switching it out for "ambitious."
Don't be led astray by the myth that the same word should not be used twice in the same sentence.
I wonder about your assertion that women weren't commonly excluded from golf clubs. In San Francisco, the Olympic Club got its first woman member in 1995.
And it only took 17 years from that cave to get to host the US Open once more! We can look forward to an Open at Cypress Point maybe for the 150th, circa 2050 or so.
Many country clubs allowed women to play at certain times but they couldn't be members and couldn't play on Sat or Sunday morning.
That's what my dad's modest private club was like.
"She was a prominent Jewish trial lawyer. Just across Lake Merced, the uber-exclusive San Francisco Golf Club, the wives are still only allowed to play on Thursdays, and Sunday afternoons."
I read that the members at Olympic work for the members at San Francisco.
I wonder if the future will hold Muslim golf courses and clubs, barring unbelievers, women, and dogs.
Hale Rains -or maybe his ghost - must be very happy. I wish Augusta had invited Ann Coulter or Phyllis Schlafly.
I read that the members at Olympic work for the members at San Francisco.
The more accurate measure of Northern California exclusivity and pecking order is that members of the Bohemian Club (of Bohemian Grove fame) are thought to be the movers and shakers, but in fact they work for the members of the Pacific-Union Club (at the top of Nob Hill).
Naturally, the Bohemians are said to be wavering on the male-only question, while P-U has no such lack of faith. Not that any women would qualify: to join Pacific-Union you have to not just run a major corporation or bank, you have to own a substantial chunk of it. And I think even Marissa Mayer doesn't have that beyond the usual sweet bunch of stock options.
The Augusta monomania of 2002 was a thing to behold. It was sort of like an example from high school American civ. class, of yellow journalism employed by Hearst or whomever in the service of some forgotten cause, brought to life. There was a good issue in Golf Digest the next year with various contributions on the theme, including Camille Paglia and Joe Klein and also one from Christopher Hitchens entitled "Golf is a man's game"
"Many country clubs allowed women to play at certain times but they couldn't be members and couldn't play on Sat or Sunday morning.
"That's what my dad's modest private club was like."
It's still this way at many private golf courses up and down the Central Valley of CA. I play as a guest at my friend's course, a typical Valley course (flat ...so to make things difficult the courses are long and have lots of traps guarding fairly fast greens with false fronts and greens that slope down from the middle to the back)and women are still not members nor do they get the prime tee times on weekends.
It used to bother me--no longer.
Hello? Most women under the age of 45 don't give a shit about golf. If they care about a "sport" its usually Tennis or something more athletic that allows them to look good and stay in shape.
Most women under 45 have no desire to join a 'club' and spend 6 hours hitting a golf ball.
Now Condi Rice will finally be able to network her way into the corridors of power.
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