burtonda

We're just going to have to agree to disagree as my mind can't process the contradiction in your first sentence, given that the club is invite-only. Again, I have nothing against private clubs and their right to select their membership by whatever criteria they desire. My concern is that the premier event in a professional American sport takes place at a club with, at best, questionable membership policies regardless of whether it's public or private.

So you're justifying a negative with other seemingly negative examples? Of course pro golfers have no problem with it given the huge monetary incentives. I have no problem at all with private clubs or their membership ranks. I think it's wrong when these legally discriminatory private clubs profit from the general public (via huge TV contracts and public exposure) and pretend like everyone should be cool with that. To me that's lame, but whatever floats your boat I guess.

First, I never said they refused to admit anyone. No one applies for membership because it's by invite-only. Second, how far does your head have to be in the sand to think that this good ol' boys club is not discriminatory? They didn't invite their first African American until 1990 and that was only after another course hosting a PGA tournament had to change it's membership policies for the same reason. They say that their club is private 51 weeks of the year and public only for the Masters - that is, they claim they are completely separate entities and Augusta National answers to no one. This should come as no surprise as many of their members work or worked for the too-big-to-fail companies that got a bunch of bailout money. Since you're so into citations, here's an article with some of the facts, I'm sure you can google more: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/golf/masters/2002-09-27-augusta_x.htm

Quote: Who really cares what Earl Woods thought about Augusta National's membership ranks? He had a severe conflict of interest being the father of the world's best golfer who just happened to be making multiple millions of dollars donning their sacred green jacket. When a club doesn't allow you in simply because of race or sex then they most certainly have discriminatory membership policies. While it is legal discrimination because they are a private club, it doesn't make it right. By hosting the premier event in professional golf and profiting greatly from massive TV contracts, which are ultimately paid for by members of the public, their backwards membership policies should rightly be open to criticism. There are 2 easy ways to make the criticism stop. Apologies if my post's format is a bit messed up - my browser is not cooperating today.

I don't see how this is much different than the color line in baseball before Jackie Robinson. There was no official policy calling for racial segregation, but all the teams followed this unwritten rule. In my opinion, once Augusta National and the Masters became a cornerstone of professional American golf and started collecting millions in TV contracts, effectively subsidizing member fees, they became more open to public scrutiny of their membership makeup. What they're doing seems to be perfectly legal, but that doesn't make it right.

Yeah, we didn't really think that he would actually take us to jail, but we just wanted to peacefully finish our round by any means necessary, especially since beer was easily made available (and I should add very reasonably priced, making our initial smuggling decision all the more moronic). It was a shame that we had to pour out nearly full beers, but we're not much for confrontation on the golf course I guess.

To get away from the disaster this thread has turned into, I have a story. Four of us played a somewhat nice course out in the boondocks and decided to bring our own beers knowing full well this was not permitted (we knew it was a d-bag move, of course, and we don't normally do or condone this). What was even more moronic is that we didn't buy ANY beer at the clubhouse so we were sitting ducks when the marshal caught us drinking on the SECOND tee box. He drove up and said "gentlemen, I need you to pour out those beers in your hand and I'm going to give you 2 choices. I can call my friend the sheriff and he'll come and take you to jail for illegally drinking on our course. Or, I'll take your remaining beers, put them in our cooler for the remainder your round, and I'll drive back to the clubhouse to pick up some of our beer for you and you can pay me for them when I get back here. After your round you can pick up your beers from our cooler". Even we were smart enough to take option 2 and he did exactly what he said he would do. Strangely enough one of our golf cart's steering columns broke during normal use on the 18th fairway (I assure you it was not caused by drunken shenanigans) and they didn't charge us a dime. The marshal quickly acknowledged that the cart was defective and also covered by their insurance. He was a great guy!

Normally I just lurk on the sidelines and enjoy the discussions (thanks to all for the free advice and entertainment), but all of the "what is appropriate golf clothing questions" should just refer to Tomboys comment. If you find yourself judging the appearance of others at the golf course you're playing, then you're probably the one out of place. This is one of the few sports where the particpant's socioeconomic status is the primary driver of their playing partners and their peer group at their course/club of choice.