Cynthia Tucker on Augusta National (prepare to scream in technicolor)

AJC ^ | 9/14/02 | Cynthia Tucker

[groanup]

http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/opinion/tucker/index.html

[groanup]

I ran a search, twice. Didn't see it.

[Dallas]

LINK

[Grit]

"I cannot comprehend any sport that covets the lowest score. Even the wondrous Tiger Woods has not overcome my low regard for a game in which grown folks whack a white ball around an otherwise luxurious green lawn despoiled by gopher holes." -- Cynthia Tucker

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." -- Mark Twain

[Bob J]

I'm an avid golfer and the Masters is my favorite tournament, but, Tucker is right. The reluctance of Augusta to even consider a woman as a member is medieval.

It is a private club and in my opinion they have the right to set any rules they desire. That doesn't mean I have to applaud their decisions.

[JennysCool]

A FReeper yesterday suggested they nominate Ann Coulter and be done with it! :-)

[AnAmericanMother]

I don't think the absence of women in this club is all that remarkable. While it used to be more of a typical country club (my grandfather was a member way back when, but he was an Augusta native and helped Mr. Jones assemble the land for the club), it has become so exclusive that even asking to join is the kiss of death. Given the number of men who play versus the number of women, and the extreme exclusivity, it's no surprise that a woman hasn't happened to become a member. She would have to be a high-up business executive with excellent Richmond County and Georgia connections and a quality golfer as well. Ladies like that are just a little thin on the ground in middle GA.

[Not now, Not ever!]

Go Hootie!!!!

[Malcolm]

Gosh, a place where women can't go! Based on that flimsy argument, we ought to have unisex restrooms. If women want to play golf, there are numerous places and opportunities to do so. This is a CLUB, with membership requirements. Although sometimes unfair, there IS a "right" of association.....

[Norman Conquest]

Wasn't it Twain who summarized golf as "a good walk spoiled?"

[Paul Atreides]

The thing that some of them don't seem to realize is, that being a white male is not an automatic shoe-in for membership. I'm a white guy, and I wouldn't stand a chance at becoming a member. If people aren't accepted at certain private institutions, let them go start their own club/whatever. I have never understood this obsession among some people to ingratiate themselves on others.

[groanup]

thanks

[AnAmericanMother]

I sure can understand it, and I don't even play golf! My grandfather tried to get us grandkids interested, but it just didn't click. I do remember going down to Augusta with him once as a very small child and getting the grand tour of the course, it is stunningly beautiful. I don't feel I appreciated it enough at the time, I hope he didn't take it to heart; I was very small. My mom however was a very good golfer, she played the Augusta course quite a bit under his aegis. He was a VERY serious and devoted golfer, as are most members of Augusta. (Useless trivia: the creek on the 12th hole is named for him.)

He did, however, get us all interested in shooting! He was almost as devoted a duck hunter as he was a golfer . . . I may have said this before, but he was a "sitting in the predawn fog and rain sharing a tarp with a wet Lab and three inches of water in the bottom of the boat on the Eastern Shore" kinda duck hunter. I'm not THAT serious . . . prefer upland birds to ducks . . . but I DO have a Labrador.

[groanup]

Atlanta National Golf Club in North Atlanta has an upstairs men's grill where women aren't allowed. Country Club of the South in North Atlanta has a men's grill in the men's locker room where women aren't allowed. East Lake Golf Club in East Atlanta limits membership to fortune 100 companies and only one designated and one alternate have playing privileges. The initiation dues are $50,000 plus a $200,000 donation to the charitable foundation that owns the club. But you can't join. They do have some residual female members, however. The Oglethorpe Club in Savannah does not allow women upstairs. Settin' Down Creek Golf Club in North Atlanta has never seen a woman darken its doors as far as I can tell.

This Martha Burk character is just a publicity hound. If she really cares about the issues she would attack some of the less famous clubs.

[muir_redwoods]

Freedom of association allows people to choose whom the will associate with and without. Golf, like any game, has rules that make no sense outside of the game. Tucker complains to hear herself complain. I don't like golf and I do like associating with women but to each his (or her) own.

[groanup]

"(Useless trivia: the creek on the 12th hole is named for him.)"

Salutations to Mr. Ray.

[Glenn]

The reluctance of Augusta to even consider a woman as a member is medieval.

Your reeducation is complete. You may move on.

I'm not a scientist, but there appears to be some basic differences between the male and female of most species. Only ball-busters would see that mode of thinking as medieval.

[Paul Atreides]

This Martha Burk character is just a publicity hound. If she really cares about the issues she would attack some of the less famous clubs.

LOL! In life, there is a certain type of woman whose whole life is devoted to making sure that men don't have a good time.

[groanup]

"In life, there is a certain type of woman whose whole life is devoted to making sure that men don't have a good time"

That is going in my quote archives.

[AnAmericanMother]

It's actually Rae, but that misspelling is making the rounds.

The Raes are a relatively old Augusta family; my gg grandfather John Rae emigrated from Scotland to Augusta in the 1860s. They were businessmen and small tradesmen for many years. No Raes left in Augusta now AFAIK, except in Magnolia Cemetery. My grandfather asked to be buried there, and he and his beloved wife "Bunny" are laid side by side in the old family plot just outside the office door.

[AnAmericanMother]

And just to haul this whole thing back on topic . . .

My grandfather was a kinda hard-nosed business type, but he was also a traditional Southern gentleman. I don't think he'd really see a problem here, because in his world it was the duty of a gentleman to honor a lady and make her happy - always within the bounds of truth and courtesy. If a lady wanted to play golf, I am sure that he would have figured out a way to get her on to the course as his guest to play to her heart's content. Now, if her real intention was not to play golf, but to push her way into the membership or make a splash or pursue some other agenda, then he would have (in his courteous way) figured out some way to forestall her intentions. And he would have treated a man who was trying to use Augusta National as a stalking horse in exactly the same way (although probably with less overt courtesy! :-D ) I'm sure the powers that be have had all sorts of people trying to get into the club for all the wrong reasons . . . to make business deals, to pad out their resume, to impress their friends, etc. etc. . . . ALL those motives would probably disqualify a prospective member.