Home » Sports » Sports Issues » Private Club, Public Concerns: Women at Augusta

Private Club, Public Concerns: Women at Augusta

© Roy Pickering

The privileged few in society born with silver spoons in their mouths and accustomed to most of life's offerings being handed to them on a platter are rarely coerced into doing what goes against their wishes. Since attempting to treat them like regular folk with accountability to others tends to be futile, such attempts are rarely made. When someone nonetheless shows the gall to take off kid gloves and treat the privileged few as if they are subject to the same rules and regulations as everyone else, hell hath no fury like a spoiled brat being told what to do.

Martha Burk of the National Council of Women's Organisations (NCWO) certainly understood this when she sent a brief letter to the attention of Hootie Johnson, chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club. In her note, she criticized Augusta's long-standing (69 years to date) practice of excluding women from membership in the private club. This is not to say that Ms. Burk has a problem in general with private organizations. Most Americans accept the fact that the Girl Scouts have the right to exclude boys, and that college sororities should not be made to admit young men. There are plenty of boys-only and girls-only organizations in the U.S. that are allowed to conduct their activities hassle free. In the case of the Augusta National Golf Club, however, this particular private club happens to host the world-renown Masters Golf Tournament. By sponsoring one of the four major championships in the sport of golf, for one week in every year a very public spotlight is cast upon Augusta. The event is televised for the viewing pleasure of millions of people who tune in to see who will receive the coveted green jacket that is awarded to the tournament champion. Some people feel it is reasonable to say that the Masters, which is the youngest but also the most popular of golf's four major championships, is public property. And since the tournament belongs to all of us, should it not be played at a venue that belongs (at least in theory) to all of us?

Hootie disagrees with the premise of this argument, and expressed his difference of opinion to Ms. Burk's three-sentence letter of complaint with a three-page response of indignation. After all, for fifty-one weeks of the year Augusta is a private club, with the emphasis on private. There is no application to obtain, membership is offered strictly to those who are deemed worthy rather than merely being a matter of one's ability to afford entry. For one week of the year, Augusta presents the world of sports with the gift of the Masters. They offer this tournament with a lack of commercialization that has distinguished it not only from other golf tournaments, but from all major sporting events. Unlike other tournaments that are played on a different course each year, there are strong ties between the Masters, the course it is played on, and the organization that presents it. So the suggestion to simply move it elsewhere if Augusta refuses to change its policies would be met with much resistance. Augusta and the Masters have always gone hand in hand. Tradition serves in this matter (as it often does in the American South) as a double edged sword, with both praise and derision earned for the same act - standing still in a perpetually changing world. Augusta generates a sizeable chunk of change for its efforts, so hosting the Masters is not exactly charity. According to Johnson though, this money does not benefit the club membership, but goes back into the tournament or is given away. He finds it unfair for Augusta to be "penalized" by having to forfeit its private-club status because they do something that is universally viewed as good for the game of golf with minimal compensation. So regardless of one's views on feminism or elitism, it seems that Hootie does have a well thought out answer for every one of Martha's concise charges.