Should Women Be Allowed to Play at Augusta National Golf Club?

Should Women Be Allowed to Play at Augusta National Golf Club?

They already are, as long as they are invited by a member. The annual fussfest that occurs during the playing of the Masters Tournament is a bit uncalled for. Every year the media gets its knickers in a wad reporting on the (non) story about how the Augusta National Golf Club doesn't permit women to join its club. We see pictures of groups of upset women with signs and bullhorns trying to draw awareness to this pressing national issue:

That's totally fine by me.

I suppose.

This is about women being able to join a private club. A private golf club. Let's not confuse this with an equal rights issue lest Martin Luther King, Jr. rise up and remind what his point really was about. The Club doesn't discriminate against some women. It discriminates against all women, so in my mind, its not offensive to me. If they only refused membership to black women or jewish women or women from Alabama or women with red hair, then we'd have something to talk about. Private clubs are allowed to set their own membership rules. They do it all the time. The ANGC doesn't even have a membership application process because no one is even allowed to apply for membership, its invitation only.

This Club isn't run on public dollars, grants or loans from the Government. Its not located on public lands. I'm guessing it does pay its share of taxes, which benefits a lot of people. It does quite a bit of charitable work in the community and elsewhere. It has learn to play programs for both boys and girls. (We'll let them decide how best to explain to the young ladies they train that they won't be welcomed as members any time soon.)

Augusta National is a throwback. They have shown a slow willingness to change over time as blacks like former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann are now members. They've also dropped the "blacks only" caddy policy several years ago. They seem, by my eyes, to be moving in the right direction socially. I suspect someday a women will be invited to join. And then this annual business will fade away.

If I'm a women golfer, I'd be far more concerned with what some elected officials are attempting to legislate with my health care rights than I would be about membership at the local tight-ass club in Augusta, GA.