Chairman Payne: Women at last!
Finally–perhaps the understatement of the century (pick one), but Augusta National Golf Club has done away with its sexist Membership policy and accepted not just one woman, but two!
It’s about time.
On Monday Chairman Billy Payne, who to my understanding deserves much of the credit for pushing it through, announced the club has admitted not just one, but two women members to the uber-exclusive old boy’s club. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — whom many predicted would be the one tapped when the time came — and business executive Darla Moore will be the first female members of the club, according to the AP’s Doug Ferguson.
After the rather compelling soap opera that unfolded in April and the growing scrutiny ANGC received from politicians and the public for their outdated practices, it seemed inevitable Monday’s announcement was imminent. There was a hostile sentiment in Payne’s annual press conference the Wednesday of Masters week, and it didn’t seem like real life at times, since The State of The Masters turned into a farce with Payne as the jester.
With Augusta becoming the butt of jokes on Twitter even among politicians–even though we know the club doesn’t put up with outside pressures strong-arming them. Augusta does things on their own time and stealthily. Which is why we whispered that we’d probably learn of a woman member six or so months down the line. We assumed it’d be IBM CEO Ginny Rometty since it’s tradition that the new CEO of one of Augusta’s three sponsors receives a Green Jacket for his/her accomplishment. Ginny rising to her position gave Augusta a way out of its whole unpleasant sexist policy, but the club didn’t bite.
However, about five months after this season’s Masters–on their own timetable–Payne and ANGC just about blindsided everyone with this groundbreaking, heroic announcement. Women, at last!
When the news hit the wires on Monday, I was startled only because it was going to overshadow poor Sergio Garcia’s excellent victory. And Augusta National admitting women is a story that transcends the golfing world. Others looking in find the whole ting farcical, which is exactly what it is. When I ask the average person their thoughts on Augusta’s membership policy or such, I usually get one of those, “Are you serious?” looks, as in “This is actually an issue in this day and age and a massive controversy.” Color them not impressed with golf and it only strengthens the negative stereotypes that the game has long been synonymous with.
It wasn’t a major surprise the announcement came at a somewhat random time, say the end of August. After all, ANGC does things on its own time and “all issues of Membership are now and have been historically subject to the private deliberations of the Members.”
“This is a joyous occasion as we enthusiastically welcome Secretary Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore as members of Augusta National Golf Club,” said Payne in a statement sent to the media via email shortly after the news originally broke. “We are fortunate to consider many qualified candidates for membership at Augusta National. Consideration with regard to any candidate is deliberate, held in strict confidence and always takes place over an extended period of time. The process for Condoleezza and Darla was no different.
“These accomplished women share our passion for the game of golf and both are well known and respected by our membership. It will be a proud moment when we present Condoleezza and Darla their Green Jackets when the Club opens this fall.
“This is a significant and positive time in our Club’s history and, on behalf of our membership, I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome them and all of our new members into the Augusta National family.”
Yes, it was quite a significant day, but why did it take so long? It’s a positive that in the club’s 80-year history, the gender barrier had been broken. Yee-haw. Break out the cigars and scotch.
Augusta and Payne do deserve to be congratulated — for entering the 20th century! Okay, fine, the 21st! — the 1960s. Better late than never, right? Um, sure. Well, golf claps on taking a step in the right direction.
Doing the right thing was long overdue, and I’m glad the club finally took the first step with this symbolic gesture. But there is still a long way to go in terms of breaking down golf’s exclusionary and elitist reputation. Hopefully this will have a meaningful impact on the game, but I still think it’s going to take years. (Which is what I said in our impromptu session of PGA Tour Confidential.)
Girls and women of any age aren’t suddenly going to say, “Hey, I heard Augusta now allows women members, I want to play golf!” Newsflash: Women who don’t golf or come from a golfing family don’t care and many don’t even know what or where Augusta National is or that until Monday the club was all-male. (I just did a quick impromptu poll amongst my friends, but will try a larger sampling later–the general response is, oh that’s where some big tournament or whatever is, right?
So, why didn’t I feel overjoyed about the “joyous occasion”? Why wasn’t I doing cartwheels across my living room? Was something wrong with me? I felt…blah and a little miffed.
First of all, I find it preposterous to describe something that should have happened 40-50 years ago with so much praise. Sure, I’m happy about its no longer all-male, but the rhetoric didn’t sit well with me–personally, it sounds like he’s likening this occasion of admitting women to the civil rights movements. What’s so “joyous” exactly? What are we celebrating? OK, good job–you were strong-armed into letting in two women. Rah-rah. It’s 2012.
I loosely monitored the hoopla on my social media channels. I had to take a step back from the pom-poms and celebration (with the exception of a few rational-minded folks, like Michelle Beadle) that dominated my Twitter feed.
Two hours later, people were still giving each other proverbial high-fives and congratulating Augusta National via Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, blogs and columns, etc.
Really Really. For what? The old boy’s club opened their doors to two women into the exclusive membership. It merely ook eighty years for to rid of their sexist policy. Again, progress!
Look, as I’ve said in other posts, I don’t care about all-male private clubs when it comes to Pine Valley or Butler or Burning Tree — those are all-male clubs that are, in fact, private. (Oh, please spare me the all-female club arguments. Curves! Um, last I checked Curves didn’t influence policy on how all people worked out.)
Augusta is only private by name and is in a league of its own. It holds a very public role in the international golfing world. ANGC has a vote in the World Ranking, which “affects the career of every pro golfer, and any tweaks to the formula can have a profound effect on a player’s fortunes.” Then, there’s their involvement in programs like The First Tee, which “impacts the lives of millions of kids, and Augusta National’s Jim Armstrong sets policy on their experience as a member of the The First Tee’s board of directors.”
Kudos to Payne and ANGC for (finally) doing the right thing. But then I got a little feisty (more so than usual): This all just reminded me (for the 5,683th time) of how far behind the golf world is and how much progress needs to happen still. I see ANGC acting as the guardian of all things golf — it’s like the mecca — and their exclusionary and close-minded policies haven’t given the game the best image or reputation, per se.
Maybe this is unfair, because, as you know, Augusta National is a private club that just happens to hold a very famous golf tournament. Geez, it’s not their fault! OK, then don’t hold the Masters at all. Or since it’s an Invitational and it’s a “private” club, stage the tournament and close the doors to “patrons” and the media. Make it a private event instead of opening the doors to the public, profiting from the public and the networks for the TV rights.
Augusta National should have been better than its shameful history of exclusion and discrimination. It should have set a better example.
Crazy talk!
Due to my own personal experiences working in the golf industry in the past three years, I’ve grown skeptical (yet somehow still optimistic and enthusiastic for the most part –I almost feel like a Golden Retriever sometimes) to a world that is still far behind in eliminating the prejudiced culture–whether it be ageism, sexism or racism.
Call me naive–and I’ll plead no contest (fine, guilty). I’m also young, but I’ve lived about eight lives in 29 years. I don’t even know how I’ve managed to fit it all in. Of course, I’ve got a lot to learn still. And I am, every day.
What I’ve seen and experienced makes me a little sad, only because it’s shown me an intriguing yet unflattering reflection of a part of society that is far less evolved than we’d like to think.
I guess I’m hopeful that this massive first step Augusta finally took will be the start of actual progress. There’s a lot of catching up to do.
*****
I will clarify and clean up what’s been train of thought later…
For now, I must participate in an emergency session of PGA Tour Confidential.
(AP Photo/Chris O’Meara, FIle)
Do they have ladies tees there?
Good news. As an added bonus, both ladies have also qualified for the Augusta National Women’s Championship finals…
If Augusta National wants to admit female members, that is their prerogative. If they didn’t that would be their choice, too. It’s a private club.
At least we still have Butler. And better still, we don’t have to read this blog author’s complaints about it anymore. Dead issue, move along.
Long overdue? Isn’t this a private club? Which means they can do whatever they want whenever they want?
You can set your membership requirements however you want if you an all ladies organization, or an all hispanic organization, etc. But not if you want to have an all male club. Nope, that’s the most horrible thing ever.
Do I really care about the rights of really rich and powerful women? No. Is it a good message to have? Of course, even if it’s 40 years late.
I guess I understand why this might be an issue to women, but not really why it matters to the larger media group or the rest of the world.
Yawn.
A private club can do what a private club wants. End of story.
I don’t really care if Augusta has female members or not. It’s their prerogative as a private club.
But what I hate to see is people backing down in the face of public pressure, media pressure, the limelight, and our shameful world where it is no longer ok to stand up for yourself – everyone must now be assimilated to not offend, tolerate, and cooperate with the utopian society of live and let live….
Why not stand up and be different, exercise your right to have free speech.
I admired Hootie and Billy and Augusta for saying, this is our policy, it isn’t breaking the law, and if you don’t like it, we don’t care ! That is what is sad about today. I’m happy for Condi and Darla, good luck with the course, enjoy it for the male and female non-members who only get to see it on TV in April. Have Fun !
But for the death of free speech, and for Billy’s stones shrinking under public pressure, I am saddened.
Personally I think it would have been awesome for Augusta to ask a couple female members to join, yet had them sign a non-disclosure agreement, and continued to say “We don’t discuss our membership” when the question comes up every April. That way you aren’t discriminatory, but you still give the long middle finger to people wanting to make a story out of nothing, and force everyone to be the same. Augusta should have just let the press stew and speculate for 100 years.
This.
Billy Payne has wanted a woman member FOR YEARS. He’s been pushing it quietly for YEARS.
MW spittin’ that truth.
I think they might have killed 3 birds with the Condoleeza stone. Tw for sure.
Of course, we’ll never know what the 3rd bird is, not officially anyway
Well, two, and one back…
Poor Sergio, finally had a breakthrough and no one has time to attend to him
Can’t rich white males have anything anymore!?!? Next thing you know they will have to pay their fair share of taxes. This might be the worst time EVER to be born with large trust fund….just tragic.
The most ridiculous quote from the above is this: “Maybe this is unfair, because you know, Augusta National is a private club that just happens to hold one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in the world. It’s not their fault! OK, then don’t hold the Masters there. Or it’s an Invitational and close the doors to the public.” The Masters is not like the US Open, the Open Championship or the PGA Championship where a major governing body runs the tournament at whatever site it chooses. The Masters is held at ANGC because the Masters BELONGS to ANGC. You cannot take the Masters away from Augusta National. And it IS an invitational. ANGC decides who gets to play, and who gets to watch. And, of course, nobody who is invited to play is actually required to do so, and they ahrdly force people through the gates each April. They can sell tickets, or they can leave the gates closed. They can have TV sponsors, or they can forego them. They can do what they want.
And it’s about time, you say? For what? For a private club to be manipulated into accepting those from whom they had chosen, for whatever reason, to remain separate? You do realize that what you’re celebrating is tyranny, don’t you? Even if for all the right reasons, it is simply wrong to force people of any kind to be together when they do not wish to be so. The right to freely associate contains, be definition, the right to freely DISassociate. Any company, any society, any government, that can tell you with whom you MUST associate can also tell you with whom you must NOT associate.
Stephanie, your sexism is showing, and it’s ugly.
This is not and should not be a celebration of equality. The only reason people are crowing here is because a private organization of predominantly white male membership is perceived to have been forced into doing something it didn’t want to do. If this were a group of women being pressured to accept men, or a group of blacks being pushed into joining latinos, or a group of the elderly being squeezed into associating with youth, or a group of Muslims being manipulated into having Presbyterians, or a group of Democrats blackmailed into sharing with Libertarians, the earth itself would shake from the cries of injustice. The common but too-narrow belief is that white men are the only people who discriminate, and so anything that appears to have forced them from doing so is seen as a victory, however hollow.
ANGC has its unique status because of its founders and because of what golf has made of it, rather than what ANGC has made of itself. I highly doubt that ANGC demanded a seat at the table in developing the world golf rankings, or insisted on rulemaking authority equal with the USGA and R&A. Instead, it is far more likely that ANGC’s input has been requested by outsiders. ANGC could have refused such invitations, but it is not the fault of the club for having been invited.
Augusta doesn’t do things it doesn’t want to do. Billy Payne wanted women members. Hootie said he recommended Darla Moore YEARS AGO.
As for the invitations, then they should have turned them down.
Payne, who was part of the Atlanta Olympics, probably had an epiphany after seeing female athletes from the generally-repressed countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran.
How is it a “private club” if it generates most of its revenue from a very public event?
exactly…
For the 500th time, how can a club be “private” when IT HAS A VOTE IN THE WORLD GOLF RANKING? –their vote has an impact on every prfiessional golfer in the world. They have a vote in making important decisions that impact people outside their private club. Ihaving a vote in the World Ranning is like having a vote in a legislative body –be it congress or the city council.
Again if people actually read You’d realize I’ve reiterated 500 times that all -male clubs like burning tree and pine valley ARE private so I could care less what their membership policies are.
I am not expert in the World Golf Rankings, but I think they only affect the men, right? It is the Rolex rankings which affect the women, from invitations to the Opens to the Solheim Cup. However, if ANGC influences rules via the R&A or USGA, then the criticism is valid.
they do, Augusta is a big power player in golf & they want to be
Isn’t Rolex scandalously private with more power over women in golf than ANGC?
http://rolexrankings.com
http://www.officialworldgolfranking.com/about_us/default.sps?iType=425&icustompageid=3717
http://www.officialworldgolfranking.com/about_us/default.sps?iType=425&icustompageid=736
Isn’t the problem really that 40,50,60 years ago the powers that be allowed The Masters to rise to such status? Golf has a terrible track record with equality. It took until the 80s? 90s? for the PGA to step up and say they couldn’t go to Shoal Creek or Aronimink?
So by that time, the Masters was already THE MASTERS. It wasn’t a Major from the time it was conceived. The Amateur used to be a Major. The North and South was considered a Major for a period of time, I think.
If Pine Valley had started inviting Pros to the Crump Cup and wasn’t in the middle of the pine barrens, that event could have become a major. But since it didn’t no one cares about their policies and recognizes their right to do what they choose.
As a private club Augusta should be allowed to exclude women if they choose. And now, this is nothing more than a symbolic gesture to stop it from being a continuing story. I don’t think Condi Rice was hurting for places to play. So now she has to choose between Cypress and Augusta and SF Golf?
It would have been a bold statement by one of the women to decline the membership, but this is like a prearranged marriage. Let’s have this nice little story and then never talk about it again–that’s what Augusta is hoping for, I’m sure. There hasn’t been much follow up on their admittance of African Americans. It’s like, well they have at least one. No more worries.
This isn’t going to do one thing to grow the game, or to relieve golf of it’s past (or current) image. It’s a decision that impacts maybe a few hundred women who are credentialed to be an Augusta member based on all their other qualifications?
By the way, how does the R&A get a relative pass on this issue?
Just out of curiosity, as a woman who attended Yale, were there any problems that you encountered at a formerly all male institution? Any words of advice for the 2 women breaking down the doors at a previously all male institution?
No, I never encountered anything at a formerly all-male institution. Women started attending in ’69. I was there from 01-05. Some groups, Teams and clubs etc practiced a tradition to commmerste the women who broke the gender barrier decades ago–which were naked slides on the women’s table at night. One of my regrets is never participating. Heck, Skull & Bones started admitting women since ’91. And they have equal or near equal split of men and women who are selected every year. I never experienced a hint of sexism at Yale — at least none that was memorable enough to recall. ( and I can name just about every incident I’ve experienced in the last 3 years working in golf industry.). Sexism wasn’t even in our vocabulary. I also worked at prestigious law firm in 05-06 and investment bank in 06-07– where women had long broken the barriers that still exist in golf. It’s pretty sad.
I am pretty much in sympathy with the private club issue, and supported ANGC’s right to determine its membership however it sees fit. I do think that they made their point by waiting this long and doing it on their own timetable and by inviting those women that they chose. While they certainly had the right to remain private, I think that Payne convinced them that if that they wanted to remain leaders in the world of golf, that exclusion of women would undermine any good work they they would undertake. Now will this satisfy the libs ? Certainly not, I guess sexual orientation/persuasion will be the next battleground for them as well as other private organizations.
Again, how is Augusta “private” again when it holds is a public and profits from the public? And again, a vote in the World Ranking. Not to mention large involvement in First Tee. Also the chairman holds a press conference that is conducted as “the state of the masters/ANGC.”
Augusta National is private by definition. They receive NO money from the public (State or Federal Governments). That’s what makes them private. The fact that they have a tournament open to the public to attend (a PGA tour event that is not a “public” business) and have a “vote” in the World Golf Rankings (again, a ranking not open to the general public to rank golfers) is irrelevant. Contributing to the First Tee also doesn’t make them private since they are “giving time and money” to a non-profit organization.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a good decision for ANGC but they are private and I believe somethings should be kept private. Not everyone needs to be allowed everywhere.
This misses the point. No one is arguing Constitutional law here. It is a much simpler point: the Club profits enormously from the public. If it wants to shut its gate and hold a “private” tournament, then no one would be complaining about its membership decisions. Plainly that isn’t the case.
THE MASTERS IS PRIVATE – but based upon who can COMPETE. That is the basis of the privacy of the tournament. Now as to who can WATCH, is a different matter. The club’s private/public debate is over who can play golf on that course, and that has always been PRIVATE, but the public can always just WATCH…
This is amusing. The Masters is private? For some reason I guess when I attended I thought there was a very significant “pubic” component to the event, me being a member of the public and all. The fact that the tournament keeps all the profits doesn’t change that. Your argument is an extremely cramped view (unchanged by the introduction of CAPs into your argument) and is based on legalize (tax status, ConLaw type stuff). You’re still missing the point.
Nope, not the point.
Paul–thank you for getting the point and actually reading.
They are private in just the same way that any other organization is private. Being a private organization doesn’t mean you can’t hold a public event. The shriners are a private organization. You have to pass their membership criteria to join. Yet they hold golf tournaments, charity events, and other “public” things all over the country.
The Olympics showed us the progression of women in Athletics…quiet amazing to see women perform at level never seen before in many Sports.
Then you have August National?! IMO Augusta is irrelevant in the National discussion for Women. My Girls would rather join Olympic Club than Augusta.
This decision is sad and pathetic nothing the Chairman says is important, relevant, or meaningful. Host a US Womens Open and I might change my mind.
Condo for Prez – gotta be better than anything we are stuck with next term – And a plus she is Hot Bright and plus plus chases little white balls with passion
ANGC: Damned if you do; damned if you don’t
Re R&A comment from Mike 82 – the Old Course does not belong to the club, and female golfers get access to the course. There is also a female only golf club in St Andrews, the St Rule club.
SW – your premise is that Augusta can’t be private if they do public things (First Tee, Vote in OWGR etc.) I and other accept that is your premise and thesis to your point. But it doesn’t have to be ours. I think a private club CAN do public things, be involved in the community they are a part of etc. The definition to me of a “private” club is whether Joe Schmough can get a tee time on a Saturday morning, or whether that is reserved just for their members. WHO GETS TO PLAY GOLF AT THAT LOCATION is the ONLY defining feature of a private club or a public golf course. Seems pretty simple to me, and I don’t really see how non actual ball in play actions of a private club really matter to the PRIVATE/PUBLIC debate.
That is in fact where the debate should begin – what makes a club private ? If you can’t agree on that definition, then you can’t argue the premise that a private club shouldn’t be able to do X Y and Z.
**Note that I don’t care if Augusta allows women now. I just hate when people don’t stand up for something they believe in, and any free speech that offends the great liberal masses and is against the Utopian assimilation of political correctness is either racist, or bigoted in some way.
#ChicFilet
no, not that point. sorry will explain later. i was typing blindly last night (no contact lenses or glasses, which made it a tad difficult)
Lots of private organizations profit from non-members (the public) of their organization. Hootie Johnson cannot be a Girl Scout, but he can buy their cookies. ANGC just does it better than anyone else. And somehow loses their right to privacy. No one is forcing people to buy tickets to the Masters or eat Pimento Cheese Sandwiches.
Yup, boycott if you really feel strongly.
Speaking of which, Paul, if it’s such a big deal to you why attend and support the event?
I think most of the comments miss the point.
IBM was on the cusp of terminating its relationship with the Masters and the $10 to $15 million that it was doling out the the ANGC every year. If IBM went, there would be a vacuum that would be almost impossible to fill considering out conservative major corporations are with they branding.
So, in summary, IBM, AT&T, and Exxon are free to end contracts with ANGC, but ANGC also has the right to change its membership policies to keep the money rolling it. It ain’t pretty and it’s about the money, but all parties were in the right here.
M2 nailed it.. pretty much. It’s not about progress it’s about Money. ANGC is a very Public Private Club.
Cypress and SF Club would never want a PGA Event or Major because they don’t want the attention.
Bingo
Is it a fact that IBM was on cusp of terminating relationship? Has that ben reported lately I know I should know this, but hadn’t seen anything on that.
Does a literal Yankee sleuth reporter need to tweet a story in order for someone to see the obvious? This was about IBM and the slippery slope which would result following IBM’s exit. No company with the resources required wants to enter that firestorm following legit companies removing their sponsorship.
In perfect Masters form, they admitted a ‘babe’ and a token.
@RSS – my attendance is a non-starter. Do I need to boycott a Major tournament just b/c, until yesterday, its host conducted itself consistent with the early 1900s? I’m not standing on principal; I’m merely stating the obvious fact that Augusta’s policy was hypocritical at best, given the $$ it generates from integrating the public into its organization.
Also, b/c somehow it continues to be lost on you, I’m not arguing that Augusta doesn’t have the right (legal or otherwise) to exclude women. I’m merely stating the obvious, which is that maintaining this policy – particularly in light of the business and civic leaders that comprise the membership – is misguided and, in my view, indefensible given Augusta’s public (and stated) mission to expand golf.
From a Steve Sailer’s piece on the imbroglio
“In contrast, why did it wait 22 more years to let in any women, even shrugging off a frenzied 2002 campaign by The New York Times? (The comic high point of more than 40 NYT denunciations of Augusta National between July and November of 2002 may have been an editorial calling upon Tiger Woods to employ his unquestioned moral authority and boycott the Masters.)”
http://takimag.com/article/breaking_old_ground_at_augusta_steve_sailer/print#ixzz24GsDotQ7