Conference 7.286::golf

    MR. GRANT,
    
    	As I can undersdtand how you feel and agree I doubt that the
    members of Augusta really care.  Whatever....
    
    
    
    Tom, I'd rather be golfing...

    	Or as Groucho put it; "I don't want to be a member of any club
    that would have me as a member."

I don't have a problem with the midnight curfew. A club is entitled to 
its traditions, no matter how quaint they may seem. In fact, a 
harmless rule like that only adds character to the club.

The dollar-heavy membership and no-admission policy are tougher to 
swallow. 

The latter is easy to understand, given the club's fame. It's 
probably a lot easier to keep the curious outsiders from overrunning 
the club if you don't let them get past the gate. It would be nice, 
though, if the members were to recognize their privileged place in 
golf's history and have the generousity to share their hallowed 
halls with the golfing public at large--perhaps with a weekly guided 
tour.

The apparent wealth of the membership, if indeed all are wealthy, is 
just another sad indicator of this country's obsession with money. A 
state of mind that causes some to consider wealth a virtue and to
value it in others above all other "virtues." In this, Augusta
National membership is far, far from alone. 

The Royal and Ancient has it's exclusive, generally class-based, 
membership, but at least they share the hallowed St. Andrews links 
with the public.

I have no problem with their rules.  It would be nice if the golfing public
could get some sort of access periodically.   They have inherited a place of
honor & responsibility.  As more season pass members die I would like to see
them withhold a certain percentage of the tickets and make them available
via a lottery.  So that we the general public could stand a chance to see
the tournament once in their life.  I don't play Megabucks, but would probably
be willing to spend a buck each year to win an opportunity to go to the Masters
(at my own expense even.)

Re: .-1

>The Royal and Ancient has it's exclusive, generally class-based, 
>membership, but at least they share the hallowed St. Andrews links 
>with the public.

Actually if memory serves me correct St. Andrews is a public course.  So 
I guess you could say the public shares the course with the R&A. ;-)

Larry

PS. Did you hear the one about a scalper that was selling hats with Master's
passes attached for some incredible amount of money?  When arraigned his
defense was that he wasn't scalping tickets he was selling very expensive hats
the tickets were sold at face value.

    test

    it worked

     I think the only thing I'd take issue with is the concept that
    every member is on permanent probation. In Cliff (I always call
    him Cliff...) Roberts time, if he didn't like your act, you were
    down the road, forget about committees!!
     This is probably the only place those guys can relax, and the only
    type of people they can relax with, I guess. Everything about the
    place seems to be done in an understated attempt to make it THE
    club in America, although I'm not sure it would be my first choice
    of places to play if I could play anywhere. As a matter of fact,
    there are private clubs in or near every major urban area which
    are to some or a great degree ridiculous. We'll be seeing more of
    the "play with a member - period!" restrictions, meaning a phone
    call from a member won't do it, as it has in many places in the
    past.
     If you like to play great courses, and have any connections, play
    'em now, or, better yet, go to the U.K. or Ireland! For what it's
    worth, here are the 4 snobbiest clubs in the U.S., followed by the
    3 snobbiest in Mass:
    
    Pine Valley
    Augusta National
    Seminole
    Cypress Point.
    
    The Country Club (Brookline, Ma.).
    Myopia Hunt Club (Hamilton, Ma.)
    Kitansett (Marion, Ma.)           
    
     In addition to the Mass. clubs, which I have played (and I agree
    are high level snob sanctuaries) I'd add from personal experience:
    
    Muirfield (Scotland)
    The National Golf Links of America (Long Island)
    Shinnecock Hills (Long Island)
    Ekwanok (Manchester, Vt.)
    Burning Tree (Bethesda, Md.)
    Chevy Chase Country Club (Washington D.C.)
    The Golf Club (New Albany, Ohio)
    Fisher's Island Club (Fisher's Island, N.Y.)
    Oyster Harbors Club (Osterville, Ma.)
    Garden City Golf Club (Long Island)
    Congressional (Bethesda, Md.)
    Baltusrol (Springfield, N.J.)
    
     There are a bunch of "sleepers" that everyone knows about, but
    nobody plays, such as:
    
    Guelph Mills and Merion (Philadelphia, Pa.)
    Pittsburgh Field Club (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
    Los Angeles Country Club-North (L.A.)
    Jupiter Hills (Jupiter, Fla.)
    The Creek (Long Island)
    Meadow Brook (Long Island)
    Piping Rock (Long Island)
    Quaker Ridge (Scarsdale, N.Y.)
    Century Country Club (Purchase, N.Y.)
    Oakland Hills and C.C. of Detroit (Mich.)
    Chicago Golf Club and Bob O' Link (Ill.)
    
     If any of y'all want to add to this list, let's hear it!! Half
    the fun is trying to get on any of 'em, so I'll keep trying. Off
    this summer to Chicago for Skokie and Cog Hill #4 (definite), and
    Chicago Golf, Medinah, Butler National and Onwentsia (These will
    take a lot of fast thinking) and maybe Bob O' Link (where we
    fortunately have a contact).
    
     Off to my own favorite - Crumpin-Fox - this weekend to see how
    a 4 month layoff has crippled my already ailing "game".
    
    --Jack
    Pittsburgh Field Club (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
     There are a bunch of "sleepers"

    I MUST TOTALLY AGREE WITH TOM, THE MEMBERS OF AUGUSTA NATIONAL COULD
    CARE LESS WHAT WE THE COMMON CLASS THINK OF HOW THEY RUN THEIR CLUB.
    AFTER ALL, THAT'S WHY THEY ARE MEMBERS!!

	Has anyone reading this conference ever played Augusta?
I'm curious -- is it as nice as it looks on television?  

Jeff

       One of the clouds hanging over the game of golf is the racism and
       elitism of many of its famed clubs/courses, particularly in the
       US.  Until fairly recently, many of the best-known clubs had a de
       facto policy of admitting only white Protestants -- players like
       Lee Elder or Corey Pavin could never have been admitted as
       members to Augusta National or The Country Club.  Bit by bit,
       this is changing, but many private clubs still exclude potential
       members based on race or religion.  
       
       (At St Andrews, they're very fussy about who can join the R&A
       and enter the clubhouse, but the golf course is a municipal
       course and anyone can play, though members do have preference
       for some tee times.)
       
       --Mr Topaz

    	Augusta reaks of snobbery, but so what.  Who owns the land?
    Making the course inaccessible makes it that much more desirable.
    If anyone could play the course any old time, it wouldn't have any
    of the mystique that it now enjoys.  I think the members enjoy that
    the most.  If I was a member there, I'd want to keep it for myself,
    too.  What's the point of having a private club if it's open to
    the public?
    
    -Alan-

    
    It isn't the fact that Augusta National is a rich man's club, or
    that they are so discriminating in who is a member or not.  It is
    the abomination that the MASTERS is tied to Augusta.  Golf is not
    a game of the rich and elite.  The MASTERS should not be so belittled
    by such a group.  It should be taken from Augusta National and played
    where the majority of the folk who play the game should have access
    to the most meaningful tournament that is open to Amatuers and foreign
    players as well.  The people who run this event make me puke.

     Re: taking the Masters from Augusta National to "some other course":
    sure, you could call it The Masters (until The Augusta members took
    you to court and won), but it would just be another "Screen Door
    Open" then. For better or worse, the whole thing started with the
    beloved Bobby Jones at The club he himself designed for just such
    an event, and if that were changed, it just wouldn't be the same.
     Sure, guys like Cliff Roberts are/were jerks, but what a gorgeous
    course. Furthermore, making it so restrictive adds to the mystique;
    after all, the membership at Augusta National has no obligation
    to the golfing public. They pay for their privacy, and they're entitled
    to it. If guys like that want to hang around with other guys who
    are similarly inclined, o.k. by me; but I'd be on a plane in a
    heartbeat just to play it one time...
    
    __The Skoal Bandit 

    Re:< Note 567.13 by BOSHOG::VARLEY >

    I second your points. The Masters IS Augusta.
    
    Put  yourself  in  Augusta's  members  position, if you have/can  pay
    megabucks to be a member, the last thing you want  is the place to be
    your  run-of-the-mill  golf course.  That's why the private clubs are
    private.
    
    I would  like  to know if anybody who contributes or reads GOLF would
    have any doubt  of  accepting  an invitation to play Augusta, even if
    that meant dealing with the "snob" rules and members.
    
    Tavo

    
    
    I think the last two replies miss the point.  The OPEN was played
    at The Country Club in Brookline, Ma. (another snob city), but the
    public is not treated as shabbily as the ELITE at Augusta do, nor
    were they as pretentious to assume that because its THIER course
    it is the  MASTERS.
    
    True, it is a beautiful course, and I,too, would like to play it,
    except for the horse's a**ess that run it.  They can keep Augusta
    National to themselves.  What an audacity they have to think that
    is where golf is at its best!

     Actually, the Masters treats the public BETTER than any other
    tournament in terms of food quality, price, crowd viewing areas,
    crowd control, limited ticket sales, etc. They take great pride
    in this (as well as the complete lack of commercialism), and are
    always upgrading the way they run the tournament.
     Remember, The U.S. Open is run by the U.S.G.A., and the other
    tournaments are P.G.A. or R.& A sanctioned events - this event is
    Blessed by all 3 bodies, but beholden to no one. If they had unlimited
    ticket sales, they'd have crowd and parking problems (and perhaps
    course damage) that they don't want and couldn't handle. There's
    nothing wrong with the Masters per se, or the golf course, except
    it's nearly impossible to get to see the event and virtually impossible
    to ever play the course.
    
    --The Skoal Bandit

It's not easy to get an audience with the Pope, either. That doesn't 
make him a bad guy, though, does it?

    
     Sometimes it seems the Vatican and Augusta National are in the
    same league.  Or so the snobs down there think so.  Augusta National
    as far as its prestige goes, depends on the MASTERS, its membership
    consider it a status symbol.  To them its not so much a GOLF event
    but a celebrity ball....

     I think you're going down a rathole. There are 2 reasons that the
    Masters is still being conducted. Period.
    1. Bob Jones started it when he started the club, and Bob Jones
    is (quite properly) a "sacred cow". Although a true gentleman and
    non elitist himself, the club became that way primarily through
    the efforts of the curmudgeonly Cliff Roberts.
    2. Now that it is a Major tournament, it has become a self fulfilling
    prophecy - one that MUST continue each year. When was the last time
    you heard the term "two Majors", or Three Majors?" Tradition dictates
    that the Masters is Augusta, and the Masters must continue.
    Substituting the TPC, for example, in it's place simply doesn't
    make it - especially if the reason you want to discontinue it is
    because members are snobs. most of the members would probably be
    happier if only escorted guests ever saw the place - the hell with
    the pro's. They don't need the $$ or the inconvenience.
     Augusta is no worse (or as bad) as Seminole, Cypress, Pine Valley,
    etc. etc. Ekwanok and Worcester are even a pain in the butt, but
    when I get a chance, I play 'em, because I like the courses. When
    you're invited to play a private club, "you exist" (as Scarlett
    O'Hara said) "at the kindness of others". If they ain't kind, don't
    go there, and don't watch their event.
    
    --Getting a little tired of this whining,
    
    --The Skoal Bandit

    
    
    I agree, enough is enough.

    I started this note in hopes of generating some debate.  I have
    read everyone's comments with interest.  But one little point -
    I do not take issue with the fact that Augusta National is a private
    club and that access is restricted.  I simply wonder why they feel
    the need to treat even the members as if they were children.  The
    place is now run, essentially, by one man, Mr. Hord Hardin.  Power
    may or may not corrupt, but it definitely seems (at least in this
    case) to cause noses to reach for the sky
    I
    

    Iknow - you thought you'd seen the last of this discussion, but
    I thought that it was interesting that there were no replys from
    persons who'd actually been to the MASTERS - or at least I can't
    detect such a reply.
    
    I had the honor (yes, I consider it an honor!) to have attended
    both the Friday and Saturday sessions of the 1989 event.  This was
    my first MASTERS in 30 years.  No, it's not the same event.  It
    is much more commercialized than I remember as a teenager.  The
    good news is that the commercialization is on the fringes - out
    by the parking lots.  Once inside the gates you find that great
    care has been taken to mask the vending stands with natural follage.
    
    Few people realize that Augusta National required CBS to provide
    permanent stands for all TV stands.  If you fly into Augusta today
    and happen to go over Augusta National you'd see those same towers
    you see on TV in April.  Bob Jones would flip, but all the wires
    are permanently buried, etc, etc, so the TV viewer (and more
    importantly the paying public) is not hampered at all by the broadcast
    requirements.
    
    Snobish - maybe - there are no "JOHN 3:16" t-shirts - not allowed!
    Nor are cellular phones allowed!  And if you get caught with that
    kind of material you will be politely ushered to the gate by the
    friendly Pinkerton guards who are also a tradition at Augusta.
    
    Now you talk about a golf course - I get goose-bumps just walking
    from the entrance gate beside #1 fairway over to #7 green where
    we watched both days.  I might add that we got to the course
    approximately 1 1/2 hours before the first pairing arrived at #7
    and had no problem getting a good vantage point to see the approach
    shots into #2, the drives at #3 and the entire of #7.  It was easy
    to get up from #7 and watch drives off #8 tee (also on the way to
    the nearby hidden concession stand).
    
    I want you to picture the nicest greens you've EVER played - got
    the picture - that's what the fairways at Augusta National are like.
    Are you into beauty - go stand at AMEN corner 2 hours before the
    players arrive and see what they're faced with.  Sorry, but I'd
    hove a problem simply because of the natural beauty of the place!
    You like challenges - go stand on the tee at #11 and look at what
    the player faces off that tee - it'll blow your mind!!  Then go
    see the view from the members tee at #11 and you'll get an
    understanding of how a course can be toughened for a championship.
    BTW - the players view off #18 is nothing short of frightening!
    
    The ticket price is $90 for a season pass.  The waiting list is
    some 30 years long.  Is it exclusive - yes - is it snobish - I don't
    think so.  I stil have fond memories of a youthful Doug Sanders
    in total orange (shirt, pants, socks, shoes, glove, tees, bag, etc)
    30 years ago.  He considered it an honor to play.  Ask Lee Trevino
    - he'd give his eye teeth for a lifetime exemption - came close
    this year too!  Arnie still goes and commands tremendous galleries.
    
    I meant the goose bump part - it's awesome!!  The unfortunate part
    is that not all can partake, but that's life - I'll never be President
    of these United States, but that doesn't make George Bush snobish.
    
    What it boils down too is that there are a few events that darn
    few of us will ever get to view - the Indy 500 (my ultimate dream),
    the World Series, an NBA game 7 final, the Super Bowl, and the MASTERS.
    Unfortunate, but a fact of life!
    
    Keep it in the middle!
    
    Rick

    Rick,
    
       Well said.
    
    Dave

    Dave,
    
    I've asked my father that question.  Augusta National rules prohibit
    passing tickets via a will, so it looks like I'm SOL when my father
    leaves to join my mother in the great golf course above.  We're
    trying to be creative about this issue, but the rules are such that
    they prevent the posterity issue.
    
    If you find an extra ticket for 1990 I'll give you a holler!
    
    THANKS!
    
    Rick    

    copied from vtx without permission. 
    
      
    
      Associated Press Wed 12-SEP-1990 06s
    
       All-White Golf Club Admits Black TV Executive
    Eds: A version also moved on sports wires.
                                By TOM SALADINO
                               AP Sports Writer
       ATLANTA (AP) - A Gannett Co. executive has become the first
    black member of the Augusta National Golf Club, site of the Masters
    tournament, following a summer of discontent over racial policies
    at some the nation's finest courses.
       Ron Townsend, the 48-year-old president of Gannett Television
    and a confessed golf nut, said Tuesday the invitation to join ``was
    obviously an opportunity I didn't waste any time in accepting and
    plan to enjoy.''
       ``I consider it an honor,'' he said.
       Civil rights leaders had threatened to protest next spring's
    Masters if Augusta National, all-white since its founding by golf
    legend Bobby Jones in 1932, was not integrated.
       Earlier in the summer, all-white Shoal Creek Country Club near
    Birmingham, Ala., where the Professional Golfers' Association
    Championship was played Aug. 9-12, bowed to boycotts and protests
    and admitted a black member.
                                                                More -->
       Townsend, who heads six Gannett TV stations, said he met five or
    six weeks ago with members of Augusta National to discuss
    membership and accepted then.
       ``It was around the same time as Shoal Creek, but they made it
    clear that it had been discussed months before,'' he said. ``It's
    conceivable that the Shoal Creek thing put in on the front burner,
    but it was not a direct result of that.''
       During the PGA Championship, Augusta National chairman Hord
    Hardin said the club already was searching for a black member.
       Townsend received full membership, unlike Louis Willie at Shoal
    Creek. Willie accepted honorary membership, meaning he has all the
    rights of a regular member without having to pay the club's $35,000
    induction fee and annual dues.
       The events at Shoal Creek prompted the PGA Tour, the PGA of
    America and the U.S. Golf Association to adopt new guidelines -
    effective next year - requiring private clubs that want to play
    host to tournaments to demonstrate that their membership policies
    are not discriminatory.
       The Masters is under the auspices of Augusta National and is not
    under PGA jurisdiction. The tournament invited its first black
                                                                More -->
    player, Lee Elder, in 1975. It used all black caddies until 1982.
       Joseph Lowery, the president of the Southern Christian
    Leadership Conference who had vowed to protest the Masters if it
    remained all-white, said Augusta National's decision ``is a good
    first step.''
       ``I hope they go on to admit women, do business with black-owned
    businesses, support athletic programs at black colleges, use black
    vendors at their activities,'' he said.
       Townsend served as director of field services for the Children's
    Television Workshop and was involved in the programs ``Sesame
    Street'' and ``Electric Company.''
       He became station manager of WTOP-TV in Washington in 1978 and
    served in that position until being named to his present post in
    1989.
       ``I'd categorize myself as a golf nut. I'm a 15 handicap. I
    shoot in the mid- to high 80s on a good day, and I hope I can
    maintain my handicap when I play there,'' Townsend said.
       ``But I think I'll be so awed in that environment that scoring
    will not be a priority. It's such a beautiful golf course.
    Hopefully it will be conducive to good play for me.''