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Volume CXXXII, Number 21 |
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Teeing up diversity
JAMES BAUMBERGER
COLUMNIST
Golf has long been a game that values tradition. It has changed little over the years.
The golfing establishment has restricted technological advances in equipment design, the professional tour has fought to protect its policy prohibiting golfers from riding in carts, and the elaborate golf etiquette has persevered.
Throughout history, golf has had a tradition of being a predominantly male activity. A myth even developed that the word golf was derived as an acronym for the term "Gentlemen only, ladies forbidden."
Currently, Georgia's Augusta National Golf Club, the yearly location of the Masters golf tournament, is trying desperately to hold on to its own tradition of maintaining an all-male membership.
As this year's Masters approached, the National Council of Women's Organizations intensified its pressure on the club to abolish its prohibition on admitting women.
Frankly, the policy is an embarrassment to golf. The Masters, as the first of four major tournaments held each year, is considered golf's most challenging and prestigious competition. With discrimination so prominently displayed, the Masters gives golf the reputation of an outdated pastime.
Traditions that seek to limit who plays the game are worthless.
Progress is coming, but slowly. Organizers of the movement to encourage Augusta to admit women have found the club's Achilles' heel. Many corporations, interested in limiting negative publicity linked to Augusta's discrimination, are not only sponsors of the tournament, but also have club members among their executive ranks.
Within the last few months, several top corporate executives who belong to the club have succumbed to pressure to denounce the policy.
In fear that they would be pressured to bow out, club president Hootie Johnson released this year's sponsors from their contacts, forcing CBS to run the Masters commercial free.
With sponsor revenue faltering and corporate members scrambling to save face, Augusta's days of discrimination are probably numbered.
Unfortunately, golf has been too slow to move with the changes in our society. In many ways, there is still need for improvement.
Racial discrimination is still present in golf today. While most private clubs have done away with overt policies that limit its membership, decades of intolerance still serve to keep minorities at bay. These clubs, once the exclusive bastions of the white upper class, have made little effort to erase the stigma of former prejudice and to develop a more inclusive reputation.
Until my own golf club begins to outwardly value diversity, I will continue to feel uncomfortable belonging to such a backward institution.
For years professional golf suffered from this lack of diversity. Recently, the addition of Tiger Woods to the professional tour has had a remarkable impact on the game. His contribution cannot be overstated. He has helped make golf relevant to a larger group of people. The game's popularity has soared. His organization, the Tiger Woods Foundation, now helps bring the game of golf to low-income and minority children. Most importantly, he has given golf a desperately needed new face.
Nevertheless, golf still has obstacles to overcome. Having one minority superstar should be no cause for comfort. As long as the game's roots in the private clubs remain overwhelmingly populated by rich white males, it will continue to lack the diversity it needs. Until women and minorities are accepted, appreciated, and encouraged everywhere in golf, the game will continue to lose respect.
As a private club, Augusta is free to admit whomever they
choose. But their legal right to discriminate should not prevent society
from demanding change. If the club continues to refuse admission to women,
it should suffer the consequences. Failing a policy reversal, a change
in venue for the Masters would expose the club for what it really is:
archaic and out of touch with society.
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