Augusta National admits women, and we all should smile
The man who did the right thing. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
That a day too long in coming has finally arrived probably shouldn’t touch off a celebration, but somehow this does. There was never a good reason for Augusta National not to include women among its membership. There was no reason beyond the stubbornness that human beings — both male and female, let’s stipulate — can sometimes mistake for “tradition.” But now the famous private club has admitted two women into its green-jacketed ranks, and that’s one less reason to regard Augusta National as the tin-eared old coot it has often seemed.
Yes, went the hollow argument, Augusta National is a private club and as such could admit whom it chooses. But Augusta National is a private club with a ragingly public face. It invites outsiders — at least those fortunate enough to land tickets — onto its premises for a week every April, and through television and the Internet and even iPhone and Android apps it invites the rest of us to partake of the Masters. It sells merchandise (lots of it) bearing the club logo. Given all that, could it reasonably argue that its membership rolls were of no concern?
Confronted by Martha Burk, former chairman Hootie Johnson sought to dig in his heels and succeeded only in digging a deeper hole. There was no way Augusta National could, in the 21st Century in these United State, remain stag much longer, and everyone who wore the green jacket had to know. Hootie held fast while Burk, who overplayed her hand, eventually went away, but the issue never did. It was raised again this spring, and Billy Payne chose to dodge the question during his annual Masters week briefing.
Say what you will about Billy Payne, but he is not tin-eared. The man who brought the world to Atlanta in the form of the 1996 Summer Olympics always figured to be the man who would admit women to the club on Magnolia Lane, and sure enough he was. Condoleezza Rice, once the Secretary of State, and Darla Moore, a financier known for philanthropy within her home state of South Carolina, are ideal choices, and having Rice, who is African-American, as one of the first women members of a club that not long ago included no African-American men is a most encouraging sign.
And, by adding Rice and Moore, Augusta National hasn’t just welcomed a woman. It has welcomed women, plural. “A joyous occasion,” Payne called it, via a press release, and it is. It should have been done long ago, but we take our breakthroughs where and when we find them. More Payne: “It will be a proud moment when we present Condoleezza and Darla their green jackets when the Club opens this fall.”
Some may see this as the fall of one of the last bastions of male-dom, but here’s what we say to such folks: Come out of that cave, men. Nothing is the way it used to be, and a lot of what used to be wasn’t right and/or proper to begin with. Credit Payne for realizing that there’s a world outside the gates of a golf course. Credit him for being the man who finally made happen what needed to happen.
So long as Augusta National was men-only, the question would have been asked: “Why is it men-only?” There was no good answer to that, and there could never have been a good answer. The only right response was to render the question moot. Billy Payne has, and Augusta National is better for it. And so, in a small but significant way, are we.
By Mark Bradley
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213 comments Add your comment
Lester Maddox....
August 20th, 2012
4:04 pm
Mark, does this mean that the “”100 Black Men of Atlanta” club is in jeopardy?????
Tom
August 20th, 2012
4:12 pm
Now, doesn’t that just make you feel good all over? Bradley, you and the PC crowd can gloat all you want but the fact is that Augusta National did it their way.
Augusta Admits Two Women - The Spearhead
August 20th, 2012
4:13 pm
[...] sports columnist Mark Bradley thinks it’s great, and writes that the organization has changed the world for the better: Some may see this as the fall of one of the last bastions of male-dom, but here’s what we say to [...]
steveo
August 20th, 2012
4:18 pm
Billy Payne you are a sellout!!!! You have just cheapened Augusta National making it just ANOTHER nice expensive golf course…… not because of women, but for destroying the history,tradition and mystique of one of the best venues in sport!!! You new name as far as I am concerned is “TRADER DAWG”…….THE Augusta National is no more….I weep!!
Alphare
August 20th, 2012
4:19 pm
Adam,
“Mark, can I ask you an honest question?”
No you cannot, because Mark works for a private newspaper.
MJ
August 20th, 2012
4:20 pm
I will smile when I get my practice round and daily badges for 2013. This is a non-event.
the truth
August 20th, 2012
4:20 pm
Bravo Mark, two pages of comments on an editorial column that should really have no interest to anyone. Job well done.
trishaDishawareagle
August 20th, 2012
4:22 pm
Not a one of you are ever going to be members pf Augusta National, so why did you ever even care? I never cared that there were no women, because even if there was 1 or 2, it wouldn’t be me, and I do not live vicariously or think of myself in group think where if one of us is Invited, we all are all Invited.. (only retarded leftist ideology requires us to think as the collective, not the individual) Nor do I think all should be included in all things. I like exclusivity in certain things.
ed
August 20th, 2012
4:23 pm
does condi even play golf?
MJ
August 20th, 2012
4:24 pm
Typical. Wouldn’t expect anything else from the liberal media.
Pawwwwl
August 20th, 2012
4:25 pm
Why is every journalist out there taking the same position? Why aren’t any noting that the inclusion of females goes against the founders, including Bobby Jones, vision for the Club? Why are women entitled to be members? Does the Club have to create special tees and a seperate locker room for them, or can they hang with the boys in all respects? Should we now start a media-fueld campaign to turn Augusta National into the local muni course?
Abnerish
August 20th, 2012
4:26 pm
I gotta say that the number of comments condemning the club because of its wealthy members and its exclusivity really bother me. I think this explains to a larger degree why the Obama campaign is using class warfare as successfully as it has. Far too often Americans demean the wealthy and the successful, when they should be respecting them and emulating their success. I have no ill feelings towards any member of the ANGC or any other private club or institution for that matter. Take Billy Payne for example. He didn’t inherit his wealth or gain his prominence through invalid or immoral means (not that inheritance is either invalid or immoral). He used his great education at UGA and his own intelligence and work ethic to be successful and he took advantage of the opportunities that were presented to him, either through luck or his own hard work (usually a little of both are involved). Bottom line: don’t be a hater.
ed
August 20th, 2012
4:33 pm
heck with women when do i get my tee-time? lol
Stinger 2
August 20th, 2012
4:34 pm
Clusters: I continue to respond to you post because they are almost always
negative toward the subject(s) of the blog or they are absolutely silly in content. Example: When your were a member of Augusta National ..LOL
Keep in mind: I never tell you what to say or what to think; therefore don`t tell me what to post.
dougmo2
August 20th, 2012
4:38 pm
Dear Mark,
We are offically revoking your membership to the “He Man Woman Haters Club”.
Sincerely,
Spanky and Alfalfa
hmmmmm............
August 20th, 2012
4:39 pm
Hey Abnerish, how about you pull your head out of your ass?? Judging by your statement over the years I’m sure you’ve voted for people that breed hate and entitlement.
Oh yeah and it’s too bad that Augusta gave in I think its a very sad day.
Dawgdad (The Original)
August 20th, 2012
4:43 pm
Yeah, Augusta, no celebrating; time to move on. Diversity is never satisfied. Where are the “po” folks? I volunteer, only if given some subsidy from the government, however!
Do they allow homosexuals, transexuals, bisexuals, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Cablanasians, Mormons, atheists, Scientologists, AJC columnist, or MSNBC Anchors? Long way to go there, Billy boy.
wally
August 20th, 2012
4:43 pm
I NEVER LIKED THE GAME OF GOLF, AND NOW I HAVE ANOTHER REASON NOT TO LIKE IT. I REMEMBER WHEN THE ERA GOT IT’S START. THE LETTERS STOOD FOR EVIL RISES AGAIN. WHAT A BETTER NATION AMERICA WOULD BE IF WOMEN WERE READING THE BIBLE AND PRAYING RATHER THAN CHASING SOME STUPID BALL. I HAD BETTER QUIT I JUST OFFENDED A FEW THOUSAND READERS.
Welcome to the Club!
August 20th, 2012
4:45 pm
This was a Boy’s Club in its finest form. A place where boys could be boys without a female adding her two cents. No more cussing, picking noses, passing gas, scratching and adjusting our crotches and certainly no peeing on trees. Is there a place on the planet where a guy can be a guy without being told to stop or hear “you’re being gross”? I guess now it is a matter of time before Major League Baseball will have women umpires and players and NASCAR will have women driving cars. Wait a minute, their driving race cars now! I guess when the male members play a round of golf on this historic course; they can now wear shorts too! Remember ladies there is no crying in Baseball and definitely no crying at Augusta National, so be sure to duck when you hear “Fore”. For years women have controlled the money and bedroom, now they have taken our beloved Augusta National. Sorry Bobby Jones and Cliff Roberts. Seriously, welcome to the most wonderful place on God’s Green Earth. It’s about time.
GTBob
August 20th, 2012
4:50 pm
Far too often Americans demean the wealthy and the successful, when they should be respecting them and emulating their success.
Is this a serious post? Anyways, why would any normal American care about the acceptance policies of some elite club that they can’t possibly get into? If they wan’t to accept women, fine. If they want to open a water park, good for them. If they want to have civil war reenactments on the 9th hole, more power to them. Hardly anybody cares either way.
blazerdawg
August 20th, 2012
4:50 pm
Good for Mss. Rice and Moore – good for ANGC and their membership – still waiting on my application.
Bubba
August 20th, 2012
4:51 pm
Wow: If women can be invited to join the Masters now — and all these liberals agree with this — does this mean as a guy I can join a Sorority now? Thanks so much for making this possible….I can’t wait Martha Burke…thank you and Mark Bradley for opening this door for me. Amazing isn’t it: all minorities can have their own private and public clubs and exclude people but white males cannot? So again…who is discriminating now? Sounds like a set of double standards. Thank you ACLU. Thank you Mark Bradley. Thank your Martha Burke for helping me see the light!
UGA Insider
August 20th, 2012
4:51 pm
This picture is the new President of UGA… Billy Payne. It’s time to clean UGA up. Bye Bye Cynthia Tucker.
UGA Insider
August 20th, 2012
4:53 pm
steveo,
Don’t be too mad at Payne. He will be back at UGA very soon taking over for Adams.
Abnerish
August 20th, 2012
4:53 pm
Well, hmmmm, not sure what you mean by that. I have never voted for anyone that believed in “hate” or “entitlement”, quite the contrary. I vote for politicians that believe in freedom (in all it’s shapes and sizes). I’m puzzled that someone who thinks I believe in hate and entitlement would be sad about this news. The only reason I would be sad about this news would be if the club made this decision strictly because of the nonexistent public pressure to do so. If they truly did this because they wanted to, then good for them and, most importantly, good for Condi and Darla.
Jackson
August 20th, 2012
4:54 pm
Bring back the pimento cheese, egg salad & chicken the way it was up until a couple of years ago when the ANGC took it in-house. Get rid of those wraps.
bob
August 20th, 2012
4:55 pm
Lets face it. Augusta National was hated by women on the left because it was known to be one of the finest clubs in the world and it was men only. America has many clubs, associations and colleges that are women only and the women whining the most about Augusta would be the first to whine about men being equals at Welesley or Agness Scott. The leftist women hate the success of Augusta and could really care less about gender equality in most other areas, let the women work on making 18 year old girls to register for the draft if they want eqaul access.
GIVE ME A BREAK
August 20th, 2012
4:55 pm
They didn’t invite Herchel Walker to join because they don’t have room for 47 more members.
GIVE ME A BREAK
August 20th, 2012
4:57 pm
Herschel. I guess.
GIVE ME A BREAK
August 20th, 2012
4:58 pm
Couldn’t care less.
Abnerish
August 20th, 2012
4:58 pm
GTBob, yes it’s a serious post. If you don’t think that statement is true, you apparently haven’t paid any attention to the news over the past year. Occupy Wall Street demonizing the 1%, Obama constantly demonizing the rich. Unfortunately, it seems too many Americans think that the rich didn’t earn what they have.
Ed
August 20th, 2012
4:58 pm
Who cares? It’s a private club that 99.9999% of us have absolutely no chance of getting invited to, regardless of our sex. That being said, they should be able to invite whomever they want and exclude whomever they want. I’ve never understood why anyone cares what ultra-wealthy woman gets that coveted first invite. I mean, it’s not like someone’s middle class suburban mom gets a green jacket. We’re addicted to symbolism in this country.
PMC
August 20th, 2012
4:59 pm
how does this effect any of our lives?
chuck
August 20th, 2012
5:02 pm
Mark, why do you care.
PMC
August 20th, 2012
5:02 pm
For all the hullabaloo about this I bet in the end the power and influence of these two women serves the club far more than anything the club provides to them.
Abnerish
August 20th, 2012
5:02 pm
You’re right, it doesn’t affect anyone but the members of that club. Agree completely.
ksleezy
August 20th, 2012
5:03 pm
We should smile? We should be shaking our heads that it took this dang long!!! What is wrong with white people? Why are we the last to accept differences and the first to shoot up movie theaters?
GTBob
August 20th, 2012
5:04 pm
If you don’t think that statement is true, you apparently haven’t paid any attention to the news over the past year.
There is certainly class warfare going on but to say that Americans should respect and emulate rich people just because they are rich is beyond an ignorant statement. There are some that deserve that kind of respect, but I would say most don’t.
Jamal
August 20th, 2012
5:06 pm
Member Of Prestigious Golf Club Scolds Others For Pissing On The Greens, Cavorting In The Nude, Picking Up A Golf Ball With “Naked Butt Cheeks,” And Much More at the Piedmont Driving Club
Why join Augusta National when you can join the Piedmont Driving Club- play golf in the buff and pee wherever you want? Hell- that beats the old Chamblee Putt Putt any day-
GTBob
August 20th, 2012
5:06 pm
For all the hullabaloo about this I bet in the end the power and influence of these two women serves the club far more than anything the club provides to them.
I bet these women show up for a few club parties, play a few rounds of Golf and nothing much changes in the world.
Alphare
August 20th, 2012
5:07 pm
“Obama constantly demonizing the rich.”
when & how?
David Granger
August 20th, 2012
5:10 pm
Enjoyed reading your comments, Mark. I somewhat agreed with them…I think it’s a good think for the Augusta National, and I like the way they went about doing it.
I remember Martha Burk’s little snide remark last year that “They’re going to just admit a woman over the winter one year, and claim it wasn’t because of all the pressure”…which seemed to indicate that the actual results wasn’t nearly as important to her as getting credit for “forcing” the issue. (I’ll bet you anything Burk will spin this somehow so she can claim she “won the battle”.)
It always seemed strange to me that men founded the Augusta National, men started the tournament, men worked hard to build the tournament up to what it has become…and then women started whining that the men shouldn’t have it all to themselves. Why not go the same route, and start your own golf club, establish your own tournament, and build it up to a world-renowned event? After all…the Masters wasn’t the most prestigious tournament in the world when it was founded, either. It took time, money, and hard work.
I applaud Billy Payne and the Augusta National membership for making this step. It’ll sure take a lot of BS off the table every year.
A couple of things I wonder:
Almost one-third of the member-clubs of the National Council of Women’s Organizations…that Martha Burk was chairwoman of when she had her little hissy-fit in 2003…do not allow men to join. I wonder if Ms. Burk will lead a protest or even speak out against any of those organizations?
And President Obama pointed out last year that…though the Augusta National was a private club, and perfectly within its legal rights to keep membership men-only…he felt that it should allow women to join because that would be the right thing to do. I think he was right about that. And I also notice that over the years several caucasian congressmen (and one congresswoman) have wanted to join the Congressional Black Caucus because they (the caucasian legislators) have a large African-American population within their districts, and felt that being a member would help them better serve a key part of their constituency. But they were not allowed to join because of their race. I wonder if President Obama will use his tremendous influence among African-American congressmen and congresswomen to request that they do the “right thing” as well.
I hate to admit it, but I frankly rather doubt that either Martha Burk or President Obama will do anything at all about these inequities. Political correctness has a way of only going in one direction.
Abnerish
August 20th, 2012
5:16 pm
GTBob, I did not intend to say that ALL rich people should be emulated and respected. If you think I was saying that then you read things too literally. But, by and large, if you want to be successful, who would you emulate: a member of the ANGC or a welfare recepient?
Skeezix
August 20th, 2012
5:19 pm
I have nothing against all boys clubs or all girls clubs. I’m also okay with Augusta’s decision to admit female members. That is their entirely their decision to make.
This is just no big deal in my book.
eagleputt
August 20th, 2012
5:20 pm
Enter your comments here
Abnerish
August 20th, 2012
5:21 pm
and, why, GTBob, do you think “most” rich people don’t deserve to be emulated or respected? It’s because you believe the liberal template of the wealthy, that they are mean, selfish, fat cats that care only of themselves and would step on the poor if they could. I simply don’t believe that. Certainly, there are rich people that fit that template, but I refuse to believe that they are anything more than a small minority.
Jamal
August 20th, 2012
5:23 pm
ksleezy@ 5:03
I knew I can find something so stupid to laugh at- ding the box and done
eagleputt
August 20th, 2012
5:25 pm
Time for the LPGA to host a tournament at Augusta now that there are female members.
DawgNole
August 20th, 2012
5:25 pm
Mark Bradley
August 20th, 2012
12:50 pm
And here we go.
C’mon, folks. Give it a rest.
Fetus Breath
August 20th, 2012
12:54 pm
You started it with this blog entry…..Just what did you expect?
SSIgator
August 20th, 2012
1:02 pm
Feeling a little sensitive today Mark? Your wrote, posted and opened the article up for comments. Or did you convince yourself that all of the readers would simply agree with what you wrote because you and other writers in the media all like to be on that PC Police bus and therefore, the rest of the public should be as well? Just because the “We Are All One Big Happy Family” crowd asserts that this is the way we should all feel does not necessarily make it so.
____________________
I’m loathe to agree with a gator on much of anything, but SSIgator (and “Fetus Breath” before him) is correct on this one.
You had to know when you threw it out there and opened it up for comments, Mark, that it would generated a “spirited” reaction–from all parts of the spectrum.
blazer
August 20th, 2012
5:35 pm
Private club should be able to do what they chose. They just did!
Now i hope they let the LPGA have a tournament there.