Scene on the green: Drunken antics reported at Piedmont Driving Club
The Piedmont Driving Club, known for elegant events such as this past Atlanta Ballet Ball, apparently experienced some recent unpleasantness.
NOTE: Commenting on this blog has been turned off; at 244 comments it had become a bit unwieldy. Click here for a new PDC blog with open commenting; please try to be civil.
The Piedmont Driving Club, usually the scene of air-kissing luncheons and elegant charity galas, is dealing with allegations of unsavory drunken antics more in keeping with the comedy “Caddyshack.”
A letter from a club member sent to the club’s president and general manager and first obtained and posted by the Deadspin web site, complains in detail about uncharacteristically rowdy behavior at a recent golfing event.
“One member decided to play the 14th hole completely naked,” the letter said. “I have not researched it, but I suspect this is a crime in Georgia.”
It goes downhill from there, with members reportedly taking al fresco bathroom breaks on the greens, one member exhibiting his “ability to pick up a golf ball with his naked butt cheeks” and a member passing out in the men’s grill. The Animal House antics reportedly disturbed a rehearsal dinner that was taking place in the club’s main dining room at the time.
“When someone from the rehearsal dinner came into the men’s grill to ask that the drunken members quiet down, the response from one of the drunken golfers was (physically impossible expletive),” the letter said.
In a statement, the Piedmont Driving Club acknowledged that something happened but didn’t address the allegations in detail.
“We have taken disciplinary action based on what we currently know to be true,” the statement read. “We take this matter very seriously and are looking into it further. When all of the facts are gathered and verified, we will consider further action.”
The letter does not name the miscreants, although a tipster sent us the identities of three very prominent Atlantans who supposedly took place in the shenanigans. We’re told they have been suspended and fined.
Since we first posted the story we’ve heard from a number of people identifying themselves as members. They were about evenly split on whether this was all fatuous nonsense or a matter that deserved more scrutiny. None of them wanted to be identified.
“I’d like it to go away,” one anonymous member told us. “It tarnishes our name.”
On the other hand the letter writer, a prominent local attorney, requested that the rowdy antics “be well publicized throughout the Club. Among other things, let the wives and children of these drunkards be confronted with, and ashamed by, the grotesque conduct of their husbands and fathers.”
- Jennifer Brett/The Buzz/jbrett@ajc.com
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244 comments Add your comment
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
4:00 pm
Right on, Sugar Daddy! Pink Pony rules…at least it used to when I was a young pup.
Where they screwed up was trashing the other member’s party. And you can’t be showing your Johnson to a female caddy (allegedgly) unless you want to be Gloria Allred’s bitch.
dood
June 1st, 2012
4:04 pm
Looks like Spalding Smails is all grown up. They were probably high already but just didn’t know it.
Robert Clemmons
June 1st, 2012
4:06 pm
Hey, Julius — You still always running your mouth.
Humor, that's all this is worth
June 1st, 2012
4:07 pm
Haven’t seen any names associated with these acts…hope I never do and hope the rumormill doesn’t start making up culprits as this could cause a lifetime of damage much greater than the crime justifies.
Last Word
June 1st, 2012
4:10 pm
Oh, the HIPOCRISY!
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
4:11 pm
@Robert Clemmons
Yassar, I is.
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
4:18 pm
Hey Last Word…who’s being hypocritical?
LOL
June 1st, 2012
4:25 pm
Julius Robinson . . . . You are hilarious
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
4:33 pm
Thanks LOL…just messin’ with my homeboys at da Pee-Dee-Cee.
I seem to recall seeing at a costume stores some Groucho Marx style glasses that had a penis for a nose. I’m thinking that’s perfect for the next 9 O’Clocks.
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
4:42 pm
Hey Big Al!
Props for bringing “Mushroom Stamping” into the mix, now a permanent part of Driving Club lore.
dewdropper
June 1st, 2012
4:57 pm
@rockwell. the four digit thing is at cherokee, too. also, they have a rule that once you turn 25 or so, you cannot use the club except as a guest of your family member. missing the days of lazing poolside and having drinks brought to me. also, chit books as a child: the snack bar still lives on in my dreams.
and to the other commenter who complained/bragged about his daughter getting excessive attention at the Cherokee pool, maybe next time you should not let her leave the house in a string bikini.
David
June 1st, 2012
5:10 pm
The names really do not matter. It could have been about half of them. I know about a dozen members and 6 are stone cold pricks. When the only requirement to get in a club is that a realative is a member, you get what you get after a few generations. I am a fan of self-made people who are real and intelligent. The story is mostly true in the letter, worse some say, and no one is surprised. Karma can be tough lil Pee-mont D-bags.
Three Putt
June 1st, 2012
5:22 pm
Conflating the writing of the letter as the bad guy here by PDC members speaks to the problem. It is like saying the DUI cop who arrested you for drunk driving is the bad guy. Markie Mark is right as is David and John, the PDC entitlement mindset has bullied and annoyed people for years. They use social intimidation and back stabbing to get their way. No one cares anymore because no power lies in these 4th generation light weights. They drink one Tom Collins and their real personality comes out. I hope the wedding party got their money back.
Club Rats
June 1st, 2012
5:23 pm
The wedding party was completely reimbursed. It wasnt small change either.
Member1
June 1st, 2012
5:33 pm
You do not need to be related to someone to get into the PDC, David.
Al in Atlanta
June 1st, 2012
5:35 pm
it figures…they all went to Lovett…
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
5:40 pm
@threeputt
The Member had every right to complain to the Board as an equal. That does not mean running your mouth and sharing the letter with non-Members and exposing the entire membership to the public. No laws were broken, and if a civil action arises because sexual harassment, there are courts of law. Every member abides by the rules of the Club and the enforcement of the Board in a private Club matter.
Leave your weak-ass ad hominem “logic” at home, home slice. Attacking the person is grade school debate.
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
5:43 pm
@ Al in Atlanta
That’s right. No self-respecting Westminster Wildcat or Woodward War Eagle would ever allow a buddy to Mushroom Stamp a comrade. That honor is reserved for the hotties.
I bet...
June 1st, 2012
5:47 pm
If I had to guess I would say that some of them went to Westminster and some to Lovett. And I would guess that some went to UNC and others to UVA and at least one to UGA. I bet some of them played college sports and one may have even played professionally. I would also guess that at least two of them are rotten to the core. The others are probably either idiots or just do a terrible job of standing up to their loser friends. Who thinks I’m right?
Mark
June 1st, 2012
5:57 pm
I bet: I had placed my bets on the two Unc, and one Uga. Didn’t think to place that bet on the UVA, nows I knows the 4th winner of a summertime pass at chastain pool for the family.
David
June 1st, 2012
5:58 pm
I bet, none went to Westminster, one to Lovett. Like most there at PDC, their parents had to pull strings to get them into UGA. Dolts likes these usually do not have the wherewithall to get into good schools without the help of their parents.
Interesting
June 1st, 2012
6:01 pm
Which 2 are rotten to the core of the ones mentioned? using your generalities and why
Grew up with this...
June 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
I grew up with people like this in a different southern city and belonged to a similar type of club. This behavior is par for the course. Also these guys are actually still in fraternities – at the age of 30, 40 , 50… they have fraternities AFTER college. No joke.
Mark
June 1st, 2012
6:03 pm
Maybe just maybe it’s the college athlete that’s rotten to the core but just maybe
Interesting
June 1st, 2012
6:09 pm
You may be right but just maybe.
above and beyond
June 1st, 2012
6:12 pm
wow, what a collection of frat boys circling the wagon we have heard from today! I have family and friends that are members of PDC. Amazing Club for sure but NONE of my friends OR family that belong there are defensive or supportive as some of you obvious sycophants are quick to be. I too know at least a few of the guys who did this and I promise you that those misogynists have gotten away with such behavior (and worse) since they were kids. They deserve every bit of humiliation they receive from both the Club and everyone else if not more. It is so absurd that anyone here is continuing the class warfare in comments on AJC online. People from outside Atlanta reading this who think that Real Housewives is actually REAL are emboldened by your comments. There are SO many GOOD people that are members at PDC who constantly have to hear from everyone else how elitist they are when all they want to do is enjoy a nice place to eat, swim, cocktail, etc… that such comments truly aren’t fair to them – of course folks like Julius Robinson, Esq. are the ones that the GOOD members would rather be taken out back and shot.
Oh, and good chance that if this had all been ‘kept quiet’ instead of this letter writer having the balls to challenge the status quo, then the same offenders (2 of them having mysteriously escaped prison before now) would NEVER be shown for the immature and worthless pieces of crap that EVERYONE in Atlanta knows them to be already.
PDC needed some house cleaning and I hope the Board uses this opportunity to do just that.
Mark
June 1st, 2012
6:18 pm
Three putt don’t use names come on now.
Interesting
June 1st, 2012
6:21 pm
Obviously some of you guys know a bunch of the guys that were involved. I figure I know most of them as well. How much of these accusations are valid and was it primarily just one or two of them or was it the bunch of them?
Member1
June 1st, 2012
6:22 pm
David, what is with the hostility towards members of the PDC? Dolts that have their parents pull strings and get them into Universities is a bit harsh, buddy. Sounds like you’re a perturbed, irritated little member of society that didn’t get into this club. The envy on this board is ridiculous.
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
6:22 pm
@three putt
Thatta boy knucklehead! Continue your shallow character assassinations and spray the room with school girl vitriol. What other pearls do you have to assess all of us morons and a–holes?
I just violated my own rule: Only an idiot argues with an idiot.
Member1
June 1st, 2012
6:24 pm
Enter your comments here
Mark
June 1st, 2012
6:27 pm
I would think if these things werent true, Pdc would tell everyone to suck it.
Likely it’s staff reporting this stuff. Can’t imagine it’s some staff conspiracy to make up salacious rumors about thier source of income and why would members make these stories up.
3rd generation pdc having membership suspended Imagine there is substance
Member1
June 1st, 2012
6:28 pm
@David
What’s with the hostility towards the PDC and it’s members? We use our parents and their strings to get into Universities? That sounds a bit harsh, buddy, and quite a generalization. Use a better description anyway than, “dolthead.”
Above and beyond
June 1st, 2012
6:55 pm
Just wanna know why my comments didn’t “make the cut”.
A Drunken, Naked Back Nine at the PDC | Midtown Atlanta
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[...] comment left with the PDC by Patch has not been returned. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, though, reported that the club released a short [...]
The Truth
June 1st, 2012
8:30 pm
just seeing all of this for first time and all of you who are so quick to throw stones are #1) Wrong; and 2) a little bitter towards PDC members because otherwise you wouldn’t spend your entire Friday commenting back and forth. You have no idea what happened, who did what, and most likely you never will.
The fact is, and this is especially for the jackass naming people via naming their schools, that the Board had to act quickly in response to the rehearsal dinner interruption, and there was a judgement made without enough time to gather the facts. As in any public crisis being handled by first timers, mistakes were made. Just Because someone was there doesn’t mean they were guilty of certain offenses, so don’t take everything you hear for the truth.
Furthermore, the attorney who wrote (and disbursed/forwarded to everyone he knew) the memo did so after the judgement had been made, and punishment had already been handed out to the aforementioned, which specifically was geared towards the members playing cards in the men’s grill, which happens to be near the banquet hall. And None of them had Anything to do with the golf course antics which comprised 80% of the letter. And those “antics” we’re greatly exaggerated. Again, some possibly deserved it, others did not. You will never know. So don’t be so quick to judge. Let him who is without sin be the first to throw the stone.
Fact is that the attorney/member had every right to make a complaint. Every club needs members like that to keep things in check. But it should never have been emailed/leaked/made to go over the entire world in 2 hours. It should have been handled face to face, or via hand delivery, so that the club could handle it internally. And none of y’all would have heard anything about it. The fact is that the attorney is either irresponsible, stupid, malicious, or all of the above; and he intended for the letter to go “viral”. There is proof of this. I don’t blame him for what he did, its How he did it.
He caused far more damage to the club than any of the alleged actions (real, exaggerated or flat out false) did themselves.
And don’t judge if you don’t know. And none of you do. You’re acting just like the attorney.
More importantly
JY
June 1st, 2012
8:54 pm
Sheez, who cares? Some guys got stupid drunk. They should apologize and pay up to the wedding party they offended. If the club wants to impose further sanctions that’s their private business. All the whiny vitriol on this board sounds like the kind of shallow stereotyping of class v class, school v school, neighborhood v neighborhood that we should all be rising above. A few dickbags behaved atrociously. That’s it. No need to indict a whole club / population / city. Some of the South’s best offerings are in Atlanta; some of Atlanta’s greatest intellects and cultural contributors are somewhere above middle-income; and some self-made, values-driven citizens are members of the PDC. Let’s not take the easy/stupid way out and start slinging baseless stereotypes around. That’s no better than saying every Southerner is straight out of Hee Haw. A few bad apples in an otherwise fine community.
Old School Girl
June 1st, 2012
9:07 pm
Hi everyone,
I have had one fantastic laugh for an entire day. Atlanta Housewives, or whatever the name is, doesn’t hold a candle to what I have learned today. Wow, golfball butt antics, penis whacking, Lovett, Westminster, Woodward, whew and who knew ALL of THIS was going on. At the end of the day, the blog was for pure entertainment…at the expense of the Piedmont Driving Club. I am certain, that a lot of the well heeled, deep pocketed members have been chasing the blogs on this topic all day. Behind the cover of their computers, they too have been snickering, because everyone let’s face it…it has been entertaining. With so many problems in the world today…let’s all just laugh at this, have a good weekend, and know that PDC will handle its business in a manner appropriate for the organization…thanks for the laughs everyone. Have a wonderful weekend.
South side Steve
June 1st, 2012
9:24 pm
It sounds like to be a member of PDC you have to enjoy playing the skin flute and the elephant walk.
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
9:41 pm
@The Truth
THE TRUTH…
Whoever you are, you got it right in a mature and fair way!
South side Steve
June 1st, 2012
9:55 pm
One requirement of membership for the gentlemen. You must wax your balls.
Was not there
June 1st, 2012
9:59 pm
@ the truth
Ditto to what Julius said. You got it right.
@ Julius
You are hilarious
For those name calling, have the balls to say you have a problem to their face.
Sloppy golf tourney, sloppy handling of event by KW. It’s overblown and hope we can move on and not slander fellow members anymore.
pdcwife
June 1st, 2012
10:07 pm
has anyone talked to ralph?
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