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
alicia
May 31st, 2012
2:01 pm
None of this happened unless there’s photographed evidence. This is kinda exciting. I love watching rich people go cray.
Tony D'Annunzio
May 31st, 2012
2:07 pm
So what?
Morgan
May 31st, 2012
2:11 pm
Get something better to report on.
Herb
May 31st, 2012
3:01 pm
From my years in management at one of Atlanta’s top private clubs, and clubs in Tampa/St Pete, 99% of the time misbehavior which went against club rules, was done not by the members, but by their guests who partied a little too much.Although we were not a country club, but a private dining facility, we did experience a few people relieving themselves in unusual places, closets, silver bowls etc.
carla roqs
May 31st, 2012
3:44 pm
of course, THIS is funny.
Grant Parker
May 31st, 2012
4:42 pm
I am rescinding my application for membership.
David
May 31st, 2012
4:45 pm
This is not surprising, guys at that club are now 4th generation dilettantes who are unaccomplished little sniveling Eddie Haskell’s.
Most are social climbers who are full of themselves.
This has gone on at the member member for years there, and like the Secret Service hooker scandal, it was not the first time. MOreover it is a culture there. People are afraid to talk because the backstabbing social snipping of many of the board types strikes fear in members. The CaddyShack like Spaldings who are out there, by this generation, are living off of the trust funds and good names of their grandfathers. Time to thin the herd PDC. Good luck with that.
KG
May 31st, 2012
5:07 pm
I would not call them “swans,” more like geese.
David is dead on, I know them well and they are just as the member / member tourney indicated. Exposing themselves to women who are forced to work there, and telling a wedding party to go F*#&# themself when they were asked politely to tone it down is par for the course at Pee-mont Driving Club.
Yeti
May 31st, 2012
5:16 pm
This could get REAL bad for the members if the female caddie who the gentlemen exposed themselves to decides she wants to sue for sexual harassment in the workplace. I am sure there are lawyers licking their chops to get some PDC money. It would be interesting to see these gentlemen named in a lawsuit. Talk about a night of drinking ruining you life!
brk
May 31st, 2012
5:52 pm
just shows you money does not buy class
KG
May 31st, 2012
6:12 pm
Yeti, from what I have seen in the locker room there @ PDC, it would be thrown out of court for insufficient evidence. LOL
Walter Bricker
May 31st, 2012
6:18 pm
Have been there for lunch. What a stuffy place. I love the lewd acts and peeing in the bushes. Hope the female gets a huge chunk of money. Would love for a local tv station to get in on the act.
Judge smalls
May 31st, 2012
6:25 pm
“but daddy I told them not to do it…” what a bunch of spoiled losers. Always saying how us blacks are aniimals but this how they act when they go hang out with the people they have to pay to be their friends.
alex
May 31st, 2012
6:31 pm
looks like the club has made great stides in ethnic diversity.Sounds like a bunch of apaches with a lot of firewater
NeverNude
May 31st, 2012
6:43 pm
“Don’t sell yourself short Judge, you are a tremendous slouch”
Dix
May 31st, 2012
6:47 pm
Big whoop. A bunch of adults got sh*tfaced and acted like stupid teenagers. Rude? Sure. Dumb? Definitely. Beyond that… what’s the news? Drunk stupidness happens every weekend all over Atlanta, from the sidewalks of midtown to the valet lines of buckhead and the backyard BBQs in the ‘burbs (unfortunately). And in every other city and town. Why try to turn it into something salacious just because it happened to be a handful of “prominent” folks who were the morons in this case. Nothing wrong with belonging to an independent golf club — and there’s no sense in throwing mud on a bunch of Atlantans who had nothing to do with this idiocy and are just as grossed out as anyone. There was a whole crowd of nice people there having a rehearsal dinner, and they were all just as horrified as anyone about what these 3 guys were doing. Let’s be smarter than to tolerate and perpetuate stereotypes, jeez.
debdoes
May 31st, 2012
6:48 pm
name the pompous naked drunken asses….come on!!!
crackbaby
May 31st, 2012
7:00 pm
This story ain’t even the tip of the, uhmmm, iceberg at PDC.
Sammy Davis, Jr
May 31st, 2012
7:02 pm
The Brothers and I were out of town at the time of the alleged orgy. We are all innocent.
Penny
May 31st, 2012
7:27 pm
Dix – If you don’t stand for something….you’ll fall for anything. Yes, classless behavior happens everyday. Recently at a well heeled soirees a gentleman (I use the word loosely) left a $100.00 bill on his excrement in one of the bathrooms. The bathroom attendant called me in an asked, “what he should do?”, I told him what I would do so…..WE FLUSHED the toilet. I’m sure the pompous little pea brain thought we would fish it out……Really!
Frank
May 31st, 2012
7:33 pm
Um, who cares?
Constance
May 31st, 2012
7:39 pm
The story seems tame–the really salacious details have been left out. The female caddy has retained counsel. This just wasn’t a group of late 30s to early 40s over grown frat boys—much of the behavior rose to the level of criminality. No one stepped in to call a stop to their behavior which went on for many hours. I don’t suppose any taxis were called when the group decided to call it a night. Country clubs are often the scene of bad behavior but this would have resulted in expulsion from most clubs.
Al Cervik
May 31st, 2012
7:49 pm
What, you buy a hat like that I bet you get a bowl of soup,,,,it looks good on you though.
Tye Web
May 31st, 2012
7:51 pm
A flute with no holes is not a flute, and a donut with no hole is a Danish .
Bone
May 31st, 2012
8:00 pm
“I’m alright! Nobody worrying ’bout me! Why you got to gimme a fight? Can’t you just let it be!”
Tiffany
May 31st, 2012
8:07 pm
Bravo Tv–check it out for a series ” Gentlemen of Atlanta–LOL.
Mark Olson
May 31st, 2012
8:41 pm
All above and worse has been confirmed by two members. They were “suspended” but not expelled. Guess the money factor was too great to effectively punish these monied members.
Rick Robertson
May 31st, 2012
8:46 pm
Gee Whiz , can’t a bunch of guys have a little fun. I wonder what happened on those perfectly manicured greens after dark…
Radio GaGa
May 31st, 2012
8:46 pm
Great story! Maybe the best story this month! I hope you can confirm those names and run them online and in print.
Al in Atlanta
May 31st, 2012
8:50 pm
this is nothing…there has been wife swapping and sexual antics on the club premises for years…especially during the 9 o’clocks New Year’s Eve parties where oral sex behind the ballroom curtains is legendary!!!
Jaijohnny
May 31st, 2012
8:51 pm
Serious comment here…
Reading that perpetrators are getting 90 day suspensions plus $1000 fines. Are you kidding me? I am a former member of this club (and belong to a similar club somewhere else, don’t live in Atlanta anymore…) and cannot believe that they think that this will blow over. It won’t. This is an embarassment to the members that will never go away. If they do not take stronger measures, they will suffer for ages.
P.S., This is the same club that Griffin Bell (appointed Attorney General)had to resign from in 1976, because of Jimmy Carter’s election (and the club’s lack of African-American members), and it took at least a generation for the world to forget. We’ve gone a long way…
Bama Bill
May 31st, 2012
8:53 pm
Wild and crazy boys will be boys, but at the Piedmont Club ? Wow
Yankee
May 31st, 2012
8:53 pm
Sebonack = new-money powerful
Round Hill = old-money powerful
PDC = ineffectual Bubbas who aren’t fit to rent north of the Mason-Dixon
NMS
May 31st, 2012
8:57 pm
Yet we all laughed at Caddyshack. This is real! Get it on TV already.
I know it all all
May 31st, 2012
8:57 pm
There was even a incident where a member was hitting another member in his head with his penis while the member was reading his putt. The caddies at PDF have all the info that went on they saw it all. Wonder if the male caddies that were offended can file charges
Carl Spackler
May 31st, 2012
9:01 pm
I’ve spent my share of time over at the PDC and for the most part it is a good group of guys. But, there are a few turkeys as members that cannot hold their liquor. Surprise surprise. Membership is not contingent on a morality exam, but rather letters of recommendation, money and whatnot. We really shouldn’t be shocked that this occurred, but these guys should be thrown out of the club (IMO) if the club wants to mend their image.
another comment
May 31st, 2012
9:10 pm
This is limited to this club. The one on Paces Ferry near the Governor’s mansion has the same issues. My daughter has told me of going as a guest of some members to some of the family pool event. Some of the perverts could not keep their eyes off of the 12 and 13 year old girls. What she would come home and tell me was creepy.
Then in High School, you start hearing about all of their kids getting caught in the finer schools using drugs. Even if they aren’t caught they are using them, because they have to self-medicate themselves to deal with their parents. For years I have heard about the prominent Lawyer’s wife who can’t go pick up her children after 7:30 P.M., because as the kid will tell you her mother will have drank too much wine by then. Of course, the father doesn’t come home because he is messing around. When the older brother got caught with drugs in the Public School after already being booted from the Private school. The father says that the perscription drugs that the kid was caught with in the car on school property was his. Because with a drug conviction, you aren’t eligible for the Hope or any Financial Aid. Like all Self-Employed Country Club member’s the Company was paying for the Club, and of course they will show no income so they can get financial aid for college. Big Pretenders. I could long ago tell that it was the wife’s mother who was the old Atlanta money in this family. She probably even bought the house they are living in. You see that alot with this Generation of trust fund babies in Atlanta. One person at the Private School told me that an awful lot of the Private school tuiton is paid by the Grandparents as Gifts. $13,000 Gift limit x two sets. That is what I was told when I asked how they can afford it. I knew alot of these people did not have jobs or the brains to pay for Private School and have a Stay at Home wife.
Mitch Cumstein
May 31st, 2012
9:11 pm
I was night putting with the dean’s daughter!
Dr. Beeper
May 31st, 2012
9:24 pm
Who knew Bushwood was located in Atlanta?
“Spalding get your foot off the boat”
NeverNude
May 31st, 2012
9:35 pm
” I’ve sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. I didn’t want to do it- I felt I owed it to them”
UF Girl
May 31st, 2012
9:37 pm
Juluis Ricardo-
Why were they locked up?
White people go cray-zee
May 31st, 2012
9:53 pm
Wow. Mark in ATL. You are going to regret that call out. What a classy guy.
The Aristocrats
May 31st, 2012
9:53 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw10xa_xtNg
Member
May 31st, 2012
10:01 pm
Probably shouldn’t be throwing names around unless you’re 100%
aon
May 31st, 2012
10:02 pm
OMG, the Great Wall of Decorum has been breached! What fun to watch entitled snobs let lose and have a little fun. Can’t wait for the cell phone pictures and videos to make it online.
aon
May 31st, 2012
10:03 pm
@white people, no kidding. I was thinking the same thing.
SeaJay
May 31st, 2012
10:09 pm
Rumor has it the guilty parties will get just 3 months suspension, a $1,000 fine, and will have to reimburse the Club for the rehearsal dinner. If these clowns aren’t expelled totally with no ability to ever re-apply for membership, it will show us all how unprestigious this Club and it’s Board really are. I have heard of other wild events among the younger male members of this Club from a reliable source. Seems that with the current economy, the Club has had to resort to some unusual ways to excite new young males to join. If the Board doesn’t accept the very well presented recommendations in the letter, it will permanently tarnish the reputation of this fine Club.
rockwell
May 31st, 2012
10:23 pm
@another comment. What a classic post and dead on. I am sure every member has lawyered up and will soon enough buy their way out of this one.
Pathetic example of what over indulgence produces.
Club Member
May 31st, 2012
10:24 pm
NOT Expelling these idiots is the fastest way to ensure nobody will pay the $70K needed to join. Great club you’ve got there…stick to your guns.
ljenkins6250
May 31st, 2012
10:25 pm
Oh my!!! An attorney that thinks acting foolish is a crime. Get a life loser, ONLY the rich, pompous, arrogant, mommy and daddy coat tail riders are members of the PDC. The members of this club are riding off their folks hard earned money.
Club Member
May 31st, 2012
10:26 pm
So….I know it all……..these people you mentioned…..are you saying those people were the culprits?
rockwell
May 31st, 2012
10:26 pm
$70K? Ha….try double that.
I know it all all
May 31st, 2012
10:28 pm
I’m a member and I’m emberrased
Club Member
May 31st, 2012
10:31 pm
Sam is one of the ringleaders for this behavior?
Club Member too
May 31st, 2012
10:38 pm
I am a member too. I have never posted to one of these before and am only starting now to say that I know it all’s facts are incorrect. His information is not accurate. Please don’t post names unless you are 100% sure.
Club Member
May 31st, 2012
10:40 pm
I don’t belive him. Thanks Club Member too.
White people go cray-zee
May 31st, 2012
10:41 pm
@Know it all all
Try being embarrassed for your spelling and your slander – you suck
Club Member too
May 31st, 2012
10:46 pm
You’re welcome. I am embarrassed too and hope this will end soon. I find the behavior reprehensible, if it happened, but I fail to understand the desire on sites like this for people to find out names, punishments, etc.. Let the club handle it, as they have already and are continuing to do.
UF girl
May 31st, 2012
10:47 pm
Isn’t Elton John a member there?
Atlanta Mom
May 31st, 2012
10:47 pm
If you want to read the letter, here it is:
http://deadspin.com/5914356/member-of-prestigious-golf-club-scolds-others-for-urinating-on-the-greens-picking-up-a-golf-ball-with-naked-butt-cheeks-and-much-more
UF girl
May 31st, 2012
10:51 pm
Oh my! After reading that I wonder if Elton is a member.
under par
June 1st, 2012
6:22 am
The large boot is coming or the officers will be out. The behavior is egregious and warrants termination of membership. Rumor says 2 of the wives are the member and not the husbands.
Ronzul
June 1st, 2012
6:57 am
Finest club in Atlanta. A few members acting like fools doesn’t tarnish the reputation of this elite private club. Funny the peanut gallery who could never afford to join or be invited for that matter are piling on while they can. This too shall pass and you’ll still be a member of Canongate when the sun comes up in the morning. Get a life people.
dcb
June 1st, 2012
7:13 am
Hey AJC – give this a break. If this had (as it does) happen at an Elk’s Club, American Legion, or other private membership group event that isn’t known for having the so-called financial elite as members, it would never be mentioned. And for those commenting above, it you don’t like the antics, either don’t join or if the Club doesn’t take disciplinary action and you are a member, resign. I applaud the letter writer for officially reporting the activity to the Club management.
Truth about It
June 1st, 2012
7:33 am
thanks for the link to the actual letter – that is some crazy stuff
jimbob
June 1st, 2012
7:44 am
I was at the PDC pool a few years ago and threw my Baby Ruth in there. Holy cow you should have seen the mayhem!
Mike in Marietta
June 1st, 2012
7:48 am
Nice… I was in Pensacola Beach for the gay gathering over Memorial Day weekend and didn’t see antics like that!
John Walter Wayland
June 1st, 2012
7:49 am
Sounds like a Doc Banks Weekend too me….
TechRon
June 1st, 2012
7:53 am
I belong to a different club and assure you that such behavior would ordinarily result in a fine and suspension at the minimum. Possibly expulsion. I recall a case where a drunken member chased a waitress with a $100 bill asking for sexual favors. He was a very long time member, so they did not expell him but suspended him for a year. Meanwhile he had to continue to pay dues. I thought that was appropriate.
Someone said above that misbehavior is often by guests. I have not seen that. Members who bring guests are directly responsible for guests behavior anyway. Everyone knows that.
Tom
June 1st, 2012
8:04 am
Another Comment, I am a member of Cherokee and nothing of the sort happens there. PDC is a bunch of entitled twits, a very ordinary golf course out near the airport with planes flying very low above it and a club that has long been on the decline. You cannot keep inter-marrying and depleting the gene pool. Soon the next generation will be playing the banjo on the porch out there.
It is probably in the top 10 clubs in town now, but lots better and genuine people at the other 9.
Sam Watson
June 1st, 2012
8:16 am
The letter writer is the one who should be fined; no letter, no publicity, no AJC story. The letter has damaged the PDC far more than the behavior. It would have been just another gossip story with limited coverage.
Also, Ronzul & Tom – What is a “fine” or”top” club? Does it really matter if you are even in a club? Does it make you a twit if you think one club is better than another? Who cares?
Herschworld
June 1st, 2012
8:21 am
Now I know why Tigers eat their young
Humperdink Dillytwaddle
June 1st, 2012
8:28 am
I’m a club member in good standing and I must say the the scatophilia at our fine club is simply out of control. It’s mostly the new money that engages in this unseemly behavior.
tom
June 1st, 2012
8:30 am
Guess the elite are not so and other members want to keep it under wraps. Post their pictures on the front page of the AJC.
John
June 1st, 2012
8:36 am
Blame the bartender! Sweep everything else under the rug, and move on!
Constance
June 1st, 2012
8:40 am
No one at Piedmont is going to resign over the lack of disciplinary action taken by the Board. No one wants to talk about it and the wagons are being drawn in a circle. People at other clubs are mainly doing the talking because some of the perpetrators belong to these other clubs and they can’t imagine it happening there. Throw in the 19 yr old female caddy who’s hired a lawyer and the story has staying power.
yelling they were subjected to
Brogen's Hero
June 1st, 2012
8:45 am
I’m amazed at the level of interest in the PDC Member-Member by non country club members. There will be more tournaments this year and someone else get drunk and do something stupid and no one will care. I could not agree more with Ronzul.
Horrific news hints at rise in demonic activity | News To Me with George Mathis
June 1st, 2012
8:45 am
[...] Since then, other disturbing events have occurred, including a Maryland student eating his roommate’s heart and brain, a New Jersey man throwing his intestines at police and, here in Atlanta, a potential uptick in rich folks getting drunk and golfing naked. [...]
snowstorm
June 1st, 2012
8:46 am
I know some people, who know some people who sell these idiots more coke than you could find on ponce on a friday night.
Not So Casual Observer
June 1st, 2012
8:47 am
Sam @ 8:16,
A “fine” or “top club” would be a club with the facillities to attract those who wish to experience an outstanding, well-manicured golf course, tennis, athletics, excuisite dining and social activities with like-minded people.
Unfortunately, just as on the political blogs, there will always be those who make nasty comments about the entire group as a result of the actions of a few. The letter seems to indicate all of this was within one group of members, or member’s spouses, and the club has taken disciplinary steps within the By Laws against the miscreants. Why does anyone other than PDC care?
Is the newspaper report, and the subsequent comments, just another attempt by Liberal media to promote class envy and divide the haves and have-nots?
markie mark
June 1st, 2012
8:48 am
I grew up on St Simons, and was one of the bartenders at Murphys Tavern from 1977 – 1980, when it was the only establishment on the island with entertainment. I saw almost everybody who lived on St Simons or Sea Island in those years. This, at that time, was the playground for the social elite of Atlanta, and the impression I was left with is this:
The “founding father” of the first generation, who made the family wealth, was usually a gentlemen with grace and impeccable manners. He had worked hard for his wealth and didnt flaunt it.
The son, or second generation, was a little bit more condescending and made sure that you were aware of who he and is family was and their importance in the scheme of things.
The grandchildren tended to be spoiled, out of control, arrogant jerks. Respectful of very little, and totally concerned with their own pleasure, rarely caring of that came at the expense of others….
From what I have read on this blog, after 30 years that impression appears to still hold true…
Tom
June 1st, 2012
8:49 am
Sam, it is that attitude of “shoot the messenger” that has gotten PDC exposed for what it is. It is a well written and witty letter that sought change. The writer was betrayed by a member who made it public, he did not. That pretty much sums up the treachterous social culture at that club and why they are so disliked. Telling a wedding party in the next room at a rehearsal dinner to go “F*#*# themselves says it all.
Atlantan
June 1st, 2012
8:55 am
@MarkieMark you just described Paris Hilton (3rd generation wealth)…. your observations seem accurate based on my experience.
Carl the Groundskeeper
June 1st, 2012
8:55 am
It’s a private club. Let them handle their business internally. Alot of class envy and hate in these comments directed at those who have money.
Not So Casual Observer
June 1st, 2012
8:55 am
Sam @ 8:16,
P.S. there are not ten top clubs in Atlanta, perhaps five if you include East Lake which is more a corporate club.
John
June 1st, 2012
9:00 am
MarkieMark is spot on, that is the cycle of life. Self-made people do not act like the PDC members. And Carl, this is not class envy, because they do not have class. This is more about how member have treated others in town over the years and it is payback. PDC has certain tax exemptions on their property that keeps their property taxes low. That is why we taxpayers should care.
Boner
June 1st, 2012
9:04 am
@ Not So Casual Observer
I was wondering when someone would unnecessarily inject politics into this story. And what is “excuisite dining”?
Goldie
June 1st, 2012
9:06 am
It’s funny because Atlanta is poor. Your cute “playground for the elite” as trashy as they come.
ReeseinDade
June 1st, 2012
9:06 am
Sounds like writing material for yet another dulled out reality TV series. Drunks in Atlanta.
Baltisraul
June 1st, 2012
9:07 am
Alicia……..why would you need photos to prove them guilty? You don’t need photos in a courtroom to prove someone guilty. Eye witness accounts of this behavior is enough to apply santions on these folks. You must be a defense attry?
Biff Wellington
June 1st, 2012
9:09 am
OIts obvious that people need to go back to their shantys!
Al Czervik jr.
June 1st, 2012
9:19 am
Hey everybody, we’re all gonna get laid!
susan moore
June 1st, 2012
9:21 am
Don’t blame the AJC for reporting news that is making the PDC the laughing stock on every trading desk across the country. Your bozo members have earned the disgrace and publicity you now enjoy.
ATL Live
June 1st, 2012
9:24 am
Goldie – Metro Atlanta has the 7th highest median income of any metro area in the nation. When combined with cost of living of only 95 makes Atlanta a city with quite a bit of expendable income.
Thinker
June 1st, 2012
9:26 am
To those who want to indite the letter writer you should consider this. He wrote the letter to the board. He did not distribute it. And more important he was not one of the degenerates. Your thought process is the same as blaming a rape on the woman since she was provocatively dressed.
To those who feel this is unimportant and shouldn’t have been reported on. You do not understand the ‘news’ business. And this was news. I imagine you’d prefer the AJC clear all stories with you first. Sadly we’d have not even heard the earth was round if you had been an editor.
I feel bad for the women members whose husbands perpetrated this act. I equally feel sorry for the many great members of PDC who have to confront the actions of a sordid few. I feel horrified for those who were attending a ‘dress rehearsal’. There is no way to return the joy they anticipated and the horror they received.
Finally, excusing these men since they were intoxicated doesn’t hold in the world of 2012. Yes 100 years ago it may have though there wouldn’t have been any women at the club and the caddies would have been slaves. Times have changed and when it comes to humanity and the concern for kindness and consideration for all the change has been for the better. Unfortunately some remain behind reminiscing on their Neanderthal heritage.
nelson
June 1st, 2012
9:34 am
It always fascinates me what those of Power, Privilige and Justice will do. Dominick Dunne would have a field day with a crime being committed by one of the members of this exclusive club. Dominick understood, greed, avarice and wealth among the upper classes. Thomas Wolfe wrote a book “A Man in Full” which had a lot centered on the Piedmont Driving Club. Got to give them credit[the members] they are just as “nuts” as the lower classes, they just think that it is private and they find that there is no privacy when it comes to abreant behavior. All it takes is money.
Lacey Underall
June 1st, 2012
9:37 am
This story made me LOL!!!! Sounds like they totally had a blast, I wanna go to the next shindig!!!
Lacey
George
June 1st, 2012
9:38 am
Tom you are incorrect that a member betrayed the trust of the letter writer. Fact is he sent the email to several of his friends. Can’t blame them for forwarding as the letter was quite comical to say the least. If he had wanted to indeed keep the letter confidential one person and one person only should have received the letter. That being the president. As for all you people trying to make this into a class issue give it a damn rest. There is bad behavior everywhere. What really bothers me is the inept ability of the board to mske the right decision and expell these guys. After all if you don’t get expelled for such behavior than what the hell do you have to do to get expelled. Not only that but their families are allowed to use the club during the suspensions so in my mind it is not even a true suspension. Having up tell a young child they couldn’t go to pool this summer bc daddy acted like an idiot would at least put done shame and guilt into him.
Jack Wagon
June 1st, 2012
9:42 am
As a purveyor of drunken stupidity myself, I feel for the victims and the offenders.
Lawyer
June 1st, 2012
9:50 am
I wonder if anyone from the legal field has contacted the female caddie?
juluis ricardo
June 1st, 2012
9:58 am
100%:To Member, Club Member & AF Girl your are correct and I am absolutely 100% correct because I was brought in to work and bartend the party.Part timer while attending GTech. The entitled bitch went off on a jealous rage related to her old boyfriend bringing his new girlfriend to the party. Insulting remarks and certain slanderous expletives such as whore and pencil di_k were heard throughout the rage. It all started at the main bar where I was working as she treated the help as if they were her servants. I heard later that she decided to give a Atlanta Policeman a similar tongue lashing and her date got in a fight with the cops. One thing led to another and it all ended poorly with the two of them down on Decatur Street.
Singing Jail House Rock
I would imagine it is public record but that may have disappeared with mommies $$$$$
Nothing more than a entitled, lewd & vulgar woman
OakhurstDawg
June 1st, 2012
9:58 am
Spalding!
I love this stuff. Stay on it Jennifer. I’m betting you can put together a 1:1 lineup of Caddyshack characters to PDC members and staff, including Lacey, Ty, Carl and Al…they’re all here in the ATL!
UVALaw
June 1st, 2012
10:01 am
Ronzul, I bet you have a lot of friends with that attitude. You sound like a great guy.
Yeti
June 1st, 2012
10:01 am
How funny is it that the members think that the”ordinary” people look up to them, because they waste their money on a snobby golf club. Get a clue. We all look at you like a hilarious train wreck just like a “Real Houswives” episode. Anyone who admires someone because they belong to a certain golf club is a loser. Who would want to waste their money to hang out with a bunch of people who are that out of touch with reality. You could give me a free membership, and I still wouldn’t waste my time at your club.
RedNeck
June 1st, 2012
10:07 am
Been drunk many a day out golfing, but none of us ever peed on the greens…and I don’t even want to know where the Junior Leaguers hubby learned how to oick up a golfball with his butt cheeks…sounds like he’s been hanging out in MidTown!
Goldie
June 1st, 2012
10:08 am
@ATL Live – Better double check your data. Atlanta isn’t even in the top 20.
Realist
June 1st, 2012
10:22 am
Ronzul-”Finest club in Atlanta. A few members acting like fools doesn’t tarnish the reputation of this elite private club. Funny the peanut gallery who could never afford to join or be invited for that matter are piling on while they can. This too shall pass and you’ll still be a member of Canongate when the sun comes up in the morning. Get a life people.” You do realize you are a HUGE loser, right Ronzul. It would be shame if you were to go through life not knowing that.
A.B. Normal
June 1st, 2012
10:31 am
Being that I am from “the other side of the tracks” and have never (and probably will never) set foot in this hoity-toity heaven, I think it’s hilarious!! Next thing ya know they’ll have an impromptu wet t-shirt contest on the practice green! Bring it!
A Simple Kind of Truth
June 1st, 2012
10:31 am
Sounds like a great club to me. Have some fun and live it up. Except for the part of picking up a ball with your buttocks. That’s over the line. Tiger Woods wounldn’t even do that on ambien.
Golfer 2
June 1st, 2012
10:33 am
Maybe drunk and stupid IS the way to go through life after all.
J Daly
June 1st, 2012
10:47 am
where exactly is this place?
Sounds Right
June 1st, 2012
10:53 am
My sister married a PDC member and this story tracks with what I saw at all the parties I attended prior to the wedding. We were members of a different ATL club growing up, so I am familiar with the club environment. Her husband is a drunk idiot who shamelessly lives off of his parents who lived off of their parents. The rehearsal dinner was a parade of drunk idiots who gave seemingly endless and vacuous toasts about their inheritances and money. It is obviously not indicative of the whole PDC, but this particular group of members was as low class a gathering as I have ever had the displeasure to endure. The saddest part is that these people had no idea how pathetic their behavior was and are convinced the rest of the world wants to be them.
Serendipity
June 1st, 2012
10:54 am
Just goes to show that, rich or poor, we are all human. Drink too much and some of us make complete arseholes out of ourselves. It’s funny, but sad as well.
A Palmer
June 1st, 2012
11:03 am
Wizzing on the Green – Bogey, Showing the Caddie your junk – Double Bogey, Picking up ball by buttcheeks – automatic DQ
I was there
June 1st, 2012
11:05 am
Wildly exaggerated and unsubstantiated rumors. There was certainly some behavior that was unacceptable and it has been dealt with, but most of this is eitherl patently false or ridiculously exaggerated
RC
June 1st, 2012
11:10 am
Why do people care? Because the details are crazy! Showing off how you can pick up a golf ball with your butt?!?
It’s this sort of behavior that characterized Rome during its decline. People like Ronzul are weak-minded and entitled. Guess what? The world owes you nothing. Gone are the days when average citizens could view the gentry with admiration and respect. These bums contribute nothing to our society and are a disgrace to our culture.
Instead of sweeping these incidents under the rug, the only way to cause change is to call it out when you see it. Name and shame the scum.
sal
June 1st, 2012
11:11 am
Down with the 1%. Those buffoons have destroyed this country.
Member
June 1st, 2012
11:15 am
The wives and children of these PDC members should be embarrassed. What kind of example are they setting for their children. They need to take a reality check and realize what they are doing to their families. This is something that they will not forget. What a shame! Grow up!!!
Maddernheck
June 1st, 2012
11:20 am
Once again, the rich and privileged think they are above all rules and laws. They are disgusting.
dre
June 1st, 2012
11:21 am
Oh my, the AJC was too nervous to publish the name of the atty who wrote the letter (John “Kit” Weitnauer) and what law firm (Alston& Bird) he is with?
John
June 1st, 2012
11:22 am
At their core, these PDC guys know they have accomplished little and find refuge in member/member types events where they are around others just as worthless as themselves. That way the mirror of reality is not put on them.
Ronzul your snarky comment about Cannogate is telling. I play that course on occasion and there are good hard-working kind natured people who respect the game of golf there. We all respect those types exponentially more than you and your fellow PDC “members.” Who cares who your grandfather was, or what homely woman you married to get in the Driving Club. At the end of the day, respect is earned by one’s deeds.
Rh in Dunwoody
June 1st, 2012
11:32 am
Hussein Obama just needs to make them pay their fair share, that’ll teach em’!
parrotheadtink
June 1st, 2012
11:34 am
Inbreds. NASCAR. Chicken and waffles, grits and Mountain Dew in baby bottles. Deep south attitudes. Drunk driving is funny. Peeing in public spaces hilarious. Eat too much, drink too much, get naked and do dumb things with aplomb (look it up, rednecks.) Yikes. And most of these people are probably republicans……..
Jillian_writes
June 1st, 2012
11:37 am
This is only news within the membership of that private club. And it is that membership who will and can deal with it as they choose. End of story.
rivercard
June 1st, 2012
11:38 am
Drunken nakedness and mayhem I can understand, but hitting to the green while others are putting.
Completely unforgivable.
pat
June 1st, 2012
11:39 am
HAH, go to a dispenza family party and you will cringe even more!!! …eh Jackie???
DRose
June 1st, 2012
11:43 am
I think this is just much to do about nothing. So a few bad apples acted inappropriately, I don’t think the entire club should be judged by them. For every idiot there I bet there are 100 good and descent people. If I were a paying club member, I wouldn’t want my family exposed to such either, and the offending members should either be suspended or expelled from the club.
Tom
June 1st, 2012
11:43 am
Well at least some people involved will buy the AJC for the first time since they stopped carrying Lewis Grizzard’s column.
John
June 1st, 2012
11:52 am
Yes, the AJC is so mad about this they are going to have their editorial staff do a 5 page piece —trying to tie it to Romney.
Ted Kennedy
June 1st, 2012
12:09 pm
And I thought all of the fun Kennedys were dead.
Typical southerners – 20 years behind the times.
PDC Member
June 1st, 2012
12:12 pm
I played in the tournament, never saw one bit of nudity and only some mildly inappropriate behavior.Half of the allegations are not true, and the other half happened “after hours”.(not while the actual golf tournament was going on). Plenty of people over served but that is only the club’s business and definitely not a bunch of fools who have nothing better to do than to comment on something they know nothing about.
rivercard
June 1st, 2012
12:13 pm
“Yes, the AJC is so mad about this they are going to have their editorial staff do a 5 page piece —trying to tie it to Romney.”
*************************************************************************************************************
John – You may be on to something. I suspect that magic underwear is very itchy.
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
12:21 pm
Dear Lacey Underall at 9:37 am,
I’m a PDC member, and I want to party with you! Consider the invitation extended to join me on the golf course or for a drink in the Tack Room. What the heck…I need to meet my minimum.
Of course, why these guys would get naked with a bunch of guys is a mystery. Sounds like some sort of Rock Hudson Roman-Greco frolic to me. Bound to be Dartmouth grads. If you’re going to golf naked, the Cheetah golf outing is much more fitting. (Insert one liners here).
No doubt incredibly rude to trash the other member’s rehearsal dinner. Don’t you goobers get it? Hello…bridesmaids, all liquored-up looking to get lucky and sloppy! Or maybe you were more interested in the groomsmen? Maybe a MILF? The possibilities are endless…why be so obnoxious to a pool full of fish?
In any case, Lacey, stop by the Club anytime. Just tell them you’re with John Cocktosin…and charge it to the Underhills.
Difference Between CLASS v. CRASS
June 1st, 2012
12:25 pm
The PDC has fostered this obscene behavior forever. The conduct will not improve as long as it is condoned by management and continues to be shrouded in secrecy.
It is curious that the PDC shames members whose dues are late by posting their names, but strongly guards the `reputation` of habitually bawdy member by condoning and concealing their names and details of their obtuse antics.
Expose the crass barbarians! At the very least, these rubes are exposing the PDC to a host of lawsuits. No doubt that someone will eventually upload the videos of their vulgar behavior and post their names in this age of micro-mini cameras and mobile phone cameras.
Only a psychopath would delight in marring a family’s wedding reception. Those creeps should be medically examined for their psychopathic and sociopath behavior. Prosecute them, fine them to the hilt, bill them for the entire cost of wedding receptions and other events they ruined. If they haven’t already resigned from the club , then hold a membership vote on whether to expel the SOBs.
Undoubtedly, their firms, business partners, and boards of directors are considering reputation damage-control and re-examining the value, if any, of having an out of control sociopath representing their firm and clients on any level.
I have witnessed decades of outrageous behavior ignored by the club management and staff. It is imperative for the Piedmont Driving Club to assure the members and guests that the dreadful era of allowing crude and drunken behavior of others to disrupt our social affairs at the club is finally over.
Benito
June 1st, 2012
12:28 pm
@PDC Member: That’s the spirit play it down. And certainly it isn’t that bad is it? Do this for me re-read the entire piece and substitute every instance of PDC with Cherokee, Capital City Club or other similar establishment. And then tell me if you as a member of PDC wouldn’t judge the reputation of another club. You could tell me that you wouldn’t judge them, but I wouldn’t believe you.
The fact is that this is not a the Pink Pony or some venue for adult entertainment, it is a country club where people take their family and children. Personally, I believe this stuff because who in the world would make it up?
While I disagree with you, the real problem is not you, it’s your friends like Ronzul and his terrible attitude. Sadly, he is not alone is his classless method of flaunting his money and assumed stature within the community. I’m delighted for him that he has money, but guess what, you can’t take it with you when you pass on. Actually, with that kind of attitude, people like him will find a way to ruin their own lives. I’ll wish him luck, but I have serious doubts as to how successful he’ll be in avoiding his inevitable downfall.
roger davenport
June 1st, 2012
12:29 pm
This is so unfortunate and sad
Hillbilly D
June 1st, 2012
12:31 pm
Whatever people do at some hoity toity club doesn’t really matter. One thing to keep in mind though is that people at clubs like these are usually the “best and brightest” and the folks making the inside decisions in their community that affect us all. No wonder things are in such a mess.
tom antioch
June 1st, 2012
12:35 pm
How is the golf course holding up?
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
12:36 pm
Word around the camp fire is that these guys may get death penalty–EXPULSION.
Clark
June 1st, 2012
12:47 pm
Surprised?! If I woke up tomorrow morning with my head sewed to the carpet, I wouldn’t be any more surprised than I am right now. (Eyes roll).
Last Word
June 1st, 2012
12:47 pm
Where’s the OUTRAGE?!!!
Clearly, these fine, upstanding pillars of Atlanta society were OVERSERVED!
Where are the bartenders and beer cart girls responsible?
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!
jd rascal
June 1st, 2012
12:53 pm
was anyone harmed?
Joe
June 1st, 2012
12:54 pm
I heard it’s all true and they left out he good stuff…when a guy passed out another dude Danza slapped him with his junk (to let him know he was the boss).
Seriously true.
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
12:57 pm
Clark,
I thought you were in the Navy!
Right on Last Word!
It’s those club-sized pours of 4 ounces a click that are to blame. Poor boys were taken advantage of by heavy handed bar tenders.
Fellow members, say good bye to those Roadie Cups!
Mark
June 1st, 2012
1:05 pm
Enter your comments here
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
1:06 pm
Slapped him with his junk?
Wow…remake the scene from Caddy Shack where they bet if Spaulding picks his nose and eats it.
(Scene)
“$5 says the big guy slaps the one that’s passed out in his face with his D–%*#$!”
“You’re on!”
“$10 says he swallows!”
Whole new meanings to Member-Member and the “imbedded ball” rule.
Mark
June 1st, 2012
1:16 pm
Someone said the bad behavior was new money. That was obviously someone joking, or a member saying something to take a jab at outsiders.
Anyone who’s a member knows three of the suspended members are legacy Pdc, old Atlanta. The names aren’t a secret stuff gets out. I have friends in Charlotte texting me “hey heard so and so got membership suspended” names are consistent with Atlanta rumors.
Who cares really. If this didn’t go viral, most members I know would just chuckle an say “well that’s just our member/member” cost of doin business for the atl. Social elite.
Mark
June 1st, 2012
1:21 pm
Pdc member your an idiot. If you are a member, congratulation on your accomplishment.
How do you know all that stuff didn’t happen? You on every hole? I guess someone’s just out to get your little club, huh?
Mark
June 1st, 2012
1:23 pm
Drose, you must not know many Pdc members.
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
1:26 pm
Memo to All Private Club Managers
Scheduling a private function like a rehearsal dinner in the same building on the same night as the Member-Member is like scheduling a Bar-mitzvah next door to a Louis Farrakhan dinner.
Oy-vey!
Get A Rope
June 1st, 2012
1:37 pm
I have not researched it, but I suspect the following may be a crime in Georgia:
* To write such a libellous, scandalous letter based 100% on what the author admitted to be hearsay….see “I have heard” First Line of letter.
* To pretend to write a letter “in private” but writing said letter in such a manner, and actually encouraging it to be forwarded to others, as to ensure it going Viral. It is well documented that he sent this letter directly to many, many others.
* To cause far more damage to the Club’s reputation than the “supposed” actions of the members ever could have.
As an attorney, he knew better than to write such a letter, based on hearsay, and before any facts were known. It is slanderous and irresponsible at best.
The members should file a law suit against the letter writer, for general slander and libel (on the club itself).
Country Clubs can handle issues like these internally. Unfortunately, he “took it to the press” immediately after “hearing” about the supposed actions, and didn’t give the Club a choice.
Too late now. Thanks Weitnauer, for ruining the reputation of a great club. All because you had to be the hero. Reality is your a smug, self-important tattle tale.
I hope the same group of guys you reference in your letter are around to tar and feather you and your big head if you ever have the cajones to step foot on club property again.
Club Rats
June 1st, 2012
1:37 pm
It’s quite telling how many people here want to tarnish all members at PDC over a few “jackasses” inappropriate and disgusting behavior at the Member/Guest Tournament. The PDC Board and Officers will handle the punishment and suspensions/expulsions. As far as some people here trying to post the names of the offenders; that’s not your job or any of your business. I’m sure the names will become public record and many of us will recognize those names. I for one am sorry for their wives and children. Being a member of a club like PDC, Cherokee, Capital City or AAC doesnt make you, me or anyone else “better” than anyone. It is a place where people enjoy themselves, conduct business, engage in golf, tennis, gym, swimming etc. Lots of classless comments here.
One Under through 9
June 1st, 2012
1:41 pm
What is it with these guys that they liked to show their johnson to other men…and then use it to hit it on another dudes face? Sounds rather strange to me.
One Under through 9
June 1st, 2012
1:44 pm
Yeah Club Rats…we are classless. Have you even had your face slapped with a memeber’s junk? You sound like you may like a San Francisco bath house.
rockwell
June 1st, 2012
1:46 pm
This is a better read than a Wilbur Warner petition for divorce by Buckhead Betty!
Mark
June 1st, 2012
1:46 pm
Club rats Who is posting the names of offenders? No one is doing that. You sound defensive, it’s your choice to read this stuff or not.
The same public reaction is likely with this behavior if it was 20 middle class friends on a golf outing, or a bunch of country club men. You think people are only commenting because it’s Pdc?
Benito
June 1st, 2012
1:47 pm
@One Under through 9
Now we know they have Alabama fans in the club. (referencing the same thing from the night of the National Championship Game in New Orleans).
Benito
June 1st, 2012
1:48 pm
@ Mark
Read the Note- at the end of the article. People did post names and the author/AJC employee deleted those comments.
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
1:48 pm
PAGING MR. WEITNAUER…MR. WEITNAUER…your Eggs Benedict Arnold are ready in the Park Room!
rockwell
June 1st, 2012
1:49 pm
@club rats – conducting business at the PDC is strictly prohibited. Getting slapped up side the head with a penis is permitted.
Ted Kennedy
June 1st, 2012
1:51 pm
These guys need one of Billy Payne’s lectures like he gave Tigro Woods. And Billy should know. His whole family is upright and righteous.
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
1:51 pm
@rockwell…YOU’RE A ROCKSTAR!
Club Rats
June 1st, 2012
1:53 pm
Mark,
The author of this piece has a note up saying that she has removed the comments by people who posted the names. I”ve heard these names as well, they should not be posted by anyone on this comment section in my opinion. Yes, I do beleive this is being blown out of proportion because it was at PDC and not at Bobby Jones or any other public course.
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
1:54 pm
@rockwell
But only if you are circumcised. It’s frowned upon to slap one’s friend with a foreskin.
Rhett Butler
June 1st, 2012
1:56 pm
Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.
rockwell
June 1st, 2012
1:57 pm
@ Julius – I also believe an uncircumcised penis is prohibited by the by-laws as well.
Bill the Tool
June 1st, 2012
1:58 pm
I’ll not join any club that would have me as a member!
Benito
June 1st, 2012
2:00 pm
@ Get a Rope
Get over yourself. If you don’t want to get called out for being someone who acts inappropriately, don’t act inappropriately. The writer wrote a letter privately and someone else let the cat out of the bag. The tattle tale (good to know we’re back in the 3rd grade) is not the guilty party. He urged the board to handle it without naming the parties guilty.
dan
June 1st, 2012
2:00 pm
Rich boys will be boys!
dan
June 1st, 2012
2:00 pm
Enter your comments here
max
June 1st, 2012
2:01 pm
I want to be good!
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
2:04 pm
@rockwell
Good point, however, I believe the Club By-Law to which you refer (commonly known as the “Pecker-Check Rule”) was amended when PDC admitted women. It was one of those times where what’s good for the goose was NOT as good for the gander.
Club Rats
June 1st, 2012
2:12 pm
Rockwell,
Business functions are held at the club almost every day. You have no clue what you are talking about.
rockwell
June 1st, 2012
2:18 pm
@club rat you are wrong. No business can be conducted at the club and if they over hear they will put a small white engraved card on your table to gently remind you. Ralph used to let you get away with it though. So club rat – obviously you are not among the selected few.
Club Rats
June 1st, 2012
2:24 pm
Rockwell,
Again, you have no clue. Coca Cola had a function at Capital City two weeks ago. Banking Execs (won’t mention the bank) had a luncheon at PDC just last week…. I hate being so wrong.
Kingfish
June 1st, 2012
2:28 pm
I find it very curious that the liberal AJC does not allow readers to comment on editorials or news articles yet they selectively open up the comment line for a story that no one really cares about or affects any of us. I suspect they open up the comment lines because it is a salacious story about a conservative country club that 99% of the readers will never get to see the inside of.
Agree with Get A Rope
June 1st, 2012
2:32 pm
Whatever Benito. Obviously you have no idea what you are talking about. I’ve seen over a dozen email chain forwards which came directly from the letter writer himself.
You’re an idiot to think he meant that letter only for the President. If that was the case he would have hand delivered it.
aliveinatlanta
June 1st, 2012
2:37 pm
As a nanny for many years, I can certainly attest to the absurd and what should be shameful behavior, of many clients. Country club parents getting lit and coming home after a party. Mom is trying to write my check at kitchen counter. I ask about dad. She states “he wasn’t feeling so well, think he getting the flu.” I can’t help but notice dad is actually stumbling from one end of the back deck to the other in the dark, while she’s trying to distract me from seeing it with rushing to get me gone. Hilarious!
I sit at hotels for many a late night and 2 or 3 sets of parents show up to hotel room to pay me after a night of partying. I was literally sitting in the dark, with kids asleep on the bed in room, while parents, slurred speech and all, try to figure what they owe me for the evening. They go back and forth, coming up with figures and then backtracking after they figure they haven’t added correctly. Quite comical. I sit there for close to 30 minutes while all this goes on and can’t believe what I’m witnessing.
I work for families whose kids go to preschool and list their moms favorite thing to do is DRINK WINE on their family profile project. I’ve had numerous bounced checks over the years from these country club parents. Can’t pay the sitter what she’s worth, for the care of the children that are supposedly “their life”, but never, ever argue with country club membership fees, trips, gassing up the Escalade, entertaining non-stop, etc. I had a friend who nannied in an exclusive home through our nanny agency. She was told one particular week she would be paid the following week, in other words, could she wait just one more week for her check. She agreed, even though she really needed it. She comes into kitchen the next day and noticed a check sitting out on the kitchen counter, thinking it could have been hers and maybe they were going to pay her sooner. It was a 1000.00 check made out to their Russian personal trainer. How backasswards is that? Just goes to show the reason I’m not much of a drinker first of all. I just sit and observe others making complete idiots out of themselves even after just a couple of beers. People just can’t seem to feel even a slight bit social unless their soused. I’ve watched these folks with so much expendable income do everything they can to keep friends and family believing that are living completely carefree and can pick up and go anytime they want, with no worry. While I’m spending so much time in their home/homes, I see it for how it really is, bounced checks, 800 credit card companies calling at least once an hour, people who have performed services in their homes, calling to get paid, it goes on and on, all while mom looks great, kids look great, everyones shuffled around in luxury, tvs going all day, doors wide open with air running out, dogs yearning for attention and to be walked, etc. A cycle that never seems to have an end. You just wonder how many of their socializing friends and family would keep coming around should the money and entertainment dry up. How very sad!
Thinker
June 1st, 2012
2:46 pm
Amazing how many people who say this is an unimportant story and no one is interested in it have commented. Why did you read it? Why did you comment?
Yes the story is titillating. It’s gross. It’s absurd. It’s rude. It was perhaps misjudged. It is more fun then the stock market. It’s worth a laugh, shock, abhorence, repugnance. It’s like a story out of the Tatler. Jonathan Swift would have found it amusing. Lady Astor would have been bemused. Churchill may have considered the whole story simply ‘reMEMBERences.
rockwell
June 1st, 2012
2:47 pm
@Club rats obviously your 4 digit membership number is different from everyone else. Just because you have been to the PDC for a function a member does not make you or you would know this rule pertains to members. No one sitting in the park room for lunch has papers on the table – for a reason. Allowing members to conduct business opens the membership open to some interesting exclusion of business issues tied to liquor license issues etc.
jwads
June 1st, 2012
2:59 pm
Not a private club member here but can’t help but notice the huge amo9unt of wealth envy here. Newsflash people….this is a private club. Not sure how this made it to the press but if I was on the membership committee the guy who leaked it would be in as much trouble as the people who did all this. I’m sure this will be handled internally, and since it is a private club they have sole discretion to handle as THEY see fit. Now if there are some offended employees etc. etc. that want to bring a lawsuit because of something that happened to them in the workplace then that is a different story. Until I see this happen though I am going to remember that this is a PRIVATE institution that can govern themselves without the help of jealous non members. Hey…..you don’t have to join and be patrons of PDC if you don’t want to.
mark
June 1st, 2012
3:05 pm
Jwads- maybe some wealth envy, maybe some folks wish they were of the chose few who’s parents or grandparents became PDC members, thus they are selected.
Is that so unusual? No.
I wish I had more money all the time, but I have cousins who are trust funds, and guess what? They are lazy, fu– ups at 50 plus years old. My side of family is all successful, but not ridulously wealthy.
So personally, I’m fine NOT being a trust baby, most of the time. But there’s always a few days when work sucks or I’m in an airport on a friday night that I wish i didn’t have to work, so I’m guilty too.
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
3:05 pm
Club Rats, rockwell is correct. Just because a buisness arranges a SOCIAL event does not mean that they are conducting business. Papers, PowerPoints, etc are verbotin at PDC. At CCC, they allow it in a private room. And in the locker rooms, most anything goes…even giving your buddy a tap with your gentitals.
Club Rats
June 1st, 2012
3:05 pm
@At Rockwell,
I did not say you could have papers on your table in an dining area although I have seen it and don’t care. You said business is not done at the club when in fact it is. Catering, events, private rooms, and business functions are routinely done at the club. I also never stated whether I was or was not a member and frankly it’s not even relevant. You actually sound like you’re one of the “members” still using mom and dads club # A001?
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
3:07 pm
@aliveinatlanta
With all that trashy behavior going on among the rich and foolish, surely there’s some hot illicit sex going on. C’mon girl…every guy’s dream is to nail the hot French nanny! Spill it!
Club Rats
June 1st, 2012
3:08 pm
Julius ,
I don”t disagree. Business is done at the club. Period. It is done on the golf course, by the pool, in the mens grill, its done everywhere. If you are a member, you know this.
#1 Foxy Lady
June 1st, 2012
3:14 pm
sanctimonious, righteous, self-important, lawyer-bitch snitches get stitches.
rockwell
June 1st, 2012
3:18 pm
no prob @ club rats. It’s 4 digits. No letters or spaces. I have to agree with about 90% of what is written here though. These men are supposed to be leaders and incidents like this reflect poorly on our community as a whole whether they are PDC members or not.
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
3:26 pm
NEWS FLASH!
The Driving Club BOD has issued their punishment. The offenders will be required to attend workshops led by the right Reverend Kit. Topics include:
1. “How To Drag Your Club Through the Mud”
2. “Confidentiality…It’s Just Not for Lawyers Anymore”
3. “Hear-Say, Smear-Say, I’m Just Sayin’”
4. “Why Tea-Baggin’ the Caddie Girl is Frowned Upon”
5. “The Lift and Clean Rule is for Golf Balls Only”
Following each of Rev. Kit’s sermonettes, the offenders will be required to march through Peidmont Park with their putters chanting and clutching their packages Marine-style, “This is putter…this is my putz! This is for golfing,…this is for sluts.”
Benito
June 1st, 2012
3:27 pm
You must be an idiot to agree with a buffoon like Get a Rope. Sue him, he said something that I don’t like. What a joke. So, the one who wrote a letter is the criminal? You’re a loser that can’t stand the truth now that the world knows.
TricyRick
June 1st, 2012
3:30 pm
@juiliusrobinson, rediculous to blame anything on the scheduling manager and your analogy is obscene. No one to blame here but the members. Period.
Can't stop laughing
June 1st, 2012
3:32 pm
This comment thread is the funniest thing I’ve read in a long time. Julius Robinson, Esq, you make me laugh!!!
Club Rats
June 1st, 2012
3:33 pm
@Rockwell,
I agree. My biggest problem with some of the comments are; the people who were so willingly giddy to post names without knowing for a fact these individuals actually were involved (I’ve heard the names and I am aquainted with two of them) and the whole wealth envy crowd. As I stated before, I’m more concerned about their families. PDC will go on and be fine as will the others.
Agree with Get A Rope
June 1st, 2012
3:39 pm
Benito My Friend,
Again, the problem isn’t the letter itself. Absolutely there is nothing wrong with calling out bad behavior. The problem is that he meant for it to go Viral. There is proof he sent the letter out to many people directly himself, with encouragement for it be forwarded again and again.
Had he meant it for the President’s eyes only, it would have been HAND DELIVERED.
rockwell
June 1st, 2012
3:41 pm
@club rats. I agree the names should not be tossed around. But the wealth envy is probably warranted as we all know a large number of these members have done nothing to earn any wealth or respect as displayed by the penis slapping and butt check games.
Know your place, hayseeds.
June 1st, 2012
3:45 pm
I once met a Maidstone member whose landscaper belonged to PDC.
Julius Robinson, Esq.
June 1st, 2012
3:46 pm
@Can’t stop laughing
Glad you are enjoying. This whole episdode is just too easy to poke. Can you imagine these poor bast—s having to explain to their big bosses why they can’t have lunch at the Club, why little wifey can’t play tennis and the kids are booted off the swim team. Oh man…a living hell!
And the legacy…yeah remember the story about the guys who slapped their Johnson’s on their passed out freind’s face…yeah, I’m that guy.
The real Julius Robinson is laughing his ass off in heaven!
Sugar Daddy
June 1st, 2012
3:47 pm
We need the Pink Pony to bring some adult entertainers over here to caddy and dance nekkid for us! You folks have a sense of humor and realize boys will be boys!
Wally
June 1st, 2012
3:57 pm
“What an ugly hat! But it looks good on you!”
Big Al
June 1st, 2012
3:59 pm
“Daddy, why can’t we go to the Driving Club?”
“Well son, Mushroom Stamping is frowned upon in that establishment”
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
June 1st, 2012
8:08 pm
[...] 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?
Piedmont Driving Club incident all the buzz | The Buzz
June 4th, 2012
10:40 am
[...] Friday night we cut off commenting on the initial blog post on reports of rowdy behavior during a recent golfing event, when anonymous bloggers kept posting the [...]