Now Hear This: Can women wedge into Augusta?
We’re about to discover just how much “power” women of America really possess. I already have a clue, but stay with me on this.
The battlefield over which this power struggle is being waged is one of the most beautiful spots on earth – Augusta National Golf Course where the Masters golf tournament is played each year. I just hope this fight won’t destroy the world’s loveliest fairways in the process.
Those of us who wear the pants in our family, (my daddy used to say that) already have some idea of the potency of women. After all, we’re confronted with the “force” on a daily basis.
Here’s the deal. Augusta National Golf Club is private. It does not, and never has had a female member. Remember ? it’s private. Awhile back Martha Burk, who heads the National Council of Women’s Organizations, fired the first shot (actually it was a cannon) when she wrote “Hootie” Johnson, the chairman of August National Golf Club, suggesting it was high time women be allowed to join. When Hootie got the letter, he threw a fit (which is worse than being angry).
Hootie fired back. His response to Martha was as follows: “There may well come a day, when women will be invited to join our membership, but that timetable will be ours, and not at the point of a bayonet.” And, so the battle lines were drawn.
It was Martha’s move so, she suggested the television sponsors of the Masters might not want to be associated with an organization that excludes women, who represent half the population, and who make most of the buying decisions.
Now it was going to get nasty. Women’s groups from everywhere would be picketing the entrance to Magnolia Lane, littering it with signs, folks honking horns and all that, so Hootie took action. He fired the tournament television sponsors: (can you do that?) Coca-Cola, Citicorp, and IBM. Next year’s telecast, therefore, will be commercial free.
Right away you can see Hootie is standing his hallowed ground, in these times of so much political correctness. They couldn’t do this at any other golf course in the world. If Martha Burk thinks this is about money, she can forget it. These people (members of Augusta National) are beyond money. They’ve got it all. The Masters doesn’t need television sponsorship money to exist. Their members could buy all three of those companies. Heck, the CEOs of Coca-Cola, Citicorp, and IBM are probably all members of Augusta National anyway.
Do you get the feeling the only place for women at Augusta is in the kitchen? But women have been playing the golf course, as invited guests, for many years. So, how do Hootie and the boys win this one? They don’t!
Hootie’s mistake was his hostile reply to Martha’s letter. Some things you just don’t say quite so publicly, and Hootie placed his Foot Joy’s squarely in his mouth. He left himself no wiggle room. Now, if he backs down, he’s the wimp who turned Augusta National Golf Club over to women. So, Hootie is going to continue his rigid stance for the sake of malehood, or whatever.
But how long can he hold out? For a while, but in the end, he will find himself completely surrounded, like General Custer, only to be massacred.
If Hootie would just go back to the beginning, he would understand his fate so clearly. Back to the “Garden of Eden,” which I am sure had at least one golf course, he would discover a woman was a member of that first original “very private” club ? and guess who took control!
(Hope Hines is a television sports reporter and a Nashville personality.)