<p>yalemom15–I think if you looked into the issue, girls golf is one of the fastest growing sports in the country. Not only are there millions of dollars for golf scholarships for girls in college, women in business are promoting the game to girls as a way to get ahead in business. The IBM CEO certainly didn’t need a membership at Augusta to get ahead. Is there any proof she even golfs to begin with?</p>
<p>People watching the Master’s do not see the membership at Augusta as “the face of golf”. They see Tiger Woods, Phil Mikkelson, Rory McIllroy, Bubba Watson, and the up and coming amaturs playing at the Masters as the Face of Golf. The Augusta members get no air time with the exception of the current chair announcing the ceremonial shots and the winners.</p>
<p>People do not watch the Masters to see which businesses are sponsoring the tournament, people watch the Masters to watch the best of the best in the game of golf play one of the most difficult courses in the country. They watch to see that elusive hole in one that might happen at Amen Corner. They watch the tournament to see that eagle or just MAYBE a double eagle happen. They watch it to see who gets the next green jacket. They watch it so dream that some day they could be half as good as these pro players. Augusta will GAIN if IBM pulls out because there will be a bidding war for the next main sponsor of one of the most watched events of the year. </p>
<p>Remember Martha and the problems she caused? The membership at Augusta put her down pretty quickly when the went wire to wire broadcasting with NO commercials, for 4 days of network coverage. The money these members have is mind boggling.</p>
<p>I posed the woman’s college question before “it deserves it’s own thread” came along…</p>
<p>Can men take courses at an all womens college? I would think they can based on the fact that most are part of a consortium</p>
<p>Speaking as a graduate of Wellesley, I have no problem with all-male colleges. I also have no problem with colleges focused on evangelical Christians, Jews, or African-Americans. They all serve a need.</p>
<p>Augusta is a private organization, and can do what they wish in determining their membership. (IMHO it would behoove IBM from a PR POV to sponsor a major LPGA tournament also, if they don’t do so already. Advertising it during the Masters would make a nice break from all of the erectile dysfunction pills. Great image, guys…)</p>
<p>I do, though, find it disingenuous to deny that this is really about power and money. The majority of the power and money is still in the hands of white men. Access to the courses where deals are made and old boy network relationships forged is about power and money, pure and simple. Question: can corporations still buy memberships for their executives at this kind of club and deduct the expense?</p>
<p>Tom, to answer your question, Wellesley has cross-registration with MIT amongst others. And male students from the 12-college exchange can live there as exchange students. We called them coeds. :D</p>
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<p>Obviously, you don’t play golf with men. I think you are more likely to get hit by lighting on a golf course then be involved in a major business deal that would not have otherwise happened.</p>
<p>Men go to golf courses and are members of golf clubs for one reason – they like golf.</p>
<p>^^and to tag along with what Razorsharp said–women can PLAY the course, they just are not members so Ginni can play as much as she is invited to play, seal all the mythical business deals that happen while playing and get all the benefits without having to fork over $50K/year. Nevermind that the gentleman’s agreement at the club is not to discuss business at the club.</p>
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<p>Most senior execs of large corporations and financial institutions, partners in large law firms and accounting firms have perqs such as golf memberships, gym memberships, etc. I don’t know the tax implications in the U.S. but in Canada, those types of perqs, along with company-leased cars, would be classified as a taxable benefit.</p>
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Somehow her lack of membership has not prevented her (and many other women) from rising to high positions in the power structure. These sorts of “back rooms” become irrelevant as women find their ways around rather than through them. Is that really a bad thing? </p>
<p>Someday, rather than being a big deal that women can’t be members, it won’t be any more relevant than men not being able to sweat it out at Curves.</p>
<p>Not a golf fan, but I did tag along to the Masters when my husband was invited by a company head honcho who plans an outing there for his big customers every year. My impression was that Augusta was a club of old white men in the middle of nowhere (we flew to Atlanta and drove for a long time) who had been doing business the same way for years and years. Augusta is a private club and it will probably continue to do what it has always done. Heck, the snacks offered were Wonder Bread sandwiches of various varieties–how retro is that? (Who eats that stuff anymore?) Will the tournament suffer if Augusta doesn’t invite women as members? Based on what I saw–probably not. I would think it would be good PR for them to invite women to become members, put I don’t think the folks who run the place care about that.</p>
<p>@Tom1944–male students from Haverford and Swarthmore take courses at Bryn Mawr all the time. Bryn Mawr also has a post-bac pre-med program for college grads who didn’t take the required science courses to apply to med school. Men in that program take courses at Bryn Mawr.</p>
<p>If one of the big attractions of Augusta is for top level business networking among CEOs and the like, isn’t that appeal going to diminish as there are more and more high level female execs yet they’re barred from participating in that venue? I wonder if some of the male members will find themselves preferring to golf elsewhere so they can be more flexible and complete in their alternate purposes of networking.</p>
<p>Or maybe this isn’t what they do.</p>
<p>I have inside knowledge of what goes on at Augusta and I can tell you the major business deals do not occur on the golf course. The biggest deals occur in the men’s locker room. That’s right, while the old white men are smoking cigars and snapping towels at each other, they are really making big business deals. In fact, the deal to install a new female CEO at IBM was made by several men in the men’s sauna.</p>
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<p>Most of the members of Augusta are also members of golf clubs elsewhere. Very few actually live in the Augusta area and thus probably only play there a few times a year. The course isn’t even open all year, unlike most private clubs in the south.</p>
<p>Members at Augusta get 5 rounds/year, and only during certain months. They are not members to play golf. Big Sponsors get more rounds/year than members (they just get them all at once and are told when they get to play).</p>
<p>I refuse to watch the masters. To have this tournament at a club that refuses women members is a travesty. Yeah they can do whatever they want but to reward them is just wrong. If they don’t give her the ugly green jacket, IBM should pull sponsorship. Or every woman at imb should wear green to work on Monday.</p>
<p>The players are all Sussex for just saying yeah they should admit women ifnyounwant us to play at Augusta.</p>
<p>They didn’t admit a non white person till1990 and only after much ores sure. </p>
<p>Old white boys are scared of change and doing the write thing far too often. What are they doing behind those southern castle doors they don’t want women folk to see. Bet if you said you must all be gay ifnyoubdont want women around they’d change ther etune</p>
<p>I am traveling and therefore stuck with an iPad which is a pain to type on, so while I’d love to pick apart SteveMA’s arguments with quotes, I can’t. you say it’s the fastest growing sport for girls: show me a source here please. And by the way, your growth RATE might be fast but the actual numbers of participants is minuscule compared to the other girls sports out there. Going from say 1000-2000 participants may be an increase of 100%, but that’s not going to be enough future golf club members to fill the many courses in the US. </p>
<p>Then there’s the gem you wrote about women in business trying to get girls into golf as a way to get ahead in business…hello? Do you not see the irony of that statement in your continued support of Augusta’s practices?</p>
<p>Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are weighing in on the side of admitting women to Augusta.</p>
<p>Back to the economic argument: in the 1990’s the ski industry figured out that women have a lot of influence in family decisions on what to spend money on, and if the woman in the family didn’t like to ski, guess what? The family vacation $$'s got spent other places. So the ski industry started a concerted effort to attract women to the sport, with special ski clinics and entire programs and equipment designed to appeal to women. </p>
<p>Same with the golf industry, very belatedly (google Golf 2.0). Many young families have two income earners one of whom is a woman, do you think she wants her hard earned $$'s to go to a golf club membership where she feels unwelcome and intimidated? Nope. That familiy’s money is going to go to a tennis club, or other facility that everyone can participate in.</p>
<p>^^arrg- I hate typing on iPads…
To complete my above post. It’s a stupid economic decision to alienate half the population you’re hoping may pay to play golf, buy golf equipment and clothing and stay at golf resorts… But Augusta is more than welcome to make it. I seriously doubt any one who makes decisions at Augusta cares what it does to the golf industry, they are not impacted by it, but it would be nice to the industry upon which they built their empire to be sensitive to its participants.</p>
<p>“Very few actually live in the Augusta area …”</p>
<p>My candidate for understatement of the year!</p>
<p>From Yalemom15, "I seriously doubt any one who makes decisions at Augusta cares what it does to the golf industry, they are not impacted by it, but it would be nice to the industry upon which they built their empire to be sensitive to its participants. "</p>
<p>This is correct. They are not responsible for the game of golf. They want to run their club and their tournament. Their attention to doing things their way, with their traditions, and not trying to be “trendy” (e.g… with Wonderbread sandwiches as some have mentioned) is what sets them apart.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, the Masters is kind of the kick off of the golf season to most folks. The excitement for this tournament does have a positive impact on the sport. </p>
<p>I really believe most people, and most women, do not really care who is or is not a member of Augusta. When I went to the tournament, there were plenty of women on the grounds, also as others have said there are many women who play the course. If they were so upset, I would think they would boycott the tournament.</p>
<p>yalemom-it is VERY obvious you spend no time on the golf course if you think that women are spending their money on tennis…</p>
<p>It’s just a game, like Monopoly, not a sport. Surprising that some men would be so fearful of a woman winning. But I guess the prospect of getting trounced on the green, as well as in the boardroom, is just too much.</p>