<p>Reading this thread one would think that EVERY golf course in the world excludes women from playing or being members. Or perhaps that Augusta is the last bastion holding up the glass ceiling that is preventing women from being politicians, Secretary of State, senators, governors, CEO’s, extremely rich and powerful Oprah’s, …</p>
<p>Wait, what?</p>
<p>^lol SteveMA, I play 2-3 times a week, and on my 18 hole group’s B team. I am a 16 handicap. I care about it enough to voice concerns about ill advised decisions people in authority make involving a sport I enjoy.</p>
<p>Then how can you deny that women are joining the game in large numbers. Just 5 years ago our local Jr PGA was lucky to have 3 or 4 girls playing in each tournament. That number has grown to 30-40+ girls for the same tournaments. Middle school girl’s golf teams are full to capacity when just 5 years ago, those teams did not exist. In the past couple years, more lessons were taken by women, 2/3rds of all lessons were taken by women according to the PGA/LPGA. Women still only comprise 1/4th of the total golfing population but of that 1/4, almost 2/3rds of them are under the age of 30–that is significant. All of this has been sited on several PGA/LPGA websites, news articles, etc.</p>
<p>Again, Augusta has zero responsibility to support your cause, period. I applaud them, in a time when white men are the most discriminated against group in America, that they hold true to their tradition. Keep up the good work. There are roughly 20,000 other courses around the country I can join if I so choose.</p>
<p>We play 5-7 days a week and I am the top female player at our club with my single digit handicap. I have several club championships and tournament wins to my name. I FULLY support Augusta and their male only membership!</p>
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<p>Huh? :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I don’t even care one way or the other if a private club wants to open their doors to anyone. But, seriously? LOLOLOL</p>
<p><a href=“http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/womenceos/[/url]”>http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/womenceos/</a></p>
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<p>Among my friends, the women are spending their money on tennis AND golf, LOL!</p>
<p>I laugh when I read that white males are the most discriminated group in America.</p>
<p>Good lord, steveMA, best of luck to you in your skewed reality.</p>
<p>Remember in every back swing you take all those poor oppressed white men…how desperately sad their lives are…how they would go so far out of their way to support you the way you support them…remember in your back swing on the tee, and on the green for your two putt, how sad their lives are. </p>
<p>Remember how somewhere along the way in your life you learned the skewed and perverse lesson that being more like a man than a woman would get you whatever it is you think you lack in your life…and then swing away, with abandon and purpose. Good luck. And disregard the "need more testosterone?’ ads you see- you’ve obviously got more than you need.</p>
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<p>women’s colleges are not really that interesting to me. more interested in the hypocrisy on display in this thread. that is what I am pointing out.</p>
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<p>so you agree that Augusta can make whatever rules it wants. Now you are arguing that Augusta is making bad business decisions? Is Augusta in danger of losing its prestige or not having enough members? Is it losing sponsors? I’m also curious to know how Augusta is impacting the golf industry by not allowing women to be members? Do little girls all over the country refuse to play golf because they aren’t allowed to be members at Augusta?</p>
<p>This is a great discussion … everyone’s views are from a unique perspective and I really appreciate the different background and up-bringings your views represent. I especially appreciate the careful debate going on that helps each of us re-look at our original opinions. </p>
<p>Ginni appears to be a very classy person, so it will be interesting to see how she approaches questions on IBM’s future sponsorship of the Masters.</p>
<p>yalemom15–look around–Affirmative action, in your company, if two candidates are equally qualified, one white male the other either a black male or a female–who is going to get the job? It’s happening at a greater and greater rate whether you choose to see it or not.</p>
<p>The person who gets the job is the one the boss believes brings more value to the company. Isn’t that the same as it was when only white males got the promotions?</p>
<p>I wish that were true Tom. Many companies have in place quotas for having minorities and women in higher ranking positions. The boss has no choice but to follow these rules. Often times these choices are not the best person for the job.</p>
<p>The same thing could have been said when white males always got the job</p>
<p>Yes, tom, that is true 30 years ago, however times have changed and now it is the reverse. It’s ok in society to discriminate against white males and that no better than discriminating against black males, women or whatever other group. In a perfect world, the best person for the job would get the job, in reality, it doesn’t happen that way.</p>
<p>As a white male with 3 white male brothers and 20 close white male friends that work in government and the private sector I think it is nonsense that there is this huge issue of white male discrimination.
The best person gets the job- but it is the boss who decides who the best person is. I find it hard to believe that American companies have so many jobs that anyone can do so that the deciding factor is race. Are there really that many middle manager jobs that anyone can do?
By the way I lost out on a promotion to an AA females now I know why and I thought it was because my boss was more comfortable in dealing with her even though I work harder and have greater knowledge in all areas of our job. Glad to know I can claim discrimination.</p>
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<p>Appears all over the place around employment opportunities…</p>
<p>I am sure that being on the negative end of an “affirmative action” stings. After all, the “loser” in that transaction is not the actual person who committed all those years of unjust acts giving preference to white males. So, he is taking the fall for other people, which is not fair either.</p>
<p>I have watched the employment landscape, however, change before my very eyes, over a period of thirty years. And change it did. We went from having no professional women and no blacks where I worked, to having a diverse workforce. And we were much, much better for it.</p>
<p>I think I can understand how steve and tom feel. And I wish the situation could be resolved in a way that did not make them feel like they were losing something valuable.</p>
<p>Nepotism & cronyism is still a huge factor in hiring/promotion in many companies, at least from what we read in the papers.</p>
<p>[Seattle Public Schools spending targeted in criminal probe](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014303247_audit23m.html”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014303247_audit23m.html</a>)</p>
<p>Some I think is warranted, such at a large company, an applicant can get a bump if a respected current employee vouches for them. It’s just another recommendation, as long as it isn’t misused. You still want the best person for the job.</p>
<p>The Master’s, pfft. It’s Davis Cup weekend. :)</p>
<p>Although, I must give a big shout out to Freddy!</p>