Thirty miles or so north is Old Elm Club in Highland Park, home to another critically acclaimed course and an attitude best described as “traditional.” With an clientele of CEOs and retirees, it’s joked that the age of the average member at Old Elm is deceased. But it is disappointing because that will prevent it from holding some big tournament at a truly spectacular venue.” “I would love to see them be more inclusive in their policies, but it’s not for me to interfere in any private club. “In this day and age, exclusion just isn’t the right way to go about it,” he said in 2017. While five-time major winner Phil Mickelson loves the course at Butler National, he has spoken out about their admissions policy. Sean Connery (left) and Arnold Palmer (right) were also members before their deaths. “The membership has spoken clearly.” Pine Valley counts Jack Nicklaus (middle) as a member. “It’s just what we want, and we have the right to make that decision,” said Butler President Ed Gustafson. The last time the club’s members held a vote on admitting women was in 2012 - the same year Augusta National admitted women to their club - and they decided against it. It left Butler with a choice: Let women in or lose the Western Open. In the summer of 1990, the PGA Tour announced new guidelines, forbidding any club with discriminatory membership policies to host their tournaments. But its men-only membership policy has precluded it from staging a PGA or USGA tournament ever since. Formed as a men’s club in 1972, it hosted the PGA Tour’s Western Open from 1974-1990. And remarkably, there are four in the Chicago area.īutler National, in Chicago, Ill., is one. Today, there are thought to be less than a dozen male-only golf clubs remaining in the United States, with a combined membership estimated at fewer than 5,000. The US Supreme Court has also upheld the right of private membership clubs under the First Amendment, terming it as “expressive association,” and any changes that have come about, for example, allowing in members of color, are usually due to public pressure. Because these clubs are private, rather than public organizations, federal laws can’t regulate them or their membership policies. Pine Valley Golf Club, NJ Getty Imagesīut it’s perfectly legal to discriminate. Augusta National, an 88-year-old institution not exactly known for its forward thinking - it only admitted its first black member in 1990 - began admitting women nearly a decade ago. It’s hard to believe that in the 21st century there was even a single private golf club that still excluded women from membership. In an email to members, who include Jack Nicklaus (and Arnold Palmer and Sean Connery before their deaths), Pine Valley club president Jim Davis said “the future of golf must move toward inclusion,” adding that the change puts the club “on the right side of history.” Pine Valley will now begin the process of identifying women candidates for membership and is expected to have its first female members by the end of 2021. Previously, women had only been allowed at the club as guests of members, and if they wanted to actually play golf, they could only do so on a Sunday afternoon. On April 30, the members of Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey, which has a course routinely rated as the very best in the United States, voted to finally allow women to join their club - a mere 108 years after its founding. Top 10 golfers of all time: The Post’s experts make their casesĪrnold Palmer honored in emotional first-tee ceremony Inside story of Masters winners’ favorite green jacket moments Pinpointing moment where Tiger Woods became a legend
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