Augusta accepts first women members...

[Anthony Butler]

I will become much more interested in the admissions policies of ANGC when they start considering middle class high school teachers/coaches for membership.  That two wealthy women have gotten into the club is of no concern or interest to me, and I'm as liberal as they come.

AG,

I don't know the financial details of admission and yearly dues at ANGC but it would seem to me that if middle class high school teachers/coaches became members, I'd begin auditing the school budgets    

I'm sure Pat is being modest here, because he knows enough about the finances to understand that Augusta as a non-profit entity with a monster annual cash flow could easily hand out 100 'scholarship' memberships to whoever they so choose.

Beyond the dues, which I believe were around $10,000 quite recently, there is the $6-7 million the souvenir tent pulls in during Masters week... and the $25 million in domestic and international broadcast rights...

[John McCarthy]

Condaleeza lands memberships at Cypress Point and ANGC in the same year. Not bad at all.

I believe she also joined CC of Birmingham within the past year or two as well.

I thought she was a member at Shoal Creek as well.

[Jim_Kennedy]

It's more like catch-up than progress, but.....

Smart move on ANGC's part, admitting two women instead of one lessens the impression that they were coerced into making the decision.

 

[Mark McKeever]

Condaleeza lands memberships at Cypress Point and ANGC in the same year. Not bad at all.

I believe she also joined CC of Birmingham within the past year or two as well.

I thought she was a member at Shoal Creek as well.

A female Jimmy Dunne!

Mark

[Josh Tarble]

This is a pretty interesting interview with Condoleeza Rice, especially her comments on Augusta and now looking back on them...

http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/2011-06/condoleeza-rice-interview?printable=true

[Ross Harmon]

On a related note... my wife and I just found out that we're having a BABY GIRL in January! Maybe she'll be a member at ANGC one day!

 

[Anthony Butler]

On a related note... my wife and I just found out that we're having a BABY GIRL in January! Maybe she'll be a member at ANGC one day!

 

Congrats on the news... as to your daughter's future member prospects... by the time she gets to same age as Condi or Rainwater's wife, Augusta will be an ocean front course with an all-Chinese membership.

[cary lichtenstein]

What do you think are the chances of Michelle Obama becoming a member?

[David Davis]

I'm surprised the obvious question has been skipped. Are they single?

[George Pazin]

I'm surprised the obvious question has been skipped. Are they single?

I think they're dating - ANGC figured they'd kill two birds with one stone...

-----

Kinda sad they felt the need to have a press release. Woulda been better if they simply arranged to have them at The Masters in their green jackets, and when asked, the club just continued with the "We don't discuss membership..." line.

[Tom Yost]

Kinda sad they felt the need to have a press release. Woulda been better if they simply arranged to have them at The Masters in their green jackets, and when asked, the club just continued with the "We don't discuss membership..." line.

I wondered the same, when did ANGC start announcing their members?  (Today, I guess)

[Patrick_Mucci]

I think it's ridiculous to laud this as a sign of progress in 2012.

Brad,

It's been a relatively quiet day for the media and this appears to be the focal point on the sports networks.

I've always said, that if your name makes the news, you want an event similar to the OJ car chase to be happening at the same time.

Low profiles are the best profiles.

[Phil McDade]

Kinda sad they felt the need to have a press release. Woulda been better if they simply arranged to have them at The Masters in their green jackets, and when asked, the club just continued with the "We don't discuss membership..." line.

I wondered the same, when did ANGC start announcing their members?  (Today, I guess)

Um, because the folks who run Augusta National are some of the shrewdest people around?

Look who has the richest, most-watched, most-sought after (in terms of an invite) major in the world? The folks who run that club. They've been at the forefront of a lot of innovations, particularly in terms of technology (their Masters website puts others to shame), and they have been incredibly bright about creating an "image" of the Masters that's unparalleled in golf, and much of sports.

These guys aren't dumb; they know the "issue" of their membership wasn't going to go away. They admit two women, of some stature, not unlike their other members, and put out a release far removed by their April tournament, and they (more than likely) reap some positive PR out of it. They still don't have to answer any questions about their membership come press conferences leading up to the Masters in April. I'm assuming Mr. Payne will say the same thing next year that he said this year: membership questions are a matter for the club to discuss on its terms.

[Patrick_Mucci]

I will become much more interested in the admissions policies of ANGC when they start considering middle class high school teachers/coaches for membership.  That two wealthy women have gotten into the club is of no concern or interest to me, and I'm as liberal as they come.

AG,

I don't know the financial details of admission and yearly dues at ANGC but it would seem to me that if middle class high school teachers/coaches became members, I'd begin auditing the school budgets    

I'm sure Pat is being modest here, because he knows enough about the finances to understand that Augusta as a non-profit entity with a monster annual cash flow could easily hand out 100 'scholarship' memberships to whoever they so choose.

Beyond the dues, which I believe were around $10,000 quite recently, there is the $6-7 million the souvenir tent pulls in during Masters week... and the $25 million in domestic and international broadcast rights...

Anthony,

Are you sure that the club and The Masters aren't two seperate entities ?  ?  ?

That the revenues you speak of aren't comingled ?

[Charlie_Bell]

George, I like your idea of the stealth approach -- no announcement --  but it never would have worked.  If ANGC admitted them now, there would have been a leak long before the tournament.  If they'd waited until shortly before the tournament, it would have seemed like a hasty, preemptive thing.

Now I'm wondering whether Condi will even show up for the tournament, knowing what a zoo it'll create this year.

[RJ_Daley]

Maybe she can get Dick Clarke to be her caddy and tell her where to play the next shot.

I hope she can read and interpret a yardage book better than she could, this:
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/terrorism/80601pdb.html

And, what is the point of publicly holding up Ms Rice's confirmation of this high exalted membership contrary to ANGC tradition of deep privacy on such matters of membership?  Their public relations imagery suggests that ANGC is a bastion of exemplary achievement and yet is a legendary closed club of American Corporate Elitism, exclusionary and selective in nature.  I for one don't see those two things necessarily as synonymous- maybe more an indication of pomposity. It seems Ms Rice is in deed a prize thorough bred (perhaps of the Rafalca line) who has made the winners circle of all the right corporate/political connections, Shoal Creek, Cypress, Stanford figurative position, and made this for all of her well publicized lifetime exemplary achievements; and now she is publicly held as some object of awe as an historical barrier buster.  But for a few minor slip ups and failures where the rubber meets the road, well illustrated in this linked work of historical and researched white paper, we now have the symbolism of slipping on the Green Jacket as if we should give two figs who "they" are or what it means.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB147/index.htm

Did they bother to mention she plays the piano?

[Tim_Cronin]

Congrats to the new members on their good fortune, and to the board of ANGC for getting into the swing of things. The announcement was wise as well. There had been no announcement of Ron Townsend's membership in 1991. Townsend, the first member of ANGC who was black, was on hand during Masters week, after many stories wondering what ANGC would do post-Shoal Creek. Next spring's stories will be different.

[John Kavanaugh]

Why would anyone be anything but happy for these women?  I don't understand class warfare, homophobia and politics being bandied around when discussing entrance to a private club. Any one of you or your children could be members too if you had made better choices in your life.

[corey miller]

Ms. Rice seems like a fine lady and I am happy for her as she seems as if she has a true love for the game. 

Sad that a person would somehow diminish this ladies academic as well as professional achievements but I guess we can expect that from someone who takes the time to somehow know and cite the name of Mrs. Romney's horse.

[Tiger_Bernhardt]

Brad is correct. To celebrate this sort of thing in 2012 is well nothing for us to make a big deal over. Once Condeleesa Rice sold her soul, the rest has been easy. She lives down the street from me 2nd home wise. I hope she is not an inspiration to women for her way is not the high character way. Thankfully my daughter sees her in the light of what she does and not what she says.

[Sean_A]

I have never been quite sure why anybody cares who is and isn't allowed to join ANGC or any place one isn't a member of.  This is not a positive or negative step, merely a change in membership policy for a very exclusive club. 

Ciao

[Garland Bayley]

I will become much more interested in the admissions policies of ANGC when they start considering middle class high school teachers/coaches for membership.  That two wealthy women have gotten into the club is of no concern or interest to me, and I'm as liberal as they come.

AG,

I don't know the financial details of admission and yearly dues at ANGC but it would seem to me that if middle class high school teachers/coaches became members, I'd begin auditing the school budgets   

Pay attention Patrick. Membership there is quite manageable, because they have other income.

[Mike Sweeney]

And, what is the point of publicly holding up Ms Rice's confirmation of this high exalted membership contrary to ANGC tradition of deep privacy on such matters of membership?  

Dick,

Let's clear up a few things:

• You are a boring white guy from Wisconsin
• I am a boring white guy from Philly (now in NY)
• GCA.com is filled with boring white guys from around the world

 

When I saw this story today, my first reaction was to send it our business partner Roya who is a Muslim woman in Afghanistan trying to run a software company in Afghanistan.

Let's raise the bar a little on what Augusta did today. They let a Black/African American woman into Augusta National Golf Club today and clearly this should be announced to the world.

Mike Sweeney

Your screaming Moderate Independent who stupidly votes for the better person and is often wrong (I chose both Bush and Obama!)  

[Mike Sweeney]

I have never been quite sure why anybody cares who is and isn't allowed to join ANGC or any place one isn't a member of.  This is not a positive or negative step, merely a change in membership policy for a very exclusive club. 

Ciao

Sean,

Give me a break with the "its just a golf club" routine. 

[Garland Bayley]

Why isn't this OT business and politics thread marked as such. This is not about golf or golf courses.

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