Kalen, I want you to step onto the wayback machine and remember the level of civility and manners at public courses 40 or 50 years ago. There is no comparison to the rude, entitled way in which people behave in this brave new me me me era. Go to most CCFAD facilities and tell me their approach upholds the traditional values of our game.
How about this - I will amend my post and assert that Americans ought to emulate the good manners and etiquette of public players in England, Ireland, Ulster, Wales and Scotland. I'll quote a letter I once received from the Lady Captain at Musselburgh: "Hell mend ye who holds up play or ignores our rules of etiquette."
As far as American country clubs are concerned, by and large, they do a Shiite job of encouraging youngsters - and less than zero in bringing young girls into the game. That might be the reason for the avalanche of foreign nationals sucking up a huge percentage of the women's golf scholarships under Title IX - since otherwise, many of those scholarships would go into the trash unused.
I don't give a shit if you are wearing jersey Shore cutoffs and a balloon hat - as long as you move along, wave players up, fix every single ball mark (plus two more), rake the bunkers properly - and carefully replace your divots. It used to be that people respected and took pride in their local golf course - and treated it with care.
Now, like everything else in this fractured mess of a nation, payment of a green fee means you can do whatever you want out there - because everybody from the Assistant Pros to the elderly Marshal is terrified to insist people act with class and respect on the golf course.
And that is because - in line with everything else - youngsters were not taught the basics. So, two generations later, most muni courses have degenerated into abused shitholes.