Here you go Adam, I want to ponder this one for awhile as well.
Golf's blurred vision
Augusta National a sensitive subject at 20/20 conference
By Ron Sirak
GolfWorld.com exclusive
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (Nov. 18) -- Clearly, Sisyphus was a golfer.
The legendary king from ancient Greece learned all about the relentless pursuit of the impossible when the gods sentenced him to spend eternity rolling a rock up a hill, only to have it tumble back down just as it neared the top. Sounds a lot like the frustrations experienced by all of us who chase the unattainable perfection of a decidedly elusive game.
And if Sisyphus was a golfer, then he most surely was also a leader of a governing body of the game. Sisyphus would have fit right in at the Golf 20/20 summit over the weekend at the World Golf Village. Once again, the most powerful people in the game showed a remarkable ability to not only have that mythic rock roll back down the hill, but to squash them flat on its way past.
What has been the one golf topic that has dominated headlines since July? Augusta National Golf Club and its lack of female members. Yet the issue sat with the silence of a giant rock amid 250 conference attendees as an unspoken conspiracy of quiet tried to pretend that if it was not acknowledged it did not exist.
Some background, if I may. The point of Golf 20/20 is to figure out how to add 20 million new golfers by the year 2020. The reason is this: While more people are turning on the tube to watch Tiger Woods whack it around, the number of people actually playing the game has remained flat. That does not make equipment makers, golf course owners, magazine publishers or anyone who makes money off the game very happy. Ever since Tiger appeared the mantra has been: Let's make golf look like America.
If there is a reason the game has remained stuck at about 26 million players it is because it remains a predominately white, male sport. Woods at least helped change the perception that the game is exclusive. The mission of Golf 20/20 is to help change the reality.
While much has been accomplished in the three years since the PGA Tour, LPGA, USGA, PGA of America, National Golf Course Owners Association, Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and the Acushnet Company (representing the equipment industry) formed Golf 20/20, the group's inability to address the Augusta National situation raised serious questions about its ability to grow the game of golf. Consider this: The seven-member Executive Committee is composed entirely of white males. And when the committee decided over the weekend to expand to 13 members, the six new people added were also all white and all male. Look out Sisyphus, here comes that rock again.
There are 110.2 million women over the age of 18 in the United States and only six million of them play golf. While women are the majority of the American population, they make up only 24 percent of the golfers, account for 21 percent of the spending on golf and play 18 percent of the rounds.
There are 110.2 million women over the age of 18 in the United States and only six million of them play golf. While women are the majority of the American population, they make up only 24 percent of the golfers, account for 21 percent of the spending on golf and play 18 percent of the rounds.
"If we could get equal participation from women that we get from men we could almost solve our problems," said Dave Branon, former chairman of Dunlop/Slazenger who moderated the concluding question and answer session with the seven board members.
"The women's market is the hottest right now in terms of potential growth," said LPGA commissioner Ty Votaw.
Yikes! Listen to yourself, guys. That rock just keeps getting bigger. If the answer to growth lies with women then why is everyone so reluctant to make them feel welcome? Let's at least talk about the issue of female members at Augusta National. Let's at least include a couple of women among the 13 board members.
"This group is very male and very white, yet we have targeted a group that is not male and not white," said Reed Mackenzie, president of the USGA and a board member. "Clearly, we have a ways to go." Start pushing that rock guys.
The only person with the courage to address the Augusta National question was Sara Hume, executive director of the 17,000-member Executive Women's Golf Association, who acknowledged the rock in a workshop on women in golf.
"As long as the top story is not about the best golfer in the world -- Annika Sorenstam -- we are doing our sport a disservice," Hume said. Then, with her voice breaking as she fought back tears, she added: "Gender discrimination is not acceptable in this sport on any level or in any form. There are many traditions in the game. Most are worth preserving. This one is not."
Clearly shaken, Hume returned to her seat as everyone else once again blinked their eyes and made the rock disappear.
"The silence was deafening," Hume noted later about the reaction to her words. "I wasn't sure it was the appropriate forum, but it was an issue someone had to address."
It's easy to see why the issue was skirted during the three-day conference. Augusta National contributes millions of dollars to the game, including its role as a founding member of the First Tee, the initiative to bring the game to those children who are not part of the traditional golfing community. Also, not a small number of the attendees at the conference belong to clubs that have memberships that fall well short of looking like America. A blanket of discomfort envelops the issue.
But both of those cautionary reasons actually argue for why the Augusta National question should be taken on aggressively. First off, the Masters provides the money and the notoriety that gives Augusta National its power base in the game. The club can be so generous because of the tens of millions of dollars in revenues it generates from the tournament. Secondly, the Augusta National question is not about the right of private clubs to determine their own membership. No one cares that Pine Valley, Garden City or Burning Tree are exclusively men's clubs. That is their constitutional right. But none of them represent the game by holding a major championship. None of them open their doors to the public and profit from it.
"When you agree to be the venue for a major championship you are putting your club in a position to be judged by different criteria," said a top executive from one of golf's governing bodies, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "Augusta National is not the course to stand up for the rights of private clubs. It may seem unfair, but part of the tradeoff for holding a public event is that you are held to the standards of the public at large."
"When you agree to be the venue for a major championship you are putting your club in a position to be judged by different criteria," said a top executive from one of golf's governing bodies, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "Augusta National is not the course to stand up for the rights of private clubs. It may seem unfair, but part of the tradeoff for holding a public event is that you are held to the standards of the public at large."
Nancy Oliver, who founded the Executive Women's Golf Association and is currently coordinator of Link Up 2 Golf, a group created by Golf 20/20 that offered lessons at 64 facilities in seven cities this year, has been fighting for women in the game for two decades.
"They are going to miss out in the changing face of the nation if they don't change along with it," she said about the movers-and-shakers in the game. "It would be a shame if it (women at Augusta National) ended up as a legal issue."
That, my friend, would make old Sisyphus look like an efficiency expert. One of the appeals of golf to the corporate world is that its professional players stay out of jail and the strikes and lockouts that plague team sports do not mar its leagues. That image has already been tarnished by a controversy that serves to reinforce the worst stereotypes of the game. Let's settle this now, out of court, and move on, just like Augusta National did more than a decade ago when it took in an African-American member after Shoal Creek.
Golf 20/20 is a great idea and it has shown surprising progress that extends the promise of great things to come. One message from Golf 20/20 this past weekend was that the game wants to embrace everyone. But it fell short of taking action. While it might be too much to ask the group to take on the Augusta National question directly, it could have at least sent a positive message to the women it wants to get involved in the game by breaking the all-male lock on the executive committee. It was an opportunity lost. It was a rock that squashed seven white men on its way back down the hill. Your tee, Sisyphus.
Play away please.
Ron Sirak is the Executive Editor of Golf World magazine
Do you have a question or comment for Ron? Send your inquiries to editors@golfdigest.com with the word "Sirak" in the subject field. Ron will answer the best questions in this space.
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