Gentlemen,
Like minded people tend to congregate and by extention, attract more of the same.
So, in reality, the club you join often *does* say something about you, just as one can make assumptions based on the car you drive, the clothes you wear or in San Francisco: from which rear pocket you hang your hankerchief.
Bluebloods tend to hang together - SFGC, Cypress, Burlingame, NGLA, Swinley Forest etc. There is also a very good reason for the term "Jewish Club."
And there is nothing wrong with being fingered as "nuevo rich." It is a heck of a lot better than being "nuevo poor."
In every club, there is inevitably a minority who see things a bit differently than the mainstream - the members who do not *fit* seamlessly into the overall social tone of the club.
Generalities are dangerous, but not completely inaccurate. Not all Frenchmen as assh*les, but it has been my experience this is true. I'm sure somewhere in Paris is a Frog I would not want to strangle within ten seconds of our introduction - but it has not happened yet.
In my experience, Aronomink is the France of golf clubs, but that does not mean everybody is like that, just 100% of the snots I met that day.
Not all members of a Fazio club are empty-headed, social climbing, status hungry, nuevo-rich dullards . . . . Barny is in the top ten most interesting and thoughtful people I've met. But even Jakab admits he is a fish out of water in his corner of the world.
Growing up, the average guy at Olympic drank Irish whiskey, was raised in San Francisco and Catholic. Now, the texure of the club has changed and the longtime members sporting a "fog tan" are almost an anachonism . . . . today, our average "newer member" smokes a cigar on the course, rides a cart and acts like the place is a resort course or CCFAD.
Guys like the Armenian or Joel are so far afield of the average member, it is almost impossible to have a cogent discussion about the golf courses because they don't know the history of their own club and don't care.
All that stated, on a micro scale, the club where you hang your spikes tells nothing, on a macro scale, quite a bit.