Augusta National finally starts admitting female members
 

Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore are the first two: http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/8...female-members

Well overdue for sure, but it's certainly great to finally see it happen.

When they start letting women in regularly, it'll be progress.

Until then, it's just a PR stunt to show that they're not really as far behind the times as they really are.

"A journey of a thousand miles is started with a single step"

Still reason for optimism

Very true, but I'm not going to congratulate some dude for walking from Chicago to Boston when he just stepped out the front door.

No, but it's good to see they are starting to go in the right direction.

If the male only policy was important enough to them, they wouldn't bypass it for a pr stunt

Not sure why Augusta needs to allow women in. I don't believe they should hold women out but that should be the decision of the owner/members that are in charge. Doubt women would like it if I were to come into the closed off womens section of the gym I am a member of.

It's nice that they are allowing more people in, but they shouldn't feel pressured into doing so.

It is entirely their right to decide their own membership as a private organization, but I completely disagree with you in regards to the last sentence. They're a premier golf course, the site of a major event during the PGA tour, and have business partnerships worth unknown millions of dollars for broadcasting and sponsorship rights. They want to remain a big dog in the world of golf, then they have to accept the fact that their antiquated men's only policy of membership is going to attract a lot of negative attention (especially given the growth in popularity in playing and watching golf amongst women) and they should absolutely be subjected to public pressure for that discriminatory policy, just as they likewise faced such pressure when they were a white's only club and were essentially forced to finally let deserving black members in a few decades ago when the public outcry became too loud for them to ignore.

After all the noise and teeth-gnashing that women made regarding Augusta's old policies, I would not hold my breath on the resultant flood of women that will pour on to the front gates of Augusta to become patrons.

I'm not entirely sure if you're aware of what Augusta is.

More for show than anything. Augusta has a history of letting women's college teams from the region play the course, so it's not like they are opposed to women's golf. Plus there are only two sets of tees at Augusta, the tournament tees of 7400 yards or so and the members tees of 6400 yards. While 6400 yards is fine for female college players and LPGA players its a bit much for these two new members of theirs so they might not even be able to play the course, and while they should add tees to accommodate them being that this is Augusta national they might not.

And to some of the other comments. The masters is not a PGA tour event, it is an independently run event that is an official money event for the PGA tour. Also, the PGA tour has a policy of not allowing clubs with a "gentlemen only" policy hold PGA tour events. That's why cypress point is not part of what is now the AT&T (not like cypress would want them back anyway) and why butler national no longer hosts the western open. That's why the masters has been allowed to operate at Augusta in recent years despite their previous membership situation.

I know it's a private country club, but it doesn't change the facts of anything I just said.

That writer should check his cisgendered male privilege. :sarcasm:

I think his point is that it is more than a private country club, which is true, it is.

The entity that is Augusta National sort of has a life of its own and due to its history and membership it holds a lot of sway in areas that go beyond golf.

I agree with you. It's not really about whether a private golf club should be forced to admit female members - it's about whether the PGA, etc. should be giving prominence to a private club that refuses to admit female members.

If it were just that, or just anything you said, nobody would give a **** about whether or not they allowed female members or not. It isn't a golf or country club, it is THE golf and country club.

It is a club that is about exclusivity, what they did with this move was gain loads of positive press without changing the high standards of membership.

Make them play from the regular tees.