Imagine What Golf Might Look Like Had Augusta National Invited Women To Compete 20 Years Ago

EllieP

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Opinion: Imagine what golf might look like had Augusta National invited women to compete 20 years ago

I debated whether this went in Women's Issues or Etc. because it's more than a woman's issue. But it's an interesting read.

I began playing golf after my first brush with the sport as a cart girl. But I was never serious about it though I did enjoy it. Don't know if more professional role models would have enhanced my desire to pursue it more seriously, but we'll never know now.

It is my fervent hope that this thread does not devolve like my last one.
 

LaFemme

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Opinion: Imagine what golf might look like had Augusta National invited women to compete 20 years ago

I debated whether this went in Women's Issues or Etc. because it's more than a woman's issue. But it's an interesting read.

I began playing golf after my first brush with the sport as a cart girl. But I was never serious about it though I did enjoy it. Don't know if more professional role models would have enhanced my desire to pursue it more seriously, but we'll never know now.

It is my fervent hope that this thread does not devolve like my last one.
I can’t really comment on the golf aspect. Don’t play or watch. However, I am familiar with threads devolving! I’m catnip to controversy! Just want to wish you luck! ;)
 

EllieP

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I can’t really comment on the golf aspect. Don’t play or watch. However, I am familiar with threads devolving! I’m catnip to controversy! Just want to wish you luck! ;)

I have connections, and if I see the wolves coming in I'm shutting the door. Discourse is only positive if true.
 

Thikn2velvet1

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Opinion: Imagine what golf might look like had Augusta National invited women to compete 20 years ago

I debated whether this went in Women's Issues or Etc. because it's more than a woman's issue. But it's an interesting read.

I began playing golf after my first brush with the sport as a cart girl. But I was never serious about it though I did enjoy it. Don't know if more professional role models would have enhanced my desire to pursue it more seriously, but we'll never know now.

It is my fervent hope that this thread does not devolve like my last one.

I find the article rather dishonest and needlessly divisive. Augusta does not set the tone for American golf. It is a very exclusive club ( I know a few members there) and certainly one can argue against it and it’s exclusivity, but that is a far different argument. Women have had lots of opportunity in the sport and have had decent financial success. I don’t know any men who took up the sport because they watched the Master’s. Not a one. Their dad’s may gave taught them the game( rarer than you think) or they and their buddies started going over to the local muni course to hack balls.

Golf is falling out of favor for lots of reasons, maybe the main reason is because it takes up too much time. both to play and to practice. Also the game is hard to get good at, plus most new courses are needlessly difficult.
 

EllieP

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I find the article rather dishonest and needlessly divisive. Augusta does not set the tone for American golf. It is a very exclusive club ( I know a few members there) and certainly one can argue against it and it’s exclusivity, but that is a far different argument. Women have had lots of opportunity in the sport and have had decent financial success. I don’t know any men who took up the sport because they watched the Master’s. Not a one. Their dad’s may gave taught them the game( rarer than you think) or they and their buddies started going over to the local muni course to hack balls.

Golf is falling out of favor for lots of reasons, maybe the main reason is because it takes up too much time. both to play and to practice. Also the game is hard to get good at, plus most new courses are needlessly difficult.

You're probably not an avid golfer. Neither am I, but I work alongside many men whose Tuesday afternoon are devoted to such a religious study. The Masters is arguably the World Series or Super Bowl or World Cup of golf.

Yes, women have made strides in the sports over the years, but how much farther ahead would they have been if the holy sanctuary would have been opened to them then. What they are currently offering is indeed too little too late, but it's still quite noteworthy.

A decent success compared to the indecent amount garnered by those gentlemen wearing green coats is laughable.

The Masters Tournament still draws overflow crowds, so if the sport is on the wane then maybe the crowds may one decade become more manageable.
 

Thikn2velvet1

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You're probably not an avid golfer. Neither am I, but I work alongside many men whose Tuesday afternoon are devoted to such a religious study. The Masters is arguably the World Series or Super Bowl or World Cup of golf.

Yes, women have made strides in the sports over the years, but how much farther ahead would they have been if the holy sanctuary would have been opened to them then. What they are currently offering is indeed too little too late, but it's still quite noteworthy.

A decent success compared to the indecent amount garnered by those gentlemen wearing green coats is laughable.

The Masters Tournament still draws overflow crowds, so if the sport is on the wane then maybe the crowds may one decade become more manageable.

I am a very avid golfer. My club has a ton of programs to bring the game to young girls as we speak. Not much interest. Skiing is in the same boat, contracting.

The Masters is not the Super Bowl of golf. In fact it is kind of a bullshit tourney because only a few guys really have a shot to win it. It shows well on TV, and the Masters committee has been shrewd in how they package it, but it is only part of the World Series or Grand Slam of golf.

Lots of sports are contracting now. Kids are not interested in sports as they were 30 years ago, and baby boomers are aging out of sports they can no longer easily play. Look at tennis. It is basically dead in America, if not for Serena Williams, it would be.

The article was stirring a phony pot.
 

neonblue456

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Well @LaFemme, looks like you worked your magic once again!

Here come the tools whining about The Feminists

I’m not whining. I have no problem with feminism. My problem lies with women thinking they can even remotely compete with men in the vast majority of athletic domains. Take it up with science, not me.
 

Thikn2velvet1

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I have to laugh when the feminist crusade comes in thinking they can compete with men in essentially any athletic field. Save for a few Olympic events every 4 years. Unpopular opinion, I guess.

Women’s golf turns things upside down. Michele Yee has an average driving distance of 280 yards, which is huge, particularly on shorter Women’s tracks. However pro women do not generally putt or chip as well as men, and those 2 skills have no need for size or strength.

I watched a best 18 and under girls tourney from all over the world last year and damn they could blast it out there. However they got very sketchy around the greens.
 
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neonblue456

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Women’s golf turns things upside down. Michele Yee has an average driving distance of 280 yards, which is huge, particularly on shorter Women’s tracks. However pro women do not generally putt or chip as well as men, and those 2 skills have no need for size or strength.

I watched a best 18 and under girls tourney from all over the world last year and damn they could blast it out there. However they got very sketchy around the greens.

Great. Now how about the dozens of other sports which actually require extremely refined skill, explosive athleticism, strength, coordination, mental toughness, fan abuse, etc.?

My point was not to diminish female athletes; rather...to frame the absurd difference between the genders when it comes to athletics, and athletics alone.
 

ItsAll4Kim

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I have to laugh when the feminist crusade comes in thinking they can compete with men in essentially any athletic field. Save for a few Olympic events every 4 years. Unpopular opinion, I guess.
Maybe you can pinpoint exactly which post you thought was the feminist crusade?

Sounds like a straw man argument just to steer the thread to your own agenda.
 

ItsAll4Kim

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Opinion: Imagine what golf might look like had Augusta National invited women to compete 20 years ago

I debated whether this went in Women's Issues or Etc. because it's more than a woman's issue. But it's an interesting read.

I began playing golf after my first brush with the sport as a cart girl. But I was never serious about it though I did enjoy it. Don't know if more professional role models would have enhanced my desire to pursue it more seriously, but we'll never know now.

It is my fervent hope that this thread does not devolve like my last one.
Back on topic.

"Golf is a good walk spoiled"

I'm not quite sure how to take this article. Blaming the entire sport on one old throwback club is rather a reach. Augusta should have been plowed under for condos decades ago, and while sexism exists everywhere, the LPGA stands on its own and serves women and the sport well. But speculating what might have been is a good excercise. What would have happened? Sadly I think, nothing much different.

Golf *is* too long, too difficult, too expensive, and requires a high level of discipline and honesty . It isn't well suited for a lot of today's generation. While the old guard club mentality of racial, religious and sexist bigotry certainly hasn't helped golf, it's the game itself that's its own worst enemy. I golf fairly regularly and fairly poorly, with a lot of men and women who are fanatics, and none of them actually follow the sport's rules. Many complain about slow play, and that 18 holes is far too long....it's basically most of a day even with an early tee time. Rules were changed this year, but it's far too little.

I suspect that welcoming women at Augusta 20 years ago would have helped some women and girls enter the sport, but won't change its future.
 
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I didn't particularly care for the article. it seemed a little antagonistic/biased... but it is an opinion piece so that's ok. Granted, i think Augusta's response to anyone telling them how their club should be operated has always been to dig in their heels. FFS, they didn't have a black member until the early 90s... clearly they are not a club that cares about political correctness. I respect their independent streak (tell me I can't do something, I'll do it twice and take pictures), but don't like their politics one bit.

What has also been antagonistic is the response of some of the members here. the article wasn't about if women are as good of athletes as men or debating if The Masters was = to the Super Bowl. let's not get it twisted... it was about would the demographics of golf have been influenced by Augusta' s policies, and if so, what would golf look like today. No need to take the discussion off topic.

IMO, no, it probably wouldn't because it didn't appear to have any effect on minority participation in golf. I wouldn't grant one club that kind of influence on the sport as a whole. But it's a good topic to consider. What would the sport look like of they had been a leader on diversity instead of seeming to be bigots & sexists? Any topic that makes us actively confront unconscious biasis a good topic... but it's not gonna stay on the rails for long on this site!