In the summer of 1990, the PGA Tour announced new guidelines, forbidding any club with discriminatory membership policies to host their tournaments. But its men-only membership policy has precluded it from staging a PGA or USGA tournament ever since. Formed as a men’s club in 1972, it hosted the PGA Tour’s Western Open from 1974-1990. And remarkably, there are four in the Chicago area.īutler National, in Chicago, Ill., is one. Today, there are thought to be less than a dozen male-only golf clubs remaining in the United States, with a combined membership estimated at fewer than 5,000. The US Supreme Court has also upheld the right of private membership clubs under the First Amendment, terming it as “expressive association,” and any changes that have come about, for example, allowing in members of color, are usually due to public pressure. Because these clubs are private, rather than public organizations, federal laws can’t regulate them or their membership policies. Pine Valley Golf Club, NJ Getty Imagesīut it’s perfectly legal to discriminate. Augusta National, an 88-year-old institution not exactly known for its forward thinking - it only admitted its first black member in 1990 - began admitting women nearly a decade ago. It’s hard to believe that in the 21st century there was even a single private golf club that still excluded women from membership.
In an email to members, who include Jack Nicklaus (and Arnold Palmer and Sean Connery before their deaths), Pine Valley club president Jim Davis said “the future of golf must move toward inclusion,” adding that the change puts the club “on the right side of history.” Pine Valley will now begin the process of identifying women candidates for membership and is expected to have its first female members by the end of 2021. Previously, women had only been allowed at the club as guests of members, and if they wanted to actually play golf, they could only do so on a Sunday afternoon. On April 30, the members of Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey, which has a course routinely rated as the very best in the United States, voted to finally allow women to join their club - a mere 108 years after its founding. Top 10 golfers of all time: The Post’s experts make their casesĪrnold Palmer honored in emotional first-tee ceremony Inside story of Masters winners’ favorite green jacket moments Even without a club in hand, it was fun to visualize just how much of the hazard to bite off on the first tee.Pinpointing moment where Tiger Woods became a legend I'm not sure I saw a single swing the second time I went to the Crump Cup I only wanted to roam the holes, in order, from the first tee to the 18th green as if I were actually playing it. 7 known as "Hell's Half Acre," or the tiny, deep bunker on the front right of the par-3 10th hole that's called the Devil's. I'd seen the pictures, but there's nothing like being there in person to see the 230-yard, par-3 fifth hole, the massive waste bunker on No. If you don't want to follow the final matches themselves, you can simply walk the course, from the middle of the perfectly manicured fairways to the challenging, complex and undulating greens. That said, I've eagerly visited the course now a handful of times for the Crump Memorial Tournament, where there are no gallery ropes to keep fans at a distance. I've lived in New Jersey my entire life and written about golf for decades, but have yet to tee it up at Pine Valley, which is about as private as private clubs get. For those who are passionate about the game and most likely will never get the chance to play at Pine Valley, it's a don't-miss opportunity.
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