The Augusta Club Golf Course
The Augusta Club is the host of the annual championship Masters Tournament. The Masters, much to the chagrin of feminists and equality activists, remains a men’s only competition because Augusta is a year-round men’s only private golf club.
Famed golfer Bobby Jones and businessman Clifford Robert co-founded the green in 1933, and it began hosting the Masters Tournament in 1934. Unlike the other Grand Slam events, the Masters location remains stagnant, with participants returning each April to Augusta, GA, to play. This has allowed viewers to become familiar with the wooded course.
Though the club has been successful in fending off unfriendly feminist fire, they were also accused of racism for having no minorities as members. Under the accusations, they invited a black man to the club in 1990.
Martha Burke was not as lucky when she went head to head with Augusta Chairman Hootie Johnson in 2002. Burke, of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, argued that the policy of keeping women off the green for the Masters was not only sexist, but offensive. Johnson successfully argued that his first amendment rights allowed him the right to choose who the paying members of his private club were. Therefore, any club had the right to restrict who played their greens any day of year. There have been women on the club’s waiting list for years, but to date none have been invited off.
The Augusta National Golf Club follows a strict invite only membership policy. It is believed that dues are incredibly low, as the fees for Masters broadcasts are in the millions.
Surprisingly, there is no official difficulty rating for the course, though it’s unofficial rating is 76.2 (judged by a team of USGA raters and Golf Digest at the 1990 Masters).
Members include Bill Gates, Red Poling of the Ford Motor Company, Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, ex-Georgia Governor Carl Sanders, Hugh L. McColl, Jr., former CEO of Bank of America, and Warren Buffett.