COMMENTARY : ‘If I Made the Rules . . .’

If I made the rules, I’d. . . . ...

* Turn the clock backward 36 years on the PGA Tour and immediately enroll all touring professional golfers and all board members of clubs used on the tour in a mandatory class on U.S. civil rights history.

They would be briefed on the Brown vs. Board of Education case in 1954--36 years ago--when the Supreme Court ruled that the Topeka, Kan., schools’ “separate but equal policies are inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional.”

They would be informed of the seven civil rights acts passed in this country since 1866, would be made to listen to a brief reading and interpretation of the Bill of Rights and they would be briefed on the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

* Make myself understand what I’m reading about the major complaint among golfers this week at the racist Shoal Creek Country Club. Their biggest complaint is the length of the grass in the rough?

* Try not to believe that I haven’t read one white PGA golfer publicly state his opposition to racial discrimination and the policies of clubs like Shoal Creek.