COSTA MESA : Women Get a Shot at Best Tee Times

The city has decided to stop reserving preferential golf course starting times for a men’s service club after a female golfer complained that the practice was sexist, officials said.

Community Services Manager Keith Van Holt agreed to continue reserving starting times for the Men’s Club, but later in the day. Since the course opened in 1967, the Men’s Club has enjoyed early morning reservations from about 7 to 9:30 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Now the city will reserve tee times starting at 10:30 a.m. in the summer and 9:30 a.m. in the winter, Van Holt said. In addition, the city will no longer reserve Sunday start times for the club at the bigger Los Lagos golf course.

Marilyn M. Burrell, who in early summer asked the city to review the matter, said she is satisfied with the decision.

“Even though I feel it’s a compromise--because if it’s wrong on Sunday, it’s wrong on Saturday--it makes it a little bit more fair for everybody,” Burrell said. “At least now they have to call (for reservations) just like everybody else.”

Burrell, a businesswoman, complained that as golf became increasingly popular, it was difficult to reserve tee times because of the blocks of time allotted for the Men’s Club. She said the practice was discriminatory and she even considered joining the club so she could benefit from the weekend tee times.

John Briffett, president of the 560-member Men’s Club, said although some members won’t like the changes, the club has agreed to them in principle.

“All this time for the past 20-plus years the city has felt fit to give us these times, and we were not going to turn it down,” he said. “But we’re not there to be abrasive or anything like that. We’ve never been trying to outdo the public.”

The city attorney’s office reported in September that the city could continue to reserve the times for the club in exchange for volunteer work performed by club members at tournaments. But the city decided to change its longtime practice of reserving the early tee times because “it wasn’t good for the club,” Van Holt said.

Briffett said the changes will not affect the Men’s Club’s participation in the two charity tournaments held each year at the Country Club. “We’ll take it on the chin. We’re still playing golf and that’s what we’re there for,” he said.