Private Investigation
Surrounded by a nature preserve of Laguna wilderness and equipped with the richest comforts of country club life -- from the cherrywood lockers to the 600-bottle wine cabinet to the 50-inch plasma television screen in the sports bar -- Shady Canyon Golf Club in Irvine has attracted Southern California’s elite since opening in January 2002 .
Retired baseball slugger Mark McGwire, sports-talk king Jim Rome and drag-racing legend Kenny Bernstein are among the members with daily access to all of Shady Canyon’s perks -- the 6,700-square-foot fitness center that includes a steam room and Jacuzzi, the 43,000-square-foot Santa Barbara-themed clubhouse and the challenging 7,000-yard championship golf course designed by architect Tom Fazio.
Initiation is $185,000 for those who own one of Shady Canyon’s 400 homes -- villas go for $1.75 million -- and monthly dues are $795, all of which gets members a “private club [that] embodies the ideals of an institution devoted to the highest standards of the game,” according to a club brochure.
Those standards, golf course General Manager Robert Leenhouts said, include strong attention to avoiding discriminatory membership policies. Such practices have long been the rule at exclusive clubs in this country and abroad, and national attention has crystallized on the issue as Augusta National Golf Club’s men-only membership policy is the source of protests during the Masters this week.
“We decided early on that we will not discriminate against race, creed, color or sex,” Leenhouts said. “It’s about family here, and it’s the right thing to do. It’s just more comfortable when you don’t have to say no to your members, when you don’t have to answer those tough questions about your policies. We don’t have to dodge any bullets.”
Southern California has its history of discrimination at private clubs. Discrimination against black and Jewish golfers at Los Angeles Country Club was legendary. So perhaps it was not surprising, after the club had admitted former NFL wide receiver Gene Washington as its first black member less than 20 years ago, that a white member approached a black man on the putting green and said, “Welcome, Mr. Washington.” The man was not Washington. He was a club guest.
Longtime LACC General Manager James Brewer would not discuss the club’s membership policies -- past or present.
“It’s a private club,” Brewer said.
Similarly, Washington, now an NFL executive, would not talk about his membership experiences, nor did Louise Johnson, the first female member at Riviera Country Club, return phone messages left at her home.
Yet, Leenhouts, who worked previously in Arizona and Northern California, said it was no secret how clubs discriminated.
“In so many cases, it took two members to sponsor someone for application and three other members to serve as the references,” Leenhouts said. “If you didn’t want a certain group in your club, you could ensure they wouldn’t be let in.”
The late Jim Murray of The Times took notice of the exclusionary policies in a 1973 story he wrote for Golf Digest, “Golf in Los Angeles: Part Royal and Ancient, Part Disney.”
Murray wrote of LACC, “Eligibility for membership is a Hoover button, a home in Pasadena and proof-positive you never had an actor in the family.”
He repeated an anecdote about a Texas oil man named Frank Rosenberg, who was refused membership at LACC because of his Jewish-sounding last name, then was dismissed at Jewish-friendly Hillcrest when he felt it necessary to announce, “I’m not Jewish.”
Stung by his second refusal, Rosenberg exclaimed, “Well, I’m an SOB!”
Quickly replied the Hillcrest committeeman, “If you can prove that, you can get in Riviera.”
Riviera, home of the Nissan Open, is known for its decades-old acceptance. Babe Didrikson became the first -- and still only -- female to play in a men’s professional tournament there in 1938. Shortly thereafter, Johnson became a full-fledged member. The first African American was admitted in the 1960s.
At Bel-Air Country Club, a black golfer didn’t join until the 1980s, a club official said.
“Riviera doesn’t care who they take, as long as they have money,” said one member there. “That makes it more lively, more interesting than most clubs. Most clubs are boring. I understand this idea that as you get older and accumulate wealth, you like having people around you who are quiet, who you’re comfortable with -- people who are more like you. The basic enjoyment of being around people you enjoy being with -- that’s the point of paying the money to be in a club, isn’t it?”
Private clubs certainly have acknowledged that point in some policies.
Weekend mornings, for instance, have been set aside by several clubs as golfing time for male members.
At Wilshire Country Club, women can’t tee off before 11 a.m. on Saturdays and 10:30 on Sundays.
Rod Dedeaux, former USC baseball coach, said his Toluca Lake club, Lakeside, had a similar policy. Women are not permitted at the No. 1 tee until 11 a.m. on Saturday.
“The theory is, you want the people in the club to get to know each other, that there ought to be a time when a guy can meet the other members,” Dedeaux said. “It’s for camaraderie purposes, not to exclude. I’ve always thought Lakeside’s ideas were totally wholesome, with no discrimination.”
Dedeaux has been a Lakeside member since 1966. He said the club also had ladies’ day each Tuesday.
“There are reasons for male companionship,” Dedeaux said. “To hoot and howl, to do some free talking during your round, to tell the wild stories after your match. It’s an atmosphere that might be offensive to others. To me, it’s one of the most informal atmospheres I’m around. No one is trying to impress anyone with their wealth or their status. It’s just a time for men to be men.”
Karen Jacobs, the membership manager at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, said her club, which charges nonresidents a $300,000 initiation fee, has held to a policy of no tee-time restrictions. “Doing things like making it members-only on Saturday mornings, when most of the members are male and most of their wives are spousal members, that would be gender biased,” Jacobs said. “We think that divides the membership.”
Leenhouts acknowledged that Shady Canyon does restrict members’ spouses -- male or female -- from arranging tee times for groups consisting exclusively of nonmembers before 9:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Those most popular times draw a crowd of members, Leenhouts said.
“When your members live close by, you’re forced to do things to avoid overcrowding,” Jacobs said. “What [Shady Canyon] is doing isn’t that bad, especially when others are making all women wait until 11 a.m. or noon.”
Yet, there’s no doubting that the business of male bonding on fairways and greens remains a booming industry.
In Maricopa, Ariz., a men’s-only golf club named Southern Dunes opened in November, immediately drawing 265 members. The club has taken some obvious public relations hits in light of the controversy regarding the exclusion of women at Augusta National.
“The reason Augusta is in trouble is that they are taking a lot of revenue from outside sources. We don’t,” a Southern Dunes official said. “Look, the first thing you do when you start a golf club is to start a men’s club. Basically, that’s all we’ve done.”
The Plantation Golf Club, a men-only club in Indio, charges $50,000 for initiation and $5,200 in monthly dues. A club official would not elaborate on policies.
“Good or bad, we do not seek publicity,” Pat Leeza said. “We are a private club.”
Seven women, among them tennis star Lindsay Davenport, and about 25 minorities are among Shady Canyon’s 190 members. Shady Canyon is an equity club, meaning its members eventually will assume ownership from the course’s builder, the Irvine Co.
Leenhouts said his club’s openness starts with its application process. Anyone who can afford initiation and dues can apply to a membership committee that will judge the applicant, special consideration given to golfing skills, business success and community involvement.
After the Irvine Co. decided to build homes around the course and make the golf club private, Leenhouts said Mike McKee, the company’s vice chairman, and Joe Davis, its president, set club policies that would be inviting to a member’s family -- rules that Leenhouts and Membership Director Sherri Van Waggenen later fine-tuned.
“We were operating under the thoughts of, ‘How is this golf course going to fit best into this community?’ and, ‘What is the best way to sell this property?’ ” Leenhouts said.
With the exception of the pre-9:30 a.m. restriction on weekends, Shady Canyon members’ wives can make tee times for their own groups and enjoy food service or a game of cards. There are women’s tees and a women’s tournament, and former LPGA Futures Tour player Eunice Choi is the women’s pro.
“I’ve been to enough clubs to see that most are built as if they are men’s clubs, and any women that come are considered a necessary evil,” said member Brian Hirth. “When they built the clubhouse at Shady Canyon, it wasn’t as if they were building it for the men. It was as if they were furnishing a home for the entire family.”
Hirth and his wife, Lori, said the club’s emphasis on members mingling has made for easy acceptance and eliminated the tendency toward cliques.
“Dinner at the club is not a quiet experience, where the couple sits at their table and talks to no one else,” Lori Hirth said. “It’s like a party, with people bouncing from table to table.”
Members’ children and grandchildren can also play golf and are encouraged to participate in the club’s junior golf program.
“The important thing for us was to cover the spectrum, from the 6-year-old who’s never held a club to couples who play together all the time,” Shady Canyon club pro Brian Gunson said.
Overlooking Shady Canyon’s expansive driving range, Gunson saw a teenager practicing his irons. Near the No. 1 tee, two women who’d just finished their round were sipping iced tea.
“You should see this place at sunrise,” Gunson said. “The marine layer of clouds hangs over the hills there, and the sun turns the range into the most incredible green you’ve ever seen.”
From where Gunson stands, a new day has come.
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Men Only
There are 24 private golf clubs in the United States -- one in California -- that admit only men as members. The clubs, locations and year of openings:
*--* Club Location Year Adios Golf Club Coconut Creek, Fla 1983 Augusta National Golf Club Augusta, Ga 1932 Bear Creek Golf Club Denver 1985 Black Sheep Golf Club Sugar Grove, Ill 2002 Blind Brook Club Purchase, N.Y 1917 Bob O’Link Golf Club Highland Park, Ill 1916 Burning Tree Club Bethesda, Md 1923 Butler National Golf Club Oak Brook, Ill 1973 Connecticut Golf Club Easton, Conn 1969 Garden City Golf Club Garden City, N.Y 1899 Gator Creek Golf Club Sarasota, Fla 1973 The Golf Club New Albany, Ohio 1967 Lochinvar Golf Club Houston 1980 Old Elm Club Highland Park, Ill 1913 Pepper Pike Club Cleveland 1924 Pine Valley Golf Club Pine Valley, N.J 1914 The Plantation Golf Club Indio 1996 Preston Trail Golf Club Dallas 1965 Ridglea Country Club Fort Worth 1966 Sharon Golf Club Sharon Center, Ohio 1966 Southern Dunes Golf Club Maricopa, Ariz 2002 Squires Golf Club Ambler, Pa 1963 Wolf Creek Golf Links Olathe, Kan 1973 Wolf Run Golf Club Zionsville, Ind 1989
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Source: Golf Digest
