Rental Anguish

Blossoming azalea and dogwood. Memories of Sam Snead. Let the rest of the golfing world revel in such images.

Around these parts, the key to the Masters tournament is bathrooms.

Bathrooms are like gold.

It works this way: Hordes of corporate executives descend on the city each April to eat, drink and watch golf with their best clients. The more bathrooms you have, the more they will pay to rent your house. Five bedrooms with five baths, in a desirable location, can fetch $25,000 for the week.

Even residents who don’t own big homes can earn money by taking a vacation from their regular jobs to serve catered dinners and clean all those toilets.

Some spend the extra cash on trips or a nice piece of furniture. Others need it to cover their mortgages.

“Maybe as a community we have come to rely on those dollars too much,” said Jeannette Gilles, who rents her home out every year. “Maybe we shouldn’t.”

Residents worry the controversy at Augusta National Golf Club -- a dispute over admitting women as members -- might jeopardize their annual windfall.

The very public debate between club executives and a women’s organization has caused two influential members to resign. The Rev. Jesse Jackson is threatening to protest on the streets.

Civic leaders insist their economy will survive, tickets and motel rooms remaining in great demand. But given the weak economy that put a crimp in corporate spending at the Super Bowl last month, Augustans fear their customers might shy from negative publicity.

In Gilles’ neighborhood, a tobacco company has reduced the number of houses it normally rents. The Clubhouse, a banquet hall across from the course, has lost three clients, including a telecommunications company that said it must “consider the feelings” of its female employees.

“Some of my companies say they are still coming,” said Terry Wick, owner of the banquet hall. “But when some of your biggest customers drop out, it gives you a real eye-opener.”

That Augusta has no female members -- women can play the course as guests -- became an issue last June when Martha Burk, chair of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, sent a letter to club Chairman Hootie Johnson.

Burk said she expected a private reply, perhaps a meeting. Johnson issued a public statement -- “We do not intend to be a trophy in their display case” -- and the issue quickly ignited.

The commotion jolted Augusta, which, despite the pastoral image of its course, is much like other cities nationwide.

With the metropolitan areas grown to 500,000 people, strip malls have sprung up beside old-time shops. A federal nuclear plant stands near the Savannah River among other factories.

The golf club, on the other hand, is an unexpectedly subtle presence. Located smack in the middle of town, its fairways are shielded from view by pine groves and thick stands of bamboo. The front gate is marked only by a small sign.

Some Augustans have never been inside. Few are among the elite and wealthy membership.

Yet the club is the heart of their civic identity. And the tournament, drawing the biggest names in the sport, is an industry unto itself.

No economic studies have been done on the event, but estimates have placed its impact at roughly $100 million. During the second week of April, hotels make an estimated $11 million by raising their rates as much as 500%. Caterers generate a quarter of their annual revenue in a matter of days.

Dry cleaners, liquor stores and convenience stores also get in on the action.

“I’ll bet you 70% of the businesses in Augusta are affected,” Wick said. “It’s bigger than Christmas.”

Not all of those businesses stand to lose. Even if corporations stay away, golf fans will buy tickets and dine in restaurants. Reservations for the area’s 6,000 hotel rooms are said to be as brisk as ever.

But fewer corporate clients could hurt the 2,000 residents who rent out their homes and limit everything from catered affairs to limousine rentals.

Again, there is disagreement.

At the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce, whose housing bureau handles a portion of the city’s reservations, president Ed Presnell said the demand is up 15% over last year, when business was sluggish because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “I’ve got a very optimistic outlook,” he said.

Becky Beul, who lives in an upscale tract northwest of downtown, responds: “I say phooey when I hear that.”

Her street is lined with two-story brick homes built in Adams style, black shutters and keystone lintels over the windows. “Basically, our neighborhood moves out the week of the Masters,” she said. “Corporations gobble up these homes and all you see is stretch limos up and down the block.”

Beul is lucky -- her house was among those the tobacco company retained. But across the street, one neighbor has no renter and two others -- including Gilles and her family -- had to take smaller groups for less money.

Similar stories are told all over town by people who have lost their regular clients and are hoping someone new comes along. Despite Presnell’s confidence, the chamber’s housing bureau confirmed it has received calls from worried homeowners.

In a ripple effect, unrented houses won’t need painters or handymen to spruce things up. “The corporate clients are very picky

“You know how people live from paycheck to paycheck these days,” Beul said. “They count on that money.”

For all the uncertainty, few in the community have broken ranks with the esteemed club. Anger is focused instead on Burk. As Beul said, “People around here spit when they say her name.”

Callers spew invective on an afternoon talk radio show. The Augusta Chronicle, which has covered the issue sparingly, published a letter to the editor with the headline: “Satan at work.”

Equating the situation with the Garden of Eden, the letter stated that “Satan is up to his same old tricks, using Eve to disrupt a nice, orderly and smoothly run place, and create chaos where there was peace.”

Speaking from her Washington office, Burk understands the resentment.

“It’s just directed at the wrong person,” she said. “They need to talk to the people who have the power to change things. That is Hootie Johnson and the members of Augusta.”

Though Burk claims she did not plan to squeeze local merchants -- at least not at this point -- she now recognizes her advantage.

“Absolutely,” she said. “Economic pressure has always been a strong tool for social change.”

The pressure could increase if organizations such as Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition make good on threats to picket. Burk has fielded proposals from numerous groups, including one that wants to don burkas, such as those worn by some Muslim women, in the same green as the jacket presented to the Masters winner each year.

Before residents get too riled up over women’s issues, however, caterer Kevin Goldsmith suggests they watch the evening news.

“The stock market is down and companies are cutting back regardless,” Goldsmith said from his Pullman Hall banquet facility. “Business was already way down last year.”

Whatever the cause, the situation doesn’t sit well in a place where turning a profit off the tournament is part of life, a birthright. A local businessman added a bed and bath to his shop so he would have somewhere to stay while he rented his home. New houses often include a private bath connected to every bedroom.

“It’s such a tradition here,” said Barry White, executive director of the Augusta Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau. “People plan ahead for it.”

In their collective optimism, civic leaders are telling people to stay calm, the tournament is still months away. Presnell even sees a bright side to having protesters in his town.

“Those folks have to stay somewhere too,” he said.

But as the days go by, as Johnson and Burk trade barbs in the media -- Sports Illustrated has published a weekly meter of who is winning -- some businessmen and residents wonder if things could get worse.

“If this thing mushrooms the way Martha Burk wants, it could be a kick in the nose to Augusta,” Wick said. “You’re taking people’s money and throwing it out the window.”