Golf - General & Miscellaneous, Discrimination in Sports, Golf Instruction, Sex Discrimination

The unplayable lie

Name: The unplayable lie
Author: Amy Alcott
ISBN: 9780671501518

by Amy Alcott

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Overview

A woman in Indiana had belonged to the local country club since she was a child. Her parents were members. She gets married and brings her husband into the club. Eventually, she and her husband divorce. He remains a member and she is thrown out.... Traditionally and historically, men owned the shares in the clubs - they created the rules that restricted access to their non-working wives. In the past, women accepted such restraints. But today, a young, determined generation of women who grew up believing in equality insist that golf is a key to business success, and refuse to accept the indignities of the past. For five years, seasoned journalist and legal expert Marcia Chambers interviewed these women, following them from living room to courtroom, from clubhouse to statehouse, from fairway to picket line. Now, in the first book to expose the rampant discrimination that pervades the game, Marcia Chambers presents a lively, authoritative look at why traditional activism doesn't work, and offers winning strategies to help women break through these barriers and create positive change. From the informal, conciliatory approaches that have been successful in some clubs to the hardball tactics that become necessary when rules won't bend, The Unplayable Lie offers women a wide range of options and alternatives. From public and resort courses to some of the nation's most exclusive private - even all-male - clubs, Marcia Chambers draws on other true stories of women, and some men, who have challenged their clubs' policies, sometimes successfully, sometimes with disastrous results. She shows how their tenacity ultimately helped change the clubs' agendas, with positive and permanent results. The Unplayable Lie shows women how to claim their rightful status as equal partners enjoying the many benefits of golf - professional, social, and recreational - that have long been enjoyed exclusively by men.

Journalist and legal expert Marcia Chambers spent five years interviewing women who have endured discrimination on the golf course. In this book, she exposes the rampant bias that runs through golf, explores why traditional activism doesn't work, and offers winning strategies to help women create positive change.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Chambers, an editor at Golf Digest and a columnist for the National Law Journal, presents a thorough, if somewhat dry, history of what she calls the ``grass ceiling.'' She focuses on discrimination against women in so-called private golf and country clubs. As she demonstrates, the vast majority of them are not strictly private; despite their paid memberships, most enjoy property tax breaks and conduct business with the public in their bars, restaurants, pro shops and other facilities. Women rising in the corporate ranks want to use the clubs for networking and are embarrassed by having to accord with gender-based tee-off times, especially on weekends, and by other indignities, both major and minor. Chambers cites instances in which discrimination has been hobbled, if not eliminated, and offers suggestions for those who want to mount similar campaigns, whether by fighting from within the system or by taking the issue to the press and legislatures. First serial to Golf Digest. (June)

Library Journal

Through many examples of discriminatory practices and legal cases, Chambers, a journalist specializing in legal issues, summarizes the historical and current situation for women golfers in America. The growing number of women playing golf and climbing the corporate ladder have caught the golf world by surprise, she claims. Some private clubs don't allow single women, toss out women who divorce, restrict prime tee times to men, bar women from their restaurants, or bar women from their grounds altogether. Businesswomen viewing golf as integral to corporate entertaining and networking feel the effects of the "grass ceiling," and some are fighting for change, incurring ostracism, shocking harassment, and even death threats. Somewhat repetitious, this book reads like an extended magazine article. The story of these inequities is important, but it is far from "untold." Public libraries can purchase where there is an interest.-Kathy Ruffle, Coll. of New Caledonia Lib., Prince George, B.C.