Changing attitudes in golf

[matt611]

The other evening I watched a documentary on netflix ( I believe it is available on youtube and 4od) called Cutting Edge: The Club. It follows the members of Northwood Golf Club over a period of, I believe, 3 months back in 1994. The show was interesting, funny really, to hear the views of what was predominantly a male club 20 years ago. Current members of Northwood would probably cringe watching the show.

As a result of the show the committee all resigned and 4 years later Joe (the chap threatened with expulsion) was thrown out of the club and in response he sued the club.

Anyway do any of you come across guys like this at your club nowadays?

 

[Deleted member 15344]

What sort of guys were/are they ?

 

[matt611]

Well one guy couldn't understand how women could play golf at 9am as they should surely have been making their husbands breakfast at that time in the morning.
Another thought the club was very open as they had 2 "coloured members" as well as Dr Shah.
And the committee it appeared was made up exclusively of fellow lodge members.

I did like Preston though.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

There will still be people like that in various clubs but thankfully they are a dying breed and don't expect to see any of them in any sort of position in a golf club

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I do recall the fuss over that documentary - though I didn't watch it. Some attitudes presented were prehistoric 20yrs ago and I think most members of members clubs looked on in horror at the image it presented.

 

[ScienceBoy]

Was there not a short lived comedy about a golf club too?

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Most of the members talking are just misunderstood - typical members of golf clubs

 

[Paul_Stewart]

Asian friend of mine joined a club near there a couple of years back and was told "you're one of the first of your kind we've had here". His reply of "what, not bigoted?" went down like a lead balloon. He left and joined a club more in the 21st century and never looked back.

 

[North Mimms]

I play locally to Northwood and have played many interclub matches against them.
I didn't join my present Club until 8 years after this documentary, but the members were still smarting then at how they were portrayed and insisted that things had changed a lot since then.

It's a friendly if still traditional club, with a plenty of lady members, and never had a problem producing a team for mixed matches.
I would say it's no more a "men's" club than most still are these days.
I suspect that a lot of clubs in 1994 were just like Nrothwood, but didn't have the embarrassment of having a documentary made about them.

It's a shame that Northwood is still trying to live down a documentary made 20 years ago

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

It's a shame that Northwood is still trying to live down a documentary made 20 years ago

He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon

 

[North Mimms]

He who sups with the devil should have a long spoon

Let's be honest here - there are still some quite archaic views expressed on here sometimes

 

[guest100718]

Let's be honest here - there are still some quite archaic views expressed on here sometimes

You are not wrong. The interview thread springs to mind.

 

[delc]

Well one guy couldn't understand how women could play golf at 9am as they should surely have been making their husbands breakfast at that time in the morning.
Another thought the club was very open as they had 2 "coloured members" as well as Dr Shah.
And the committee it appeared was made up exclusively of fellow lodge members.

I did like Preston though.

At that time you almost had to be a Freemason to get into Northwood GC. Another club in the area wouldn't admit Jews or Asians and there were a couple of exclusively Jewish clubs. Almost seems like another world now! :mmm:

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Played at Northwood last week, Happy to report a very changed atmosphere, very welcoming and the roast pork on the menu is mouth wateringly yummy

some quirky holes mind

 

[delc]

Played at Northwood last week, Happy to report a very changed atmosphere, very welcoming and the roast pork on the menu is mouth wateringly yummy

some quirky holes mind

I play matches against Northwood, home and away. Agree that it's much changed from the image portrayed by the 'Cutting Edge' program, and I always enjoy playing there, particularly since they sorted their greens out. It's now the only club in the area with a waiting list for membership by the way!

 

[Nosevi]

I'm the member of 2 clubs, one a little 9 hole in my village, the other is Blankney, a somewhat 'posher' establishment. That said it's Blankney that's the more relaxed in many ways. Not only are jeans allowed in the clubhouse but if you want to wear jeans on the course that's your call. I find many clubs that aren't as plush as the likes of Blankney try to pretend they are with outdated dress codes etc.

 

[Ethan]

That Northwood documentary was quite famous at the time, purporting to expose a vein of discrimination, misogyny and elitism in golf. Even then, many golfers didn't recognise it in their own clubs, and there is a suggestion that the documentary makers searched quite hard to find the right sort of old buffer to suit their preferred narrative. Nobody asked whether you could find a similar old fart or two in the local cricket club, bowls club, conservative club or elsewhere. You obviously could.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Let's be honest here - there are still some quite archaic views expressed on here sometimes

I'd say more traditional than archaic

 

[delc]

The 'Cutting Edge' program was well known for doing hatchet jobs. My other sport of gliding got a similar going over because a couple of gliders got a bit close to an airliner near Leeds-Bradford Airport. They were legally perfectly entitled to be where they where at the time, but as a result of this program we suddenly found that a lot of restricted (Class D) Airspace was added around minor UK airports!

P.S. Nobody was actually put at risk by the above incident.

 

[duncan mackie]

The 'Cutting Edge' program was well known for doing hatchet jobs. My other sport of gliding got a similar going over because a couple of gliders got a bit close to an airliner near Leeds-Bradford Airport. They were legally perfectly entitled to be where they where at the time, but as a result of this program we suddenly found that a lot of restricted (Class D) Airspace was added around minor UK airports!

P.S. Nobody was actually put at risk by the above incident.

your implication here is that (restricted) class D is in some way limiting, and would suddenly prevent you (gliders) entering. Very misleading - almost worthy of Cutting Edge :thup: