The exclusive Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia is one of golf’s most famous courses, best known for hosting the Masters, as well as its history of discriminatory membership policies. Onion Sports takes a look at the club’s long history of enlightenment and tolerance.
- 1935: Unknowingly admits first gay member
- 1940: Permits wives of members to sniff grass on shoes of male members after they leave the premises
- 1964: Lynching tree removed
- 1975: Begins paying black employees
- 1983: Players are no longer required to use Augusta’s all-black club caddies at the Masters, though white caddies still must dance and play the jug in between holes
- 1987: Official handicap parking sign installed, replacing previous one that just made a lot of fun of disabled people
- 1990: Ron Townsend becomes the first black member of Augusta after assuring the governing board that he is rich, unpleasant, and disparaging toward women
- 1997: Tiger Woods breaks down Augusta’s racial barriers by becoming the first Thai man to win the Masters
- 2012: Extends invitations to two women for the first time in its history, a testament to the notion that the club’s attitudes have progressed into last century
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