Masters villain Martha Burk: you can't sue your way into an Augusta National green jacket

WorldGolf.com has been featuring a piece highlighting the advances of Martha Burk’s crusade against the members of Augusta National for too long without a counterpoint.

William K. Wolfrum, WorldGolf’s resident liberal who is up to pick any fight against The Man, wrote a feature on the infamous feminist Burk and her organization shed some light on just how deep they continue to go after Augusta National and the corporations that support it. The Women on Wall Street organization is hitting Augusta’s members where it hurts: in the checkbook.

According to Burk, they’ve won lawsuits totaling up $70-80 million versus organizations tied to Augusta National. Burk even says that when they have the money, they will go after the PGA Tour.

I know this is lawsuit-happy America, but you can’t just sue your way into a Green Jacket. I’m all for equality on Wall Street, the workplace and the golf course. I hope golf can get more women into the game. I even believe women should have to pay less than men on a golf course because they are playing 15% or so less golf course. Give them a 10-15% discount on green fees.

They’ll probably spend that cash in the shop on a pretty visor anyways (rim shot).

I’m even a huge proponent of even the strictest of clubs allowing at least one day a week of public play. Anyone can play any course on the British Open rotation for the price of what a smoker would burn on cigarettes over about two weeks. The only way you can play Augusta is if you’ve got deep wallets or are some freeloading member of the sports media.

Speaking of, did you know that once a year, Augusta National holds a local media day? Yep, that means even the 36-handicap, weekend videographer who shoots high school soccer games and makes $9 an hour gets to play Augusta National once a year. I know this because I played with him in Aiken a year ago. He sucks at golf and loses roughly one ball per hole. Yet he’s played Augusta numerous times. How is that fair to the similarly crappy-at-golf sports anchor in Myrtle Beach who has never played Augusta?

This isn’t about letting women into the armed forces or allowing African Americans a seat on a bus. Nor is it about giving women equal rights on Wall Street. It’s about a silly little club with their own set of stubborn, conservative rules. Burk’s organizations’ persistent suing is only going to do create an environment that is even more hostile, which will create a wider divide between women and Augusta’s committee.

While I think it’s childish for the members at Augusta National to keep girls out of their little tree fort, it’s their club and so long as it isn’t funded with taxpayer money, just let nature take its course. One day, Augusta’s members are going to be men my age, who unlike the current members, will have grown up in a family where both mom and dad were equally educated and both brought home a nice paycheck. They’ll have lived in a world where more women than men were college educated. And one of these members, most likely some wealthy CEO, will owe his first million to a woman. He’ll be forever in debt to her, and decides the only way to pay her back is by offering her the priceless gift of an Augusta National membership.

I can guarantee by the time I’m retired, Annika Sorenstam, or Karen Finerman (is there anything sexier than a woman with control over her portfolio?), or Oprah, or some other wealthy woman will be a member at Augusta National.

Burk might think she’s a trailblazer, and in some ways she is, but in terms of her crusade on golf and getting women into Augusta National, she’s hurting more than she is helping.

When women are allowed to become members, Augusta National will become an even greater club than it is today, but not if women try and sue their way in.