Given all the debate about Marine Drive, here’s a fabulous story about the St. Louis private club system that makes Canada’s handful of elite clubs pale in comparison (even Rosedale has nothing on St. Louis Golf Club).
Check the story out here — and see how Marine Drive compares.
A bestselling author and award-winning columnist, Robert Thompson has been writing about business and sports, and particularly golf, for almost two decades. His reporting and commentary on golf has appeared in Golf Magazine, the Globe and Mail, T&L Golf and many other media outlets. Currently Robert is a columnist with Global Golf Post, golf analyst for Global News and Shaw Communications, and Senior Writer to ScoreGolf. The Going for the Green blog was launched in 2004.
Robert,
No offense, but I don’t think you really know Rosedale if you think it ‘has nothing’ on SLGC and it’s membership policies/procedures.
I think that if you really did know the process at Rosedale, your head might spin clean off.
Regards,
RG
P.S….which one is you???
SELECT GOLFER TO LOOKUP
GAO OGIN# GOLFER NAME CLUB NAME
495646 THOMPSON, ROBERT KING VALLEY GOLF CLUB
370444 THOMPSON, ROBERT SLEEPY HOLLOW GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
406690 THOMPSON, ROBERT ST. GEORGE’S GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB
501716 THOMPSON, ROBERT C.A.W. GOLF LEAGUE
291059 THOMPSON, ROBERT J GANANOQUE GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
495265 THOMPSON, ROBERTA MONTERRA GOLF AT BLUE MOUNTAIN RESORT
351949 THOMPSON, ROD GOLF TOWN SCARBOROUGH – POSTING FACILITY
337591 THOMPSON, ROGER TORONTO GOLF CLUB (THE)
333627 THOMPSON, ROLAND PORT CARLING GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
290553 THOMPSON, RON KAWARTHA GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
303923 THOMPSON, RON JR GANANOQUE GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
473127 THOMPSON, ROSINA NAPANEE GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
RG. There’s no secret with regards to applying for membership to Rosedale. You need a member to propose you and another to second. You have to know people there. It doesn’t matter who you are, they have a waiting list.
It has nothing on the snobbery at British clubs, either … the difference is that they share their golf courses with the rest of us (for a fee).
It is unfortunate that, when trying to make a point, people always use the most extreme examples available. While I don’t doubt there are clubs that exist such as those in St. Louis they are, in my opinion, far from the norm. I am a member of a private club; very old, well respected, blah, blah, blah. The lion’s share of the people joined because they like the golf course – they stay if they like the atmosphere. This is true of any club.
The feeling one gets from membership in a club or organization is difficult to explain. I always get a kick out of the people that immediately get out their calculator to begin figuring out how many times they will play and what their projectec cost-per-round will be. Very few of the people that I know who speak highly of their club mention the reduced cost-per-round. I enjoy being a part of something and showing up to play at a public course, no matter how good the golf, is just not the same. My weekly hockey night is really no differnt; I much prefer to play with my “regular guys” as opposed to playing shinney with whomever shows up. The kibitzing with the guys before and after the game is as much a part of the experience as the game itself.
private=private What about the Skull and Bones Club at Yale? They have controlled the US for almost a 100 years.
At some older Private clubs one is asked to join, you don’t walk up and ask to be a member. With the abundance of golf clubs built in the last 15 years there are many private clubs looking for members and as they absorb new people their fences are falling down. Did Northwood’s members change Summit and St. George’s positively?
I think so but I don’t have any stake in either club. Did George Cohen get into Rosedale yet? Did Bill Gates get into Augusta?
Bayview used to have a perfect system, one Italian director, one jewish director and one chinese director. Their job was to insure the percentages stayed the same and the club was integrated very successful, and the clubhouse operation more than carried itself financially.
RG,
i think he’s probably Rosina Thompson at the fabulous Napanee (Slapmyknee?) Golf and Country Club.