The National Council of Women’s Organizations, headed by chairperson Martha Burk, are trying to press their influence into the media and Augusta’s heads. The NCWO consists of over six million members of over 100 organizations worldwide (NCWO Takes On). Burk initiated the fiasco on June 12, 2002 by sending a letter to William “Hootie” Johnson, the Chairman of Augusta National concerning its membership opportunities. The letter was an open statement of disagreement about the policies of membership at Augusta National.

A few weeks later, on July 8, 2002, Johnson responded with a defensive letter that took of

The National Council of Women’s Organizations recently stated publicly that it would be possible to organize pickets at the Masters this coming spring. The purpose of these protests would be to display publicly the disapproval of Augusta’s membership policies. I don’t see these protests as effective as others, but do see their point. When asked about this issue, Johnson responded, “Well, our patrons are ladies and gentlemen, and they’ll ignore any protesters that may be there.” I think this statement is true, but the real problem would be the media and how they perceive and show the pickets to the rest of the world.

Although a serious issue, some humor can be derived from such a situation. Technically, there is no rule preventing a woman from joining the PGA Tour, but there are rules and regulations preventing men from joining the LPGA Tour (Feinstein 56). Some say that the discrimination should be eliminated on both sides. This may be an elementary argument, but it is reality. Do you think that Dr. Burk would support any PGA Tour member trying to join the LPGA Tour?

fense to the comments in Burk’s letter. The media soon was catching on to the struggle and began to form a general opinion. Most members of the media sided with Burk and the NCWO in its efforts to allow a female member in Augusta. They portrayed Johnson as a bigot and lived in a time warp (Roberts). It seems that public opinion has been swayed by the views presented by the press. Some media personnel see the situation as gender discrimination against females. I tend to agree with this idea, but some misconstrue the problem and try to modify parts to make Augusta look bad.

In the November 13 issue of the New York Times, Selena Roberts writes an editorial that presents the Augusta chairman to live in a time warp. It is an article that strongly opposes Augusta National and heavily favors the NCWO and their causes. The editorial is very sarcastic in a sense that it compares Mr. Johnson to such past men like Ward Cleaver from Leave It To Beaver. It is written with a tone that almost makes Johnson sound like a typical 1950’s male who has his wife worship the ground he walks on. In presenting her argument, Roberts in a way proves why this conflict has gotten out of hand. She so

Some topics in this essay:
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