The Strange Tale of Aronimink Golf Club

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: June 29, 2010

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Sometimes truth is stupidly stranger than fiction.

Take the Aronimink Golf Club, the site of this week’s AT&T tournament. When his reputation is resurrected, Tiger Woods will once again be the very visible host for the event.

Aronimink is a private club.

It was, according to a history written by the late Fred Byrod, who worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer for 40 years, incorporated in 1900 with 150 members.

There were six women on the first board of governors, and four men.

John M. Shippen, who was of mixed Shinnecock Indian and black parentage—a fact that caused a racial stir in the second U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in 1896—was their first professional.

Several professionals entered in the 1896 US Open threatened to withdraw if Shippen was allowed to play. 

The USGA, in keeping with their spirit of ignoring professional golfers' complaints, paid no attention and assigned him a tee time. Shippen, who was 17 years old at the time, tied for fifth place.

Fast-forward 90 years.

The 1990 PGA Championship is held at Shoal Creek GC in Birmingham, Alabama.

The founder of Shoal Creek, a private club, was asked about the composition of its membership, and he gave an unfortunate answer causing an uproar that was felt across the country.

The sport of golf had to take a strong look in the mirror.

What it saw was exclusion of non-white, non-male people from membership at most clubs.  

Sponsors threatened to pull out of the PGA unless black members were added to Shoal Creek's membership, and this was less than a month before the tournament.

It was a social and business calamity of the first order.

A solution was found when Louis Willie, a black businessman who was president of an insurance company in Birmingham, and Hall Thompson, founder of Shoal ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Golf

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