The Unplayable Lie: The Untold Story of Women and Discrimination in American Golf [Hardcover]

Marcia Chambers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1995

Reveals the male-dominated policies of many American golf country clubs, describing how they restrict female membership, charge higher member fees, limit playing times, and otherwise discriminate against women.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Chambers, an editor at Golf Digest and a columnist for the National Law Journal, presents a thorough, if somewhat dry, history of what she calls the "grass ceiling." She focuses on discrimination against women in so-called private golf and country clubs. As she demonstrates, the vast majority of them are not strictly private; despite their paid memberships, most enjoy property tax breaks and conduct business with the public in their bars, restaurants, pro shops and other facilities. Women rising in the corporate ranks want to use the clubs for networking and are embarrassed by having to accord with gender-based tee-off times, especially on weekends, and by other indignities, both major and minor. Chambers cites instances in which discrimination has been hobbled, if not eliminated, and offers suggestions for those who want to mount similar campaigns, whether by fighting from within the system or by taking the issue to the press and legislatures. First serial to Golf Digest.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Through many examples of discriminatory practices and legal cases, Chambers, a journalist specializing in legal issues, summarizes the historical and current situation for women golfers in America. The growing number of women playing golf and climbing the corporate ladder have caught the golf world by surprise, she claims. Some private clubs don't allow single women, toss out women who divorce, restrict prime tee times to men, bar women from their restaurants, or bar women from their grounds altogether. Businesswomen viewing golf as integral to corporate entertaining and networking feel the effects of the "grass ceiling," and some are fighting for change, incurring ostracism, shocking harassment, and even death threats. Somewhat repetitious, this book reads like an extended magazine article. The story of these inequities is important, but it is far from "untold." Public libraries can purchase where there is an interest.
Kathy Ruffle, Coll. of New Caledonia Lib., Prince George, B.C.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; 1ST edition (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671501518
• ISBN-13: 978-0671501518
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,968,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book Which Exposes The Hypocracy Of Golf, August 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The UNPLAYABLE LIE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF WOMEN & DISCRIMINATION IN AMERICAN GOLF (Paperback)

This non-fiction book is extremely well reseached and written. The discrimination against women that it recounts is appalling, and sadly common place. This is an ideal starting place for anyone who wants to impliment change at his or her club. The book also deatails that manner in which the PGA Tour, the PGA of America, and the USGA foster continued discrimination against women by holding tournaments at clubs which discriminate. This is also a morality tale which shows just how far women have to go in American in the late 20th century to overcome sex discrimination. The men at these private clubs who are discriminating againt women are the same men who are at the economic top of our country. They are more than willing to do in private what they know is both leaglly and morally wrong to do in their business relations. But for Title VII and the state laws against discrimination, women would be far behind where they are today. An excellent book which should be read by anybody who loves the game of golf or who is concerned with social justice.

5.0 out of 5 stars Still Relevant, January 25, 2008

By 

Carl E. Johnson Jr. "cejjpj" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The UNPLAYABLE LIE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF WOMEN & DISCRIMINATION IN AMERICAN GOLF (Paperback)

This is an excellent summary of the discrimination issues women have faced (and in 2008 that many continue to face) at private, family golf clubs. But the book is somewhat more than that because it compares the treatment of women at private clubs with those playing golf at public and resort courses. The evidence is anecdotal because by their private nature a lot of what goes on at clubs isn't exposed to public scrutiny. Nevertheless, the author manages to create a reasonable picture of what goes on behind the closed gate with respect to women and how their situation has been improved at many clubs in the past 20 years or so. Although clearly on the women's side, the attorney author presents her case in a reasonable, thoughtful manner. Somewhat surprisingly, there is very little other literature on the subject. For anyone dealing with these issues today, this book is probably the best starting point, notwithstanding its age.

0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The average golfer will be unsympathetic to this "injustice", December 14, 1997

By 

John Caviston - See all my reviews

This review is from: The UNPLAYABLE LIE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF WOMEN & DISCRIMINATION IN AMERICAN GOLF (Paperback)

This book will have very limited appeal. Taken at face value, the author's condescending ar guments are valid. But the average golfer has
very little sympathy for upper crust women who
want to have the same unfettered right to dis
criminate against the rest of us that their male
counterparts have enjoyed with impunity for
years. They are outraged that private country
clubs view them with the same disdain that they
have for public course patrons. The utter ab
surdity of their position is shown in the quote
that introduces the text. A divorcee who was
banished from her country club dares to proclaim
that "Rosa Parks was told to go to the back of
the bus. I was thrown off the bus." Yeah, right!