Country club

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Golf club (institution))
Jump to navigationJump to search
For other uses, see Country club (disambiguation).
Globe icon.
The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States
and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article,
discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate.
(December 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Waverley Country Club in Oregon, United States

A country club is a privately owned club, often with a membership quota and
admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of
recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Typical athletic
offerings are golf, tennis, and swimming. Where golf is the principal or sole
sporting activity, and especially outside of the United States and Canada, it is
common for a country club to be referred to simply as a golf club.

Country clubs are most commonly located in city outskirts or suburbs,[1] due to the
requirement of having substantial grounds for outdoor activities, which
distinguishes them from an urban athletic club.

Country clubs originated in Scotland[2] and first appeared in the US in the early
1880s.[3] Country clubs had a profound effect on expanding suburbanization[4] and
are considered to be the precursor to gated community development.[3]

Contents
1 By nation
1.1 United States and Canada
1.2 United Kingdom
1.3 Spain
1.4 Indian subcontinent
1.5 Australia
1.6 Japan
2 See also
3 References
4 Bibliography
By nation
United States and Canada
Country clubs can be exclusive organizations. In small towns, membership in the
country club is often not as exclusive or expensive as in larger cities where there
is competition for a limited number of memberships. In addition to the fees, some
clubs have additional requirements to join. For example, membership can be limited
to those who reside in a particular housing community.

Country clubs were founded by upper-class elites between 1880 and 1930.[5][6] By
1907, country clubs were claimed to be “the very essence of American upper-
class.”[4] The number of country clubs increased greatly with industrialization,
the rise in incomes, and suburbanization in the 1920s.[4] During the 1920s, country
clubs acted as community social centers.[4] When people lost most of their income
and net worth during the Great Depression, the number of country clubs decreased
drastically for lack of membership funding.[4]

Historically, many country clubs were "restricted" and refused to admit members of
minority racial groups as well those of specific faiths, such as Jews and
Catholics.[7] Beginning in the 1960s civil rights lawsuits forced clubs to drop
exclusionary policies.[citation needed] In a 1990 landmark ruling at Shoal Creek
Golf and Country Club, the PGA refused to hold tournaments at private clubs that
practiced racial discrimination.[8] This new regulation led to the admittance of
black people at private clubs. The incident at Shoal Creek is comparable to the
1966 NCAA basketball tournament, which led to the end of racial discrimination in
college basketball.

The Philadelphia Cricket Club is the oldest organized country club in the United
States devoted to playing games,[9] while The Country Club in Brookline,
Massachusetts is the oldest club devoted to golf.

United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, many country clubs are simply golf clubs, and play a smaller
role in their communities than American country clubs;[citation needed] gentlemen's
clubs in Britain—many of which admit women while remaining socially exclusive—fill
many roles of the United States' country clubs.[citation needed]

Spain

Tennis being played at Real Golf Club de Zarauz, 1916

Similar to the United States, Spain has had a tradition of country clubs as a
pillar of social life.[10][11] This began during the reign of Alfonso XII and was
consolidated during the reign of his son and successor Alfonso XIII, who granted
royal status to a handful of country clubs. Most country clubs in Spain are
typically associated with the upper classes, and were conceived around a central
sport such as golf, polo or tennis, although some of them did eventually offer
other sports.[12] Examples include Real Club de la Puerta de Hierro, Club de Campo
Villa de Madrid, Real Club de Polo de Barcelona, Real Sociedad de Golf de Neguri,
Real Club Pineda etc. Many of them are also located in those cities or towns that
hosted the summer vacations of the royal family. Such is the case of Real Sociedad
de Tenis de la Magdalena, Real Golf de Pedreña or Real Golf Club de Zarauz for
example.[13] The most notable difference between Spanish and American country clubs
is that the former are not normally located in the countryside but either within a
city or town itself or in the outskirts at most.

Indian subcontinent
Many of the gentlemen's clubs established during the British Raj are still active
in major cities, for example the Bangalore Club, Nizam Club, and Bengal Club.

Gymkhanas are sporting or social clubs across the subcontinent.

Australia

A beer garden at an Australian country club.

Country clubs exist in multiple forms, including athletic-based clubs and golf
clubs. Examples are the Breakfast Point Country Club and Cumberland Grove Country
Club in Sydney,[14] the Castle Hill Country Club,[15] the Gold Coast Polo & Country
Club, Elanora Country Club,[16] and the Sanctuary Cove's Country Club.[17]

Japan
In Japan, almost all golf clubs are called "Country Clubs" by their owners.
[citation needed]

See also
Jewish country club
Membership discrimination in California clubs
References
"Country club". Oxford Dictionaries – Dictionary, Thesaurus, & Grammar. Archived
from the original on June 10, 2008.
 Wray Vamplew, “Sharing Space: Inclusion, Exclusion and Accommodation at the
British Golf Club before 1914” Journal of Sport and Social Issues 34, no. 359
(2010): 359, doi: 10.1177/0193723510377327.
Simon, Roger D. “Country Clubs.” In The Encyclopedia of American Urban History,
edited by David R. Goldfield, 193-94. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.,
2007. doi: 10.4135/9781412952620.n110.
Gordon, John Steele, “The Country Club”[dead link]. American Heritage 41, no.6
(1990): 75
Jennifer Jolly-Ryan, “Chipping Away at Discrimination at the Country Club,”
Pepperdine Law Review 25, no. 495 (1998): 2 http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?
handle=hein.journals/pepplr25&div=37&g_sent=1&collection=journals
Jennifer Jolly-Ryan, “Chipping Away at Discrimination at the Country Club,”
Pepperdine Law Review 25, no. 495 (1998): 496, http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?
handle=hein.journals/pepplr25&div=37&g_sent=1&collection=journals
Gritz, Jennie Rothenberg (September 2007). "The Jews in America". The Atlantic.
Retrieved 14 January 2019.
Mayo, James M. (1998). "The American Country Club: An Evolving Elite Landscape".
Journal of Architectural and Planning Research. 15 (1): 24–44. ISSN 0738-0895.
JSTOR 43030441.
"2015 PNC headed to Philadelphia Cricket Club". PGA.com. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
"Clubs deportivos de España: donde la gente influyente se enamora, hace negocios y
pasa su tiempo libre". ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-08.
"El club social, nacimiento y supervivencia del ocio exclusivo". ABC (in Spanish).
Retrieved 2022-07-06.
Espinosa de los Monteros 2020, p. 10.
"Los clubs históricos españoles más exclusivos: desde el favorito de Alfonso XIII
para jugar al tenis al que provocó el flechazo de Máxima y Guillermo". Vanity Fair
(in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-07-06.
"Breakfast Point Community Association". Breakfast Point Community Association.
Archived from the original on 2015-07-08.
"Castle Hill Country Club – One of Sydney's premier private golf clubs". Castle
Hill Country Club.
"Welcome to Elanora Country Club". Elanora Country Club.
"Sanctuary Cove Golf & Country Club – Golf Courses – Gold Coast, Brisbane".
Sanctuary Cove Golf & Country Club. 10 May 2015.
Bibliography
Espinosa de los Monteros, Patricia (2020). Clubs Históricos de España. Ediciones El
Viso. ISBN 978-84-12084-62-7.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Country clubs.

Categories: Sports cultureGolf clubs and coursesClubs and societiesHigh society
(social class)Upper class culture
Navigation menu
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
ArticleTalk
ReadEditView history
Search
Search Wikipedia
Main page
Contents
Current events
Random article
About Wikipedia
Contact us
Donate
Contribute
Help
Learn to edit
Community portal
Recent changes
Upload file
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Cite this page
Wikidata item
Print/export
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons

Languages
‫العربية‬
Deutsch
Español
Français
Nederlands
Português
中文
4 more
Edit links
This page was last edited on 19 October 2022, at 19:33 (UTC).
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0;
additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation,
Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policyAbout WikipediaDisclaimersContact WikipediaMobile
viewDevelopersStatisticsCookie statementWikimedia FoundationPowered by MediaWiki