Henrietta Hay's Column

Golf, the sport of Kings! Presidents have played. Emperors have played. Million dollar deals have been sealed over a putter. And 23 million Americans play. Golf is one of the most popular recreational sports in the world.

Those of us who - for whatever reason -- do not play golf, look with some bemusement at all the people out there in the sunshine trying to get a little ball successively into 9 or 18 little holes.

We Americans didn't invent it. Roman Emperors played a game called paganica, which used a bent stick to drive a soft ball stuffed with feathers. No doubt that's where the term birdie came from. The game obviously caught on, because variations have been played in Europe ever since, and even our forefathers were knocking a little ball around as early as 1657.

For many years golf was the sport of rich white males. But today it is under attack -- not by creatures from outer space, not by the millions of men who don't qualify as ultra-rich, but by uppity women who don't know their place.

Personal note: To avoid possible physical damage to my aging body, I did not inquire nor do I know anything about customs at local golf courses. I will assume that no discrimination exists, or if it does that it will quickly be eliminated.

Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver hit the headlines when the wife of one of the members filed a discrimination complaint that women's tee times are restricted unfairly and other treatment is unequal. The Colorado Civil Rights Commission says there is "probable cause" to believe the private club has discriminated against her because of her gender. Cherry Hills retaliated by filing a federal lawsuit to block action on sex discrimination. They say it violates their privacy.

The problem is tee times, the times of day or night when people of various genders are authorized to approach the hallowed first tee. Many private clubs ban women during prime morning and weekend hours. According to Woody Paige in the Denver Post, "Cherry Hills reportedly permits women to play (1) between midnight and dawn, (2) during wars when all the men are away, (3) February 29 except during Leap Year and (4) on the Sunday when the Broncos are in the Superbowl."

Understandably this irritates the single women who had to fight the establishment to get their memberships, and the wives of male members who like to play, and figure they have as much right to a decent time as their husbands.

Cherry Hills is no run of the mill country club, but its attitude is not rare. The manager of a private club in Millbrae, California says, "Most of our ladies were brought up thinking it's just a privilege that they're let out on the golf course."

You know women. They play too slow. They talk too much. They aren't strong enough for long drives. They need bathrooms on the course. One infamous network TV sports analyst who shall be nameless said on the air that women can't be good golfers because their breasts get in the way of their swing. Tell that to Patty Berg , who is 77 and still on the Tour. And tell it to young Annika Sorenstam who just won the U. S. Women's Open at the Broadmoor (which does not discriminate) and all the other fine female golfers. Or tell it to Dawn Coe-Jones, 6 1/2 months pregnant who can still swing a club with the best of them.

The reaction to the Cherry Hills case has been fast, vigorous and widespread. The most vocal support for the women has been from the men. A Denver county judge refused to go to his Arapahoe High School reunion because it was being held there. He said, "It would be inappropriate for me to patronize an institution that apparently does not respect the dignity and civil rights of all persons, regardless of race or gender."

A few days later the publisher of the Rocky Mountain News resigned his membership in the Cherry Hills Country Club, writing that, "I just can't continue to support an organization that has a policy to discriminate for any reason."

It's 1995. Forget the Kings. Golf - the sport of Men - and Women.