Jewish country club


Jewish country clubs are country clubs in the United States and other Western countries whose membership is predominantly Jewish. They emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries as a response to widespread antisemitic exclusion from other elite social clubs. The practice was a form of racial segregation. Consequently, many major American cities have at least one country club of Jewish origin, and in places with larger Jewish communities, several such clubs were established by affluent Jewish individuals of the period.
Although Jews, along with other ethnic and religious minorities, continue to face exclusion from certain country clubs, formal restrictions on Jewish membership began to diminish during the 1970s to 1980s. By the 1990s, particularly following the 1990 PGA Championship, more clubs began admitting Jews, African Americans, and other minority groups. As a result of increased integration and greater choice for affluent Jews, many Jewish country clubs experienced declining membership, with some closing entirely and others evolving into more diverse institutions.
Nevertheless, some clubs, while de jure open to all, may de facto continue to exclude individuals of Jewish heritage through pretexts or subtle forms of discrimination. As a result, Jewish country clubs have retained a distinct identity and continue to exist in major cities across the United States. In the Philadelphia area, however, all but one of the remaining clubs have ceased their affiliation with the Jewish Federation, which was once regarded as a key element of their Jewish character through its role in charitable fundraising.

Origins

Many country clubs in the United States were established around the same time that immigration to the country, including of Jews, began to rise sharply. As antisemitism increased during the early 20th century, Jews, even Jews who once had access to elite White Anglo-Saxon Protestant social societies, were blackballed from joining clubs. By the early 20th century, most cities with meaningful Jewish populations had formed country clubs, and by 1928, there were 34 Jewish social and country clubs in the greater New York area, though many Jews still saw the inability to join non-Jewish social organizations as an impediment to assimilating and Americanizing.
Despite having been born of discrimination, Jewish country clubs often discriminated within the Jewish population. In the early years of the 20th century, membership at some clubs was restricted to American and German Jews, though as populations grew and intermarried, Eastern European Jewry such as Russian and Polish Jews were also accepted.
According to a 1962 Anti-Defamation League survey of 803 country clubs, 224 were found to be non-discriminatory, while among the predominantly Christian clubs, 89 had quotas on the number of Jewish members and 416 admitted no Jews, though the Jewish Telegraphic Agency noted that social club discrimination was "in retreat" by the mid-1960s. Nevertheless, as late as the 2010s, some country clubs still admit few or no Jews.
Although Jewish country clubs have predominantly Jewish memberships, the clubs themselves are not particularly Jewish in terms of custom or practice—clubs tend to be open on Shabbat and serve non-kosher food. The names and architecture of clubs are not recognizably Jewish and often mimicked the convention of the other, predominantly Protestant country club from which Jews were excluded.

Gradual decline

Beginning in the 1970s and continuing through the 1980s, increasing numbers of Jews were admitted to predominantly WASP country clubs, although progress was often slow. The 1990 PGA Championship drew national attention to discriminatory practices in private clubs and social organisations across the United States. In response, clubs were compelled either to accept greater numbers of African American and Jewish members or to forfeit the opportunity to host future PGA tournaments. While some chose to integrate, others persisted in maintaining restrictions against black and Jewish applicants. In 1990, Tom Watson famously resigned from the Kansas City Country Club over its refusal to admit billionaire H&R Block founder Henry Bloch, who was Jewish.
That freedom to assimilate has however ironically hurt Jewish country clubs. Between intermarriage, more geographically dispersed Jewish populations, fewer golfers, and a decline in country club membership generally, many Jewish country clubs have either had to fold, merge, or lose their Jewish identity. In cities with multiple Jewish country clubs, there is increasing consolidation. Three of the six Jewish country clubs in Baltimore closed between 1985 and 2010, for example.
In addition to demographic changes, the Madoff investment scandal hit Jewish country clubs particularly hard. Bernie Madoff was an avid golfer in both New York and Florida, and many members of Jewish country clubs had invested heavily in his Ponzi scheme.
When Woodmont Country Club, a Jewish country club in the Washington, D.C. area, offered membership to President Barack Obama following the conclusion of his presidency, some members objected due to his administration's policies toward Israel, which they viewed as overly sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. The club ultimately admitted him. Doug Emhoff, the first Jewish spouse of a Vice President, is a member at Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles.

List of historically Jewish country clubs