The Wentworth Golf Club Rebellion
March 2, 2021 5:59 AM Subscribe
[I]t wasn’t like Wentworth hadn’t seen money before.... Beginning in the 80s, in particular, the Island attracted people with a high order of wealth – all of whom have found, over the past decade or so, that they, in turn, are being inconveniently supplanted by people with an altogether more stratospheric order of wealth.
(SLGuardian)
Yup! You can practically guarantee every single original member of that club worshipped Margaret Thatcher as the living embodiment of the market. Not so much fun when it bites you in the arse.
"But my hobbies!"
posted by biffa at 6:53 AM on March 2, 2021 [5 favorites]
"But my hobbies!"
posted by biffa at 6:53 AM on March 2, 2021 [5 favorites]
drops monocle......eponysterical!
posted by lalochezia at 7:09 AM on March 2, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by lalochezia at 7:09 AM on March 2, 2021 [10 favorites]
A graduated real estate tax, administered in a fair way, could go a long way towards equity in real estate.
posted by grokus at 7:24 AM on March 2, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by grokus at 7:24 AM on March 2, 2021 [4 favorites]
There may or may not be a perfectly good sport hiding in golf somewhere, but with all the layers of wealth and privilege bullshit that's wrapped around it, I will never know.
posted by jordemort at 7:50 AM on March 2, 2021 [30 favorites]
posted by jordemort at 7:50 AM on March 2, 2021 [30 favorites]
Economists and nutritionists agree! There's never been a better time to Eat The Rich!
posted by tommasz at 7:53 AM on March 2, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by tommasz at 7:53 AM on March 2, 2021 [12 favorites]
@Jon_Evil - I immediately thought of that same Onion article!!!
posted by sonofsnark at 8:08 AM on March 2, 2021
posted by sonofsnark at 8:08 AM on March 2, 2021
I'm just glad that billionaires are pissing off the millionaires. I guess the takeaway is that late stage capitalism is no fun for anybody, except for one guy (this year it's Jeff Bezos).
posted by Carmody'sPrize at 8:16 AM on March 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Carmody'sPrize at 8:16 AM on March 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
A while back got a series of misdirected emails intended for a UK fellow with a name similar to mine -- including the catering list for a party he was throwing in some Scottish castle. I'm pretty sure he's not top-end wealth, probably just a multimillionaire, but even so jebus some people can afford ridiculous parties (who rents out a castle?)
...that's not the surprising part. The surprising part was the total lack of basic email operational security by any of his underlings, and their stubborn unwillingness to correct matters (if I have to notify your broker three times that they're sending confidential information to the wrong person and only get things fixed by yelling and swearing, well, something is going wrong).
Kinda makes me wonder if they're sandbagging him just out of spite. Which is fine, as far as it goes, but history tells me I'd be the only person to be punished in any of this.
posted by aramaic at 8:25 AM on March 2, 2021 [14 favorites]
...that's not the surprising part. The surprising part was the total lack of basic email operational security by any of his underlings, and their stubborn unwillingness to correct matters (if I have to notify your broker three times that they're sending confidential information to the wrong person and only get things fixed by yelling and swearing, well, something is going wrong).
Kinda makes me wonder if they're sandbagging him just out of spite. Which is fine, as far as it goes, but history tells me I'd be the only person to be punished in any of this.
posted by aramaic at 8:25 AM on March 2, 2021 [14 favorites]
There may or may not be a perfectly good sport hiding in golf somewhere, but with all the layers of wealth and privilege bullshit that's wrapped around it, I will never know.
In Ireland and Scotland especially, it is not at all uncommon to find a golf courses that have nothing more than a dropbox to put in a few coins to play them. There are no gawdy clubhouses at these places, no members, none of the typical accoutrement of what one normally expects to see. It's just an open space for families and friends to go knock a ball about while they're getting in a good walk. At those places, it's not uncommon to see sheep grazing somewhere out on the grounds, which is a sure sign that this is a place where the game is closest to its origins.
Those courses are more in tune with the game invented by shepherds to wile away the hours while they tended the flock out on the links -- the land that lay between the sea and arable grounds located a bit more inland. It started out as a game played by the working class, but has somehow largely evolved into something nearly exclusive to the well-to-do.
That's a shame, because at the end of the day, it's the walk that matters the most, not the score on the card.
posted by wolpfack at 8:32 AM on March 2, 2021 [55 favorites]
In Ireland and Scotland especially, it is not at all uncommon to find a golf courses that have nothing more than a dropbox to put in a few coins to play them. There are no gawdy clubhouses at these places, no members, none of the typical accoutrement of what one normally expects to see. It's just an open space for families and friends to go knock a ball about while they're getting in a good walk. At those places, it's not uncommon to see sheep grazing somewhere out on the grounds, which is a sure sign that this is a place where the game is closest to its origins.
Those courses are more in tune with the game invented by shepherds to wile away the hours while they tended the flock out on the links -- the land that lay between the sea and arable grounds located a bit more inland. It started out as a game played by the working class, but has somehow largely evolved into something nearly exclusive to the well-to-do.
That's a shame, because at the end of the day, it's the walk that matters the most, not the score on the card.
posted by wolpfack at 8:32 AM on March 2, 2021 [55 favorites]
For a hot minute, I was a bartender at THE WEALTHIEST private club in San Franciscio. During the “Before Times”, back when barftending was a thing people did in public.
One Sunday, while working brunch, I overhead the following snippet of conversation while clearing the Bloody Marys.:
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:51 AM on March 2, 2021 [32 favorites]
One Sunday, while working brunch, I overhead the following snippet of conversation while clearing the Bloody Marys.:
My spouse and I are millionaires trying to live like billionaires; we have to get out of the Bay AreaHearing that put a crease in my brain that never disappeared.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:51 AM on March 2, 2021 [32 favorites]
So Red Bull is IP that has made some Chinese guy incredibly wealthy, huh. Not like a needed another reason to avoid it, but not helping Yan Bin be a hyper-rich asshole is one more reason to never drink Red Bull.
posted by Meatbomb at 8:52 AM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Meatbomb at 8:52 AM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
Such a delicious story. Come for the privileged class falling victim to the inevitable end result of its own policies of exclusion, stay for Nigel Farage complaining how England is being colonized and some old white dude suing for racial discrimination.
So delicious. I think I'll wash it down with a Chinese Red Bull.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:01 AM on March 2, 2021 [5 favorites]
So delicious. I think I'll wash it down with a Chinese Red Bull.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:01 AM on March 2, 2021 [5 favorites]
So Red Bull is IP that has made some Chinese guy incredibly wealthy, huh.
And made an Austrian guy and a Thai guy (the two founders) even more wealthy. The Thai guy’s son occasionally pops up in the news, e.g. this from The Guardian a few months ago:
And made an Austrian guy and a Thai guy (the two founders) even more wealthy. The Thai guy’s son occasionally pops up in the news, e.g. this from The Guardian a few months ago:
Interpol has issued a “red notice” to arrest the fugitive Thai heir to the Red Bull billions over his role in a fatal hit-and-run incident in Bangkok, police have said.posted by fabius at 9:14 AM on March 2, 2021 [6 favorites]
The move by the international police organisation is the latest in the years-long saga surrounding Vorayuth “Boss” Yoovidhya who crashed his Ferrari in 2012, killing a police officer.
The charges against Vorayuth, who is the grandson of Red Bull’s co-founder Chaleo Yoovidhya, were dropped in July, sparking public outrage among the Thai public who saw it as an example of impunity granted the wealthy in the country.
I thought of the opening scene of Crazy Rich Asians.
posted by olopua at 9:40 AM on March 2, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by olopua at 9:40 AM on March 2, 2021 [4 favorites]
There may or may not be a perfectly good sport hiding in golf
In the States that might be Frisbee golf. I’ve been in a huge town park that was a course for that plus it was safe for anyone to walk in the park at the same time. The goals are cheap and not damaging to install. And as a local cheerfully said, you don’t need expensive sand traps and all, any tree will do.
posted by clew at 9:41 AM on March 2, 2021 [11 favorites]
In the States that might be Frisbee golf. I’ve been in a huge town park that was a course for that plus it was safe for anyone to walk in the park at the same time. The goals are cheap and not damaging to install. And as a local cheerfully said, you don’t need expensive sand traps and all, any tree will do.
posted by clew at 9:41 AM on March 2, 2021 [11 favorites]
I love the irony of a Chinese businessman colonizing Britain.
Would that more billionaires spent their money terrorizing the rich instead of grinding down the poor.
posted by explosion at 9:48 AM on March 2, 2021 [10 favorites]
Would that more billionaires spent their money terrorizing the rich instead of grinding down the poor.
posted by explosion at 9:48 AM on March 2, 2021 [10 favorites]
During the “Before Times”, back when barftending was a thing people did in public.
Okay, I can't resist.
MetaFilter: Barftending.
posted by The Bellman at 10:01 AM on March 2, 2021 [18 favorites]
Okay, I can't resist.
MetaFilter: Barftending.
posted by The Bellman at 10:01 AM on March 2, 2021 [18 favorites]
> In Ireland and Scotland especially, it is not at all uncommon to find a golf courses that have nothing more than a dropbox to put in a few coins to play them.
I really wish I had access to golf courses and experiences like that, because as I’ve been telling people for years; golf is a perfectly good sport, but golf *culture* is just the absolute fucking worst.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:18 AM on March 2, 2021 [6 favorites]
I really wish I had access to golf courses and experiences like that, because as I’ve been telling people for years; golf is a perfectly good sport, but golf *culture* is just the absolute fucking worst.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:18 AM on March 2, 2021 [6 favorites]
I used to live in a city in Michigan where a bunch of city-owned courses were available; it was entirely possible to play a round of 9 or 18 holes for $5-$10 if you had your own clubs. Golf doesn’t have to be expensive, but it is often convenient (for the course owners) to make it expensive.
Haven’t played much in recent years. But I keep a stack of disc golf frisbees in the back of my car, and (pre-COVID) the kid and I used to regularly get in a game at a nearby free course prior to our weekly grocery run. Disc golf is definitely an accessible game, all you really need is a single disc (any frisbee will do in a pinch).
posted by caution live frogs at 10:24 AM on March 2, 2021 [7 favorites]
Haven’t played much in recent years. But I keep a stack of disc golf frisbees in the back of my car, and (pre-COVID) the kid and I used to regularly get in a game at a nearby free course prior to our weekly grocery run. Disc golf is definitely an accessible game, all you really need is a single disc (any frisbee will do in a pinch).
posted by caution live frogs at 10:24 AM on March 2, 2021 [7 favorites]
(if I have to notify your broker three times that they're sending confidential information to the wrong person and only get things fixed by yelling and swearing, well, something is going wrong)
They have money. So, obviously, they can't possibly be making a mistake. Mon Dieu!
posted by Thorzdad at 11:04 AM on March 2, 2021
They have money. So, obviously, they can't possibly be making a mistake. Mon Dieu!
posted by Thorzdad at 11:04 AM on March 2, 2021
administered in a fair way
I see what you did there...
posted by notsnot at 12:09 PM on March 2, 2021 [6 favorites]
I see what you did there...
posted by notsnot at 12:09 PM on March 2, 2021 [6 favorites]
Years ago, at work, a bunch of us software engineers were sitting in the cafeteria for lunch. Somebody else came over and sat down and immediately started talking about golf. We all sort of looked at them with that look of who cares combined with fuck off. They couldn't read it but after about five minutes they got up and left. The guy across from me said, "I love to play golf, but it is the absolutely most boring thing to talk about." We all nodded in agreement.
posted by njohnson23 at 12:36 PM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by njohnson23 at 12:36 PM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
I have to keep taking breaks as I read, just so I can let the waves of pleasure roll over me. What a perfect story for our time.
(I have been to Virginia Water, spending the night before joining family friends who are big into horse-drawn carriages and were doing their thing in Windsor Great Park. Because that was the weirdest goddamn day of my life, Virginia Water was mostly very pretty, and only mildly uncomfortable on a class level.)
posted by kalimac at 12:38 PM on March 2, 2021
(I have been to Virginia Water, spending the night before joining family friends who are big into horse-drawn carriages and were doing their thing in Windsor Great Park. Because that was the weirdest goddamn day of my life, Virginia Water was mostly very pretty, and only mildly uncomfortable on a class level.)
posted by kalimac at 12:38 PM on March 2, 2021
Heh, heh.
1401 Valencia St, SF. Clooney’s Pub.
January 1, ~9:30am
The gutter around the corner from the front door.
Service industry professionals dressed all-in-black who have been working non-stop since last year, who have yet not had wink-1 of sleep this year, and are fueled by ALL MANNER of not-technically-food substances, and are retelling stories about what manner of shit-show was our personal NYE.
THAT was “barftending in public”
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 12:43 PM on March 2, 2021 [6 favorites]
1401 Valencia St, SF. Clooney’s Pub.
January 1, ~9:30am
The gutter around the corner from the front door.
Service industry professionals dressed all-in-black who have been working non-stop since last year, who have yet not had wink-1 of sleep this year, and are fueled by ALL MANNER of not-technically-food substances, and are retelling stories about what manner of shit-show was our personal NYE.
THAT was “barftending in public”
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 12:43 PM on March 2, 2021 [6 favorites]
Turner's paintings of Virginia Water make it look like Lothlorien so of course a golf course was needed.
posted by thatwhichfalls at 1:09 PM on March 2, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by thatwhichfalls at 1:09 PM on March 2, 2021 [6 favorites]
Metafilter: There were ructions
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:46 PM on March 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 1:46 PM on March 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
My dad was a working-class golf player for much of his life. He didn't join any fancy golf clubs. Mostly he played at inexpensive public courses, with the occasional round at a private course. I'm not sure it's possible to do that today. Maybe in the Monterey area, which has a couple of inexpensive public courses. (Play the Pacific Grove Golf Links – designed by the same guy who designed Pebble Beach but 1/20th of the price!)
posted by rednikki at 5:12 PM on March 2, 2021
posted by rednikki at 5:12 PM on March 2, 2021
Golf doesn't have to be snooty and exclusive, but I haven't come across many contexts in Britain where it isn't.
This is just snooty exclusive types getting beaten at their own game. Sore losers.
posted by Dysk at 5:50 PM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
This is just snooty exclusive types getting beaten at their own game. Sore losers.
posted by Dysk at 5:50 PM on March 2, 2021 [2 favorites]
My German friend tells me there is a German saying / joke along the lines of ‘how old are you? Do you still have sex, or have you started playing golf already?’...
I grew up in an area of Scotland infested with golf courses which were bastions of elitism and discrimination against women. I didn’t see any sign of courses that you could play for a few coins in a box, but suffered some near misses from stray shots while walking the dog on a flat grassy area adjacent to a links course, where those that couldn’t get into the links course played informally just outside.
posted by ElasticParrot at 5:41 AM on March 3, 2021
I grew up in an area of Scotland infested with golf courses which were bastions of elitism and discrimination against women. I didn’t see any sign of courses that you could play for a few coins in a box, but suffered some near misses from stray shots while walking the dog on a flat grassy area adjacent to a links course, where those that couldn’t get into the links course played informally just outside.
posted by ElasticParrot at 5:41 AM on March 3, 2021
There's always the far superior suggestion that George Carlin had back 30 years ago.
posted by Hactar at 6:09 AM on March 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Hactar at 6:09 AM on March 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
My favorite golf games as a teen were the ones where I decided to join my parents as "caddy"; they would golf and I would walk and try to help keep on eye on where the ball went. At the end, lunch.
Now, we never played on a course with a ventilation system under the fairway, so maybe I'm missing something. But boy I enjoyed those walks.
posted by nubs at 6:15 AM on March 3, 2021
Now, we never played on a course with a ventilation system under the fairway, so maybe I'm missing something. But boy I enjoyed those walks.
posted by nubs at 6:15 AM on March 3, 2021
This was an Onion article a while back
I remember this now; the image alone is a great lol
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 8:26 AM on March 3, 2021
I remember this now; the image alone is a great lol
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 8:26 AM on March 3, 2021
That's a shame, because at the end of the day, it's the walk that matters the most, not the score on the card.
What is the saying or the name of the book? Golf, a good walk spoiled.
posted by AugustWest at 1:11 PM on March 3, 2021
What is the saying or the name of the book? Golf, a good walk spoiled.
posted by AugustWest at 1:11 PM on March 3, 2021
golf is a perfectly good sport, but golf *culture* is just the absolute fucking worst.
Golf may be bad from the standpoint of culture, inequality, sexism, racism, corruption, land management, affordable housing, water consumption, native species, and climate change, but other than that there's nothing wrong with it.
posted by splitpeasoup at 2:59 PM on March 3, 2021 [8 favorites]
Golf may be bad from the standpoint of culture, inequality, sexism, racism, corruption, land management, affordable housing, water consumption, native species, and climate change, but other than that there's nothing wrong with it.
posted by splitpeasoup at 2:59 PM on March 3, 2021 [8 favorites]
I would be fascinated to know what effect Brexit has had on the notion that global billionaires will see U.K property as an attractive, valuable investment.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 9:20 AM on March 5, 2021
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 9:20 AM on March 5, 2021
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