To the editor:

I wonder why it seemed imperative for two United Feature Syndicate columnists to address the issue of admitting women to membership at the Augusta National Golf Club (“Augusta must admit women,” Journal-World, Nov. 26). It seems that this is much ado about nothing. A U.S. News and World Report article, Dec. 2, explains very clearly why this should be a non-issue.

In the U.S. News article John Leo lists several institutions that are “gender specific,” stating that there is no great uproar over this exclusivity. Mr. Leo lists Wellesley College, Ladies Golf Club of Toronto, and New York’s Cosmopolitan Club. He references single-sex colleges, health clubs, Scout groups and a women’s golf tour as examples, and points out that female sportswriters are allowed into male locker rooms, but no attempt is made to let male sportswriters into female locker rooms.

It appears to me that exclusion of females (from membership only, not golf) by the male members is such an important issue to feminist groups (and many others) that it has become a Mount Everest for them. It appears as a significant challenge, so “let’s go climb it.” I agree with Mr. Leo; let those “good ol’ boys” down in Augusta, boorish as they may seem, have their little bastion of male-only control.

One would certainly hope that there are much more significant women’s causes for these folks to champion, making this one seem foolish for them (and me?) to write about.

W. A. Harris,

Visiting from Brenham, Tex.