Dear Mike,
Thank you for asking me, along with all the other members, whether I would like to become part of the golf club’s new ‘Equality — Diversity — Inclusion (EDI) Working Group’. The short answer is I would rather spend a couple of hours in the mud, picking up old beer bottles and condoms out of the river which winds though the course, than sit on such a ‘working group’.
It is difficult to describe -exactly why I think this venture is a bad idea but I will have a go. Let’s take the words of the title of the new committee. What kind of ‘equality’ is it going to work at? Obviously the club cannot attempt to make all members financially equal. And it can’t make us all equally able to drive the ball 250 yards straight down the middle of the long fifth fairway. So what kind of equality is this working group going to be aiming for? I am guessing that it wants to make us all treat each other equally regardless of sex, race, religion, sexual orientation and so on. Is there any reason to think we don’t do that already? In my experience of this club and other clubs before, a golf course brings out some of the best behaviour you can hope to see. Members often play with other members they have never met before. In every case, regardless of sex, race, etc, etc, they do so with respect and civility.
Next on the list is ‘diversity’. If ever there was a club that was diverse, it’s ours. As you know, it has a large minority of members of Indian heritage. As far as I can tell, they are wholly at ease here and valued members.
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