Couple Kicked Out Of California Club For Challenging Men-Only Rule

This is hardly a unique story when a private club member is banished from said club for challenging a particular member invite edict. You’d think prospective club members should know the rule pros and cons before applying for membership.

Yet some still fight the good fight–although it usually doesn’t end well.

Tim and Meredith Orman found that out when their San Joaquin CC in Fresno, California banished them for challenging the mens-only membership rules.

The Ormans were expelled in February after the private club’s board of directors determined the couple’s conduct to be “improper and likely to endanger the welfare, safety, harmony or good reputation of the Club or its Members.”

Left unstated in the two-page expulsion letter was a not-so-subtle message: This is what happens when you challenge the old-boy network at one of Fresno’s most exclusive (some would say snooty) enclaves.

For years, Meredith Orman bristled against a San Joaquin Country Club membership regulation that stated only men were allowed to tee off on Saturday mornings. For years, women weren’t allowed before 11 a.m. In 2014, the club changed it to 10.

“Ladies” were given exclusive access to the scenic course along the San Joaquin River on Mondays and Thursdays before 10. As if women have nothing else to do on weekday mornings … like work. But those prime a.m. hours on Saturday, before temperatures soar and air quality dips during a good chunk of the year, were exclusively reserved for men.

Meredith began expressing her objections in 2013 and says others did so previously. Although their complaints seemed to fall upon deaf ears of the club’s all-male board , they must have had some impact. Because last August the club changed the wording from “MEN ONLY PLAY” on Saturdays before 10 a.m. to “MEMBERS ONLY PLAY.”

According to strict interpretation of the club’s bylaws, Meredith was not the actual member. Her husband was. And although they could have switched designations, making Meredith the member and Tim the spouse, that meant the couple couldn’t play together on Saturdays before 10. Nor could Meredith play with female friends whose husbands were the designated member.

“When someone joins a private golf course they’re paying for the privilege, if you want to call it that, to be able to play on a non-congested golf course,” club VP Thompson said. “The added benefit that our club has historically offered, as do many other clubs, that if a member joins, whether that member is male or female, they are extended the right to have a spouse or their children, if those children are under a certain age and still living at home, to also have access to the golf course.

“The best comparison I can give you is (the local gym chain GB3). … I will guarantee you that with your membership your wife could not show up and demand access to the club. It’s the same thing with country clubs.”

As mentioned, some membership rules aren’t necessarily politically correct, but there are no shortage of private clubs who officially or unofficially police those rules to a tee. Some will fight and win while others simply permanently lose their memberships.

Just depends how important it is to the offended parties to challenge the clubs.