Posted on 04/24/2018 5:52:36 PM PDT by lightman
The story of five black women who were asked to leave a York County golf course for reportedly playing too slowly is making headlines and causing outrage across the country.
The group of regular golfers said they were confronted at the second hole by Steve Chronister, one of the owners of the Grandview Golf Course and a former county commissioner, who accused them of lagging and offered to refund their money if they would leave. They were the only African Americans or all-female groups on the course in Dover Township, according to Sandra Thompson, who posted a detailed account of her experience on her Facebook page.
After the 9th hole, another owner called police on them, she said, noting they had been asked three times to leave.
Thompson wrote on Facebook that they felt were being discriminating against.
"As we waited and as we spoke to police," she wrote, "no other group approached Hole 10 to tee off, so for about 20-30 minutes there was no one behind the group who were behind us."
The owners of the Grandview Golf Course in York weren't available on Tuesday for comment. The voicemail box for the business was full.
Another owner issued an apology to Thompson and invited them back to play, Thompson wrote on Facebook.
The incident has attracted the attention of celebrities, including musician John Legend, who Tweeted about the incident.
"Please stop calling the police on black people who are just trying to live," he wrote as he retweeted a link to the news story.
As the story has gone viral, some people have heaped abuse upon a different golf course in in Pennsylvania unfortunate enough to have a similar name.
The Grandview Golf Club in North Braddock has been deflecting outraged comments on social media all day Tuesday intended for the Grandview Golf Course in York.
It didn't help matters when Newsweek picked up the story and the writer identified the wrong golf course, erroneously saying that the course in Braddock was the "oldest golf club in York County." But the course in Braddock is in Allegheny County. Newsweek later ran a correction.
The general manager for the golf club near Pittsburgh said he received several hundred angry emails and up to 400 phone calls intended for the "other" Grandview course.
"We've been getting pretty beat up today," said Tom Beeler, of the mix-up. "We've been called racists and bigots and people have threatened to do bad things, including burning down our golf course."
Beeler had been at a golf tournament Monday so he was unaware of the news breaking out of the York area after the York Daily Record first published an account of the incident with videos.
Emails and voicemails started arriving about 8:30 p.m. Monday night, Beeler said.
"We couldn't figure out what was going on," he said.
Beeler had to turn his phone off (his desk phone automatically forwards to his cell phone) to try to get a few hours of sleep Monday night.
On Tuesday morning, he directed staff members to try to get the word out that they were not affiliated in any way with the Grandview Golf Course in York. They put a note on their Twitter account and website:
"There have been some instances of people confusing our course with the York, PA Grandview course that is currently being accused of racism in the news. We are in NO way shape or form affiliated or connected to that course. Here at Grand View, we pride ourselves on treating all our golfers with kindness, respect, and courtesy. Please do not attack us on Facebook, Twitter, Google, or any other platform as we are NOT that course."
Angry people also have written negative reviews for the wrong golf course on several websites, Yelp posted a message on its page Tuesday to note that it was going to "clean up" reviews that seemed prompted by the news coverage.
"We've had phone calls of people just screaming at us," Beeler said. "They won't even pause to let us explain that we're not the one, that they called the wrong place."
falling back and letting faster players play through is common courtesy, I thought? and to make money for doing it? hand me the cash I think it’s snacktime!
A fivesome of women. That shouldn’t take long...
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A fivesome of any gender should not be allowed. Foursomes should be the max; but maybe I’m just becoming old-fashioned.
I’ve been warned for slow play and also seen others get warned/asked to leave.....if you are moving slow you’re supposed to let anyone behind you play through - even if it means you’ll be out there a few extra hours.
Exactly. Who if anyone cleared a fivesome off the first tee?
I bet no one did. Then they dragged ass anyway, and the super went out and tried to get them to wait till another time.
Golf is all about etiquette, a concept lost on this tribe.
I think it says GIMMEDAT.
That a reporter would not be able to use a map and find out what County some business is located in does not surprise me!
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