Burning Tree Club

Burning Tree Club is a private, all-male golf club in Bethesda, Maryland. The course at Burning Tree has been played by numerous presidents, foreign dignitaries, high-ranking executive officials, members of Congress, and military leaders. The course was designed by architect C.H. Alison. The club has a strict policy forbidding women to enter the club, except under rare circumstances.

Location and founding

The Burning Tree Club was founded in 1922, supposedly in response to a male foursome from the Chevy Chase Club being stuck behind a slow-playing group of female golfers.^[1] The name of Burning Tree Club was named for the colorful leaves of a particularly large oak tree in the autumn on its grounds.^[2]

The club is located in Bethesda, Maryland, near Congressional Country Club, home of the 2011 U.S. Open golf tournament.

Fees

The initiation fee is $75,000, while membership fees are $500/month. Membership is exclusive with a cap around 600. The member list is private, and includes honoraria and retired golfers and can be achieved by invitation only.^{[citation needed]}

Notable members and former members

Presidents including

George Herbert Walker Bush

have been extended honorary membership.

Until the appointment of

Warren Burger

.

Other notable members include:

Former Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)^[3]
Former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill (D-MA)
William Randolph Hearst
Former
Senate Majority Leader Robert A. Taft
(R-OH)

Discrimination

There are no women's locker rooms or bathrooms at Burning Tree. No women are permitted inside the club at all, not even for service reasons or parties, with rare exceptions. A recent allowance was made for the spring cocktail party, and women are allowed into the pro shop in December to holiday shop for their husbands.^[1] They can do this only by appointment, during very restrictive hours, and only on Saturdays.

The exclusion of women has extended to

U.S. Secret Service agents have been turned away. Women U.S. Army EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) personnel have been turned away.^[1]

Popular culture

In the Seinfeld episode "The Bottle Deposit", Elaine bids on a set of golf clubs supposedly used by President John F. Kennedy at Burning Tree Club on the morning of the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

In the 1994 book "Watergate", author Fred Emery mentions

James W. McCord, Jr. to be released before his true identity (as a former Central Intelligence Agency employee and security coordinator for CRP) was found out; Kleindienst, in a profanity-laced tirade, refused to do so, said that Mitchell "knows me well enough to call himself if he has anything more like that to say to me" for any such request, and that he couldn't and wouldn't do it.^[5]

In his 2021 novel "Into the Ether", author David Sherer portrays a scene where President Stanton discovers the case of the missing protagonist Dr. Adrian Wren while reading The Washington Post during lunch at Burning Tree Country Club.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Greg Garber, ESPN.com. "A no (wo)man's land". Retrieved 17 June 2011.
^ Maryland Writer's Project, Works Project Administration. Maryland: A Guide to the Old Line State. Oxford University Press. August 1940. p. 512.
^ "Rep. John Boehner's other handicap". Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
^ "How does this high-profile golf junkie get his golf fix these days? Same as anyone else. Not easily". April 22, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
^ "Watergate", pp. 146-147

39°00′03″N 77°09′01″W / 39.00083°N 77.15028°W / 39.00083; -77.15028

[Garber-1] Greg Garber, ESPN.com. "A no (wo)man's land". Retrieved 17 June 2011.

[2] Maryland Writer's Project, Works Project Administration. Maryland: A Guide to the Old Line State. Oxford University Press. August 1940. p. 512.

[3] "Rep. John Boehner's other handicap". Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2011.

[4] "How does this high-profile golf junkie get his golf fix these days? Same as anyone else. Not easily". April 22, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2020.

[5] "Watergate", pp. 146-147

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