Country club
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A country club is a privately-owned club,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> often with a membership quota and admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Typical athletic offerings are golf, tennis, and swimming. Where golf is the principal or sole sporting activity, and especially outside of the United States and Canada, it is common for a country club to be referred to simply as a golf club. Many country clubs offer other new activities such as pickleball, and platform tennis.
Country clubs are most commonly located in city outskirts or suburbs,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> because of the need for substantial grounds for outdoor activities. This factor distinguishes them from an urban athletic club.
Country clubs originated in Scotland<ref>Wray Vamplew, “Sharing Space: Inclusion, Exclusion and Accommodation at the British Golf Club before 1914” Journal of Sport and Social Issues 34, no. 359 (2010): 359, doi: 10.1177/0193723510377327.</ref> and first appeared in the US in the early 1880s.<ref name="Simon, Roger D. 2007">Simon, Roger D. “Country Clubs.” In The Encyclopedia of American Urban History, edited by David R. Goldfield, 193-94. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2007. doi: 10.4135/9781412952620.n110.</ref> Country clubs had a profound effect on expanding suburbanization<ref name=steele75>Gordon, John Steele, “The Country Club” Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore. American Heritage 41, no.6 (1990): 75</ref> and are considered to be the precursor to gated community development.<ref name="Simon, Roger D. 2007" />
By nationEdit
United States and CanadaEdit
Country clubs can be exclusive organizations. In small towns, membership in the country club is often not as exclusive or expensive as in larger cities where there is competition for a limited number of memberships. In addition to the fees, some clubs have additional requirements to join.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> For example, membership can be limited to those who reside in a particular housing community. Early clubs focused primarily on equestrian-related sports: coaching, racing, jumping, polo, and foxhunting. In the 1980s, the nationwide interest shifted more towards golf.<ref name=":0" />
Country clubs were founded by upper-class elites between 1880 and 1930.<ref>Jennifer Jolly-Ryan, “Chipping Away at Discrimination at the Country Club,” Pepperdine Law Review 25, no. 495 (1998): 2 http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/pepplr25&div=37&g_sent=1&collection=journals</ref><ref name="heinonline.org">Jennifer Jolly-Ryan, “Chipping Away at Discrimination at the Country Club,” Pepperdine Law Review 25, no. 495 (1998): 496, http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/pepplr25&div=37&g_sent=1&collection=journals</ref> The Brookline Country Club was founded in 1882 and is esteemed to be the nation’s first by the Encyclopaedia of American Urban History.<ref name=":0" /> By 1907, country clubs were claimed to be “the very essence of American upper-class.”<ref name=steele75 /> The number of country clubs increased greatly with industrialization, the rise in incomes, and suburbanization in the 1920s.<ref name=steele75 /> During the 1920s, country clubs acted as community social centers.<ref name=steele75 /> When people lost most of their income and net worth during the Great Depression, the number of country clubs decreased drastically for lack of membership funding.<ref name=steele75 />
Template:AnchorHistorically, many country clubs were "restricted" and refused to admit members of specific racial, ethnic or religious groups such as Jews, African Americans and Catholics.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Beginning in the 1960s civil rights lawsuits forced clubs to drop exclusionary policies.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In a 1990 landmark ruling at Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club, the PGA refused to hold tournaments at private clubs that practiced racial discrimination.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> This new regulation led to the admittance of black people at private clubs. The incident at Shoal Creek is comparable to the 1966 NCAA basketball tournament, which led to the end of racial discrimination in college basketball.
The Philadelphia Cricket Club is the oldest organized country club in the United States devoted to playing games,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> while The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts is the oldest club devoted to golf.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
United KingdomEdit
In the United Kingdom, many country clubs are smaller than those in the USA though examples similar in size and scope to the American country club also exist. Gentlemen’s clubs in Britain—many of which admit women while remaining socially exclusive—fill many roles of the United States' country clubs.Template:Citation needed
SpainEdit
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Similar to the United States, Spain has had a tradition of country clubs as a pillar of social life.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> This began during the reign of Alfonso XII and was consolidated during the reign of his son and successor Alfonso XIII, who granted royal status to a handful of country clubs. Most country clubs in Spain are typically associated with the upper classes, and were conceived around a central sport such as golf, polo or tennis, although some of them did eventually offer other sports.Template:Sfn Examples include Real Club de la Puerta de Hierro, Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, Real Club de Polo de Barcelona, Real Sociedad de Golf de Neguri, Real Club Pineda etc. Many of them are also located in those cities or towns that hosted the summer vacations of the royal family. Such is the case of Real Sociedad de Tenis de la Magdalena, Real Golf de Pedreña or Real Golf Club de Zarauz for example.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The most notable difference between Spanish and American country clubs is that the former are not normally located in the countryside but either within a city or town itself or in the outskirts at most.Template:Citation needed
Indian subcontinentEdit
Many of the gentlemen's clubs established during the British Raj are still active in major cities, for example the Bangalore Club, Lahore Gymkhana, Karachi Gymkhana, Nizam Club, and Bengal Club.
Gymkhanas are sporting or social clubs across the subcontinent.Template:Citation needed
AustraliaEdit
Country clubs exist in multiple forms, including athletic-based clubs and golf clubs. Examples are the Breakfast Point Country Club, Cumberland Grove Country Club and Terrey Hills Golf & Country Club in Sydney,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref> the Castle Hill Country Club,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the Gold Coast Polo & Country Club, The Heritage Golf and Country Club, Elanora Country Club,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the Sanctuary Cove Golf & Country Club.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
JapanEdit
In Japan, almost all golf clubs are called "Country Clubs" by their owners.Template:Citation needed