According to a report by The Boston Globe, a verbal altercation broke out in September when the club president confronted a non-member couple for wearing denim on the property, later resulting in the president’s resignation.
What began on a Saturday night in September as an attempt by the Weston (Mass.) Golf Club president to enforce the dress code among a large group of members and guests having drinks in the clubhouse bar escalated into verbal altercation that resulted in police being called to defuse the situation, The Boston Globe reported.
The club’s directors conducted an investigation into alleged dress code violations, eventually handing out three-month suspensions to 10 members. The uproar triggered such a backlash that the president resigned, the Globe reported.
Weston GC has an extensive dress code policy, with a ban on denim at the top of the list of forbidden clothing. Whether $50 dungarees or $200 designer jeans, blue denim of any kind is forbidden. The one exception: female members can wear “neat, not torn, white denim,” the Globe reported.
Stephen and Charlotte Weeple, non-members who were meeting friends who are club members, were intercepted by club president Tom Ferry while walking to the clubhouse. Ferry believed the Weeples were in violation of the dress code, and according to a letter the couple wrote to the club’s directors, used profane language to tell them jeans are not allowed on the grounds, the Globe reported.
In the letter, Charlotte Weeple said she thought Ferry was joking until he called her derogatory names, igniting an animated shouting match between her husband and Ferry. At 10:58, Weston police received a 911 call reporting a fist fight in progress, the Globe reported.
“When I arrived, I observed two men…engaged in a loud, verbal argument,” patrolman Joseph Kozowyk wrote in his report, noting that “neither man had any signs of a physical altercation.”
The incident broke up when the Weeples left Weston GC without joining their friends inside. Afterward, though, Charlotte Weeple complained to the club’s directors about her treatment and insisted that neither she nor her husband was wearing jeans. Moreover, Weeple bristled at the implication she did not know the rules of proper attire, the Globe reported.
“Having grown up and spent much of my life in golf clubs around Scotland and officers’ clubs in the military, I am fully aware and respectful of dress code and etiquette,” Weeple wrote.
Within days of the incident Ferry volunteered to take a one-month suspension. But after a number of other members organized a petition calling for a clubwide meeting, Ferry resigned as president in early November. He issued a statement to the Globe in which he apologized for his behavior that night, the Globe reported.
“I am sorry that the ongoing discord over enforcement of the club’s policies has reached such an embarrassing level,” said Ferry. “Most importantly, I wish to repeat publicly the apology I gave to the people with whom I interacted outside of the club that night. It was wrong of me to have spoken that way, I have no excuse, and I sincerely regret having done so.”
Meanwhile, the Weston GC directors began their own investigation a week after the incident, having learned that others in the group the Weeples planned to join, including club members, also were wearing jeans that night. The board sought interviews with eight couples and subsequently suspended five couples for three months, for either wearing jeans or being involved in dress code violations, the Globe reported.
The 10 members still owe club fees during their suspension. In a letter they wrote to the club’s board, obtained by the Globe, the five couples said, “we are sorry and apologize if we did not adequately convey our remorse in our interviews.”
“One thing we can promise you is that this group does not lack integrity,” they added. “We are all parents of young children (15 in total) and you can be sure that conversations concerning the imperativeness of kindness, truthfulness, respect, honesty, humility and accountability fill our homes each day.”
All five couples declined interview requests or did not respond to messages from the Globe seeking comment.
The club did hold a general membership meeting in early November, but by then Ferry had resigned and temperatures inside the clubhouse had cooled. The directors also have not made any changes to the club’s dress code, or their disciplinary measures, as a result of the meeting, the Globe reported.
Through spokeswoman Karen Schwartzman, Weston GC acknowledged that “an effort to enforce club rules got out of hand. The dress code is meant to encourage people to present themselves in ways that engender pride in the club.”
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