Country club members tee up outrage by asserting privilege

Many Californians are too entitled for our own good. We stubbornly refuse to take orders from anyone, and we think quarantine is spelled "v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n."

That seems to be especially true in Central California. The New York-based company Unacast used GPS tracking data from mobile phones to figure out who is staying put, and who isn't.

The state of California got an overall grade of "B+" for its social distancing efforts. Fresno County got a "D."

Some members of the San Joaquin Country Club deserve an "F" -- for having a bad attitude. They're "jonesing" to play golf again. So they're asking the city of Fresno to exempt golf courses from a March 19 shelter-in-place order -- issued by Mayor Lee Brand with the backing of the Fresno City Council - that allows only "essential" businesses to stay open during the pandemic.

You mean trying to hit a little white ball into a cup buried in the ground isn't "essential?" Who could have guessed that?

Honestly, I thought this was a joke. Until I read where the country club members had hired legal counsel. Naturally.

Local attorney Adam Stirrup told reporters that -- while he respects the need to maintain social distancing -- "what we're asking is for the city to allow the club's private members to walk their golf course and play golf."

The formal letter to city officials was more lawyerly -- and less friendly.

"By preventing members at private country clubs from using their facilities, you are depriving them of their private property rights and the rights of these individuals to the use and enjoyment of their private property without due process," Stirrup wrote.

Private property? Due process? Suddenly, I'm glad I didn't go to law school. Just reading that argument made me want to take a shower.

Mark Standriff, the city of Fresno's director of communications and public affairs, held firm to common sense. Unlike health care, transportation or banking, a golf course is not an essential business, he insisted.

"We're not trying to take away people's freedom and what they enjoy," Standriff told reporters. "What we're asking the public to do is temporary. And what we're trying to do is do what's best for the safety of our community."

There's the rub. If these snobs cared at all about the overall community, they wouldn't have spent so much money to become members of a private club - the kind of place that was built to keep the rest of the community at a safe distance.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.