Dallas Country Club is a country club

Country club

A country club is a private club, often with a closed membership, that typically offers a variety of recreational sports facilities and is located in city outskirts or rural areas. Activities may include, for example, any of golf, tennis, swimming or polo...

 located in the town of Highland Park

Highland Park, Texas

Highland Park is a town in central Dallas County, Texas, United States. The population was 8,842 at the 2000 census. Located between the Dallas North Tollway and U.S. Route 75 , four miles north of downtown Dallas....

 in Dallas County, Texas

Dallas County, Texas

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,218,899 people, 807,621 households, and 533,837 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,523 people per square mile . There were 854,119 housing units at an average density of 971/sq mi...

.

It was established in 1896, purportedly by "by several men golfing on a cow patch in Oak Lawn."
Tom Bendelow

Tom Bendelow

Tom Bendelow , nicknamed "The Johnny Appleseed of American Golf", was a prolific Scottish American golf course architect during the first half of the twentieth century. He is credited with having designed some 600 courses in a 35-year span....

 designed the golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

 course with the first round of golf being played in 1912. Golfers from the club, along with those from several other area clubs, formed the Dallas District Golf Association in 1948 to promote the game and tournament play in the area. The course was renovated by designer Jay Morrish. It is a par 70, 6,266-yard course. Dallas Country Club was ranked number 52 on the list of the state's best golf clubs, public and private, released in 2008.

Society Spot

The club, according to The Dallas Morning News, has been a staple of Highland Park's most exclusive social circuit for more than a century. A 1911 photograph shows the Dallas Shakespeare Society, the area's oldest literary organization, on the steps of the clubhouse, where it had held its annual meeting.
Its membership roster has grown to more than 1,500, and it includes many of the city's most prominent business and civic leaders."

Controversy

The club's membership admissions, particularly its racial exclusivity, has been a topic of debate in the community and became a point of contention in local and national politics alike. Two of the most recent controversies arose when Lynne Cheney

Lynne Cheney

Lynne Ann Cheney is the wife of former United States Vice President Dick Cheney and served as the Second Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009...

 was a guest at the club in 2007, as well as the refusal to grant membership to baseball all-star Alex Rodriguez

Alex Rodriguez

Alexander Emmanuel "Alex" Rodriguez is an American professional baseball third baseman with the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. Known popularly by his nickname A-Rod, he previously played shortstop for the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers.Rodriguez is considered one of the best...

, who, at the time had the most lucrative contract in sports history.

In an interview with The Dallas Morning News in 1986, Vincent Perini, president of the Dallas Bar Association

Dallas Bar Association

The Dallas Bar Association or DBA is a professional organization providing resources for attorneys and the public in the city of Dallas, Texas. Founded in 1873, the DBA is a voluntary professional association of 10,000+ lawyers...

 characterized the district attorney

District attorney

In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...

's office staff as "a bunch of SMU

Southern Methodist University

Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...

 frat

Fraternity

A fraternity is a brotherhood, though the term usually connotes a distinct or formal organization. An organization referred to as a fraternity may be a:*Secret society*Chivalric order*Benefit society*Friendly society*Social club*Trade union...

 rats who are, you know, putting in a little postgraduate

Postgraduate education

Postgraduate education involves learning and studying for degrees or other qualifications for which a first or Bachelor's degree generally is required, and is normally considered to be part of higher education...

 work down there kicking [expletives deleted] before going on to the real world, the respectable world, the Dallas Country Club and the civil law firm

Law firm

A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...

."

Norman Kinne, a prosecutor in the office responded, "I can't believe the elected president of the Dallas Bar Association, in one fell swoop, manages to insult Southern Methodist University, fraternities, the black race, the Dallas Country Club and all civil law firms."