Jim Abraham, captain of Letchworth Golf Club, offers this welcome on the semi-private club’s website

“Founded in 1905, Letchworth Golf Club offers a golf challenge for players of all ages and abilities. The jewel in our crown is our 18 hole Heritage course which is a tree lined and mature parkland layout where accuracy is often more important than length. We also offer some of the best practice facilities in the county with a large grass laid driving range with 8 additional covered bays, plus our par 3 Academy course which was opened in 2016.”

Sounds great? Right.

He continues, “The club prides itself on its friendly reputation both on the golf course and in our bar and dining areas. I’m sure our members and visitors will continue to experience this throughout my Captain’s year and I wish everyone a happy and successful season.”

Friendly reputation! Excellent. Well, for a gentleman named David Cole who showed to play the Hertfordshire golf course, the experience was anything but.

Credit to Alex Myers at Golf Digest and Bunkered for the spot. To the tweets we go!

Got refused @GolfLetchworth as my socks were not white!.(they were black spots socks) I was wearing shorts and a polo shirt but still got refused! They would rather so no to £60 between me and my brother for a sock colour which you can hardly see! ???? @TheClub @Dpugh54 #Golf

— Max Powers (@davidjcole77) August 20, 2018

Hi Max, just read your tweet, if I could explain, the clubs dress code is no black socks and I am sure you would have been asked to change them instead of being refused. I am hoping this was the case but if not I do apologise. – General Manager Letchworth Golf Club

— Letchworth Golf Club (@GolfLetchworth) August 20, 2018

Hi @GolfLetchworth unfortunately I don’t carry spare socks but was told I could pay £7.50 for long non sports socks from your pro shop on top of my green fee! This I couldn’t bring myself to do. Would love to know the reasoning behind the white socks only rule? #golf

— Max Powers (@davidjcole77) August 20, 2018

Oh boy. Is this third-rate golf course or Wimbledon? I do hope the caddies are clad in white jumpsuits… And I dare say, it’s objectionable we should know what any golfer’s socks look like at Letchworth, because shorts, sacrilegious garments that they are, ought to be utterly outlawed!

But really, at the end of the day, however, Twitterer Stephen Montgomery offered the only take that matters.

Remember a golf club only has the rules it's members want it to have. It is of no relevance what anyone outside of that club thinks of their rules. If the members believe they are good rules, they should defend them. If they think they are bad, change them.

— Stephen Montgomery (@s_monty) August 21, 2018

What say you, GolfWRX members?

Should the club get with the times? Not jumping to any conclusions, but given that the course is open to the unwashed masses, one assumes the waiting list for membership isn’t years long and restrictive policies are not ultimately beneficial to the bottom line…

Or, is this a case of, as Montgomery suggests, “a (semi-)private course doing as the membership wants, and thus who are we to judge?”