"Do not change your shoes in the parking lot. (Perfectly OK at a public course, but the locker room at private clubs is preserved as the last bastion of golfing ablutions.)"

Jerry Tarde's "Golf's 5 Sacred Rules" comes at an interesting time considering that the American country club is dying in part because it holds things like the five rules sacred.

You know I'm all for tradition, but I'm finding it tougher and tougher to savor some of these "sacred" traditions when the fundamentals have been stampeded over for reasons that usually relate to someone's bottom line and almost never in the name of advancing the sport. 

Tarde's plea is both timely and also perhaps evidence of where the country club set's priorities lie. He notes these five no-nos at the country club to set up a key point about budging on cell phone rules.

1. The most important: Never throw a club in anger.

Tiger's out!

2. Do not change your shoes in the parking lot. (Perfectly OK at a public course, but the locker room at private clubs is preserved as the last bastion of golfing ablutions.)

3. No blue jeans, even the expensive kind.

4. Take off your hat when you go indoors or when sitting down to eat.

5. No cell phones on the course or in the clubhouse. (One club I know is very tough on this: Mobile phones are only permissible sitting in your car in the parking lot with the windows rolled shut. A friend of mine adheres to this rule with his convertible top down.)

Tarde goes on to suggest that the first four remain sacred but that "golf clubs have an opportunity to set the standards for good behavior with these devices" and "putting our heads in the sand and hoping they go away is just not a realistic answer."

I don't disagree, but I do have to wonder if preserving the sacred rule of hats-off in the grill or where we change our shoes constitute sacred private club values?  Your thoughts?