The ladies of Ireland need to content themselves with gorgeous views of the Emerald Isle and the finest Guinness on the planet, because they ain't getting into the Portmarnock Golf Club in Dublin. The nation's Supreme Court ruled, in a case inspired by challenges against gender discrimination in United States golf clubs, that Portmarnock can continue to exclude women.

A district court had found that the club breached Ireland's Equal Status Act, but the club challenged that ruling, and in a split 3-2 decision, the Supreme Court agreed. The assenting judges -- among them one woman -- found that Irish law lets clubs restrict membership provided that the club's "principal purpose is to cater only for the needs of persons of a particular gender."

However, one of the dissenting judges said that golf wasn't actually a "need" for men any more than women. (The judge may have a point. Anybody who thinks golf isn't a gender-based "need" hasn't ever been married and needed to get the hell out of the house and away from the spouse for a few hours. That goes for men and women.)

The issue, of course, is that golf isn't just about male bonding. If it was, there's no way any sane woman would want to be a part of that. I'm a guy, and my behavior on the golf course and afterward disgusts even me. But golf is also about networking and business relationships, and cutting women out of that cuts them out of a potentially lucrative business angle.

For some, though, it's not about business. Irish TV quoted one unnamed member of the club as saying that he didn't want women on the course because they'd slow down the pace of play. Fair enough, but couldn't you just relax and enjoy the view ... ?

... of the countryside! It's lovely there! What did you think I was saying?

Irish Supreme Court upholds men-only golf club [AP via Yahoo! Sports]