Barney,
Of all the mainstream sports, you can't tell me you didn't know golf is easily the most tone deaf to wealth and affluence.
What does this even mean?
Unlike other sports where many players were legitimately poor growing up and rose to the ranks of the NFL, NBA, MLB, etc...how often does this occur in Golf? Outside of Tony Finau, who grew up in a lower-end middle class neighborhood of SLC, how many guys on Tour didn't have regular access to a club/course, range and practice area, regular lessons, top notch equipment, ability to travel to play events, etc.
Golf was nearly exclusive to only the affluent for most of its history, so much so that golf's governing body took pity on second class "public links" players by hosting a national championship just for them for nearly a century. And while stigma like this have certainly improved significantly, there is no doubt a lot elitism that remains in the game which I've experienced first hand in various ways.
So its not surprising to see tone deafness where some may claim a middle class golfer who doesn't belong to a club is "poor". I have several friends who are millionaires and still chose to play at the local muni because they refuse to join the proverbial...or literal... club.