Surrounded by a nature preserve of Laguna wilderness and equipped with the richest comforts of country club life -- from the cherrywood lockers to the 600-bottle wine cabinet to the 50-inch plasma television screen in the sports bar -- Shady Canyon Golf Club in Irvine has attracted Southern California's elite since opening in January 2002.

Retired baseball slugger Mark McGwire, sports-talk king Jim Rome and drag-racing legend Kenny Bernstein are among the members with daily access to all of Shady Canyon's perks -- the 6,700-square-foot fitness center that includes a steam room and Jacuzzi, the 43,000-square-foot Santa Barbara-themed clubhouse and the challenging 7,000-yard championship golf course designed by architect Tom Fazio.

Initiation is $185,000 for those who own one of Shady Canyon's 400 homes -- villas go for $1.75 million -- and monthly dues are $795, all of which gets members a "private club [that] embodies the ideals of an institution devoted to the highest standards of the game," according to a club brochure.

Those standards, golf course General Manager Robert Leenhouts said, include strong attention to avoiding discriminatory membership policies. Such practices have long been the rule at exclusive clubs in this country and abroad, and national attention has crystallized on the issue as Augusta National Golf Club's men-only membership policy is the source of protests during the Masters this week.