Coming to the Master’s
Course:
The Social Location of
African American Golfers in Augusta, Georgia
Keith Wells
Allen Scarboro
Rico Hogan
Brandon Emert
Sandra Avery
Department of Sociology
Augusta State University
Augusta, Georgia
ABSTARCT
Coming to the Master’s
Course:
The Social Location of
African American Golfers in Augusta, Georgia
This paper reports a series of interviews in Augusta with African American golfers, as well as with historians and leaders in the local community about the experiences of African American golfers in Augusta. These black golfers entered golfing through three primary routes: as caddies for white golfers, through exposure to golf in the military service, and by using golf as an adjunct for business relations. They report that golf on the whole has often been a financial reach for them, that they have been discouraged from play by white golfers, and that their access to courses they wished to play has been restricted. While these structural discouragements have diminished over the past several years, these golfers still meet resistance. However, they also report that golf is something they enjoy, is a means for better business contacts, and provides a structure to network not only within the African American community but also with members of the white community. Golfing has become an important part of the self-identity of many African American Augustans.
Coming
to the Master’s Course:
The
Social Location of African American Golfers in Augusta, Georgia
Contemporary African Americans have enthusiastically entered the world of golf. However their entry has an uneven history in both the local and national communities, ranging from exclusion to guarded acceptance to welcome. This paper reports a series of interviews with African American golfers in Augusta. Our team interviewed golfers, historians, and leaders in the local community about the experiences of African American golfers in Augusta. They entered golfing through three primary routes: as caddies for white golfers, through exposure to golf in the military service, and by using golf as an adjunct for business relations. They report that golf on the whole has often been a financial reach for them, that they have been discouraged from play by white golfers, and that their access to courses they wished to play has been restricted. While these structural discouragements have diminished over the past several years, these golfers still meet resistance. However, they also report that golf is something they enjoy, is a means for better business contacts, and provides a structure to network not only within the African American community but also with members of the white community. Golfing has become an important part of the self-identity of many African American Augustans.
In
his book, Uneven Lies, Pete McDaniels (2000) traces the game of golf to
a pastime of Scottish and Irish peasants.
Although some records indicate that people were playing golf in Georgia
and South Carolina in the late 1700s (Sinnette 1998: vii), the first US course
dedicated to golf was built on Long Island, New York, in the 1890s.
From its American
beginnings, golf has been a game for the social elite. Golf consumes not only copious land for its
courses but also large amounts of its enthusiasts’ time along with substantial
financial outlays for equipment, instruction, accessories and fees. All professional sports in the United States
have become expensive, but many, such as baseball and basketball, can be
enjoyed with much smaller time and money costs than can golf. One can easily hang a hoop on the garage and
scrounge up a pick-up basketball game.
Such informal and spontaneous participation is much rarer in golf.
Primarily Scottish
immigrants performed those manual duties required for upkeep and maintaining
early golf courses in the United States.
While these greens keepers and other course workers were knowledgeable
about golf and were the first people to earn their living through golf (they
were the first “golf pros”), they were always considered second-class citizens
(Calloway 2000). Although many African
Americans and new immigrants were subsequently employed as course and greens
keepers, servants and—most of all—caddies, established golfers discouraged and
excluded members of minority groups from many opportunities in the game.
Nevertheless, for many poor
young people who worked in golf, this early menial labor acted as an entry to
the professional ranks—although the path led in different directions for white
and for black youth. Opportunities for
professional status were severely limited for blacks, with black caddies
finding it “difficult to move beyond the available roles of caddie, green keeper,
or pro shop attendant” (Dawkins and Kinloch 2000: 13) while whites had greater
success moving into jobs as club pros and other career roles. However, many African Americans worked
closely with golfers, watching and observing club members daily, then taking
time out to practice on the greens (most clubs allowed caddies the use of the
course on certain days). Since golf clubs and other golf equipment were
expensive, caddies often shared clubs to play the sport. As opportunities
became more available, some caddies began to pursue the game as a career on
professional golf tours, giving them a chance to make a name for themselves in
the game.
While
early American golfers were overwhelmingly white, some black golfers
participated in American golf’s early years, with John Shippen, the “first
‘colored golf pro’” as a prime example (Dawkins and Kinloch 2000, 13). Shippen,
along with Native American Oscar Bunn, faced threats and attempts of exclusion
from “a number of professional golfers” who objected to competing when the two
entered to play at the second annual U.S. Open Tournament at Shinnecock Hills
Country Club in South Hampton, Long Island, New York (Calloway 1999). Other pioneer African American golfers, such
as Teddy Rhodes and Charlie Sifford became professional golfers despite many
obstacles faced while pursuing a career in the game they loved. Tiger Woods
stated, “The pioneers who opened up the
game for all of us had many of the same experiences…. they all encountered the
steamy glare of intolerance” (McDaniels
2000).
Even after early success on
professional golf tours, neither Shippen nor any other African American golfers
were invited to join early professional golf groups. The United States Golf Association (USGA—later succeed by the
Professional Golfers Association) was established in 1894 to codify rules and
regulations for the world’s top players. The USGA provided the foundation for
golf to emerge into its competitive nature in the United States. In 1916, Rodman Wannamaker, a wealthy industrialist,
founded the Professional Golfers Association (PGA), the USGA successor
organization (Dawkins and Kinloch 2000: 16; McDaniels 1999). In 1934, the PGA
formally added the infamous “Caucasian Only” clause in its constitution. This
clause prohibited non-whites from participating in PGA sanctioned events,
according to Dawkins and Kinloch (2000: 8).
The actual date when the Caucasian Only rule originated is unclear.
Calloway (1999) noted that when the PGA was established in 1916, Article 3 of
its constitution stated, “that members must be of Caucasian race.” In 1961, the
1934 clause was eliminated.
In 1926, a second
organization, the United Golfers Association (UGA), grew out of the USGA and
the PGA in response to minority exclusion from USGA/PGA sponsored tournaments
(Dawkins and Kinloch 2000: 21-22). From its inception, the UGA was structured
to represent the growing African American golfing community. This “black run
body,” comprised of 26 golf clubs across the United States, was as serious
about the game as were the USGA and PGA (Calloway1999; McDaniels2000).
Beginning in the 1920’s a
series of Black golf clubs were established, first in the Northeast and
Midwest. Georgia’s first African American golf club was the Lincoln Golf and
Country Club, founded in Atlanta in 1932; the first women’s golf club was the
Wake Robin Golf Club, founded by thirteen Washington, DC area women in 1936
(Dawkins and Kinloch 2000: 23-24, 32). These clubs, especially those in the
South, were instrumental in promoting golf among African Americans in the
context of those formal and informal policies which then excluded African
Americans from membership in or play at white golf clubs and courses.
Ironically, however, blacks in the black clubs emulated their white peers,
using golf and club membership as signals of elite social and economic status
[See Franklin’s Black Bourgeoisie (1957), an analysis of status
striving techniques and prestige mimicking strategies of members of the African
American elite who were prevented in participating in “mainstream” elite
organizations and activities].
The
legal battle to desegregate public courses occurred from the 1940s through the
mid-1960s. A series of court cases,
first in the Northeast and Midwest, challenged the “separate but equal”
practices of public and government sponsored golf courses. The early cases
resulted in strategies to accommodate black demands without changing the
prevailing social structure of segregation. A 1955 Supreme Court decision
integrated Atlanta public courses, while Savannah held on to segregation in public
courses until a 1969 court ruling opened its courses to all (Dawkins and
Kinloch 2000: 137-151).
Current resistance to the
integration of golf shows up today in the economics of golf (the cost of
equipment, fees, and memberships puts golf out of the reach of many), in
informal segregative practices and racist attitudes, in black “sensitivity” to
and attempts to avoid white racist attitudes, and in the general lack of social
integration in American society in general, a lack reproduced in recreational
activities and settings (Dawkins and Kinloch 2000: 165).
Dawkins and Kinloch argue
that “sports reflect the larger society, particularly its social arrangements,
types of inequality, and social dynamics,” both on the macro [societal] and the
micro [local] levels. They argue as well that “athletic rituals may be viewed
as social dramas in which social roles, norms, intergroup dynamics,
organizational processes, institutional arrangements, and the dynamics of
social change are all ‘played out’ as ‘spectator sport’”(2000: 5). While this
presents a very useful model, Dawkins and Kinloch’s book, African American
Golfers during the Jim Crow Era, makes little use of the metaphor of social
drama in its account of African American golfers. We, on the other hand, found
that this model provided us a useful vantage point as we listened to the
stories our interviewees give us.
Dawkins and Kinloch call for more research by academic and professional scholars to remedy the “relative neglect” or “inaccurate portrayal” of minority activities in the social drama of golf. They suggest that the complexity and ramifications of institutional racism, especially as expressed in athletic and recreational activities, requires further documentation, analysis and theorizing, particularly in the interaction of public and private settings for social interactions. They point out that a better understanding of the paths that have led blacks past institutional, organizational and personal obstacles would be helpful in guiding current efforts to increase minority participation in golf and other recreational and professional athletics.
In his book, Just Let Me Play, Charlie Sifford chronicles his life as it relates to golf. From his first encounter with golf to his earning membership into the PGA, Sifford discusses how racism prevented blacks from earning the right to become professional golfers and compete with their white counterparts, and therefore denied black golfers the monetary awards of tournament golf. Sifford dropped out of high school and left his hometown, Charlotte, North Carolina, because members of the Carolina Country Club made threats to physically harm Sifford if he were seen on the grounds of the club. Even when Charlie Sifford moved to live with his relatives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, racism interfered with his right to play golf. While in Philadelphia, Sifford met and befriended Howard Wheeler—regarded by many as the best black golf player during that time—who was working at Cobbs Creek Golf course, a golf course for blacks. Wheeler won the first of the Negro National Open’s five championships and served as a mentor to Sifford.
Many have compared Charlie Sifford and Jackie Robinson, as they were both pioneers in the sporting world. Sifford feels that the comparison between the two of them, he and Jackie Robinson, only correlates in being the first African Americans to play in a sport formerly held by whites. Sifford explains that Jackie Robinson had many black followers in the integration of baseball, where as he was alone in his pursuit of a golfing career. Charlie Sifford is ashamed of the golfing world, because he feels that it has taken to long for the PGA to accept minorities into the golfing profession and even by having a PGA membership, the PGA still does not make thing easy for blacks to enter the golfing circuit.
Tiger Woods was the first “minority golfer” to win the Masters Tournament, in 1997 (McDaniels 2000). “Tiger Woods is what Michael Jordan is to basketball,” argues Ralph Watkins, a sociology professor at Augusta State University during an interview. Dr. Watkins mentioned that he himself took an increasing interest in the sport of golf due to Woods entering the professional golf scene. Tiger’s father, Earl Woods, introduced Tiger to the game when Tiger was an infant. Through the years, with much exposure to the game, encouragement and coaching by his father, the son would go on to win many Junior golf tournaments and be the youngest player ever to compete in an PGA tournament at the Nissan Los Angeles Open, in 1992 (Calloway 1999). He turned professional while attending Stanford University at the age of 19 and today is looked upon as one of the greatest golfers of all time. Being exposed to the game at an early age, Tiger was able to interact in the public and private settings in the sport of golf.
J.C. Calloway describes a four-stage “Blueprint” of how young golfers become bona fide players (1999). In the first stage, between the ages 3 to 6 years, the child is impressionable through influences and suggestions. The child is given a toy club and ball to play with and observes parents swing their clubs. The child will pick this up eventually by imitation then is promoted to the use of a steel club. The parent only observes at this point, giving praise and positive feedback so the child will not lose interest.
The second stage, between the ages of 7 to 12 years, is when the child learns the basic fundamentals of the game. The child is often enrolled in a junior golf program where tutoring takes place. The golfer learns the formal techniques of the game, which includes proper grip of the club, setup, and game technique. The golfer starts out to play on a par three course. Before the young golfer goes into the third stage, the youth must have good fundamentals, have played in tournaments well, and--most of all—have had fun.
In the third, the young golfer “develops and maintains discipline, good attitude and practice productive habits.” The most important aspect of this stage is to teach the mental approach of ones golf game; by this time the golfer is a teenager with other outside interests. The most difficult part of this stage is to keep the player focused on the game by trying different approaches. Some strategies used include playing different games centered on golf and playing in tournaments for competitiveness. This stage centers on the player gaining independence in golf and obtaining a good mental approach.
By stage four the player is ready to put all of the previous stages together. This is when the player decides whether to become a professional or collegiate golfer. The player can decide to play in college team sport and compete in tournaments. By the time a player has completed the four-stage process, the game has become second nature and is a primary part of the golfer's life. Calloway mentions that a person entering the sport at an older age may follow similar stages.
In
June and July of 2002, our research team undertook a multipronged approach investigating
the experiences of African American golfers. We were supported in this work by
Dr. William Bloodworth, President of Augusta State University, himself an avid
golfer. Starting with a list of names of local people with whom Dr. Bloodworth
golfed, we soon developed a snowball sample of 20 local African American
golfers. The interviewees range in age from mid 20’s to 91; all but one were
male. We interviewed these golfers
using a semi-structured schedule. We asked about:
·
Each
person’s entry to golf,
·
Their
learning the game and developing expertise,
·
The
locations of the courses on which they played and their access to desirable
courses,
·
The
people with whom they played,
·
Their
experience of the game of golf and of the interactions and adjuncts to their playing,
·
Any
experiences marked by their race---
in general, about their experiences as African American golfers in the Augusta, Georgia, region. We interviewed politicians, business leaders, community leaders, former caddies and current local staff at local golf and country clubs.
In early June, we attended and observed “The Big Jim Dent Classic,” an amateur golf tournament that replaced the Masters City Golf Classic in the year 2000. The Masters City Golf Association originated in September 12, 1984, with eleven Augusta area golfers who often played together for the love of the game and fellowship. The first Masters City Golf Classic was held in 1985.
The research team showed up at various courses and gathered information ranging from the history of the courses and layout of their fairways to the clientele which frequented the clubs. We searched the scholarly literature and perused local newspapers and other texts. A report on our findings in our newspaper article analysis can be found in Sandra Avery, Brandon Emert, Rico Hogan and Keith Wells, “Out of Bounds: Newspaper Accounts of African Americans and Golfing in the Home of the Masters” (2002).
The
differences between the two “hill” communities in Augusta, Sand Hills (with
primarily African American residents) and Summerville (primarily white
residents) were as distinct as night and day.
Summerville residents were able to gain easy membership and access to
the Augusta Country Club, entering through the front door. Members of the
community across the street, Sand Hills, could only enter through the side
door—as
servants, groundskeepers, or porters. For example, Frank Carpenter, the wine
steward at the Augusta National Golf Club, is a Sand Hills resident. He started at the National as a part-time bartender
after he was discharged from the military in 1947. Carpenter reflects on his
career as wine steward at the National: “You don’t have to worry about what
other people think of you. When you get the respect of the highest type of
people, that’s when it means to something to you. And I find that to be true”
(quoted in McDaniels 2000). Another
long-time Augusta golfer, Clint Bryant, the athletic director of Augusta State
University, said in a recent interview: “The black youths interested in golf
began with their admiration of successful elders, who themselves worked as
caddies, a profession which carried a prestigious job title and a good income
at that time, at the Augusta Country Club.”
Buck Harris, assistant basketball coach at Augusta State University, remembered Uncle Fred “Hop” Harrison, a caddie inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame for caddies in 2001. Harris mentioned that Harrison, too, worked at the Augusta National for three years, between the ages of 13 to 15. Harris, an African American who grew up in the Sand Hills community, never caddied but did pick litter off the National course during the Masters Tournament. Harris’s father, a supervisor at the local VA hospital, disapproved of Harris working at the National because of derogatory treatment of black employees. Harris was introduced to golf at the age of 10 years but did not become an avid player until junior college. Harris stated that, “with luck I am able to play twice a week, otherwise I go to the driving range to putt and drive.” When asked about why he continues to play, he stated, “ you can play 17 bad holes and one single shot would give you the drive to come back.”
In
the 1950s, African Americans looked to golf primarily as a stable means of
earning a living, but as blacks gained experience caddying their knowledge of
the game grew. Charlie Sifford stated “Nobody gave me lessons, I picked it all
up by watching others and that probably explains why I have such and unorthodox
swing.”(Calloway 1999). Here in
Augusta, African Americans were doing anything they could to get on the golf
course. Jim Dent, an Augusta native,
stated, “By being a caddie, golf becomes a little easier than it does for the
guy who picks up a club and just starts. You can learn some fundamentals from
the guy who is at the club playing all the time.” Even though blacks were then
not widely allowed to play the courses that they caddied, they jumped on every
chance they got to play a round with a golf club.
Another local native, Henry
Brown who passed away in 1992 at the age of 63, in a 1996 profile by Dave
Nightingdale, is reported saying that he started his caddying career at the age
of 14 at the Augusta National. He sharpened his putting skills by reading the
tricky Augusta National greens. Brown said, “If you can read those, you can
read greens anywhere.” He also said he spent a lot of Monday mornings in the
parking lot at the Nationals “working on making a golf ball do all kinds of
tricks.” In May of 1981, Brown walked into the pro shop of South Bend Country
Club and told the head professional, Banks Guyton, “I am going to win the U.S.
Open.” Guyton replied, “in order to win you must first apply to play in
it.” Brown wasn’t allowed in the US
Open qualifier that year because he did not make his entry on time and did not
send in his entry fee. He showed up anyway.
Lee Elder described the scene:
He put on quite a show… One the first hole which is a little over 300 yards, Brown hitting crosshanded kept driving the ball over the green, and if someone bet him enough he would drive with a conventional grip and still hit the ball over the green.
The exhibition ended when Guyton screamed, “Damn it, Henry. Stop hustling my members.” Brown left for another golf course where hustling was a way of life for many (Nightingale 1996).
We
interviewed Harold “Boomer” Gant, a 71 year old retired Augusta native who
spent most of his life on several of Augusta’s most prominent golf courses as a
caddie. Boomer came along during the days of segregated golf courses. He has
been a relentless advocate for opening more courses for everyone in the Augusta
area. Boomer’s career as a caddie started at the Augusta Country Club in 1949
at the age of 18. He caddied there for
10 years. He recalled as a youth jumping the fence of the country club to hit
golf balls in the evening when no one else was around. Self-taught, he never
had a professional golf lesson. After leaving the Augusta Country Club, he was
employed at the Augusta National in the clubhouse as the chief steward until he
retired in 1995. In between working for the country clubs, Boomer served a tour
in the military.
Boomer reminisced that when
he was a teenager blacks were not allowed to play on the Augusta Municipal City
golf course. At age eighteen, he and others went to see the Reverend Charles
Hamilton, then pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church, about the segregation
issue. Hamilton in turn contacted the NAACP, which investigated the
problem. A month later, blacks were allowed
to play on the city course.
Boomer is the founder of the
Shotmakers, a local golf fellowship and membership club. He has known senior
PGA touring pro Jim Dent since he was a youngster and caddied for him in his
first professional golf tournament. He
recalls Dent seeking local sponsors to go on tour but being unable to find
any. So Dent traveled to California
where he received sponsorship and began his career in golf.
Boomer can be found most
days at the Forest Hills Golf Course where he still shoots in the 70’s and
80’s. He is a mentor of the young
golfers who play at Forest Hills, including the Augusta State University golf
team. Many who seek him for advice and
a friendly game love him.
In an interview at the Jim Dent Golf
Classic, Bobby “Cigarette” Jones, a retired professional caddie, said, “I
started caddying at the Augusta National, but then I got good and caddying took
me all across the country.” He recalled “that Augusta had the reputation for
having the best caddies in the world.” Cigarette mentioned that when he was a youngster
“it was all about the money.” Being a caddie on the professional tour allowed
him the opportunity to make a relatively good income. He caddied for professional golfer Bobby Cole. Reflecting on a
day on the professional tour in Arizona, Cigarette remembered thinking “there
is no friend out here but me”--referring to the relationship between himself as
a caddie and Cole, the professional player.
Cigarette
stated that the caddie’s job is not only to carry the player’s physical golf
bag but also the dubious task to carry his mental baggage as well. The caddie
has to be on top of the game for his player to perform at the best of his
abilities. Often a caddie will choose the club to be played, read the yardage,
or—in big tournaments—calm his player down. Cigarette said, “Not only was I
their caddie, I was their psychologist.” It is the caddie’s job to watch the
scoreboard and to know the other players’ abilities, and then to formulate the
best strategy to win. The caddie has to keep the player totally focused on the
game. Cigarette mentioned that the “hardest job is to keep your player’s head
out of everyone else’s bag.” By this he
meant: “simply hit the ball and pick it up out of the cup.” Cigarette, quite
the character, is said to have used many methods, including reverse psychology,
in his caddying career. Cigarette can be found today around Augusta and
surrounding cities playing his saxophone at local establishments and or in his
job as a professional chauffeur.
Cigarette’s
and Boomer’s resourcefulness were major themes in their interviews. They
portrayed themselves as professional caddies who earned notoriety among others
who frequent the local golf courses. They earned respect continue to be sought
out by many prominent individuals, including politicians and local business
leaders, to play on the fairways with them.
In
the Augusta business community, we found individuals using golf as a
communicative tool in conducting business deals with clients on the golf
course. In one interview, Michael Hampton, a local businessman, stated, “I was
introduced to the game of golf for business purposes. And the first day I
played I spent a total of $800 dollars on golf equipment.” Another businessman,
Robert Bailey, the human resource manager of a major manufacturing concern in
Augusta, stated he started to play the game of golf primarily for business
about 15 years ago. He took professional golf lessons at the “Cabbage
Patch”—Augusta’s municipal golf course—and plays about twice a week at many
different golf clubs and courses. While being interviewed, he mentioned that he
did not play with the Masters City Golfers or the Shotmakers, preferring to
play with business associates. He
stated, his “business trips involve the game of golf.” He will take out-of-town clients to play on
local courses to keep good business relations. He is a member of several golf
and country clubs around the local area and stated he “had no problems with
discrimination or segregation on the local courses.” Bailey is the president of Forest Hills Golf Club committee. The only local course he has not played is
the Augusta National. He had the opportunity to do so 10 years ago but was
unable to accept the invitation at that time. He mentioned that he would love
to play there if the opportunity presents itself again.
Another
prominent local business leader in the Augusta area who supports golf in the
community is Ed McIntyre. McIntyre is a
former mayor of Augusta. He formed the Ed McIntyre Foundation, which offers 100
scholarships each year to the First Tee Golf Facility. First Tee is a program
for young kids unable to afford golf lessons, equipment and tutoring. This
program is held at the city-funded First Tee golf course. Ed states, “My
motivation was helping people in areas that they can’t afford.”
McIntyre sees Augusta
National Golf Club policy as having a continuing effect of restricting African
Americans from golf. He says the only
way that blacks are able to be at the Masters Tournament is to be employed by
the Augusta National Golf Club or by the tournament itself. McIntyre stated
that the Masters Tournament was “privatized to keep African Americans out.” He
remembers witnessing one ticket sold for $10,000 for a single Sunday at the
Masters. McIntyre recalled that, “When I was mayor, President Carter called me
and asked for 22 tickets to the tournament and the most I could get him was
eight.” He also noted that even well
known celebrities like Jackie Gleason were not allowed admittance into the
Nationals without a club pass. Ed mentioned that, “The first black membership
of the Augusta National was revoked because of falsification on his
resume. The point is, money is not the
only priority for membership but ethics are required as well.”
Pilgrim Insurance Company
held a reception in 1974 for the professional golfer Lee Elder. Elder was the first African American invited
to play at the Masters. Otherwise,
McIntyre mentioned that the Masters Tournament “made little or no impact on
local black interests during my tenure as Mayor.” McIntyre quoted Benjamin E.
Mays saying that, “For a person to be born into this world and not make any
impact; it is like you haven’t lived at all.”
James “Shoestring” Williams owns a neighborhood bar named “Shoes”
located in downtown Augusta. He began working as a server in the Championship
Room at the Augusta National in 1946. The Championship Room is an exclusive
meeting place for past winners of the Masters and certain prominent members of
the club. As a server, he was able to converse with the most prestigious names
in professional golf and with other top-flight people. To our disappointment,
Shoestring informed us, “It was against Augusta National policy to discuss the
happenings in the Championship Room.” Shoestring, presently 73 years old, plays
golf two to three times a week. He mentioned that he plays in many local golf
tournaments although he never received a golf lesson in his life. He stated,
“My future goal is to shoot my age.”
Shoestring said he played the morning of our interview with Boomer Gant
and shot 83. Shoestring recalled that Boomer complained that the game was
moving too slow (that is, the players ahead of them were moving slowly). Boomer
is known as one of the slowest players on the golf course. Boomer has been
noted saying, “I am slow but sho.”
Local
businessmen such as McIntyre, Bailey, Hampton and Williams view the game of
golf as means of keeping open good business relations with others. But once
they became involved with the sport, they continue to play and support it for
many reasons. Bailey remarks that what keeps him interested is the
competitiveness of the game by beating his own score. Hampton became so
involved that he also teaches golf lessons in his spare time after hours from
his career as an industrial sales person.
A golf supporter, McIntyre, who owns a set of clubs but rarely plays,
feels golf is a sport that should be given an equal opportunity for all people
regardless of race.
As far as equal opportunity
is concerned, individuals in the military faced little or no discrimination on
the courses. During our interviews we
discovered that serving in the military exposed many local African Americans
golfers to the game. Phil Robinson, tournament director of the Jim Dent Golf
Classic and member of the Masters City Golf Association, came to Augusta in
1963 to serve at Fort Gordon. He
retired from the military in 1983, returning to his original hometown Dallas,
Texas. He had started out in golf in 1955 at the age 12 in Dallas at the Cedar
Crest Golf Club. He mentioned, “This was a time I saw very famous golfers,”
including Charlie Sifford and Chuck Thorpe.
Robinson mentioned that this was the time that integration of golf
emerged.
In 1986, he returned to
Augusta. At that time he became involved with the Master City Golf Association
(MCGA) where he met Boomer Gant. When
asked what keeps him interested in the game, Robinson responded, “I play for
the love of the game.” During the interview, we questioned him about betting;
he said, “Betting is a social thing… The wager would be for a coke, lunch or
for bragging rights.”
We visited Gordon Lakes Golf
Course, housed at Fort Gordon, to observe and view the layout of the course and
players. This allowed the opportunity to interview the Director of the
facility, O.Z. Henry. He informed us that most of his clientele are higher
ranked and retired military because lower ranks are not able to afford to play
often. He mentioned a Retired Golf Association that meets monthly to play. The
association holds ten tournaments a year (five local and five away). Few children play on the Ft. Gordon course,
except some who come with their parents. Henry stated that civilians could play
on the course but could not become members since it is on a military base.
The Master City Golf Association (MCGA)
consists of many retired military personnel, mainly African American males.
Samuel Barnes was the first president of the organization. He is a graduate of
Augusta College with a degree in Art; he is also a talented writer. Many of his
paintings and drawings feature African American golf. MCGA serves as an avenue
for prior military buddies to get together to share experiences and ideas and
to provide a friendly game of golf for golf enthusiasts. MCGA serves the
community by sponsoring throughout the year several golf tournaments that raise
money for different charities. For instance, one of the objectives of the
association is to provide annual scholarships to youth from the CSRA and to
introduce golf to interested youths within the area, such as through the First
Tee program. MCGA members play at a
variety of public golf courses in the Augusta region, although the Augusta
Municipal Golf Course and Forest Hills Golf Club are the main courses used.
The sites for these two golf
courses were once property of Fort Gordon. Forest Hills Golf Club was used for
therapy and recreation for military personal who where admitted to the then
nearby but later relocated Veterans Hospital. The Augusta Municipal Golf Course
was a training site for military pilots. Rumor has it that under the golf
course lie several bunkers that were used for the purpose of instruction. Today
the Forest Hills Golf Club is a training site for the Augusta State University
golf team as well as open to the public. The Augusta Municipal Golf Course is
city-owned and frequented mainly by African Americans who enjoy playing the
sport.
CONCLUSION:
Our
research finds the game of golf to be a venue for economic advancement,
business opportunity and the enjoyment and recreation for many Augusta African
Americans.
Through golf, some African
Americans were afforded a better way of life by working as porters, green
keepers and caddies. Along with these positions came prestige and respect from
others in the African American community. Prime examples of this would be Frank
Carpenter, Jim Dent, Bobby “Cigarette” Jones, and Fred “Hop” Harrison. From the business perspective, golf was an
avenue for many African American business leaders to communicate with
colleagues and clients. Even though golf was primarily used for business
dealings, it became as well a source of pleasure and a way to support others in
the opportunity in becoming exposed to the sport. A good example here is the Ed
McIntyre Foundation, which contributes to the First Tee Program in Augusta.
This foundation offers scholarships not only for minorities but also for all
youths who are unable to afford the game. First Tee not only teaches golf but
also builds character. Another business
leader, Robert Bailey, participates in several children’s charities, such as
the 4H Club, which holds an annual charity fundraiser renting out golf carts in
the local area.
Finally,
most African American golfers we interviewed play the sport for enjoyment. We
discovered that many players who started out as caddies developed a love for
the game as rich as that of professional golfers. They come to see golf not only as a way of making an income but
also as driving a competitive spirit and expertise in the sport. Athletes from
other sports, such as tennis, boxing and basketball, took up the game of golf
as a source of recreation and socializing with peers. Professional athletes such as Joe Lewis, Athea Gibson and
Michael Jordon, as well as local individuals such as Buck Harris, Michael
Stokes and Clint Bryant have developed their golf skills to an elite level.
Golf drives a competitive spirit not only with friends but also with oneself.
The
struggles of African Americans in the game have produced great accomplishments,
from starts as servants to elites and to professional status and a
whole-hearted enjoyment of the game. As Ed McIntyre states, “Life is involved
with challenges and all have sacrifices. If you don’t know where you been, you
don’t know where you are going.”
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Bailey, Robert.
Interviewed by Sandra Avery and Keith Wells. 31 May 2002.
Barnes, Sam.
Interviewed by Keith Wells. 11
June 2002.
Bryant, Clint.
Interviewed by Sandra Avery and Keith Wells. 29 May 2002.
Gant, Harold “Boomer.” Interviewed by Sandra Avery and Keith Wells. 30 May 2002.
Hampton, Michael.
Interviewed by Sandra Avery. 16
June 2002.
Harris, Buck.
Interviewed by Sandra Avery and Keith Wells. 19 June 2002.
Henry, O.Z.
Interviewed by Sandra Avery, Brandon Emert, Rico Hogan, and Keith
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Johnson, John. Interviewed by Rico Hogan. 24 June 2002.
Jones, Bobby “Cigarette.” Interviewed by Sandra Avery, Brandon Emert and Keith
Wells. 16 June 2002.
Malander, Malory.
Interviewed by Sandra Avery and Rico Hogan. 11 June 2002.
Martin, E.T.
Interviewed by Sandra Avery and Rico Hogan. 10 July 2002.
Mays, Robert.
Interviewed by Sandra Avery. 12
June 2002.
McIntyre, Ed.
Interviewed by Brandon Emert and Keith Wells. 10 June 2002.
Robinson, Phil.
Interviewed by Sandra Avery and Keith Wells. 30 May 2002.
Watkins, Ralph.
Interviewed by Rico Hogan. 15
July 2002.
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27 June 2002.