Making Golf Accessible to Black American Youth
In early 2021, Tiger Woods was in a car accident that seriously injured his right leg and led him to announce his “semi-retirement” from competitive golf. An inspiration in his youth and a giant of an athlete during his maturity, the 46-year-old Woods remains one of the finest athletes the world has ever known.
Ever since winning the 1997 Masters tournament at age 21, he has shown young golfers of color what they could accomplish. But he’s also among the very few professional golfers of color to achieve any degree of success and significant earnings.
We can name some Black golfers from previous generations. For example, there’s the great Lee Elder, who racked up 15 professional victories in a nearly 50-year career, and Charlie Sifford, who garnered 22. Among Black female golfers, Ann Gregory stands out for winning hundreds of tournaments throughout her career.
But these are the exceptions to the rule, and each of these great players faced plenty of encounters with racism, lack of access to professional opportunities, and other types of exclusion.
Racism’s long shadow on the fairway
An April 2021 article published online in The Ringer lays out the historical record of racism in golf, a sport that continues to suffer from an image problem as one of the “whitest” of all
Ostracism based in bigotry kept Black players and fans out of whites-only country clubs—one of the mainstays of better golf courses—even into the 1990s and beyond. Former PGA of America diversity director Wendell Haskins was quoted as saying that the problem lies not with Black players, but with the entire golf industry itself. Similarly, former World Golf Foundation CEO Steve Mona has said that “diversity is fundamental” to the long-term future of the sport.
If the world of golf looked like the America of 2021, there would be about 13 Black players out of every 100 to be found on the nation’s fairways, in the C-suites of golf industry corporations, and around the governing board tables of organizations. (Additionally, there would be more Black women golfers than men.)
Equity stuck in a sand trap
Yet, as detailed in a 2018 report issued by pro-diversity advocacy group We Are Golf, only about 3 percent of all paid jobs in golf are occupied by Black Americans. As of 2020, there were a total of four Black Americans playing on the PGA Tour. In the same report, the PGA could boast of only a single Black individual in any executive position.
In fact, the PGA owns the dubious distinction of being the last major sports organization to desegregate. In 1975 Lee Elder became the first Black player to compete in the Masters.
And today, out of the close to 30,000 members of the PGA of America, fewer than 200 are Black. That’s far under 1 percent. Meanwhile, among non-professional players of the sport, only 3 percent are Black, according to a 2019 survey by the National Golf Foundation.
Caddies, business opportunities, and community support
There are plenty of people out there trying to open opportunities in golfing to today’s youth of color. In many cases, they are still fighting an uphill battle. Yet, several strategies can help produce positive effects going forward.
One is to build structures that invite young people of color to participate as caddies on leading courses. While previous generations (like the young Lee Elder) learned the game as caddies, the full-time jobs at the most prestigious courses are mostly held by Whites. This often relegates Black youth to learning the sport on less-than-optimum municipal courses. But caddying for a highly skilled professional golfer is analogous to clerking for an eminent Supreme Court justice—it’s the best way to get mentorship in your craft.
Then there’s the question of Black entrepreneurship in the golf industry and Black participation at the highest decision-making levels of major organizations. Corporations, trade groups, and organizations need to build policies of welcoming and inclusion as well as provide professional development and institutional support.
Another strategy centers on keeping Black youth involved with golf instead of simply introducing them to it. But to do that, the whole culture of the game—and the industry—will need to change.
The First Tee, an organization founded the year Tiger Woods won his first Masters, is among the best grassroots groups dedicated to fostering a love of golf in youth of color. Alongside that goal, the First Tee focuses on building character and essential life skills. It’s doing all it can, but it remains under-promoted and under-funded. Society-wide support for organizations like this one can go a long way toward establishing equity in golf.