Georgians who played on the United Golfers Association circuit helped lay the groundwork for Black golfers to live out their dreams.
November 12, 2021 (GOLF GEORGIA)
Harold Varner Jr. and Cameron Champ are prominent Black golfers currently competing on the PGA TOUR and just like Tiger Woods before them, they’ve earned the right to be on the course based on their golfing merits.
It wasn’t long ago, however, that skill was not the primary determining factor for who could compete on the TOUR. From 1954 until 1961, the PGA’s bylaws explicitly identified ethnicity in deciding membership, stating that the tournaments were “for members of the Caucasian race,” according to USGA Museum documents.
This meant Black golfers of the segregation era were ineligible to compete with the likes of Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Horton Smith, Sam Snead and others who comprised the face of the PGA. So, in 1925, the United States Colored Golf Association was founded.
In 1929, that organization’s name was changed to United Golfers Association (UGA), which it would be called until its disbandment in 1976.
It was through the UGA that Lee Elder, Charlie Sifford, Harold Dunovant and James Black — and Georgia’s own Jim Dent, Pete Brown and William Lewis — among others, not only competed but made a living playing golf.
Funded by Black-owned businesses and using public courses — the only courses that allowed persons of color entry — the UGA is a tale of perseverance and brotherhood.
Coming Up During Segregation
In the late 1950s, Black started his UGA career. Growing up in Charlotte, he, like many Black golfers earned small sums of money caddying for white golfers.
“Most of us were caddying to start with,” Black said. “That’s how I got an opportunity to play.”
“Back then, it was a downward job,” said Jim Dent Sr., referring to the low pay.
Despite the meager income, being a caddie gave Black golfers access to the course. Dent, who played in the UGA in the early 1960 and caddied for Masters winner Bob Goalby, took advantage of that access.
“Ben Hogan, all of them,” said Dent. “When they were chipping in the yard, we’d be putting. When they were putting, we’d be in the yard. We couldn’t be on the course when they came along, but we could caddy.”
While on the course Black golfers would also play each other for money. For the winner — whom Black oftentimes was — the hustle was lucrative.
Read the entire story in the November/December 2021 issue of Golf Georgia.
