![]() ![]() “I’m a part of a group right now that’s going to try to see if we can at least put some money together to save Hampton’s golf program. “My alma mater, Hampton University, just had to eliminate its golf team because of the Covid-19 crisis,” Haskins said. Steph Curry is passionate about the issue, and it’s something recreational golfers should make a priority themselves. One of the most effective ways of helping golf become a more diverse, inclusive place is to support HBCUs, Haskins says. Support historically Black colleges and universities These are the kind of figures we should rally around, as an industry.” 6. He bought a dairy farm, he cleared it out on his own, on his spare time, and developed his own golf course so that people could play on it. When he came home to Ohio, he wasn’t allowed to play on the public golf courses, so he bought a hand seeder. Her dad served in World War II, and he loved golf. That would be like Venus or Serena saying, ‘I think I want to pick up golf now,” and play it well enough to play on the LPGA Tour.’ “She picked up golf later on and played well enough to play on the LPGA Tour. “A lot of people don’t know that the first Black golfer to play on the LPGA tour, Althea Gibson, was a tennis star,” Haskins said. It’s one of the main reasons why Haskins endorses Lee Elder becoming an honorary starter at the Masters. The entire industry needs to rally around Renee Powell to make sure that she has the resources that she needs to preserve an American legacy.”Īs Haskins notes above, it’s incumbent upon golfers to champion the groundbreaking stories like those of Renee Powell, and rally around them as a community of golfers. This is the female Jackie Robinson of golf who is keeping a golf course alive, kind of by hook or by crook. It needs irrigation, it needs work, but Renee still runs it, and it’s a great, local course, but it could be turned into much more of a gem, but the golf industry itself has not rallied around her. “It’s history, and a piece of property that all of golf needs to get behind to preserve it. “This is a historic landmark piece of property that was hand-built by a Black man because of segregation, and particularly, segregation in golf.” That spans everything from Black golf instructors - where Haskins says the Black community is very underrepresented - to Black-owned golf courses, like Renee Powell’s Clearview Golf Club in Ohio. Support Black-owned golf businessesĪnd, something that extends far beyond golf, it’s important to make a concerted effort to vote with your dollars, using them to support Black-owned golf business. We don’t want to push talented people away because they don’t know the minutia of etiquette on Day 1.” 4. Don’t get me wrong, there are times that golf is very nuanced, but if you got skills and you’re a competent person, you can apply those skills to golf. ![]() “Attracting a more diverse staff can give the industry as a whole a heightened sense of awareness of how important that is. “Golf needs to cast a wider net,” Haskins says. But allowing fresh perspectives into the game will open more pathways for talented, diverse people to change golf for the better. Often, having a pre-existing knowledge of the game can be used as an excuse for not welcoming new faces into the game. Golf can be a complicated game, full of rules both written and unwritten. We need people of color to have access to the golf economy.” 3. So, across the board, you need to welcome more people into the game and give them opportunity,” Haskins says. “If you really want to help anyone, ask: how can I help them make some money? The answer is employment and opportunity. That often comes in two forms, Haskins says: Those who may be looking to take up the game themselves, but also those who may use golf as a means of employment. Welcome more people into the golf economyĪlong those lines, helping grow the game of golf by promoting diversity within it means welcoming newcomers into the game. “When I look around the room or the course or my membership, ask yourself: what does it look like?” 2. Most people are indifferent towards some of those things, but indifference can be just as bad as being actively against something,” Haskins says. You generally pick a prestigious club because of what it already is, not because you’re looking to go in there and change it up. “Most people go and conform to the culture of a club. That means getting involved in the governing of your club and advocating for more diversity throughout, from the membership base to those employed by the club itself. ![]() One of the first and most important ways golfers can promote positive change in golf is to simply speak out at whatever level you play the game, Haskins says. ![]()
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