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 August 7, 2007 -Each year at the historic Langston Golf Course located in Northeast, D.C. the Langston Junior Boys and Girls Club, founded by Ray Savoy, holds its annual golf tournament.
With over two hundred boys and girls participating in Langston’s programs, Langston provides much more
than just learning the mechanics of golf. Langston’s volunteer instructors teach participants valuable life lessons
through the game of golf. The children learn to respect themselves and others while learning that golf, unlike many of life’s
activities, takes discipline, determination, and organization.
Jimmy Garvin, African American Hall of Famer, says it was always his desire to give back should he be
able to escape his humble beginnings in his hometown of Florida. Garvin attended Howard Univesity on a golf
scholorship. When he became President and General Manager of Langston Legacy Golf Corporation, he saw his destiny being fulfilled.
“Golf is the carrot for kids that gets them to the golf course, but the overall goal is education”, says Garvin.
Inducted into the African
American Golf Hall of Fame in 2006 for his community service and outreach work with local schools in the area, Garvin explains
that African American children haven’t always had the resources to afford golf. “Now, golf has become affordable and accessible, and at Langston, we want to
get everyone involved. With golf comes educational opportunities that can help kids become respectful citizens.”
Garvin is one of a handful of African Americans in charge of a golf course in the United States. “That’s
unique,” says Garvin. For a long time we (African Americans) could not play golf, now we’re managing golf courses,
running golf corporations, and are chairmen of golf organizations. We’ve come a long way in golf. And we’ve only
done that on the shoulders of those who have paved the way for us. Those like Calvin Pete, Jim Dent, and Charlie Sifford.
Those guys went out before us and made it possible for us to do this.”
Garvin is also the manager of the Golf Course Specialists with golf courses in D.C. that include Langston, East Potomac, Rock Creek Golf Course, and The Gauntlet golf course in Fredericksburg,
Virginia.
Women and Golf
Women
have increasingly become interested in the sport of golf. A few members of the Wake-Robin Golf Club, a historical golf club created in 1937, were on hand at the Langston golf tournament and shared how they began playing golf.
Pat Gaskins, says she got started when her brother made the game sound interesting and fun. Not wanting to be left
at home, she decided to take lessons. Upon meeting her brother some time later, she surprised her brother with her golfing
skills.
Pat Williams, another avid lady golfer, shares that in the beginning she couldn’t find any women to play golf
with, but now finds so many female golf partners such that she can’t image playing golf with anyone but
women.
Female golfer Deztany Jackson, a junior at Old Dominion University majoring in Mechanical Engineering, participates
in the Langston golf tournament as her way of giving back. She received a scholarship, her freshman year from Langston
and encourages youth interesting in golf to just pick up a club and start swinging.
“You can never put it down, whether you’re five years old to a hundred years old, you can still keep playing.
It’s a great sport to network and just bond with different people”, says Deztany.
Deztany has hopes of becoming a pro golfer and manufacturer of golf equipment. She started playing golf as a child
while watching her father play at Henson Creek golf course in Maryland.
A Father’s Golf Influence
Deztany’s father, Dale Jackson, began his daughter in sports at an early age, starting her off with martial
arts (she became a black belt at age eleven). He credits Mr. Savoy and others for their mentoring efforts of D.C. youth.
Says Mr. Jackson, “There’s a lot of opportunity out there for junior and high school kids as well
as the opportunity to obtain college minority scholarships through golf, particularly at historically Black colleges ( HBCUs).
He also explains his theory that women who play sports, particularly basketball, would do well at golf, citing the
height advantage gives them a bigger arc in their swing, and gives them more power to hit the ball further.
Explains Jackson, “Michelle Wie has been able to excel because she’s tall. A lot of women on the tours who play golf are 5’2, 5’3.
If a lot of these African American women playing basketball in college learn to play the game of golf, I guarantee they’d
be on tour.”
Langston Teaching Golf Beyond D.C.
The Garvins,
along with the Metropolitan Capital Youth Foundation, recently took eight juniors to St. Lucia to hold a junior golf clinic
for eighty youth at Monroe College. “We hope to be able to not only teach the game of golf, but also the legacy of African
American golfers in America, says Mrs. Garvin. You can contact the Garvins at jglegacygolf@aol.com, or jgarvin@golfdc.com
A Message To Youth, From A Langston Youth Golfer
Anthony Long, a Jimmy Garvin All Star, also received a scholarship through the Langston Junior Golf scholarship program.
Planning to attend college in North Carolina, Anthony says golf has opened a lot of doors for him. He wants to major in golf
course management.
His advice to young people: “Keep your head on straight, and get a good mentor that shows interest in you, and
don’t let them down.”
Corporate Golf Tournaments
Many corporations have golf tournaments that allow for exposure and opportunities to network. Corporate sponsors of
this year’s Langston tournament include Modell’s Sports, and BAE Systems.
Greg McPhillips of BAE Systems says coming home to Langston is extremely important to him. He is glad to see the people
he grew up with and all the kids partaking in the sport. A former basketball player, McPhillips explains he wishes he had
picked up a golf club a long time ago.
“I’ve played basketball for many years, and the people you meet playing golf are totally different than
those playing basketball. I’ve played basketball for 40 years and never had a conversation with the players beyond basketball."
When asked to explain, McPhillips says the golfers he’s met are more business minded, diverse, and have a love
and zest for life. Having played golf around the world in places such as Bangkok, Australia, Hawaii, Canada, and the Caribbean,
McPhillips credits golf with keeping him out of expensive restaurants so he doesn’t put on the pounds, and keeping him
relaxed. “Golf has changed my life”,
says McPhillips.
His message to youth: “Keep your options open, and stay out of trouble. Look for positive people to associate
yourself with - early in life. When you are young, you have many options, but once you start going down the wrong path,
it just limits you.”
The Future Looks Bright for African American Golfers
Several NBA players and former NFL players have also taken up the sport and have yearly golf tournaments. Former NBA star Michael Jordan has a celebrity golf tournament each year.
Many elementary schools now offer the sport to students.
From the Pulpit to the Golf Course
Golf has become such a popular sport that churches are having Christain
golf tournaments.
Members of the East Friendship Baptist Church, expected to have their golf tournament in the near future, also enjoy golf outings at Langston's golf course after weekly
Bible studies.
Upcoming Area Golf Tournaments
Jimmy Garvin Golf Tournament
September 14-17th. Proceeds go to support the center and raise funds for scholarships to juniors who play at
Langston.
WOL Radio's 3rd Annual Golf Tournament
Cross Creek Golf Club Beltsville, Maryland
Langston’s Golf Instructor
A product of the Langston junior golf program, Rodney Lathan
is now a golf instructor at Langston. He wants his students to be able to play well enough to earn scholarships, so he makes
sure they receive the necessary skills.
When asked which gender is easiest to teach, Mr. Lathan is quick to admit that women are the best students
as they are open and receptive to instruction. "But eventually everyone gets it", says Lathan. When asked how old kids can
be to start golf lessons, Lathan recommends starting kids, (pending their maturity level and attention span), with golf
as early as age five or six.
Contact Langston Junior Golf Program for lessons.
Getting In Shape To Play Golf
As with any sport, one has to be conditioned, and golf is no exception.
Flexibility and agility are key. Rotating drills are recommended to enhance the turning of the upper body and wrists. Pilates
and yoga offer good conditioning, flexibility, and stretching benefits to lengthen and extend the joints and muscles used
during golfing.
Golf Terms, Tidbits, and Info
§ The Driver. The golf club used to start the game, or hit the ball off the golf tee. The driver hits the
ball the farthest of all the clubs.
§ Golf club numbering. Low numbers on the golf club hit the ball on a lower trajectory, and further out.
The high numbers on the golf club hit the ball higher in the air, and a shorter distance.
§ Golf Rules and Etiquette
§ Golf Tips From The Tiger
African American Golf History
One of the first all-Black Women Golf Clubs in America, The Wake Robin Golf Club of Washington, D. C., was formed on August 6, 1936.
Thirteen women held their first meeting at the home of Helen Webb Harris at 79 R Street NW that evening. She
was an educator and the wife of a prominent Washington physician.
Each founding member was married to an associate of Washington's all-Black, all-male Royal Golf Club, and they
were tired of staying home on weekends while their husbands played. They weren't trying to get into country clubs; they just
wanted to get on the golf course.
At the time, all but one of the District's public courses, the Lincoln Memorial, a nine-hole, sand-green design
in what is now West Potomac Park were off limits to any Black players.
Country clubs across America were off limits to almost all people of color, unless they were carrying golf bags,
shining shoes, or serving food. Named after the purplish wake-robin wild flower plentiful in the Mid-Atlantic region, the
club blossomed almost from the start though not without a few problems.
There was some resistance from the men of the Royal Club. Yet Wake Robin members played regularly at the Lincoln
Memorial course, still enduring the taunts of men. They made frequent excursions to courses in Baltimore and Philadelphia
that were more accommodating to Blacks.
In 1938, the Wake Robin Club pushed the process of desegregating the public courses of the District of Columbia
by drafting and sending a petition to Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes.
To mollify the petitioners, Ickes approved the construction of a nine-hole course on the site of an abandoned
trash dump.
In 1939, Langston Golf Course was built near Spingarn High School in Northeast Washington. It wasn't pretty,
especially when players tried to retrieve balls from under the old tires or rusty tin cans strewn about the property. But
finally, Black golfers had a place to call their own.
Today, Langston is an 18-hole public facility that still attracts a predominately Black clients.
Both Wake Robin and the Royal Club continued to press Ickes to open up the city's other public facilities, and
in 1941, he issued an order that did. When the doors opened at the city's other courses, some members (at the East Potomac
Course) were actually stoned.
White men around there harassed Blacks, and when they'd hit the ball, the children who lived around there would
come out and pick it up and run with it.
Still Wake Robin didn't curb its political action to the D. C. area. Along with many other minority clubs, Wake
Robin was part of the movement to force the PGA to drop its "White-only" rule for eligibility, which it did in 1961.
The club also helped organize and support the United Golfers Association, which put on tournaments throughout
the country for the best Black professionals.
Wake Robin carried on and prospered while it battled to end the exclusionary heritage of golf.
Currently, members, now numbering more than 50, play every week throughout the Washington area. There are regular
weekend matches, monthly tournaments, and a club championship.
Most of the current members are aware of their gracious history. The current membership inherited all of the
clubs memorabilia collected through the years, including Helen Harris's original postcard inviting her 12 friends to the first
meeting in 1936.
Wake-Robin Article Source: Our Golf
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