GOLF NOTEBOOK : She’s in the Minority but Working Hard

It was a year ago that professional golf had to deal with one of its biggest controversies: Shoal Creek. The Birmingham, Ala., club had exclusionary practices whereby blacks were not allowed to join.

There were talks of boycotts. Boardrooms of private clubs across the country were interested in what the outcome would be. Finally, Shoal Creek acquiesced and admitted a black member to its all-white club.

The Shoal Creek episode may have been noteworthy, but it hasn’t done enough to create more interest in golf in the black community. Perhaps a bigger problem is the lack of black role models on the PGA Tour.

In the 1970s, there were as many as 12 blacks who regularly played. Now there are only two--Calvin Peete and Jim Thorpe.

“Calvin Peete and Jim Thorpe are only two people,” Selina Johnson, who founded Hollywood Golf in Detroit in 1984, told the Associated Press. “Their faces are not in the winner’s circle week after week on television. There’s no quick identification if the golfers you see on television don’t look like you.”

Johnson’s Hollywood Golf program tries to run on about a $40,000 budget. The PGA and USGA each gave $5,000 to her this year.

“I go to pawn shops and garage sales to look for equipment,” she said. “You’ve got to be creative. I tell programs around the country, ‘Don’t wait for the PGA Tour to help you.’ I was existing for years before they knew about me.”

At Hollywood Golf, black youngsters are given instruction both in a classroom environment and on the course. The children also travel to occasional tournaments to meet touring pros.

“They learn about scorecards and golf equipment, golf course etiquette, rules and regulations, how to dress, how to pursue being a golfer,” Johnson said. “Sometimes, the pros on the tour will come out and speak to the kids.”

Another group that helps young people is the Calvin Peete Junior Golf Foundation in Atlanta.

“A lot of (minorities) have been introduced to golf for one week and told they can come back anytime they want,” Tina White, executive director of the Peete Foundation, told the Associated Press. “But they live 45 miles from the course and their parents can’t bring them. It’s like giving a kid a toy at Christmas and taking it away from them on New Year’s Day.”

Peete’s group began 18 months ago and has raised about $100,000. Still, it will take a long time before the results of these kinds of programs can be felt.

Golf Notes

Chi Chi Rodriguez announced he will defend his title at the GTE West Senior golf tournament at Ojai Valley Inn and Country Club, March 2-8. . . . Jim Galceran and Kenneth Davenport of Los Angeles Country Club won the sixth annual Jerry Mark Invitational at Lake Arrowhead Country Club, Aug. 1-3. . . . The World’s Longest Putt Competition will be held Saturday on Virginia Street in downtown Reno, Nev. The contest, sponsored by the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority, will benefit the Ronald McDonald house. There is no age limit and each try costs a donation of $1 or more. . . . Greg Norman’s PGA tournament at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks has been renamed the Shark Shootout benefiting Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities. The tournament is scheduled for Nov. 20-24. . . . The Amy Alcott Pro-Am will be held Sept. 23 at Riviera Country Club. The event will benefit the Southern California chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

The Southern California Professional Golf Assn. will hold its 1992 consumer golf expo at the Anaheim Convention Center. At the expo, scheduled Feb. 14-16, exhibitors will be allowed to sell direct to attendees for the first time. . . . Kip Puterbaugh, named one of the country’s 50 best teaching pros by Golf Magazine, has opened The Golf Academy with Doug McIntosh at the Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad, not at La Costa, as reported earlier. . . . Leslie Nielsen, Gregory Harrison, Robert Wagner, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone are among the celebrities scheduled to play at the first annual Ruth Berle Golf Classic at La Costa, Aug. 23-25. Proceeds from the event will benefit the American Cancer Society.

The Pomona Valley Workshop, a nonprofit agency that provides training for over 450 disabled adults, will hold its Ninth Annual Golf Tournament at El Prado Golf Courses in Chino on Sept. 10. . . . The Skins Game will return to PGA West in La Quinta on Nov. 30-Dec. 1. Curtis Strange, the defending champion, is scheduled to return along with three other players who have not yet been named. . . . A fund-raiser for the Calabasas Chamber of Commerce, the 13th annual Bill Van Gieson Memorial Golf Tournament, will be held Oct. 7 at the Calabasas Golf and Country Club. . . . The 20th Annual Spalding Queen Mary Open, benefiting the Prevention of Child Abuse, will be held at the Lakewood Country Club, Thursday through Sunday. . . . The 19th Annual 7UP-Billy Barty Foundation Celebrity Golf tournament will be held Sept. 6-8 at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort in Indian Wells. . . . The West Coast Golf Show, Spring Fashion 1992, will be held Saturday in the Center Theater of the Long Beach Convention Center at 5:15 p.m.