Golf is the ultimate meritocratic game, where subjectivity has no place. Yet, our sport has a troubled history of failing to live up to its proclaimed ideals, especially with its treatment of Black people and other minorities. During Black History Month, we not only celebrate the accomplishments of Black golfers, but we reflect on a time when our game was not open to everyone.

In this powerful story first published in Golf Digest in 1988, former tour player Larry Mowry recounts his experience traveling on the PGA Tour with Charlie Sifford—the first Black golfer on tour—in the 1960s. With vivid, painful detail, Mowry recalls the discrimination Sifford faced on a drive from Miami to North Carolina.

We also encourage you to read Pete McDaniel’s story on the birth of the golf tee, published in the October 2000 issue of Golf Digest. McDaniel tells the story of how Dr. George Franklin Grant, a Boston dentist and Harvard University graduate, invented the wooden tee.

Also check out Mark Whitaker’s story on the Pittsburgh Duffers, a group of Black golfers who formed a traveling club in the 1950s and helped integrate public courses in Pennsylvania, Ohio and beyond.

For a couple other options worth reading, consider Guy Yocom’s profile on Jim Thorpe and our Editorial Director Max Adler’s story on what might be the first painting of a Black golfer by a Black artist.