I don’t play golf. The first time I tried to play was a very bad experience. I was at a golf tournament with a team from my company at the time. The morning of the golf tournament, my then boss gave me a talk about not wearing heels to work. I was already having a bad day and on top of everything I was SUCKING IT UP on the course. After that day and after being fired from that company, I told myself I would never be on a golf course again.
The major thing I noticed that day was that I was the ONLY person of color out on the course. Not only that, but I was the ONLY Latina out on the course that day. That day, I decided Latin@s don’t play golf; least of all watch it.
Two years have passed since then and I wanted to see if things had changed. I was invited to attend the PGA Tour Dell Matchplay in Austin, TX. I was super skeptical and didn’t want to get my hopes up. My mission was to find any and all Latin@s at the tournament and interview them. I also decided to ask around my circle of friends to see if any Latin@s I know play or watch golf.
I was SUPER surprised that I had a great time learning about and watching golf. It really is a beautiful sport and the fans are truly dedicated to the player they are supporting. At one point throughout the day, I ran into Abraham Martinez Rodriguez, originally from Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico, who is around 28 or 29 and who has been golfing ever since he can remember.
“Funny story. My stepdad is white. My mom asked my stepdad when I was around 8 years old, ‘Do you think we should go to the United States?’. A little after, while we were preparing to move to the states, my mom disappeared. I never got to know her. We decided to still make the move to the states and I came over with my stepdad. One day, he brought me to a golf course. He dressed me up really nice and took me out to the course and said, ‘I will be back. You stay here and figure it out. You will like it. First, just learn to hit the bar in the air and you will be golden. I will be back in 6 hours.’ That day I learned to chip and putt. Then, I decided to sign up for the school team. Since then, I am mostly self-taught. I learned throughout middle school and high school. When I graduated high school, my stepdad took me out to the course again and I beat him by ten strokes. He never asked to play me again.”
My first time out on the golf course was intimidating and it didn’t help that I didn’t see anyone else who LOOKED LIKE ME out on the golf course. There were ZERO Latinas out on the course that day. I was convinced that Latinas just don’t play, watch, or even care about golf.
One group raising awareness is the Latina Golfer’s Association, which uses golf as a business and networking tool while introducing Latinas to the game. The Latina Golfer’s Association eliminates the intimidation factor surrounding the game of golf. Thier goal is to make golf accessible to women by conducting affordable golf clinics and lessons for newbies and beginner/intermediate players. They empower women by teaching them how to utilize golf as a business tool in order to enhance their careers and personal lives.
Again, I took to my circle of friends to see if there are Latinas that I know who love and play golf. Sure enough, I received A LOT of responses. Laura Flores started playing when she was just 3 years old. Diana Aranda was introduced to golf from her boyfriend’s brother who plays for Rice University.
“I have played golf since I was 3 years old. My grandpa bought me a set of clubs and made me practice every day. I played in elementary, on my middle school team, and in high school. I was good, I placed in tournaments and won them. My whole entire life was golf. My senior year of high school I burnt out. It was too much practicing, it wasn’t fun anymore and I decided after high school that I was done. I even sold my clubs. Playing golf as a girl is tough. Especially as a Latina. I had many people tell me that I didn’t belong as a female and was told that Golf stood for “Gentleman only, ladies forbidden.” This, of course, is not true and is a common myth among people who do not play or are not involved with golf. Golf is also not the cool sport to play. It’s not like basketball or soccer, it’s seen as a stuffy, weird sport and I definitely didn’t get any popularity points from people who didn’t play. But I made lifelong friends with the kids around me that did play. After college, I went into my corporate job and guess what? Everyone in corporate America plays golf. I bought a new set of clubs, I went to go play with Co-workers and I made new friends that way. Better yet I met other women who play golf and that was such a great feeling. I learned to love the game I grew up with again. Many people don’t know about my golf history or at least they assume I don’t play or know anything about it. When I tell people my golf story they are always completely shocked, not surprising. Tiger Woods is my number one hero and I would pay lots of money to see him. I saw him play live when I was 16 and I can honestly say that was one of the best days of my life. I am going to the Dell Match Play this weekend and I am so excited. I am excited to be around those that love the game like I do!”
“I started enjoying it through my boyfriend’s brother who now golfs for Rice University. It was boring at first (not gonna lie), but the game was fun to get into and comprehend how the scoring worked, plus the outfits were cute whenever they took me golfing. And the nice tan. It’s also a good way to improve precision, which is my weakest point. I loved how I could relate it to bowling, both being sports you can do at any time in your life! Now I have something for indoors and something for outdoors.”
And the greatest thing I learned that day out at the PGA Tour Matchplay was that most of the people behind the scenes are LATIN@S! I met a group of course caretakers taking a break watching some of the matchups going on. They were mostly all from Michoacan, Mexico. We talked about all they do behind the scenes to keep the course looking beautiful, but also all they do to keep the game going smoothly. Without them, the course could potentially be the reason an amazing player does horrible one day. All these men told me that, at first, they thought golf was a pointless sport, but after a few tournaments they can see why people love it so much. They love how relaxing it is to watch compared to soccer.
“You aren’t consistently jumping up and down or on the verge of having a heart attack from watching golf. And, sometimes, that is what people want. Nice and peaceful gameplay.”
A day out for the PGA Tour Dell Matchplay was enough to show me that Latin@s are out there playing and watching golf. And, just like with anything else, Latin@s are fixing to take it over too.
Thank you again to the PGA Tour for the invite and I can’t wait to get back out on the course to give my golf swing another try!
You can find the PGA Tour on their website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
Do you play golf?
Are you a golf fan?
Have you ever been to a major golf tournament before? What did you think?
