Game of Privilege

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2017 Herbert Warren Wind Book Award Winner - This groundbreaking history of African Americans and golf explores the role of race, class and public space in golf course development. The book recounts stories of African-American golfers during the age of segregation, the legal battle to integrate public golf courses and the little-known history of the United Golfers Association (UGA) – an African-American golf tour that operated from 1925 to 1975. Author Lane Demas chronicles how African Americans nationwide organized social campaigns, filed lawsuits and went to jail in order to desegregate courses. He also provides dramatic stories of golfers who boldly confronted wider segregation more broadly in their local communities. As national civil rights organizations debated golf’s symbolism and whether or not to pursue the game’s integration, African-American players and caddies took matters into their own hands and helped shape its subculture, while UGA competitors forged one of the most durable African-American sports organizations in American history as they fought to join the all-white Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA). From George F. Grant’s invention of the golf tee in 1899 to the dominance of superstar Tiger Woods in the 1990s, this revelatory and comprehensive work challenges stereotypes and indeed the fundamental story of race and golf in American culture. (Hardcover) 384 pages

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