‘Yo, golf is dope.’ Kentucky golfer a leader in sport’s effort to diversify.
Doug Smith has played on the Advocates Pro Golf Association Tour since its first event in 2010. He needed just five words to express why.
“S--t, I’m Black in golf,” Smith said. “It’s that simple.”
The Versailles native and Lexington Christian Academy graduate was the first Black golfer at the University of Louisville, and while there won the 2005 PGA Works Collegiate Championship (then called the National Minority College Championship). After two years at U of L he transferred to Kentucky but didn’t play golf for the Wildcats, though he was involved in athletics; he was a team manager under Tubby Smith during the 2005-06 men’s basketball season. Following a year at UK, Smith transferred to Florida A&M, where he used the remainder of his playing eligibility.
Smith stays busy. When he’s not playing on the course — the APGA’s event in Louisville this week was his fourth tournament of the year — he’s probably helping others improve their games; he’s director of mobile sales and operations for True Spec Golf, a club-fitting business based out of Scottsdale, Ariz., where Smith and his family now reside. He co-hosts two regular podcasts: “Birdies Not BS” with Cheyenne Woods and “Beyond the Fairway” with Will Lowery.
If that wasn’t enough, he and his wife, Maribel Quezada Smith, had their first child last June. Having those two greet him at No. 18 was one highlight of a lackluster two-day showing at Valhalla Golf Club on Tuesday; Smith finished in the middle of the pack at 15-over par.
The other? An eagle on the same hole. It was the kind of shot that’s kept Smith coming back for more since he first stepped on a course at age 7.
“I just want people to know that this game can take you places, like it’s done for me,” Smith said. “You just need to hit one good shot and you can fall in love for a lifetime.”
APGA’s mission
APGA Tour executive director Cole Smith (no relation to Doug) says the organization is trying to bring the sport to the 21st century.
“Golf has a very complex and, perhaps, ugly past,” says Smith, who’s been with the APGA since 2014.
The PGA of America — which, along with the PGA Tour, has increased its partnership support of the APGA in recent years — until 1961 had a Caucasian-only membership clause. According to a Sports Illustrated story published in November, only 174 of its 29,000 golf pros across the country are black, about half of 1 percent.
The APGA has multiple goals, among them increasing visibility of potential business-level professionals within the game, in addition to players. PGA of America representatives attend every event held during the season; the Louisville tournament was the seventh of 10 scheduled through August.
“We really want to make a difference,” Cole Smith said. “I know that with social equity and inclusion, sometimes it’s just the optics, to make it look right. But the folks we’re partnering with now are really talking the talk and walking the walk, and that’s what we want. We want them to be engaging. We want them to help us actually make a difference. We want to see the fruits of our labor.”
What crop does the APGA hope to bear? Within five years, Cole Smith hopes the tour has produced at least one, if not two, individuals who play well on the Korn Ferry Tour, the PGA Tour’s equivalent to baseball’s “Triple A” level, in addition to a similar number of individuals working successful jobs in the golf business.
Increased sponsorship has seen the annual prize pool grow from $40,000 in year one to $350,000 this season. Currently the APGA can accommodate 60 full-time members, up from about 40 in its earlier years, most of whom are Black or Hispanic. Patrick Newcomb, who played at Murray State University and plays on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, was among the handful of white golfers playing at Valhalla; he finished 6 over, tied with three others for sixth place.
“I think it’s good stuff,” Newcomb said of the APGA’s goals. “There’s been a lot of sponsor invites come through this tour and they’re playing great golf courses. It’s pretty good money. ... Any time you’re able to play at any level of pro golf, at places like this, it’s good.”
Beyond the Fairway
Doug Smith has long been outspoken about golf’s lack of diversity, in terms of race but also privileged access. In 2012, he penned an article, “My Letter to the Industry,” for African American Golf Digest in which he detailed the reasons for which he and “hundreds of other minority players around the country” went unnoticed over the years. A big one? A lack of awareness and promotion of opportunities that are available outside of the country-club scene.
“When you think of really wealthy people, that grew up in the country clubs and s--t, they’re the haves, right? And everyone else is the have-nots,” Smith said. “I didn’t grow up in a country club. I grew up sneaking onto ‘em. I used to sneak onto Champion Trace all the time.”
Smith was perceived as an ideal co-host by Lowery, a former “Big Break” contestant and pro golfer who successfully pitched “Beyond the Fairway” to Golf Channel executive vice president of content Molly Solomon. The podcast, which launched in January, features weekly, off-the-cuff interviews predominantly with non-golf influencers who have an affinity for the game.
Among its guests so far: Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas and rapper Macklemore.
“These people play the game of golf, and they’re cool,” Smith said. “They’ve got hundreds of thousands of followers, and people follow them because of their basketball or because they were Miss America, but they also have this crazy hobby, this thing they can’t stop doing because it’s amazing. Our thing is leveraging these individuals’ platforms and the conversations we have with ‘em to show people, ‘Yo, golf is dope.’”
Smith likened the APGA to a fraternity; many of its members are guys against whom he’s played for most of his life. “There’s just not that many black and brown people that play golf at a decently high level across the country, in my opinion, so the ones that do, most of us knew each other,” he says.
He’s optimistic about the tour’s goals, and believes the group is effecting change. Three of its top players — Kamaiu Johnson, Kevin Hall and Willie Mack (who finished second this week) — have combined for five sponsorship exemptions to PGA Tour events in 2021. Ryan Alford could challenge for a similar opportunity this year; he won Louisville, his second straight victory on the APGA, and is a regular practice partner of Sam Burns, a high school friend and full-time PGA Tour member. The latter isn’t just a fun fact; personal stories and relationships matter as much, if not more in some cases, than talent when it comes to earning exemptions.
The sport can only be well-served if the APGA Tour continues to grow into a reliable “incubator” of diversity, says Smith.
“Golf’s growing up, man,” Smith said. “I feel like we’re in an era where you’re not a geek, you’re not a nerd — you’re sexy if you play golf now. Golf’s dope, and I think more and more people, the easier it is for them to touch it and try it, the better.”
