The United Golfers Association (UGA) was a group of

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

ers who operated a separate series of professional golf tournaments for

Blacks Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in ...

during the era of

racial segregation in the United States In the United States, racial segregation is the systematic separation of facilities and services such as housing, healthcare, education, employment, and transportation on racial grounds. The term is mainly used in reference to the legally or ...

. It was said to have started in 1925 when George Adams became a founding member and in 1926 by Robert Hawkins, a golfer from Massachusetts. It was known affectionately as the Chitlin Circuit emembering the old UGA tour - all-Black United Golf AssnBlack Enterprise Golf and Tennis Challenge: 4th Annual Tournament Journal Black Enterprise, Sept, 1997 and included many talented golfers such as

Ted Rhodes Theodore Rhodes (November 9, 1913 – July 4, 1969) was an American professional golfer who helped to break the color barrier in the sport. Rhodes was born in Nashville, Tennessee and attended the city's public schools. He learned the game of g ...

, Bill Spiller, Pete Brown,

Lee Elder Robert Lee Elder (July 14, 1934 – November 28, 2021) was an American professional golfer. In 1975, he became the first African-American to play in the Masters Tournament, where he missed the cut. Elder was invited to the tournament after he w ...

, Willie Brown Jr., Zeke Hartsfield, Howard Wheeler, and Charlie Sifford. Women were allowed to participate from the group's inception, but only in 1939 did the first women's golfing organization seek affiliation when the Chicago Women's Golf Club, organized by Anna Robinson, applied to join. Also, the Wake-Robin Golf Club, whose first president was Helen Webb Harris, joined the UGA under her leadership. Jimmy Taylor added the Mid Winter Classic at

Rogers Park, Tampa Rogers Park Golf Course is a historic public 18-hole golf course in Tampa, Florida. Land for the park was acquired by the City of Tampa in 1947 and was used for picnics and games by black residents during the era of racial segregation in the Un ...

to the circuit in 1963.Rodney Page Rogers Park was golf haven for African-Americans February 23, 2011 Tampa Bay Times From 1934 through November 1961, the Professional Golfers Association of America maintained a "Caucasian-only" membership clause in its bylaws. The clause was removed by amending its constitution. Contemporary golf associations for African Americans include the African American Golf Association (AAGA), United States Black Golf Association, United Black Golfers Association (UBGA), Western States Golf Association, Bogey Boyz, Black Jewels Ladies Golf Association and the African American Golf Foundation, Inc.

References

Golf associations Golf in the United States Defunct sports governing bodies {{Golf-stub