Charlotte Golf Course Named After Pioneer Who Inspired Tiger Woods

PINEHURST, North Carolina (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – As Tiger Woods drives to the U.S. Open course at Pinehurst with his son by his side, something connects them both to another golf course more than 100 miles away in Charlotte.

Nestled off Remount Road you will find the Dr. Charles L. Sifford Golf Course. Sifford, a Charlotte native, was the first black golfer to break the color barrier in professional golf in 1961. He is also the man Woods named his son Charlie after.

“It was a great honor,” said Charles Sifford Jr., Dr. Sifford’s son. “You know, we were surprised he did that. We didn’t know anything about it in advance. »

As young Sifford tells it, Tiger and his father were close when he was alive.

“They were calling each other and talking and (Tiger) was emailing and texting each other, putting him in his locker,” Sifford said. “You know, when he was running the tournament (my dad) was telling him to go get that trophy and that money.”

As Tiger himself said, without Dr. Sifford he probably would never have played golf. For the Queen City pioneer, many people didn’t want him to play golf, especially since he was breaking the color barrier. That was abundantly evident during his first time back in North Carolina as a PGA golfer at the Greater Greensboro Open.

“He was leading the tournament from day one and that evening he received several phone calls,” Sifford recalled. “They threatened him, telling him that if he came to the golf course he would be taken away in a body bag.”

Despite threats and insults, Dr. Sifford refused to stop, knowing that his game was bigger than his own.

“He just put this cigar in his mouth and just said I was going to beat them anyway,” said John Love, a friend of Dr. Sifford.

At Sifford Golf Course, that iconic look of a cigar in his mouth is seen on every tee shirt etched in stone with facts about his life. It’s a reminder of his legacy: the one who helped create Tiger, who in turn inspired the next generation to start a club and continue to grow the sport.

“People say he moved the needle. I say he’s the needle,” said Josh Anderson, regional general manager of Troon, which manages the public course as seen from Interstate 77.

“I can tell you I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Tiger Woods,” said Corbin Strothee, who manages Sunset Hills Golf Course, another Mecklenburg County course managed by Troon. “He himself innovated a lot. He had to deal with many of the problems that Dr. Sifford dealt with.

In that sense, it’s almost poetic. As Charles Sifford Jr. and Charlie Woods watch Tiger this weekend at the U.S. Open, more than 100 miles away in Charlotte, on a course named after a man who inspired them all, another golfer could receive the same inspiration from Dr. Sifford.

“He played at a level where I think people consider him the first African-American golfer on tour,” said Daniel Fogarty, executive director of the First Tee of Greater Charlotte, based at the course. “I think he was one of the greatest players who ever played the game.”