n
Above: Golf pro Al Green works with a group
of young golfers at Langston Golf Course
in 1979. At left: Lee Elder, the first African-
American golfer to play in the Masters, poses
with members of the Wake-Robin Golf Club,
the oldest African-American Women’s Golf
Club in the United States.
T
by LEONARD SHAPIRO
vsga.org
HE CALL CAME LAST FALL from Peggy Norton,
project manager for the World Golf Association. It was
answered by Kim Thomas, president of Golf Course
Specialists, the company that owns the concession
rights to Washington’s three public courses, the only
three golf venues in the District of Columbia.
The WGA was preparing for the annual April Golf
Day in the nation’s capital, and Norton wanted to discuss a possible
community service project that would help the city game. At first,
the focus was on East Potomac Park, the largest golf complex among
the three courses and located on Hains Point, just across the Poto-
mac River from Reagan Airport.
Norton and Thomas kicked around several ideas, and when
Norton came to town last January, Thomas had the best thought
of all. Why not do something at the historic Langston Golf Course
in Northeast Washington, not far from Robert F. Kennedy (RFK)
Memorial Stadium, she suggested. After all, it was also the home for
a thriving First Tee program, and the course itself had a special place
in the hearts of the area’s African-American community.
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