The Untold Story of Black Women Golfers in Memphis

Memphis has long been home to a passionate Black golf community. While many of its pioneers remain under-documented, their influence continues through local clubs, junior golf, and generations of players who expanded access to the game.

The documented outlines are striking on their own. During segregation, Black Memphians were barred from most of the city’s municipal courses. In 1956 the City of Memphis funded a segregated course for African Americans at T.O. Fuller State Park — itself the first state park east of the Mississippi created for use by African Americans. Local golf histories date earlier Black access to Lincoln Park Golf Course in 1935 and the Douglass course in 1951. And Ted Rhodes — the Nashville-born pioneer who mentored a generation of Black professionals — is credited with playing a pivotal role in desegregating Memphis courses.

The women’s chapter of that story is the least documented of all — which does not mean it didn’t happen. It means the record-keeping failed the people who lived it.

This is a living story. BLAC is researching Memphis’s Black golf history — its women’s clubs, its junior programs, its champions — and this page will grow as the record does. If your family carries part of this history, we want to hear from you. Explore BLAC Golf.