Latinos in Golf

Golf has always been for the most part a rich white man's game since its beginning. The only way for most Latinos to make it onto a golf course back in the day was to caddy on the course. A caddy is a person that holds the golfer's bag of clubs and walks with the player along the course tending the greens and giving the player the club when asked. For most Latino golfers, this is how they were able to get their start. Most young Latinos are too poor to afford greens fees so the only way to get on a golf course is to jump the fence and sneak on the course to play. Lee Trevino and Chi Chi Rodriguez were some of the first Latino golf legends who got there start to the game by caddying and jumping fences to golf courses to play. They have paved the way for many other Latino golfers today and have also given back to help give the young Latinos a better start than they had growing up in the poor society.

 

Lee Trevino was born in Dallas , Texas on December 1, 1939 . He lived in poverty as he grew up in a shack with his mother and grandfather raising him. He earned money at the young age of five working in the cotton fields to help support the family. It wasn't until his uncle gave him an old rusty golf club and a couple balls that Lee grew to love the game of golf and began sneaking onto a nearby golf course to hone his skills as a young striker of the ball. At the age of eight he began caddying at a golf course, which soon turned into a fulltime job in order to help his family survive. Lee is one of the few golfers whom actually taught himself to play the game and it was while caddying that his game began to take flight. When he turned seventeen he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps to find some better direction in his life. He still found a way to play golf though and the last eighteen months of his duty he was able to play with the officers in the afternoons. Upon returning from his time in the army he began working for his class A card to become a professional golfer. Once he became pro it didn't take long for Lee to win big. In only his second season on the PGA Tour Lee Trevino won the 1968 U.S. Open Golf Championship. This is one of golf's biggest tournaments and for him to win this in only his second year on tour was amazing. Lee Trevino would go on to win 5 major tournaments of his 29 career tournament victories.

Overall as a pro golfer, Lee has had tremendous success making him a very rich man. However, with this success he has not forgot his upbringing. He has established numerous scholarships and continues to offer assistance to many Mexican Americans who are less fortunate. "Never a player to throw in the towel, 'Supermex' is one of golf's true heroes." (1)

 

Another famous Latino golfer is Juan “Chi Chi” Rodriguez. Chi Chi Rodriguez was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico on October 23, 1935. As a boy he helped his father work in the sugar cane fields and it wasn't until the young age of six that he started caddying at a golf course. He learned to play golf with clubs fashioned out of guava tree limbs and tin cans hammered into balls.

Chi Chi's high spirited personality and on the course activity quickly made him one of the most watched golfers on the PGA Tour. Everyone knew him for his famous matador routine when he sinks a big putt, but he didn't always do that as he stated in an interview with T ravelGolf.com's Brendan McEvoy .

“ I used to put my hat on top of the hole when I made a birdie. That started when I was playing a kid for five cents and I made a 20 footer. But a toad was in the cup. When the toad jumped out, so did my ball. The kid said it was no good if the ball didn't hit the bottom of the cup.

So, when I was on the tour, I would throw my hat on top of the hole after I made a birdie putt. People started complaining, saying I was damaging the area around the hole. Commissioner Joe Dye, who was a great guy, asked if I could do something else.

And the one thing that all Spanish speaking people have in common is the love for bullfighting. I don't like bullfighting. The only good thing about it is they give the meat of the dead bull to the poor people. But they [the PGA Tour] asked me to do something different, so I did the matador: The hole was the bull, the putter was my sword, I'd lure the bull out of the corner, I'd stop the bull, clean its blood off my blade and put the sword away. It was all in good fun. But I'm like Anthony Perkins, I wouldn't hurt a fly.” (2)

Besides what Chi Chi has done on the golf course, it is what he has done with his fame that has really touched the lives of many. He has founded the "Chi Chi Rodriguez Youth Foundation" in Clearwater Florida which is a home to troubled and abused youngsters. Chi Chi believes that children are the future and that they all deserve a chance. Legendary golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez has demonstrated to be a great golf champion, but he's a greater champion to the lives of our youths and to the Latino community. (3)

 

The careers of Latino athletes such as Lee Trevino and Chi Chi Rodriguez have shown that even though you grow up in a poor environment anyone can achieve things that you think are only attainable by the rich and wealthy. If they can make it then so can you.