Schedule
DHGC plays six (6) tournaments at premier golf courses in the Metro Detroit area. DHGC’s 2020 season starts on June 7th @ Coyote Preserve. We are still working on scheduling for the remainder of the 2020 season. To learn more about our past events, click below.
Community
Community service is at the heart of the DHGC. We have committed to helping select organizations make an impact in our local community to enrich the global community.
History of Detroit Handicappers Golf Club
History of the Detroit Handicappers Golf Club
Below is a summation of what I remember about the Detroit Handicappers Golf Club….. “The Detroit Handicappers Golf Club was originally established in the early 1950’s by a small group of African‐American professionals that loved the game of golf, but was limited as to where they could play due to the color of their skin. Private clubs were out of the question because no one allowed African‐ Americans to be members of their clubs as it was standard language in golf club bylaws at the time. So, these men (consisting of Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, Business Owners, etc…) established their own traveling golf club that would seek out courses that would allow them to play the game they loved. Many of those courses were in Canada, or places like Rackham Golf Course which has been owned by the City of Detroit since 1924.
Though the objective was to play competitive golf with each other they never lost sight of having fun in the process. Rules of the game were always strictly enforced and handicaps were actually determined by the current President and Tournament Director after playing several rounds of golf with you ‐ they didn’t utilize USGA standards. Consequently, there was no way for anyone to “sandbag” their handicap to have advantage over the group as a whole. Therefore, the President and Tournament Director of the organization had to be individuals of honor and integrity to ensure fairness of handicaps was being
distributed. They only wanted to know what you were capable of shooting on any given day ‐ not what you might shoot on average. Of course this process made for some heavy lobbying at times by members when they weren’t playing their best golf. This system may not have been perfect, but it was fair.
Overall, the DHGC was a group of men that just wanted the emotional freedom to play golf without fear or retribution during a time in this country when being an African‐American ‐ being Black, was the original social injustice of America. For a few hours they could get away from fear and racism and simply be men of color playing a game that knows no color.”
