JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The only color anyone notices these days at Brentwood Golf Course's nine holes and the 18 holes at Hyde Park Golf Club is green, but the two picturesque courses were ground zero of a little-known 1950s civil rights struggle in the between blacks and whites.
"At the time, coming up as a kid, we only saw white golfers, and we would tote their bag," said Arthur Johnson, who was 12 years old and caddied at Hyde Park at the time.
Built in the 1920s, off Interstate 95 on Jacksonville's Northside, Brentwood is one of Jacksonville's oldest public golf courses. Brentwood is now where children come to play the centuries-old sport for the first time.
The fight for equality began when four golfers in Jacksonville trying to qualify for a national black golf event were trying to finish a qualifying round.
"Frank Hampton, Edward Norton, Devoid Brown and Charles M. Brown -- they had run out of time on the Monday, so they show up at Brentwood on Tuesday morning to finish out their round to qualify. They were denied," said Dr. Tony Parker, historian for the World Golf Hall of Fame and Museum.
Parker said that at Brentwood in the late 1950s, blacks were only allowed to play on Mondays, so the group went to Hyde Park the next day, but the same thing happened. There, blacks could only play on Fridays.
"So they petitioned the city commissioners to desegregate the golf course to allow them to play. (They were) flatly refused, so they filed a lawsuit," Parker said.
EXTENDED: Joy Purdy interview with Dr. Tony Parker
The golfers on their suit in federal district court, but rather than integrate, the city of Jacksonville sold the golf courses to private owners who promised that the greens would stay segregated.
"So they filed suit again," Parker said. "It took five years, but the U.S. Supreme Court (on) Nov. 19, 1962, came out and said that the golf courses in Jacksonville have to be desegregated."
That historic decision paved the way for golfing greats like Calvin Peete -- the Tiger Woods of the 1980s -- to go on to win 12 tournaments on the PGA Tour, included The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra in 1985.
When he retired, Peete and his wife left Chicago to make Jacksonville their home. Pepper Peete said it was the perfect setting for her husband's passion -- getting future generations to play and love the game through what's now The First Tee of North Florida. It's one of 160 chapters nationwide.
"We just use golf as a vehicle to teach kids core values," said Pepper Peete, who now works in The First Tee's outreach department.
Children in the local chapter play regularly on the hallowed ground at Brentwood.
"His favorite thing was to see a young person who had really no golf experience at all try to hit the ball, and then, when (they) finally hit the ball, they loft it up in the air, and a smile that comes to their face," Pepper Peete said. "That was his most favorite sight to see."
Calvin Peete’s dedication to golf is honored at the World Golf Hall of Fame Museum in at World Golf Village, where he and other African-American golfers are celebrated in a permanent display.
Read more about the big names in professional golf, as well as the local courses that played a big role in the desegregation of the sport.
There are also links so you can read more about these big names in golf, as well as the local golf courses that played such a huge role in the fight for desegregation.