Ohio playing a big role in West’s quest
When Michelle Wie West joined the LPGA board this year, she had a few goals in mind. Mainly, she wanted to create more accessibility for communities of color, and increase overall support for women’s sports.
Knowing that access to the sport of golf often leads to opportunities outside of the game, West decided that encouraging girls of color to engage in golf would benefit them far beyond the green.
“What I have noticed is that being able to play the game of golf really opens so many doors for you in the business and corporate world,” West told USA TODAY Sports. “I feel like it will just open so many doors for girls of color to have that opportunity and be able to be a part of those important conversations and discussions.”
West picked apparel as her medium to raise awareness of the game and, while working in tandem with the LPGA, the #Hoodieforgolf initiative was born, benefiting the Renee Powell
Fund and the Clearview Legacy Foundation.
The Renee Powell Fund offers need-based grants for girls’ golf programs that are inclusive of Black communities, providing access to golf, as well as the resources needed to stay engaged with the sport.
The hoodies create exposure to women’s golf but also recognize golf ’s history in the Black community, and that includes NBA stars Damion Lee and Kent Bazemore, who have worn them, as have a host of PGA tour members.
“I think that the power of merchandise is super strong and I have seen it with the WNBA,” said West, admiring the exposure the iconic orange WNBA hoodies brought to the league. “I just wanted to bring that to the LPGA.”
Renee Powell, who in 1967 became just the second Black woman to compete on the LPGA tour (tennis star Althea Gibson was the first in 1964), has dedicated her life to diversifying the game of golf and keeping her father’s legacy of “Golf for Everyone” alive.
Her father William “Bill” Powell, served in the United States Army in the 1940s, and like many Black Americans, upon return from World War II, experienced racial discrimination in the states.
After experiencing racism on the golf course and being prohibited to play at many clubs because he was Black, he decided to build his own. In 1946, the Clearview Golf Club in East Canton, Ohio, was established.
By 1948, Powell had completed the construction of nine holes, and in 1978, he expanded the course to 18. While there are Black-owned golf clubs across the country, Clearview remains the only course in the United States designed, constructed, owned, and managed by an African American.
“It has been amazing and so eyeopening and learning about the history of Clearview,” West said. “The game of golf is predominantly white and the history of access to the game has a stereotype that it is not very accessible, it is hard to get into and hard to stay in. We are just trying to provide more equity in the women’s game and into communities that historically haven’t been able to have access or resources.”