Langston Golf Course
Encyclopedia
Langston Golf Course is an 18-hole golf course
in Washington, D.C.
, established in 1939. It was named for John Mercer Langston
, an African American
who was the first dean of the Howard University School of Law
, the first president of Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute (now Virginia State University
), and the first African American elected to the United States Congress
from Virginia
. It was the second racially desegregated
golf course in the District of Columbia, and in 1991 its first nine holes were added to the National Register of Historic Places
.
The course's official address is 2600 Benning Road NE. The course's first nine holes are located on Kingman Island, which is bordered by the Anacostia River
in the east and Kingman Lake
in the west. The course's back nine are located in Anacostia Park
, on the west shore (mainland) of Kingman Lake.
Langston Golf Course should not be confused with the Anacostia Golf Course, an 18-hole golf course also located in Anacostia Park. Anacostia Golf Course was on the eastern shore of the Anacostia River. It opened in May 1933 and closed in June 1958.
, baseball player Maury Wills
, golfer Ted Rhodes
, golfer Calvin Peete
, golfer Charlie Sifford
, golfer Al Morton, comedian Bob Hope
, President Gerald Ford
, swing
singer Billy Eckstine
, tennis
legend Althea Gibson
, celebrated African American amateur golfer Ethel Funches, and football star Jim Thorpe
. According to a report in the Washington Post
, every great African American professional golfer in the United States has played at the course since its opening, with the exception of Tiger Woods
.
Langston Golf Course is considered the best publicly owned course in the city. In 2004, a local newspaper described its driving range and practice tees as "excellent." The course is the only golf course in the city with water hazards. Holes 8 and 9 are considered quite challenging. A reporter with ESPN.com
, however, evaluated the course's toughest holes differently:
The Washington Post
has characterized the first hole as "a treacherous 483-yard par 5 over water..."
In 2009, the course's manager was Jimmy Garvin. He had been the golf course's manager since 2001.
north along the Potomac River
to about 27th Street NW. In 1925, the all-black Riverside Golf Club was organized to promote play on the new course. Some members split off from this club six months after its formation to organize the Citizens Golf Club, which later changed its name to the Capital City Golf Club in 1927 and the Royal Golf Club in 1933. The Capital City/Royal club began advocating for expanded facilities for the burgeoning number of African American golfers in the city, and requested that the federal government (which operated all five golf courses in the city limits) construct a new 18-hole course for blacks to play at. In 1927, John Langford, a prominent black architect in the city, petitioned the federal government to build the course on the new Anacostia Park, which was being built on both banks of the Anacostia River from material dredged from the riverbottom. Over the next several years, African American golfers in the city and surrounding areas held rallies, attended hearings, wrote letters, and lobbied Congress and executive branch officials to build the new course in Anacostia Park.
In 1934, government officials met with representatives of the black golfing community, including members of the Royal Golf Club, and agreed to build the new course in Anacostia Park. Over the next five years, club members, golfers, and government officials worked to identify a site and construct the course. The first nine holes of Langston Golf Course were built on the north end of Kingman Island in 1939. The Civilian Conservation Corps
and the Works Project Administration constructed the course. Construction began in 1936 and was nearing completion in February 1938, with an anticipated completion date of mid-1939.
In December 1938, park concessionaire Severine G. Leoffler, Sr., won the contract to administer the new Langston course. His firm had first started managing Park Service courses in the city in 1921. Loeffler, who rose from extreme poverty to own a popular local restaurant and then became a noted concessionaire for the National Park Service, administered Langston and the other city golf courses for the next four decades. The course opened at 2:00 PM on June 11, 1939. Frank T. Bartside, Acting Superintendent of the National Capital Parks, opened the course. African American golfer Clyde Martin hit the first ball on the course. (Martin became the first pro
at Langston Golf Course.)
When it opened, Langston was one of only 20 golf courses in the United States open to blacks. But the course was not in good shape. Some of the greens lacked grass. An open sewer ran alongside the number three and five fairways.
The inadequate facilities at Langston led many black golfers to continue to agitate for expansion of the course. African Americans attempted to play golf at the all-white East Potomac Park Golf Course
, Rock Creek Park Golf Course
, and other all-white courses, but were usually prevented from doing so. Black golfers continued to lobby, rally, and testify in favor of an additional nine holes at Langston. In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States
held in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483, that de jure
racial segregation
was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause
of the Fourteenth Amendment
of the United States Constitution
. Golf courses in Washington, D.C., were desegregated in 1955. That same year, the back nine holes at Langston were built in Anacostia Park (on the western shore of Kingman Lake). Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and in particular after the course's completion in 1955, Langston Golf Course was a regular stop for African Americans playing United Golf Association
tournaments (because the PGA Tour
was restricted to whites only).
The Leoffler company's management of the course came under scrutiny in the late 1940s. Golfers complained about the course so vehemently that U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands
began an investigation and asked the Park Service to delay renewing the firm's contract. A consultant strongly criticized the firm's stewardship of the course. Nonetheless, the Loeffler company renewed its contract to manage Langston Golf Course in 1951. In the summer of 1951, Leoffler won special permission from the Office of Price Stabilization
(a federal agency created to control prices during the Korean War
) to raise fees at the course. The company signed a 10-year contract to manage the course in 1954.
In 1957, the course suffered a setback when its one-story, concrete storage building burned to the ground, destroying $3,000 ($23,275 in 2010 inflated-adjusted dollars) worth of maintenance equipment.
The National Capital Planning Commission
proposed filling in 59 acres (23.9 ha) of Kingman Lake (about 50 to 60 percent of the lake's total area) in 1961 to make two small unnamed islands in the lake part of the mainland, which would add an additional 19 acres (7.7 ha) to Langston Golf Course. This plan was never acted on. In 1963, Leoffler reported that Langston Golf Course had been turning a profit under his management, even though the company had spent tens of thousands of dollars to have the greens refurbished and a miniature golf
course added. Later that year, the NPS put a fence around Langston Golf Course to prevent golfers from accessing the course without paying fees and to prevent school children (some of whom had been hit by golf balls) from crossing the course during play. The course was closed for 24 hours on November 25, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy
was buried.
Langston was twice threatened with destruction in the 1960s. In 1964, Washington, D.C., officials proposed closing the first nine holes of Langston Golf Course and building the Barney Circle Freeway
on the land, but the National Park Service
(which owned and managed the island at the time) refused to turn over the land to the city. In 1969, the city of Washington proposed closing all of Langston Golf Course and building extensive low-income public housing on the golf course and the rest of Kingman Island. The National Park Service rejected that plan as well. Perhaps the biggest threat to the course was a study by the Park Service in the mid-1960s which called for a new federally owned golf course to be built at Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm
(just over the District line in Maryland
). This study showed that D.C. golfers would be better served by the new course, and that Langston should be closed. But by 1977, the Oxon Cove course had yet to be built, and the plan died.
It is unclear what the financial status of Langston Golf Course was during its first 40 years. In 1962, the Leoffler company claimed the course had been turning a profit since 1939. In 1972, the Washington Post reported that the course grossed $100,000, while rent to the National Park Service was just $10,000. In 1975, The Leoffler family said it lost $300,000 to $500,000 in the 35 years it ran the course (about $8,600 to $14,300 a year), and Langston City Golf Corp. (which took over the lease in 1974) said it lost $50,000 on the course in just a year. (At the time, it was estimated about 125 to 200 golfers used the course each day.) In 1981, the Washington Post claimed that the course had lost money nearly every year since its opening.
managed Langston Golf Course. Elder had taught golf at Langston from 1960 to 1962. He met his future wife, Rose Harper, on the course. In 1970, Elder began seeking the National Park Service concession to manage Langston. He did not get the contract, but sought it again in 1972. Once more, he failed to win the concession. The Loeffler family gave up its concession contract in July 1974. A group of seven local investors formed the Langston City Golf Corp., and assumed the lease. By July 1975, the grounds were in extremely bad shape ("a virtual ruin", the press said), needing an estimated $250,000 in repairs. Unable to obtain Congressional funding for maintenance for the course and with Langston City Golf Corp. suffering from severe management problems, the National Park Service shut Langston down in July 1975. In November 1975, Elder once more sought to manage Langston Golf Course. Again, Elder was rebuffed.
Nine holes at Langston re-opened in September 1976, and the remaining nine holes on April 15, 1977. The National Park Service began looking for a new concessionaire to take over the park in September 1977.
Elder won the concession in August 1978. He immediately spent $100,000 refurbishing the course. By the end of 1981, the company said it had made another $160,000 in improvements. But in December 1981, the National Park Service closed the course after Elder's company canceled its insurance policies covering the course. The reason for the cancellation was in dispute. The National Park Service claimed that only 21,500 golfers used the course in 1980 (down from about 30,000 in 1979), and that the Elder firm had not made the improvements required by its contract. Lee and Rose Elder, however, countered that the number of golfers using the course had risen since 1978, and that the park service was refusing to make alterations to the concessions contract that were needed to keep the course profitable. The course closed in the fall of 1981, as Lee Elder Enterprises ran into financial trouble and could not keep it open. In April 1982, Lee Elder Enterprises said it owed $200,000 to creditors and was unable to pay. The D.C. court overseeing the company's financial problems said kitchen, maintenance, and sports equipment would be auctioned off to help pay the debts. With the collapse of the Elder company, the National Park Service withdrew its contract and sought a new concessionaire. But the Park Service was also seriously considering closing the course for good.
With Langston Golf Course closed for the third time in 10 years, District of Columbia highway officials argued the land should be used for a new bridge across the Anacostia River. The Barney Circle Freeway would at last be built (they claimed) to bring the Southeast Freeway
north along the west bank of the Anacostia River, through Anacostia Park and Langston Golf Course, and then travel over the new bridge to connect with the Anacostia Freeway
. But widespread protests from wealthy Capitol Hill
residents, numerous lawsuits, and design changes caused the freeway's cost to balloon to $160 million, and it remained unbuilt by 1992. The D.C. City Council
had the final say on whether to proceed with the project or not. In December 1994, the City Council bowed to neighborhood opposition and voted overwhelmingly to cancel the Barney Circle Freeway.
weekend. The company considered Langston the worst golf course in the entire D.C. metropolitan area when it took over. The clubhouse had chicken wire over the windows to prevent breakage, iron bars covered all windows and doors, and buildings and the course had been heavily vandalized. The greens were in very bad condition, and poor neighborhood children would sneak onto the course and steal balls in play so that they could sell them back to golfers. Over the next five years, numerous improvements were made to the course. To discourage kids from stealing golf balls, course manager Wallace "Sarge" McCombs (a former United States Army
sergeant
) hired many of the children to find lost balls in the traps and rough. The rough was groomed, greens resodded
, security patrols increased to reduce daylight and after-hours crime, and a community outreach program implemented. Trash was cleared from the fairways and greens, water cooler
s were placed at each tee
, portable toilets were put on the course at strategic spots, and clubhouse and course etiquette
rigidly enforced. The number of golfers climbed from a low of 20,000 in 1981 to 33,000 in 1986 and a projected 40,000 in 1987. Gross revenues also rose significantly, from $70,000 in 1983 to a projected $150,000 in 1987.
These improvements did not stop development threats to the course. In 1986, D.C. officials considered but rejected Langston as a site for a new city jail. A far more serious threat came from football
. In 1987, the District of Columbia began looking for a way to upgrade or replace RFK Stadium
so that the Washington Redskins
would continue to play their games inside the city limits. In the summer of 1986, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry
and Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke
agreed to dismantle Langston Golf Course and use the site for parking for a new stadium. But after protests from golfers and local residents (who did not want large amounts of traffic flowing through their neighborhood), Barry ruled out using Langston in the summer of 1987. Cooke continued to press for parking at Langston, and in August 1988 met with United States Secretary of the Interior
Donald P. Hodel
to demand that the National Park Service nonetheless study the feasibility of his request. Hodel agreed to do so. Under pressure, Mayor Barry agreed to consider using Langston Golf Course for parking if the federal government would turn over nearby federal property for a redesigned, new 18-hole course to replace the lost grounds. Barry even hired Lee Elder to begin designing a new course. But William Penn Mott, Jr.
, NPS Director, said that the Park Service was strongly opposed to the use of any Anacostia Park or Langston Golf Course land for parking. D.C. officials asked the agency to reconsider its decision. Four years drifted by, and still stadium talks were ongoing. Marion Barry declined to run for re-election in 1990 after being videotaped smoking crack cocaine
in a D.C. hotel. As the District still struggled to craft a deal to build a new stadium, the new Secretary of the Interior, Manuel Lujan, Jr., forced the city's new mayor, Sharon Pratt Dixon
, to agree to preserve Langston Golf Course (although Lujan did agree to allow a redesign of the facility to accommodate some stadium parking). In January 1992, Mayor Dixon announced that golfers Arnold Palmer
and Gary Player
and businesswoman Rose Elder would design a new Langston Golf Course if the existing grounds were used for football stadium parking. By March 1992, Mayor Dixon was still proposing that parking be built on Langston Golf Course.
As the stadium talks continued, a controversy over the concessions contract at Langston erupted. Former D.C. Council chairman Arrington Dixon
(and husband of Mayor Dixon) protested that the National Park Service—which was on the verge of signing a new, 15-year contract with Golf Course Specialists, Inc.—should suspend any contract negotiations until such time as the stadium issue was resolved, and that only minority-owned firms should be considered to manage the course. The new contract would commit Golf Course Specialists to pay $1.5 million to make a large number of improvements to the course, including a new clubhouse to replace the existing dilapidated structure (which had recently been closed due to health concerns). It also boosted the Park Service's share of net revenues from 2 percent to 20 percent. Secretary Lujan said he would sign the 15-year contract, but that it would include a clause terminating the agreement if a stadium deal was reached by April 3, 1992. When no deal was forthcoming by April 3, Lujan moved ahead with the new contract and the golf course's renovations, which included the major clubhouse renovation.
The District's insistence that parking be built on Langston Golf Course, however, helped clinch a stadium agreement: On December 7, 1992, Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke agreed to build his team's new stadium next to RFK Stadium. But rising Congressional opposition to the stadium deal (primarily due to the impact it would have on local residents and its high costs) imperiled the stadium deal. Congressional opposition rose significantly after the stadium's chief proponent, D.C. City Council Chairman John A. Wilson
, committed suicide on May 19, 1993. By December, Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke
abandoned the D.C. site and pledged to build his stadium in Maryland. FedExField
opened in Landover, Maryland
, in August 1997.
With the stadium threat to Langston Golf Course gone, a number of improvements went ahead. In 1988, the Nation's Capital Bicentennial Celebration committee said it would spearhead a $15 million fund-raising project to build a family golf center at Langston. This project, however, was not forthcoming. In 1999, heavy rains washed away some fairways and greens, exposing buried trash (such as household appliances). An $8 million project to regrade the course to improve drainage began. A year later, the concessionaire agreed to begin a series of projects to bring Langston Golf Course up to Professional Golfers Association
standards. In 2002, a print of a painting by noted local artist Linwood Barnes depicting Clyde Martin taking the first drive at Langston Golf Course was hung in the clubhouse. In May 2002, Langston Golf Course became one of the first courses to host a First Tee chapter, a program designed to interest minorities and economically disadvantaged children in golf. In 2002 and 2003, Langston Golf Course opened a putt-and-chip
practice area for young golfers and a four-hole course for novices. An academic resource center with computer stations, a small library, and tutoring and study programs was also opened. Students from local junior and senior high schools who study their schoolwork in the education center for an hour are awarded a free hour golf on the course. In 2002, about 200 students took advantage of the educational center. (The number had risen to 400 students by 2006.) The National Park Service and the concessionaire also established a strategic plan to raise $12 million to $17 million in public and private funds to complete the upgrade to PGA tour standards, build a new clubhouse with banquet facilities, establish a museum dedicated to African American golfers, replace the driving range
, and expand the education center. In 2007, D.C. Delegate to Congress
Eleanor Holmes Norton
introduced the "Golf Course Preservation and Modernization Act" in Congress, legislation which would allow the National Park Service (NPS) to lease Langston and the other federally owned golf courses in the District of Columbia (rather than simply offer a concession contract). A long-term lease, Norton said, would allow the lessee to obtain high levels of capital investment funds and greatly improve the courses.
In 2006, course manager Jimmy Garvin was inducted into the African American Golfers Hall of Fame for his community outreach efforts and work at restoring and maintaining Langston Golf Course. The following year, Golf Course Specialists founder and golfer Bob Brock was inducted into the African American Golfers Hall of Fame for his work in saving Langston.
One of Langston's most difficult challenges is dealing with the Giant Canada Geese
(Branta canadensis maxima) which inhabit the tidal marshes of Kingman Lake and the Anacostia River. Hundreds of the birds inhabit the marshes. The birds not only feed voraciously on the course's grasses, but their feces harm the greens and pose a health hazard to golfers. They also feed on and destroy the marsh plants which the National Park Service planted in Kingman Lake and the Anacostia River in the hope that these will help filter the water and restore the health of the river. In 2007, federal park officials began considering a program to cull the geese population around Langston Golf Course in an attempt to save the river, an effort opposed by some animal rights groups.
Langston Golf Course celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2009. Golfing pioneer Calvin Peete and other noted African American golfers held a celebration in the course's clubhouse on June 11, golf celebrities and city officials held a banquet in the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., City Museum, and the African American Golfers Hall of Fame awards were held in the city.
Despite the historic nature of the course and the many improvements to it in the past decades, Langston Golf Course has never hosted a PGA event or U.S. Open tournament
.
Golf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, established in 1939. It was named for John Mercer Langston
John Mercer Langston
John Mercer Langston was an American abolitionist, attorney, educator, and political activist. He was the first dean of the law school at Howard University and helped create the department. He was the first president of what is now Virginia State University. In 1888 he was the first African...
, an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
who was the first dean of the Howard University School of Law
Howard University School of Law
Howard University School of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of Howard University. Located in Washington, D.C., it is one the oldest law schools in the country and the oldest historically black college or university law school in the United States...
, the first president of Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute (now Virginia State University
Virginia State University
Virginia State University is a historically black and land-grant university located north of the Appomattox River in Chesterfield, in the Richmond area. Founded on , Virginia State was the United States's first fully state-supported four-year institution of higher learning for black Americans...
), and the first African American elected to the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
from Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. It was the second racially desegregated
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
golf course in the District of Columbia, and in 1991 its first nine holes were added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
The course's official address is 2600 Benning Road NE. The course's first nine holes are located on Kingman Island, which is bordered by the Anacostia River
Anacostia River
The Anacostia River is a river in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States. It flows from Prince George's County in Maryland into Washington, D.C., where it joins with the Washington Channel to empty into the Potomac River at Buzzard Point. It is approximately long...
in the east and Kingman Lake
Kingman Lake
Kingman Lake is a artificial lake located in the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., in the United States. The lake was created in 1920 when the United States Army Corps of Engineers used material dredged from the Anacostia River to create Kingman Island...
in the west. The course's back nine are located in Anacostia Park
Anacostia Park
Anacostia Park is operated by the United States National Park Service. It is one of Washington, D.C.'s largest and most important recreation areas, with over 1200 acres at multiple sites. Included in Anacostia Park is Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens and Kenilworth Marsh...
, on the west shore (mainland) of Kingman Lake.
Langston Golf Course should not be confused with the Anacostia Golf Course, an 18-hole golf course also located in Anacostia Park. Anacostia Golf Course was on the eastern shore of the Anacostia River. It opened in May 1933 and closed in June 1958.
Course description
Langston Golf Course is an 18-hole, par 72 course. Other services offered at the course include a driving range with 50 slots, golf school, golf shop, putting green, and snack bar. There are several "junior golf" programs for children and teens, and a learning center aimed at low-income children. In 2009, about 25,000 rounds of golf were played on the course each year. Some of the more famous people who have regularly played the course include boxer Joe LouisJoe Louis
Joseph Louis Barrow , better known as Joe Louis, was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949. He is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time...
, baseball player Maury Wills
Maury Wills
Maurice Morning "Maury" Wills is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and switch-hitting batter who played most prominently with the Los Angeles Dodgers , and also with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Montreal Expos...
, golfer Ted Rhodes
Ted Rhodes
Theodore "Ted" Rhodes was a trailblazing African-American professional golfer.Rhodes was born in Nashville, Tennessee and attended the city's public schools. He learned the game of golf in his teenage years while working as a caddie at Nashville's Belle Meade and Richland golf courses...
, golfer Calvin Peete
Calvin Peete
Calvin Peete is an American professional golfer. He was the most successful African-American on the PGA Tour, with 12 wins, before the emergence of Tiger Woods....
, golfer Charlie Sifford
Charlie Sifford
Charles Sifford is an African American former professional golfer who helped to desegregate the PGA of America.Sifford was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He began work as a caddy at the age of thirteen...
, golfer Al Morton, comedian Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, President Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
, swing
Swing Era
The Swing era was the period of time when big band swing music was the most popular music in the United States. Though the music had been around since the late 1920s and early 1930s, being played by black bands led by such artists as Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford, Benny Moten, Ella Fitzgerald,...
singer Billy Eckstine
Billy Eckstine
William Clarence Eckstine was an American singer of ballads and a bandleader of the swing era. Eckstine's smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big-band, then as the first romantic black male in popular...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
legend Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson was a World No. 1 American sportswoman who became the first African-American woman to be a competitor on the world tennis tour and the first to win a Grand Slam title in 1956. She is sometimes referred to as "the Jackie Robinson of tennis" for breaking the color barrier...
, celebrated African American amateur golfer Ethel Funches, and football star Jim Thorpe
Jim Thorpe
Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe * Gerasimo and Whiteley. pg. 28 * americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23, 2007. was an American athlete of mixed ancestry...
. According to a report in the Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, every great African American professional golfer in the United States has played at the course since its opening, with the exception of Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...
.
Langston Golf Course is considered the best publicly owned course in the city. In 2004, a local newspaper described its driving range and practice tees as "excellent." The course is the only golf course in the city with water hazards. Holes 8 and 9 are considered quite challenging. A reporter with ESPN.com
ESPN.com
ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's...
, however, evaluated the course's toughest holes differently:
- ...
[There is] a tee shot that requires a 200-yard carry to clear Kingman Lake on the 538-yard par-5 10th hole. There is a tough, 440-yard slight dogleg par 4 at No. 12, and the No. 1 handicap hole on the course is No. 3, a 520-yard par 5 that requires one shot over a creek and an approach to a small, elevated green.
The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
has characterized the first hole as "a treacherous 483-yard par 5 over water..."
In 2009, the course's manager was Jimmy Garvin. He had been the golf course's manager since 2001.
Building the course
The first D.C. golf course which allowed people of color to play was the municipally owned Lincoln Memorial Golf Course, which opened on June 8, 1924. The course, which had only nine holes, extended from west of the Lincoln MemorialLincoln Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial is an American memorial built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor of the main statue was Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the interior...
north along the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
to about 27th Street NW. In 1925, the all-black Riverside Golf Club was organized to promote play on the new course. Some members split off from this club six months after its formation to organize the Citizens Golf Club, which later changed its name to the Capital City Golf Club in 1927 and the Royal Golf Club in 1933. The Capital City/Royal club began advocating for expanded facilities for the burgeoning number of African American golfers in the city, and requested that the federal government (which operated all five golf courses in the city limits) construct a new 18-hole course for blacks to play at. In 1927, John Langford, a prominent black architect in the city, petitioned the federal government to build the course on the new Anacostia Park, which was being built on both banks of the Anacostia River from material dredged from the riverbottom. Over the next several years, African American golfers in the city and surrounding areas held rallies, attended hearings, wrote letters, and lobbied Congress and executive branch officials to build the new course in Anacostia Park.
In 1934, government officials met with representatives of the black golfing community, including members of the Royal Golf Club, and agreed to build the new course in Anacostia Park. Over the next five years, club members, golfers, and government officials worked to identify a site and construct the course. The first nine holes of Langston Golf Course were built on the north end of Kingman Island in 1939. The Civilian Conservation Corps
Civilian Conservation Corps
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...
and the Works Project Administration constructed the course. Construction began in 1936 and was nearing completion in February 1938, with an anticipated completion date of mid-1939.
In December 1938, park concessionaire Severine G. Leoffler, Sr., won the contract to administer the new Langston course. His firm had first started managing Park Service courses in the city in 1921. Loeffler, who rose from extreme poverty to own a popular local restaurant and then became a noted concessionaire for the National Park Service, administered Langston and the other city golf courses for the next four decades. The course opened at 2:00 PM on June 11, 1939. Frank T. Bartside, Acting Superintendent of the National Capital Parks, opened the course. African American golfer Clyde Martin hit the first ball on the course. (Martin became the first pro
Professional sports
Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance. Professional athleticism has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations...
at Langston Golf Course.)
When it opened, Langston was one of only 20 golf courses in the United States open to blacks. But the course was not in good shape. Some of the greens lacked grass. An open sewer ran alongside the number three and five fairways.
The inadequate facilities at Langston led many black golfers to continue to agitate for expansion of the course. African Americans attempted to play golf at the all-white East Potomac Park Golf Course
East Potomac Park Golf Course
East Potomac Park Golf Course is a golf course located in East Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., in the United States. The course includes an 18-hole course, two 9-hole courses, and a miniature golf course. It is the busiest of the city's three golf courses...
, Rock Creek Park Golf Course
Rock Creek Park
Rock Creek Park is a large urban natural area with public park facilities that bisects Washington, D.C. The park is administered by the National Park Service.-Rock Creek Park:The main section of the park contains , or , along the Rock Creek Valley...
, and other all-white courses, but were usually prevented from doing so. Black golfers continued to lobby, rally, and testify in favor of an additional nine holes at Langston. In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
held in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483, that de jure
De jure
De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....
racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause
Equal Protection Clause
The Equal Protection Clause, part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, provides that "no state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws"...
of the Fourteenth Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the Dred Scott v...
of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
. Golf courses in Washington, D.C., were desegregated in 1955. That same year, the back nine holes at Langston were built in Anacostia Park (on the western shore of Kingman Lake). Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and in particular after the course's completion in 1955, Langston Golf Course was a regular stop for African Americans playing United Golf Association
United Golf Association
The United Golf Association was a group of African-American professional golfers who operated a separate series of professional golf tournaments for Blacks during the era of racial segregation. Many talented golfers played on this tour, including Ted Rhodes, Bill Spiller, Pete Brown, Lee Elder,...
tournaments (because the PGA Tour
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
was restricted to whites only).
First four decades
Two plane crashes occurred on Langston Golf Course in the 1940s. On December 28, 1945, a single-engine civilian light plan landed without incident on the course after weather forced the pilot down. Another light plane, this one with engine problems, was forced to land on the course in 1948.The Leoffler company's management of the course came under scrutiny in the late 1940s. Golfers complained about the course so vehemently that U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Public Lands
United States Senate Energy Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests is one of four subcommittees of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.-Jurisdiction:...
began an investigation and asked the Park Service to delay renewing the firm's contract. A consultant strongly criticized the firm's stewardship of the course. Nonetheless, the Loeffler company renewed its contract to manage Langston Golf Course in 1951. In the summer of 1951, Leoffler won special permission from the Office of Price Stabilization
Economic Stabilization Agency
The Economic Stabilization Agency was an agency of the United States Government that existed from 1950 to 1953.The creation of the ESA was authorized by the Defense Production Act , which was signed into law by President of the United States Harry S. Truman on September 8, 1950...
(a federal agency created to control prices during the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
) to raise fees at the course. The company signed a 10-year contract to manage the course in 1954.
In 1957, the course suffered a setback when its one-story, concrete storage building burned to the ground, destroying $3,000 ($23,275 in 2010 inflated-adjusted dollars) worth of maintenance equipment.
The National Capital Planning Commission
National Capital Planning Commission
The National Capital Planning Commission is a U.S. government agency that provides planning guidance for Washington, D.C. and the surrounding National Capital Region...
proposed filling in 59 acres (23.9 ha) of Kingman Lake (about 50 to 60 percent of the lake's total area) in 1961 to make two small unnamed islands in the lake part of the mainland, which would add an additional 19 acres (7.7 ha) to Langston Golf Course. This plan was never acted on. In 1963, Leoffler reported that Langston Golf Course had been turning a profit under his management, even though the company had spent tens of thousands of dollars to have the greens refurbished and a miniature golf
Miniature golf
Miniature golf, or minigolf, is a miniature version of the sport of golf. While the international sports organization World Minigolf Sport Federation prefers to use the name "minigolf", the general public in different countries has also many other names for the game: miniature golf, mini-golf,...
course added. Later that year, the NPS put a fence around Langston Golf Course to prevent golfers from accessing the course without paying fees and to prevent school children (some of whom had been hit by golf balls) from crossing the course during play. The course was closed for 24 hours on November 25, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
was buried.
Langston was twice threatened with destruction in the 1960s. In 1964, Washington, D.C., officials proposed closing the first nine holes of Langston Golf Course and building the Barney Circle Freeway
Inner Loop (Washington, D.C.)
The Inner Loop was two planned freeways around downtown Washington, D.C. The innermost loop would have formed an oval centered on the White House, with a central freeway connecting the southern segment to the northern segment and then continuing on to Interstate 95. Interstate 95 would have met...
on the land, but the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
(which owned and managed the island at the time) refused to turn over the land to the city. In 1969, the city of Washington proposed closing all of Langston Golf Course and building extensive low-income public housing on the golf course and the rest of Kingman Island. The National Park Service rejected that plan as well. Perhaps the biggest threat to the course was a study by the Park Service in the mid-1960s which called for a new federally owned golf course to be built at Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm
Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Hill Farm
Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Cove Farm is a national historic district that includes a living farm museum operated by the National Park Service, and located at Oxon Hill, Prince George's County, Maryland...
(just over the District line in Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
). This study showed that D.C. golfers would be better served by the new course, and that Langston should be closed. But by 1977, the Oxon Cove course had yet to be built, and the plan died.
It is unclear what the financial status of Langston Golf Course was during its first 40 years. In 1962, the Leoffler company claimed the course had been turning a profit since 1939. In 1972, the Washington Post reported that the course grossed $100,000, while rent to the National Park Service was just $10,000. In 1975, The Leoffler family said it lost $300,000 to $500,000 in the 35 years it ran the course (about $8,600 to $14,300 a year), and Langston City Golf Corp. (which took over the lease in 1974) said it lost $50,000 on the course in just a year. (At the time, it was estimated about 125 to 200 golfers used the course each day.) In 1981, the Washington Post claimed that the course had lost money nearly every year since its opening.
Elder years
From 1978 to 1981, African American golfer Lee ElderLee Elder
Robert Lee Elder is an American golfer. He is best remembered for becoming the first African-American to play in the Masters Tournament in 1975.-Background and family:...
managed Langston Golf Course. Elder had taught golf at Langston from 1960 to 1962. He met his future wife, Rose Harper, on the course. In 1970, Elder began seeking the National Park Service concession to manage Langston. He did not get the contract, but sought it again in 1972. Once more, he failed to win the concession. The Loeffler family gave up its concession contract in July 1974. A group of seven local investors formed the Langston City Golf Corp., and assumed the lease. By July 1975, the grounds were in extremely bad shape ("a virtual ruin", the press said), needing an estimated $250,000 in repairs. Unable to obtain Congressional funding for maintenance for the course and with Langston City Golf Corp. suffering from severe management problems, the National Park Service shut Langston down in July 1975. In November 1975, Elder once more sought to manage Langston Golf Course. Again, Elder was rebuffed.
Nine holes at Langston re-opened in September 1976, and the remaining nine holes on April 15, 1977. The National Park Service began looking for a new concessionaire to take over the park in September 1977.
Elder won the concession in August 1978. He immediately spent $100,000 refurbishing the course. By the end of 1981, the company said it had made another $160,000 in improvements. But in December 1981, the National Park Service closed the course after Elder's company canceled its insurance policies covering the course. The reason for the cancellation was in dispute. The National Park Service claimed that only 21,500 golfers used the course in 1980 (down from about 30,000 in 1979), and that the Elder firm had not made the improvements required by its contract. Lee and Rose Elder, however, countered that the number of golfers using the course had risen since 1978, and that the park service was refusing to make alterations to the concessions contract that were needed to keep the course profitable. The course closed in the fall of 1981, as Lee Elder Enterprises ran into financial trouble and could not keep it open. In April 1982, Lee Elder Enterprises said it owed $200,000 to creditors and was unable to pay. The D.C. court overseeing the company's financial problems said kitchen, maintenance, and sports equipment would be auctioned off to help pay the debts. With the collapse of the Elder company, the National Park Service withdrew its contract and sought a new concessionaire. But the Park Service was also seriously considering closing the course for good.
With Langston Golf Course closed for the third time in 10 years, District of Columbia highway officials argued the land should be used for a new bridge across the Anacostia River. The Barney Circle Freeway would at last be built (they claimed) to bring the Southeast Freeway
Interstate 695 (District of Columbia)
Interstate 695 is the unsigned designation for the 1.39-mile Southeast Freeway in Washington, D.C. It runs from Interstate 395 south of the United States Capitol building east past the north end of Interstate 295 to Pennsylvania Avenue at Barney Circle, just northwest of the John Philip Sousa...
north along the west bank of the Anacostia River, through Anacostia Park and Langston Golf Course, and then travel over the new bridge to connect with the Anacostia Freeway
District of Columbia Route 295
District of Columbia Route 295 , also known as the Anacostia Freeway south of East Capitol Street or Kenilworth Avenue north of East Capitol Street, is a freeway in the District of Columbia, and currently the only numbered route in the District that is not an Interstate Highway or U.S. Highway...
. But widespread protests from wealthy Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
Capitol Hill, aside from being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues...
residents, numerous lawsuits, and design changes caused the freeway's cost to balloon to $160 million, and it remained unbuilt by 1992. The D.C. City Council
Council of the District of Columbia
The Council of the District of Columbia is the legislative branch of the local government of the District of Columbia. As permitted in the United States Constitution, the District is not part of any U.S. state and is instead overseen directly by the federal government...
had the final say on whether to proceed with the project or not. In December 1994, the City Council bowed to neighborhood opposition and voted overwhelmingly to cancel the Barney Circle Freeway.
RFK Stadium parking lot issue
In April 1983, the National Park Service chose a new company, Golf Course Specialists, to manage Langston Golf Course. The company reopened the course by Memorial DayMemorial Day
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...
weekend. The company considered Langston the worst golf course in the entire D.C. metropolitan area when it took over. The clubhouse had chicken wire over the windows to prevent breakage, iron bars covered all windows and doors, and buildings and the course had been heavily vandalized. The greens were in very bad condition, and poor neighborhood children would sneak onto the course and steal balls in play so that they could sell them back to golfers. Over the next five years, numerous improvements were made to the course. To discourage kids from stealing golf balls, course manager Wallace "Sarge" McCombs (a former United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
) hired many of the children to find lost balls in the traps and rough. The rough was groomed, greens resodded
Sod
Sod or turf is grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, or a piece of thin material.The term sod may be used to mean turf grown and cut specifically for the establishment of lawns...
, security patrols increased to reduce daylight and after-hours crime, and a community outreach program implemented. Trash was cleared from the fairways and greens, water cooler
Water cooler
A water cooler or water dispenser is a device that cools and dispenses water. They are generally broken up in two categories: bottleless and bottled water coolers...
s were placed at each tee
Teeing ground
In golf, the teeing ground is the area at the beginning of a hole from which the player's first stroke is taken. When referring to the area, the terms "tee", "tee box", and "teeing ground" are often used interchangeably....
, portable toilets were put on the course at strategic spots, and clubhouse and course etiquette
Golf etiquette
Golf etiquette refers to a set of rules and practices designed to make the game of golf safer and more enjoyable for golfers and to minimize possible damage to golf equipment and courses. Although many of these practices are not part of the formal rules of golf, golfers are customarily expected to...
rigidly enforced. The number of golfers climbed from a low of 20,000 in 1981 to 33,000 in 1986 and a projected 40,000 in 1987. Gross revenues also rose significantly, from $70,000 in 1983 to a projected $150,000 in 1987.
These improvements did not stop development threats to the course. In 1986, D.C. officials considered but rejected Langston as a site for a new city jail. A far more serious threat came from football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
. In 1987, the District of Columbia began looking for a way to upgrade or replace RFK Stadium
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
so that the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
would continue to play their games inside the city limits. In the summer of 1986, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry
Marion Barry
Marion Shepilov Barry, Jr. is an American Democratic politician who is currently serving as a member of the Council of the District of Columbia, representing DC's Ward 8. Barry served as the second elected mayor of the District of Columbia from 1979 to 1991, and again as the fourth mayor from 1995...
and Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke was a Canadian entrepreneur and former owner of the Washington Redskins , the Los Angeles Lakers , and the Los Angeles Kings , and built The Forum in Inglewood, California and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.-Early career:Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Cooke moved with his family to...
agreed to dismantle Langston Golf Course and use the site for parking for a new stadium. But after protests from golfers and local residents (who did not want large amounts of traffic flowing through their neighborhood), Barry ruled out using Langston in the summer of 1987. Cooke continued to press for parking at Langston, and in August 1988 met with United States Secretary of the Interior
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
Donald P. Hodel
Donald P. Hodel
Donald Paul Hodel is a former United States Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the Interior, and Chairman of the company FreeEats.com/ccAdvertising, which has had a controversial role disseminating push polls for the Economic Freedom Fund...
to demand that the National Park Service nonetheless study the feasibility of his request. Hodel agreed to do so. Under pressure, Mayor Barry agreed to consider using Langston Golf Course for parking if the federal government would turn over nearby federal property for a redesigned, new 18-hole course to replace the lost grounds. Barry even hired Lee Elder to begin designing a new course. But William Penn Mott, Jr.
William Penn Mott, Jr.
William Penn Mott, Jr. , worked for the NPS as a landscape architect from 1933 to 1940 but devoted most of his later career to California's local and state parks.-Early career:...
, NPS Director, said that the Park Service was strongly opposed to the use of any Anacostia Park or Langston Golf Course land for parking. D.C. officials asked the agency to reconsider its decision. Four years drifted by, and still stadium talks were ongoing. Marion Barry declined to run for re-election in 1990 after being videotaped smoking crack cocaine
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
in a D.C. hotel. As the District still struggled to craft a deal to build a new stadium, the new Secretary of the Interior, Manuel Lujan, Jr., forced the city's new mayor, Sharon Pratt Dixon
Sharon Pratt Kelly
Sharon Pratt Kelly , formerly Sharon Pratt Dixon and now known as Sharon Pratt, was the third mayor of the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1995. Pratt was the first African-American woman to serve as mayor of a major American city...
, to agree to preserve Langston Golf Course (although Lujan did agree to allow a redesign of the facility to accommodate some stadium parking). In January 1992, Mayor Dixon announced that golfers Arnold Palmer
Arnold Palmer
Arnold Daniel Palmer is an American professional golfer, who is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men's professional golf. He has won numerous events on both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour, dating back to 1955...
and Gary Player
Gary Player
Gary Player DMS; OIG is a South African professional golfer. With his nine major championship victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of golf. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1974. Player has won 165 tournaments on six continents over six...
and businesswoman Rose Elder would design a new Langston Golf Course if the existing grounds were used for football stadium parking. By March 1992, Mayor Dixon was still proposing that parking be built on Langston Golf Course.
As the stadium talks continued, a controversy over the concessions contract at Langston erupted. Former D.C. Council chairman Arrington Dixon
Arrington Dixon
Arrington Dixon is an African American former city council member of Washington, D.C. In 2008, he was D.C.'s male representative on the Democratic National Committee and a thus a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention...
(and husband of Mayor Dixon) protested that the National Park Service—which was on the verge of signing a new, 15-year contract with Golf Course Specialists, Inc.—should suspend any contract negotiations until such time as the stadium issue was resolved, and that only minority-owned firms should be considered to manage the course. The new contract would commit Golf Course Specialists to pay $1.5 million to make a large number of improvements to the course, including a new clubhouse to replace the existing dilapidated structure (which had recently been closed due to health concerns). It also boosted the Park Service's share of net revenues from 2 percent to 20 percent. Secretary Lujan said he would sign the 15-year contract, but that it would include a clause terminating the agreement if a stadium deal was reached by April 3, 1992. When no deal was forthcoming by April 3, Lujan moved ahead with the new contract and the golf course's renovations, which included the major clubhouse renovation.
The District's insistence that parking be built on Langston Golf Course, however, helped clinch a stadium agreement: On December 7, 1992, Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke agreed to build his team's new stadium next to RFK Stadium. But rising Congressional opposition to the stadium deal (primarily due to the impact it would have on local residents and its high costs) imperiled the stadium deal. Congressional opposition rose significantly after the stadium's chief proponent, D.C. City Council Chairman John A. Wilson
John A. Wilson
John A. Wilson was an American politician.Wilson served in 1974 as the chairman of the drive to approve the referendum to adopt the Home Rule Charter for the District of Columbia...
, committed suicide on May 19, 1993. By December, Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke
Jack Kent Cooke was a Canadian entrepreneur and former owner of the Washington Redskins , the Los Angeles Lakers , and the Los Angeles Kings , and built The Forum in Inglewood, California and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.-Early career:Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Cooke moved with his family to...
abandoned the D.C. site and pledged to build his stadium in Maryland. FedExField
FedExField
FedExField is a football stadium located in an unincorporated area near the Capital Beltway in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, near the site of the old Capital Centre . FedExField is the home of the Washington Redskins football team...
opened in Landover, Maryland
Landover, Maryland
Landover is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, within the census-designated place of Greater Landover. The Prince Georges County Sports and Learning Complex is in Landover...
, in August 1997.
Golf Course Specialists years
Professional Golfers Association
Professional Golfers' Association, , is the usual term for a professional association in men's golf. It is often abbreviated to PGA...
standards. In 2002, a print of a painting by noted local artist Linwood Barnes depicting Clyde Martin taking the first drive at Langston Golf Course was hung in the clubhouse. In May 2002, Langston Golf Course became one of the first courses to host a First Tee chapter, a program designed to interest minorities and economically disadvantaged children in golf. In 2002 and 2003, Langston Golf Course opened a putt-and-chip
Golf stroke mechanics
Golf stroke mechanics is the means by which golfers make decisions and execute them in the sport of golf...
practice area for young golfers and a four-hole course for novices. An academic resource center with computer stations, a small library, and tutoring and study programs was also opened. Students from local junior and senior high schools who study their schoolwork in the education center for an hour are awarded a free hour golf on the course. In 2002, about 200 students took advantage of the educational center. (The number had risen to 400 students by 2006.) The National Park Service and the concessionaire also established a strategic plan to raise $12 million to $17 million in public and private funds to complete the upgrade to PGA tour standards, build a new clubhouse with banquet facilities, establish a museum dedicated to African American golfers, replace the driving range
Driving range
A driving range is an area where golfers can practice their swing. It can also be a recreational activity itself for amateur golfers or when enough time for a full game is not available. Many golf courses have a driving range attached and they are also found as stand-alone facilities, especially...
, and expand the education center. In 2007, D.C. Delegate to Congress
Delegate (United States Congress)
A delegate to Congress is a non-voting member of the United States House of Representatives who is elected from a U.S. territory and from Washington, D.C. to a two-year term. While unable to vote in the full House, a non-voting delegate may vote in a House committee of which the delegate is a member...
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Eleanor Holmes Norton is a Delegate to Congress representing the District of Columbia. In her position she is able to serve on and vote with committees, as well as speak from the House floor...
introduced the "Golf Course Preservation and Modernization Act" in Congress, legislation which would allow the National Park Service (NPS) to lease Langston and the other federally owned golf courses in the District of Columbia (rather than simply offer a concession contract). A long-term lease, Norton said, would allow the lessee to obtain high levels of capital investment funds and greatly improve the courses.
In 2006, course manager Jimmy Garvin was inducted into the African American Golfers Hall of Fame for his community outreach efforts and work at restoring and maintaining Langston Golf Course. The following year, Golf Course Specialists founder and golfer Bob Brock was inducted into the African American Golfers Hall of Fame for his work in saving Langston.
One of Langston's most difficult challenges is dealing with the Giant Canada Geese
Canada Goose
The Canada Goose is a wild goose belonging to the genus Branta, which is native to arctic and temperate regions of North America, having a black head and neck, white patches on the face, and a brownish-gray body....
(Branta canadensis maxima) which inhabit the tidal marshes of Kingman Lake and the Anacostia River. Hundreds of the birds inhabit the marshes. The birds not only feed voraciously on the course's grasses, but their feces harm the greens and pose a health hazard to golfers. They also feed on and destroy the marsh plants which the National Park Service planted in Kingman Lake and the Anacostia River in the hope that these will help filter the water and restore the health of the river. In 2007, federal park officials began considering a program to cull the geese population around Langston Golf Course in an attempt to save the river, an effort opposed by some animal rights groups.
Langston Golf Course celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2009. Golfing pioneer Calvin Peete and other noted African American golfers held a celebration in the course's clubhouse on June 11, golf celebrities and city officials held a banquet in the Historical Society of Washington, D.C., City Museum, and the African American Golfers Hall of Fame awards were held in the city.
Despite the historic nature of the course and the many improvements to it in the past decades, Langston Golf Course has never hosted a PGA event or U.S. Open tournament
U.S. Open (golf)
The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...
.
External links
- National Park Service's Langston Golf Course page
- Langston Golf Course page hosted by GolfDC.Com, the National Park Service contractor which manages the course