Finding Solutions: Monument to Black caddies coming to Sand Hills
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - It’s something we’ve been telling you about since 2020, and now it’s another step closer to being completed.
A monument honoring Black golf caddies is now a reality, and you will soon be able to learn about the pivotal role they played in the sport.
Organizers are finding solutions in how they can give these men the recognition they deserve.
A 20-foot-long, 7-thousand-pound golf tee is set to go right in the Sand Hills Historic District.
“You can’t make a connection until you start reaching and that’s what it’s about,” said Baruti Tucker, the artist. “It’s us reaching our community so that community can walk by and see this and smile and reflect. “Imagine what this is going to look like at night with the light on it. It’s going to be beautiful.”
Ed Durant created the sculpture and Tucker is the hands behind the faces.
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Pappy Stokes and Carl Jackson can already be seen on the tee. Both were caddies for masters champions.
“I think this is an excellent opportunity now to start having these real conversations about recognizing individuals in Augusta,” said Tucker. “Not just caddies, but educators as well. I think this is a good idea to create a new idea of mentionable.”
Joyce Law has been spearheading this project since the beginning as the organizer for the master champion caddie project.
She says the caddie profession was not as celebrated as it is today.
“Although the tee focuses on the champion caddies, there are so many other people who joyfully worked as caddies, but their names are not known,” said Law. “Tis project really brings in the known, the very well known, and the relatively unknown.”
She says the idea of what the monument would look like has changed over the years, but the location remains the same.
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“That neighborhood being immediately adjacent to the Augusta Country Club, there’s always been that cooperative and cohesive relationship between the Augusta Country Club and the Sand Hills neighborhood,” said Law. “So what better place to honor them than their own neighborhood.”
She says the monument will go beyond just the tee itself.
“We will have interpretive s to supplement the story and also a series of bricks that can be inscribed of people who worked at the Augusta Country Club, Augusta National and of course people who were caddies,” said Law.
The dedication for the monument is set for mid-December.
This gold tee marks the third one created by Durant. The other two are located at First Tee of Augusta and Forrest Hills.
All three are considered a golf heritage trail.
If you have any information or photos you would like to share regarding the champion caddies, you can email Joyce Law at [email protected].
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