Common Course: Inside Golf's Brighter, More Inclusive Future

Golf is the game of invitation. It's rare for a person to just stumble upon this sport like some sort of happy, and extremely confusing accident. I'm not saying it's completely impossible to pick up a knack for golf on your own, but there are quite a few variables for one to just casually fall into it. In an ideal situation, you have a guide of some sort—a parent, a grandparent, a friend, coworker—someone, to show you the ropes. Maybe they take you out to the driving range or their club and test the waters a bit before fully opening up Pandora's Box—I mean, showing you a good time! (Because we all know, once you get bite by the golf bug, it's game over.)

After the pandemic it feels like that influence no longer solely rests on the people we know to spread the word. Slowly, golf's invitation has crept into the media we consume. Our favorite music artists and other non-golfing athletes are playing and posting about it. Golf's becoming engrained in pop culture in new ways and it's no secret that the game, especially recreationally, is growing. Men, women, children—folks of all ages and walks of life are picking up interest in golf and it's cool AF to see.

Earlier this summer, in the heart of our nation's capital, an event, the first of its kind, took place acting as the ultimate invite—extending an extremely warm and welcoming hand for a group of golfers who have always quietly lurked in the shadows. Never really having a place to be unabashedly themselves, this was a physical manifestation for them to finally take up space and be proud to do so.

Each year, usually around June, members of the LGBTQ+ community come together for a celebration known as WorldPride. It's an organized global initiative that takes place in cities around the world to host a series of parades, festivals, and human rights conferences geared towards promoting awareness and visibility of LGBTQ+ issues on an international scale.

Coinciding with this year's WorldPride celebration that took place in D.C., a team of individuals and organizations in and around golf put their efforts together to host the inaugural World Pride Capital Cup Golf Championship. "When it came to the World Pride Golf Championship, this was the first event of its kind," explained one of its organizers Chris Noble.

"Ultimately, [it] was able to welcome folks from not only the LGBTQ community, but such an intersection of all different backgrounds and identities. People of color, women, veterans, Asian Americans, all walks of life were welcome."

Turning a Vision Into a Reality.

For Noble, this was a vision, years in the making, that come to fruition in the most authentic way. Using the game he's loved his whole life to connect with others in a community that has been largely ignored by it. Introduced to golf at the age of five by his grandparents, Noble fell in love with the way he could immerse himself into individual competition. When it's just you versus par—nothing or no one else matters, you're just trying to figure it out swing by swing.

Playing throughout his childhood and into high school, Noble knew that he was different than his peers, but worked hard to fit in and get along anyways. And though he welcomed the individuality golf offers, this game is hard enough as, and when you finally get that team dynamic, you work hard to foster and maintain those connections.

But as he got older and moved on to college, Noble knew it was time to live life authentically. He came out right after graduating college and began working in the golf space as a professional, hoping to find ways to bridge two key parts of his identity in a meaningful way. "Golf has been a huge part of my entire life," Noble detailed. "I played four years of varsity golf in college, having played in high school, and then I was very fortunate to work with the PGA of America the last seven to eight years, running what's called the National High School Golf Association.

"Creating that really from the ground up when we were a startup company based out of Boston called Nextgengolf. Nextgen was acquired by PGA of America. Our whole thought and process was to create a home resource for high school golfers, coaches, parents, and create a national championship and other events for them. While also trying to take an opportunity to express my own story."

Fueled by his own journey, Noble was empowered to make a change in youth development in the golf space—but this championship was a culmination of community outreach on a greater scale.

I didn't come out until after college," Noble said. "But working in the game and being an openly gay man, I thought it was really important to especially help high school golf coaches when it comes to training safety. If you have somebody who comes out on your team, what does that mean? How can you be that ally to them? How can you help those individuals reach their full potential?

The invitation doesn't stop with the physical placement of a club and ball in one's hand, it's continuously making people feel a sense of belonging. For Noble, the work he has done with the PGA of America and now with the World Pride Golf Championship is inspired by what he often wished he had. "I think a lot of it started not just with my job, but being able to kind of tie in some of that passion of saying, look, there's other Chris Nobles out there, and there's other individuals who who feel this way and who love this game, and who are who they are—I want to help."

And while social media has done wonders for allowing us to explore groups and communities we may have never heard of otherwise, there's also nothing like being face-to-face, experiencing community IRL to get the full effect. Thus, this one of a kind gathering in the District.

Come One, Come All.

The last time WorldPride was held in the States was in New York City the year before COVID. A time where a golf outing didn't even seem all that feasible or desired. The pandemic's impact on our game is partially to blame for this event's existence. With a new influx of people interested, and the return of WorldPride to the U.S.—Noble saw an opportunity.

He and his partner in crime Matthew Rice quickly got their thoughts together and new that they had to do something. "We both said let's take advantage of this moment. Let's give this an opportunity to not only run a great championship, but try to do this in a way that can be replicated, hopefully throughout the US and the world, even when World Pride isn't here. Because we saw this as a one time shot. We needed to not only run this event, but also get some people, some partners involved with it, that are going to be able to spread the word."

What I came to realize about Noble through our conversations was that he's someone who seems to know everyone. And when putting on an event, especially for the first time, you better network your ass off. But, it was important for Noble to approach their outreach with thoughtfulness. From his alma mater at the PGA of America to the LPGA and USGA, Noble and this team partnered with different golf organizations to not only help be apart of the event but also validate their mission.

The inaugural World Pride Golf Championship saw partners like the LPGA Tour, the PGA of America sent a representative from career services to talk with competitors about career opportunities in golf, the USGA assisted with marketing through its own pride and D.E.I. efforts, and had help from organizations like the National Golf Course Owners Association and National Links Trust who has on-site presence.

In fact it was National Links Trust that really aided in securing the venue for the event. At the beginning of the team's planning process, they reached out to folks over at NLT, which is an organization that is dedicated to inclusive and accessible, public golf right specifically in the DC area. They own and operate the three public golf courses that are there.

"When we approached them, Damien Cosby, who's the executive director of the organization was in on it right away. For them, it was such an opportunity to stick to their mission that golf is for everybody," Noble said. "It's accessible, inclusive, but also really trying to lean in to the LGBTQ community. And he also recognized that this is one of the biggest pride events that happens throughout the world and it was happening right in their backyard."

East Potomac Golf Links—a humbly, rustic muni course that has the Washington Monument standing watch over its fairways in the near distance was the back drop to three days of magical, fun.

"I've never truly seen a golf course or a facility where it's like, just come as you are," Noble described with fondness in his voice. "Whatever you're wearing, coming over on a Lime bike, a few people are just biking by having a quick beer, whatever it might be. It's not going toe-to-toe with the Augusta Nationals of the world, but that's okay, because everybody is there playing the game they love, truly, no expectations."

Partners were secured, a venue was selected—now it was time for the real celebration to begin. Over the last weekend of May and into the beginning of Pride Month, nearly 50 people gathered together over the course of three days. Saturday and Sunday saw a combined five, 9-hole matches with varying formats taking place with a traditional 18-hole individual stroke play held on Monday. And just like that, the first ever World Pride Golf Championship had come together piece by piece. "We invited the DC cheer squad out to get every hyped. We had music going. Anything from pop to country to EDM, just playing, and it was such a fun, welcoming, exciting vibe."

What I loved about it was just like [watching] so many people exchanging phone numbers, or going "here's my Instagram, here's my Facebook, you know, here's this". And asking when's the next one coming? When's the next one happening? I think if there's one thing that we did really well, it was giving the people the ability to connect and to socialize with each other and hopefully build a lot of those relationships that are going to stretch on a lot longer than just those three days.

It's More Than Bridging a Gap, It's Building a New Path—Forward.

This championship bridged the gap between golf and the queer community in a way that's never been done before, but as Noble and his team look towards the future, building on what's been done and worked already, they look to invite folks outside of the LGBTQ+ community to join the cause. "It's cliche things and I'm not big cliche guy, but it's like, you know, when you say, golf is a is a sport invitation, and especially for this, it's about being intentional about your your outreach number one."

Noble went on to detail his team's efforts on outreach and why they worked with the folks they did. "As a group, we took the time, did the due diligence, did the research. Where were the groups? I didn't care if they're in golf. I don't care. Everyone should be involved. It's up to us to spread the word, extended the arm out and let them know that this was going on and they are welcomed. It's taking the time to actually pick up the phone call these folks, send an email, follow up with them, and make sure that truly, that invitation is sent, and they you know, and they feel that opportunity.

[Golf], it's different than tennis or basketball or a lot of these sports where it's just like, yeah, you just go out and you play, right? It's like, no, there are a lot of times there are fences around golf courses, literally and figuratively.

Within the community, there are stereotypes, some true, some not, about what golf is and what their experience might have been. As maybe a kid, someone had a bad experience, or whatever it might be. But it's giving them this opportunity to bring them back and say, look, no, it's changed. We have this opportunity to kind of convert some of these people back to the game. So, for us, it goes back to doing the outreach, making it genuine, making it authentic, and focusing on that because it's so, so crucial and not just people in the community, but allies, you know, anybody in the in the game, right? Straight, gay, lesbian, trans, person of color, man, woman, any, anything, right? It's being able to recognize that each community is a little bit different.

We also need to be asking people, what do you want? What do you want this game to look like? And I think if the answer to that question is, 'I like the way it is', in terms of, you know, a good old boys club, or, you know, the way it's been for all these years, then okay, I guess that's your answer.

But if you're just like, hey, you know what? No, I want this to change. I want this to be a culture where everybody can come out and actually experience this game that I love. We can all play a role in it as well, too, right? For those of us who want a more diverse future for golf, we can bring that invitation along with us, because a lot of times it's going to take that. If you want to see it look more like the rest of America, then it's going to take that invitation and spread it around to the people in your community, regardless of who they are."

Looking Ahead.

What's next for the World Pride Golf Championship? Well, the official WorldPride is headed to Amsterdam in 2026, will we get a Solheim Cup course preview? (FYI the 2026 Solheim Cup will also be in Amsterdam come September.) "Don't get me wrong, Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities in the world, I would absolutely love to be there, but the problem with that is it's a totally different organization. So we'll have to see," Noble tells me.

But that doesn't mean he's thinking of doing something a bit more homegrown and local to his native Chicago area. "Personally, I am kind of already starting to have a few talks with some of the LGBTQ groups here in Chicago. The nice thing is, I do have quite a few relationships with places and would love to do something here in Chicago next summer.

Perhaps another three day event. Maybe it's just a one day thing maybe there could be a way to do it around pride or even Market Days, which is another LGBTQ event that happens in August. And I think doing something in the backyard here, especially [with] how great of a Sports City, Chicago. It could be really cool to replicate in the same way we just did."

Getting more local vendors involved, doing more fundraising, getting apparel brands and more small, niche brands is the next wave of what the future of a Pride Golf Championship could look like and the work begins now, sending out those invitations to those powers that be. "It's not gonna be WorldPride, but just kind of our own thing, an organization, something, where we bring more folks together like that."