“I grew up among a lot of good people, but not a lot of opportunity,” says JC Wright, shown here on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota.
28,000 golf professionals. True, Native Americans still make up small fraction of a
percentage. But Sandy Cross, the senior director of diversity and inclusion for the PGA of America, said minorities are a big part of the overall plan. “The composition of our PGA of America membership
continues to evolve each year, and we’re excited and encouraged about becoming more reflective of the consumer base who play, and aspires to play, this special game,” Cross said. “We’re tremendously proud of our Native American PGA Professionals and what they do each and every day to bring the magic of the game to individuals from all backgrounds.” Wright, who works for Hilton in a deal that is affiliated with Scottsdale-based Troon Golf, has personally helped five of his tribal members find financial avenues to attend the San Diego Golf Academy (now called the Golf Academy of America), a certified 16-month program to attain an Associate’s Degree in Golf Management. But he added that Native Americans still have a long way to go, “although 74, wow, that’s very encouraging.” “That’s certainly more (Native Americans) than I would have
NEW WORLD BRAVE
Lookout Mountain’s JC Wright helps his fellow Native Americans gain entry into golf industry
Wright, the director of golf at Lookout Mountain Golf Club at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort. “I’ve always wanted to give something back to the Native
W
American community, and to the game that got me here,” said the 40-year-old Wright, who grew up in South Dakota on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation. “In that regard, I went back to my people, and elsewhere, to
see if I could get a few other (Native Americans) involved in the golf business.” While Wright was just one in a handful of Native
Americans to originally get their PGA of America cards, the number is growing, according to the PGA of America, which now lists 74 Native Americans among its member base of over
26 | AZ GOLF Insider | PREVIEW 2017 BY BILL HUFFMAN
hen Jon “JC” Wright became one of the first Native Americans in the country to earn his PGA of America card in 2009, he didn’t stop there. No, being a pioneer and a role model in the golf industry wasn’t quite enough for
thought,” Wright said. “At the same time, it makes me feel good about the career path we’re on, and even though we’re not there yet in terms of numbers, that’s the goal, to get more (Native Americans) involved in golf.” Who would have guessed this could ever happen to Wright,
who grew up as the youngest of four children in a family that was raised by a single mother with not a golfer in sight? Or that JC would have the right stuff to combat the social ills often associated with life on a reservation? “I grew up among a lot of good people, but not a lot of
opportunity,” said Wright, who always has cast a big shadow from his 6-foot-5 frame. “All we had back then was baseball, basketball and football, and I loved to hunt. “But, believe it or not, all that alcoholism and drug abuse and
other problems associated with the reservation, they motivated me into a positive light.” And so Wright, a distant relative of Chief Hollow Horn Bear,
the revered leader associated with the Rosebud Sioux who actually fought alongside the legendary Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in historical battles against the U.S. Calvary, did what he could to escape what might have been a lifelong sentence. That journey began with an unsuccessful attempt to walk on the football team at Black Hills State University, and included a short stint as a dealer at a Native American-owned casino. It was at that casino job where JC’s social skills finally hit the
jackpot, as he was befriended by several of the area’s ranchers, who ultimately got him into golf. Despite never playing the game until he got out of college, Wright ended up managing a little nine-hole “pasture golf course” called Prairie Hills. “I ran that little club for a year, and even with all the
challenges, I got to be a pretty good golfer,” reported the self- taught Wright. “I mean, my clubs didn’t really fit me — they were way too small — and it was all pretty new. “But somehow in the back of my mind I kept thinking about this golf school that a rancher had told me about in Arizona and
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COURTESY OF JC WRIGHT
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