Editor’s note: Black History Month is an annual observance in the U.S. It began as a way of acknowledging significant events and individuals in African-American history during the month of February. In honor of Black History Month:
Damian Cosby never envisioned a career in golf. How could he? Cosby never saw a golf club – the ones you hit – until he was in high school. Never played a round until he was in college. Rarely saw a Black person play golf on TV.
Yet for the last three years, the PGA of America Golf Professional has been the Executive Director of National Links Trust (NLT), a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization dedicated to positively impacting communities and changing lives through affordable and accessible municipal golf.
“I didn’t have the traditional path,” says the 50-year-old Cosby, who was elected to PGA of America Membership in 2009. “I grew up in Washington playing basketball and baseball, sports that people who looked like me played. None of my friends played golf.”
That changed in high school when Cosby saw clubs in the trunk of his uncle’s car. Uncle Doug asked his nephew if he wanted to use them. Damian started hitting balls into an open field, but it wasn’t until college when he played his first round. That experience was “humbling” but life changing.
“If you see it,” Cosby says, “you can be it.”
After college, he worked as a golf shop attendant at a local golf club where he quickly became hooked on the game. While later working as an assistant, Cosby had that ah-ha moment when a group from a local Boys & Girls Club was invited to visit the course. Most of them came from lower-income homes.
“The first kid off the bus looked at the course, his eyes wide open, and said, ‘I’ve never seen so much green grass in my life!’” Cosby recalled. “That’s when I knew I was where I needed to be.”
Cosby’s career hit fast forward as a PGA of America Golf Professional. He took a job at Billy Casper Golf, overseeing golf courses, then was Chief of Golf Operations & Park Maintenance for Anne Arundel County in Maryland, then Director of Golf Operations for Cleveland Metroparks & Chief of Golf Operations, where he oversaw eight courses.
Cosby was hired as National Links Trust’s Executive Director in 2023, helping run the Nation’s Capital Project that oversees three municipal courses in Washington D.C.
“Damian’s passion for affordable, accessible and sustainable golf was really evident the first time I met him,” recalls Will Smith, NLT’s co-founder. “His track record in leading both day-to-day and long-term projects at municipal facilities is extremely valuable to NLT.”
Elected to PGA Membership almost 17 years ago in his early 30s, Cosby’s journey is more remarkable because he didn’t have a mentor when he started his career path.
Cosby has made it a mission to help find the next generation of Black golfers, whether they become PGA of America Golf Professionals or not. Municipal and public-access courses may not have the resources or cachet of high-end private courses, but they have the opportunity to attract people from all walks of life to help grow the game.
Like the wide-eyed kid who marveled at all the green grass.
“You never know how much that interaction impacts that one kid,” says Cosby, a 2019-20 PGA LEAD class member. “Public courses have more reach and sway over the community than any private club can ever have. We can affect communities as a whole. Our job is to remove any barrier that prevents someone from playing golf.”
Cosby realizes the two large barriers remain: affordability and accessibility. It hasn’t gotten better post-pandemic as green fees and equipment prices have increased due to supply and demand. That’s where municipal and public golf comes in, he says.
“We should offer golf to everybody,” Cosby says. “They don’t have to accept it, but at least give them the opportunity.”
Cosby received that opportunity more than three decades ago, thanks to Uncle Doug, and he continues to run with it.
“I’m lucky he put that golf club in my hand,” Cosby explains. “It’s allowed me to travel all over the world and I met my wife through the game. Everyone should have that chance.”
