Kids of all ages, sexes, and races can tee up at Bowden Golf Course, but Charles Glover remembers a time when it wasn't that simple.
"Segregation had just gotten started to where we could come to the golf course and caddy, but we still couldn't play on the golf course. But as time went by, we were able to come up here and play," says Glover, who served as one of the first African-American caddies at Bowden.
Bowden became the first integrated spot in Macon and the course where Bowden's team became the first African-American golf team to win the state championship in 1961.
Now, Glover spends his day teaching kids his love for the game and sharing the history that he got to live.
"To give a child something that you have learned in the past, it almost feels like pay day to m e, paying them back for what I've learned," he says.
He and the Macon Golf for Kids group decided the rest of the nation should learn the importance of Bowden, not only to Macon, but to the game of golf.
Director, Sam Macfie, says "I think it's something that's long overdue to recognize that things of historical importance can represent the white community, the black community, but really all of Macon's community, because it was really through peaceful efforts and reasonable people on both sides of the issue that this happened."
The group footed $2,600 to apply for a spot on the National Registry of Historic Places. If approved, that would mean Bowden could apply for certain federal grants and qualify for tax incentives.
Glover hopes the national spotlight will drive home the importance of Bowden's past and help preserve its future.
Georgia already has over 2,000 sites on the national list. Macfie says it could take up to 18 months to find out if Bowden makes the cut.