Jim Dent, Legendary Black Golfer and Long-Hitting Pioneer, Dies at 85

Golf lost a real pioneer. Jim Dent, a very early African-American pioneer on the golf course who was known for massive drives and perseverance, passed away on Friday at the age of 85. He passed away in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia. The PGA Tour indicated Dent had been recuperating from a stroke.

Dent’s name never did rest atop high-pressure PGA Tour leaderboards, but his stature in golf culture is collosal. Nicknamed for his incredible driving, Dent was among the pioneering power bombers of the pro game – three decades before the game would be turned upside down by machines. But above all, he was a reminder of greatness and perseverance in an era when African American golfers had to battle monolithic barriers merely to be allowed to play.

PGA Tour Champions President and CEO Miller Brady recalled Dent’s golf: “Many will recall Jim Dent as a player who could hit it long, and he certainly could. But his year in and year out play, especially on our tour, talked about Jim being a player bigger than long off the tee,” Brady said. “Jim was as relaxed as competitive as he ever was, and he gave so much to the years that he spent playing with us as a PGA Tour Champions pro.”

Dent’s entry into the game was humble, as were many of the golfing legends. He caddied in his teenage years for the Augusta Municipal Golf Course, or locally known as “The Patch.”. He caddied briefly, as did he caddie briefly at the upscale Augusta National Golf Club. Ironically, even though he had dominated the PGA Tour during the 1970s and 1980s, he never even got to play in the Masters Tournament, which was only a couple of miles from his boyhood home.

Having made up his mind to become a pro back in 1966, Dent started playing the PGA Tour back in 1971. Throughout almost two decades, he competed in over 450 events, slicing 296 times and putting up 25 top-10 finishes. The best finish that he had achieved on the standard tour was way back in 1972 where he finished behind no other but Jack Nicklaus at the Walt Disney World Open Invitational. Although he never did quite manage to make the PGA Tour, Dent’s persistence and dependability made him a much-respected man in contemporaries’ and onlookers’ eyes. He won more than half a million dollars in earnings – a huge amount of money for an era where purses tended to be relatively modest by modern standards.

Dent was also a long-drive champion and won the World Long Driving Championship in 1974 and 1975. He was a popular fan and intimidatory opponent wherever he played because of his notorious reputation for smashing massive shots. He won the Florida PGA Championship for three consecutive years from 1976 and a Tournament Player Series event at Chattanooga in 1983 and gained more fame.

But on the senior tour, now PGA Tour Champions, is where Jim Dent left his big dent. He signed up with the men’s tour for men over 50 in 1989 and it was a fat check. Dent chopped a staggering 535 out of 545 and totaled 131 top-10 finishes. On his senior career, he won over $9 million and 12 tour wins.

His first win was in 1989 at the MONY Syracuse Senior Classic. Geiberger responded to his one-stroke win over Al Geiberger by stating, “Jim Dent ought to be outlawed (for) the way he can hit the ball.” Dent also won the Newport Cup in the same year. His final win was in 1997 at the Home Depot Invitational at Quail Hollow.

Dent’s presence was greater than statistics; it was interpreting Black players to play a minority excluded game for nearly three centuries. He was also posthumously elected into the Caddie Hall of Fame and African-American Golfers Hall of Fame – symbols of his lasting influence on the game. In his honor, as a tribute, the street in front of the gate to the “The Patch” golf course in Augusta was dedicated as Jim Dent Way. In his footsteps, his son Jim Dent Jr. now is the head golf pro at the same golf course his father started.

Today, “The Patch” is being rediscovered in exciting new ways. Leading the charge are Augusta National and Tiger Woods’ design company, TGR, in its redevelopment of the central 18-hole course overall and constructing a new nine-hole par-3 course. They will be living legacies to those previous generations of golfers, like Dent, who shaped the game along Augusta and far beyond.

Jim Dent’s death is an emotional high of golf. More than a ball striker a mile there he was the cusp of the old and the new, the sort of man who opened the door of potential and calmed minds by grace, power, by sheer ability. Never to hold station at the Masters, life on Augusta grass and in the golfing record books will not be forgotten.

As we honor Jim Dent, we are remembering not just a wonderful golfer but a pioneer whose life has been marked by courage, strength, and genius. He is leaving a gigantic footprint on and off the greens – whose impact will be felt for generations to come.