Sandra Hale Schulman
Special to ICT
Native golf is going to the movies.
The Native-led Studio of the Americas has signed on to produce a film on the 100-year-plus history of Native golf, which started with Shinnecock Oscar Smith Bunn’s play in U.S. Open golf tournaments in the late 1800s.
Since Bunn became the first Native professional golfer when he played in the U.S. Open in 1896, there have been many Native players, tournaments and world-class golf courses built by tribes, and the list keeps growing.
Robert Wilson, Ottawa, chief executive of Studio of the Americas, said the studio is planning a documentary based on the book, “Native Links,” by professor and golf historian Mark Wagner.
“The idea of how the Native Americans were so involved with the game of golf early on was something I didn’t know,” Wilson told ICT from the Atlanta studio.
“The whole idea of a golf course and the connection of Native Americans to the land is exemplified in the game of golf in the sense that the earth itself is the canvas on which the game is designed and played,” he said. “So you have this connection between Native beliefs and Native attachment to the land like no other sport.”
Studio of the Americas, co-founded by Wilson and studio chairman Clifton Chippewa, who is Saginaw Chippewa, is dedicated to producing groundbreaking films and television series that authentically portray Native stories, culture and traditions. It opened in February in partnership with Tyler Perry Studios and the Georgia Film Academy, and is based at the Perry studios campus in Georgia.
Wagner, who is also a contributing writer to ICT, said he read in ICT about the newly formed Studio of the Americas and approached them about doing a film of his book, which was published in 2024 by Back Nine Press. They now have a deal to do a documentary, with filming to start this year.
“It’s a fascinating history,” Wagner told ICT. “It’s been an amazing journey for me doing this book and now film.”
The engaging film poster is by Texas-based artist Cynthis Pinot, an award-winning multi-disciplinary artist who is artistic director for Studio of the Americas. Artist David Martine, Nednai-Chiricahua Apache and Shinnecock/Montauk, who lives and works in Southampton, Long Island, painted a portrait of Bunn that now hangs in the U.S. Golf Association’s World Golf Hall of Fame.
“David Martine is a great-grand-nephew of Oscar Bunn,” Wagner said. “We arranged for the [U.S. Golf Association] to commission a painting from him of Oscar Bunn, and it’s now in the Golf Hall of Fame.”
Early years
The Native connection to golfing goes back to the late 1800s to Bunn, who was born about 1875 on the Shinnecock Reservation on Long Island and went on to become a Shinnecock tribal trustee, a Hall of Fame caddie, a professional golfer and teacher, and a woodcarving artist.
Bunn became the first Native professional golfer when he represented Shinnecock Hills Golf Course in 1896 in the second U.S. Open, along with his friend, African-American golfer John Shippen. Their presence was initially challenged by a group of White golfers, but they were allowed to play. Bunn played again in the U.S. Open in 1899.
Bunn was inducted posthumously into the Caddie Hall of Fame in 2009 for his work making golf more inclusive, and in 2019, the Oscar Bunn Tribal Golfing Facility opened on the Shinnecock Reservation.
Wagner’s book gathers gripping stories and oral histories, beginning with Bunn and continuing with Choctaw golfer Orville Moody’s triumph in the 1969 U.S. Open. The book also includes the new generations of players, including acclaimed Navajo golfer Notah Begay lll and Gabby Lemieux, Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation.
Wagner makes the case that the story of golf cannot be told in the U.S. without including Native Americans.
“I stumbled into it interviewing Reese Jones, the golf course architect, and Laurie Potter, who’s the historian for the Mashantucket Pequot tribe,” Wagner told ICT. “This was three years ago. I was writing for Golf Course Architecture, and I said to myself, ‘How many tribes own golf courses?’ This is kind of unique, that’s where it all began.”
Tribal members helped build the early holes at the Shinnecock Hills golf course in 1891, when Bunn and Shippen were local teenagers. In subsequent decades, disputes arose over land rights. The tribe has challenged the alleged 1859 sale of the lands, saying they were taken illegally after what appeared to have been an agreement reached in the early 1700s. Federal courts dismissed the lawsuit, but tensions have persisted regarding burial grounds and use of their tribal lands.
“The ‘sale’ of the land for Shinnecock Hills golf course was before there was even the United States,” Wagner said. “The various lawsuits by the Shinnecock Nation to get that back runs up against their complicated history of getting federal recognition.”
Looking ahead
The number of courses owned by tribes is on the upswing, with more than 60 tribes now owning courses. And more are on the way.
“There is one group of builders as bullish as ever on course construction: Native Americans,” according to a 2022 article by Scott Kauffman in Golfweek. “Once synonymous with casinos and gambling, Native Americans are quickly earning a reputation for clubhouses and golfing.”
The success lies with the unique advantages of tribes with large land holdings and water rights, no zoning or environmental restrictions as sovereign nations, and tax-free bond financing and other tax-exempt benefits. Successful advocacy, LandBack victories and revenues from gaming have allowed a growing number of tribes to add golf courses to their resorts, museums and entertainment centers. The ancient stick-and-ball game has been upscaled for a new generation.
“Courses exist all over the country,” Wagner said.
Work on the new film is likely to begin this fall, as the Native American Open golf tournament on celebrates its fifth year at the Santa Ana Pueblo in New Mexico, on Oct. 18-19 .
“We’re considering doing some filming around the Native American Open in October,” Wagner said. “We’re hoping that Notah Begay comes on and participates with us.”
The studio is considering doing a short film from the Native American Open this year, and then a longer documentary.
“This would be a standalone short, but also a trailer and part of the longer documentary that would begin, as we mentioned, with Oscar Bunn at Shinnecock Hills,” Wagner said.
Wilson, with Studio of the Americas, said the underlying issues, among other things, drew him to the project.
“There is a political aspect, as some of the players like Oscar Bunn played in the 1896 and 1899 U.S. Opens before he could even be a U.S. citizen,” Wilson said.
“Frank Dufina, who taught his whole life on Mackinac Island in Michigan, is now recognized by the [Professional Golf Association] as the longest-serving teacher of golf,” he said. “He taught for 63 years. He started teaching in the ’20s and winning. But he would insist that the press not announce that he was Native, because he was worried they might take away his daughters to boarding schools. All of those reasons are what really attracted me to it.
“Plus, I’m a golfer and I enjoy the game quite a bit.”
*Correction: The movie poster for the upcoming film, “Native Links,” is by Texas-based artist Cynthis Pinot, who is artistic director for Studio of the Americas. Artist David Martine, Nednai-Chiricahua Apache and Shinnecock/Montauk, painted a portrait of Oscar Smith Bunn, his great-grand-uncle, that now hangs in the U.S. Golf Association’s World Golf Hall of Fame.