Photography by Gabriel Cano.

Ira Molayo first played Cedar Crest Golf Course as a 10-year-old after his mom took up the sport and enrolled him in a golf camp there.

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He grew up 2 miles from the City of Dallas-owned course where he’s now director of golf. Since 2008, Molayo has driven to make golf accessible to kids and teens.

Three years ago, he founded a nonprofit, I Am a Golfer, which provides lessons, equipment, team golf and course access to Dallas kids ages 7-17, at little to no cost to them.

“Golf has been so exclusive that we don’t create those avenues for kids,” Molayo says.

Beyond just teaching them the game and hopefully inspiring lifelong play, Molayo also wants to show kids that golf can lead to careers.

Every year, I Am a Golfer hires about 35 paid high school and college interns to help run the pro shop and the many summer tournaments held at Cedar Crest.

Interns learn customer service, inventory, retail transactions, management and professionalism. College students run marketing campaigns, including social media, printed materials and signage.

Sometimes they’re just shagging balls, but there are lessons at every turn.

“Having a kid from South Oak Cliff who just doesn’t see a lot of white people being able to walk up to someone and shake their hand,” Molayo says. “It’s an environment that enriches them just by being here.”

Black kids are more likely to face discrimination, and often, they’re not given as many chances to make mistakes, so it’s a safe space for them to  learn and sometimes fail, he says.

The nonprofit, whose major funders include the Trinity Forest Golf Club, the Jordan Spieth Foundation and AT&T, also has awarded about $45,000 in scholarships to its interns in the past three years.

Photos courtesy of I Am A Golfer.

Legendary status

Photo of Walter Hagen via Golf.com

The 1927 PGA Championship at Cedar Crest remains the only major championship ever played on a Dallas course.

Legend has it that Walter Hagen, known as “the father of professional golf,” woke up late on the penultimate day of the tournament after a night of drinking. He was down five on hole 13, and the sun was shining in his eyes. The flashy Hagen rarely wore a hat because he was known for his attractive black hair. He was getting ready to tee off, when a kid in the gallery shouted, “Mr. Hagen, would you like my cap?” He showily took the cap, birdied the hole and won the match. He won again the next day, capturing the fourth of his career 11 majors. And who was the kid who loaned Hagan his cap? A 15-year-old Byron Nelson.

“Byron Nelson was here in 1927 to watch his favorite golfer on tour,” Molayo says.

Back then it was Cedar Crest Country Club. It went downhill after the Great Depression, and the city bought it in 1946.

Homes in the neighborhood were originally built for the families of white businessmen who could commute by streetcar to Downtown Dallas. After World War II, it became home to Black doctors, professionals and business owners.

The ‘course in the ‘hood’ no longer

Somewhere around the 1980s, Cedar Crest became known as “the course in the hood,” Molayo says. The original clubhouse had been destroyed in a fire, and a glorified shack served for decades until the current building went up in 2001.

But before that, it was notorious for gambling.

“It was to the point where you could just show up and ‘rail,’” Molayo says. “Rail means you can rent a cart and just ride around and watch people play,” to bet on them.

Because of that, everyone knew it was the place to be when caddies had their day off from the Colonial and Byron Nelson tournaments, Molayo says.

The days of illicit gambling are long over.

The course was renovated in 2004, and the greens were updated in 2016. Both renovations were done by D.A. Weibring and Steve Wolford, highly regarded course architects who stayed true to A.W. Tillinghast’s original design.

Many of nearby homes have remained in the hands of Black middle-class families who’ve lived there since the 1940s.

And the neighborhood is changing again. A brand-new two-story modern home was recently constructed across the street. New homes going up nearby are currently priced around $350,000.

“They’re popping up,” Molayo says. “It’s a lot of people from California or out-of-state, and they buy up a spot or renovate it.”

Golfers come from all over Dallas to play Cedar Crest, and the course is home to many tournaments throughout the year, including the AT&T Byron Nelson Pro-Am.

Molayo says he thinks the golf course is the main asset of the Cedar Crest neighborhood, and he works to bring the community in as much as possible.

“I really try to leverage golf to help kids and young people. I want to use the golf course to create jobs and employ people,” he says. “I want it to be a destination for people from all over the Metroplex. When they come here and get on the course, they’re going to love it.”

Cedar Crest Golf Course
Where: 1800 Southerland Ave.
Course rates: $13-$45
More info about Cedar Crest Golf Course and I Am a Golfer.