Editor’s Note: Our Local Knowledge podcast is celebrating Golf Digest’s 75th anniversary through a special three-part series, “Revolutions: A re-examined history of modern golf, Golf Digest, and Tiger Woods.” Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

In 1950, a World War II navy officer and Chicago businessman named William H. Davis had an idea for a golf magazine directed at the recreational golfer, rather than the golf fan. With his partners Howard Gill, a charismatic salesman, and Jack Barnett, who saw to the nitty-gritty organizational details, they launched Golf Digest. Original price: 15 cents. Their idea of promotion was to drive around to local golf courses and put collections of swing tips on the windshields of parked cars. Their energy prevailed—within two years they had gone from a regional publication to national. They convinced stars of the day like Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Byron Nelson to write for them, and in 1969 they were so successful that they sold the publication to the New York Times.

More on Golf Digest’s 75th Anniversary Golf Digest Logo How We Got Here: Progress in this game has taken weird turns, and Golf Digest has covered them all

Seventy-five years and two sales later, in the words of Elton John, “we’re still standing.” And in recognition of the anniversary, this three-part podcast series attempts the big task of summarizing how the world of golf, from the professional to the recreational, has evolved over Golf Digest’s existence. As it happens, 1950 is a decent starting point when you’re telling that particular story; there are infinite ways to define the start of “modern golf,” but in America, it’s hard not to frame it around the rise of Arnold Palmer. This great people’s champion emerged in the mid-’50s, and with him came Mark McCormack, the founder of IMG who transformed how players related to the public, and the sheer amount of money that could be mined from their fame.

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Nat “King” Cole (right) presents the Roy Campanella Professional Trophy to Charlie Sifford (center), winner of the North-South Negro Golf Tournament at the Miami Country Club.

Bettmann

Palmer was an instrumental figure in aiding the 1968 breakaway from the PGA of America that led to the formation of the PGA Tour, he played an equally critical role in stopping similar revolts by Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman later, and he helped transform the American game into a big-money endeavor that could create and sustain legitimate cultural superstars.

On the same timeline, golf was evolving slowly and painfully on racial lines, well behind the pace of other American sports. Charlie Sifford was the Jackie Robinson equivalent, being denied the chance to prove himself in his athletic prime, but finally becoming the first play black player on the PGA Tour in 1961, when he was almost 40. He retained his well-earned bitterness at his treatment right up to his death, but he also became a hero to figures like Tiger Woods, who would name his only son after Sifford.

Revolutions: A re-examined history of golf, Golf Digest, and Tiger Local Knowledge Podcast Revolutions Part 1: Arnold Palmer, IMG, and the early disruptors Local Knowledge Podcast Revolutions Part 2: The Tiger Slam, aka the best golf ever played Local Knowledge Podcast Revolutions Part 3: Life After Tiger Woods, the Great Schism

By the late ’90s, these two separate strains of evolution—the increased presence of big money and the halting march of racial acceptance—created a landscape in professional golf that could support the rise of a groundbreaking, non-white superstar that could send the sport into the economic stratosphere. Part 1 of our anniversary podcast takes a deep look at everything from 1950 onward that made Tiger Woods possible. Listen below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com