A shot at the "bourgeois sport" by the anti-bourgeoisie

Fascinating. But apparently quite true.

In 1959 or so, Fidel as new Commander-in-Chief in Cuba had all golf courses on the island razed but one 9-hole course in Havana and an 18-hole course in Varadero. Following in his socialist footsteps much more recently, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez announced that he would shut down luxury golf courses in that country in order to use the land for community projects.

What ever brought Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to the golf course to play a round of the sport that hardline socialists considered a decadent symbol of the bourgeoisie? No one seems to agree, but the debate over the photographic evidence is a journey in itself.

One side believes that the two socialist leaders were mocking then-U.S. President and avid golfer Dwight D. Eisenhower. Castro set up the match and played dressed in military fatigues and combat boots after Eisenhower chose to play a round of golf over meeting the Cuban leader in Washington. Fidel himself is quoted in Cuban media on this side of the debate, saying, “One day, Che and I went to play golf. He had been a caddie once to earn some money in his spare time; I, on the other hand, knew absolutely nothing about this expensive sport… The golf game was a photo opportunity. The real purpose was to make fun of Eisenhower.”

Others hold that Castro and Guevara originally intended for the photo-op to send a message of peace to Washington. Some believe that the game was played in 1959, ahead of the Cuban leader’s planned meeting with President Eisenhower (which never occurred). Still others say that it was in 1962, just after the Cuban missile crisis, and was meant to begin to smooth over that dispute. Indeed, Fidel’s own personal reporter is quoted as having said, “Castro told me that the headline of the story the next day would be ‘President Castro challenges President Kennedy to a friendly game of golf’.”

Whatever the story, the photos are a conversation piece. (Guevara apparently beat Castro, by the way). They are a socialist anomaly, but particularly so for that era. These days, the number of golf courses in Cuba actually looks poised to increase. Canadian and European investors seek to build as many as 10 new courses on the island as part of Havana’s bid to increase tourism. And as China has over 300 golf courses, Venezuela looks like the odd man out in the current community of socialist states.

The photos will be sold in an auction at Dominic Winter in Cirencester, England tomorrow, along with a number of others.

(Photo by the late Alberto Korda, Che Guevara’s personal photographer)