Playing Through: Movie Shot in Sarasota Recognizes Pioneering Golfer

By Gus Mollasis | April 2022

There’s a good chance that you have never heard of Ann Gregory. 

Even Curtis Jordan—the screenwriter and co-producer of Playing Through, a film inspired by Gregory’s incredible story that is scheduled for this year’s Sarasota Film Festival—had not heard much about her either. 

Until his mother shared her golf memories. “My mom played against Ann in the 1950’s, so I got to know her through that,” he explains. He began to wonder why he didn’t know more about Gregory, a pioneer in golf, race relations, and in general, a pioneer as a woman. 

“Her story resonated with me,” says Jordan. “And while our film is a fictional story, it’s based on her life and her experience.” He strove to capture a moment in time, drawing from his own background in rowing and as a rowing coach at Princeton to dig deeper into the story. 

“I had a good feel for athletics and the stuff underneath the skin that makes the difference in a good athlete,” says Jordan. “I think a lot of men and women find sports as an avenue to allow them to be self-expressed and prove themselves and to find the things that they want out of life.”

He describes this story as “two women struggling with the issues of the time—whether it be race or gender and still wanting to open the door and make themselves known.”

Jordan and his co-producer Peter Odiorne connected through Peter’s father about two and half years ago. “Curtis and I are two 50-plus year old white guys telling this story,” explains Odiorne.  “So regarding a director, we wanted to get a female perspective if not an African American perspective. And so we hired a female director, Balbinka Korzeniowska, to come on board.” 

Gregory, who passed away in 1991, was the first African American woman to play in a national golf championship event. Despite the challenges she faced, “she was confident and wouldn’t let anything get her down. She didn’t want to be the focus and didn’t want to be the savior for everybody—yet she was inspiring,” Odiorne says. “We feel this is a human story first—like every great film from Raging Bull, Moneyball, or Hitchcock’s The Birds, first and foremost they are human stories.”

Jordan agrees. “There are a lot of issues here and we touched on all of them. But in the end it’s a human story. It’s about a handful of people who are just going through life and trying to be what they want to be. Some succeed and some fail.”

There’s a good chance that you have never heard of Ann Gregory. 

Even Curtis Jordan—the screenwriter and co-producer of Playing Through, a film inspired by Gregory’s incredible story that is scheduled for this year’s Sarasota Film Festival—had not heard much about her either. 

Until his mother shared her golf memories. “My mom played against Ann in the 1950’s, so I got to know her through that,” he explains. He began to wonder why he didn’t know more about Gregory, a pioneer in golf, race relations, and in general, a pioneer as a woman. 

“Her story resonated with me,” says Jordan. “And while our film is a fictional story, it’s based on her life and her experience.” He strove to capture a moment in time, drawing from his own background in rowing and as a rowing coach at Princeton to dig deeper into the story. 

“I had a good feel for athletics and the stuff underneath the skin that makes the difference in a good athlete,” says Jordan. “I think a lot of men and women find sports as an avenue to allow them to be self-expressed and prove themselves and to find the things that they want out of life.”

He describes this story as “two women struggling with the issues of the time—whether it be race or gender and still wanting to open the door and make themselves known.”

Jordan and his co-producer Peter Odiorne connected through Peter’s father about two and half years ago. “Curtis and I are two 50-plus year old white guys telling this story,” explains Odiorne.  “So regarding a director, we wanted to get a female perspective if not an African American perspective. And so we hired a female director, Balbinka Korzeniowska, to come on board.” 

Gregory, who passed away in 1991, was the first African American woman to play in a national golf championship event. Despite the challenges she faced, “she was confident and wouldn’t let anything get her down. She didn’t want to be the focus and didn’t want to be the savior for everybody—yet she was inspiring,” Odiorne says. “We feel this is a human story first—like every great film from Raging Bull, Moneyball, or Hitchcock’s The Birds, first and foremost they are human stories.”

Jordan agrees. “There are a lot of issues here and we touched on all of them. But in the end it’s a human story. It’s about a handful of people who are just going through life and trying to be what they want to be. Some succeed and some fail.”

Playing Through focuses on a slice of time when Gregory was making the leap from the world of Black golf tournaments to the world stage and encounters a white female golfer from the South named Babs Whatling. 

While Ann Gregory is the inspiration for the film, inspiration for the Babs Whatling character is based on the writer’s mother and her real-life golf match with Gregory in the 1950s. In the film, actress Andia Winslow plays Ann Gregory and Julia Rae portrays Babs Whatling.

Jordan has his theories about why his mother didn’t share more about meeting the famed golfer. “I just know that her life changed dramatically after that tournament,” he explains. “I kind of based the story around that. This collision of these two women created the opportunity, the impetus for both of them to move forward and be more self-expressive and be more outgoing as to who they were as individuals.” 

Playing Through was produced throughout the Sarasota region at locations including The Laurel Oak Country Club, Historic Spanish Point, and the Rosemary District. 

“This film would not have been made if it wasn’t for Sarasota, the institutions, performing arts, and individuals that are here,” says the screenwriter. “Peter and I had a dream of doing it and our budget was minute—so partnering with Ringling College and West Coast Black Theatre Troupe, plus the help of Sarasota Opera and of course Laurel Oak golf course and Philippi Estates and other facilities made all the difference in the world.”

Thanks to these many contributions, moviegoers at this year’s Sarasota Film Festival will enjoy a unique window into the world of Ann Gregory—wife, mother, and avid golfer. 

“Her pioneering efforts and spirit have paved the way for other women to play golf with an easier path,” explains Jordan. “We see a lot of quiet courage in who she is.”