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Category: Community Outreach

The 2023 Morton Golf Foundation Educational Scholarship Winners Have Been Announced

Congratulations go out to the 2023 Morton Golf Foundation 18 Educational Scholarship WINNERS

$8,500.00 CATEGORY:

“Dusel Family Scholarship” – Kenny Castro $8,500.00 from Jesuit H.S. will be attending the University of Puget Sound

“An experience that has had the most impact is volunteering at Cal Eagles golf program with Adults with disabilities. My first instinct was to try to get to know them; I went around & introduced myself to everyone, and asked questions about each of their lives.”

$5,000.00 CATEGORY:

“Rocket Restrooms & Fencing, Inc. Scholarship” – Jason Chou $5,000.00 from Jesuit H.S. will be attending Gonzaga University

“I was taught that perseverance meant never giving up, respect was being kind & generous to others, and integrity was doing the right thing when nobody was looking.”

“Jane & Rob Siebers Community Service Award” – Ietetsu Ueyama $5,000.00 from Sacramento Waldorf H.S. will be attending Santa Monia College

“Golf will forever stay with me and the lessons I’ve learned through the First Tee, Morton Golf Foundation & my mentors will continue to stay with me.”

$4,500.00 CATEGORY:

Chelsea McMahon $4,500.00 from St. Francis H.S. will be attending St. Mary’s College

“I find such inspiration and purpose in making a difference in the lives of the disabled, and am considering a career path that allows me to do that.”

“Ogilvie Merwin Vintners Scholarship” – Joshua Galindo $4,500.00 from Da Vinci Charter will be attending Towson University

“Growing up playing golf with people of all ages and abilities and backgrounds has taught me how to put myself out there, speak with strangers, shake hands and make eye contact – make and keep connections.”

$3,000.00 CATEGORY: –

Nikki Chindavong $3,000.00 from A.Rodriguez H.S. will be attending University of Nevada – Reno

“I learned that everything happens for a reason and in every aspect of life, we can find wins to celebrate.”

“Pat Mailey Memorial Scholarship” – Julia Geer $3,000.00 from St. Francis H.S. will be attending Cal Poly

“Accountability is the core value that I have taken away from golf and will continue to influence my life.”

$2,500.00 CATEGORY:

“Sacramento Golf Council Scholarship” – Jennifer Chan $2,500.00 from Inderkum H.S. will be attending UC Irvine

“I consider sportsmanship to be a necessary quality that has guided me as I traversed through life.”

$2,000.00 CATEGORY:

“Western Engineering Contractors Scholarship” – Theresa Shaw $2,000.00 from Bear River H.S. will be attending Biola University

“At a very young age I decided to put the major core value of honesty as my first principle to abide by in everything I do on and off the course.”

$1,600.00 CATEGORY:

“Murray Family Charitable Trust” – Mateo Castro $1,600.00 from Inderkum H.S. will be attending New Mexico State University

“Golf is a simple yet complex game that requires a lot of patience.”

$1,000.00 CATEGORY:

“Bosley Electric Company Scholarship” – Carson Morton $1,000.00 from Rocklin H.S. will be attending Colorado State University

“I learned that stepping outside of my comfort zone can be a rewarding and enriching experience.”

Sydney Hurter $1,000.00 from St. Francis H.S. University attending is TBD

“Golf has taught me patience, self-respect, honesty, focus, attention to detail, and the importance of sharing family time while exercising.”

Kara Shimazu $1,000.00 from McClatchy H.S. will be attending UC Davis

“I learned that personal victories carry a lot of weight, even if they might not look like victories from the outside.”

Haley Wong $1,000.00 from Oak Ridge H.S. will be attending UCLA

“My volunteer service shows my desire to give back and help the community and the officer positions I hold present my leadership skills and the extra responsibilities that I have taken on.”

“Kevin Sharp Memorial Scholarship” – Connor Gallagher $1,000.00 from Argonaut H.S. will be attending San Joaquin Delta College

“The most important core value I have taken from the game of golf is integrity and its value is essential because it allows me to grow as a person in a career and in life.”

“Valley Hi Country Club Women’s Group Scholarship” – Hannah Camara $1,000.00 from Pleasant Grove H.S. will be attending Westmont College

“Even while playing a tournament I have learned to never lose determination and to think positively.”

Christine Yu $1,000.00 from Vista Del Lago H.S. will be attending Claremont Mckenna College

“My creativity allows me to think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions and my persistence pushes me to try until I find a plausible solution.”

“David Scott Scholarship” – Vincente Rodriguez $1,000.00 from Oak Ridge H.S. University attending is TBD

“I have been taught to respect those who give me opportunities in life to achieve in the future.”

Morton Golf Foundation wishes them well as they head to their next adventure.

The Crest Theater Shows The Premiere of Our Documentary 90 Years Young: The Haggin Oaks Story

90 Years Young, The Haggin Oaks Story Premiered this week at The Crest Theater in Sacramento.

On Tuesday, December 13th at the historic Crest Theater in downtown Sacramento, nearly 700 golf staff, volunteers, city dignitaries, local media, customers, sales reps, vendors, and close friends and family celebrated the world premiere of this documentary to celebrate a very special golf course and its story.

Joel Johnston, Director, Haggin Oaks Turns 90

Everyone that came to the Crest Theater on Tuesday evening, December 13th was eagerly anticipating the premiere of 90 Years Young. They craved to hear the history and pass on their stories to everyone in the room.

Ken Morton,Jr., Joel Johnston, Joel Cardenas, and Terry Daubert

Joel Johnston, the film Director, worked for months along with members of the marketing team, Ozola Cody, Barrie March, and Joel Cardenas to create this historic treasure narrated by Frank LaRosa, the voice of Haggin Oaks for the past two decades.  The film was written by Ken Morton, Jr, and Joel Johnston and produced by Ken Morton, Jr. and Joel Cardenas.  The past 8 months have been dedicated to researching the past 90 years of history including the celebrities who have played here and the key people that shaped the course as we know it today.

The outside entrance to the historic Crest Theater had 6 large, framed posters advertising the 90 Years Young Celebration.

Our Volunteers

As the guests arrived, they were welcomed at the door by Ken Morton, Jr along with several of our California Eagles Athletes (Adults with disabilities). Guests checked in with our six smiling volunteers, so they could be given a ball marker poker chip to use on the golf course or as a lucky charm. The lobby beautifully displayed our Silent Auction, with all proceeds from the auction given to Morton Golf Foundation, a 501c3 giving back to local youth, disabled and underserved. 

90 Years Young showed the growth of the land, people & game.  We can’t wait to see the next 90.

LPGA Amateur Golf Association Donates to Girls’ Golf

On November 30th, LPGA Amateur Golf Association– Sacramento Chapter donated $2,408.00 to Morton Golf Foundation to be given back to girls’ golf.

This donation will be used for girls between the ages of 12 – 18 when they receive a Junior Girls Golf Development Grant.

These funds are used for individual junior golfers to achieve growing their golf game, helping with cost of lessons and equipment.

Thanks to everyone associated with LPGA Amateur Golf Association – Sacramento Chapter for believing in our mission.

Golf & Guitars Music Festival a Huge Sucess

The Golf & Guitars Music Festival at Haggin Oaks Surpasses The 1.5 Million Dollars Fundraising Mark

Morton Golf Foundation Uses Funds To Support Programming For Youth, Veterans & Those With Disabilities

The Golf and Guitars Music Festival is a celebrity pro-am golf tournament and country concert featuring nationally recognized & major label country music artists that raises money for key children’s charities in Haggin Oaks Golf Complex in Sacramento, CA. Each golfer in the tournament plays with a celebrity and gets a seat near the stage where these generous artists put on a tremendous concert underneath the stars on the golf course. The hottest acts in country music, the up-and-coming artists you’ll soon see topping the charts and some of Nashville’s very best songwriters are all donate their time to help raise funds for children’s charities. Much of the funds from the event go to the Morton Golf Foundation with the balance being paid out via a tournament purse to the artist’s children’s charity of choice.

This year started with decidedly female slant as the Monday night Singer-Songwriter Showcase was a near-all women event. Nashville’s downtown club The Listening Room has hosted an all-female songwriter collective show every Monday for the last decade or so called The Song Suffragettes and our event was able to host a “West-Coast version” of their show with eight incredible young songwriter and artist talents including Kaylin Roberson, Lydia Dall, Bonner Black, Emily Brooke, Haley Mae Campbell, Jillian Dawn, Julie Williams and Olivia Faye. Daughter of PGA Tour player Bobby Clampett and wildly talented songwriter Katelyn Clampett and longtime supporters Megan Conner, Johnny and Heidi Bulford rounded out our first night playing for a few hundred VIP guests.

The next morning was our Pro-Am Tournament where all of the songwriters and artists play in a five-person gross score scramble format. Restaurants were on every other hole providing food, local Bud Light distributor Markstein Beverage (our longest-running sponsor) made sure no one went home thirsty and our Caddie Crew with nearly every group made for an incredibly fun day of golf. Golfers will be proudly wearing their Americana flag sweatshirt hoodies and caps that they received courtesy of another key sponsor, Adidas.

When the strokes were counted, these were our winning teams and the charities the artists chose to play for along with the dollar amount that was contributed in their name.

Steve Mendiola (Cripple Creek Band) – $5,000 – St. Jude
Lydia Dall – $5,000 – Next for Autism
Conner Smith – $4,000 – Show Hope
Chris Roberts (The Lonely Fighters)- $2,000 – Valor Collegiate Academy
Adam Wakefield (Texas Hill)- $2,000 – National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Kaylin Roberson – $2,000 – Hope Nation Foundation

The balance of our Tuesday was filled with incredible music from our main stage starting with our pre-show featuring Northern California act The Cripple Creek Band and new Americana duo The Lonely Fighters.

And before our main concert began, artist Jason Michael Carroll invited his four PGA Hope playing partners up for a standing ovation recognition and a gracious recognition gift from PING Golf who gave each of our veteran heroes a red, white & blue PGA Hope bag and a promise to fill it with a full set of custom clubs. Not a dry eye in the house was left from their response.

And lastly, but certainly, not least was the music. Jordan Fletcher, Conner Smith, Texas Hill, Jason Michael Carroll, Jackson Dean, Love & Theft, Restless Road and Ryan Hurd joined special last-minute guests Parmalee for three hours of musical celebration that lasted well into the evening.

The result? An incredible time had by all and a healthy addition to the more than 1.5 million dollars raised for charity with this event since its inception.

Angels For Hearts Music Video By Country Artist Chris Roberts and Ken Morton, Jr

Angels for Hearts, one of our Morton Golf Foundation grant recipients, put together this fun video slideshow featuring songwriter/artist, and longtime Golf & Guitars alumni Chris Roberts.

The song was written by Chris and Ken Morton, Jr as a gift to the charity.

Angels for Hearts’ mission is to bring normalcy to pediatric heart patients ages newborn to 18, both in and out of the hospital. They remind heart kids that first and foremost they are kids before being heart patients.

Did you know that golf is recommended for heart kids as a safe sport by pediatric cardiologists?

Angels for Hearts have several programs that cater to the needs of heart kids and families.

  • I <3 Golf: an annual series of golf clinics, held at Haggin Oaks Golf Complex.
  • Wishes, Wants, & Needs: Providing discretionary funds and responding to requests from Child Life Specialists at regional hospitals for anything pediatric heart patients and their families may wish, want or need while in the hospital.
  • Santa’s Wishes: Working with Child Life Specialists to deliver Christmas presents to pediatric heart patients.
  • Heart Families Rock: an annual “Heart Families Rock” dinner and dance party celebrating heart kids and their families.

Our most heartfelt thank you goes out to Chris Roberts and Ken Morton, Jr. for the beautiful song and to Angels for Hearts for sharing it with us.

Golf Fore Health Lessons at Haggin Oaks

Are you, or someone that you know interested in rehabilitating using the game of golf? Golf Fore Health is the answer!

This program consists of a spring and fall program that provides the participants the opportunity to improve their golfing skills while on their journey of recovery. These sessions consist of coaching sessions on Mondays and 9-hole play on Wednesdays. Each of these sessions concludes with a “Hot Dog Scramble” where the participants can have family, friends, or caretakers play nine holes of golf with them.

Due to the requests of the participants, a July/August “Summer School” was added last year on alternating Mondays to allow the golfers to continue to hone their skills and maintain their friendship during the “dog days” of July and August.

This program has been growing in leaps and bounds over the past few years and includes participants aged 16 through the “young” 80’s. Such growth has been made possible through the dynamic coaches and volunteers that work with the participants.

Golf Fore Health is another example of how the Morton Golf Foundation uses golf as a tool for enriching people’s lives.

If you are interested in our Golf Fore Health Program, Click HERE

Special Olympics Golf Regional at Haggin Oaks

The Special Olympics Golf Reginal was held at Haggin Oaks on September 9, 2022. We were thrilled to host all of the athletes and families that participated.

Today was a very special day at Haggin Oaks. It’s been 3 years since the last Special Olympics Golf Regionals has held due to COVID-19.

The Special Olympics Athletes started to arrive, the volunteers were in place & the BBQ grills were cooking burgers.

36 Athletes had the opportunity to play 9-holes of golf & 100 more Athletes were transported to the back of the driving range to compete with their golf skills.  No matter which way the Special Olympic Athletes competed everyone went home with a medal.

From the time everyone stepped onto the property of Haggin Oaks until the time that Alex Cooper, Director of Youth, Family & Adaptive Golf officially closed the Summer Games everyone was enjoying a healthy outdoor recreational golf experience.

We all can’t wait for next year’s Special Olympics Golf Regionals.

Thank you from Morton Golf Foundation Grant Recipient

Nikki Chindavong is a junior golf development grant recipient for the past several years and it has been a joy to watch her development both on and off the course.

Nikki recently sent a thank you letter to the Morton Golf Foundation and we wanted to share it with everyone here. We were touched by the great art and her kind words:

Dear Morton Golf Foundation:


Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for believing in me and supporting me from day one. They say, “never forget those who helped you along the way” and I will never forget what this foundation has done for me and the rest of junior golf. Currently, I am on track to play college golf. I am very excited for the future, but before that, I am so grateful for the journey that I have taken to get to this point in life.
This foundation, the First Tee, my Coach Mr. Berg, and my family have been my core building blocks of who I am. I believe that golf is not just a game it’s a lifestyle. I have found that one of my passions in life is golf. Through such as perseverance, respect, integrity and confidence are crucial to life. Through the First Tee, I had the opportunity to play in the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach and the First Tee National Championship at Notre Dame University. These two experiences were not only fun and exciting, but they were truly life changing. At the PURE Insurance Championship, I found a new sense of confidence within myself. I re-learned that good things will come with patience and dedication. In Indiana, at the First Tee National Championship, I learned that we create our own personal wins. I came in 2nd place shooting a 3-day total of -4 (shooting 4 under on the final round) and felt that I played the best golf in my life. I lost the tournament by one stroke after making a bogey on the 16th hole. I walked away from that tournament realizing that as much as I wanted to win, it wasn’t my time yet. I knew that if I continued to work hard and stay persistent, good things would come my way 
 and it did. A week after this tournament, I was offered to play for the University of Nevada, Reno.
Everything that you see on the front cover makes me who I am, and Morton Golf Foundation is a piece of my core. Again, thank you for being a part of my journey thus far. Playing college golf has always been a goal of mine. It’s one of my major steps in life, but it is not the end. It’s the beginning of a new adventure. Your endless support, guidance, and encouragement have been truly appreciated and will be forever remembered in my heart.
Best Regards,
Nikki Chindavong

We wish you all the luck as you head to play golf at University Nevada Reno!

Morton Golf Foundation Joins County Optimist for the Robla School Giveaway

Morton Golf Foundation, First Tee- Greater Sacramento joined County Club Optimist Club for the Annual Robla School Giveaway.

On Saturday, August 6th at 9:00 a.m. approximately 150 local school children from kindergarten through 6th Grade in the Robla School District joined in the fun for a back-to-school giveaway. What a wonderful way to get the students and families from the surrounding area of Robla School District off to a great start for the coming school year starting August 15th

There were several partners there to make sure the families had school class information. Many volunteers were handing out backpacks filled with school supplies, and healthy and nutritious bags of food and even the school Nurse was on hand to answer any questions.


The fun continued around the school yard as a BBQ lunch was being served along with games and snow cones to get the excitement up for the new school year.


Several of the students received a new pair of PUMA athletic shoes to wear all through the year.

Nothing is better than the safe feeling you have on that first day of School.

The 2022 Morton Golf Foundation Scholarship Winners Have Been Announced

April 1, 2022 was the deadline for graduating high school seniors to apply for a Morton Golf Foundation College Scholarship. At that time, 16 seniors applied and all 16 met the requirements to receive a scholarship.

These scholarships do not require the student to play golf in college. Morton Golf Foundation scholarships are based on the student’s high school achievements.

The 2022 total dollar amount awarded for 16 scholarships was $43,000.00.

All WINNING scholars were invited with their parents to a buffet dinner on Wednesday evening, May 18th to celebrate.

Each scholarship winner was asked their name, where they are headed to college, and what their major is. It was inspiring to hear each student share their goals and dreams with 150 Morton Golf Foundation donors in the room. We were so proud of them knowing these are our future leaders. These students will be making world decisions in our lifetime.

Morton Golf Foundation wishes them well as they head to their next adventure.