The Arnie Award: Golfers Who Give Back

For 10 years, Golf Digest has celebrated Golfers Who Give Back, partnering with AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Monterey Peninsula Foundation and Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation. No individual golfer gave back more than Arnold Palmer, and each of our honorees receives The Arnie Award, Golf Digest’s highest honor, at the AT&T in February. The Arnie is a trophy-size version of a Palmer bronze sculpture created by the artist Zenos Frudakis. As part of the Golfers Who Give Back program, Golf Digest will donate a total of $100,000 to Monterey Peninsula Foundation and Arnold & Winnie Palmer Foundation. Here's our list of past recipients, with Clint Eastwood, Brandt Snedeker and Morgan Pressel joining the group as our 2021 honorees.

CLINT EASTWOOD

Eastwood, who has become the celebrity face of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, focuses his contributions on the Gary Sinise Foundation, benefiting veterans and first responders; the Monterey Jazz Festival, owing to his passion for music; and the Monterey Peninsula Foundation (MPF), which distributes more than $10 million a year to underprivileged youth, education, the environment, health and human services and the arts.
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Photo By: Michael Reaves

BRANDT SNEDEKER

After winning the 2012 FedEx Cup and its $10 million payday, Brandt Snedeker sat down with his wife, Mandy, to start a foundation that supported their community in the Nashville area (both are Vanderbilt alums and have settled their family there). In 2015, the Snedekers became sponsors of a junior golf tour in Tennessee. The Sneds Tour plays 174 events a year across nine states and has more than 1,900 members. It costs $99 to join the tour, and one-day events cost $28 and two-day events cost $130, with sponsorships available for players needing financial assistance. They also work with is Our Kids, a nonprofit that provides support to children who have been victims of assault.
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Photo By: Kevin C. Cox

MORGAN PRESSEL

After the death of her mother, Kathryn, from breast cancer when Pressel was 15, Morgan knew she wanted to work to help raise money and awareness to help fight the disease. Her “Morgan & Friends” celebrity golf tournament in her native Boca Raton, Fla., routinely raises $1 million a year. And with the money, Pressel bought Boca Raton Regional Hospital a “MammoVan” that goes on the road giving mammograms for women across Florida.
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Photo By: Donald Miralle/Getty Images

JORDAN SPIETH

Inspired by his younger sister, Ellie, who was born with a neurological disorder, Spieth has been giving back since first volunteering at Ellie's school when he was in high school. At 21, he and his family started the Jordan Spieth Foundation, which helps youth with special needs as well as junior golf, military families and pediatric cancer. Spieth, now 26, has plenty of time to continue to give back: “I’m excited about the possibilities ahead of me, both on and off the course,” he says. “It all goes hand in hand.”
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STEVE YOUNG

Young and his wife, Barb, oversee the Forever Young Foundation, which helps seriously ill and disadvantaged children across the United States and in Ghana. The initiatives, which include the Sophie’s Place music-therapy spaces and 8 to 80 Zones that Young runs with help from former teammate Jerry Rice, have served more than 17,000 kids since 1993 and are funded almost entirely through charity golf tournaments.
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TOBY KEITH

Emulating St. Jude Children’s Research Center, Keith established the OK Kids Korral in Oklahoma City as a place for entire families to stay for free while children receive treatment at the Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center and the Proton Therapy Center. The Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic has been a major driver of the funds necessary to open and run the operation.
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JIM NANTZ

Nantz's father died after battling Alzheimer's in 2008. Three years later, he and his wife, Courtney, along with his mother and sister, opened the Nantz National Alzheimer Center at Houston Methodist Hospital. "Together, we made a lifetime commitment to raise money and awareness to fight this insidious disease. We are proud to have our clinical care and research institute named for Dad."
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Photo By: Dale Stephanos

DARIUS RUCKER

Rucker started playing golf as a teenager, developing a love for the game that continued as he became a three-time Grammy winning singer. "That's one of the tour manager's jobs—to make sure there's golf wherever we go," says Rucker, who tees it up four or five days a week. The 52-year-old has taken the lead in organizing several charitable tournaments that have raised millions for various causes.
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Photo By: Dale Stephanos

DAVIS LOVE III

The World Golf Hall of Famer's passion for golf intersects with his love for Sea Island, Ga., the community where he lives. Since becoming the host of the PGA Tour's fall stop there, the RSM Classic, more than $9 million in charity has come from the tournament to the Davis Love Foundation, which has then gone back to businesses and individuals in the area.
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Photo By: Dale Stephanos

KELLY SLATER

Kelly Slater, the World Surf League champion a record 11 times, took up golf at 23 and has played more than 150 rounds a year.
"Omaze is a cool online fundraising group. I’ve done three or four projects in the past with them. We’ve done two trips to Fiji, where we’ve given the winner a free trip to Tavarua. We raised quite a bit of money from that and gave it to a couple of different funds." —Kelly Slater
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Photo By: Walter Iooss Jr.

CLAY WALKER

For more than a decade, country-music star Clay Walker has dedicated himself to raising money for and improving the lives of those with multiple sclerosis. There’s a reason for that: Walker has had the disease, which disrupts the central nervous system, for more than 20 years.
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Photo By: Walter Iooss Jr.

JULI INKSTER

"Golf is unique among all sports for what it does for charity on an almost daily basis. There are the big LPGA Tour and PGA Tour events, which over the years have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars. But then there are the thousands of smaller golf tournaments at everyday clubs every week. The sum of it has to be incredible. I think it’s human nature to wonder how you can help." —Juli Inkster
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Photo By: Walter Iooss Jr.

STEPHEN CURRY

"I've hosted seven Make-A-Wish kids in the past three years. You know, I live my life and do things through how I believe and how I see the world. Basketball is fun and has provided a lot for me and my family. We're able to impact a lot of people with a lot of different stories and give them hope." —Steph Curry
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Photo By: Photo by Walter Iooss Jr.

NIALL HORAN

"I appreciate how lucky I am to be in this position," said Horan, who helped raise nearly a million pounds for Cancer Research UK Kids & Teens and the Kate and Justin Rose Foundation designed to fight childhood hunger in the United States. "From the very start of the band, we've all made an effort to give back as much as we could." Next on the radar: the Masters Tournament Foundation, which invests in development programs for golf.
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LARRY FITZGERALD

Fitzgerald combines his passion for travel and photography with his dedication to improving the lives of others. An award-winning humanitarian, Fitzgerald has been to nearly 100 countries, providing life-changing aid to people in India, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Malaysia and the Philippines. His Larry Fitzgerald First-Down Fund supports kids and families in crisis, and he has been hugely involved in the fight against breast cancer, the disease that claimed the life of his mother, Carol, when Larry was a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh.
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Photo By: Photo by Walter Iooss Jr.

CHRIS O'DONNELL

Chris O'Donnell learned from his dad and his Jesuit high school upbringing the importance of giving back, and he doesn't need to be praised for it. "My dad was on the board of a group in Chicago called The Safer Foundation that helped to rehabilitate ex-cons," O'Donnell says. "I remember as a kid thinking, Why in the hell would you want to do that? When my dad explained it to me, it made total sense." O’Donnell has worked with REDF, the California-based nonprofit that finds jobs for people facing the greatest barriers to work (dropouts, ex-cons, the homeless and the mentally ill).
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Photo By: Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

PEYTON MANNING

The former NFL quarterback's charitable work has included the Peyton Manning Children's Hospital at St. Vincent in Indianapolis and the Peyback Foundation for disadvantaged youth.
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Photo By: Photo by Chris Condon/PGA Tour

PHIL MICKELSON

Mickelson and his wife, Amy, through the Phil & Amy Foundation, have supported Birdies for the Brave, which funds several military-support organizations, including the Special Operations Warrior Foundation and Homes For Our Troops. The Mickelsons also partnered to develop the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy, a curriculum that gives grade-school teachers tools to motivate students in math and science.
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Photo By: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

JAKE OWEN

"The greatest part for all of us, golfers and entertainers, is being able to help one another. And golf is usually the common denominator." —Jake Owen
The Jake Owen Foundation has benefited several organizations, including St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Hibiscus Children's Center, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Habitat for Humanity, and Autism Speaks.
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Photo By: Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images

JEREMY MCGRAPH

"My wife needed [a marrow transplant] to live, and we were fortunate to get a donor from Germany who was found through the organization," McGrath says. "Through our events so far, we've found matches for 11 people who might have otherwise died. It's an amazing feeling to save someone's life."
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Photo By: Photo by Chris McPherson

MICHAEL J. FOX

On how well he can play with Parkinson's disease: "I've been so lucky to be celebrated for what I do and really kind of humbled about that. It's great to do something where I really suck. My best score for 18 holes is 46 out and 46 in, and I'm a 22-handicap. My friend Clark Gregg, from the "Avengers" movies, has a great description of me teeing off: He says I look like I'm between two subway cars with a foot on each platform. Then he says, 'And you hit the ball 220 yards, and I don't know how you do it.'"

Photo By: Walter Iooss Jr.

MICHAEL PHELPS

On his occasional displays of frustration on the course: "Oh yeah, I've thrown clubs. I launched my 7-iron and managed to get it stuck in a tree. All my buddies were laughing because they know how competitive I am. They love torturing me in the only sport I can't beat them."

Photo By: Photo by Walter Iooss Jr.

BILL CLINTON

On the health benefits of golf: "If you walk a hilly course on a windy day and you play all 18 holes, you won't say golf isn't a sport and golfers aren't athletes. I'm convinced one of the reasons my stepfather lived to 89 and lived as well as he did was because he played a lot of golf."

Photo By: Photo by Walter Iooss Jr.

MORGAN FREEMAN

On the Rock River Foundation: "I set it up because I realized once I got out in the world that I really got a good education at my segregated school in Greenwood. Now I go back, and it’s the worst school system in the country. Literally. Somehow, that has to be dealt with. So I set up a foundation to do that."

HARRIS BARTON

Harris Barton, who won three Super Bowls with the 49ers, raises money for research into the brain tumors that killed his parents, 10 years apart.

Photo By: Thomas Broening

CRISTIE KERR

After watching her mother go through a lumpectomy and eight months of radiation, Kerr launched Birdies For Breast Cancer in 2004 and began donating $50 for every birdie she makes to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation founded by the late Evelyn Lauder.

Photo By: Photo by Walter Iooss Jr.

GEORGE W. BUSH

"I think the high standards of golf remind people of how … fortunate they are, to be able to play the game. And many people, when they have this sense of good luck or good draw of the cards, know they have an obligation to give back," said the 43rd President who followed his father as honorary chairman of golf's most prominent charity, The First Tee, a junior program that promotes life skills, but he's most dedicated to the Bush Institute's Military Service Initiative with annual golf and mountain-biking events.
Read Q&A With George W. Bush →

EMERIL LAGASSE

The Emeril Lagasse Foundation has distributed more than $5.5 million to children's charities and to inspire at-risk youths. "It's all about the kids," he says. "If you don't give back to them, how can anything evolve?"

Photo By: Photo by Erin Patrice O'Brien

RYAN SHECKLER

The Sheckler Foundation benefits underprivileged children and other pediatric causes, as well as injured action-sports athletes.

Photo By: Photo by Bryce Duffy

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The Arnie Award: Golfers Who Give Back

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CLINT EASTWOOD

BRANDT SNEDEKER

MORGAN PRESSEL

JORDAN SPIETH

STEVE YOUNG

TOBY KEITH

JIM NANTZ

DARIUS RUCKER

DAVIS LOVE III

KELLY SLATER

CLAY WALKER

JULI INKSTER

STEPHEN CURRY

NIALL HORAN

LARRY FITZGERALD

CHRIS O'DONNELL

PEYTON MANNING

PHIL MICKELSON

JAKE OWEN

JEREMY MCGRAPH

MICHAEL J. FOX

MICHAEL PHELPS

BILL CLINTON

MORGAN FREEMAN

HARRIS BARTON

CRISTIE KERR

GEORGE W. BUSH

EMERIL LAGASSE

RYAN SHECKLER