Getting to Know 2023 CSGA President Brian Morse

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Brian Morse, whose hometown is Merced, is a 1971 graduate of Gonzaga (1971) and later University of West Los Angeles (1977). Today, he is an attorney and civil litigator.

Golf Game: Inconsistent. I’m a long hitter, I’ve got good touch, I putt reasonably well, but I get in trouble off the tee. I feel like if I could quit my day job, I could get down to scratch.  My best score is a 69 at Merced.

Significance of being CSGA President: It means that I have a year of great responsibility. I want to use this year wisely to keep the CSGA’s reputation what it is, and to try and keep it current and move it forward as society changes. We need to keep the CSGA relevant.

Best Part about Volunteering: The people that you work with. The other volunteers. They are just the highest-caliber people on earth. Everyone pulls in the same direction. It’s just great to be a part of. It’s just that good feeling you get when you are a part of, and you want to share it with everyone else.

Greatest Golf Moment: I’d have to say it was teeing off without choking on the very first hole of my first AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Dream Foursome: David Feherty, Roger Maltbie and Gary McCord. I like to laugh.

Role of Golf: Trying to play golf the right way makes you a better person in every way. We don’t always succeed, but I appreciate that every time I am out. There is some lesson to be absorbed, either from observing your own successes and failings, or in observing how someone else does it better or worse. Every time I play, it reinforces what good there is in human beings while enjoying a sporting endeavor. It’s unique from the etiquette, to calling penalties on yourself, it’s a very interesting pursuit. Some people say I couldn’t play golf every day. I’m not so sure I couldn’t stay away from it.

Brian’s wife is Beverly and he has two children, son Matthew and daughter Rachelle.

Getting to Know 2022 President Bob Brooks

January 4, 2021

A native of Los Angeles, 2022 CSGA President Bob Brooks moved to Carpinteria when he was just two years old.

He’d grow up there, attending Santa Barbara schools and later graduated from UC-Santa Barbara in 1962. After college, Bob started farming in Oxnard on family property and shortly thereafter founded San Miguel Produce in the mid 1970’s growing, packing and shipping mixed vegetables mainly in Oxnard but to a lesser degree in Salinas, Nipomo, Imperial Valley and Mexico.

It was during his farming days in Oxnard that he met his wife of 54 years, Kathleen. The couple has two children.

The produce company still exists, but Bob withdrew and retired in the late 1990’s. Today, you’ll often find him on his home course—Saticoy CC in Ventura.

What are you looking forward to as CSGA President?

Continuing to work with Vaughn Kezirian and the Board in an intense search for exciting venues for our annual tournaments. This has been ongoing and landing Torrey Pines is a perfect example.

How did you first get started with golf?

As a kid, I discovered a musty old leather bag of hickory-shafted clubs in my mother’s closet. She was a member of Bel Aire in Los Angeles in the 20s.

What is your greatest golf memory or moment?

Meeting The King, Arnold Palmer, at Pebble Beach

Anything you would change with the game?

Bifurcation of the Rules of Golf. In my golf world, there are no two-stroke penalties or stroke and distance.

What’s your favorite course and why?

My home course Saticoy, where I’ve been for 45 years. I still get a little buzz turning up the driveway. Out of town, it’d be Shinnecock Hills on Long Island—just all around wonderful.

What influenced you to take up golf?

My mother, later on business and getting into Saticoy for $1,200.

What do you enjoy doing besides golf?

Visiting my daughter and her family in Marin, my old Jeeps and off beat car collection, landscaping, and reading and lastly, daily long dog walks with Martin Short (Marty).