Each year the Celebration of Golf presented by Circle K helps honor not only success on the golf course but also showcases the various ways in which the game strives to make a difference in the local community.
This year’s honorees of the Deane Beman Award, which is the night’s highest honor, were Billy and Brittany Horschel who as husband and wife have supported numerous people on the First Coast with their philanthropic efforts over the years.
“The game of golf is special, and the Horschel family is special,” Deane Beman said.
The former PGA Tour commissioner was in attendance to present the award to the Horschel family, which included their children coming on stage for a special family moment.
“Billy and Brittany have a long history of giving back,” Deane Beman said. “The PGA Tour has raised more money for charity than all other sports combined, and the approximate number is about $4 billion. But interestingly enough, no one has calculated how much the players and their families, like Billy and Brittany, have raised on their own. Just a little calculation on my part tells me that the players on their own may have raised as much as their organization itself.”
Billy Horschel has won eight tournaments since turning professional in 2009, but it is his service to the local community where he is just as competitive and driven to succeed.
“When Duke (Butler III, president of Jacksonville Amateur Golf Association) called to notify me last summer that Brittany and I were going to be the recipients of the Deane Beaman Award, I was sort of speechless, which if you know me, doesn’t happen very often,” Billy Horschel chuckled. “Deane is an icon in the sport, and as I’ve said many times, without Deane I wouldn’t have the platform that I have to play this wonderful game of golf and to be able to give back like this.”
Billy and Brittany Horschel launched the Horschel Family Foundation in October 2023, and it supports four major pillars within the community, including healing, hope, honor and health.
“This community is one that loves the game of golf but also loves to give back and see our community proposer,” Billy Horschel said. “I tell people that the foundation is my wife’s baby, and to have the ability to help lead the mental health and addiction side of it we are very passionate about.”
The foundation strives to focus on these pillars through advocacy of addiction recovery with a designated wellness space at the Brown Family YMCA in Ponte Vedra Beach, as well as being continued ambassadors hosting events for Feeding Northeast Florida and K9s for Warriors, as well as helping grow opportunities for minority golfers by promoting tournaments with the Advocates Professional Golf Association.
Continuing their passion for charity, the Horschel Family Foundation donated a check for $20,000 to the JAGA Charitable Trust to go toward college scholarships that the organization awards to local high school seniors each year.
“The unique thing about giving back is that there are no rules,” Brittany Horschel said. “It doesn’t matter how little of a gesture you do or how much money you give, it’s all about giving back and it all makes a difference in your community.”
