Jaden Taylor is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Highland High School for AZPreps365.com

In a state abundant of courses and high-level amateur talent, it can be tough to stand out in the Arizona high school golf scene.

According to a 2020 study from the Arizona Alliance for Golf, “approximately 10% of Arizonans play golf and over 550,000 of the state’s residents are considered avid golfers.”

The large mass of golfers in the state has had a circling affect, helping bring in nearly $4.6 billion a year in total economic activity.

For the Highland High School boys golf program and first-year head coach Joe Morford, that access and growth in amateur talent has made for fiercer competition.

“I mean, you can almost turn your head and see a golf course on every corner,” Morford said. “We've played against some schools that had kids that were in a typical roster of 12 students, all 12 of them could shoot under par.”

Although this growth has made standing out tougher at the high school level, that same development brought Morford back into a childhood game.

“I basically got bit by the virus golf bug about nine years ago, and about nine years to current you can't you can't find me anywhere but a golf course,” Morford said. “That love and that passion for golf is what's found me and drove me to get into coaching.”

Despite not having experience as a high school golf coach, Morford had a background in coaching youth sports, primarily baseball. With a family full of educators, Morford showed a special act and care for teaching.

“He came to us with no experience coaching high school golf and when I interviewed him, that's always a concern, but he blew me away in that interview,” Highland athletic director Brandon Larson said. “You can feel his energy. You can feel a passion. You can feel his attention to detail. After we interviewed him, we knew that that guy was the man for the job.”

Despite losing a strong group of seniors, Morford did the most with a retooling squad. From hosting a “Meet the Coach” night, to adding flyers across the school and adding in preseason team scrambles, Morford not only established his culture early but has aimed for immediate growth.

“If I could clone coach Morford, I totally would,” Larson said. “He was going to do anything he needed to do to get those kids successful and he has done nothing but prove us right over the year.”

With a new coach and a new look, personalities can always be a balancing act. However, for coach Morford, finding this equilibrium has been a strength.

"You have to be fluid, right? Nobody is the same? No kid, no person. Everyone has their own individual personalities,” Morford said. “You have to really find (a) balance because some kids need more or some people need less.”

This exuberant mentality and dedication to his teaching has even leaked to other parts of the school.

“He actually came to the girl' two days of state championships and was hanging out Gatorade and apples and driving around, making sure the girls were taken care of,” Larson said. “That's just not something you see with everyday coaches outside of our community.”

No matter the wins or losses nor how many strokes over or under par, Morford and the Highland athletics department hopes to continue to make a much larger impact than just on the course.

“I think when people look at our program and they see him over a course of time, they're going to know their sons going to walk into that program and leave that program with some very high standards of character and be a better golfer,” Larson said.

As the spring and club seasons begin, Morford is set and ready to prepare for fall of 2024. With plans to combine booster clubs with the girls’ golf team, open up more offseason tee times and add a creation of a junior varsity team, Morford is hoping to leave a long legacy at the school. 

He's hopeful the biproduct is simple.

“I just want kids to have fun, man,” Morford said. “I want them to look back and know that they had an amazing experience. It was something that not only did they grow as an individual as a human being they grew maybe professionally.”