Colleen Hroncich
“If you really want to get better at golf, go back and take it up at a much earlier age.” ~Thomas Mulligan
It’s unlikely former professional golfer Morris Brown was influenced by Thomas Mulligan—the fictional character humorist Henry Beard credits with inventing the “do-over” in golf—when he founded Savannah Legacy Academy. But by creating a unique school that incorporates golf along with a college-preparatory education rooted in a Christian worldview, Morris has provided young people in the Savannah area the chance to follow Mulligan’s advice and take up the game at an early age.
“The school started with my father’s after-school program,” explains Morris’s daughter Ariel Brown, who teaches at and helps lead the school. “When he left the PGA Tour, he felt the calling for the youth in the community. So he started an after-school program. And then my mom [Margaret] was a public school teacher at the time, and she would work with the kids with the tutoring part. So he’d take them to the golf course, and she’d help with homework and tutoring.”
Margaret noticed that a lot of the kids weren’t thriving in their schools; some weren’t challenged enough, some were bullied, but overall, they just didn’t enjoy school. “She decided, ‘We have the kids, we have a space, maybe we should start our own school.’ She just wanted to reach more kids,” says Ariel. “In 2006, she left the classroom, and then they just started the school from there.”
The school began with 29 children in K‑12 and grew to around 250. “During COVID, we built the new building, and we kind of wanted to start fresh,” explains Ariel. She was noticing that kids were having less access to extracurricular programs. She and her family recognize that those activities help build character, which is very important to them, so they decided to revamp. The school switched to K–8 and incorporated extracurricular-type offerings, such as music lessons, martial arts, dance, and—of course—golf in the school day.
“Golf is one of our main focuses here at the school,” says Ariel. “The kids enjoy it—just exposing them to the game of golf. It’s really thrilling seeing that kids want to pursue golf who’d never even picked up a club before.” Ariel is a former participant and current coach in the First Tee golf program, which aims to make golf accessible and affordable for kids. She even won the national First Tee Teacher of the Year award in 2023.
In addition to learning how to play, there is an in-school golf curriculum for all students. Ariel explains, “They have golf operations, which is the finance part of golf, the business aspect. They have golf physics, which is taught by our science teacher. Our history teacher teaches golf history. Then we have our English teacher teaching golf psychology and journaling.”
Of course, the school offers typical academic classes, too. Most days, core subjects are taught first thing in the morning. Then, students are pulled out based on how they’ve tested for small-group work with Title I teachers on more hands-on math and reading activities. Advanced students can also work with different grade levels if needed. “We’re flexible. If we see that a kid needs to be pushed, then we definitely let them do the math, reading, language arts with the next grade,” says Ariel. “A couple of kids have been doing reading and math with the 5th grade or 4th grade teacher, but they’re in 3rd grade.”
After lunch, they have social studies, science, handwriting, and music. The extracurricular electives are available during the last hour and a half of the day. Fridays are more of a fun day; the kids wear gym uniforms instead of the regular uniform, and they don’t have the same core classes. Friday offerings include Spanish, sign language, financial literacy, PE, and technology time.
Savannah Legacy Academy is now preparing to welcome high schoolers back, beginning with 9th grade this fall. Ariel says they’d planned to wait a few more years before restarting the high school, but it was too sad losing the 8th graders every year. Their parents would say, ‘What do we do? You know, we don’t want to send them back to public school.’ But the private high schools in the area were way more expensive. So they decided to just go for it and start now. Ariel expects most—maybe even all—of the most recent 8th-grade class to stay for 9th grade.
Affordability has always been a priority for the Brown family. Around 70 percent of families currently receive financial aid or scholarships, and the parents who pay tuition only pay $5,000. Ariel says the new Georgia Promise Scholarship education savings account will be very helpful for families who want to transfer to the school. When we talked last month, she already had about 30 new students registered who were planning to use the Promise Scholarship. Unfortunately, since lawmakers limited it to students who are transferring from public schools or entering kindergarten, current Savannah Legacy Academy students aren’t eligible for the scholarships.
Savannah Legacy Academy has been a true family endeavor for the Browns. Ariel’s sister is the dean of students. Their brother, who graduated from the school, now teaches and oversees finances. His wife runs the preschool program. Ariel says communication and not holding grudges are crucial to making something like this work as a family. “Remember the vision of why you started the school and why you want to make a difference,” she adds.