Drive with Purpose
The date of April 28, 2026, was not circled on many calendars, but it should have been.
On that day, the Golf Oregon specialty license plate officially launched at DMV locations throughout the state and the wheels were set in motion in a big way. For those who purchased pre-sale vouchers, April 28 was the day they could finally walk in and redeem them.
For everyone else, it was the day the plate became available to any Oregonian who wanted one. The response has exceeded our expectations, and we are thrilled to see this long-awaited project finally hit the road.
The idea for a Golf Oregon license plate was first introduced back in 2024 as part of our centennial year celebration and getting here certainly took a team effort. We want to extend our sincere thanks to Akbar Chisti and the Seamus Golf team, Chad Dewilde of Wilde and Co., Chris Carnahan at Jones Sports Co., Jeff Simonds with Bandon Dunes and Monica Vaughn Fisher and Caroline Inglis Klopp with the OGA for lending their creativity, expertise and passion to this project.
It takes a village to navigate the DMV process and shepherd a plate from concept to reality, and we are grateful.
Above all, thank you to members like you. Your support turned this idea into reality, and we are incredibly grateful to have such a passionate community behind it.
There are specialty plates that support meaningful causes, celebrate communities and represent shared identities and each one plays an important role. But the Golf Oregon plate stands apart in one powerful way: every plate sold directly invests in young golfers. Every plate puts funding back into the programs that introduce kids to the game, keep them in it, and give them the tools they need to succeed on the course and beyond it.
OGA Junior Golf is not a single program – it is an ecosystem. It includes initiatives like Youth on Course which makes golf accessible to youth regardless of financial circumstances by providing deeply discounted green fees at participating courses across the state.
It encompasses our OGA Junior Golf summer and winter series along with our major championships, where young competitors learn how to manage a scorecard, carry themselves with integrity and compete under pressure. It supports the Erling Jacobsen Play Days, which bring the joy of the game to kids who might never have had a chance to pick up a club. When someone buys a Golf Oregon plate they are investing in all these important programs.
To everyone who purchased a plate in the initial run, thank you. Sincerely. You believed in this idea when it was still just that – an idea. You put your faith in the OGA, in the mission of OGA Junior Golf, and in the simple but powerful notion that a license plate could be more than a piece of metal on a bumper. It can be a statement of values. It can be a small act that adds up to something big. The fact that we sold out the initial run is a testament to the generosity and passion of this golf community, and we do not take that lightly.
However, this is not the finish line. Rather, it is the starting gun. Now we are asking our broader community to get in the driver's seat and join in. If you have not yet ordered your Golf Oregon plate we want to hear from you. If you know someone who loves this game and cares about what it means to the next generation, tell them about it. Share it at your club. Mention it in your men's and women's group.
Even if you are one of our valued members in Washington and cannot buy the plate for your own car, spread the word and bring it up on the first tee. Our golf community is 59,000 members strong, and if even a fraction of that community drives with a Golf Oregon plate, the impact on junior programs across the state will be profound.
We chose the phrase “Drive with Purpose” as the headline for this column because it means something in our world on multiple levels. As golfers we talk about driving with purpose, committing to the shot, picking a target and trusting the process. As a community, driving with purpose means making intentional choices about what we support and how we invest our energy. The Golf Oregon license plate sits at the intersection of both. Every time you pull out of the driveway, every time someone sees your car in the parking lot at your local course, at the range or heading down the highway with a set of clubs in the back, you are broadcasting what matters to you. We believe junior golf matters. We hope you do too.
Oregon is a state that has always punched above its weight class in golf. We host world-class championships, produce elite amateur and professional talent and boast courses that draw visitors from around the globe. What makes Oregon golf truly special is not found in the rankings or the resort brochures. It is found in the kids teeing it up for the first time at a junior clinic, in the volunteers who show up before dawn to set the course and in the families who drive two hours to watch their junior compete in their first OGA championship.
That is the beauty of the Oregon golf community, and right now you have a chance to drive in support of it, literally.
Visit oga.org to learn more about the Golf Oregon license plate and how to order yours. We appreciate your support and look forward to seeing them fill up the parking lots at your club.