The California Golf Course Owners Association giving out a new award beginning this year - the CGCOA Ted Horton Distinguished Service Award.Named for CGCOA co-founder and former executive directorTed Horton, the award honors an individual for dedication and service to the golf industry in California. And who better to win the inaugural Horton award than Ted Horton?
Horton, who led the association as its executive director from 2001-2011, is a former superintendent at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y., and the Pebble Beach Co., where he was vice president for resource management and oversaw conditioning on five Pebble Beach Resort properties that included Pebble Beach Golf Links, the Links at Spanish Bay, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and the nine-hole Peter Hay course in Pebble Beach and Del Monte Golf Course in Monterey.
The award was presented Oct. 17 during the association's annual meeting in Palm Springs.
During his career as a certified golf course superintendent, Horton was the host superintendent for 26 PGA Tour events, two U.S. Open Championships, one U.S. Womens Open Championship and a U.S. Amateur Championship.
Horton, who lives in Canyon Lake, Calif., is a co-founder of the California Alliance for Golf, an advocacy group for the states golf industry, which, according to Golf 20/20, has an overall annual financial impact of $13 billion.