Audubon International announced that golf course management consultant Ted Horton has joined its board of directors.
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Horton is currently the senior consulting superintendent for ValleyCrest Golf Course Maintenance, director for the California Golf Course Owners Association and immediate past president for the California Golf Alliance. He specializes in environmental stewardship, golf course safety, security and risk management, turfgrass agronomics, and the administrative functions of large property maintenance.
“We are privileged to have Ted join our Board,” said Doug Bechtel, Audubon International’s executive director. “As I continue to learn about the constituencies, businesses, and organizations that service golf, Ted’s name and reputation is common among all. He is a true leader and pioneer in environmental golf management, and I can’t thank him enough for his service.”
At the age of 23, Horton began his career as the golf course superintendent at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York after studying agricultural biology at McGill University and turfgrass management at the University of Massachusetts. He went on to work for Westchester Country Club, The Fairways Group and Pebble Beach Company. At Pebble Beach, Horton assisted in developing the “Golf and the Environment” initiative, a coalition of major golf and environmental communities to brainstorm environmental improvements for golf. Through his guidance, The Links at Spanish Bay became the first golf course in California and the 16th in the nation to be designated a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary.
Horton’s current role as a consultant has given him the opportunity to consult on golf course maintenance and development projects throughout the world, namely Canada, Ireland, Morocco, Taiwan and United States. He has earned numerous awards, including the Environmental Steward Award from the Superintendents Association of America and the 2008 Green Section Award from the United States Golf Association. In 2005, he was listed in Golf Digest as one of the top 100 most powerful people in golf.
Horton and his wife, Nancy, live in Canyon Lake, Calif. They have two grown sons.