Edward “Ted” Horton, CGCS, became part of a group that consists of several men he admires. He was honored with the United States Golf Association Green Section Award during its education session Feb. 1 at the Golf Industry Show in Orlando, Fla.
When presenting the award, USGA Executive Committee member Steve Smyers said Horton has gone through his career out of order.
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“Ted started at the top of the ladder,” Smyers said.
Horton achieved the title of golf course superintendent at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., at age 23. It was a case of being at the right place at the right time, Horton says.
After graduating from MacDonald College of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, with an agricultural biology degree, Horton attended the University of Massachusetts Stockbridge School of Agriculture for his turfgrass management degree. Through the university, he entered a training and mentoring program and chose to work at Winged Foot. It was there he became acquainted with the superintendent, Sherwood Moore, who also has won the Green Section Award.
Horton didn’t automatically slide into the superintendent position when he graduated. He interviewed for the superintendent spot at Woodlake Country Club in Lakewood, N.J. One of the interviewers asked Horton why he thought he would be able to work with people if he had not been a superintendent before.
“I said I worked with Sherwood Moore,” Horton says. “I could see light bulbs go off in their heads. They hired Sherwood for the job.”
When Moore left, the superintendent position at Winged Foot opened, and the greens committee interviewed Horton and he was hired on the spot.
“I like to tell everyone I got Sherwood his job and Sherwood got me my job,” Horton says.
Besides Moore, Horton worked closely with the Green Section and Al Radco, director at the time, as Winged Foot hosted the 1972 Women’s and the 1974 Men’s U.S. Open Championships.
“I’ve known USGA Green Section people with great familiarity for years and always admired them,” Horton says, adding he feels privileged to be included in the list of award winners, which he considers to be a who’s who in the golf course and turf management industry.
“My first reaction when I looked at the list was, ‘holy cow – some kid is going to look at this and see my name in this list.’ It kind of rocked me a little bit,” he says. “It’s very impressive.”
Last year’s Green Section Award was presented to Joseph Vargas, Ph.D., professor of plant pathology at Michigan State University.
The award was presented a little more than a year after Horton was presented with the University of Massachusetts Turfgrass Alumnus of the Year Award. He has also been given prestigious awards from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. Smyers said Horton deserves to be recognized because of his dedication.
“Ted has devoted his entire life to making the game of golf even greater,” Smyers said at the presentation. “He is an advocate of making golf courses more environmentally friendly.”
Besides Winged Foot, Horton worked for several years at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y., hosting 12 PGA events, initially as golf course superintendent and ultimately as the director of sports and grounds.
Horton worked for two years as vice president of agronomy for The Fairways Group before moving to the West Coast to become vice president of resource management for Pebble Beach Co. for eight years. In this position, he supervised numerous projects designed to renovate and upgrade the properties.
He works as a consulting superintendent for ValleyCrest Golf Course Maintenance. In addition, he is the executive director of the California Golf Course Owners Association and vice president of the California Golf Alliance. He also serves on the Golf Course Industry editorial advisory board.