Hired in 1958, Ken Morton, Sr. is golf’s most-decorated PGA Professional, a National PGA Hall of Fame Member and celebrates 60 years in the golf business.
Ken Morton Sr. was born in Sacramento, California in 1940 and at age 11 started caddying at the Del Paso Country Club. The Head Golf Professional of Del Paso Frank Minch Sr. took a liking to Ken and developed him as a player and a golf professional throughout his teen years. Mr. Minch’s work with Ken paid dividends when he won the Northern California High School Championship individually in 1958 and the California State Junior College Championship individually in 1960. Ken then joined the staff at Haggin Oaks under Professional Tom Lo Presti in 1958.
Today, Morton Golf LLC has a long term agreements with the City of Sacramento to manage all aspects of the golf operations for 90 holes of golf and four golf facilities. Those facilities are the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex, Bing Maloney Golf Complex, Bartley Cavanaugh Golf Course as well as the 9-Hole William Land Golf Course for The First Tee of Greater Sacramento. During his early years at Haggin Oaks Ken was first a teaching professional and then moved up to become Mr. Lo Presti’s first assistant in 1964 and later became his partner and Co-Professional in 1971. They remained partners until Mr. Lo Presti retired in 1991 and then he took the reigns over individually until 2001 when he took in partners Terry Daubert, Ken Morton Jr., Tom Morton, Mike Woods and Kathy Morton to operate all of the City of Sacramento Golf Facilities.
Ken Morton, Sr.’s many awards and distinctions include:
- Inducted into the National PGA Hall of Fame in 2005
- National PGA Professional of the Year in 1998
- 2-Time National PGA Merchandiser of the Year
- National PGA Junior Golf Leader Award
- National PGA Horton Smith Award for PGA Education
- California Golf Writers Golf Person of the Year Award
- Golf Digest Magazine Top 72 Most Important People in the Golf Industry Honor
- Honorary Chairman of the PGA Senior Tour Gold Rush Classic
- National Advisory Council Member for Titleist/Acushnet Company
Ken Morton, Sr. was also a partner in a management company by the name of Golf Resources (who owned 2 golf courses and managed several others) during the 1980’s and 1990’s. He also was hired as an International Golf Facility Evaluator for the PGA of America during the 1980’s and 1990’s. His extensive background in golf also includes being a regular speaker for National PGA Head Golf Professional Seminars since the late 1970’s. He has also been a designated expert to help design PGA of America’s Education Programs from Apprentices to PGA Master Professional levels since the early 1990’s.
Ken Morton, Sr. and the golf facilities his company manages have become Business Standards for the golf industry. The retail golf shop at Haggin Oaks has been awarded One of America’s 100 Best Golf Shops for over 30 years in a row. He is also nationally recognized for Growing the Game of Golf through trend setting Junior, Women and Disabled golf instruction programs. A major highlight of Ken’s career was the formation of the Sacramento Area Youth Golf Association in 1983 which became The First Tee of Greater Sacramento in 2001 and is now serving over 12,000 kids annually in its programs. Although today, he is starting to take some time off to travel each year, he still gladly brings his extensive background and management skills when he is at home as the CEO of Morton Golf LLC and Morton Golf Management Companies.
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