Golf, Inc Magazine has recognized a new group of Most Admired Golf Course Operators in the world every year since 2005. This year, all past winners were added to the ballot, along with new nominees, submitted by readers. The magazine surveyed more than 100 golf industry insiders- including developers, management company executives, consultants and brokers- and asked them to rate all nominees. This is the first year that the Most Admired Operators are ranked in order.
Morton Golf LLC is proud to announce that our CEO, Ken Morton, Sr. was named as the 7th Most Admired Golf Operator in the world.
Ken Morton, Sr. is a native of Sacramento. He caddied, worked in the shop, repaired golf clubs and picked up the driving range at Del Paso while attending El Camino High School. He won the Northern California High School Championship and later won the California State Junior College Championship while attending Sacramento City College.
On March 1, 1958, he started working part-time for Tom LoPresti at Haggin Oaks and is still there nearly 50 years later. In 1978, Ken Morton, Sr. was asked to become a faculty member of the PGA of America’s Education Faculty. Between 1978 and 1982, he ran several PGA Apprentice Training Schools. Since 1982, he has presented hundreds of PGA Training Seminars for the PGA. During the early 1990’s, he was part of the National PGA Faculty working with Stanford Research Institute to design the new PGA Apprentice Training Program. In the late 1990’s he also participated on the design team to create Specialized Certification Programs for Head Golf Professionals. Today, he is one of less than 150 Certified PGA Master Professionals and is a Faculty Member to grade and interview those members applying for Certification and PGA Master Professional status. He is the only person who has been awarded six National PGA Awards and in 2005, was inducted into the National PGA Hall of Fame for his contributions to the PGA, the game of golf and its members. 