Welcome. Here are my thoughts on golf course and resource management consulting.

Philosophy

After more than 45 years of experience in the golf course maintenance industry, I have developed the consulting firm THC – Ted Horton Consulting to utilize my experiences and strong industry relationships to provide a variety of timely and cost-effective golf course agronomic, administrative and environmental stewardship advice to planners, architects, developers, managers, superintendents and suppliers. I am dedicated to assisting golf courses and their staff to be the best they can be.

Consultants have been utilized in the golf industry for many years. The legendary Old Tom Morris himself designed and consulted on the construction and maintenance of golf courses while he was a greenkeeper at St. Andrews. It seemed only appropriate that I should attempt to give back to my industry after so many years of superintending and managing golf courses and their associated properties.

Choosing the right consultant:

I recognize that to be an effective consultant I must have the appropriate knowledge and experience to get the job done correctly. I must be credible, trustworthy, highly reputable and capable of getting along with a wide range of personalities. More importantly, I must commit myself to a high level of integrity if my recommendations are to be objective, believable, and in the best interest of your property. My pleasant personality will be helpful to assist us to develop a relationship of trust & partnership. It is imperative that I possess strong communication skills if we are to succeed together. I have worked hard to be an effective communicator and believe that as you browse some of my writings you will sense an ability to communicate effectively.

As a consultant I recognize that I have no direct control over implementation and as a result I am very dependent on the golf course ownership, the superintendent and his/her personnel for getting results. In many cases the golf course superintendent will decide whether to take action or not and this choice will be based on how internally committed he or she is to the concepts that I am suggesting. Each of us has seen examples of consulting projects where the study or report ends up on a shelf, despite its cost and relevance. When this happens, it often means that somewhere along the line, the consulting process lost the managers who had to decide to use the results of the study. Through years of managing people I have become skilled at creating internal commitment from a club’s staff. I will do my best to avoid wasting your time and resources.

Thank you for considering me to assist you with your programs.