A native of Hamilton, New York, Dick Horton served as the Executive Director of the Tennessee Section PGA and the Tennessee Golf Association from 1973-2007. He served as president of the Tennessee Golf Foundation from 1991-2018. Horton currently serves as Advisor to the Chairman of the Tennessee Golf Foundation.
Dick Horton graduated from Wake Forest University in 1971 and two years later joined the Tennessee Golf Association and the Tennessee Section PGA, where he would begin to make an impact on the game of golf in the state and nationwide.
Horton was one of only 15 full-time golf executive directors in the country. Tennessee was one of only three states who had joint amateur and professional golf organizations. He worked to grow the Tennessee Golf Association from 150 golf courses to 225 member clubs, and the Tennessee Section PGA membership from 150 to 500 golf professionals, all while establishing a uniform golf handicap service that grew to 44,000 users at its peak in 1999.
He served in 1991 as president of the International Association of Golf Administrators; and was instrumental in the Golf 20-20 leadership effort that created The First Tee.
Golf programs he initiated include: one of the oldest (47 years) continuous running junior golf academies in America with over 15,000 graduates; a junior tour with more than 1,500 boys and girls now sponsored by PGA Tour member Brandt Snedeker; the longest-running Ben Hogan Tour event in Knoxville; and the current Korn Ferry Simmons Bank Open presented by the Snedeker Foundation .
Under Horton’s guidance, Tennessee was the first state regional golf association and foundation to secure a The First Tee chapter.
Horton’s career highlight is the creation of Golf House Tennessee headquarters campus and The Little Course, built on 15 acres in Franklin, Tennessee in 1995. Golf House is home to the Tennessee PGA Section (professionals), Tennessee Golf Association (amateurs), GCSAA superintendents, CMAA club managers, as well as administration for junior golf, seniors, women’s golf, plus management for The First Tee of Tennessee and The Vinny (Vince Gill Invitational).
The 21,000 sq. ft. building also houses the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame and administers the largest Special Olympics golf program and Middle School Golf Association in America. The Little Course, a nine-hole par three layout dedicated as a learning center, plays 15,000 rounds of golf and also has 56 different varieties of grasses in its turf grass research effort.
Horton was also one of the board of directors of the Arnold Palmer Golf Company that included Palmer, Nancy Lopez and Jack Lupton.
In 2008, Horton was elected to membership in The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland.
Welcome to the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2020, Dick Horton.