Tom Morton

Please indicate past awards won/recognitions:
GRAA Growth of the Game Teaching Professional, Other (Indicate specific awards in 3-a below)

Other awards won (if provided):
2014 National PGA Youth Development Award, 2017 National PGA Player Development Award, 10-Time Nor Cal PGA Section Award Winner (various awards)

Total number of individual lessons given per year:
Male: As the Director of Coaching and Player Development, I including numbers for myself and all I manage – 4,000
Female: 2275
Junior: 1500

Total number of individual clinics given per year:
1000

Please indicate any Growth of the Game initiatives your facility/academy has launched over the past year (please give specifics on such programs):
As a First Tee program location, we started a program called “Rise Golf” where we are partnering with a local organization in an area of town where children could use attention and need some help. Through this program we give golf clubs to the kids, give instruction to the kids, provide life skills and core values, offer opportunities for play and growth in the game and connect all other golf organizations to push them forward with First Tee, Youth on Course and our own foundation, the Morton Golf Foundation. Many of these children are now filtering into “main-stream” programming which is the ultimate goal to keep them connected to the game.

In additon, our foundation is growing our “Junior Golf Grant Program” where we now give out over $40,000 to area youth who need help with funding there youth golf growth opportunities. Whether just helping pay for a program or a junior who needs help paying for equipment and travel fees on the national level, we are here to make sure families have means and opportunity to keep growing and moving forward in the game at whatever level they are at. We interview nearly 50 families in the process to decide who and how much we grant and at these sessions provide information and education to families on the proper slow, but steady process for kids to grown in the game as the may head toward college golf.

Please share any programming you have made to keep your customers & students engaged:
We pride ourselves on being a place for everyone and having something for everyone. We noticed in our programming both a hole in youth and adult golf for those in the youth space around 12 and up wanting to take golf more seriously and then in the adult space wanting to do the same. We creating programming in the youth space called “Pre-Teen Competitive Golf” and then a “High School Prep 1 and High School Prep 2” classes to filter children up the progressive chain. In these programs the juniors feel more of team environment and we create a completitive and fun practice environment covering the three main buckets of technical, tactical and socio/emotional aspects of the game. In the adult space, we created two levels for the golfer wanting to spend more time and attention to their games as well, similar to the youth classes, just for adults. It’s been very successful and we are retaining more people because of them. We are expanding it into 2023 as well.