LOUISVILLE, KY (September 19, 2023) - The Kentucky Golf Foundation is delighted to announce Chester “Ches” Musselman as the 2023 Distinguished Service Award winner. An avid golfer in his own right, Louisville native Musselman played high school golf for St. Xavier High School before a college career at the University of Kentucky. Musselman went on to found Musselman Hotels, where he currently serves as the President and CEO. The company has developed over 40 hotels and presently owns and/or operates twelve hotels in Kentucky and one in Virginia. His business endeavors expand into the golf industry, where he has continually worked to revitalize courses in the Commonwealth to preserve these integral parts of the Kentucky community. Musselman has been an elemental member of groups to reimagine the University of Louisville Golf Club and Valhalla Golf Club to ensure their status as premier clubs in the Commonwealth and in the country. However, Musselman is perhaps best known for his unwavering support of junior golf in Kentucky. Forming the Musselman-Dunne Junior Golf Tour alongside his father in the early 1990s, he helped the tour transform to become the Kentucky Junior Golf Tour present today. Furthermore, Musselman was a founding member of the Youth on Course initiative in Kentucky that allows junior golfers to play on partnered courses for $5 or less. 

Musselman is a highly respected figure on many fronts. Kentucky Golf Hall of Fame member Jimmy Kirchdorfer describes him as someone who "deeply believes in the values golf teaches to those learning it at a young age.” Continuing to speak on Musselman’s importance to the game of golf in the Commonwealth, Kirchdorfer states “Kentucky is fortunate to have someone like Ches involved in the betterment and growth of the game.” The Kentucky Golf Foundation is honored to award Musselman at the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on Thursday, November 2nd, at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville.