Gene Garrote

Since founding Celebration Golf Management in 2007 to oversee Celebration Golf Course, Gene Garrote has taken on five more central Florida courses and two in South Carolina and Tennessee.

Garrote, who grew up in Miami, started out as a bag attendant to earn playing time at local courses as a teen. Golf was his passion, and course management became his ticket to stay in the field. Garrote's company now employs more than 300 and looks to add to its management portfolio in Florida and other Sun Belt states. In addition to Celebration, his Florida courses include the Golden Bear in Windermere, Kings Ridge and Legends in Clermont, Stoneybrook West in Winter Garden and Eagle Creek in southeast Orlando.