HPR “In the News!”
It’s all relative
Karen Moraghan and Hunter Public Relations fit game to a tee
By Pete Kowalski • November 9, 2024
Karen Moraghan owns a formidable portfolio of success in golf, mostly behind the scenes and without a golf club in her hands.
She is president of Hunter Public Relations * Special Events, a firm she owns and operates with her sister, Kristen Hunter. Moraghan, who is widely and highly regarded for her work in media relations for destinations, resorts and clubs, apparel, equipment, events and personalities, brings her signature smile along with a detailed, creative plan to any of her projects.
“I like to think I have a pleasant nature,” said Moraghan, who formed the company in 1990. “I am the strategist while Kristen prefers to plan and execute events, including media-center operations for the PGA Tour. Of course, I’ve been accused of having OSS – Older Sister Syndrome – which means I always think I am right!”
With a mainstay of 20 clients and numerous cyclical projects, HPR has orchestrated the grand openings and communications plans for more than 80 golf courses.
The most recent, in late October, was for Reynolds Lake Oconee’s seventh course, named Richland and designed by Tom Fazio. Moraghan organized a trip to the Georgia site midway between Atlanta and Augusta that included lodging, food and beverage and golf for nearly 30 media members.
“It helps when you have the Ritz-Carlton to offer,” she said with her usual laid-back manner.
The company already has three ‘openings’ on the docket for 2025, including the Upper Course at Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey, but she adds modestly, “Who knows what else might come up?”
Moraghan’s ongoing success is a tribute to her dynamic relationship with her sister and her world-class relationships within the golf, tourism and wellness industries.
“It’s people who make the difference,” Moraghan said. “I really enjoy being around both media and clients, many of whom have become friends throughout the years. It’s all about relationships. Building relationships in a business like ours is the most important thing.”
Said Bill Houghton, a real estate marketing consultant: “I have hired Hunter for multiple properties because I value proactive, wise counsel over cookie-cutter PR plans. Karen is a respected, trusted partner who has made my marketing and sales efforts better.”
Moraghan recalls her job as an attraction’s hostess at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion during her high school and college days in California as a harbinger for her career.
“It was a pretty tight group of young kids and older career Disney employees who had opened the park with Walt,” Moraghan said. “They presented me with the Mary Poppins ‘Good Umbrella Award’ for being nice to the knuckleheads. That kind of customer-centric job was a perfect set-up for planning media ‘fams,’ special events, and dealing with a wide cast of characters. Sometimes, you just go with the flow.”
Moraghan also organizes media trips to resorts, in the States, Mexico, and as far as South Korea. Nearly 95 percent of HPR’s clients have “a touchpoint to golf,” she said.
A graduate of UC San Diego, just up the hill from Torrey Pines, and where she was the school newspaper’s sports editor and worked in the sports information department, Moraghan (née Hunter) wanted to be a behind-the-scenes TV producer “like Mary Tyler Moore: throw my hat in the air and spin in circles,” she said with a chuckle.
In college, she ran track and cross country for two years and rowed for two more while forming a mentor relationship with university athletics director Judy Sweet, who became the first female president of the NCAA. Moraghan still maintains a strong tie to her alma mater, giving to its scholarship and wellness programs. She also served on the alumni board for six years.
Still a fitness aficionado, she has run four marathons, including Boston, and through training, began a relationship which led to her marriage to Tim Moraghan, a well-known golf industry agronomic consultant. Her hospitality career steered her to a position with Pebble Beach Company, overseeing media relations and special events for the resorts, eventually leading to the position of championship director for the 1992 U.S. Open.
Marriage and a move to New Jersey started a 20-year consulting relationship with the United States Golf Association. She planned and implemented the USGA’s centennial in 1995.
“The U.S. Open was challenging, but so was the USGA’s centennial because it was so multifaceted with six major events, the creation of member clubs’ celebration kits, a commemorative book and film series, and recognition for the association’s volunteers,” Moraghan said. “One of my favorite events ever was staging dinner for 300 in the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
“I don’t know what I’ll do when I am done pitching and placing. Maybe I’ll have a killer garden and a great golf game.” — Karen Moraghan
“I definitely feel that patience and follow through are attributes that have made our company successful, plus being available 24/7. I am creative, think fast on my feet, and can usually throw out ideas in rapid-fire fashion to get the energy flowing.”
Based in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where she maintains a thriving tomato and herb garden, Moraghan enjoys a perfect balance of life despite a work travel schedule that puts her on the road more than 150 days a year.
“We have lots of flowers, hummingbirds and butterflies, and Tim is a hummingbird whisperer,” Moraghan said. “Gardening is my therapy. It gives my brain cells a rejuvenator.”
After that mental pick-me-up, she is ready for a typical day of phone and Zoom calls while keeping up with clients and a vast stable of relationships. “That’s how I keep it fresh and vital,” she said.
A cog in industry PR, Moraghan adeptly stays in stride with the technology and vagaries of communication along with sister Kristen in Carmel, office manager Kerry Maveus in Michigan, and a stable of consulting writers and editors. Landing a piece in The Wall Street Journal or Cigar Aficionado doesn’t always come easily, but it’s possible because of her legacy of hard work and strong friendships.
“I don’t know what I’ll do when I am done pitching and placing,” Moraghan said. “Maybe I’ll have a killer garden and a great golf game.”