Destin Garden Club members pay a visit to Indian Bayou Golf Club

The Destin Garden Club takes us to interesting and unusual places during the year. This gathering was no exception as we met at the Indian Bayou Golf Club and had the golf course superintendent, Wil Wilbourne, give us a slide show of what it takes to prepare and maintain a golf course.  

Have you ever wondered why a round of golf is so expensive? After seeing the equipment and personnel responsible for the upkeep of a golf course, you would never have to ask that question again. Before coming to Destin, Wilbourne was assistant superintendent at the Shoal Creek Club in Alabama. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Agronomy – Golf and Sports Turf Management at Mississippi State University. They must have taught him well, as the Indian Bayou golf course gets many five-star ratings. Indian Bayou opened in 1978 and is the oldest club in Destin. 

At Indian Bayou Golf and Country Club, the personnel are responsible for four acres of “tees.”  

Indian Bayou has approximately 35 acres (about half the area of a large shopping mall) of woodland turf (tree cover within maintained turf areas) and approximately 100 acres (about half the total floor space of the Pentagon) of woodland area outside the turf. The staff at Indian Bayou maintain ¾ acre of perennial shrubbery and 1,500 feet of seasonal color.  

“On the golf course, we like to choose native plant material and are always attentive to conservation. Even when we cut down small trees, we pile the short branches into small house-like enclosures for the rabbits to use for safety,” Wilbourne said. 

“We camouflage them for concealment, so as a golfer, you might never see them, but the wildlife will find them. Our work crew is almost in perpetual motion, and as we have a small staff, we live and die by efficiency,” he said. 

The garden club was shown a turf mower that moves along the course with five mowers at a time. The cost of this equipment is $90,000. 

New officers for the Destin Garden Club are President Anne Collins, Vice President Carolyn Williams, Secretary Karen Dewing, Treasurer Karen Damrell, and Member at Large Pat Collins. New members are always welcome, and for additional information about the club, contact annecollins933@gmail.com. 

This column was provided by Laura Hall, a member of the Destin Garden Club.