ON THE HORIZON

TwinEagles Takes Certified Flight Once Again

As he tied up any loose ends before the two courses in his care received final Signature Sanctuary Certification in March, The TwinEagles Club Director of Agronomy Darren Gafford raved about the sweet weather gracing southwest Florida in mid-February: Highs in the mid-70s, “four miles per hour” of breeze, just the slightest hint of chill in the morning. “Absolutely perfect golf weather,” he said.

It was also the perfect time to talk about partnering with Audubon International as TwinEagles’ Talon Course came out of a new redesign by Nicklaus Golf, going through a nearly two-year process to earn certification not only for that layout, but its sister Eagle Course, which underwent a four-hole Steve Smyers facelift in 2019.

Gafford’s first experience with Audubon International after four decades in the golf maintenance business was clearly rewarding, if arduous — definitely “a win-win for all of us,” he said.

“We started when I came on board. We needed [the courses] to work in harmony with the environment and with nature. I said, listen, it’s the right thing to do. Let’s research, let’s look into it and see what we need to do, and then let’s move forward. Thankfully I had the support of the Club.”

Working closely with Kat Welch, who directs Audubon International’s Signature Sanctuary Program, Gafford was determined to take what was already one of the Naples area’s premier private clubs to a new, widely appreciated and even more attractive level. “Southwest Florida, Naples in particular, is very competitive,” he said. “So anything that we can do to have the upper hand, we’re going to do.”

With 1,115 acres of natural landscape nudged up against the region’s Corkscrew Sanctuary, a few miles inland from the Gulf Coast, TwinEagles has just 700 residences, roughly 300 golf memberships per course and 10-minute tee times, meaning lower impact on the turf and great access for all Members and guests. The Eagle Course was named “Best New U.S. Private Course of the Year” by Golf Magazine in 2012.

In 2020, the membership approved Phase One of an ambitious Master Plan anchored by a complete reimagining of the Scottish Manor Club- house and a full renovation of the Talon Course. The Master Plan — with Signature Sanctuary status now built into it — ensures that TwinEagles will continue to be one of the most desirable golf and country club communities in the area. That’s music to members’ ears, and wallets.

“They’re finally understanding that [stewardship] is the right thing to do for now and the future, for their kids, their grandkids, and their great grandkids,” Gafford said. “And it’s going to add a lot of value to their property.”

He added that momentum for the Signature Sanctuary process picked up when people could see the results in real time, with their own eyes.

“People appreciate things they can see. I can point to one thing in particular, and that was the Monarchs in the Rough program. That was a visual task that we could do. The people could actually see it evolving — starting from a few plants and then some wildflower seeds. And then the next thing you know, we’ve got thousands of monarchs all over the property. So that was a really big deal. I know the Club is very proud of that, as we are down here in the agronomy department.”

Members don’t seem to mind sharing the land with a wealth of wildlife, either. “It would be impossible for you to go out and play golf at any time, any day of the year and not see dozens of deer,” Gafford continued. “We have turkey running around the fairways, there’s bobcat, there’s bears, there’s panthers. We’ve got it all. And it’s in plain view. When you’re out walking the property, or you’re playing golf, it’s a special place.”

Marrying the moves needed for Signature Sanctuary certification with the already-planned course overhaul took TwinEagles from “special” to “spectacular” in terms of setting a new, efficient sustainability bar for Florida golf. They changed out Celebration fairways and Champion greens for Bimini Bermuda on fairways, rough and tees and TIF Eagle on greens. “It can handle heat a lot better, meaning less water, of course. It handles insect and weeds. It gets so thick. It’s tough for weeds and insects to get in there and do any damage. It takes about the same amount of fertilizer, so there’s not real savings there. But in herbicide and pesticide usage we should see a pretty good savings.”

Both courses take up a lot of per-hole acreage, so Gafford and his crew were able to plant plenty of native features without affecting playing corridors, while making views even more engaging.

“We had some native area that required quite a bit of financial backing to maintain as far as trimming and fertilization — grass, pine straw. One of the things we tasked Nicklaus with when we redid the Talon was to turn a lot of these areas into low maintenance, low cost and low impact, something that would be still being appealing to the eye. So we redid a few areas with Bahia, a very low-maintenance grass that needs very little water. During summer you have to get in and mow it every 10 days to two weeks. During golf season, we might mow it once a month.

“We also took out some shrubs that needed trimming and additional fertilizer, and we replaced those with some grasses native to the area. That required less water, less input from us in general. We have large preserve areas we do not go in at all. We just leave them natural.”

While Gafford says Talon’s renovation took quite a bit of time away” from the certification process, “there were a lot of aspects in the renovation where Audubon was certainly discussed and thought of. And we put plans in place to make sure that we were accommodating what we needed to do.”

Those plans came to fruition with Welch’s help. “Without her guidance and support through this, I’m not sure that we could have made it,” Gafford said. “It may have taken a few years to get there, but she was a trooper. She answered all our dumb questions and told us what we needed to do.”

He paused a moment to take in the warm midwinter sunshine. “I’m certain that she’s looking forward to us getting certified as much as we are! She has just been fantastic.”

For more on TwinEagles, visit www.thetwineaglesclub.com