Sunniland Super Spotlight: Duston Powell

depression has formed just South of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and is starting to build. The storm track predicts landfall in the panhandle of Florida, and the inevitable is only days away. You have planned for it… you have created scenarios of “What if.” But it is now a reality… the storm has intensified; it has a name - Hurricane Michael – and it is on the way. The only thing is… how much strength it will build, and where it will hit. Ground zero for us would be Panama City Beach, or somewhere else East or West of the city. In a recent visit to Panama City Beach, we had the opportunity to sit down and discuss… the harsh reality of saving a coastal golf course with Bay Point Golf Club, Superintendent, Dustin Powell.

How did you get into the Golf Course Superintendent business? Not knowing exactly what I was going to do after high school a school counselor new how much I enjoyed sports and being outdoors suggested I talk to a previous high school attendee that was now working in the golf course management program and teaching classes in Lake City. I first started schooling in the golf course equipment maintenance side… but after the first year, I realized that was not for me, so I switch for the final 3-years to the agronomy side of the business. I did my first intern job with Tim, that had gotten me excited about this business… and then came to Bay Point in 2007 as a second assistant. I had worked my way up the chain to take over Superintendent operations here at Bay Point in 2016. So, thinking about what we saw before the storm… when we were able to come back to the golf course… over 3,500 trees were down, and the course had to be saved. We realized that the Nicklaus course was not damaged as much the Meadows. The Nicklaus course was built in a more open part of the property, and only lost about 1,000 trees, but the Meadows course was built in the old standing groves of Oaks and Pines and lost the most trees at nearly 3,000.

What do you enjoy most about the Turf Industry? I enjoy being outside in nature. I am NOT and indoor guy. I am not a big Golf Guy. I would rather be hunting and fishing… but my degree creates an ability to grow good grass and that is what makes golfers happen. I am not a big people person. I would just as soon be on my own, working the ground.

What are the main things that help keep this facility the way it is… and keep people coming back to enjoy? For me… it is having an entire program from fertilizers, pre-emergence, taking care of the grass and soil conditions. Having a solid trackable baseline, so you can see things happening and if something is changing, you can get ahead of the issue and get it resolved, before it becomes a problem.

Is there anything that golfers do that just drive you nuts? Everything! as he was laughing. The

paying customers, typically staying at the Sheraton on property or one of the vacation villas, follow the rules. Do not drive here… stay off this point. They all seem to do an awesome job with that. But, like most all courses that I have worked at, the membership tends to feel entitled to do things, bending the rules and creating problems that we must fix. What people do not understand is that we prepare this golf course for everyone to enjoy. Membership included. You would think that this is their home course, and they would like to share with the world the quality that we have here with the Nicklaus Designed Bay Point Golf Course and the challenge that brings others back, year after year… and it they would just play their part to help with those issues.

Is there something that golfers should know about your position as Superintendent? Everything! I really wish that every golfer could understand what it takes to keep 130 acres of grass playable for them to enjoy. The structure it takes to manage your staff to keep the course looking the way it does. Especially the Turf Application that we do. Many times, they don’t understand why we have to do that… the very week that their friends are coming into town to play golf. But, our course planning for verticutting and punches have to happen on a schedule to protect and neutralize the roots of the grasses. If you do not have a good root system… you don’t have good grass. What do you do for fun after work? Hunt and Fish! Being outside.

Favorite Sports Team? I had a sports related injury early in life… and pretty much ended my sports career. No if that had not happened, I would not be doing what I do today. I feel things happen for a reason when they do. You do not look back. You take the next path and move forward. No regrets at all to where I am with my life… and I live strong every day.

Where are you originally from?... and what brought you to Panama City? Port St. Joe, Florida. When I left home for Lake City to start my career in Turf Management… I knew I wanted to work near my hometown… and Port St. Joe is only about 45 minutes away. Hurricane Michael came ashore in Mexico Beach, about 10 minutes away from Port St. Joe.

Any changes in the Future for the course? On our greens we use a foliar package… not so much a granular type fertilizer. Since we converted to Tifeagle from Tifdwarf… in 2018, during our grow in… we are going to try something a little different this year. We saw a real strong growing pattern this past winter when it was cool, so we are gong to lean them back a little more this summer to see how much impact we can do to grow deeper roots… make the grasses stronger and ultimately use less fertilizer. With the transition to the new owners in the last few months, has there been changes that you have seen that benefit the course? We have all experienced a lot of changes… for the good. As is business when a transition is taking place, funds were held back, which cost us effort on maintaining the course. But we ended up with a lot of weed pressure, but we are in the process to bring it back to it’s normal high standard. We were a Kemper Sports managed property prior to the transition taking place. With the transition to the new ownership… the transition was also made to place the management of the course to the Bobby Jones Links company and has really shown a positive impact.

Tell us about the experience when Hurricane Michael was over? We opened the course after the transition to the new Turf Eagle greens with a Grand Opening day on October 6th. We played the 7th and 8th and closed the course on the 9th to prepare for the storm coming in the 10th. As the storm cleared, we had no power for 12-days, so the new greens were just sitting there smoldering for those 12-days. We began working to remove debris for the greens to avoid having dead spots form from the weight of trees and limbs on them. When we finally got power back, we began spraying water on every green for 10 to 13 hours a day to flush all the salt off the surfaces. There were 5 holes under water, so waiting for those to clear took time as well, but it was so important to remove the debris. Our root mass was deep and strong enough prior to the storm to sustain those greens from damage.

Dustin was recognized for the efforts put back into the course by Kemper Sports as “Superintendent of the Year,” in 2019. The new ownership at Bay Point Golf Club, has one distinct goal. Bring back the Bay Point Golf Club to be recognized as one of the best golf courses in the State of Florida. An ambitious goal but with the staff here at Bay Point… it is a truly reachable goal.