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Trump International is a landscape unique to South Florida.


An extraordinary creation, meticulously maintained, we combined a southern oak forest highlighted with a dazzling variety of tropical plants and palms characteristic of the region. Over 1000 live oak trees ranging from 20 to 50 feet were adapted to the landscape and eight hundred coconut palms now grace the grounds. The perimeter of the course is ringed with 700 mature Royal Palms that define the boundaries and establish a formal, estate quality.
Course Update  By Andy Kjos, CGCS

Every summer changes and improvements are made to the golf course and this past summer was no different. This year the two most noticeable summer projects were moving a large tree to number 8 on the new nine and rebuilding number 1 tees. We also completed several other projects that were less noticeable, involving drainage and irrigation.

The large tree moved to the 8th hole on the new nine is a Phoenix canariensis -- Canary Island Date Palm. These types of palms are native to the Canary Islands and can be very tricky to grow in south Florida because of all the rain and humidity. These palms are challenging to grow anywhere in south Florida and even more difficult to transplant successfully preferring dry soil conditions. When they are moved they need the proper amount of water, too much water and the plant will be susceptible to diseases such as ganoderma, stigmina leaf spot and phytophthora bud rot; however not enough water and the plant will dehydrate and die. Big trees need a lot of water to hydrate, and when they are transplanted almost all of the roots are severed off and so the plant needs to be hand watered properly until the plant is able to grow new roots. Even when all the proper measures for success are taken there is still a chance for loss during transplant, however at this time the tree is looking very healthy and beautiful.

The tee project on number 1 consisted of reshaping the terrain and changing grass varieties on the tee tops from 419 Bermudagrass to Seashore Paspalum. Paspalum grass was chosen for a few reasons. It looks better in the winter, it has better cold tolerance, it is more salt resistant, and it performs better in shaded areas then bermudagrass. In addition to changing grass varieties, we also reshaped and laser-leveled every tee. The most noticeable change was to the Blue tee. It was made five feet wider and about 17 ft. longer. The increased size should provide better wear tolerance by spreading out the traffic over a larger area.

The process of rebuilding number one tees took most of the summer. One of the hardest parts was killing the existing 419 bermudagrass. The existing 419 bermudagrass was sprayed three times with a mixture of glyphosate and fusilade over a five week period. The dead grass was then stripped off and the rough grading took place. Once the new contours were rough graded to the desired shape the area was roto-tilled and fumigated with methyl bromide gas to kill any 419 bermudagrass plant parts that were still alive in the soil. After a week of being gassed the ground was then ready for the fine grading and the laser-leveling. The final part of the process was grassing the area. There are three ways to plant grass: seed, sod, and plant propagation, also know as ‘sprigging’. Seed is not an option for the variety of grass chosen. Sod was an option; however it is more expensive then sprigging, and ultimately sprigging produces a better playing surface than sod. The tee tops were sprigged with paspalum sprigs at a rate of 30 ‘Georgia’ bushels per 1000 square feet. The slopes of the tees were sodded with 419 bermudagrass. Sprigging is the preferred method of grassing, however if erosion is issue, like on the tee slopes, sod is the only option. The tee tops were sprigged July 15th and it generally takes 2-3 months to grow in completely.

The tees on number 1 were not the only tees improved over the summer. Many of the tees on the rest of the golf course were reshaped. We changed the area being cut, some were made bigger, while other tees were made more symmetrical to appear proportionate to the hole. In addition, the fairway on number 4 on the front nine was brought fifty yards closer to the tee. This was done to make the golf hole look better and to accommodate the shorter tee shot. The close cut areas to the right of number 6 and 18 greens are still cut short, however a larger buffer of long grass was left to prevent balls from going in the lake.