Jed Azinger Learned Early What He Wanted To Do

Oct. 2000

It only took noted golf course architect Jed Azinger a few days of working on a golf course to realize that that was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

"I had done carpentry and a few other things after high school before being offered a job at a golf course in Sarasota. It only took about four days there for me to decide that that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life," Azinger, the brother of professional golfer Paul Azinger, relates.

After determining that he wanted a career in the golf course industry, Azinger, then 22, enrolled at Florida's Lake City Community College, one of the top schools in the country for golf course superintendents. Three years later, he became the assistant superintendent at Quail Creek Country Club at Naples, Fla. Fifteen months after that, he became head superintendent at Naples Shores Country Club and soon after that moved to Lely Resort Golf Course on Flamingo Island in Naples. There, he worked on a Robert Trent Jones design construction project. Several months after "growing that course in," he and older brother Paul formed their golf course architecture firm, Azinger Design Co., Inc. That was done in 1990.

Jed Azinger, 38, acquired the company in 1993 when Paul, 40, was diagnosed with cancer. Although recovered and doing very well back on the tour, Paul has not returned to the firm. Gordon G. Lewis, a prolific designer who has done about 100 courses under his own name, has been with the company since its beginning.

It was while building the Shadow Ridge Golf Club course at Hattiesburg, Miss., three years ago that Azinger had his first experience with Dakota Peat. "Scott Corbin, who represents Dakota, was very persistent that I use Dakota Peat on that project. It finally got to the point where he made me realize that it was a superior peat.

"We had great results at Hattiesburg. Every time I talk to someone who has played that course, they say that those are the best greens they've ever played on," says Azinger, whose background as a golf course superintendent helps him understand the agronomics of turf grass. The success of the Shadow Ridge project, he says, is because of the Dakota Peat and a new strand of mini-dwarf Bermuda grass. The combination capitalizes on the benefits of cation exchange capacity (CEC), or the ability of the soil to transfer nutrients to the plant.

"Up until that time, Canadian peat had been the standard, but once I tried Dakota, I was so pleased with the product and with the service, that I started specifying it on every golf course job that I could. Hattiesburg was the first time I had ultimate control over the product and, after that, I started to 'spec' all of my jobs out that way."

Some of the more notable golf courses that Azinger has worked on include the Royal Palm Golf Course at Naples; Stoneybrook at Estero, Fl.; and Heritage Isles at Tampa Bay. He generally does about two a year. Current Azinger projects include a major renovation of the Paris Grand Golf Club at Paris, Ont., near Toronto. Three new holes are being built, 13 are being renovated, and two are to remain untouched. A second project is underway at Otterville, Ont., a Paul Azinger Signature Course that is being renovated.

"I'll be doing several courses in Canada over the next few years," Azinger says, "and I have made arrangements to use Dakota Peat where possible. I've had excellent service from Dakota. The one time that I did have a problem, which was at Hattiesburg, they took care of it without question. I was treated with the best service that I could ever have imagined."

Azinger's dad had a career in the Air Force. "For my first nine years, we lived all over the eastern seaboard. After he retired, we moved to Sarasota," Azinger says. While not as talented with the golf clubs as his brother, Jed Azinger's game is pretty solid. After a beginning in the Greater Sarasota Area Junior Golf program, he played on his college team for one year. In 1995, he was voted the North Section Florida PGA amateur of the year, although he admits this was more for promotion of the game and its principles rather than his playing ability.

"We grew up in a golfing family. My mother is an excellent golfer. She's won 22 club championships. Mom and dad, who had known each other in high school, got reacquainted on the golf course after my mother's first husband had passed away. Their relationship was rekindled on the golf course and now their two sons are professionals in the game. One builds them and the other tears them up."