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Post Date: Monday, August 9, 2021 |
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 BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. recently welcomed Mike Stevens as the new director of agronomy. Stevens will oversee maintenance of BallenIsles’ three championship golf courses, including the East, North and South Courses, its golf practice facilities and the club’s agronomy team.
Born and raised in Gainesville, Florida, Stevens has lived the past 21 years in and around St. Augustine. He most recently served as the Southeast director of agronomic programs for Indigo Golf Partners, a division of Troon, overseeing golf course maintenance, capital planning, renovations, and staff development in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana and Texas. From 2007 to 2010, he served as superintendent of St. John’s Golf & Country Club in St. Augustine, where he was involved in the construction and daily agronomics of the private club.
“The team is very excited to attract a talent like Michael,” BallenIsles CC general manager and COO Ryan Walls said. “We certainly look forward to continuing an upward trajectory of agronomic excellence. Michael’s experience will also be invaluable as we continue to execute on our strategic vision for our future sport offerings here at the club.”
Stevens is a past president of the North Florida Golf Course Superintendents Association and is a Class A GCSAA member. He is married to his childhood sweetheart, Amanda, with whom he has two children, Benjamin and Madison.
“After serving in a regional capacity and working with so many great clubs, I really look forward to settling down and honing my skills on one property. The quality, expectation and lofty goals BallenIsles has is so evident. I very much welcome the opportunity for our team to put the agronomic conditioning atop the great clubs in Florida,” said Stevens.
BallenIsles’s East and North courses were designed by two of the more acclaimed golf course architects of the era: Dick Wilson and Joe Lee. In 2019 and 2020, Rees Jones redesigned the South Course. BallenIsles announced a strategic design partnership earlier this year with Nicklaus Design to take the club through a multi-year renovation of the East Course and golf practice facilities. The East Course renovation is expected to include a modernization of the irrigation system, a complete re-grassing of the course, improvement of tee locations and the return of original course design features from when the course hosted major championships. The Nicklaus Design team will add length and strategy that will test both members and tournament players alike.
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