College golf facilities: Oklahoma Sooners

Koepka claims first major title

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To say Julie Blum has worked in some non-traditional jobs in her life would be an understatement. In college in the late 1980s, she was a disc jockey in some of the most popular nightclubs on Sixth Street in Austin, Texas. She'd work happy hours and sometimes on weekends, expertly sizing up the crowd to see whether to play rock and roll or techno music or country and western that night. Later, Blum's proficiency in Spanish - as well as Italian, Dutch and even a little Russian - brought her to the city of Houston's protocol department where she worked in the aviation arena. She'd meet with security personnel and help dignitaries like Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union, navigate the airport landscape after their planes touched down. And she has spent the last 25 years at Memorial Park golf course, starting out as an administrative assistant and working her way up seven years ago to become the general manager of the facility that will host the Vivint Houston Open for the first time since 1963 this week. As she walked toward her office for a telephone interview on Tuesday, Blum passed Phil Mickelson, who was preparing to tee off in a practice round. She'd seen Jason Day working on his short game for hours. She calls the experience of hosting the PGA TOUR's best players at Houston's municipal gem somewhat surreal. "When I saw all this come to light … the signage, the ropes, the tents, watching the sun rise and seeing all these people working, it’s just been unbelievable to me that this is Memorial," Blum says. "Like how really the dream came true, and what a gift for our Houstonians. "We’re so lucky that we can play this course that the pros play." Truth be told, though, Blum wasn't quite sure what she was getting herself into when she started working at Memorial. She had left the aviation department by then and was the assistant to Houston's director of purchasing, dealing with the city council and the mayor and learning the internal workings of the largest city in Texas. Then she fell in love with her boss' son, Brian Blum, the man she would later marry. Obviously, Blum needed to make a job change given potential nepotism and favoritism concerns given that relationship. Her soon-to-be father-in-law told her there was an opening at Memorial Park for an administrative assistant and suggested she apply. "So, I came to this place in 1995 and it was under renovation," Blum recalls. "It was kind of comical because I showed up in my business attire, which at the time was a suit and high heels. Well. this was a mud pit, and my heels kept getting stuck in the mud. I’m like, what kind of place is this?" During that first push to improve the property, Blum met Nancy Reynolds, a member of the Houston Parks Board who, along with Mayor Bob Lanier, spearheaded the push to upgrade the municipal golf course that is located in the heart of Houston near the Galleria shopping complex and downtown. "She was definitely my inspiration to stay here at Memorial and to fill her wish that this would be a place for definitely keeping our seniors happy and developing the game of golf by making sure our juniors are interested," Blum says. "That was always her goal is to make sure we promote the game of golf. So that was her wish. And I promised her that I would take care of this place for her as long as I was here." Reynolds likely has heard about a young boy named Brian who asked Blum for free range balls one day after school. She put him to work vacuuming the pro shop and doing other odd jobs. He grew up to be a lawyer, invited Blum to his wedding and now brings his three sons to play at Memorial. Blum, who calls herself a recreational golfer, learned about Memorial Park from the ground up - literally - and that helped her gain the respect of the people with whom she works. She helped the maintenance crew edge cart paths and lay sod. She's worked the driving range, rolled greens and figured out how to drive the golf ball picker and maneuver a Skid Steer. And Blum's boss, Jason Harsh, who has a degree in agronomy from Texas A&M has also shared his expertise with the Chicago native and University of Houston grad whose first love was geology. The two, who have worked together for more than two decades, talk chemical compounds, fairy rings, web worms and the merits of Arkansas sand versus river sand, among other things. "So that’s how I learned so much in the past 25 years about golf course maintenance," says Blum, whose hands-on experience also helped her understand the tools her staff needs to do its jobs. She calls grounds crew the unsung heroes of Memorial Park, particularly after the recently completed second renovation, this time done by renowned golf course architect Tom Doak, that brought the layout up to the standard a PGA TOUR event requires. The long hours and hard work will be showcased this week. "Without them we wouldn’t be anything," she says. "So, if there’s anything I want to get out of this conversation is our maintenance guys … doing these jobs in a hundred degrees and this morning it was 46 — hats off to those guys and girls." The eight-month renovation, of course, wouldn't have been possible without the support of the Astros Golf Foundation, which stepped in two years ago to rescue the Vivint Houston Open. Memorial Park, which hosted the tournament from 1951 to 1963, is now PGA TOUR ready again. "To me, it’s just unbelievable to see the metamorphosis, the change going from a local neighborhood, kind of like a "Cheers" bar where everybody knows your name," Blum says "And now … I was watching Jason Day and Phil Mickelson was on the other tee box. "So to me, our values are not going to change. We’re still going to treat everyone with kindness and great communication and encourage development. And we want our locals, but we also want to just maintain that PGA flair that we’ve been gifted. "And we’re very lucky to have the Astros Golf Foundation in our life and great partners." Astros owner Jim Crane appears to feel the same about Blum and her stewardship of Memorial Park. "The other day, Mr. Crane looked at me and he goes, well, Julie, how does it feel to be the CEO of this asset?" Blum recalls. "And I looked at him and I’m like, okay, I never really thought of it that way, but now you just made me a little nervous." While she is more comfortable staying in the background, Blum thinks it's important for women to support each other - "we have to at least let women know that we can do anything," she says. That fact was driven home recently when a PGA TOUR staffer stopped by her office. "She looked at me, she was like, you don’t see this," Blum says. "And I was like trying to see what she was pointing at. And she was like pointing at me and I’m like, I don’t know what you mean. I'm sorry. She goes, you don’t see this — a woman behind the desk. "And she goes, I’ve been to Thailand, I’ve been to California, everywhere, Australia. You don’t see this. And she said hats off to you."

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Those keeping a close watch on equipment coverage often take notice of gear made specifically “just for the” PGA TOUR or “tour issue.” It’s every gearhead’s dream to find a way to procure a tour-prototype or something directly off a truck. Every now and then, the equipment manufacturers will make those “tour-issue” projects available in limited quantities. This week, Titleist Master Craftsman Bob Vokey released the tour-favorite T-Grind wedge — featuring a low-bounce and a narrow crescent surface — via WedgeWorks, the company’s custom-order arm. “Wedge play is an art, and the T-Grind brings out the best in the artist,” Vokey explained. “The leading edge stays low to the playing surface as the wedge is rotated which allows you to hit a variety of shots from tight lies. This is the wedge that really made Vokey Grinds an important part of our process and still to this day is a great option.” Designed for players looking for a shallow angle of attack in firm conditions, the Vokey T-Grind lob wedges both feature in the bags of PGA TOUR stars Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. Vokey Wedge representative Aaron Dill provides the lowdown on the new T-Grind: GolfWRX: What was the origin of the T-Grind? AARON DILL: “The T-grind started with the collaborative efforts of both Bob Vokey and Tom Pernice. Tom has an incredible short game and ability to articulate feedback that Bob trusts when designing and studying soles. Together they created the T; today one of the best low bounce offerings we have.” GolfWRX: Who is it for? DILL: “The T is a great low bounce option that caters to players wanting the ability to slide under the ball in the open position. The wedge fits firm conditions and firm bunkers, or players with impeccable technique who want the most versatility.” GolfWRX: What do Jordan and JT like about it? DILL: “Both Jordan and JT love this grind because it sits so close to the ground when open. This visual inspires confidence and gives them the freedom to be aggressive in every short game situation. “A great example of that was when Jordan was using a 60-04L — this wedge was in the bag for a while and the biggest adjustments we made to the wedge was in the profile reducing the par height to look slightly smaller and increase topline curvature. This profile was precisely the look Jordan needed to see to feel comfortable and it was my focus with every wedge I made. “One day at Trinity Forest, Jordan was working with coach Cameron McCormick and saw an old rusty wedge resting against the wall. When Jordan picked it up, he realized it was an old 60T that he has used ages ago. The moment this wedge was put in the playing position that old feeling came back. Jordan called me and said, ‘I have this old 60T in my hands. I just love this thing. Do you still make this wedge?’” The T-Grind features the same technology found in Vokey’s SM8 wedges, which includes a reimagined progressive CG pushed forward from the face for increased MOI designed to provide improved distance, trajectory control and better feel. The wedges also include 100%-inspected spin milled grooves that aim to produce maximum spin and shot control. The WedgeWorks T-Grind (RH only) is available for custom order in golf shops and on Vokey.com in both 58-degree and 60-degree lofts in Tour Chrome and Raw finishes. Each wedge costs $199, which includes custom stamping, custom ferrule, and custom shaft band options.

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