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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.”
Growing the game of golf can be done in many ways. Blum remembers a young boy named Brian who asked her for free range balls one day after school. In return, 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.
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Source: PGA tour
