Page 154 - South Mississippi Living - September, 2015

SPORTS & OUTDOORS on course for a bright future
AH LEINONE
Golf BYOB: be your own boss
ABOVE: RUSS BLOOM is the new course owner of The Oaks in Pass Christian. OPPOSITE PAGE: Bloom shows off the club house and helps friend with his game.
Russ Bloom knows a good idea when he hears one. He knows even better ideas when he sees them. Following the golf course ownership blueprint
his friend Kenny Hughes charted three years ago at Shell Landing and Hickory Hill, Bloom has gone from course manager at The Oaks in Pass Christian
to course owner. It’s a change that brings with it several new challenges, but also something that outweighs any added headaches — job security.
Bloom and a consortium of about 20 friends and family members pooled their resources last December to purchase
The Oaks from previous owner Pacific Life. It was a transaction a year in the making, but conceptually one already proved successful by Hughes and his partners a couple years before. With Shell Landing in financial difficulty, club GM Hughes worked with three friends to craft a purchase that ended up including Hickory Hill, the former Mississippi National course in Gautier.
“I’m friends with Kenny and I actually consulted him on this deal and got some great advice. He was very helpful to
me,” said Bloom, a San Diego native who started at The Oaks as a volunteer in 2002 and worked his way up to PGA Class Pro
story by F. Cliff Kirkland photos by James Edward Bates and courtesy of The Oaks Golf Club
154 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • September 2015 FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net