Mossy Oak, once a stay-and-play destination, now operates alongside Old Waverly as part of a unified private club.
When Jim Clay arrived at Old Waverly last October, he did not lead with pronouncements. He led with questions.
Jim Clay, General Manager, Old Waverly
“For the first month, I just spent time getting to know the team,” Clay says. “What works, what does not, where the frustrations are, and where they see opportunities.”
Clay, a PGA professional by training, has been Old Waverly’s General Manager for four months. He stepped into the role as the club began bringing together two distinct properties, Old Waverly and Mossy Oak, into a single private operation with 36 holes and a largely national membership.
“It is not a new property,” Clay says. “But it is kind of like starting from the ground up.”
His path to the role ran through golf. Clay spent years as a Director of Golf in Southern California and Alabama before moving to The Club at New Seabury on Cape Cod, where he deliberately shifted into club management.
“I was very clear about my intentions,” he says. “I explained that my goal was to become a general manager.”
That transition required learning parts of the business he had not grown up in, especially food and beverage.
“You have to dig into the numbers and the processes,” Clay says. “Otherwise, it is impossible to have credibility with a team that has decades of experience.”
At Old Waverly, that credibility was tested early. Mossy Oak, once a stay-and-play destination, now operates alongside Old Waverly as part of a unified private club.
“We are no longer two separate facilities,” Clay says. “We are one team under one umbrella.”
After a month of listening and a month in the numbers, the focus has shifted to strategy. Among the most significant projects is a plan to physically connect the two courses, which sit across a busy road.
“As a member, you would love to hop in a golf cart and go from one to the next,” Clay says. “Right now, we do not have that.”
Plans include a tunnel beneath the road, a new clubhouse and pavilion at Mossy Oak, and renovations to the original Old Waverly clubhouse, including more casual dining options. Mossy Oak’s course has already undergone a major renovation, while Old Waverly’s will see targeted enhancements.
“We have two of the top golf courses in Mississippi now under one roof,” Clay says. “That is a strong value proposition.”
