Southwind community welcomes visitors
When walking around TPC Southwind, it’s hard to miss the enormous houses surrounding the golf course. Unlike most of the spectators who come out annually during the week of FedEx St. Jude Classic, the people who fill the homes are there fulltime.
Bill and Joy James have lived in their home since 2010 and have an open house every year for three days to celebrate the tournament. A piece of paper taped to the front door greets visitors with the message “Please come in. We are on the back porch.”
Those who enter are welcomed to indulge in chicken, chips and dips, fruit and various other dishes in the kitchen.
After filling their plates and heading to the back patio, they’re met by an assortment of drinks, tables with umbrellas for shade and a great view of the 16th hole.
On the balcony above the patio hangs a colorful banner that reads “St. Jude Gives Hope.”
Bill James, a managing and regional director for investment and wealth management firm Stephens Inc., said his family expected about 100-125 guests on Friday.
Their act of hospitality isn’t uncommon in the community.
Sandra and Buzz Fly are life-long Memphians who have lived in Southwind for nearly 30 years.
They also open their home to guests, including friends, volunteers and PGA Tour participants. They stop by to get drinks, food and air conditioning, park their vehicles on
their property and even stay with them.
“Doug Tewell stayed with us for four or five years, and then his son-in-law, Pat Bates, stayed with us for a few years after that,” Buzz Fly said.
“Now we’ve got a couple of performance coaches that are staying with us for the last couple years. We enjoy that.”
“We just like having people,” added Sandra Fly.
“When you have a player with you, you get really involved in how he’s doing in the tournament and cheering him on and you’re following him. And then you become lifelong friends with them.”
Bill James and his son, Ben, are both golfers, while Buzz Fly and his youngest son, Jonathan, are as well. As a kid, Jonathan Fly would go out to the 15th hole during practice rounds with a visor and ask the pros to sign it.
He went on to play golf at the University of Memphis, and, after graduating, he played on an exemption at the 2012 FESJC.
Jonathan Fly shot a 64 in the second round, adding another great moment to the Fly family’s collection of memories.
Buzz Fly, who played at the 1983 Danny Thomas Memphis Classic, couldn’t help but smile and laugh as he reflected on his son’s big day.
“We think maybe watching the tour pros every year kinda helped form a desire for him to play,” he said.
For Joy James, the generational impact has also been huge. Watching the FESJC inspired the interior designer’s son to play, too, and now her grandchildren look forward to the tournament as well.
Residents who may be less keen on golf or dislike the congestion often opt to rent out their homes for the week.
They get away while taking advantage of an opportunity to get a premium price for a short rental.
Southwind makes an exception to its bylaws just for the tournament to let people rent their homes to players and people associated with the event.
Neither the James nor Fly families have taken this route. Meeting people, enjoying PGA Tour golf and the big picture benefits of promotion for the city of Memphis, FedEx Express World Headquarters and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital overshadow dealing with cluttered roads.
For both households, nothing takes precedence over what the week does for St. Jude. “All the residents feel like no matter whatever hassles we have to go through, it’s worth it because we’re promoting the hospital,” Sandra Fly said.
“They know that’s the reason that we’re having the tournament and that’s the most important thing. This week is for the hospital.”
When the FESJC becomes a World Golf Championships event in 2019, many things will change.
More high-profile golfers and a bigger stage mean larger galleries, more intense traffic and a vastly bigger media contingent. The James and Fly families, though, won't be going anywhere.