WEST POINT —When 1976 U.S. Open winner Jerry Pate first saw the spot that would eventually become Old Waverly Golf Club, it looked very different than it does today.

It was October 1985. The club’s founder, the late George W. Bryan Sr., invited Pate to come see the land he was considering turning into the course.

“We flew down and rode through some timberland and some old peanut fields and farmland … and looked at this property, and I said, ‘We can build a great golf course for you here,’” Pate told The Dispatch Tuesday.

Pate, along with Bob Cupp, designed the Old Waverly Golf Course, and the club opened in 1988. The next year, Pate founded his own design firm that went on to create many other notable golf courses. But his connection to Old Waverly – and his friendship with the Bryan family – didn’t end there.

Pate is the co-chair of the Golf Clubs of Mississippi LLC, a group of golf investors that recently purchased the Old Waverly Club and Mossy Oak Golf Course, according to an Oct. 4 press release from the club.

Boyce Adams Sr. of West Point is also a co-chair, Pate said, and he is listed as the LLC’s manager on records from the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office. The group includes friends and others connected to the Bryans who love the club, Pate said. Many of the investors are local, he confirmed, though he did not name them.

“This is a love for all of us,” Pate said. “And I don’t want to go through who the investors are, but they’re some really fine people that love golf and they love Old Waverly, and they want to keep it as one of the finest clubs in the country, especially in the South.”

Old Waverly Golf Club has hosted many golf championships, including the 1999 U.S. Women’s Open Championship, the 2006 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship and the 2019 Women’s Amateur Championship.

By 2016, the Bryan family added a second club and course to the area – the Mossy Oak Golf Course. This course was designed by Gil Hanse, and the Mossy Oak Golf Club became the home for the practice facility of the Mississippi State University men’s and women’s golf teams.

Over the years, Pate said, he stayed connected to the course and to the Bryan family. And then, about 3 1/2 years ago, Bryan had a stroke that eventually led to his passing.

“I went and visited him in Atlanta at the Shepherd Center,” Pate said. “That was back during COVID. And we thought he was going to get well and get out of the wheelchair, but as it turned out, he only survived about a year and a half.”

After George’s death, Pate said, he spoke with members of the Old Waverly club and members of the Bryan family about what would come next.

“(The Bryan family) just decided they didn’t want to have the stress of running it anymore,” Pate said. “So Boyce Adams (Sr.) mentioned to me, he said, ‘Well, maybe we ought to see if we can put a group together.’”

Pate said the Bryans still own Old Waverly Golf Club and the majority of the Mossy Oak course under the fold of the LLC deal. But the new group of partners will bring fresh ideas to the courses and take care of the club, he said.

“We finally said, ‘Listen, the best way to handle this is to infuse some new thinking, new ideas, and some new resources and take it to the next level,’” Pate said. “Golf is growing like crazy in America, and the quality of projects around the country that have been built in the last 20 years are just mind boggling, what the competition is like.”

Pate said the group has two goals with the purchase of Old Waverly Golf Club and Mossy Oak Golf Course: providing enough capital for the club to undergo improvements without taking on any debt and continuing George and Marcia Bryan’s legacy.

While Pate would not name a purchase price for the sale, he said the amount the group is planning to invest is “in the millions of dollars.”

One of the biggest focuses, he said, is to connect Old Waverly and Mossy Oak in a way that they’ve never been before.

“We’re going to bring the two of them together and have one facility with two golf courses that will allow people to play two different golf courses and still have the charm and the prestige of the Old Waverly Club,” Pate said. “It’s going to be the best of all worlds.”

The group will also be investing in improving the club’s 125 rental properties in the area, and it will continue to focus on bringing non-resident members and corporate members from around the Southeast to the course, he said.

Wilkes Bryan, George’s son, was still listed as the chief operating officer on the golf club’s website on Thursday. He did not respond to requests for comment by press time.