Tom Doak,
I don't disagree with you necessarily, but I can tell you that when you get to the high budget club level you better be on top of your game or you won't last too long. Honestly, I don't think a phoney can last long in this business when you reach the highest level.
Some of the biggest expenses of these high budgets are not even golf related. At my new job for instance, there were a lot elm trees that died in the 60's and 70's which were replaced by willows and soft maples. I'll spend more money this year cleaning up fallen sticks and forestry than I will on topdressing and grooming greens. But you could compare my huge budget to a club that doesn't have so many soft wood trees and you might think that that guy is a better manager than me. Also some of these big budget clubs have long standing veteren employees on the payroll. What do you do, fire all of those people to lower the budget?
This isn't as simple as people make it out to be.