maintenance budgets

[Sean_A]

Reading the thread about who benefits from growth has me shocked.  Somebody posted that million dollar maintenance budgets are common.  No wonder people are leaving the game.  Jeepers, with budgets like this of course golf is too expensive.  

Where I live, most clubs are struggling to keep membership full and the subs per year rarely go over £800 in these parts.  In fact, our entire club expenditure this year was £440, 000 with subs at £626 for full male membership.  The maintenance budget was £107,000-that is all in folks.  Wages, machinery maintenance, water, etc.  Granted, the course is no architectural marvel, but it does play fast in the summer, it is open all year and there are several good holes.  Nothing to write home about, but it gets the job done.  Furthermore, there are loads of better courses that have similar mantenance budgets as ours.  It is possible to have a very good course without dropping loads on maintenance.

What are you guys doing over there?  How can people possibly justify spending that kind of money for a golf course?  There is alot of talk about natural golf.  I am starting think that many people don't have clue as to what nature is if it costs in the neighborhood of a million dollars just to play on.  

Surely the single biggest reason golf costs so much is the punters will pay.  It would be interesting to know what percentage of players who pay something like $85 per round on average.  I bet there is a significant percentage of these $85 guys who pay that at their own club (once they break down all the numbers)!  

It is all beyond me.  

Ciao

Sean

 

[Troy Alderson]

Sean,

As an American with a Scottish heart, I agree with you whole heartedly.  America has turned golf into a capitalist venture and it's all about the money.  America has gotten to the point of wanting perfection at every golf course and those willing to pay have the expendible cash.

Part of the problem is American golfer expectations and the way golf is marketed here.  The mid-level country club down the road wants high end turf and not willing to pay for it.  So the superintendent puts more water, more fertilizer, and labor into the golf course to satisfy the members and keep his/her job.  The budget then goes up to keep the members satisfied with the conditions they want, not the conditions that are healthy for the turf.  Scott Anderson at Huntingdon Valley CC in Pennsylvania is a great example of a membership that wants firm dry playing conditions and he puts very little into the golf course aside from labor.

The golfing public must change their viewpoint of great golf in order for the changes to occur at the golf courses.  When golfers are complaining about why the golf course is not green, it forces the superintendent to overwater.  This is why groups like this must go public and educate golfers of what course conditions should be.  There are too many unknowing managers in positions that dictate the conditions of the golf course because they are not listening to the superintendent.

For the golf courses that can afford green and firm and fast and dry, great.  More power to them.  But that is why golf in America is suffering, it has become too expensive to play and the rounds take too long to complete.

Troy

[SB]

Sean, there's a thread somewhere where we had some UK folks also aghast at what we spend.  The $1M is generally in the more expensive markets or for the top clubs.  But it does give you an idea of how things are here.  Most are in the range of $500 - $700 thousand, maybe a little more for private clubs.  I would say it's pretty tough to maintain a course here in the US in good condition for less than around $450 thousand, not including water.  Part of that is that our grass grows faster and needs to be cut more often.  About half of that will be labor (in season crew will definitely be above 10-15, with the rest in equipment and repairs, and various chemicals.

[Jason Blasberg]

On LI, I know of a privately owned public course that is well regarded but by no means high end that budgets between 400-600k and I know of a high end private that budgets about 1.1M.

[Donnie Beck]

40-50% of most budgets in the northeast go to Labor. Most private clubs I know spend $400,000-$500,000 a year on labor. If we break this down even more at most clubs 50% of the labor budget goes to the Superintendent, Assistants and Mechanics leaving a mere $200-$250k to pay 12-16 seasonal laborers. In the northeast the majority of laborers work 32-36 weeks per year. If we take the average of $225k/14 laborers we get an annual salary of around $16,000. What kind of workers do you think you can get for that? How many people can raise a family on $16,000 per year??? Unfortunately I don't think we are going to see the cost of golf going down anytime soon. If it were up to me I would like to see more money going to the guys busting their butt’s day in and day out. A superintendent is only as good as the crew they have around them.

[James Bennett]

Our course budget (Adelaide, Australia) is about OZ$300,000 (US$220k) for labour for about 7 employees, plus about OZ$180k for materials, chemicals, repairs, electricity and course projects.  Plus the occasional equipment replacement.

We don't have access to the very cheap casual labour, paying about $18/hour for some summer casual work.  A greenkeeper on staff probably earns around OZ$35K, compared to a national average weekly income of OZ$50k.  These guys must know how to budget the domestic side of the family!

We are very lucky to have retained a strong membership (not as strong as perhpas 8 years ago, but still strong), to have free access to high quality water (although we have recently discovered that we don't need to use as much as we used to , and to have a good group of key people on staff. There are other nearby 'average' clubs (like us) that have less to spend.  And then there are the country clubs which manage with perhaps one or two on staff.  Some of these have a sound course architecture so a little maintenance goes a long way.

Its a matter of cutting your cloth, and focussing on maintenance that has a long shelf-life in terms of turf quality.  Undertake maintenance programs that give benefit for several weeks, not 24 hours.

James B

[SB]

Sean,

Private clubs do have some design features (a lot more and a lot bigger bunkers, for instance), the main culprit is simply higher standards, ergo, more labor.  The courses spending $1M don't have 12-15 people on staff, they've got 25.  Does it take 25 guys to cut and rake?  No.  They spend lots of time making things perfect.  Two intermediate cuts of rough.  Perfect rough, even in the rough.  Plus, lots of little projects add up.  Got a hot spot?  It gets an irrigation head.  Despite the "maintenance meld" we talk about here, most courses in the northeast are wall to wall green, green, green.  Acres upon acres of beautiful green turf.  If my lawn looked half as good...

As Donnie said, 250 thousand will go to the top 4 guys.  

[Donnie Beck]

Without going into detail I can say that I spend much less than a lot of other clubs. We have 17 guys on our crew including myself. There are times it would be nice to have more, but being on an island we have to house our entire crew and it is unlikely we will get more as the club itself houses close to 50 people in the summer months.

[Paul_Turner]

Number pf staff must be a factor.  A typical private British club will have about 5 men.

[JohnV]

Each year the WPGA does a survey of our member clubs in Western Pennsylvania.  One part of the study is devoted to Green Operations.

We split the results into 4 categories based on Initiation fees  and location which seems to be a pretty good way of dividing the clubs.

For 2004 we had:

A: Metro with initiation > $18K
B: Metro $6K - $10K
C: Metro <$6K
D: Clubs outside Pittsburgh and Erie metro areas

The Green operations budgets (Max, Average, Min) for each were:

A: 1.6M, 1.03M, 650K
B: 1.03M, 809K, 630K
C: 726K, 498K, 200K
D: 600K, 375K, 95K

Compared to 1999:
A: 1.25M, 860K, 509K
B: 827K, 643K, 550K
C: 670K, 487K, 262K
D: 720K, 388K, 135K

In '04, labor ranged from 25% to 69% of budget with the average being 54%.

Full time staff was between 2 & 16 (av: 7).  Part time 0 - 20 (Av: 7), Seasonal 0-20 (Av: 9)

[Duane Sharpe]

Fact:
Many courses in Canada run on a maintenance budget of over $1,000,000 when only open for 6 months!!!   Try and figure that one out...........
I don't believe you need to but they do because they CAN.
Fact:
Blackhawk runs on $450,000 and is a one of the top clubs in Western Canada!
Congrats Rod Whitman for bringing economical maintenance back!
Duane

[JohnV]

Sean,  one problem with looking at the numbers too closely is that we can't seem to get all the clubs to respond every year no matter how hard we try.  There are about 8-10 clubs in the A range, but typically only 5-7 of them respond.  Some clubs are very good and get back to us every year, while others don't.  In the D group there are quite a few clubs and it is the area we've seen the greatest growth since 1999 which much of that growth in smaller clubs.  I was  not totally surprised to see the numbers drop slightly there because of that.  I wouldn't read too much into the drop.

The Golf Association of Philadelphia does and even more exhaustive study of their clubs every year.   I have last years at work and can summarize it on Monday, but I don't think they do any comparison to previous years like ours does.   Perhaps some of the folks who live over there could publish some of their numbers.

Their survey goes into much more depth than ours does because they hire a firm to do it while we have our intern do it.

[SB]

John,

Fantastic information.  Do you have daily fee information by any chance?

[JohnV]

Not at this time.  The WPGA started as an organization for private clubs and only started accepting public courses about 15 years ago.  We intend to start a public course survey next year which will include the same set of questions on the greens side.

[Pat Jones]

Greetings from Snowy Cleveland...

At the risk of becoming the "stat boy" for GCA, I'll throw out some more budget numbers to put this discussion in context.  These are all 2003 numbers from U.S. courses in a survey done when I was at Golfdom plus some extrapolations from the 2005 circulation statements of Golf Course News and other industry pubs.  These figures do not include capital spending (remodeling, projects, etc.), just typical maintenance spending for goods and labor.

Average Maintenance Budget: $485,000
Labor as a percentage of Budget: 53%
Courses with Budgets Under $250,000: 40%
Courses with Budgets Over $750,000: 20%
Courses with Budgets Over $1,000,000: 9%

If you analyze a bit, you'll find that only about 3,400 courses have budgets over $750k and only 1,600 or so are over the $1 million mark.

The typical $1 million budget facilities are private clubs in the Northeast, multi-course facilities (27 holes or more) and high-end clubs/resorts/CCFADs in year-round golf areas.

There are many, many excellent facilities in shorter-season golf areas that have budgets of around $600,000 or even less.  A good superintendent with a good staff and a decent piece of land can work wonders with a relatively small budget.  I've never seen good statistics on international budgets so I can't speak to that.  Obviously, they're usually much lower but I think that's been changing quickly over the past 20 years as American-style maintenance has caught on in Europe, Asia and South America.

Hope that helps put things in context.

By the way, I'd encourage GCA users to check out Golf Course News.  I'm writing a column for GCN (along with Jeff Brauer and several other notable folks) and the magazine is excellent.  Most of the content is online at www.golfcoursenews.com.

I also work as a strategic marketing consultant with several industry companies and serve as the host of Superintendents' Video Magazine, which is a cool DVD production sent out three times a year.

Thus ends the update...back to shoveling my driveway.

PJ

[RJ_Daley]

Pat, it is great to have a fellow of your knowledge and experience as former editor in chief of "Golfdom" offer thoughts here on GCA.com.  You have done a fine job as an advocate and supporter of Superintendents.  Yet another industry lurker joining the discussion...

[RJ_Daley]

http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/content/news/stories/2005/12/01/mj1201golfWEB.html

Going along with Pat Jones's comments, one looks at an article in the link to GCNews and wonders about a $1.85 million budget and the cutbacks on maintenance.  At $37 a round, the budget seems rather inflated.  I don't know the exact statistics, but our Brown County muni doesn't even come close to that, and at $26-29 a round, returns money every year to the county, not needing any subsidy.  What sort of budget items or processes can be the huge disparity in northern climate muni.s?

[SB]

My hunch is that the $1.85M is for the entire operation, including pro shop staff, cart lease, etc.  That would seem fairly reasonable (maybe on the high side for a muni, although I haven't seen Weatherwax).  

Pat, 40% of courses below $250K surprises me, if it includes labor.  What do you think?  

I agree that you can get outstanding conditions for $600K with the right guy (and you're not on an island).

Donnie, out of curiousity, do your guys get room and board?  It seems like the basic necessities would be tough to get in your location.

[Pat Jones]

RJD: Thanks for the nice comments.  Good to not be lurking anymore.  I was actually publisher of Golfdom (Larry Aylward is still the most excellent editor in chief).  The only thing I take credit for is hiring Larry and a relatively unknown kid named Shackelford to write for us. Whatever happened to him, anyway?  
 
Started my own business a year ago and having a ball.
 
Sbusch: Those are national averages based on ALL U.S. facilities.  NGF basically defines "facility" as any piece of ground with nine flags or more stuck in the dirt.  Out of 16,000 facilities, there are about 3,000 nine-hole courses out there plus tons of municipals, executives and "cornfield" mom-and-pop courses that operate on a shoestring. Many have no paid superintendent and maybe even no full-time staff of any kind. Given that, 40% under $250k may make more sense for you.

I grew up in the midwest and there were still plenty of places where you threw your $6 into a coffee can on the first tee to play all day.  Some volunteer or retiree mowed down the clover once a week with a seven-gang pulled by an aging tractor.   A few still had the old sand/oil greens (which was fun).

Another interesting side note: You would think that all superintendents belong to GCSAA, but only about 60% of all U.S. courses have a GCSAA member on staff and it's only $300 a year to join the association.  Top objection to joining: Too expensive.  Go figure.

Back to the Winter Wonderland...

PJ
 

[Steve Curry]

Sean,

Only 25% of your club's budget went to course maintenance?  Where did the rest go?

Steve

[Patrick_Mucci]

Sean Arble,

I've sat on a number of green committees for forty years.
I've been a green chairman.

I can tell you that NO budget in a club is scrutinized as well and as many times as a green budget.

Green staffs can run at approximately 20 people.

One of the items Donnie Beck left off was employee benefits.

With health insurance costs running around $ 8,000 per single employee and $ 18,000 per family employeee, one only has to do a little math to see the impact health insurance costs have had on ALL club budgets.  If the average cost of health benefits ran at $ 13,000 per employee, that's a $ 260,000 hit to the green budget.

Throw in workers compensation, meals and other benefits and the labor component swells.

Throw in capital items, purchases and mandated structures for chemical handling, repairs and maintainance and you begin to get an appreciation of what's needed.

And comparing budgets in the UK to budgets in the U.S. is assinine.

Try running a club in tropical Florida, Texas and California, or a club in the desert with 5 employees.   After a week or two you won't have employees and a few weeks later you won't have a golf course.

Before anyone starts criticizing green budgets, let me know if you have or currently serve on a green committee and if you've poured over your clubs green budget with a fine tooth comb, this year, in previous years, and for next year.

If you haven't.

Then be quiet, listen to the professionals who respond and try learning the realities of the situation before shooting from the hip about what's spent and what it's spent on.

After that. feel free to shoot from the hip.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Reading the thread about who benefits from growth has me shocked.  

Somebody posted that million dollar maintenance budgets are common.
 
No wonder people are leaving the game.  

Jeepers, with budgets like this of course golf is too expensive.  
[size=X2]
What are you guys doing over there?  [/size]

How can people possibly justify spending that kind of money for a golf course?  

There is alot of talk about natural golf.  
[size=X2]
I am starting think that many people don't have clue as to what nature is if it costs in the neighborhood of a million dollars just to play on.[/size]  


Sean, the above are some of your comments.
Comments filled with conclusions and accusations absent the facts.

You simply can't transport green budgets from point A to point B and state that they should be equal and that nobody over here knows what they're doing.

You were the one condemning golf and golf course budgets in America without knowing ANY of the facts.

My response wasn't a rant.  Think of it more as a reprimand

Before leaping to conclusions, make an effort to obtain as many substantive facts as possible, then offer a reasonable premise or question.[/color]  

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