Maintenance budgets for ranked courses

[Pat Brockwell]

At Black Mesa we've kept the maintenance costs right at 500k. I could find useful things to buy and do with more, of course, but our mantra has been do alot with alittle and appreciate good workers and their work.  The easiest way to waste money is to have employees who don't have a good reason to give a good effort.  I can play a course and know whether or not the crew likes their boss/employer.  Bump my budget and the first item to adjust would be payroll, then a new piece or equipment or two.  It's about people and tools.

[Pat Brockwell]

Pat:

I think all superintendents should be dressed like Carl Spackler (Bill Murray's character in Caddie Shack).

"Hey Whitey, where'd ya get the hat...no, it looks good on you."

[Mike_Young]

Steve,
I really like your last post...sorta sums it up the way I see it....
I have always said the heros of your business are the guys doing it for those $250000 budgets without the assts etc and really liking every minute of it.  

[Mike H]

With inflation the last 18-19 years since this post, what are maintenance budgets looking like now on top courses?  There wasn't many definitive answers given in this post and a lot of conversation about what goes into a budget.  I would specifically be interested in the upper end of budgets and what clubs spend going into majors.

[archie_struthers]

 


no....LOL  just looked at the date. Great memory Mike ,nothing much more fun than watching Mucci and TEP slug it out back then   thanks for the memory

[archie_struthers]

 




I would think that most of the top tier Top 100 world list would have budgets in excess of $1,500,000 Million US.
Perhaps some of the Irish / Scottish tops might be a bit less. Think any of the top 50 are under $1m US ?

[Matt Wharton]

I would say it is safe to assume the $1M budget you discussed in 2005 is now $2M and the $700K budget is closer to $1.5M. It started with rising costs due to "supply chain issues"  and has continued with inflation. Over the past two years I've personally seen large increases in labor as wages have increased, but unfortunately golf course maintenance employees are still paid less on average than workers in landscaping, construction, roofing, drywall, and other lines of work competing for the same labor pool.

[Tom_Doak]

I would think that most of the top tier Top 100 world list would have budgets in excess of $1,500,000 Million US.
Perhaps some of the Irish / Scottish tops might be a bit less. Think any of the top 50 are under $1m US ?

Interestingly, I just got the year-end figures from St. Patrick's, which is now ranked #49 in the world, and I can confirm that at least ONE of the top 50 is maintained for less than $1 million.  Quite a bit less, actually.  Frank Casey Sr. would go nuts if we spent that much on maintenance, but we aren't interested in going there, anyway.

[Ian Mackenzie]

Not sure where it falls on the various lists out there today, but I heard that Lawsonia's budget (for the Links course) is around $500K.


(This was in 2021...just to clarify...so prob closer to $700K today.)

[Daryl David]

I think we would be shocked if we knew how many of the courses in the second 100 have maintenance budgets that are or exceed $1.5 million.

[Tom_Doak]

Came back here to note reading something this morning:


The maintenance budget of Pasatiempo in 1932 was $12,000 per year.

[Mike_Trenham]

Came back here to note reading something this morning:


The maintenance budget of Pasatiempo in 1932 was $12,000 per year.

Cost of Living adjusted that is $256.3k in 2023.

[Tom_Doak]

Came back here to note reading something this morning:


The maintenance budget of Pasatiempo in 1932 was $12,000 per year.

Cost of Living adjusted that is $256.3k in 2023.

Or, 15-20% of what clubs spend now, after inflation.

[Charlie Goerges]

Came back here to note reading something this morning:


The maintenance budget of Pasatiempo in 1932 was $12,000 per year.

Cost of Living adjusted that is $256.3k in 2023.

Or, 15-20% of what clubs spend now, after inflation.

To be fair, if players would accept 1932 conditions, they might well be able to get close that number.

[Thomas Dai]

Expectations, essentials, frills and the 80-20 rule?
Atb

[Grant Saunders]

Our club just ordered a new fairway mower essentially identical to one purchased 3 years ago


The price has increased by 75% of the previous one


Inflation does not even come close to explaining the costs being incurred at the moment

[Sean_A]

Our club just ordered a new fairway mower essentially identical to one purchased 3 years ago


The price has increased by 75% of the previous one


Inflation does not even come close to explaining the costs being incurred at the moment

Generally agree. No different to the jacked up price of sweets being blamed on higher sugar cost. Or mega hikes in maintenance work being blamed on oil prices.

It’s all a scam. Yes, I am cynical. 😎

Ciao

[Anthony_Nysse]

I think we would be shocked if we knew how many of the courses in the second 100 have maintenance budgets that are or exceed $1.5 million.

Similar to the rounds of golf thread, location plays a MAJOR role in budget numbers. AZ, CA, PA, CT, NY, FL, TX would have much higher budgets than other areas of the country.

[Peter Ferlicca]

As Anthony mentioned, if you are open year round and need to staff the full year the numbers are much higher.  I work as a golf course superintendent at a mid level golf course in the Phoenix Valley and my budget is $1.4 million.  Obviously, that does not include water, just payroll and expenses.  If you are a high end private club that is year round your budget will be at least 2.5 million, with quite a few over 3 million.  With inflation going out of control lately, increasing your budget 5% every year isn't enough.  Payroll has skyrocketed with the average hourly employee being around $20 compared to $15 just 3-4 years ago.  Fertilizer got extremely expensive at the beginning of the Ukraine war as a lot of it comes from that region, but it has leveled out a bit lately. 


Working at a club that closes for 3-4 months a year will help the budget number immensely. 


I am all for the movement in the desert to eventually stop overseeding and embrace the paints, or new turf types that don't go off color as much.  The amount of money that is spent on seed, fertilizer, repair and maintenance, chemicals to eradicate the ryegrass, water to grow it in, etc, etc. is a huge chunk of that budget every year.  As long as people stop expecting every course out here to look like TPC scottsdale when they come to visit this movement will take hold.  Having that extra 25 days of being open, compared to closed for overseed might tilt the scale for obsessed golf crazy communities. 

[Adam Lawrence]

As Anthony mentioned, if you are open year round and need to staff the full year the numbers are much higher.  I work as a golf course superintendent at a mid level golf course in the Phoenix Valley and my budget is $1.4 million.  Obviously, that does not include water, just payroll and expenses.  If you are a high end private club that is year round your budget will be at least 2.5 million, with quite a few over 3 million.  With inflation going out of control lately, increasing your budget 5% every year isn't enough.  Payroll has skyrocketed with the average hourly employee being around $20 compared to $15 just 3-4 years ago.  Fertilizer got extremely expensive at the beginning of the Ukraine war as a lot of it comes from that region, but it has leveled out a bit lately. 


Working at a club that closes for 3-4 months a year will help the budget number immensely. 


I am all for the movement in the desert to eventually stop overseeding and embrace the paints, or new turf types that don't go off color as much.  The amount of money that is spent on seed, fertilizer, repair and maintenance, chemicals to eradicate the ryegrass, water to grow it in, etc, etc. is a huge chunk of that budget every year.  As long as people stop expecting every course out here to look like TPC scottsdale when they come to visit this movement will take hold.  Having that extra 25 days of being open, compared to closed for overseed might tilt the scale for obsessed golf crazy communities.

Peter -- how dormant do you get in the winter, and how much play do you have while the warm season grass is dormant? I have always thought that overseeding was the poster child for unsustainable golf, but equally it has always struck me that putting thousands of rounds across a golf course that isn't growing can't be good for condition.

[Dave Doxey]

Without specifics on what expendatures are included in a "maintenance budget", comparison is not meaqningful.

[JohnVDB]

Back in the mid-oughts I did an annual survey of the member clubs of the Western PAnGolf Association. We asked about budgets and the like.  We left Oakmont out of the final report on maintenance budget because it would have skewed the averages and everyone would have known how much they were spending.  The number was well over $1M back then.

[Tom_Doak]

Back in the mid-oughts I did an annual survey of the member clubs of the Western PAnGolf Association. We asked about budgets and the like.  We left Oakmont out of the final report on maintenance budget because it would have skewed the averages and everyone would have known how much they were spending.  The number was well over $1M back then.

I remember that it was reported in the golf press in 1982 or 83 that Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando was the first course in the USA to have a $1 million maintenance budget.  Of course, it's highly likely that places like Augusta National were ahead of the curve, but they don't send out press releases to tell you about it.

[Tom_Doak]

Without specifics on what expendatures are included in a "maintenance budget", comparison is not meaqningful.

True, but also not true.


Obviously courses in the western USA which have to spend $1m+ on water will have way higher maintenance budgets than courses in Britain & Ireland where grass grows naturally.  So the numbers do not give a good indication of how the greenkeeper is doing with the $ he's given.


Even so, the numbers give a pretty accurate indication of how sustainable golf is in those respective places.

[Wayne_Kozun]

I think we would be shocked if we knew how many of the courses in the second 100 have maintenance budgets that are or exceed $1.5 million.

Similar to the rounds of golf thread, location plays a MAJOR role in budget numbers. AZ, CA, PA, CT, NY, FL, TX would have much higher budgets than other areas of the country.

Anthony - what is unique about those states, and why are PA, NY and CT mentioned but not other nearby states like NJ or MA?  Is it labor costs?