Rick,
I don't think it's a matter of any one individual being wealthier than the club, rather, it's a passionate committment on the part of those members to do something positive for the club, when frequently, the club is bogged down in the politics associated with the issue.
I think it's called being a visionary or a leader or both.
In the situation I'm familiar with, the issue was bogged down at the Board and Membership level and a dynamic member, with vision, knew that his actions would benefit the club in the future, even if the club couldn't see the benefit at the moment.
Without his actions, the club would have the tiniest of ranges today, accomodating six people at the most.
Now, there are three large practice tees at different ends of the range, able to accomodate dozens of golfers at the same time.