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Golf course maintenance money matters

By |  January 25, 2016 0 Comments
Cark Throssell

Cark Throssell

How much are the greens fees or membership dues at your golf course? What portion of the greens fee or membership dues is attributable to the cost of maintaining the golf course? My guess is that almost everyone in the business knows the correct answer to the first question, but few people know the correct answer — or have even a ballpark answer — to the second.

The high cost of playing golf has often been cited in the last few years as one of the primary reasons the game is not attracting more new golfers, why some current golfers leave the game and why rounds played are shrinking. In response, reducing golf course maintenance costs has been targeted as a way to make golf more affordable. To make that happen, superintendents have reduced spending on golf course maintenance.

University and industry scientists are conducting research that will help superintendents provide quality playing surfaces while reducing or holding the line on maintenance costs. These are important efforts that the maintenance side of the golf industry must continue to pursue.

But what about the other expenses that a typical golf course funds through greens fees or membership dues? Let’s assume the greens fee or guest fee at a hypothetical golf course is $50 for 18 holes. How much of that $50 fee is directly attributable to golf course maintenance costs? I don’t know the answer to that question — I don’t even have a good guess — but before we jump to the conclusion that golf course maintenance expenses are driving up the cost of playing golf, we should conduct a detailed accounting of what it costs to keep the entire facility operating.

How much of the $50 greens fee goes to operate the pro shop and pay the pro shop staff? How much goes to administration costs, the general manger and the staff necessary to keep the club functioning? How much goes to debt service? How much winds up as profit? How much goes to the operation of the clubhouse and other recreational amenities? Does the greens fee help subsidize the food and beverage operations?

Let’s be perfectly clear: All the expenses I mentioned above are needed for a prosperous golf facility. But before we make the jump and assume that the high cost of golf course maintenance is the sole reason for the high cost of playing golf, we must scrutinize all costs at the golf facility.

In the discussion of the high cost of playing golf and the associated maintenance costs, we’ve lost sight of the fact that the golf course is the driver of the vast majority of revenue at all golf facilities. Rounds played, the greens fee or guest fee charged, initiation fees, membership dues, golf car revenue and food and beverage revenue are all driven by the quality of the golf course. There is nothing like closing the golf course for renovation to quickly show what happens to all revenue streams.

I do not advocate for wall-to-wall manicured turf conditions on every golf course. I believe in the philosophy of spending your maintenance dollars “down the middle,” and in spending every maintenance dollar like it was your own. The maintenance side of the golf industry should do everything in its power to make golf affordable, but golf course maintenance should not be singled out as the sole reason for the high cost of golf.

Let’s not paint ourselves into a corner and assume that the high cost of golf is all attributable to golf course maintenance costs.

This is posted in Columns, Maintenance

About the Author: Clark Throssell, Ph.D.

Clark Throssell, Ph.D., is the former director of the Purdue University turf program as well as the former director of research for GCSAA. Throssell is the research editor for Golfdom, focusing on managing the Super Science section of the magazine and website. He also contributes his "Clark Talks Turf" column to Golfdom every month.


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