Golf’s big, Bigger and BIGGEST assets

Let’s talk about assets, shall we? No, not the J-Lo or Kardashian type. I mean the club’s assets. ¶ What is the largest asset at your place of employment? ¶ I’m certain that all of us turf janitors in golf course management land would agree the club’s/course’s largest asset is the golf course itself. That’s the drawing card, meeting place, mission statement, largest expense, yet largest revenue maker. Important for property values/taxes, acreage, etc.

I’m preaching to the choir here. We live and die by all that happens on/to/for the club/course. So do many of our members or golfers. It’s their focal point for recreation and relaxation. Championships are won and lost, hole-in-ones, chip-ins and too many memories to count.

I hope you read the October 2014 issue of Golfdom with Seth Jones’ interview with Gil Hanse. Hanse happens to be one of the hottest names in golf course architecture these days. Good interview, but what caught my attention (and yes, it was in boldface) was Hanse’s comments on course conditioning: “At the end of the day only about 5 to 10 percent of the golfers really appreciate the design. But 99 percent of golfers appreciate good turf conditions.”

’Nuff said, right turf-heads?

Of course the club/course is our livelihood. It’s how we support our families. Most of us spend a majority of our waking hours there. The same goes for our assistants and support staff. Their dedication and efforts are part of the success stories of any club/course, superintendent and membership. No one can deny that the course makes a club.

Another contender for the largest asset of a course is the clubhouse and its multiple departments. Have you inquired about the value of that building lately? Some clubs — not all — have bigger food and beverage operations than golf course maintenance. You know members have to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Want to talk about memories? Clubhouses host parties, weddings, fundraisers and post-golf events. Bet you can’t have a member/guest without a clubhouse.

Face it — to some members the clubhouse operation is far more important than the golf course. That’s OK, to each his own, and besdies, every department should have the sense of pride of ownership that many superintendents have.

I believe an argument (albeit a smaller one) can be made that the golf shop/golf operations is the largest asset of a club or course. Organized golf as we know it could not happen without a capable staff running tee times, organizing and scoring events, managing cash flow and maintaining golf car fleets and caddies. Some club’s/course’s merchandising is a monumental undertaking all by itself.

Think about growing the game — are you going to do that? Can accounting drop what they’re working on to help Mrs. Lexicon with her chipping?

Can you imagine your club/course without a golf operations department? I’d bet that all hell would break out every day. Sure, it would be fun to watch for a couple of days. But then it would get old and you’d get the call to fix it. Eventually no one would play your course; they’d drop their membership and go elsewhere.

So what is the largest asset at your place of employment?

I maintain that the largest asset at any club is the membership or the golfers. Sure, it takes qualified people in several key departments to run a successful club or course. But all this means nothing without members or golfers.

What’s a private club without members? Closed. What’s a daily fee, semi-private, resort or public golf course without golfers? Closed.

We like to brag about our members here, because without them we are nothing. Here at Boca West we’re not in maintenance, food and beverage or even the pro shop.

We’re all in the member-pleasing business.