The Golf Course Business Plan

How do you decide on what an appropriate operating budget should be for a golf course? The following are  the steps that I utilize in preparing the annual operating budget at NCC.   Some of the
    spread sheets may be difficult to read because they will nto fit oon the page but it should give you an
    idea of the detail we use.  You can double click the image to enlarge it.

1. We started by establishing a Mission Statement for the facility ( approved by the Green Committee.)

Northmoor Country Club Golf Course Operations Mission Statement stipulates that The Northmoor
Country Club golf course will be maintained in a condition consistent with the top courses in the district.

2. My Assistants and I have teamed to identified & submitted a set of Golf Course Maintenance Standards that were essential to delivering the quality and conditioning for the golf course that the Green Committee approved.  Standards were set for quality of greens, tees, fairways, bunkers, landscaping, etc.  These standards included every agronomic practice and measure required to deliver and maintain turfgrass playing conditions at the highest possible level within reasonable financial means.  Included were costs of fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation water, topdressing materials, aerificaiton schedules, labor costs, etc. 

3.  Once the Standards were identified, we documented the exact amount of time it took to accomplish each agromonic and cultural task and assigned a cost to the task based on frequency and staffing.  For example, to deliver the tquality of putting surfaces we want, we know we need to mow the greens a minimum of 6 times per week.  It takes 6 opertors 3 hours each to complete the task.  That is a total of 108 man hours a week just to mow the greens.  We then listed all other costs with maintaining the greens throughout the year.    Please note the daily, weekly and seasonal tasks listed below entailed in preparing & maintaining the course.

These are the labor related costs of the annual operating budget.

As you can see from the spreadsheets above, a tremendous amount of detailed work is performed by the men you see working out on the golf course. The quality of our playing conditions do not happen by accident. The staff, although not known by many, is the key to our golf course. Our budgeting is quite precise. Over the past 8 years, it is common for us to come within several hundred to several thousand dollars within budget, never over.

4.  An anticipated schedule is prepared on a spread sheet that shows how many times each task will be performed during the season for things like fertilizations, topdressings, fungicide applications, etc.  The tasks below assist in identifying the material costs of the operating budget.

 The photos below exhibits the end product of the planning, budgeting and maintaining processes involved in managing the NCC Golf Course Operations Department.   The conditions are a result of a detailed and finely managed zero based budget and business plan.