Why wait to build a 2024 budget?

Is there anything that brings out the inner procrastinator in all of us more than the annual budgeting process? Maybe starting that diet we’ve been putting off forever or cleaning the garage might rival diving into the next year’s budgeting cycle. But deciding how, when and where we’re going to spend the precious budget dollars we’re allotted surely ranks among the least favorite parts of our jobs.

Of course, we’re in good company when it comes to procrastination. Leonardo da Vinci, Frank Lloyd Wright and the Dalai Lama were famous procrastinators. But who was going to tell those guys to get a move on?

But wait a minute, you’re saying about now, didn’t I just finish budgeting for 2023? Probably so — and that’s the point: Budgeting is a process, a journey, if you will, and just as we’re reaching our annual destination, it’s time to get back on the path.

While many superintendents and club management professionals begin thinking seriously about budgeting around Labor Day, now is the time to put the pieces in place to win the budgeting game. It starts with a game plan that includes three preparatory steps:

1. Map the process to identify three key gateways

Gatekeeper

Who is the primary source of approval? Is it the CFO, controller, accounting manager? Know whose opinion and approval enables you to advance your budget through the approval process — and who can throw up roadblocks.

Planning team

Budget planning is bigger than one individual, although it is the superintendent who carries the burden. Build your team to anticipate equipment needs and evolving irrigation system requirements. This means including your mechanic and irrigation technicians as key contributors.

One who approves

Your golf course owner, club manager and board will need an unprecedented volume of information, which you should describe succinctly and persuasively.

2. Identify the primary cost categories

Before starting to crunch numbers, place each anticipated cost in its appropriate bucket. Three points of focus:

Maintenance standards and scope of operations

Your agronomic plan is the starting point and basis of the budget assumptions for mission-critical considerations. This step starts with extensive preparation on your part and requires in-depth discussion with ownership and management.

Capital needs

Identify and begin to quantify the need for capital maintenance on existing assets and capital improvements. What existing equipment needs replacing? Which innovative technologies should be incorporated?

Manpower and staffing

Labor has been one of the more volatile expense categories over recent years. Proper budgeting requires forward thinking and holistic planning to explain your intentions and labor needs to the Gatekeeper.

3. Describe your aspirations

Telling the Gatekeeper what you wish to accomplish is essential to your success. Major ambitions you should describe include:

Golf course “fit and finish”

Provide photographs of what you are planning — images help those unfamiliar with agronomic practices envision your proposals. Show how you want your course to look and be enjoyed with the resources you are allocated.

Human resources

Show your staffing plan beyond an organizational chart. Tell what skills you wish to add and retain. Explain why your course needs these capabilities. Recognize that an increased and maintained workforce is the key for everyone to be recognized as successful and for the course to look and play to its potential.

Special projects

Most superintendents envision new ideas and projects that add enjoyment and engagement for golfers and distinguish their course. A special project can be a relatively small but long-awaited enhancement or it can be a shoot-the-moon venture. Neither will happen if they are not included, documented and defended in the budget.

Budgeting is a sequential process that requires advance planning, rigorous due diligence and robust conversations among key stakeholders. Superintendents must plan and lead the process. Other stakeholders may not know what your vision entails or its benefits. It’s your job to bring that vision to life through the budgeting process. Today would be a great time to get started.