Update as you go

For The Patterson Club (Connecticut) director of grounds Jason Meersman, a budget is not simply a yearly or monthly task – but a weekly one.

“It’s something I like to keep open on my computer most of the year,” he says. “During the year, if I find something that I found works better, or I didn’t need, I’ll go in and react to the budget right then and there so it doesn’t get lost when I sit down and do it at the end of the year.”

One of those factors he frequently focuses on and reacts to is employee payroll. “I like finding part-timers to take a lot of the heavy lifting off our core crew,” Meersman says.

Using part-time employees has also allowed Meersman to avoid going over budget with overtime. “I can’t say enough about the part-time crew that we have,” he adds. “Building up a really large part-time crew has proven to be hands down the way to go nowadays – at least for us.”

Meersman’s crew uses OnLink, a software company that comes with the course’s John Deere equipment package. The program allows Meersman to set an estimated time it takes to do certain tasks, which then allows him to assign those tasks to the crew and calculates their pay automatically. Meersman always verifies and edits the timed tasks to be fully accurate.

“Payroll’s everything,” he says. “Everything we do takes hands. And without hands, we don’t stand much of a chance. There’s always different ways to do things but at the same time, the more hands you have, the better you’re going to look.”

The Patterson Club supports an 18-hole golf course, tennis and paddle courts, a pool, and large clubhouse. Meersman manages two other department budgets on top of the course’s operational finances. “It’s tough because the experience that people are expecting and the budget that you need to deliver … that’s tough to align those two,” he says.

Overages sometimes happen, especially in the current economic environment, and Meersman accounted for them this year with weather-adjusted maintenance practices.  “We got lucky with the cold spring, so I didn’t use as much topdressing sand,” he says. “We didn’t do any cart path repair and then we just kind of cut here and there, and, fortunately, a lot of people didn’t notice it.”

For any budget, balance is essential.

“The number one thing I’ve learned is just tracking it,” Meersman says. “You want to be able to track it weekly. If you’re too far under, people are going to be like, ‘Oh you don’t need it then.’ And if you’re too far over, you can really just kind of put yourself and your club in a tough spot, so it’s really important to keep track of everything year-round, keep it in mind.”

Cassidy Gladieux is a Kent State University senior and regular Golf Course Industry contributor.