Budgeting for many moving parts

To say Jon Lobenstine has a lot on his plate would be an understatement. As the director of agronomy for Montgomery County (Maryland) Golf, adjacent to Washington, D.C., Lobenstine has nine public golf facilities and 171 golf holes under his umbrella.

Budgetary issues encompass an abundance of moving parts. Montgomery County Golf is a self-supporting agency that is tied to the Montgomery County Revue Authority; in practice, it is the main component of the Montgomery County Revenue Authority and 98 percent of Montgomery County Golf’s revenue is derived from the golf courses themselves, six of which feature 18 holes, two more 27 holes each, plus one nine-holer.

Each course has a head superintendent, assistant and equipment manager on duty year-round, plus a seasonal crew of six to eight at the 18-hole sites, around a dozen at the 27-hole courses and three at the nine-hole venue.

Each course has its own budget.

“Each year a budget template is sent out to the superintendents,” Lobenstine says. “They’re generally given a target number or a rough percentage increase, and we try to just shoot for that number.”

Because the revenue stream is largely dependent on rounds hosted, each superintendent in the system learns to adapt to changing circumstances.

“We budget very tightly, so you expect that we’re going to have some good months and we’re going to be able to get some things that aren’t in the budget,” Lobenstine says. “[The budgets] are tight, but they’re manageable. If you get a wet year, you just try to make things work as best you can. You see a lot of creative problem solving and stuff from the guys when things do get tight.”
One advantage Lobenstine has is being able to buy products in bulk.

“Things like group buying with chemicals and fertilizer, we get pretty good savings there, buying for nine courses at once instead of a single course,” he says. “Then also, even though we’re not funded by the county, we’re a government entity, so we get to take advantage of some significant discounts on, for example, buying equipment. We get some substantial discounts there.”

Lobenstine’s crews dip into the same pool of equipment and labor when the need arises.

“The great thing about us with nine courses in one county is being able to share resources and even staff sometimes on small projects like aeration season and winter projects,” Lobenstine says. “We also have a lot of shared equipment. It may not be justifiable for a single golf course to have a woodchipper and stuff like that, but we get one and share it amongst the courses, whereas a typical golf course might just rent one every once in a while.”

The post-COVID golf surge has resulted in an influx of revenue into the system. The nine courses are hosting between 425,000 to 450,000 rounds per year, up from around 400,000 pre-COVID. Revenue per round has increased approximately $15.

Lobenstine notes that the additional revenue is being utilized for maintenance projects that had been deferred, in some cases for up to 15 years. “We’ve been catching up on a lot of capital projects, and a lot of things like revamping our safety program and getting consultants in going through the shops,” he says.

Perhaps most importantly a portion of the additional revenue has been earmarked for Lobenstine’s crews.

“Another great thing is just being able to pay our staff more,” he says. “Obviously, demands for labor increase. We’re seeing our grounds crews’ and seasonal staffs’ pay increase 30 to 35 percent in the last five years.”