Time well-spent

Michael Campbell puts a lot of time and energy into the budgeting process. As the director of golf course operations at Montclair (New Jersey) Golf Club, Campbell leads a team responsible for maintaining 36 holes.

But he makes sure not to neglect the administrative aspects of his job.

“I spend a lot of time writing a budget,” Campbell says. “I learned a long time ago turfgrass was fun. Learning how to budget, learning how to present a budget, is something I like to think I put a lot of time into to learn.

“To me, it doesn’t really matter how much I know about the grass. If I can’t sell the room with a budget, I’m not really going to be able to [execute] the program.”

Regularly, Campbell submits budgets that cover everything from a general agronomic plan to topdressing, to staffing, to lab reports. On some occasions, his budget encompasses as many as 60 pages.

Campbell stresses the importance of that level of detail.

“I’ve seen guys fail just for [submitting] an 8 ½ by 11 sheet of Excel numbers,” he says. “They add three-and-a-half percent to this year’s actuals. So, I do spend a lot of time, not just making sure my numbers are accurate, but we also keep copious amounts of notes on all kinds of things.”

Once his budget document is complete, Campbell moves into the meeting room and takes on the role of educator.

“I have to sell [the budget] to the finance committee,” he points out. “I have to work and make sure the general manager understands what I’m doing with it and obviously, it has to get approved by the board of trustees.”

A third-generation superintendent, Campbell served as general manager at Rock Spring Country Club for 12 years before Rock Spring and Montclair merged seven years ago. At that point he became the director of operations for all 54 holes. He then spent some two years as the general manager at Montclair before literally returning to his roots as the superintendent.

Campbell takes pride in the fact that the members and committees he answers to respect his judgment and expertise but admits to self-imposed pressure.

“There’s a lot of pressure that comes with that,” he says, “because with the product that’s out on the golf course I have to be out in front of everything. They don’t hand you respect. I think that trust is a very, very important thing.

“It means a lot to me that these guys and ladies that are very successful in business and in the world, that they’ve earned more money and held more positions than I will ever have, the fact that they trust me with their biggest asset, generates pressure on me. It’s something that I don’t take lightly.”

Campbell stresses the importance of educating his members about what he needs and why he needs it.

“I think it starts with a clear mission,” he says. “What exactly is the mission with the golf course? What are we trying to achieve? Having a mission, understanding what exactly the membership expects out of the golf course, and then being able to look back and say, ‘This where we fell short.’”.

Campbell’s mindset is to give members more than what they expect.

“My job is to outperform the budget,” he says. “So, if they give me X amount of money, the product that I give them, I think I have a responsibility to give them XY. Not just X.”

Rick Woelfel is a Philadelphia-based writer and senior Golf Course Industry contributor.