WHITNEY CROUSE Whitney Crouse is a founding partner of Bobby Jones Links and can be reached at (770) 294-3709 or whitney.crouse@bobbyjoneslinks.com
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Benefits of Engaging a Management Company More private clubs are engaging management companies. It’s a force multiplier. Here’s why. Within the last decade, more and more private clubs, many of them now upper-tier clubs, are hiring a professional management firm to assist them, enhance members’ experiences, and provide solutions to their problems. This is a seismic shift as for years a management company was considered anathema to a private club’s exclusivity and reputation. It was certainly inconsistent with a sentiment shared by many boards: “We know how to run a club, thank you.” As Robert Sereci, the general manager/chief operating officer of Medinah Country Club, recently wrote, “Like many of us, board members suffer from the curse of perceived knowledge. They typically have personal expertise only in their field. Unfortunately, it is often this expertise that prevents them from fully understanding the club business.” However, golf and country clubs are now becoming aware of this flawed thinking and discovering the many resources and solutions an experienced club management firm can bring to the table – and that running a club like a business is critical to its long-term success. As Bob Dedman, founder of ClubCorp, said years ago, “The club business is nobody’s business because it’s nobody’s business.” You would think the audience of BoardRoom magazine, with so many Distinguished Clubs, would be the wrong place to advocate engaging a management company. Before you dismiss this idea, consider the following benefits: 1. Significant experience A professional management company brings substantial experience to the table. Its clients include member-owned clubs, developers, private equity groups, and wealthy individuals, so the professional management company will have been exposed to every situation and type of club imaginable. This broad experience will bring new ideas and a host of best practices to the club. 2. Economies of scale The larger professional management companies receive the lowest pricing from industry vendors and much better than any club can do on its own. Whether it is maintenance equipment, golf carts, merchandise, food and beverage, IT services, supplies, health or property insurance, etc., the savings can amount to over $100,000 per year or more.
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BOARDROOM | MAY / JUNE 2022
3. Depth of expertise The larger management companies have principals and managers who are experts in every area of club and amenity management. This is a wealth of specialists – a whole team – who assist the board, the general manager, and the staff. 4. Proven management systems The best companies have developed proprietary management systems – a franchise, so to speak – that can be tailored to each specific property. These platforms include accounting, employee training, software platforms, human resources, sophisticated financial models and budgets, agronomic standards, technology, market analytics, inventory management, membership sales and retention, etc. 5. A business mentality Many member- and developer-owned private clubs overspend and operate inefficiently. What industry professionals have learned is to operate a club like a business and in most cases, profitably, without any diminution in the member or guest experience, service levels, or course conditions. Actually, they improve these. These club business skills can improve the bottom line and financial health of a club substantially. 6. Happier boards While the professional management group and the general manager are operating the property according to members’ wishes, the board can focus on the important high-level issues and long-term goals of the club. They can work “on” the club, not “in” it. It also frees them up to enjoy their club, which is why they joined in the first place. 7. Innovation and change Good companies are innovating, staying on top of recent trends, and making clubs relevant to younger generations. This can be everything from progressive membership structures, to greatly expanded lifestyles and activities, embracing new technologies, training and education, etc. Because most companies have experience on the for-profit side of the business, too, they have learned to think like entrepreneurs and owners as well. It’s important to note that boards never lose control of their clubs and that the management company can operate largely in the background, two concerns we often hear. An experienced management company supporting an excellent general manager/chief operating officer and the board can outperform a club working without one. It’s a force multiplier. A better bottom line and happier employees and members. Imagine that. B R
