With the arrival of 2025, it is with the realization that I am in the fourth quarter of my career and my life. Reflecting on my personal goals for this year, I am drawn to study what I have accomplished and the aspirations I have yet to achieve.
As I am prone to do over the holiday season, I read a lot.
This year my eyes crossed the pages of “Revenue of the Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell, “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity” by Peter Attia, “From Suffering to Peace – The True Promise of Mindfulness by Mark Coleman, “Insight Medication – The Practice of Freedom” by Joseph Goldstein and “Don’t Believe Everything You Think” by Joseph Nguyen.
I was also consumed by spending a day writing a journal titled “Dad, I Want to Hear Your Story,” which my daughter, an Associate Curator at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco, requested that I complete. One hundred pages answering questions about me: family life, teenage years, where I have lived, my parents, becoming a father, spirituality and religion, work & career, travel, political stuff, sports memories, favorite movies – music, television – books, advice, and notes to those I Iove.
This process of reading and writing lead me to a great appreciation for how fortunate I am to have been strong bonds within our family (wife, daughter, brother), the many wonderful people whose company I have enjoyed in the golf industry, the extensive travel to 64 countries having the opportunity to play golf in 42 – a game I travel relish, and the feeling of accomplishment have written seven books with the sole purpose of hopefully guiding golf course owners how to create value for golfers on a foundation that optimizes their financial return.
With a BBA in Accounting (TCU) and an MBA in Finance (University of Michigan), four years as a captain in the USAF Audit Agency during the Vietnam War, and five years as a CPA at Peat Marwick Mitchell (KPMG), I have been passionate about the golf industry since childhood as a caddie at the Philmont CC in Huntingdon Valley, PA, as a J. W. Platt Caddie Scholar and as an occupation since 1989.
During my first sixteen years as a software developer, my firm (Fairway Systems) served over 500 golf courses – mainly the largest municipal golf courses in the United States, i.e., Bethpage, Harding Park, Torrey Pines, etc. The past twenty years as an ‘envisioning strategist and reality mentor’ was hoping to provide, based on my financial background and a solid understanding of the economics of golf courses, insights and perspectives that would have a positive impact on the profitability of their golf course and their lives.
This introspection over the past month has led me to a specific working hypothesis that will shape my vision personally and in the engagements I pursue over the next several years:
- Individuals are like logs in the ocean. The current may bring us together for a short time, but the currents of life will most likely drift us apart.
- Life is merely a journey through which we experience the polarities of pleasure vs. pain, gain vs. loss, success vs. failure, and praise vs. blame.
- We underestimate that though the world appears static, incremental change constantly occurs moment by moment, and we are only truly impacted by exponential changes.
- Companies and political institutions, while subject to the perils of capitalism and changing societal values, control the narrative of our lives. We are merely stand-ins in the main play of life.
- People, at their core, do not want to change. The vast majority are comfortable with the status quo. Though they ask for help, many will reject and resent an individual who wants to provide them with the requested advice and guidance, suspicious of their motives.
Truly, I have cared more about clients’ financial success than they do, especially municipal workers, where many have become culturally institutionalized with the status quo. I have long resigned to working with management, staff, and Golf Advisory Boards, authoring their consensus of mission and vision statements, policies and procedures, and rate schedules to be established only to see our collective thoughts watered down or deferred. My wife asks, “Why should you care as long as their check clears?” But I do.
Why does that happen? Beyond the oftentimes false outcries from a golf course’s customer base that they will play another course if the rates are raised, the embedded culture of the industry, promulgated by the Golf Industry’s Associations, creates an ethos that is used to establish their authority, trustworthiness, and moral character, making the audience more likely to be persuaded by their argument with deference to their position.
The Associations have an overwhelming influence on the industry fulfill their self-designated roles as detailed below with feigned and little regard for the golf course owner that they were commissioned to serve:
Association | Principal Role |
Club Managers Association | Education facilitating employment via certification |
Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) | Education facilitating employment via certification |
National Golf Course Owners Association | Education, legislative issues impacting owners |
National Golf Foundation (NGF) | Industry Statistics |
National Parks and Recreation (NRPA) | No interest in golf and does nothing to advance initiatives regarding golf. |
Professional Golfers Association (PGA) | Education facilitates employment via certification and conducts one tournament annually and another tournament biennially. Introduces programs to increase play, none of which “stick.” |
United States Golf Association (USGA) | Championships, Equipment, Rules, Turf |
If one had the choice of owning a golf course or being the Executive Director (ED) of a Golf Association, the choice is clear: choose to be employed by a Golf Association.
An Association’s revenues are generated by those it was designed to serve: golf course owners, employees at golf courses, and corporate benefactors, ironically. EDs’ salaries are far above the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of the average golf course. In contrast, the golf course owner is personally liable for debt associated with the facility, and their revenues are dependent upon many variable factors consumed by operational expenses and daunting capital investment requirements. Eds make far more than their clients with no risk or capital exposure.
One ponders the value created by this Association. The NGF industry statistics are awesome. The biennial report on salaries and benefits published by the NGCOA is unrivaled.
However, the culture promulgated by the self-righteousness of Associations acting as labor unions prevents individual contributors who provide state-of-the-art, cutting-edge insights and perspectives from making a meaningful difference within the industry. Associations’ educational curriculums and programs are narrow in scope, precluding a full understanding of the nuances of the golf business, leading one to wonder if value is created for golf course owners.
Here are several examples of the walls created by Associations:
The PGA of America has summarily rejected all of the books written by independent authors. According to the head of one PGA Golf Management University Program, the education provided by the PGA is plebian for the licensing fees charged universities. PGM graduates don’t fully comprehend the strategic aspects of “business of golf” having gained knowledge of merely operations.
The concept of the PGA Golf Management University Program is flawed. How can you justify paying $50,000 for a four-year college degree when the starting salary is likely $30,000 working in the golf shop? Any student who would succumb to that financial equation would not likely have the financial savvy to serve the financial interests of a golf course owner well.
The ineffectiveness of the PGA of America serving a golf course owner is further illustrated by the PGA’s inability to motivate its members to engage in a meaningful benchmarking program. Unlike the hospital industry, which relies on the STAR Reports to measure the financial performance of its hotels, the PGA of America has launched numerous initiatives over the past decade, all of which have failed.
The PGA of American and the NGCOA created an alliance advising as to the pitfalls of barter. Their efforts had no impact.
To increase its revenue base, the NGCOA is contacting municipal golf courses to join. They have invited the Director of Golf from several municipalities to spearhead this initiative at the 2025 NGCOA Golf Business Conference. What knowledge can these municipal golf course employees contribute to the 4,400 daily fee owners and large management companies that operate different business models? Having reviewed the operations of several of the speakers, their financial performance is far below the potential those facilities offer.
Neither Richard Singer, Senior Director of Consulting Services at the National Golf Foundation, nor I, the two most knowledgeable individuals regarding the variance between the municipal golf course vs. the daily fee model, were asked to speak even though members of the NGCOA.
Regarding the GCSAA Annual Conference, I received a note from one of their employees in the education department stating: “The GCSAA has no interest in the business of golf.” One would think that if superintendents understood the “business of golf,” they would be more valuable contributors to the golf course owners of public courses and the Board of Directors of private clubs.
Most associations publish a plethora of literature that provides anecdotal examples of business practices from other courses. I truly wonder how many of the insights offered have ever been implemented.
Interestingly, in 2018, we undertook an extensive analysis of 44 criteria and calculated the gross revenue potential of every golf course in the United States. None of the associations, including the NGCOA, NGF, USGA, or third-party management companies, were interested in the study. Only a few golf course owners have profited from the insights the study provided in measuring the financial results of their courses against their potential and assessing if the acquisition of a golf course listed for sale was prudent. Anyone who is contemplating buying a course, would be astute to view the data for that facility.
Owning a golf course, which offers a revenue base of less than $3 million for the vast majority, is a challenging business subject to the perils of weather, constant capital investment, and catering to an often very narcissistic, self-entitled customer base. Most golf courses operate as “small businesses.” Yet, approaching 20% of golf courses are managed by a third party charging from $100,000 to $200,000, where the profit margins are at best 15% earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
Owning a golf course can provide a comfortable living, but it does not make an owner wealthy unless they sell the real estate for residential or commercial development.
With this understanding, my resolutions for 2025 are:
- Undertake two surgeries in the 1st quarter and regain athletic mobility to hopefully lower my USGA Golf Index from 7.0 to under 5.0 by rebuilding my swing with irons.
- Pursue an online PhD program in sports management with the sole goal of intellectual enrichment, regardless of whether I complete the three-year program, notwithstanding the financial cost likely to exceed $60,000.
- Find clients who manage their business as though they are in the 4th quarter, with clarity and dedication to excel and commitment to achieving the financial potential their facility offers.
- Leverage our extensive network as an agent to create synergistic matches for golf course owners seeking contractors, i.e., golf course architects, shapers, software firms, social media influencers, etc.
With these goals in mind, we have redesigned our quarterly newsletter, naming it the “4th Quarter” to symbolize where I am in my career and life and with whom we seek to serve through their commitment to excellence.
Judy Miller
FYI: I had my first golf lesson today on my 77th birthday!
Judy Miller – your old Rutherford Rd neighbor