Over half of Southport's annual income goes to one expense: the contracted greenkeeper and the water bill. Charlie Ernst on why that's still the right call, in a minute.
The trade
What it costs
Over 50% of total annual income. Greenkeeping contract plus water — combined, the single biggest line item on the budget.
What it buys
An hour of professional work — mowing, fertilising, chemical spraying — without interrupting play, without asking members to do it.
Why pay it
"We use the contractor to do our green keeping… simply because we don't have the skills within the club to do that. And being a large club, we are in a position financially to do that. So where we would be continually asking members to contribute time on a regular basis, the contractor is able to come in, do the work within an hour, and go — without interrupting and affecting members' ability to come and play." — Charlie Ernst
Two reasons together: the club doesn't have the skills to do the work, and it can afford to pay someone who does. Either reason alone wouldn't justify the spend.
"Having a contractor come in to do our lawns allows our members to put their time into other activities — which we require them to help assist in volunteering with the club." — Charlie Ernst
Same logic as Charlie's argument for technology. The point isn't what it costs. It's what it frees the volunteers to do instead. Greenkeeping is specialised and the lawn never stops growing. Asking the same handful of volunteers to keep on top of it is how you burn them out.
The honest acknowledgement
"The downside of having a contractor come in is we spend over 50% of our income on that particular contract. Between the service of the greenkeeper and our water bill, if you look at the overall cost of maintaining our lawns, that is over 50% of our income for the year." — Charlie Ernst
Most clubs would baulk at one expense that big. Charlie says it directly and treats it as a deliberate choice. The half of income spent on the contractor buys professional lawns and the volunteer hours back.
Things to consider for your own club
Two questions before going the same way: do you have the financial headroom? A small club doing this would tip the balance sheet. And what would the freed volunteer hours actually go toward? If the answer is "nothing in particular," contracting out doesn't recover that value.
On the cut
The two-column layout up the top is there because the whole point is a trade. Cost on one side, what you get on the other, both visible at the same time. Charlie's plain statement that the contract eats half the club's income needed to land near the end of the post, not get buried in the middle.