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From taking notes throughout the year to researching fertilizer prices, Justin DePippo, director of golf courses and grounds at Bel-Air Country Club, tries to justify every budget choice.
While working as a North Course superintendent for the Los Angeles Country Club from 2015 to 2017, he watched his bosses, Russ Myers and Chris Wilson, construct their budgets. DePippo became comfortable with finances because the pair let him play a part in the budget creation, processing invoices and reading copies of documents.
“It definitely kind of broke the ice for me and gave me some initial insight into like the budgeting process,” he says. “I got to see how the budget was put together there and each year learned a little bit.”
Now overseeing the maintenance of George C. Thomas Jr.-designed Bel-Air, he focuses on the importance of rationalizing his reasoning while addressing the high cost of Southern California living.
“Deliveries are more expensive here, labor for truck drivers, just any sort of contract labor or contract services, outside people coming in,” DePippo says. “I mean it’s just the labor pool, overall, is more expensive.”
To ensure employees receive competitive wages he constantly researches the labor market. He also tries different approaches, like using autonomous mowers or mowing the rough less, to bring down costs. “We can all buy the same fertilizer, same equipment and buy the same products, but it really comes down to the team, the culture and the vibe,” DePippo says.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, DePippo understood that he couldn’t account for the worst scenario but can give his department “wiggle room.”
“Things aren’t always going to play out like that,” he adds. “There are going to be some things that costs do go down in, maybe it’s workers’ comp or maybe it’s fertilizer costs have come down.” DePippo emphasizes paying attention to controllable factors and not worrying about what’s beyond his grasp.
DePippo utilizes a notebook in his desk and a tab in his Excel budget spreadsheet breaking down the deeper meaning and numbers behind figures for products and their application frequency. “Basically, every number has a meaning. There’s a justification to the math and how I got it that.”
Because course maintenance is often a larger budget, creating most of the expenses and not always producing revenue, DePippo chats with others to recognize the implications of his decisions, relying on his “network of superintendents” for help.
“You’re constantly being tested and expected to answer and justify your month’s budget.”
Adriana Gasiewski is Golf Course Industry’s editorial assistant.
