Creekside G&CC #3

“Attributes that set Richard apart from others in his field are his attention to detail and his constant presence. His commitment to always be on hand and on-site is unwavering.”
– John McConnell, Owner, Raleigh C.C.

Renovation Business Plan


A golf course is a business and should be treated as such. Whether your golf course is a top-tier private club, operated by a government agency, or owned by mom and pop, it should have an active business plan in place to ensure the greatest success and enhance everyone's investment. A business plan is not just a document that includes proformas, operational procedures and marketing strategies, but can also be a living, breathing document for the physical asset (the golf course) itself.

Richard Mandell Golf Architecture undergoes an extensive process for existing golf courses called a Renovation Business Plan. Most clubs are familiar with the standard Renovation Master Plan that typical golf course architects provide. These plans are simple drawings of a golf course showing general solutions to a variety of problems and stop right there. More than just a pretty picture outlining possibilities, our Renovation Business Plan is a detailed game plan with concrete solutions, timing, and costs.

Our process begins with detailed analysis of not just the golf course but of the players of that golf course and the market in which the golf course exists. Richard Mandell Golf Architecture undertakes extensive interviews and golf course walk-throughs with the maintenance staff, the golf professional staff, and other course management. In addition, Richard spends time with a cross-section of players including seniors, women, and both low and high handicap players. During these walk-throughs Richard introduces and refers to his Renovation Business Plan Punch-List. This is a detailed questionnaire specifically tailored to golf course renovations. The range of topics address maintenance, drainage, environmental impacts, strategy, aesthetics, playability, utilization of hazards, cart paths, golf course operations, and the overall routing of the golf course. A variety of questions and concerns are addressed with the client and specific solutions are incorporated into the Renovation Business Plan.

The Renovation Business Plan is both a graphic document and a written report. The graphic portion is a color rendering of the golf course and its proposed changes. The rendering includes itemized solutions and a corresponding narrative. The plan depicts new golf course features as well as other elements, including clubhouse area and maintenance facility recommendations and other related site plan suggestions. General concerns and solutions as well as proposed design style are included in the narrative as well.

The written portion of the Renovation Business Plan is a document (of at least thirty pages in length) which includes more detailed analysis of the existing conditions as well as general and hole by hole solutions. Following is a typical table of contents for our Renovation Business Plan Report:
  1. General Environmental Issues and Permit Process
  2. General Design and Maintenance Notes and Issues
  3. Hole by Hole Issues and Solutions
  4. Proposed Design Style and Philosophy
  5. General Renovation Solutions
  6. Tee Renovation Priorities
  7. Putting Green Renovation Priorities
  8. Sand Bunker Renovation Priorities
  9. Renovation Business Plan Phasing Options
  10. Construction Cost Estimates
  11. Renovation Options Summary
  12. RMGA Recommendation
  13. Master Quantities List
  14. Overall Task Checklist

A Richard Mandell Golf Architecture Renovation Business Plan is a dynamic document that allows a golf course business to allocate any amount of funds for a renovation project with the fullest confidence, no matter what solution is implemented. Regardless of how much money is spent, the need for additional and more costly work at a later date is virtually eliminated. This is accomplished because we prioritize each solution and golf course feature. They are classified as follows:

IM (Immediate): The most pressing needs which are major playability and
maintenance issues.
MT (Mid-Term): Items which require attention in the next few years that can
greatly improve playability and maintenance.
LT (Long-Term): Future work which should be undertaken as part of the
Renovation Business Plan recommendations but does not inhibit
play on a daily basis.

For example, a club that hires Richard Mandell Golf Architecture will know exactly the five best tee complexes to renovate if limited funds were available. This process is also applied to greens, hazards and other features as well. In addition to golf course feature prioritization, we also include detailed construction cost estimates that range from what RMGA considers the absolute minimum scope of work to a complete re-construction. If a club decides to spend as little as $10,000.00, as much as $4 million, or any amount in between, it can rest assured that whatever amount is dedicated to the project will be money wisely spent.

Compassionate Historical Restoration

No modern golf course architect should (or even could) profess to understand what classic golf course architects such as Donald Ross or Albert Tillinghast thought. Nor should one attest to what these designers would do in a particular situation if alive today. If you run into an Architect who does, run the other way. I will not tell you those things, but I will tell you that I convey an understanding of strategic philosophies practiced throughout the history of golf course architecture as well as specific design characteristics inherent in the classic architects of the times.

A Richard Mandell Golf Architecture Renovation Business Plan process is generally the same if the golf course is undergoing restoration efforts of a notable work or figure in the history of the game. Additional efforts for a restoration include in-depth research of the history of the golf course as well as review and study of the original golf course architect. Historical drawings, aerial photography, news reports and other documentation become the basis for any restoration efforts. Our state of the art computer ability allow us to overlay historical routings and aerial photography on top of an existing site plan and accurately locate lost features for restoration.

In addition to the hole by hole analysis as it pertains to design and maintenance, we also break down the historical significance and accuracy of each hole when developing a Renovation Business Plan for a restoration candidate. Our written report includes sections about the original designer of the golf course and his philosophies regarding strategy, tee design, green design, and hazard design (including sand bunker styles). This establishes the framework for future design decisions and solutions for the golf course. A detailed study of the history and significance of golf courses is standard operating procedure of all Richard Mandell Golf Architecture Renovation Business Plans.