Golf clubs are evolving. The role of the finance professional is evolving, too.
Once seen primarily as budget watchers or number crunchers, today’s club finance leaders are being called to serve a far more strategic role – guiding the club’s financial direction, supporting growth initiatives, overseeing capital investments, managing risk, and driving operational efficiency.
Yet despite this shift, many golf clubs haven’t updated their organizational structures to reflect the modern finance leader’s importance. And that’s a mistake. If a club’s controller or CFO is buried beneath layers of management, their insight is unlikely to reach the boardroom – or help shape the decisions that drive long-term success. In today’s competitive landscape, golf clubs that want to thrive must elevate finance leaders to a position that matches their expanded responsibilities.
This article shows you how.
Best Practices: Where the Club Finance Leader Belongs on the Org Chart
For clubs committed to growth and long-term financial health, the finance leader should be positioned near the top of the organizational chart, with a direct line to the General Manager or Chief Operating Officer (COO), and regular access to the Board of Directors or Finance Committee.
Here’s why the finance leader’s position in a club’s organization chart matters:
- Visibility into strategy. Clubs are making big bets on capital projects, new amenities, and programming. Finance must have a seat at the table when these decisions are made – not after the fact. When the finance leader is involved early, they can identify potential risks, run scenario analyses, and help shape plans that align with the club’s long-term goals.
- Operational alignment. A finance leader working closely with the GM or COO ensures that financial strategy aligns with operational goals, improving agility and performance across the club. This close alignment enables proactive decision-making, such as reallocating resources during seasonal swings or adjusting cash forecasts based on real-time data.
- Risk mitigation. From fraud prevention to compliance and cash flow oversight, finance plays a crucial role in protecting club assets. That responsibility demands leadership-level influence. Elevating the finance leader helps embed financial controls into operations, strengthening accountability and reducing exposure to costly errors or cyber threats.
- Growth enablement. Clubs that position their CFOs or controllers higher in the org chart gain a partner who can support membership growth, margin improvement, and long-term planning. A strategically placed finance leader can also champion technology investments, vendor partnerships, and service enhancements that fuel revenue and member satisfaction.
The best practice? Positioning yourself as a key member of the executive team, reporting directly to the club’s general manager or COO and collaborating closely with the board. Clubs must know that anything less risks sidelining a resource that can significantly improve financial outcomes.
How to Talk to Club Leadership About the Finance Leader’s Role
Making the case for elevating the finance leader starts with education and alignment. Here are a few steps finance professionals can take to open a productive conversation with club leadership.
- Highlight your strategic value. Come prepared with examples of how your financial insight has informed operational or capital decisions. Show that you’re not just managing numbers – you’re helping guide the club’s direction. By demonstrating measurable impact, finance leaders position themself as a forward-thinking partner rather than just a back-office function.
- Connect finance to growth. Share how better financial oversight, forecasting, and planning have helped improve member satisfaction, manage dues, or unlock new opportunities. Make the connection between finance and member experience clear. Emphasizing that finance supports growth makes it harder to ignore the strategic nature of your role.
- Show the risks of being left out. Explain how lack of visibility in key initiatives has led to financial inefficiencies or missed opportunities in the past. Emphasize that early finance involvement mitigates risk and improves club outcomes. Pointing to real-world examples – such as cost overruns or delayed payments – helps make the case tangible.
- Propose a seat at the table. Recommend a formal reporting structure that includes regular interaction with the GM and COO and participation in board meetings or finance committee sessions. Support your proposal with benchmarking data or examples from other high-performing clubs. Framing it as a strategic upgrade, not a political move, helps win support.
- Leverage tools that free you up. If part of the concern is bandwidth, emphasize the technology you’re using – like invoice-to-pay automation – to free up time for more strategic work. Automation reduces the administrative workload associated with invoice processing, approvals, vendor inquiries, and reconciliationThe process of matching financial records—such as payments and invoices—to ensure accuracy in accounting and reporting.. With less time spent on manual tasks, finance leaders can focus on forecasting, capital planning, and growth initiatives. Automation also improves visibility into club spend, enabling faster, data-driven decisions.
If club leadership doesn’t yet see finance as a strategic force, it’s up to you to show them.
Growth Demands a New Org Chart
The traditional structure of golf clubs isn’t built for the strategic demands of today’s world. Member expectations are rising. Costs are increasing. Capital investments are larger and more complex. And competition is fierce. Finance leaders are uniquely positioned to help clubs grow and protect their futures – but only if they are empowered to lead. That starts with where they sit on the org chart.
Clubs that elevate their CFOs and controllers to the executive level don’t just send a message – they unlock a powerful advantage. These golf clubs benefit from stronger forecasting, better cost management, smarter investment planning, and fewer surprises. To meet today’s challenges and plan for tomorrow, club finance leaders must be in the right place – at the strategic center of the club.
