Private Club Radio Show
Welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, the industry's weekly source for education, news, trends, and other current developments in the world of private clubs.
Hosted by the talented entertainer and industry expert, Denny Corby,
the podcast offers a unique perspective on the private club industry, featuring expert guests, product spotlights, predictions, and more.
Whether you're involved in a golf club management, yacht clubs, athletic clubs, or business clubs, the Private Club Radio Show is the essential podcast for
anyone seeking valuable insights and information on the latest trends and developments in the private club industry.
Private Club Radio Show
436: What Great GMs Understand About Their Numbers w/ Samantha Sheffield CFO & AGM
Samantha Sheffield is not your average CFO. She’s also the Assistant GM at Bay Colony Golf Club—and the rare finance leader who’s just as comfortable talking about spreadsheets as she is member experience and strategic vision.
In this episode, Samantha shares her winding career path—from biology major and calculus tutor to senior finance roles in real estate, global operations, and eventually private clubs. Along the way, she’s learned how to turn financials into a tool for leadership, not just reporting.
We dive into: – Why CFOs and GMs should function as true strategy partners
– What “healthy” club financials actually look like (hint: it’s not just about the income statement)
– The operational red flags that often go unnoticed until it’s too late
– The balance between financial discipline and protecting the member experience
– How clubs can avoid the most common financial mistakes before they become big problems
Samantha brings perspective, humor, and sharp insights to every part of this conversation—and leaves club leaders at all levels with tools they can start using right away.
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Hey everybody, welcome to the Private Club Radio Show, where we give you the scoop on all things private golf and country clubs From mastering leadership and management, food and beverage excellence, member engagement secrets, board governance and everything in between, all while keeping it fun and light. Whether you're a club veteran just getting your feet wet or somewhere in the middle, you are in the right place. I'm your host, denny Corby. Welcome to the show. In this episode I am chatting with Samantha Sheffield and she is the CFO and AGM assistant GM at Colony Golf and Country Club in Florida. She is the real deal. She is smart, sharp, funny and one of the most down-to-earth finance professionals I've ever talked to. But don't let the title fool you. This isn't just a numbers-only episode and she is not just a numbers-only leader. She is equal parts strategist, culture builder, operations brain and member experience advocate. Somehow still manages to make you laugh while breaking down financial statements. She's an absolute hoot. We talk about her path from a calculus-loving biology major to holding senior leadership roles in real estate development, global finance, cpa firms and now private clubs. She brings all that wealth, experience and knowledge to the club space and through it all, she's learned how to bring perspective, heart and real operational insight to the table. In this episode, we talk about why GMs and CFOs need to be true strategy partners and not just budget collaborators, what healthy club financials actually look like and, spoiler alert, it is not just about the income statement. We also touch on the most common financial mistakes that clubs make and how to spot trouble before it starts, why operational knowledge matters more than just spreadsheets, and how to make finance part of your club's culture, not just a back office task.
Speaker 1:This is an awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome episode. Sam is hilarious. We have such a great, funny and educational chat. It is so good, so much fun. I am so excited for you all to dive in. Before we do a quick thanks to some of our show partners. We have our friends Golf Life Navigators, club Capital Group Members. First Kennes, member Vetting, as well as myself. The Denny Corby Experience. There's excitement, there's mystery. Also, there's magic To learn more. Head on over to dennycorbycom. Enough about that, though. Let's get to the episode. Private Club Radio listeners. Let's welcome Samantha.
Speaker 2:Sheffield. Now have you. Were you born? Have you always been in Florida? Yes, I was born in Indiana.
Speaker 1:I moved to Florida and no one stays there, so they are. No, I was one.
Speaker 2:My parents moved here when I was one. In Indiana. I moved to Florida and no one stays there. No, I was one. My parents moved here when I was one. I just can't bring myself to say I'm from Florida, because it's not necessarily the entire truth if you look at my birth certificate. But I've lived in Fort Myers, cape Coral, naples, since I was one. Okay, so 21 years.
Speaker 1:Now have you always been like a numbers finance person, Like how, how did that come about?
Speaker 2:Um I, it's a funny story. Actually I went to the university of Florida for college. I started out there and I was a um, a biology major, because I wanted to go to university of Florida for the vet school best vet school in Florida had a Fulbright scholarship through Bright Futures. My freshman year I was failing chemistry but I was a calculus tutor and I actually took calculus as an elective because I had credit from high school so I didn't need it. But I thought it would be easy and fun to take. So I took it again and, crying in my dorm room one night I'll never forget, my roommate was like, do you think maybe you should switch to a math major? And I'm like, maybe not a bad idea. So I ended up moving back home, going to Florida Gulf Coast University, changing my major to accounting and the rest is history.
Speaker 1:Got it Now cause you've have. You has your whole professional career been around clubs, for the most part or no?
Speaker 2:No, no, I started with WCI communities back um a while ago We'll say we don't need to give specific dates and um. I worked with them in home building for seven years and I was the senior financial manager for home building, started as a staff accountant, worked my way up and then went to amenities after the market crashed in 08. And for seven years did all of their clubs HOAs, tennis, fitness, spa, marinas. I oversaw the financial rollup for all of that and then eventually, after a long time, they were going to get bought out, so I left right before that because it had been. It was time. It was time, so I took a completely- You're like I'm out of here.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:I just was like I need something different. It was a while and I'm like I need something different. So I went to go work for a CPA firm because I'm like I want something small, not a large publicly traded company. I was the audit and consulting manager for two years, loved the consulting side, hated the audit side, hated every minute of sitting at a desk doing billable hours. So I left. I went to go work for Hertz after they moved their global headquarters here. For two years I was their senior director of finance for all of US operations off airport. So we had 2,200 stores, had the whole country, Traveled a ton, had two kids.
Speaker 2:And that's when Joe called and he was like joe smith, the infamous linkediner josiah smith yeah, josiah the third and josiah smith the third called and was like big colony needs a cfo. And I'm like that's funny because it's a WCI property. And so I left the corporate world and came here. It'll be six years in October and I love it. So I went from the corporate developer world of a ton of clubs down to one specific one.
Speaker 1:And I love it and all the stuff in between. I'm sure it gives you and gave you and has given you. I don't know what words I want to say, but like so much perspective also, like now you bring so much different perspective to what you do in clubs and having that outside perspective If I say perspective one more time I'm going to cut off the show, no, but I think it brings like a nice change to it also, like you have like so much depth it.
Speaker 2:It does. The audit side really helped because I was auditing clubs and hoas when I came here. I know exactly what they're looking for they have coming and started running.
Speaker 1:They're like, oh they did, they did.
Speaker 2:I was the nice one though that, uh, you know, could actually have a conversation with them, but, um, but no, it did. It taught me a ton, especially the audit side. Hertz was great because it's basically like a machine and it's utilization and you try and make sure every asset you have is used you know, constantly to drive revenue. So it's it's a lot of different perspectives that are all helpful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then how did you end up from CFO and CFO with an AGM title? How does that happen?
Speaker 2:That is a great question. My general manager and I had a conversation one day and I let him know that eventually my desire is to one day be a general manager and I love the membership side of it. I can only sit in this office for so long. I'd rather be out meeting, greeting members and helping with events and making sure everyone's happy. And so we just kind of restructured my role a bit still do the full CFO side, but took on a little bit more on the AGM side and, and I love it. So it was just kind of a natural transition. It wasn't like I filled in for somebody that left or you know. It just kind of came about that I was helping a lot of our department heads and and doing some of those functions anyway, that it just kind of made sense to fit into that role gotcha.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if you can grab, you know every gm by the shoulders. Look them in the eye and just make them truly understand. One thing about club finances. What would that be? One thing about club finances what would that be Interesting?
Speaker 2:It's interesting to narrow it down to one. Uh, it would be to look at the balance sheet, not the income statement. So your income statement is a one-year period of time. You set a budget, you get dues, you do all of the things, all of the operations. Do you make it or not? But at the end of the day, is your balance sheet healthy? Do you have more assets than liabilities? What is your debt? How are your receivables, your prepaids? That is really telling you the health of your club. The income statement is important but it's not a true reflection of how the operations are going the underbelly, the management, the. You know the bottom of the iceberg. I would say the income statement is the tip of the iceberg, but it's everything underneath it, on that balance sheet that really tells you the health of the club.
Speaker 1:What are there like when you look at a balance sheet or all the numbers? What are like the giant flashing warning signs that tell you like this club is headed for trouble, or like already in trouble, or you know, or you know. So I think probably both of those, but um, it's. It's a two-part question, I guess. Like so is there one is like what's the immediate. If you're like, oh, like this is like the immediate, and then are there anywhere? It's like you can start. You can kind of start to see the embers coming, like you can start to see it's like, oh, this is going to be bad, maybe in in like two, you know, maybe like in a couple of years, not like immediate.
Speaker 2:Right. So I would say I'm not going to throw a bunch of fancy KPIs at you because, um, they really don't. It's really not. Um, what do I say? I'm not going to dumb it down, but like useful things that people can use, right. So when you look at the balance sheet, compare it to prior periods, prior month, prior year. If your cash is going down a lot, that's bad.
Speaker 1:Define a lot Like what percentage is like a lot that you know. For some people, like 5% might be a lot, 5% might not be a lot Like what's what's considered a lot.
Speaker 2:Um, it depends on the size of your club. So you can't. This is what's fun. This is going to sound so dorky. It's what's fun about financials, right, is you? There isn't. People think it's black and white, but the balance sheet isn't. So it depends on the size of your club. If you're a $12 million operation, do you bill your dues quarterly? Do you bill them annually? Do you bill them monthly? If you bill them annually and it's halfway through the year and you have less than 50% of your cash left bad.
Speaker 2:You have to understand the operations of the club to know what's good or bad on your balance sheet. It isn't a number, it isn't. 5% or more is bad. You have to know how the club operates. Is it seasonal? Is it year round? Is it? There's so many questions and I think that's where a lot of CFOs are misjudged or miss.
Speaker 2:The point of being a CFO is, if you don't understand the operations, you are setting yourself up for failure, and I think that was the key to my developer days was I was in the operations of so many different clubs that I could see equity clubs, non-equity clubs, food and beverage, big, big clubs, small clubs, like the array of them.
Speaker 2:To know how things work and how it filters into the financial statement. So if you don't understand, you know how food and beverage operates or you can't really analyze why your food cost is up or down, or doesn't even matter that it's up or down. So it's such an integral part and that's what I preach a lot to people that I mentor and talk to who are coming up is spend a lot of time in the operations to understand what it means when it eventually hits your financial statement. By the time it hits your financial statement it's done. Understand how it got there and then that will help you tenfold to make decisions going forward is that that was a really long answer to your question no, no, that was a great answer.
Speaker 1:And is that is that? Is that like opposite of what is kind of taught, yes, they do a lot of okay, okay sorry, I answered your question.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So what's taught? As you go in and you run KPIs and you understand your numbers and how they change and blah, blah, blah. But again, you only know if your debt is at a reasonable level. If you understand the projects that are happening right Like can you take on debt. Well, what does the future look like? What are the members appetite for debt? I can't sit in my office and say that you know we need to take out a $3 million loan at 6% if I have an entire membership base that thinks it's wise just to bill us a one-time assessment. So you have to be integrated with the members and the operations to know how to make those financial decisions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, are there any like sneaky financial issues? That don't seem like a big deal at first, but down the road they hit the club like a freight train.
Speaker 2:Yes, audits, government audits of any kind, workman comp audits, anything where tax audits, payroll tax audits, any of that and it's the day-to-day procedures that you have to keep in line because you never know one day if you're going to get a notice that says you're randomly selected, going to get a notice that says you're randomly selected. So from an outside perspective, those are always potentials. From an inside, I think, with the clubs, one thing is your accounts receivable, because you got very familiar with your members and sometimes they're late in paying and or their assistants pay their statements for them, or you know they think they put cash in this account to pay the bill and before you know it you have four or five members that you're, depending on the size of your club, that you're chasing down, and if you don't stay on top of them, they don't do it on purpose at least not mine and again, every club is different but you tend to to get behind and have to kind of chase them down for payments.
Speaker 1:But yeah, are there, are there, are there. And have you seen like financial reports that are like too perfect that you instantly thought like something's off here? I would like to say mine are pretty close no, okay, but the second part that makes you go. I think something's off.
Speaker 2:I have it. That's a good question, but no, I don't think. I mean we don't really swap financials within the industry.
Speaker 1:We'll swap, you know, little components but I don't know, from your point of view, like as you've been doing this for years, like have you just like looked at stuff and you're like hmm.
Speaker 2:I can't think of anything off the top of my head.
Speaker 1:That's, that's good. Yeah, what are? What are the? What are, like, the most common financial mistakes you think clubs, clubs make, and how can they correct before it's too late?
Speaker 2:Um, I think one of the biggest mistakes clubs make in financials is getting too focused on. This is going to sound the complete opposite of what it should Too focused on the financials. Let me explain. I have quite a few conversations with my department heads that if it comes down to saving two hours in overtime or the member experience, please do not save the overtime, because further down the road that member experience will eventually come back. You can't mess with anything, with the culture, the members. That is where the heart of the club lies right Now.
Speaker 2:If we're over budget, can we maybe look at the budget differently next year? Is the budget accurate? I'm not one to come in and say you know, I don't track payroll by the day or the week. I don't look at it and say you know we're over, we got to. You know, figure out who we're going to cut. I look at the events and say do we have enough staff? Right, if the members are happy, the experience is where it needs to be. Then the rest of it should eventually work itself out.
Speaker 2:Now, if you're wildly off, if you have 10 people staying around doing nothing not okay. But if you are trying to make a decision on whether I have one more server at happy hour because I would spend less than three seconds making that decision and keep that person on staff, and I think that's where you get so focused in Now there's appropriate times to do that, but I think sometimes, from a service perspective, we get so focused on the dollars and cents we step over the hundred dollar bills to pick up the pennies because we're um, some people are just trained that way in their past. But, um, I try and keep my team focused on the holistic approach, the overall perspective, not just one aspect, either financials or service.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when, when we were chatting briefly in Tampa, you said a CFO should be a strategy partner with the GM. What does that actually mean? Because I think a lot of people hear that and probably just nod and be like, oh yeah, totally, but really have no clue, even like I don't. What does that mean, that strategy partner?
Speaker 2:He and I, my GM and I work closely together on pretty much everything. So, oh, my monitor just went off and it got very dark. Please hold, I'm literally sitting in the dark. Hold on one second, there we go. Uh, so he and I work together closely on on everything. I don't a couple things of what not to do. I don't walk in there and say what percentage do you want the budget to go up and then create a budget to that percentage.
Speaker 2:We sit down with a calendar. We look at this, at the member survey, which is huge, to say how can we make sure we accomplish the things that the members are asking for within a reasonable, within reason? It's not one doesn't drive the other. The two have to work together simultaneously for things to work as they should in this club. So strategy gets anything from big picture what are our capital projects? How can we finance them? We just had a town hall meeting two weeks ago to get some member feedback on a potential project that could be significant. And so it's anything from the day-to-day operations to big picture. We put together, when I first arrived, a board policy manual, a strategic plan, any kind of hiring decisions we work on together. It's not your typical, you know, sit in your office and do financials at month end and hand them to the GM and answer variance questions. It's more of a running the club big decisions, little decisions, making sure that we're aligned.
Speaker 1:Running the club big decisions little decisions, making sure that we're aligned. What, what mistakes do gms make when working with their cfo? If they have one, or maybe it's a fractional or like whatever. But like what are some of the stakes that you might see or hear of?
Speaker 2:some mistakes that gms make is not utilizing their CFOs to the fullest of their potential, and I think CFOs sometimes allow that to happen because they're too afraid to step up and say I want to be in all of the committee meetings and understand what's happening from an operational perspective. But I think GMs just need to utilize their CFOs for more than just the financials. Just need to utilize their CFOs for more than just the financials.
Speaker 1:Have them involved in the operations so they can make better financial decisions for the club?
Speaker 2:Do they sometimes maybe see them as a threat, Because it's like oh well, if they understand all this, then they can just take my job and do it.
Speaker 1:I don't think so. There could be. I there was, I was.
Speaker 2:There's just a question that that popped into my mind. I have no idea, I was just. I think that um, there's no way to say this Most CFOs and I love them all, I am one are not necessarily the prime GM candidate.
Speaker 1:They're not people people. They're not the people person's paper people. That was an office reference. No, I will say it. They don't seem very personable.
Speaker 2:They're not running your social committees, if you know what I mean, and so I don't think many GMs are in fear of that For that reason that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for that reason, I think, uh, your typical cfo, yeah, um, is not a threat. Okay. So so if, if, uh, if if a gm and you know is treating a cFO like a human calculator, if they don't really have a have like a great relationship, how can they start shifting that relationship into something that's more strategic? Like, how can they start that if they don't have a great relationship?
Speaker 2:I think it's just getting the CFOs involved in the operations, the day-to-day activity. The first thing is just committee meetings golf committee, greens and grounds, social, house, committee governance, membership just sit on. That's the first thing I did when I started is I was here less than a year and I immediately asked if I could just sit in on these. Don't have to be an active participant, but just listen to the conversations that are happening, sit in on BEO meetings with food and beverage, just to understand what their needs and requests are. I think that's really the beginning is just getting them involved in more than just the budget and the monthly financial variance explanations, and that is incredibly important. I don't want to downgrade the necessity for that, but just viewing them as a partner and including them.
Speaker 1:What happens when both visions don't align? Gm has one vision, cfo has another and it's like, yeah, it's not going to work. How do you navigate that without turning into a standoff?
Speaker 2:Well, there is an org chart for a reason. So I think, should that come down to that, one must act. Yes, and it's not going to be the GM. Come down to that, one must act. Yes, and it's not going to be the gm, but I think it's an. It's important to have a good working relationship with your general manager and and michael and I, for example, we we don't always agree on every decision, but we absolutely leave the room as a united front and we have a lot of conversations. And I think that's what makes us so successful at this club is we don't necessarily agree, um, and we do a lot of talking through on each other's points of views, strengths of the person that they're, they're working with and value those and know that they can always learn something. That's the thing is I constantly, whoever I'm in the room with and want it, there's always something I can learn from from somebody else.
Speaker 1:I like that. Yeah, Just about being human, just being a person just getting to know people having conversations having dialogue we listen and we don't judge um exactly as, as, as we wrap up, I think we probably touched on this, but, like is there one question? A gm should be asking their cfo, their, you know, you, whoever regularly to get ahead of financial challenges before they become headaches or issues.
Speaker 2:What keeps you up at night? And my GM asked me that probably once a month for the first couple of years and then he realized that I would just come in and tell him so he didn't have to ask me anymore. But just ask what keeps you up at night? Because I think sometimes CFOs are probably afraid to bring up the. You know we're always viewed as the Debbie Downers and the broad analyzers and the audit risk. You know, and that is part of the job, it's part of the unpleasant, but if you get ahead of it it makes it a lot more manageable. But I think just being open with your GM about you know what keeps you up at night, is it a sales tax issue? Is it a personnel issue, h2bs, anything I think it's just making sure that you ask your CFO what keeps you up at night and positive things like how was your weekend, but not like not all the bad stuff, but I know you're looking for like a financial answer.
Speaker 1:No, that would be a really good answer. That was a great answer. What? Keeps you up at night Me no, that's a really good answer.
Speaker 2:That was a great answer. Okay, what keeps you open?
Speaker 1:Me Is a hot dog, a sandwich.
Speaker 2:Is cereal soup. Why do you drive on a parkway and park on a driveway? Wow, why do you carry items by ship, that's called cargo, but by car, it's called shipment? Answer that. Riddle me that, denny. I did not expect the repartee.
Speaker 1:I will see your hot dog and I will up you a shipment I wouldn't know, right? Oh, my face is red.
Speaker 2:How many other CFOs can make you laugh like this?
Speaker 1:None.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 1:None. There you go. Oh my goodness, Was there anything? That you think that people should know, or any you know, is there any just words to the wise or anything like that, that anything people might be able to take with them? Cause this is also, you know, it's not just GMs, it's every level of club, professional, as well as outside industry people who listen as well.
Speaker 2:I think it is very important for department heads upper management, middle management, lower management to sit down with your CFOs and just ask them what should I look at on the financial statement? It just makes them better managers. Now that I've preached forever that operations is important, it goes the other way. To have a basic knowledge enough of the financial statements to be dangerous. I don't want my food and beverage director sitting there analyzing every penny of her costs, but just know enough to know when things aren't right and have an open relationship with your CFO. They're a wealth of knowledge for multiple, multiple reasons, and if they're a good strategy partner too, then people should feel comfortable enough to go to them for more than just you know why are my expenses over. But I really encourage staff at all level to sit down with their CFOs and controllers and just ask them. You know, for a little tutorial on the financials.
Speaker 2:I've done it with all of my department heads and they've come away with a whole new perspective of what they should be looking for. So I think you know if I'm going to stand on the street corner and hold a sign. I think it's exactly that, as CFOs are more than just not that I have stood on a street corner and held a sign, but if I did, it would say is a hot dog a sandwich? And then it would say on the other side, um, it would say I forgot what I was going to say. Uh, just be a strategy partner with your CFO, like, involve them in everything, don't just view them as somebody sitting in an office doing financials.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for coming on. This was so good.
Speaker 2:Either great or a train wreck. If we need to do this whole thing over you, just let me know.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm not. I'm not putting myself through this a second time.
Speaker 2:Heard Message received.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for coming on. I really do appreciate you coming on and just sharing all of this knowledge with our listeners. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Hope you all enjoyed that episode. I know I did. Hope you all learned something. Took a little nugget away, sam, thanks so much for coming on. Really appreciate it If you're enjoying the content. A like, share, subscribe Cost nothing and means the absolute world. That's this episode. Until next time, I'm your host, denny Corby. Catch you all on the flippity flip.
