Episode 106: Scott Martin

In this episode of the Reel Turf Techs Podcast, we're joined by Scott Martin, Recreation Manager at Cross Creek Golf Course in Atlanta, GA. Cross Creek is a unique 18 Hole Par 3 Golf Course spanning roughly 20 acres, nestled within a condominium association.

With a small team of 2-3 employees handling golf course maintenance and 3-5 more in the pro shop, Scott wears many hats. However, he's the sole technician in the shop, overseeing all equipment-related matters.

Scott's career path is a fascinating one, from restaurant owner to freight broker to avid golfer. Now, he manages the operation of a golf course for a facility within a 1000-unit condo complex. In our conversation, we get into the impact of reel grinding on playability and the quality of the cut for all levels of golf courses.

Scott's a jack-of-all-trades, having taught himself to use a height of cut gauge, maintain equipment without a lift, and even navigate the conversion from Bentgrass to Bermudagrass greens.

Beyond the turf, we revisit the importance of mental health and encourage folks to seek treatment and reach out to a friend if you're feeling isolated. Scott highlights the significance of self-awareness and paying attention to your own well-being.

And as if he didn’t have enough on his plate, Scott has a passion for cooking! Join us for an episode that goes beyond the greens, offering a glimpse into a unique career path. This episode is packed with insights, anecdotes, and valuable lessons from a self-taught turf professional. 🌿⛳ #Turf #GolfCourseManagement

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Transcript

Trent Manning: 0:05

Welcome to the Real Turf Techs Podcast. For the technician that wants to get real. Follow along as we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face. Along the way we'll learn tips and tricks. I'm your host, Trent Manning. Let's have some fun! Welcome to the real turf text podcast, episode 1 0 6. Today, we're talking to Scott Martin recreation manager at cross Creek. Golf course and Atlanta, Georgia. Cross Creek golf course is an 18 hole par three golf course on roughly 20 acres. This golf course is part of a condominium association. Scott has two or three employees on the course. Working on the maintenance crew and anywhere three to five and the pro shop. But he's the lone tech in the shop and I'm looking really forward to this because this is kind of outside our box. But, it's going to be a really great conversation. Let's talk to Scott. Welcome Scott to the RealTurf Techs podcast. Thanks for coming on. How are you doing today?

Scott Martin: 1:12

I'm doing very well, my man. Thanks for having me.

Trent Manning: 1:15

I'm looking forward to it. it's, it's always a journey and I'm glad to have you on and you're a little bit different of a guest than my normal guest. So I can't wait to, uh, hear all about that. So tell us how you got into the turf industry.

Scott Martin: 1:33

Well, I guess, uh, ultimately it started I moved to Atlanta. just after I graduated from college, I, uh, Got an opportunity, I worked in the restaurant business pretty much my whole life growing up and a guy that I was pretty good buddies with, me and him, uh, opened up a restaurant together for a year when I was like 23 or so and then after that didn't go so well I I moved to Tampa, started doing like logistics. I was like a freight broker for a little while. Then me and another buddy opened up our own little freight brokerage company and I was working from home moved to Atlanta like pretty close to Chastain Park golf course. Um, I started playing golf there pretty much every single day. And, I am spending a lot of money playing golf. So one Saturday I, uh, just walked up to the pro shop counter and I was like, Hey. If you work here, do you get to play golf for free? And he was like, absolutely. I was like, can I get an application? So gave me an application. You know, went home, filled it out, brought it back. They hired me on the spot. I just wanted to, you know, work on the weekends for a few hours so I could play golf for free during the week. Um, and I really liked it a lot more than. Sitting on the phone all day behind a computer. Um, so as things progressed I kind of like shared more interest. And we kind of, uh, went down the path. I started, it was like the pro shop manager there for a little while. And then we had a golf tournament one day and this guy showed up late. And he, uh, needed a ride out to his hole. So he hopped on the cart and me and him started talking. He ended up being the president of the board here where I work now across Creek. And, um, somehow I don't, we were pretty much the same age, so we kind of just hit it off and They do a little, we did, or not they, we did, we do a little Thursday night scramble every Thursday night, like during the spring, summer, stuff like that. And he was like, Hey, come, come play with us one night. So I went out there, started playing with them every Thursday night. And eventually one day he was like, Hey, you want to come and run our golf course for us? And I was like, well, I could be interesting. You know, I don't

Trent Manning: 4:11

Mm hmm.

Scott Martin: 4:12

too crazy much experience doing it, but I mean, It's worth a shot, you know, so, All those cards kind of fell into place. And that was. Almost five years ago.

Trent Manning: 4:25

Wow. Okay.

Scott Martin: 4:26

the pro shop that first pretty much took it from making a very, very small amount of money to, you know, now we're actually turning a profit which is great. Um, and then about, I don't know, six, seven, eight months ago, our, superintendent, he retired and that was. Pretty much right about the time where it seems like everybody who works in the turf business started getting big salary raises and Yeah, we're just a little 18 hole par 3 golf course, you know, it's not a huge budget and I was like, I don't No, if we can find a superintendent to come in here and run this place, like for, for what we can pay them, you know, and I mean, even if we could, we're going to spend six months to a year looking for them. So somebody has got to take care of the place in the interim. So I kind of just started, just kind of took that over too. So I kind of became the superintendent and then more and more and more, I started to learn, then I started like fixing all the equipment and learning about the reels and It's pretty much just kind of had all stumbled upon, you know, this podcast essentially just

Trent Manning: 5:48

Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Martin: 5:49

trying to You know figure out what I was actually doing at all. Honestly,

Trent Manning: 5:55

Yeah. No, that's awesome though.

Scott Martin: 5:57

But no, no, it's, it's been quite an adventure to say

Trent Manning: 6:01

I'm sure. And it definitely, uh, yeah. Sounds like it. You go from, you like to play golf to I'm going to run this whole operation that they call a golf course.

Scott Martin: 6:12

yes. And then we also have, yeah, along with, uh, we have three swimming pools and I'm in charge of also take care of four tennis courts. So. You know, pretty much all sorts of stuff. Yeah. And we also, it's attached to pretty much almost like a thousand condominiums. So it's a huge community. It's probably, I would say somewhere between two to 3000 people that live here. So, you know, we have a whole maintenance team that takes care of that side of the condos, like the condo side of things. So, you know, it's, it's, I can't remember who it was, but somebody you talked to, it sounds like they had very similar situation where not only are they taking care of the golf course and all that stuff, but also like facilities maintenance too. You know, I mean, we've been, I've been here at midnight with plumbers, you know, snaking out drains in people's houses. And, you know, I mean, you know, just all sorts of. you know, you never know what you're going to be doing every day. So that's, uh, it's pretty cool.

Trent Manning: 7:18

That keeps it interesting

Scott Martin: 7:20

It's certain, certainly does.

Trent Manning: 7:22

Yeah. And you're probably thinking of Skip Hines

Scott Martin: 7:26

Yes,

Trent Manning: 7:27

and yeah, he's over a facility maintenance and yeah, the shop for golf course maintenance at his club. And I, I don't know. That's, that's a lot

Scott Martin: 7:41

it is. And I mean, I'm not, no, it is. And I'm not like in charge of all of that stuff, but I also live on property. So, You know, at midnight, if something's going on and, you know, they call the emergency line instead of having one of our guys drive 30, 45 minutes to fix something that needs to be fixed right now. You know, usually I'm probably the one that gets the call. So Yeah,

Trent Manning: 8:06

yeah, that is 1 of the disadvantages of living on property or really close to the course.

Scott Martin: 8:12

It is. It definitely is for

Trent Manning: 8:14

our, my, my director of agronomy, he's. 5, 7 minutes away. So, he's the 1 that always gets the call anything that happens at the club after hours, they're calling him. As a matter of fact, last Christmas Eve. He was at the club because our sprinkler system froze and

Scott Martin: 8:35

Oh,

Trent Manning: 8:36

and the fire department was there And so that's how he spent his Christmas Eve

Scott Martin: 8:41

That's, uh,

Trent Manning: 8:42

yeah part of the part of the job

Scott Martin: 8:45

That's right, that's right. You never know when something crazy is going to happen, so.

Trent Manning: 8:49

So this might be a little different for you. But what what is your least favorite part of the job?

Scott Martin: 8:57

Pretty much anything that I have to do inside. Like paperwork stuff, like invoices, stuff like that. Um, I guess it's really just kind of, uh... It's really tough to juggle everything, honestly, you know, scheduling people to make sure the approach to the pro shop staff to, you know, making sure that, you know, the guys that I do have helped me on the golf course or, you know, doing what they're supposed to be doing. Um, so, you know, constantly. Improving all sorts of stuff. Like our tennis courts, you know, so I would say that's probably my least favorite part of the job,

Trent Manning: 9:40

Oh, yeah, I totally get that too

Scott Martin: 9:43

but I definitely, you know, I wouldn't say I really dislike anything too crazy much I just wish that we had some certain things in place that would make it a little easier to do my job, but,

Trent Manning: 9:58

Mm hmm.

Scott Martin: 9:58

you know, we're, we're getting there slowly but surely, so

Trent Manning: 10:01

Well, that was my next question. Yeah. Are y'all working on some of those procedures and

Scott Martin: 10:06

Oh Yeah. big time for

Trent Manning: 10:08

That's awesome.

Scott Martin: 10:09

that was definitely one of the most like eye opening things is just like learning that the reels have to be ground. It's I didn't know that.

Trent Manning: 10:19

Mm hmm.

Scott Martin: 10:20

I never saw an invoice over the last four years that I've been here for anybody getting their reels grounded. And we don't, we don't have a grinder. So I'm like, this is a, this is a problem. If we've been cutting the grass with the same reels for four years and. Something needs to happen with this. So that was the, that was like the biggest thing was like sending our reels off to somebody, getting them all ground out, like looking nice, sharp. So we could, you know, that was like extremely eyeopening experience. Um,

Trent Manning: 10:54

difference did that make on the course and playability and all those things?

Scott Martin: 11:00

huge, I mean, huge, it was, yeah. I mean, we were just tearing grass out of the ground essentially at first. And I mean, just having the ability to like, cut the grass down lower, you know, and I mean, we're not, cutting grass anywhere close to what I'm sure y'all do or anything like that, but, yeah, it's just, you know, you can definitely tell the greens that we have that are in good shape are in a lot better shape than I've ever seen them before. You can definitely tell just like the uniformity and the cut and like stuff like that. It's, it's, it's really, it's pretty neat.

Trent Manning: 11:41

Yeah. That's cool. I don't, it has to be amazing to be in your shoes and how much you've learned in just the last year.

Scott Martin: 11:52

Yeah, I can't even begin to explain it. Uh, I mean, I mean, little things like using a height of cut gauge, like, I was like, I mean, I'm on YouTube trying to figure out how to use this thing. you know, just little, I mean, little things like that. just trying to. You know, I mean, we don't have a lift. We don't have, you know, any thing of that sort. So, I mean, we're just like, you know, backing our mower up on to some ramps and, you know, sliding underneath it and using blocks to, to pull the, you know, the basket bar away from the reel so we can get the bed, you know, the height of cut gate there. I mean, just, you know, it's every day. It's something, something. Different, you know, whether, you know, learning what to spray on the grass or, you know, I don't know. Yeah, it's,

Trent Manning: 12:45

Yeah. So what kind of greens do you have?

Scott Martin: 12:48

So we had bent grass greens originally. And this summer was pretty, uh, rough obviously with. Little experience trying to take care of bank grass greens down here with not a very good irrigation system and minimal help is, uh, quite a challenge. So we lost a couple of greens but recently about. A month ago or so, actually we re, you know, I sawed, cutted them all out and put sod down on them uh, to home at 31, try to redo them. So it's coming along pretty good so far. And we'll, uh,

Trent Manning: 13:30

Awesome.

Scott Martin: 13:31

Try to convert them to Bermuda grass, make it a little easier to take care

Trent Manning: 13:34

Yeah, that's, yeah, much easier. And I would say, you know, in the nineties, pretty much, I mean, all the nice clubs for sure. Had bent grass. Some of the nice clubs still have bent grass, but most of the clubs in Atlanta have switched to Bermuda.

Scott Martin: 13:53

Yeah, I

Trent Manning: 13:54

mean, it's just so much easier.

Scott Martin: 13:56

it just makes sense. I mean, it's less water, and especially in our situation, I mean, it was,

Trent Manning: 14:01

For sure. Yeah. With limited labor and all those things. Yeah.

Scott Martin: 14:05

absolutely. I mean, just hearing, you know, a sales rep or somebody, come by and, you know, they were superintendent at. Of course, I was super nice and they're like, yeah, I mean that you should be doing this and you should be doing that. And I'm like, dude, like I, I would love to, but I just, I, I don't, I don't want to be here 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You know what I mean? Like eventually I have to have a life too. So,

Trent Manning: 14:32

Yeah, and I remember the days we'll watch and we're, you know, two of us would be staying until five 30 every day, you know, for a hundred days straight in the summer.

Scott Martin: 14:42

absolutely. For sure. Yeah.

Trent Manning: 14:44

yeah, and that, that wears on you after a while and pulling a hose around and yeah, I don't miss those days at all.

Scott Martin: 14:50

not at all, not at all.

Trent Manning: 14:52

Well, what's, what's your favorite tool?

Scott Martin: 14:55

Honestly, any one that'll do the job. Um, I don't really have a particularly favorite tool. I did just order a birdie bar that I think probably might be my new favorite tool because we use that thing every day. So, it'll definitely be a step up from like the R and R height of gauge that we had that,

Trent Manning: 15:20

I don't miles camp is the guy that owns birdie bar and he's also a fellow golf course mechanic that started that company. And I mean, he's a great guy and he makes a really good product and he. I guess he subs out some of the stuff like the coding and all that stuff, but he does the machine work. He assembles it. He checks it and makes sure it's right before it goes out the door and the level of detail that he puts into each birdie bar and who knows how many he's sold over the years. So yeah, I mean, it's awesome that it's somebody else, you know, in our community

Scott Martin: 16:03

Well, that's how I mean, that's how I heard about it. So,

Trent Manning: 16:06

yeah,

Scott Martin: 16:07

that's, I mean, I think it's kind of cool supporting

Trent Manning: 16:10

No, that's yeah.

Scott Martin: 16:11

group, I

Trent Manning: 16:11

Yeah, for sure. What do you do to relax or find your balance?

Scott Martin: 16:16

I do a lot of like outdoor stuff hiking, camping my, uh, we have a little piece of property and like outside of Milledgeville area that we got recently. Me and my dad spend a lot of time out there, just like. working essentially,

Trent Manning: 16:30

hmm. Yeah.

Scott Martin: 16:31

spending quality time together. So it's

Trent Manning: 16:33

Yeah. Yeah, that is awesome.

Scott Martin: 16:35

for sure.

Trent Manning: 16:36

What's been your biggest challenge to date? Mm

Scott Martin: 16:40

Trying to everything. That's definitely my biggest challenge. Uh, managing your time, managing your expectations.

Trent Manning: 16:51

hmm.

Scott Martin: 16:51

time.

Trent Manning: 16:52

Matt managing your expectations or managing the expectations of others.

Scott Martin: 16:58

uh, no, my expectations,

Trent Manning: 17:00

Okay. Yeah.

Scott Martin: 17:02

unfortunately,

Trent Manning: 17:03

Yeah.

Scott Martin: 17:03

but I guess at the same time, it's good to have high standards. So, yeah, I would definitely say that's been my biggest challenge. I mean, just kind of been like thrown into it. one day, you thought you knew something and then you learn something else and you're like, damn, I've been doing that wrong the whole time. That's

Trent Manning: 17:19

Uh huh. Right. Right. Yeah.

Scott Martin: 17:21

stuff like that, you know, or like pulling out a manual one day and reading it and going, wow, like I've definitely been doing that wrong, like stuff like that. So,

Trent Manning: 17:31

yeah. For sure.

Scott Martin: 17:32

trying to figure it all out, I guess really been the biggest challenge.

Trent Manning: 17:35

Right. Yeah. Yeah. I understand that. Yeah. I'm with you.

Scott Martin: 17:40

So,

Trent Manning: 17:41

is, uh, one of the strangest things you've seen around the golf course?

Scott Martin: 17:47

Oh that's a good question. I had a guy almost put a, uh, like rough mower in Peachtree Creek the other day. that was pretty interesting. I was literally eating a sandwich and I get a phone call and, you know, I'm thinking Yeah, he has a question about something and it's literally like him screaming help me help me like I need

Trent Manning: 18:12

Oh, wow.

Scott Martin: 18:12

I'm like, oh my gosh. I'm like what is going on? You know what I mean? He's like bring as many people as you can come on, you know, and so yeah I mean it luckily everything was fine, and he was all good But I mean, I guess that's probably one of the Craziest things I've seen recently anyway.

Trent Manning: 18:32

Yeah. No, that's, that's definitely a, a, a scary time.

Scott Martin: 18:35

Yes, for sure. For sure. I mean, we've had unfortunately had a guy like commit suicide on the golf course before, so that was a pretty, uh, you know, interesting, Experience to

Trent Manning: 18:51

or just Residence or,

Scott Martin: 18:54

he did work for us like as like a contractor, I guess you could say for like years and years. I mean, I definitely, I mean, I knew him pretty well. Yeah, so it was pretty, it was pretty interesting. He was definitely, uh, he loved the golf course, even though he didn't, you know, really have anything to do with it. Like he like fixed like big things uh, pools, like he like did reinforcing our pools and stuff like that. But you know, every day he would get there, four o'clock in the morning and walk around the golf course every single day. So he loved it out there. So I can see, you know, if that's where he was going to do it, why he did it there. So, but Yeah. it was pretty interesting to say the

Trent Manning: 19:37

I've, uh, So locally here, I'm on the search and rescue team for my county.

Scott Martin: 19:45

Oh, wow.

Trent Manning: 19:46

so I've been through, you know, a lot of this training and that's one of the characteristics for, uh, somebody that's in that state that is a despondent. They usually want to go to one of their favorite places or something that has really pretty scenery. But I want to take this time to tell all the listeners, if you're struggling with mental health, something, please reach out to someone, a friend, reach out to me, reach out to a colleague, a family member, just whoever because this can be prevented and we don't want anybody to have to suffer like that,

Scott Martin: 20:30

No, no doubt. For sure. I couldn't agree more. I mean, it's amazing. Uh, sometimes with just a simple conversation, we'll do, you know,

Trent Manning: 20:39

One, I mean, I know just daily life getting stressed at working out the golf course, just calling a friend and saying, listen to this stuff that's going on here just makes me feel so much better. And a lot of times. Especially, you know, my particular friend that I'm talking about is also in this industry. So he gets it and he's been there before he's, you know, had the same thing or similar things happen. So it's really nice to have somebody like that to, uh, talk to. So anybody that's listening. If you're struggling, just reach out to any of us. And especially if you're in the WhatsApp group, you know, side text, somebody that you talk to a good bit in there. And I mean, we'll, we'll get you help or, uh, at least we can listen if we can't do anything else. So do you have a mentor in the industry?

Scott Martin: 21:39

Um. Honestly, probably quite a few. I mean, John Champlin, he works for like Regal Chemical Company. He's

Trent Manning: 21:47

Rambling, shambling.

Scott Martin: 21:49

yeah, he's been a big, big, uh, mentor for me, I guess you

Trent Manning: 21:53

that's awesome. Yeah. He's a good dude.

Scott Martin: 21:55

Yeah, for sure. He's helped me out more than he'll ever know. So yeah, it's definitely good. And there's another guy that kind of just popped up, in our neighborhood named Billy Bill Manning. He's helped me out a lot. He works at Eastlake a little bit. Bobby Jen's. So he's helped hook me up with a little bit of those guys and. He's been, uh, a great, uh... Kind of I guess you'd say mentor in a

Trent Manning: 22:20

Okay. Yeah, yeah, no, that's awesome. Very cool. Yeah.

Scott Martin: 22:25

definitely.

Trent Manning: 22:26

And that's, I mean, that's what, you know, I've said it before. I'll say it again. One of the things that I love so much about this industry is most everybody me is so helpful and they're willing to, you know, help you any way they can. And uh, John Shamblin, I mean, he's traveling, you know, all over the state, seeing all these different superintendents and he's really knowledgeable about how grass should be, you know, maintained, especially on the chemical side and what you need to be spraying and what you need to be doing. And it's really great to have a resource like that.

Scott Martin: 23:04

Definitely. I mean even down to like I'm like, how do I calibrate this sprayer like, you know Just like even just little things I you know that if you had you know, if there was a superintendent there to teach me then I would be pretty you know, it'd be not hard to learn but just Not knowing anything, even if you're doing it right, sometimes you don't know if you're doing it right until you have somebody who's done it right a thousand times come and say, yeah, you're doing it right. You know, it's okay.

Trent Manning: 23:37

Yeah, just

Scott Martin: 23:38

you know, reassurance, I guess more than anything. So

Trent Manning: 23:41

stole, you stole the word. That's what I was looking for reassurance. That's what you needed.

Scott Martin: 23:46

absolutely for sure. I mean, even just. Finding this podcast I mean, I was just. Purely I think I typed in reels on Spotify and like it popped up and I'm like, what is this? And I was just like cooking dinner and started listening to it. And I'm like, dang, I was like, this is okay. I can learn from this and then I

Trent Manning: 24:05

man. That's so good to hear.

Scott Martin: 24:07

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I've listened to every single episode. So Yeah, it's been a so much knowledge. It's unbelievable So, if anybody wants to learn, I would highly recommend listening to the podcast, yeah, for sure.

Trent Manning: 24:25

so cool. No, thank you. Thank you for that. And I mean, that was, you know, kind of my dream, I guess, when I come up with this idea and said I was going to do it is so I just hope, you know, we can help a few people. And I can't believe how all the feedback I've gotten, how many people we have helped. So, and, and it's great

Scott Martin: 24:46

Well, I mean, that's it. I mean, that too, I mean, you always talked about reaching out and stuff like that. And when I found out that you're, like, literally work not that far from here, I was like, well, you know what? I've never done this before in my life, but I'm gonna send this guy an email. Like why not just at least just to say thanks, you know,

Trent Manning: 25:01

Yeah. No, it was awesome.

Scott Martin: 25:02

and then look what it turned into So, I mean,

Trent Manning: 25:05

Yeah. Well, and you're in the WhatsApp group and

Scott Martin: 25:07

oh, oh, yeah.

Trent Manning: 25:08

guys have helped you a lot.

Scott Martin: 25:09

oh big time. I mean, that's like I mean even I think it was yesterday. I mean, I just was like asking Probably maybe a pretty stupid question, but maybe not. But just about I needed to change a tire on the back of one of our, on the 3500D. And I was like, the manual says to jack this thing up by the hydraulic motor. And I'm like, that just seems so sketchy and just not. Counterintuitive, like I feel like it's just going to snap or, you know, cause we've actually somehow managed to bend that pin that holds that fork

Trent Manning: 25:48

Okay. Yep.

Scott Martin: 25:49

before. So that's why it kind of got me thinking and so just having the guys, but yeah, that's, you can definitely do that. It's just, you know, I'm like, all right, well,

Trent Manning: 25:58

Yeah. This is the reassurance you needed that

Scott Martin: 26:00

yeah, for

Trent Manning: 26:00

That's awesome, man.

Scott Martin: 26:02

Even if it's just something simple, it's definitely cool.

Trent Manning: 26:06

What I love about task tracker is they're constantly innovating and listening to their users. They've added dozens of updates to make our job easier. One new feature is the ability to upload manuals to the equipment. All you have to do is scan the equipment. QR code. And you have the manual and all other information at the tip of your fingers. You can even create links to those manuals and the work orders. And it goes directly to the page that you need. Make your life a lot easier and check them out at AASB task. tracker.com. Let's get back to the episode. What would be your dream job or opportunity?

Scott Martin: 26:45

Man, that's a great question. I truly, I don't, I don't really know, to be honest. I don't really know. I don't, I enjoy fixing things. Pretty much anything, to be honest with you. I mean, I've, I do a lot of handyman stuff on the side. Not so much recently, but

Trent Manning: 27:03

Well, I was going to say, when do you have any side time?

Scott Martin: 27:07

I don't really have any side time, but, uh, Yeah. before this whole superintendent and equipment manager and all these other things got thrown into my plate. I did a lot of like renovations with my friends. You know, just anybody that needed help with anything, most of the time. Just for fun. I wouldn't even charge people for it. So, but you know, just little stuff like that, I guess.

Trent Manning: 27:33

No, cool. Well, what technician would you like to work with for a day?

Scott Martin: 27:38

Pretty much anybody to be quite honest with you. I mean,

Trent Manning: 27:41

I think it's a really good answer and there's so many good people in this industry and I would be happy to spend a day with any of

Scott Martin: 27:51

I mean, before this, I was listening to Chad bronze episode because he's so focused on like the cleanliness thing and I'm like huge on that Like just that was like one of the very first things I did when made this transition It was just like completely Tore the shop apart and reorganize fix things put stuff on hooks, you know Just I'm like this has gotta change like we cannot do it like this and then you know And as we do one thing we get better at that and then get better at something else and you know I just like his a kind of style of how he does things or seems to anyway So

Trent Manning: 28:28

yeah, no, I'm with you there and I've seen a lot of shops and a lot of good shops and Chad's is definitely up there. I mean, everything is just squared away, everything. I mean, it makes me envious and I like to have a pretty clean shop. And you're welcome to come visit me anytime.

Scott Martin: 28:49

definitely, definitely planning on doing that when I, uh,

Trent Manning: 28:53

But, but you'll, you'll see how clean my shop is and I can show you some pictures of Chad's and, uh, yeah, you'll be blown away. I mean, it's just a, something else next level stuff that he's doing there and not just the shop, but all his equipment, you know, keeping it clean and waxed. And I mean, it's, he does a really, really good job there.

Scott Martin: 29:14

Yeah, I would definitely love to, uh, to sit down with Mike Rollins for when he's not like running a mile a minute and talk to him about his, all this like real theory stuff, because, you know, it's so intriguing to me. Just like how technical you know, it's, that's the thing that I was kind of like blown away with is like how much goes into this, like even just, just this one machine, how much work has to be done to just this and trying to explain that to like board members who. Don't play golf, don't care, don't, you know, don't know anything about any of it. You know, you could say all the things you do, but just to describe like how complicated it is, it's very, very difficult unless somebody actually comes in, like watches you do it or sees it. You know,

Trent Manning: 30:09

Right.

Scott Martin: 30:09

so that

Trent Manning: 30:10

something that's really hard to explain. And something I know about Mike Rollins is he never slows down.

Scott Martin: 30:18

Well,

Trent Manning: 30:18

yeah, a hundred miles an hour all the time. And I love his energy and his passion. I mean, he's a great guy, but, uh, yeah, the next time he's coming through Atlanta, you know, get him to stop by there.

Scott Martin: 30:32

I definitely will for sure.

Trent Manning: 30:34

Yeah. And yeah, he can fill your ears full of real theory.

Scott Martin: 30:39

Absolutely. Yeah,

Trent Manning: 30:40

in a short amount of time.

Scott Martin: 30:42

I would love it.

Trent Manning: 30:43

Well, yeah. So do you have that person on your crew and how do you deal with that person?

Scott Martin: 30:51

I wouldn't really say so to be honest with you. I mean, it's just me and two other guys. So,

Trent Manning: 30:56

Right. Yeah.

Scott Martin: 30:57

you know, and I mean, pretty much. One of Jimmy, he's been working on the golf course for quite a while. You know, he's a, I don't know any other way to say it, but a robot. I mean, you know, he's shows up to work at the same time every day, leaves at the same time every day, does exactly what you need him to do every day. You know what I mean? Um, and

Trent Manning: 31:20

How much have you learned from him?

Scott Martin: 31:23

Oh, all sorts of stuff.

Trent Manning: 31:24

Yeah, yeah,

Scott Martin: 31:25

yeah, I mean, yeah, he's, it's super, yeah, I mean. Um, and then, uh, another guy who worked on the condominium side of our property for a long time, probably, I don't know, 13 years or more, I think, but he started off, I didn't, I didn't even know this, but he started off when he was hired to work on the golf course and he was like cutting the greens and doing all that stuff. And he was always like our old superintendent whenever he was gone. He would be the one like if he went on vacation or something He would be the one that we came and cut the greens for him in the interim and stuff So I was like dude come and help me out like, You know more about this than I do at this point, you know what I'm saying? So And so he's been a huge, huge, huge help. He's that's like the biggest thing is you know, unfortunately like I don't have all the time to, cut all the grass and do all the things and all the stuff at once. So just you know, having good people to help you out is awesome. Really,

Trent Manning: 32:27

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, really you can't do it without the good people that work there.

Scott Martin: 32:33

not at

Trent Manning: 32:34

I mean, not, not, none of us could and it doesn't matter what you think of yourself and no matter how good you are, you can't get it all done by yourself. There's just too many things to do. Yeah,

Scott Martin: 32:47

Yeah, I mean, I definitely, uh, you know, I mean, Jimmy, he can be a little bit of a wild man. You know, he likes to drive fast and So, you know, but I feel like just kind of just talking to him and not I think the guy that worked for him before wasn't super nice to him all the time. So, you know, that's definitely, uh, helped change his attitude a little bit and like how he, uh,

Trent Manning: 33:12

goes a long way to have that mutual respect between.

Scott Martin: 33:16

for sure. I mean, I definitely tried. Yeah. I mean, I try not to ask, anything of anybody that I wouldn't do myself or haven't done myself.

Trent Manning: 33:25

Right. No, I

Scott Martin: 33:26

That's definitely one of my big I really try to stay true to that. So,

Trent Manning: 33:31

think that's something really good to live by.

33:33

Get ready for tips and tricks.

Trent Manning: 33:37

What kind of tips or tricks you want to share with us? Yeah. And I know you're kind of, you're kind of, well, you're kind of green here, but what are some of the tips and tricks that you've learned recently that could share ps Where to put a Jack on a 3,

Scott Martin: 33:57

yeah, exactly. I mean, yeah,

Trent Manning: 33:59

Now, you know.

Scott Martin: 34:00

just all, I mean, all sorts of stuff to be quite honest. I mean, nothing more than hasn't been shared before. I could certainly say that. but. I don't know, I don't really have any tips or tricks. But I guess more just paying attention, I guess.

Trent Manning: 34:19

Yep.

Scott Martin: 34:21

I don't know, I've made some mistakes taking, like I, we have a workman that the oil plug was leaking after I changed the oil, so I had to like, drop, you know, take all the oil back out of it again, well, you know, I, uh, looked up and realized that I didn't, uh, raise the bed first, and I was like, oh,

Trent Manning: 34:42

Uh,

Scott Martin: 34:44

is a major mistake that you just made here, sir you know, you know, that kind of stuff.

Trent Manning: 34:50

I mean, we've, we've been there

Scott Martin: 34:51

yeah, no, I'm sure

Trent Manning: 34:52

all been there before.

Scott Martin: 34:54

everybody has, I mean, and and I mean, even, even more than that, I mean, I remember not too, too many years ago like just being bored and I've done quite a few different things in my life. And Every time I've just ended up getting bored and I was like, this is crazy. Why, what, what's up with this? So I went and took this like aptitude test at this like place called the Johnson O'Connor foundation. And, uh, it was pretty eye opening. Made me like stop and think about really, I guess like the lady that like did my analysis or whatever results or whatever said, what do you like to do for fun? And I was like, Oh, I go and help my buddy renovate his house for free or you know what I mean? And she's well, why don't you do that and make money, dude? And I'm like. You know, it's I guess it's like that kind of stuff. It's I've been doing that kind of stuff my whole life and never once thought like, why don't I just do this for a living or try to do something in this like arena. So it's like that, I guess that kind of stuff, just like kind of paying attention to yourself more than anything really.

Trent Manning: 36:10

That's, uh, I think that is a great one. And I don't think that's been shared before. And it doesn't matter if it has, because it's, it's really good getting to know yourself.

Scott Martin: 36:21

Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Trent Manning: 36:23

so I'm four,

Scott Martin: 36:25

is

Trent Manning: 36:25

I'm 45 and just this last year, I'm starting to learn about myself. And I'd never been aware, I mean, I kind of knew how I was and I had no idea why I do some of the things I do. And I've really been working on all that. And honestly, I'm a whole lot happier now.

Scott Martin: 36:51

Oh, no

Trent Manning: 36:52

Just in general. And I'm not saying, you know, every day is a cakewalk. But, you know, in general, I'm a lot better off

Scott Martin: 37:01

No,

Trent Manning: 37:01

doing that. So I think that is great advice.

Scott Martin: 37:04

yeah, I mean, I was definitely listening to you. I mean, I bought that book that you were talking about. Gosh, why can't I remember? Ask

Trent Manning: 37:12

I said this, you heard

Scott Martin: 37:14

heard that. Yeah, yeah, that, that book. And that was pretty cool. You know, but the thing that I liked about the aptitude test is it's like, there's something about personality tests and even, even the test in that, in the I said this, you heard that book. It's honestly you know, you could answer, I mean, Ellie, maybe I, maybe it's just me. I don't know, but I feel like I, it just depends on the day how I answer that. And some of the questions, like I could be all of those things at some point in time, you know, and so the aptitude test was like. The whole time I'm like, what, what is, what is this? What are we doing here? What, why are you, what, what does this have anything to do with anything? And, and then you realize how all of these different tests that, you know, you can't manipulate because it's just, it's just whether you're good at it or not, you know, and just really it's not even just about you know, what you should do for a living, but even just like the relationships in your life, like just flashing back to you know, girlfriends and stuff like you've had in the past. And, you know, just different stuff like that and how all that stuff all plays together, you know, I mean, even just like how, you know, you treat your employees or how you're. Bosses have treated you like, what you could have done differently based off of what you know about yourself you know, that kind of stuff. I guess.

Trent Manning: 38:41

no, it's all, yeah, really, really good stuff. And I mean, it's really opening a can of worms

Scott Martin: 38:46

yeah,

Trent Manning: 38:47

when, when you, well, no, no, no, I'm not, I'm not calling you

Scott Martin: 38:50

but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. for sure.

Trent Manning: 38:52

but you open a can of worms about yourself. And then you just keep. I guess it's like an onion, right? And you just keep peeling off all these layers. And you're like, man, I didn't know this onion was that big.

Scott Martin: 39:04

Yeah, for sure.

Trent Manning: 39:05

Yeah. So very good stuff. Do you have anything else you want to talk about?

Scott Martin: 39:12

I really like to cook a lot. pretty much anything and everything, to be honest with you.

Trent Manning: 39:17

Yeah. What's your, what's your favorite, uh, thing to cook?

Scott Martin: 39:21

Well, My girlfriend's brother in law got us a big green egg for Christmas a couple of years ago, and That was pretty eye opening. I started grilling all sorts of stuff, which I mean I've been grilling stuff my whole life, but

Trent Manning: 39:36

That's a, that's a whole can of worms. Big green egg. It's, and it's almost a cult. I think some of the, the eggheads.

Scott Martin: 39:43

Oh yeah, no doubt. I mean, it definitely is a cult. I mean, and you could spend a small fortune on the accessories for that thing. But, uh, it's I mean, I love making pizzas. I actually a long time ago worked at like Mellow Mushroom for a long time making pizzas and stuff. So... You know, I dunno, it's just kind of fun to throw the dough and, you know, actually make a real pizza and cook it on like a coal fired oven kind of situation. So Yeah. I mean, that's definitely, uh, probably one of my favorite things to make.

Trent Manning: 40:17

Where do you get the dough from?

Scott Martin: 40:18

So we actually We have this like little service. It's like kind of like HelloFresh or something like that, I guess you could say, but it's like all, Locally grown vegetables and like meats and stuff like that from like the farmer's market up the road. And so it's also kind of like a grocery store. I guess you could say like you can order individual stuff, like whatever you want. And that's where we get our day from is like some, I think some local like vendor. Um, and, uh, yeah, they're just like small little individual days and yeah. Yeah. That's pretty cool. That's

Trent Manning: 40:52

Cool. Well, I don't so have you smoked anything on it?

Scott Martin: 40:55

Yes, I have. I've done beef ribs on there. I've done a couple of briskets. I've done some Boston butts. Yeah. I mean, we, I use it probably two to three, four nights a week sometimes.

Trent Manning: 41:10

That's very cool. That's awesome.

Scott Martin: 41:12

Yeah, but, you know, it's kind of a pain, you know, having to, uh, drop like an extension cord out of a second story window and, you know, hook it up

Trent Manning: 41:21

Oh Yeah

Scott Martin: 41:23

So,

Trent Manning: 41:24

right.

Scott Martin: 41:24

because like we have that little You know, that fan thing that like hooks up to your app, like an app and you can set it. And so it just keeps it at a constant temperature and stuff like that.

Trent Manning: 41:32

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Scott Martin: 41:33

I've only used that a couple of times just because it's, quite an ordeal. So

Trent Manning: 41:38

Yeah, it sounds like it. Yeah. I guess Condo living at its best right there.

Scott Martin: 41:42

know, you gotta do what you gotta do. You get your steps in when you go grilling.

Trent Manning: 41:47

Yep. Get it done. You ready to do some rapid fire?

Scott Martin: 41:56

I'm ready when you are.

Trent Manning: 41:57

What's your favorite movie?

Scott Martin: 41:59

Happy Gilmore. Hands down.

Trent Manning: 42:00

Oh, that's a good one. Yes. Adam Sandler. Mm-hmm.

Scott Martin: 42:04

Definitely. I mean, I'll never forget uh, I was eight years old. I was walking through Walmart with my grandma, and they had these, those big bins full of VHS tapes, and they're like five bucks a piece, and you know, I knew what it was, and somehow I talked to my grandmother into buying me that movie, I'll never know why, and uh, you know, I'll never forget, it just has kind of sentimental value, I guess, you know, more than

Trent Manning: 42:35

cool. That's awesome story.

Scott Martin: 42:36

You know, plus like one of my best friends. I mean, every time we see each other, hands down, if there's not a happy Gilmore quote that comes out, it's, you know, it pretty much

Trent Manning: 42:47

Right, right. Yeah.

Scott Martin: 42:49

it's

Trent Manning: 42:49

yeah. That's awesome. Price is wrong, Bob.

Scott Martin: 42:52

Right.

Trent Manning: 42:54

That's good stuff. Uh, what would be your last meal?

Scott Martin: 42:59

Oh man. Probably. Some sort of barbecue, to be quite honest with you. Probably brisket. Know of any place in particular because I haven't tried them all.

Trent Manning: 43:12

Mm hmm.

Scott Martin: 43:13

that would definitely be my last meal for sure.

Trent Manning: 43:16

Okay. Awesome. Yeah. You ever had Texas brisket? Yeah.

Scott Martin: 43:20

I have a couple of times. But I haven't been to any of the you know, I haven't tried enough,

Trent Manning: 43:26

Yeah.

Scott Martin: 43:26

could say. You know.

Trent Manning: 43:28

Yeah, I definitely, I want to go to a Franklin's barbecue in Austin

Scott Martin: 43:33

Yes. Yes.

Trent Manning: 43:34

that that's on my wishlist of places to go just so I could get a slice of brisket.

Scott Martin: 43:39

No doubt. I mean, I lived in Charleston for a little while and there was like, I never went there But I always heard about it. There's some place it's like in the middle of nowhere It was open like one day a week And it's like this like shack in the middle of nowhere and every day every time they open like like sold out of food within 10 minutes, you know, like that kind of place. I kind of like the whole, just like the whole thing about it. You know, I love that aspect where it's your, your stuff is so good that, you know, people will come forever. And. You know, even if they miss out and they're disappointed, they're still going to come back and see if they can get it

Trent Manning: 44:19

Oh yeah.

Scott Martin: 44:20

know what I mean? Like that? I don't know. I just, I don't know. I think it's really cool when people are really dedicated to their craft and you know, it's definitely

Trent Manning: 44:27

Well, I don't know what you know about Franklin barbecue, so I'm going to tell you and the listeners. Whether you want to know or not, but, uh, so he does a kind of similar thing. He cooks a certain amount of meat for that day. And when he runs out, he's out and people start, I don't, he opens around lunch, 11 o'clock or something, and people start getting in line at nine o'clock or even before. And yeah, and waiting for him to open up and then they actually they, people were paying other people to hold a place in line

Scott Martin: 45:06

Oh,

Trent Manning: 45:07

for them. Yeah, and then they, they done away with that. So you're not allowed to hold a place for somebody else. So, I mean, that's some serious good stuff. If people are willing to, uh, you know, pay for somebody to wait in line or wait in line theirself for, for that long. So that's, uh. Hopefully one day I'll, I'll make it to Austin.

Scott Martin: 45:28

For sure. There's gotta be something there.

Trent Manning: 45:30

Well, what are you most proud of besides your family?

Scott Martin: 45:35

That's a good question. Probably just try new things. I guess really I mean, I don't know if I, if this is supposed to be like proud about yourself or something, but I don't know, I guess

Trent Manning: 45:44

yeah, I mean, you can be proud about yourself. You can be a bit proud about where you're at and everything you've learned in the last few years.

Scott Martin: 45:53

I think that's definitely the case. I mean, I think it's a, I mean, I'm pretty proud of the strides that we've made. Yeah, at the golf course that I'm at right now. Honestly, I mean, it's been a pretty cool little fun ride. So

Trent Manning: 46:06

Yeah, no, it sounds awesome and amazing. You can also be proud of the pizza you cook on your

Scott Martin: 46:12

that's true too.

Trent Manning: 46:12

egg. Yeah. I mean, that's, there's, there's no rules here really.

Scott Martin: 46:16

I guess that's true.

Trent Manning: 46:18

Awesome, man. Good stuff. Where can we get ahold of you?

Scott Martin: 46:22

um. I am on Twitter, not super active. I'm not a big social media person. So I honestly really recently just got on there. Cause I wanted to see some of the stuff that people were building. I really want to build some of those racks to, uh, put the real stack, the reels up in and get them off the floor. So that was the main thing. And just like looking at people's benches and stuff like that. But I am on Twitter. I'm not really sure what my handle is, to be honest with you.

Trent Manning: 46:51

We will, uh, we'll find it and, and tag you when this goes out. Not a problem.

Scott Martin: 46:57

or they can email me S, uh, martin at H O A D V. com.

Trent Manning: 47:07

All right. Very good. Well, thank you so much, Scott, for being on this. It's been a blast like it always is. And I can't thank you enough for, for being here and. I hope everyone listening enjoys this episode and if you don't call Scott.

Scott Martin: 47:24

There you go. There you

Trent Manning: 47:25

No, I'm kidding, man. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.

Scott Martin: 47:29

No,

Trent Manning: 47:29

It's all good. No, that was a great.

Scott Martin: 47:31

uh, for sure. It definitely was. I really, I really appreciate you, uh, you know, giving them the opportunity and know, hopefully, uh, people want to hear something a little different every now and then, I guess.

Trent Manning: 47:52

thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf techs podcast. I hope you learned something today. Don't forget to subscribe. If you have any topics you'd like to discuss, or you'd like to be a guest, find us on Twitter at Reel turf techs.