Episode 122: Sam Baldea

Welcome to the Reel Turf Techs Podcast, Episode 120! Today, we’re talking to Sam Baldea, Equipment Manager at TPC San Antonio in San Antonio, TX. TPC San Antonio is a private 36-hole facility, hosting the Valero Texas Open on the Oaks course and supporting Champions and Korn Ferry Tour events on the Canyons course.

Sam leads a team of two Equipment Technicians and a Preventative Maintenance Technician, primarily using John Deere equipment. Coming from a mechanical family, Sam initially pursued a career as a brick mason before receiving an offer to work with landscape equipment. What started as a “temporary” job at a golf course in Virginia turned into an outstanding career in turf management.

With a love for golf and the support of his resume coach (his wife!), Sam joined TPC Potomac before moving to TPC San Antonio. He was quickly impressed by the friendly community and excellent food in Texas Hill Country. In this episode, Sam provides an inside look at tournament preparation for the Valero Texas Open, emphasizes the importance of accurate gauges, and highlights the value of tournament volunteering.

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Transcript

Trent Manning: 0:05

welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel 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 Welcome to the real turf techs podcast. Episode 1 22. Today. We're talking to Sam baldivia. Equipment manager. At TPC, San Antonio and San Antonio, Texas TPC San Antonio is a private 36 hole facility. It has the Oaks course. Where the Valero, Texas openness hailed. And the canyon course has supported championships and Korn ferry, tour events. Sam has two technicians. With him in the shop and a preventive maintenance technician. He has primarily John Deere equipment. Like most TPC courses. Let's talk to Sam. Welcome Sam to the RealTurf Text Podcast. How are you doing today?

Sam Baldea: 1:07

I'm good. Doing well, Trent. Appreciate for you having me do this.

Trent Manning: 1:11

Oh yeah, for sure. I'm excited about it. And yeah, thank you so much for being on. Tell us how you got into the turf industry.

Sam Baldea: 1:21

Well, it's it's a pretty funny story. I actually was, I grew up in a mechanical family, but I kind of ventured away in a trade school. I was supposed to be a brick mason. And I did that for about six months and gave it up, for my uncle a short time, and I was actually working on one of his gravely out front mowers he had. And he sent me up to the dealer he deals with. And went up there and ended up talking with the two owners for about an hour. And. You know, they surprised me with a job offer as a apprenticeship, getting into the landscape equipment turf industry. And did that for about four years. They ended up closing their business. And Did some things, you know, on my own. Wasn't happy with things I was doing and got a part time job. Well, temporary job, I should say, at a Hilltop Golf Club in Alexandria, Virginia. And they found out I could work on things and that's where it pretty much started back in 2004. And I got my real big break when I was hired on at a country club over in Crofton, Maryland. It's outside of Annapolis, Maryland. And yeah, so that's, I'm here today.

Trent Manning: 2:45

That's awesome. Yeah. And I don't, you know, you're not the first one to say that yeah, I'm just going to try this out at this golf course for a little while. You know, I'll, I'll find something else

Sam Baldea: 2:57

Yeah.

Trent Manning: 2:58

yeah, it's a funny story or similar story, a guy that works on our crew. His name's Philip Boswell and he grew up in construction. His dad was construction and they, you know, run side and roofing. I mean, Framing, you know, anything construction going on and he was in between jobs and he's, I don't, you know, he's in his probably sixties and he's seen the ad for the golf course and he come to the golf course and he's been there I think 12 years now. And he, he said, yeah, I'll just work here, you know, for a month or two until I can find something better.

Sam Baldea: 3:39

man,

Trent Manning: 3:40

he is still there, you know?

Sam Baldea: 3:41

that was my plan. I mean, I was looking to get back into an equipment dealer and you know, it just, it just didn't pan out and it just opened the doors and you know, it's had its challenges, but you know, for the most part, it was a it was a, it was a good run. I enjoyed it. It was something different because at a deal or at least, you know, you were stuck in a a bay, you were stuck doing, you know, the same stuff over and over again. And when it got introduced to me It was it opened my eyes. It was like, you're doing like a fleet mechanic type deal and you get to get outside and see, you know, the golf course and stuff, see, you know, what the beauty is of a golf course. And I, you know, I've always played golf. You know, it's always been, my dad got me into it. You know, we, we, we played as kids growing up and I always played and it was a good deal, you know, and, and just the job offers kept coming. I got to the sister course of Walden country club. That was that first country club I worked at Crofton country club. And I worked there for a little over a year and a half And I almost gave up, you know, I said, let me try something different. And I was lucky enough to get a job interview with the Fairfax County Park Authority. And got there, did my interview and come to find out it was for a golf course. And I was like, well, I guess I'm not getting away from this. And, you know, I spent a good four years with the county, did A little bit of everything did a lot of repair and mechanical work, got my spray license for Virginia because everybody at the county has to do everything. It's,

Trent Manning: 5:31

Mm-Hmm?

Sam Baldea: 5:32

it just wasn't one man does a certain thing. And. You know, after four years, I kind of got, kind of got tired, you know, I wanted something more challenging and looking, you know, through turf net and, and such and TPC Potomac popped up equipment tech. So I me and my wife got together. We tweaked on my resume. She did a really good job tweaking on my resume and went and had an interview at TPC Potomac. And man, I was there for like three, four hours for this interview. And I was like, There's no way they're not hiring me.

Trent Manning: 6:12

Mm-Hmm.

Sam Baldea: 6:12

they showed me everything and that's how I got started in the TPC PGA network. They hired me and you know, I spent almost two years at TPC Potomac and was took a transfer down here to TPC San Antonio for possible promotion. And you know, it, it Thing, good things came about,

Trent Manning: 6:36

That's awesome.

Sam Baldea: 6:37

yeah, yeah.

Trent Manning: 6:38

Yeah. How do you lock it in San Antonio? Mm-Hmm?

Sam Baldea: 6:41

You know, I'm a native Washingtonian from the Virginia Maryland, D. C. area, and it opened my eyes. It was almost like a culture shock, because I have family that grew up in the mountains of Virginia and, and West Virginia and stuff like that, and, you know, we get down here and it's like, you know, Man, I've never seen anything like this. The environment, you know, the people are super friendly. The food it's been good. I, the only thing I don't like is the heat. It kills me. I mean, you know, a hundred degree temperatures, it, it can be tough sometimes, but San Antonio has been good to us.

Trent Manning: 7:23

Do you have AC in the shop?

Sam Baldea: 7:25

No,

Trent Manning: 7:26

No. Oh, that would be so nice, wouldn't it?

Sam Baldea: 7:29

oh man, I tell you what, it would. It we got fans that blow hot air around and you know, in the mornings it's real enjoyable cause you know, we're in the foot of the hill country and even in the summertime, you still get that, you know, early morning, like chill in the air and it feels so good. And then when that heat hits, you know, it it wakes you up. It's like, Oh, it's going to be a tough day.

Trent Manning: 7:54

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm pretty sure TPC sawgrass has AC in their shop. So yeah, you might need to

Sam Baldea: 8:03

Oh, I've

Trent Manning: 8:04

to talk to somebody. Yeah.

Sam Baldea: 8:07

you know, it we're, we're trying to get some things in place I got some estimates for automated doors and other things to kind of hopefully one day meet Sawgrass Robbie, who is our director, was wanting me to, get estimates on that stuff, but you know, it would be cool to have that. It really would.

Trent Manning: 8:28

That automatic door they got sawgrass is something else too. I've never seen a door move that fast.

Sam Baldea: 8:35

Oh, really? Yeah, I haven't been there yet.

Trent Manning: 8:37

okay. Yeah. It's kind of in between the shop and I guess it's a little bit of equipment storage on the other side. And they got this door it's lightning fast up and down. It's so fast. And it's I don't, it's, I don't know, some kind of like fabric material, I guess,

Sam Baldea: 8:57

Oh, okay.

Trent Manning: 8:58

you know, plastic of some sort, but yeah, really, really cool.

Sam Baldea: 9:03

Yeah, I heard the the techs and the equipment manager have, like, I guess a key fob or something on their belts that they can open it up real quick. I would think, that would be cool to have.

Trent Manning: 9:14

Oh yeah, yeah, they do. They got, you know, a little push button that zips up and they walk through and push it again, zips down. And then, yeah, same thing, like getting into the shop, they have some kind of, you know, key fob with that to even get into the building. So, you know, and I mean, you know, they got the big tournament every year and all that stuff too. So I understand that you don't want just people wandering around, walking into your shop, you know, safety reasons and all that. Don't y'all host some tournaments

Sam Baldea: 9:45

Yeah, the Valero Texas Open actually is going to be going on here. Three weeks, I think three weeks or two weeks to advance week. And I think three weeks to tournament week we're we're at full steam. Me and my guys in the shop, we're kind of right now just doing some help on the golf course, driving range area because everybody else is tending to other things and why we're having, it's kind of funny. You're prepping for a tournament. And, you know, at least for us, you know, we have a little bit of a downtime before advanced week gets here. So we get to get out and help. Do some things on the golf course that you know, or get the guys out and they see things and we can do something different, but once this week's over, we're going to be full of steam in the shop.

Trent Manning: 10:37

Yeah. So I mean, we got plenty of other questions, but since we're talking about it, what is your process leading up to the tournament?

Sam Baldea: 10:48

Well right now let's see, two weeks ago, about three weeks ago, we already re we ground everything. So leading up to the tournament, after that grind we're going to be grinding greens every day. They top dress greens every week. So we're grinding greens almost every week, going through the equipment, making sure all the services are done, you know, cause I don't want to do anything like that once advanced weeks get here, I just want to grind, have everything ready and good to go. Prepping all the hand tools, the, the blowers trimmers, stuff like that, because we have a lot of native work that gets done. A lot of native mowing. We have two vent tracks, out front mower, a 10 foot bush hog that goes out. A lot of rough mowing going on right now. We're going to start brushing fairways here, Wednesday. We've been brushing greens twice a week. She should be starting backtracking brush greens here soon.

Trent Manning: 11:54

When you say brushing greens, what is it a brush in front of the mower?

Sam Baldea: 11:58

yeah, it's that turf science brush chip Howard out in Scottsdale. He he actually has a nice product. Really heavy duty. I like it out of all the brushes I've seen he makes a good product. You know, we hit it twice. They hit Robbie a little brush twice a week. And you know, then we'll do some regular mowing. We're right now, height wise, we're pretty close to where everything should be. And then when our regional agronomist comes in. You know, the greens will start maybe trickling down a little bit and they'll get the daily rolling going on start stamping more. And you know, they shoot for a certain number. I gotta be a little hush about it, but they,

Trent Manning: 12:43

I don't know. I understand

Sam Baldea: 12:45

they shoot for a certain number. And I think we're getting close.

Trent Manning: 12:49

when I've heard, you know, I've volunteered at several tournaments and they won't ever say the number. But, you know, everybody in the agronomy team, maybe not everybody, but the superintendents assistants, they all know the number. So when they stamp a green, they call over the radio and they say, plus 1, plus 2, minus 2, you know, whatever. They have their target and then they, you know.

Sam Baldea: 13:16

I've heard of that. They, they we actually, you know, we, we I guess we're limited on radios, so only certain people have them. Me, two of my guys and the rest of the assistants and the two volunteer TPC people that come down. So they, they say. Certain things over the radio and then the other things they hold to the side. And then when they get together right before we're finished or getting close to finish and they'll go over notes and stuff.

Trent Manning: 13:45

Well, I remember I was at the players last year and they were entering all of it in on their phone and it was, you know, tracked in their spreadsheet or whatever, you know, so updated live. That's pretty cool.

Sam Baldea: 13:59

yeah, we do that too. You know, it's I, I, I like, you know, I go out in the morning, go check all the equipment and you know, I get nosy when they stimp because I like fast greens. And I, you know, sometimes I joke. You know, like give me a 15 or something like that. You know, I just, I like seeing the process because working on equipment all the time, you know, you're getting ready, you're here at tournament. You want to have some fun. You want to see some different things. And you know what? You learn some things watching people, you know, I can't say I can stimp, but I sure know the process,

Trent Manning: 14:31

right, right. Yeah,

Sam Baldea: 14:32

I think it's pretty cool.

Trent Manning: 14:34

Yeah, no, it is cool. Well, and that interesting enough, I guess, hopefully you find it interesting or the listeners do. When I was at the players, that was my task. Is I went out with the stint team and I was just there. Yeah. I was just picking balls up. I didn't do any step in, but I was just overseeing the process, but I mean, it was fun. You know, we had the, we were dropping the ball to, to, for farmers and all that stuff. So that was cool. It was a good experience. All right, let's go to the second question.

Sam Baldea: 15:07

all right,

Trent Manning: 15:09

What's your least favorite part of the job?

Sam Baldea: 15:11

oh, you're gonna love this one. Everything to do with sand.

Trent Manning: 15:15

Okay.

Sam Baldea: 15:17

you know, I didn't mind aeration too much back on the east coast, mid Atlantic, because it was twice a year, but when we got here to south Texas, I mean, we do it four times a year in the summer, and you know, we got a lot of equipment going out, a lot of different things, aerators, verticutters. We're mowing down in heights. It's, it's hot. It's dusty. It can be very challenging. It's, it's nothing. When I first got here, it's nothing like I've ever seen anywhere else. You know, it's the, the weather can really be your enemy at times here in the summer and it, it wears you down, you know, it even plays heck with the equipment, you know, with the, especially with the mowers going out like for instance, we'll go out and mow down fairways. You know, if the grass is dry, radiators are getting clogged, air filters are getting clogged. There's a lot of blowing stuff off. And you know, back East, we didn't have any of that. And, you know, if I was back East, I'd probably tell you something different. But right now here in the, you know, South Texas and doing it four times in the, in the summer, it's like, eh, it's not my biggest, biggest thing. I like,

Trent Manning: 16:31

No, yeah, no, I definitely can understand that. And I mean, even here in Georgia, we get hot, but you know, it's pretty humid too. So we don't, you know, have all the dust in our, the dust is not as bad.

Sam Baldea: 16:47

Yeah. I mean, luckily, luckily enough, we get A good week to take care of everything. So we don't go out and try and kill everything in one day. We'll get probably half the greens done one day, half the greens done the other day. Fairways will just keep rolling through the week, T's and approaches. You know, we got time. That's, that's the nice thing where we're at. Course gets closed for a week, each close, each course. gets closed for a week. Right now we're going to be doing aerations one week. I believe it's one week off a week and then back a week on the other course. So, you know, it, it it gets real intense because, you know, like I said, the weather, wearing tines out, you know, readjusting verticutters you know, just a lot, just so much going on, just so much. You know, and I got three guys in the shop and we all, you know, hit it hard together and, you know, we all have, you know, the things that we do and we all chip in with things and, you know, it makes it easy, but you know, it does play tough on you.

Trent Manning: 17:58

Yeah, it definitely wears on you physically and mentally. You know, just the stress of, you know, whatever it is, air fire going down or VertiCutter going down and you know, they need it right then or 30 minutes before it broke and

Sam Baldea: 18:13

I believe we had one, one, one year that. We got some wetness during aeration and it was nice to have a little cool coolness in the air, a little dampness, but man, that dragged it on. It was like, I don't want this again. Just let's stick with the heat and dry and get it done with.

Trent Manning: 18:33

Why don't, so we usually airify, well, my one course, July 5th every year and airify greens. And. That's our thunderstorm season and we always have a thunderstorm every July 5th. There's a thunderstorm. It seems like I don't remember a July 5th without a thunderstorm. You know, sometimes it's earlier. Sometimes it's later. Sometimes it don't last as long, but there's always a thunderstorm on July 5th.

Sam Baldea: 19:02

yeah, we this past year with the heat wave that we had, I mean, we oh gosh, I think we were cutting, shutting down for the day around two, three o'clock just because it was so hot and guys on the crew, you know, we, we were able to get it done. And was just tough altogether with the heat. It just really was. Cause we have the aquifer where we get our water from and we get restrictions on how much water we can put out. And it was, it was getting kind of scary there for a minute.

Trent Manning: 19:35

Mm hmm.

Sam Baldea: 19:36

know, cause you could only do so many things and we had to cut back on, you know, a VertiCut here or, or you know, VertiCut there, or, you know, even doing something particular to the green, just because we just didn't have the water, you know, you, you, the, the Aquifer people, they, they really watch us close because we're right over the recharge zone.

Trent Manning: 20:00

Hmm. I've got you. Well, what's your favorite tool?

Sam Baldea: 20:04

I like the Parbar

Trent Manning: 20:06

okay. Shout out to miles.

Sam Baldea: 20:08

Yeah, yeah, I like what Miles makes. You know, it's a really good tool, really good gauge. I think it's probably the best, in my opinion what's out there right now. The guys in the shop really love it. We went from analog to digital a couple years ago. The guys really like it. During tournament week, we use the Advance week, tournament week, we use the the half inch bar. The one that only goes up to a half inch, with the better quality gauge on it. They really love it. I love it. You know, it's, it's, it's. If you don't have a good gauge or accurate gauge, you're, you're just, you're, you could be running into some trouble.

Trent Manning: 20:50

Oh yeah, for sure. And I mean, I've talked about it several times, but I don't think a lot of people are tracking their gauge and you know, is it consistent? Is it accurate or not?

Sam Baldea: 21:04

Yeah. No, we do. I have some milled steel stock that we, you know, test it with. The ones that we use for advanced week and tournament week and knock on wood, they've been good. You know, like I said, he puts out a good gauge and you got to take care of it. You got, you got to make sure it's in a good safe case, you know, clean a debris and don't drop it. You know, I've seen working my way through this industry. I've seen a lot of guys just not take care of it, you know, and it's very important, you

Trent Manning: 21:37

Mm. Yeah. I mean, that's one of, one of those tools that we can't really do without.

Sam Baldea: 21:43

no, no. Cause when I first started the super I work with was, you know, old school guy, and it was a bar with a screw. You know, and I thought, okay, well, that's, that is, that's what it is. And then I get over to a country club and they're like okay, this isn't what I remembered, but all right, I'll roll with it. Ooh,

Trent Manning: 22:09

they broke their, not that they broke it, but their how to cut gauge got broke before the tournament. So we were using a bar and screw to set green tie. And that's really hard. You know, if you're trying to measure a 10th of an inch, you know, on a screw that makes it tough.

Sam Baldea: 22:33

Yeah, especially with, you know, that's, that, that bar with a screw, that's a lot of feel. You have to have the right feel. The guy behind you, you know, might have to have that same feel. I mean, it's just, it is, it's very tough, you know. We have one, two, three, I think we have six gauges, two of them just for greens for advanced week and tournament week. And then the rest of them are for everything else. We keep them safe. We make sure they're working great. During tournament, you know, each of us split up like me and my assistant, we only do the greens. The other two guys will do fairways, approaches, and T's. That way we just, you know, we're keeping it equal and that bar, that gauge stays with whatever we're doing. Like those two are just greens. One's a backup, one's we use, the one is what we use all the time. Fairway guys, they got two gauges. One they use the whole time and one's a backup same with the T guy. So, you know, it's very important to have that stuff.

Trent Manning: 23:38

Oh, for sure. Do you have any volunteers in the shop during the tournament?

Sam Baldea: 23:42

Danny McConnell comes down for advanced week, helps us grind cause we're a Bernhardt facility. But during tournament week I've only had a couple through my time here at San Antonio. We get a lot of other, you know, assistants, supers and stuff like that. It's sometimes it's been great having help in there. And then sometimes, you know, it's, it's been a little challenging, but right now I think we have a individual who used to be a equipment manager that, And I think he's wanting to come into the shop and do a little bit. We'll see how, we'll see how that goes. We have a you know, the guys in the shop, they They can, they can be a little funny at times. They're like, don't mess up my My system, don't mess up my mojo, you know, I like it like this, don't mess up nothing, Sam, and I'm like, alright, but, you know, let's just, let's just see what we can do, you know,

Trent Manning: 24:34

Well, I know a lot of times when I've helped out in the shop at tournaments, I'll just push mowers around, you know, I mean, that's always helpful.

Sam Baldea: 24:44

yeah, no, we, we, the, the, one time I had a guy from I get these two courses mixed up, it was either TPC, River Bend or TPC, River Highland or whatever. I, I always get them mixed up, but he came down, he was an equipment tech. He was going to be possibly moving up to equipment manager. And he had the idea that he was just going to be doing that, pushing things around, whatever. But I kind of surprised them by saying, all right, you're going to take care of the T's. And you know, the other guys take care of the fairways and approaches and we'll do the greens ourselves, but, you know, it he was kind of shocked because he thought he was just coming there to push something around,

Trent Manning: 25:26

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Was it Bob Smith? No, not Bob

Sam Baldea: 25:30

No, it was,

Trent Manning: 25:31

Bob Martizek.

Sam Baldea: 25:33

no, it was gosh, I can't remember his name.

Trent Manning: 25:36

Cause Bob Martizek is River Highlands.

Sam Baldea: 25:39

no, then it was River Benz. The one that what is it in, oh Ohio, I believe.

Trent Manning: 25:43

Okay. Yeah. Highlands is in Connecticut.

Sam Baldea: 25:47

Yeah, that's yeah. I just met him actually. We had a a video meeting with John Deere. And that was the first time I ever met him and he seemed like a really good guy. We had some same concerns, same ideas. You know, we touch bases and Hit each other up. I guess he hit me up on LinkedIn and you know, he said feel free to throw some ideas his way. Stuff like that. He seemed like a good guy. I

Trent Manning: 26:13

No, he is.

Sam Baldea: 26:14

doing some things.

Trent Manning: 26:15

yeah, no, he's, he's awesome. I volunteered up there last year, too, for the travelers. And just push mowers around pretty much. No, I did, I did a few other things, but I mean, it was a lot, I love volunteering. It's a lot of fun. You get back way more than you put in,

Sam Baldea: 26:31

I tell you what, I hear that from everybody. We get A lot of people from overseas, England, New Zealand here in the States. And a lot of them, that's what they do. They just do tournament support and they pick a couple throughout the year and do it. And it's amazing that, you know, that they may be stuck in bunkers. They may be doing divots. They may be doing something like that, but they always seem to go back with some sort of knowledge that what we did and take it to their facility.

Trent Manning: 27:04

it doesn't necessarily matter what their task is during the tournament. They're talking to everybody else, their network. And, you know, they're talking to your supers, your assistants and getting ideas about this, that, and whatever else. So it's, it's a great experience.

Sam Baldea: 27:20

I love the guys from overseas because they come in and it's like their mind is blown. At the size of our facility and the stuff we got, they're like, Oh no, we don't have that, you know, we, we, we got, you know, half the equipment or a quarter of the equipment you got, or man, your shop is huge, you know, it just, I love it, you know, cause

Trent Manning: 27:42

it's cool.

Sam Baldea: 27:43

I see it. What we do, but I would love to go overseas and do something and see that just

Trent Manning: 27:49

Oh, yeah.

Sam Baldea: 27:50

you know, it's, it's, it's a whole different world.

Trent Manning: 27:53

Mm hmm. Yeah, for sure. That'd be awesome. Well, what do you do to relax or find your balance?

Sam Baldea: 27:59

I really like the outdoors. I love fishing. I love being with my son. He likes getting out and fishing and stuff. He he's funny. The first time I took him, ever took him, he I had more fun than I guess he did to see him hook his first fish and he got a couple fish and he was like, okay, I'm done. I'm ready to go home. I'm like, what? I mean, everything's getting good, but that's one thing I love to do. I love the outdoors. I used to hunt a lot back when I lived in Virginia and Maryland. I really haven't done that in years. Also got a, my wife really gets on me because she says I'm really good at it. I love take, I love. Taking pictures and photography.

Trent Manning: 28:42

Oh, yeah.

Sam Baldea: 28:43

some of the stuff you see on my X or Twitter page, you know, or the sunrises and stuff of the course, the fog and everything, and you know, I, I know some people that really do professional photography and they, they keep telling me, you know, it might be something you want to do. I look at it as you can capture the moment you're seeing and constantly go back to it and re see in it and re You know, feel that moment that you felt when you saw it in person but I just, I love the outdoors. I just love it.

Trent Manning: 29:17

No, that's awesome. And yeah, I think I guess when I was out in Phoenix, I don't remember if it was I'll think of his name in a minute. I don't know why I just went blank, but the great equipment manager at Desert Mountain. And anyway, I'm talking to him. I'm like, every equipment manager I think I've met is a redneck. We're all rednecks. It's just funny, you know, and not that that's a bad thing or anything like that But yeah, I mean most of us do enjoy the outdoors a lot of us like to fish some of us like to hunt yes, this is awesome

Sam Baldea: 30:01

you know, I did like I said in the beginning, you know, I used, I used to play golf a lot. I would play it once, twice a week My dad, he used to be able to hit the ball real far and I was pretty equal to him. So he took me to my first long drive competition. And he just wanted to see what I could do. And sure enough, you know, I got hooked on it because. I didn't really know that that could be something you could do. I competed in local events and made it twice to regional championships and you know, pounding the ball. Like my longest drive I ever hit was 364 yards.

Trent Manning: 30:43

Wow

Sam Baldea: 30:44

You get to regionals where all these other guys are vying for the You know, getting to worlds and you're seeing guys hit balls over 400 yards, you know, up in the top 300 and it blows your mind. I did that for a while and I was really hooked on it. I spent a lot of money on golf clubs. you know, it's just not. Drivers you could buy off the shelf. There were a lot of components you put together and, you know, I had four and a half degree drivers, five degree drivers, double X diff shafts, and I was like blowing money every year and, I did that for a while and I was like, you know, okay. I think it's time to settle back. But you know, no, I, I love the outdoors and you're right. Everybody, the one year we had the golf show here in San Antonio, we had a shop tour guys from buses came in and you know, I gave a shop tour and it's just so many, we, we loved outdoors. It's just, it's not a bad thing. Like you said,

Trent Manning: 31:51

Oh, yeah,

Sam Baldea: 31:52

It is what it is. I mean, we're, we're in a way, I guess you could say we're, we're I don't know, we're just good old boys, I guess.

Trent Manning: 31:59

there you go. Oh, yeah, I like that maybe then maybe I should change that because I think Redneck could have a negative connotation to it So good old boy, maybe that's better. 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. Well, tell us something strange you've seen at the golf course.

Sam Baldea: 32:51

All right. This is the strangest thing I've ever seen is when I got here from the East coast to here, South Texas are the hogs. These,

Trent Manning: 33:01

yeah.

Sam Baldea: 33:02

these things are relentless. They are destructive. The weirdest thing, cause we trap them at our golf course and they get disposed of. And one time I was up on the driving range early in the morning and I started to chase this one off in my cart. I got a 835 XUV. So, you know, it goes in its forties I was chasing him a good ways. And, you know, I bumped him in his butt and he stopped and turned and looked at me and I'm like, why are you not running? You know, because I'm coming from an area where, you know, we don't have hogs. It just how they will turn and stand toe to toe with you is amazing

Trent Manning: 33:47

Yeah, that's scary.

Sam Baldea: 33:48

The Worst I've seen it was It was in winter it was Well before the Valero and they did so much damage. I think we brought in like an 18 wheeler of sod

Trent Manning: 34:02

Wow.

Sam Baldea: 34:03

I mean it's I It's just crazy. And the things that they do and how they, you know, They, they, they know the course, they know the cutthroes to get from the North course down to the South course, they know, you know, When we're water in the most, you know, it's just, it's crazy

Trent Manning: 34:24

That is crazy.

Sam Baldea: 34:25

I've never seen an animal like that before. The biggest one we've taken off the property when we had this trapper that would take them out alive. And when, if he caught big ones, he would take them right to the process in place because he charges for trapping. And then he made money off selling them to the meat market. The biggest one he's ever taken off was 368.

Trent Manning: 34:48

Wow. That's

Sam Baldea: 34:49

That was a, that was a huge hog. We had one, we, it was funny cause it was, we caught him in a storm. I went out and checked and the trapper called us and said, I can see him on my camera, but can you go make sure the traps are, cause he looks like he's big. So I drove out there and this big gray, white, I don't know, just, you know, light colored hog was in it and it was like the biggest one I've ever saw. So we get back to the shop. The senior assistant calls him. Yeah, it's still there. He gets here, we drive out there, and it's gone. It busted out the cage. And it's funny because you know how like the story of Moby Dick, the big white whale, we got this story of the big white gray hog that's been running around and no one's been able to trap.

Trent Manning: 35:39

Yeah, that's good. That's awesome. Do you have a mentor in the industry?

Sam Baldea: 35:44

You know, I do. When I first started Naples Lawn and Garden Buddy Harris and Dave Goodwin, they they did me, did me well, they, they took care of me helped me learn stuff taught me a lot. about small engines and, you know, turf equipment and small farm equipment to where, you know, it's not a, don't look down on yourself because you're not a car mechanic or a truck mechanic or something like that. This is something that's, you know, just as important as a vehicle. And you know, they taught me the right way of doing things and, you know, keeping to your standards and going above and beyond what you would normally. And then just try and, and put out a good product when you repair something. You know, I was only with them for about four years and then they closed the business. Buddy has, I believe gone and he, you know, he's passed away since then. But, you know, on my Facebook page David, I'm, I'm still in contact with him. He's a service manager up at LEPCO in Pennsylvania of of Landscape equipment and you know, they started everything for me. If it wasn't for them, I probably wouldn't be where I'm at. You

Trent Manning: 37:01

Right.

Sam Baldea: 37:01

When I one employee of the year back in 2017. You know, I thank David for everything he did for me, because if, if he wouldn't have taught me, he saw something in me, if they wouldn't have spent the time with me, you know, I wouldn't be where I'm at right now.

Trent Manning: 37:19

Oh yeah. Yeah, for sure. No, that's awesome. And it's great to have really good mentors, you know, no matter what industry you're in.

Sam Baldea: 37:29

No, it's, it's, it's, it's important. You know, my you know, I don't really have an assistant, but I call him my assistant, Alonzo. He jokes with me a lot. You know, I, I show him. Tricks and things like that that, you know, you may not see in a book or whatever and He always jokes with me. He goes. Thank you sensei. I'm like

Trent Manning: 37:49

Yeah, yeah, that's funny.

Sam Baldea: 37:50

Yeah, so, you know it feels good to you know have a mentor but then it feels good also to pass that on and

Trent Manning: 37:59

No, a hundred percent.

Sam Baldea: 38:00

You know, I appreciate those two guys. They they did a lot for me,

Trent Manning: 38:04

No, that's awesome. What would be your dream job?

Sam Baldea: 38:08

man 50 course

Trent Manning: 38:12

Okay. Yep.

Sam Baldea: 38:13

I would, I would love to be a part of an operation like that. You know, I, I'm not picky about, you know, I don't know a lot of the top 50 courses but working at TPC Potomac being next to congressional and getting to go over there and see things when they were getting ready for the U. S. Open. That was awesome. You know, the, they, the local dealer that supplied them the equipment they brought in loaner stuff and they were unpacking brand new stuff for them to use. And I've never seen that before. And I was like, that is awesome.

Trent Manning: 38:52

Yeah, that's cool.

Sam Baldea: 38:53

at the time his the, the equipment manager there was Shahid and you know, it was it was awesome, but you know, opportunity for me, you know, it would be. I would definitely love one day to be able to go back to TPC Potomac and finish everything out with the PGA Tour just because that's where I started. You know, I'm from that area, but I have like in Myrtle Beach, I love the, the Dunes Beach and Golf Club. You know, I got a chance to play that one year with my dad and that was awesome. He lives in Myrtle Beach. He retired there. Caldonia, you know, that's a nice club, but just to be a part of a top 50 club, you know, I would even love, I would even love being a part of Sawgrass to be honest with you.

Trent Manning: 39:44

Oh yeah. Yeah. That'd be cool.

Sam Baldea: 39:46

Yeah.

Trent Manning: 39:47

They got it going on down there for sure. It's,

Sam Baldea: 39:50

know they it is, it's it's a monster.

Trent Manning: 39:54

What technician would you like to work with for a day? You got anybody in mind?

Sam Baldea: 39:58

I do. When I first got into TPC Potomac, Jerry Ashby was the equipment manager at the time. And you know, I worked with him almost two years and I got promoted to, or got transferred here. During my time here, a couple of years ago, he passed away. I had cancer really bad. I would really love just to have one more day with him, just to work with him. He was a good guy. We had fun. We butt heads sometimes, but you know, he, he was fresh into the industry. Came from Ford dealer really good sound mechanical ability. Really new into grinding. So, you know, I was able to do a lot of grinding. You know, he was learning the stuff for himself, but I'd really love to have just one more day with him just to joke with them, show pictures, like, Hey man, look, look what They did to this equipment because, you know, when I got here and got promoted, he would send me at least once a week. He's like, look what this guy did. You know, this cart, you know, all mangled, whatever. And we would get to joking and stuff. And I just, I miss that. I would love to have one more day with them.

Trent Manning: 41:11

Yeah. Yep. For sure.

41:13

Get ready for tips and tricks.

Trent Manning: 41:16

Let's do some tips and tricks. What do you got for us?

Sam Baldea: 41:21

You know, I love the leveling table, the granite table.

Trent Manning: 41:27

Oh, yeah. Okay.

Sam Baldea: 41:28

that was something new in our facility two, three years ago, I guess. And you know, watching the videos that was put out on it on YouTube, how to use it, You know, I think we always tweak on things that we see and we get a lot of fairway reels that come back that are really knocked out of alignment. And, you know, with that table, it helps us put it back to square, but, you know, we found ways to speed it up, I guess. What we normally, what we'll do is once we get everything clamped down and it is rocking really bad we'll just get the reel. We'll start loosening up frame, you know, getting it, you know, to let it square up with the bed knife and reel. And I found these machined bars that we use as like a feeler gauge and we're feeling it off the the ends of the reel And once we get it right where it's Touching nice and smooth on each side. Not a lot of drag. We'll tighten things down back off the reel, get it adjusted, set the height and we'll put it back on the the, the, the stone. And you know, it, it comes out most of the time, like 98. 9, 98 percent of the time true again. You know, where I've seen guys on the video and other guys, they use that dial cage, but I don't know. It could be a South Texas thing with the ground hard, you know, the reels get, you know, knocked out of whack a lot down here. And we find that way of using those machine bars as feeler gauges probably the best thing so far that helps us get them back square. We don't so much have problems with that, with the greens mowers. When we do get one that's, knocked out of alignment. What we'll do, same process. We'll get the reel touching on the bed knife. Undo the bolts on the frame, rollers, stuff like that. And then we'll just lower it and touch the bed knife right onto the stone itself. And then go through the process of, I got these long feeler gauges of touching the bed knife. And you know, once we get it where it's, you know, a nice little drag on each side, we'll start putting things back together, tighten things back up, adjusting everything, cutting paper, height, and then we'll throw it back. I love that thing.

Trent Manning: 43:54

Who, who who implemented that? He said, you've only had it a couple of years.

Sam Baldea: 44:00

well, our I guess VP of agronomy Kept saying that we all need to get it, get involved with it. Cause sawgrass had it. And you know, I think all TPCs now have it. It's a I think sawgrass from what I heard, I think Danny told me that they use it every day after when machines come in, they'll throw it up there and check it, but we do it a lot with, after a grind or if we got something on the lift, it just doesn't look right. So we'll throw it on there. But it was the VP of agronomy, I believe, that implemented it.

Trent Manning: 44:36

Yeah. I was just curious.

Sam Baldea: 44:37

Yeah,

Trent Manning: 44:38

That's cool though. And I mean, I'm glad that, yeah, people are doing that now and

Sam Baldea: 44:43

mean, I've seen things on Twitter, X, and you know, people clamping down bars across the stone itself and using it like, you know, the old what was it, AccuGage that they, that they used to have. You know, there's so many different ways to doing it, you know, I, like I teach the guys in the shop, you know, there's a lot of ways out there. There's the, by the book. And then sometimes that we get off the book a little bit because. We're able to find new ways of doing it. And I think a lot of people are starting to do that. And as long as we're getting to the same common goal of having things square and coming out with the same product, you know, I'm, I'm fine with that. And I think You know, Twitter X is a good place to get information and stuff. And even YouTube, a lot of guys have YouTube stuff on there. You know, it's, it's, yeah, it's, it's just a cool tool and having the internet and being able to see what other people do is, is, is helpful as well.

Trent Manning: 45:52

Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, I think it's awesome. And yeah, to your point, it's like the old saying goes, there's more than, more than one way to skin a cat. Right. I mean, you know, and whatever works for you and your operation, You don't have to do it like the guy on YouTube or down the road or whatever, you

Sam Baldea: 46:11

yeah. Yeah. I mean, I would love, I would love to one day put out. A video on X on how we do it. Cause I showed Danny one time when he came with a new guy to Bernhardt. And he was like, wow, I've never seen that done, but we were able to produce what needed to be produced at the end. And You know, it's, it's, there's so many different ways of doing things.

Trent Manning: 46:37

Oh yeah, for sure. Any other tips? That the biggest one?

Sam Baldea: 46:42

I would say that's the biggest one. My, my other thing is just get into a good grinding routine. I mean, we're grinding something every week. You know, it's, It's so important to keep those reels sharp and cutting paper nice and crisp because, you know, I've, I've worked around people that are like, you know, spin that reel real fast just to get the, the paper to cut. And I'm like, you know, hold on, hold on. Let's, you know, if, if you spin it slow and it cuts and it's nice and crisp, that's what we want. And just. Just pay attention to your reels because that's what makes us as technicians for golf course. You know, it's, it's it's very important.

Trent Manning: 47:29

it's definitely our bread and butter because, you know, I mean, anybody, not anybody, but there's a lot of people that can. You know, be a mechanic and work on a lot of different stuff, but that's one thing that kind of sets us apart is we have a good understanding of cutting unit maintenance and set up and, and all those things.

Sam Baldea: 47:48

And you know, one thing that we've been doing Past two years now is I gotten in with a Schweppco dealer and I really love their grease. I don't replace Barons during the season, roller Barons, real Barons, just get some good quality grease. It's, it's, it's huge. It helps you a lot.

Trent Manning: 48:10

that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. That's another good tip. Well, what else do you want to dive into?

Sam Baldea: 48:16

Oh gosh.

Trent Manning: 48:17

Yeah, we covered a lot, covered a lot of stuff there. That was good.

Sam Baldea: 48:20

You know, we as golf course mechanics grow, you know, going through this industry and going through the years, I think we've got bad names on ourselves for being grumpy and You know, we're going to have times where we do get grumpy. But I think working close and having a good relationship with the agronomy team is key. Get them to, you know, know that you're on your, their side. We're all the same team. We're all for the same goal. Because in the end, if one of us fail, we all fail. know, don't get, get rid of that grumpy mechanic personality. Not saying that everybody has it. So I'm like, I said, I get it every once in a while we all do, but just being, you know, a team player is, is huge as key. I'll give you an example. It kind of helps us out in the shop a little bit, breaks up the monotony. We, the PF gets mowed twice a week and we do it. We help them out by doing it in the morning. Gets my, one, it gets my guys out of the shop, gets them doing something different. And two, it kind of lightens up the load of the assistance on sending someone up just to mow the driving range tee, you know, just something simple like that, you know, is just it shows that, you know, Hey man, we're, we're all part of the same team. Let's, let's help each other out. You know, I, I never thought I would be where I'm at without. You know, support of others and you know, you never be afraid to ask questions or try and be the one that you think you know what you're doing, but in the end you don't, you're just making yourself look bad. Just, just ask the questions, make a call. I'm I've made friends here in Texas with a lot in the dealer. I got a great parts guy. Road service guy even some of the directors and stuff. And, you know, if I get stumped with something, I will make a call. I have no problem, you know, cause you're going to learn from it. You know, especially just a lot of other guys see a lot more than you. So don't, don't be afraid.

Trent Manning: 50:33

Yeah, especially those guys on the road. I mean, they say a lot of stuff,

Sam Baldea: 50:38

they do.

Trent Manning: 50:39

you know, a lot more than I've had that conversation several times. I mean, when I was doing it, I mean, I think one year on the road is equal to five or six years at a golf course

Sam Baldea: 50:51

Yeah.

Trent Manning: 50:52

because you just, you know, it's a new problem every single day that somebody couldn't figure out or doesn't have the time to figure out and it's your job. Solve that. Yeah,

Sam Baldea: 51:08

I think happened to me in a while, we had a 300 gallon sprayer, centrifugal pump, and it just one day started to leak, you know, and we resealed it and it leaked again. resealed it, it was a hydraulic motor. It leaked again. So I threw a whole new assembly on there and seven parts warranties later, it was still leaking hydraulic and it was driving me crazy. And I was calling everybody. The parts guy was helping me calling deer, trying to get. Some information, DTAC case was put on it. The road service guy came out, tested the, the pressures going back to the motor. They were all within spec. I mean, we were coming up, trying to come up with anything and everything. I don't know if just a bad batch was made or whatever, but it took a lot of us. You know, to put our heads together and just try and figure things out. And yeah, you're right. Those road guys, they see more than what we do. They see some crazy stuff, you know, I was, I made friends with this one road guy, he's no longer with the dealer, but I still open up to him for help and all, because he opened his, his own business, you know, just tech questions and whatever, because we earned that friendship, you know, and he doesn't mind. You know, helping me with something that's stumping me. And just make friends with the road guy, make friends with the parts guy. I got one parts guy that that's alls I use. If he's out sick, well, it's not getting ordered today. You know, I'm waiting until he's getting back, you know?

Trent Manning: 52:47

that's cool.

Sam Baldea: 52:48

it's it's, it's just important to make that friendship and yeah, they, they see stuff, they do.

Trent Manning: 52:54

Oh yeah, for sure. You ready to do some rapid fire?

Sam Baldea: 53:00

Yeah,

Trent Manning: 53:01

Let's do it. What's your favorite movie?

Sam Baldea: 53:04

Jaws,

Trent Manning: 53:05

Oh, okay. Yeah. what year did that come out?

Sam Baldea: 53:09

I think 76,

Trent Manning: 53:10

Okay. All right. What will be your last meal?

Sam Baldea: 53:14

Maryland Steamed Blue Crabs,

Trent Manning: 53:17

Oh yeah. So good. Yes. So good. What are you most proud of besides your family?

Sam Baldea: 53:24

you know, I'm, I'm proud of how, you know, things turned out for me I'm proud of having, you know, a cheerleader and my wife to cheer me on and, and people trust me with things. Because that does make you proud. It's not a cockiness. It's, it's, you know, Hey, I earned that person's trust to trust me with everything that I am responsible for at work. So,

Trent Manning: 53:47

hmm. No, that's yeah, that's awesome. And that's a huge, you know, I don't know the word, but you definitely should be proud of that, right? Because it's, it's one thing to work with somebody. It's another thing to trust somebody you work with.

Sam Baldea: 54:04

yeah,

Trent Manning: 54:05

I mean, I can count on one hand how many people you know, my shop I trust,

Sam Baldea: 54:10

yeah,

Trent Manning: 54:10

right?

Sam Baldea: 54:11

yeah, it's, it's, it's, there's a, I saw a meme. Teamwork is not when you work well with each other. Teamwork is when you trust each other.

Trent Manning: 54:21

Yeah, that's good. Mm hmm.

Sam Baldea: 54:23

I trust I got a new guy in the shops, you know, he's still feeling them out, seeing what he can do. Cause he's, you know, he's green to the industry, but I got two other guys that I truly trust. If I'm not there, I know things are going to be all right.

Trent Manning: 54:35

Yeah. No, that's awesome. And that says a lot about the way you mentor them. And it says a lot about them too.

Sam Baldea: 54:42

Yeah.

Trent Manning: 54:43

Yeah. No, that's awesome. We'll tell the listeners how they can get ahold of you.

Sam Baldea: 54:49

I have a Twitter page just hit me up on my name, Sam Baldia LinkedIn account, and you know, I, I time to time, put things up there. I do surf it. At least once a day for new things, you know, see what's going on. You know, I've been toying with even starting up a YouTube channel. And doing some things how we do things with equipment wise. But yeah, just hit me up on Twitter, X, whatever you want to call it. Or LinkedIn.

Trent Manning: 55:20

Awesome. No, that's so good. And definitely do the YouTube thing and anybody that's listening, do the YouTube thing or make some videos and put it on X or I mean, whatever it is. I think the more information we can get out there like that, I mean, the better. and on I plug my own website, but I've linked all the YouTube channels that I know of.

Sam Baldea: 55:48

yeah.

Trent Manning: 55:48

So if you know of another really good YouTube channel for our industry, send me an email. Let me know. I'll be happy to put it on there. Cause I think that'd be a great resource for everyone.

Sam Baldea: 56:01

I'd say I got into X two or three years ago, and it just blew my mind how much information is out there. And it blew my mind how you can ask a question and how many people would be responding. You know, it's a we're a niche industry, but you know what? We're a tight industry. I see a lot of people helping each other.

Trent Manning: 56:23

Oh, for sure. And I think, you know, I've said that plenty to you, but that's my favorite part about this industry is, and especially on the mechanic side, we'll help anybody out, I don't care who it is. I don't care who you are or where you're at, you call me and I'll do everything I can to help you. And I think everybody else in the industry is that way too.

Sam Baldea: 56:46

yeah, no, it is. I,

Trent Manning: 56:47

it so great.

Sam Baldea: 56:48

I remember the, the dealer gave my information out to this one guy not too far from Marlborough Falls. He was having some trouble with some bed knives and stuff like that. And we, we run nothing but JRM stuff, tines and bed knives. And he was so appreciative of me giving him information on JRM and what we do and, you know, I didn't give out, you know, every, Little tidbit, but you know, I helped him with everything that you know, we do and you know from last I heard he was he Made to move over to the greens bed knives at least and you know, he was doing well He was getting what he needed out of him just from me helping him giving him my point of view on stuff

Trent Manning: 57:32

Yeah, no, that's awesome. So, so good. Well, thank you so much, Sam. 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.