Reel Turf Techs Podcast

Episode 125: Robert Smith

• Trent Manning • Episode 125

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Welcome to the Reel Turf Techs Podcast, Episode 125! Today, we’re chatting with Robert Smith, Equipment Manager at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, PA. Merion is a private 36-hole facility with two shops and a rich history of hosting five U.S. Opens. Robert oversees a team of two full-time mechanics and one part-time assistant.

Golf runs deep in Robert's family, with a father who worked as a part-time golf cart mechanic and a mother employed in the pro shop of their local course. Uniquely, Robert knew he wanted to be a golf course mechanic as a teenager and pursued a combined ag/golf program to make it his career. Outside of work, Robert enjoys quality time with his wife and two daughters, fishing, and quiet time at home.

In this episode, Robert shares the challenges of training in all aspects of golf course maintenance, emphasizing the importance of recognizing individual learning styles. He offers wisdom on the value of patience and the usefulness of note-taking when diagnosing equipment issues along with insight on the internship program at his facility. Robert and Trent also bond over their admiration for outdoorsman Dick Proenneke and the fun of volunteering at tournaments. Tune in for an insightful conversation filled with practical advice and shared passions.



Trent Manning:

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 this episode are real turf techs on golf course industries Superintendent radio network is presented by Foley county a strong supporter of equipment technicians and golf course maintenance departments everywhere Foley county offers a proven solution for above and below the turf for turf professionals To learn more about Foley company's line of real grinders bed knife grinders and the air to G2 family of products or to find a distributor visit www dot Foley C o.com Foley Ready for play Welcome to the RealTurf Tex Podcast, episode 125. Today we're talking to Robert Smith, Equipment Manager at Marion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Marion is a private 36 hole facility. Robert has two shops there. Marion has hosted five U. S. Opens. Robert has two full time mechanics, one part time. He has a mixture of Toro, Deere, and Jake. Let's talk to Robert. Welcome Robert to the RealTurf Techs podcast. Thanks for coming on. Yep. Yeah, it's only been a few months since I saw you in San Diego. Hanging out with your best buddy, Mike Elliott, I'm sure. How, how far do y'all go back?

Robert Smith:

Gosh it's been probably about 10 years.

Trent Manning:

Okay.

Robert Smith:

So you know, the good thing about this area is we got a, a lot of really good, you know, Really good text in the area that we communicate back and forth on a daily basis. So, we're not talking, we're not talking shop, we're playing golf. So

Trent Manning:

Oh, that's good.

Robert Smith:

Keep that the camaraderie going. And it's always a good time hanging out with Mike. So

Trent Manning:

Awesome. What about Terry Apple?

Robert Smith:

yeah, Terry's a good friend of mine to

Trent Manning:

Okay, good. Yeah.

Robert Smith:

talk to Terry. Not probably as often as what I should, but you know, when you get into the whole mayhem during the season, it's less and less talking, but off season, I talked to him from time to time and gosh, he's only a few miles down the road from me, so,

Trent Manning:

Well, the next time I get up there, I'm going to stop by and see you too. I stopped by his shop a couple of years ago when I was up that way.

Robert Smith:

okay.

Trent Manning:

And I stopped by and I saw Mike at the one South New Jersey.

Robert Smith:

Okay,

Trent Manning:

Cape May down that way. I don't remember the name of that club,

Robert Smith:

national.

Trent Manning:

yeah, maybe. Yeah.

Robert Smith:

so I know he has the pleasure of dealing with three shops now. So, a little bit of a different story with him, but no, he has, he's a good guy, but yeah, you're in the area anytime, anytime, you're more welcome to show up. So

Trent Manning:

appreciate that. And yeah, for anybody listening, I hadn't met anybody yet that said, don't come by my shop. I mean, I mean, serious. So to all the listeners, if you're going somewhere vacation or whatever, and you want to stop by a shop, you know, just reach out to them, set something up. Cause most people's, you know, it's open door policy

Robert Smith:

a few times down at the shows where I'll, I'll get in touch with a, a John Deere dealer or a Toro dealer and say, Hey, could I have a few contacts in this area? And sometimes I just like to maybe skip out on some education and go look at some shops. And there's a lot of times where I, I get a little bit more out of that than when I do anything else. So, and we don't, I have no problem with if somebody wants to contact me to swing in, if they're in the area. You know, if they give me a little bit of a notice, that would be great.

Trent Manning:

where, right, right, right, right.

Robert Smith:

But yeah, it's, we have, we have no problem showing the shop off. We're very proud of it. And yeah.

Trent Manning:

Awesome. When you were talking about that made me think me and John Patterson, we went up and seen Jason Fontana at desert mountain when we were out in Phoenix. And that was amazing facility that he's got. And I mean, he's super cool guy too. And I mean, you know, it's like everybody you meet, I know there's probably some a holes in the crowd, but most everybody is pretty cool. You

Robert Smith:

Yeah, they are. I mean, I think especially in this business, everybody has the same goal, right? And I met a lot of really nice people in this industry and it seems like everybody just wants to help people out. So.

Trent Manning:

That's a fact. Well, Tell us how you got into the turf industry.

Robert Smith:

Well, I think this is a pretty common thread amongst a lot of your a lot of your episoders. It was my father actually got in, got me into it. Golf runs pretty deep in our veins and my family and my mom was she worked at a pro shop at our local golf course. And my father, he was a part time golf cart mechanic. So, I was about probably three or four years old. Instead of getting a babysitter, they just. shoot me down at the course with them. And man, I had such a good time. We used to fish and then golf and it, it was a very family oriented golf course everybody knew everybody. And, and my passion for the game just kind of grew from there. I used to go over and bother my dad when he was working and help him out from time to time. There was definitely an interest there. I, I loved tearing stuff apart and I think dad kinda kind of shoved me in that direction to maybe

Trent Manning:

Mm hmm.

Robert Smith:

I don't know if this is legal to say, but I was about nine when I started working raking bunkers, just kind of helping out the local courses and,

Trent Manning:

Mm hmm.

Robert Smith:

they needed some help in the shop. And I started working with a, with a fella and. It just kind of grew from there. And I was listening to a few of your episodes and there's some people in there that said you know, in high school, you don't really, you haven't really heard of anybody saying, you know what, I'm going to be an equipment manager at a golf course, but I'm here to tell you, man, I was that guy. I was at the right place at the right time and things just kind of. Fell in the right spots for me. I worked under this guy by the name of Jimmy Fox. Till this day, he's probably one of the smartest mechanics that I have ever met in my entire life. And To work under him was just, it was a godsend.

Trent Manning:

Where did you work under him?

Robert Smith:

So his golf course back in South Central PA, it's called Downriver Golf Course owned by the Michaels and they are really good friends of our family. And he opened a lot of doors for me. So, it just kind of grew from there, really, and all the way through high school, they offered a program my junior and my senior year in school, it was called Diversified Occupations, so you go to school for half a day and go work for half a day, and

Trent Manning:

yeah.

Robert Smith:

I wasn't much of a schoolgoer, so

Trent Manning:

Mm hmm.

Robert Smith:

would rather work,

Trent Manning:

I think that's that's pretty common in this industry too, I think.

Robert Smith:

I think you're right there,

Trent Manning:

for, for most of us. I mean, it's interesting you say that because I did the exact same thing. We had a program. I don't remember, but I think we called it work exit or something. Or yeah, we went to school for half a day and go golf course in the afternoon. Do our thing.

Robert Smith:

I mean, it was perfect. There wasn't a lot of people in it, but there was enough people. They kept the program going and you know, everybody else was still in school when I was out in the golf course work. And I mean, that's

Trent Manning:

Mm hmm.

Robert Smith:

at 138 acre classroom. You can't beat that. Right. So

Trent Manning:

yeah, yeah. That's hard to beat.

Robert Smith:

it is hard to beat, but yeah, I mean, it just kind of went on from there. No, I ended up going to Penn State, Maine for this industry. It was called turf grass and agricultural equipment service technician program. And then the short version was the TAE program is what it was called.

Trent Manning:

Okay.

Robert Smith:

So, it was such a really good program and unfortunately it doesn't exist anymore because, well, they couldn't find a lot of bodies to fill it, but,

Trent Manning:

Hmm.

Robert Smith:

two year program and. First year consisted of schooling and then we did an internship, which I had a pleasure doing that at center hills and, went back to school, went back to center hills. They hired me full time. And then yeah, just kept on going on from there. Went up to New York for a while, up at Scarsdale, New York is a place called Quaker Ridge, worked up there for a while, and then came back to Lancaster, worked at a family owned business or golf course. And then eventually had a pleasure of coming to Marion, Marion golf club. So

Trent Manning:

So, yeah, how long have you been at Marion?

Robert Smith:

this is my 16th season.

Trent Manning:

Okay, you're a veteran then. That's awesome.

Robert Smith:

I, yeah, it's this place will work you hard, man. It's, it's such a good time though, here. You know, it's hustle and bustle.

Trent Manning:

hmm.

Robert Smith:

by quick and you kind of lose track of time at this place, that's for sure. So you got to be on top of your toes with that, but

Trent Manning:

I'll bet.

Robert Smith:

you want to keep the wife happy.

Trent Manning:

Mm hmm. Yep. I understand that for sure. I mean, that's an awesome story. And I would like to hear a little bit more about the program they had there. I mean, they teach you cutting units and electrical, hydraulic, all that stuff. Mm

Robert Smith:

you were practically certified and all that stuff. And it's such a shame that, that it went you know, went downhill. I think, well, I graduated in 05. Graduation of 06. I think there might've been eight students, 07. There was maybe five. And then I think the last year, and I could be wrong about this, but I think the last year was either nine or 10 there was maybe three graduating classes. So they, they combined the ag program with the golf course program. And we covered hydraulics, electrical fuel systems, engines, two strokes, four strokes. You name it, we covered it and there was some really, really, really good professors that we had up there. Harshman, Yoder, and then they, they ran a lot of the ag stuff. So they just kind of carried their weight on the golf course industry as well. We had finances, business. It covered an awful lot. It was a lot of information to take for the seven months we were in school. And, you know, we even covered welding, torching, I mean, TIG, MIG, stick.

Trent Manning:

Cool.

Robert Smith:

it was just a really, really good program. And the coolest thing about that program, a lot of the students that went to that school, or that was enrolled into that program, it was a little bit of a different experience than maybe a normal college education. So we would go to school from Monday to Thursday, and then we would have off on Fridays. So a lot of the, a lot of the students, including myself, would go to, go back home, work at the golf course, you know, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, to try to earn some money to, you know, eat for the next,

Trent Manning:

Mm hmm. Right, right.

Robert Smith:

But man, they crammed a lot of info Monday through Thursday. We would classes started seven in the morning and a lot of times wouldn't be done until six or seven at night.

Trent Manning:

Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, they didn't mess around.

Robert Smith:

you know, man, you don't have time to get into trouble. That's for

Trent Manning:

Mm hmm.

Robert Smith:

And I think that's probably pretty good being in college.

Trent Manning:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, at that age, for sure.

Robert Smith:

Absolutely.

Trent Manning:

I should have stayed a little busier than what I did at that age.

Robert Smith:

Look at you now. I think you're in good shape.

Trent Manning:

Well, yeah, it all worked out okay, I guess.

Robert Smith:

Yeah.

Trent Manning:

What's your least favorite part of the job?

Robert Smith:

Say the office work, really. I I'm kind of a go, go, go guy and to sit down and code bills and answer emails and I struggle with that a little bit, you know, I really find I have a hard time finding time for it, to be honest with you but something that you have to do, right?

Trent Manning:

Well, my personal opinion, the reason that you struggle finding time for it is you don't like doing it and I'm in the exact same boat. You know, I mean, It's, you know, it depends if I'm sitting behind the computer researching something like trying to find the part, aftermarket, something like that, I can get into that. But yeah, just filling out POs and paperwork and yeah, coding stuff like that. It's not

Robert Smith:

Yeah. It gets, it gets old pretty quickly. But

Trent Manning:

For sure.

Robert Smith:

It's all good now. It's part of the job, right?

Trent Manning:

Yep, that's it. What's your favorite tool?

Robert Smith:

I tell you, man, as goofy as this sounds, I actually have it right here. This little screwdriver,

Trent Manning:

Huh.

Robert Smith:

little pocket screwdriver, man, has saved me hours of hassle. I forget I have it in my pocket until I need it, but I mean, this thing can This thing's fixed rough motors for me before. It's just

Trent Manning:

Oh, right. Yeah.

Robert Smith:

It's fantastic to pop off controller plugs, or if I'm trying to pry something up just a little, you know, a little bit, but it's definitely one of my favorites. I have a few more, but it's not, I mean, I love all my tools to be honest with you, right?

Trent Manning:

Well, right, right, right.

Robert Smith:

you know, it's a little pocket flashlight I use all the time, but right here in my left pocket, it's, that's my heartbeat.

Trent Manning:

Yep. No, I'm right there with you. I carry the, one of the little steel screwdrivers in my pocket for years and years and years. And if I start getting busy again, I'll probably have it back in my pocket. Cause I mean, it's just one of those things, like you say, I mean, no telling what, and I've used it. I don't know how many times. Not at work,

Robert Smith:

Oh yeah,

Trent Manning:

you know, you're whatever you're out for dinner and you know, needs up, you know, and I don't know how many times my kids like covering their face up. Like this is my dad over here working on a stool that had a loose screw in it.

Robert Smith:

I get the same look, but I never leave home without it. And whenever I do, man, I'm lost. I don't know what to do.

Trent Manning:

Yep. No, I know that feeling. What do you do to relax or find your balance? Mm hmm.

Robert Smith:

So when I'm not here at work, I'm normally just at the house hanging whether we're cooking out or throwing a little get together for something or. I just, I love being at the house. It's like my own little castle, you know, anything and everything to do with my kids, whether we go fishing and like I said, hanging out. So we unfortunately don't get to travel too often. Maybe once a year, but yeah, it's just soon as I'm home, I level out. I've over the years, I've gotten pretty good about leaving work at work and not bringing that home. So, but

Trent Manning:

That's a challenge too.

Robert Smith:

most certainly

Trent Manning:

it it was for me for years and years and years.

Robert Smith:

No, it was definitely a big challenge for me. And I got about an hour drive home. So it gives me a lot of time to think, kind of think out. My problems per

Trent Manning:

Mm hmm.

Robert Smith:

Kind of what I'm going to do the next following day to, you know, get a little bit of a game plan together. But that, that, that car ride definitely helps me an awful lot. But yeah, whenever, whenever I go home, man, that's my neutral ground. It's,

Trent Manning:

Mm hmm.

Robert Smith:

that's kind of what I do to balance myself out.

Trent Manning:

Why don't tell me about your kids?

Robert Smith:

Oh, I got two beautiful girls. One's about

Trent Manning:

dad in the house. I love it.

Robert Smith:

Yeah, buddy. My grandfather, I'll tell you, I'll never forget this. My grandfather said, you, you, have two little girls. You're going to be taken care of for the rest of your life, man. I tell you, I, my oldest one will cook for me now when mom is not around and

Trent Manning:

Oh nice

Robert Smith:

it's fantastic. So, yeah, she's soon to be 14, just getting ready to go into high school.

Trent Manning:

Okay

Robert Smith:

And my youngest one She is she's 11 and she's getting ready to go into sixth grade.

Trent Manning:

Okay, awesome. Yeah, I don't I mean, you know, I got two girls, too They're not so little anymore 16 and 19, but you know, I don't know. I love it I

Robert Smith:

Oh, that's the best, isn't it?

Trent Manning:

it's the best. Yeah, it really really is What's been one of your biggest challenges there at the golf course Mm

Robert Smith:

would honestly think hands down training, training, training not necessarily people in my shop interns, AITs, you know, we've got a pretty good turnaround here at Marion. Not, not for a bad reason, but they have a really good internship program set up here. And very successful people try and try and try to get into it. And you know, we really want to give them 110 percent whenever we're training somebody for their sake and clearly for our sake, our sake as well. So it's, that's definitely a challenge. You have people that's been into business a little longer than say the others, but we have a tendency to find a good little program and kind of run with it, you know, so just face it, everybody, everybody, learns differently.

Trent Manning:

Yeah, yeah.

Robert Smith:

you know, once you kind of figure out how they learn you kind of just go and run with it. So, so

Trent Manning:

No, I mean, yeah, it definitely makes sense and we all learn different. And, yeah, how hard is it to kind of figure out how they learn?

Robert Smith:

you already, you, you always have this starting base for everybody and you always start out about the same process, really. You're just trying to learn about them a little bit.

Trent Manning:

Mm

Robert Smith:

always felt if you're a pretty good people reader, it's not that difficult to kind of swing in their direction.

Trent Manning:

Okay.

Robert Smith:

At the end of the conversation, we're always like, Hey, listen, if you ever have any questions, by all means, please ask, you know, we're, we're here to help. We're here to educate you. We want. you to get the best education you can out of this and

Trent Manning:

Mm hmm.

Robert Smith:

please don't hesitate. So

Trent Manning:

And I think that would be super important too is just making sure that they know that but you know Y'all are really there for them as much as they are there for you. So that's

Robert Smith:

you know, a lot of the people that we, we, we get in here, they're so nervous to be on property to begin with, you know, and I think that's normal. Cause I remember whenever I was, you know, first started working here and I was super nervous. I didn't know what to do. Whatever, you know, about a week, you start to get a little comfortable and, and you know what you can and cannot do, and I see the same thing from a lot of these younger, younger kids that come in through here. Well, not necessarily kids, but young men and women. So,

Trent Manning:

Yeah, yeah, what's the strangest thing you've seen around there

Robert Smith:

oh, my goodness. You know, I was pondering about this for about a week and a half, Trent, and I, I don't have a good answer for you on that one. I've seen strange things. It's not one particular. One thing I will tell you is there's, there's been a few times where somebody has brought back a piece of equipment that's just completely, not necessarily destroyed, but bent in ways that it shouldn't have been bent. And you don't know whether it applaud them or It's it's crazy how that is. It's like how did you do that? You know,

Trent Manning:

Mm

Robert Smith:

and the the best part of it is is when they try to tell the story, their story never adds up or,

Trent Manning:

no.

Robert Smith:

you know, and I've, I've actually driven to the scene of the crime before. And it's like, all right, I don't understand how you started there and ended there. I'm not sure how that was, but I would say that's probably the strangest thing I've seen with a lot, with a lot of machines we have around.

Trent Manning:

Mm hmm. No, and it is, it is truly amazing. And it, you reminded me of this, this story. We had so number four green is pretty close to our river. But it's not like a sheer drop off. I mean, it's a steep drop off to the river. And I mean, it's probably, I don't know, 25, 30 feet. To the river from the green and the operator was mowing 10 to 4 and he's going towards the river towards 10 o'clock and I don't know if he just let go. This was, you know. Before we had the bales, you know, where it releases, you know, operator presence, all that stuff. Anyway, the mower goes back then we had a fringe. So it goes through the fringe. It goes through the collar. It goes through the rough into tall fescue that's, you know, knee high, and then it goes off down to the river. I'm like, and so from the green to the river. It's probably 50 feet. You know, I mean, it's, you know, it ain't like it's, you know, a really close distance. Like, you know, the river was right on the edge of the green. I mean, it, it traveled, I mean, through the rough, it probably traveled 15 feet. So it's like, you didn't have time to stop this. And, you know, I'm gonna ask someone, what happened? He's like, I don't know. I don't know why I think so. I don't, you know, I don't. How do you explain that? Like, I mean, you could at least say I got a phone call and just let the mower go, because I mean, I really think that's what happened. He let the mower go for some reason or fell asleep. You know, I don't know. It's crazy. All the stuff that we see around there. Well, you kind of talked about your mentor that taught you a lot. What was one of the most valuable lessons that he taught you? How

Robert Smith:

that was, it was Jimmy, Jimmy said that, and my dad said that an awful lot too. My dad was probably one of the most patient men that you'd ever want to meet in your life, and I learned an awful lot of patience from him. And I'm here to tell you that saved me an awful lot of times in this industry, at least. You know, gosh, you have to have patience in this business. You really do. Or when somebody breaks something, you want them to, you want to be approachable. And that takes patience. You know, you want them to understand they could have done to prevent this. That takes patience. I was working on a 2550 triplex yesterday and I'm here to tell you I was losing patience. I walked away from it and kind of regrouped, came back and you have to have patience. You really truly do. And the funny thing is, is it's not just when you leave work. It's like when you go home and I, I think that's. Really helped me an awful lot. Leaving my work life at work is having patience. You know, I don't leave this place all. anymore and kinda brush it off your shoulder and just kind of go from there. So

Trent Manning:

many times have you gotten frustrated with a piece of equipment for whatever reason, you know, you're diagnosing, troubleshooting, and you walk away and then you come back and it's like the answer is almost there and there. You know, staring at you.

Robert Smith:

more times than I can count, Trent.

Trent Manning:

I don't, you know, it's crazy how, how that works, you know, and I don't want to go, go too deep in the weeds on that, but yeah, what, what makes that happen? I don't know, but it happens.

Robert Smith:

you know, electrical. I mean, gosh, you have to have patience with that. Now it's, you look at the book and you think you found what that wire is supposed to do and what it's doing doesn't make any sense at all. And it's just like, okay, I'm. I'm going to back off from this a little bit because I'm about ready to blow my cap off. So, yeah man, more time is none. That's, that's definitely helped me out tremendously by walking away and, and coming back and kind of regrouping, refreshed a little bit. So,

Trent Manning:

I don't remember exactly how old I was, but I don't, I mean, I had to be like 10, 11, something like that. And I've got, I think I had the basketball goal, but I've got like a new bag board or something. And I'm trying to put it together and I get so frustrated and I go to my mom and I'm telling her, you know, how, you know, it's not right. It's broke. It's not going to work. So just take a break from it, you know, go back to it later. And you know, and of course I'm 10, 12 months, you don't know what she's talking about, you know, or whatever, but, and I did, I go do whatever. And then I come back and I'm like, okay, yeah, it goes away. It goes together just like this, know? And I mean, it was so simple, but I've been missing it for 30 minutes, getting frustrated on how it went together. So. Props to mom on that one.

Robert Smith:

absolutely. God love mom.

Trent Manning:

Yeah, that's right. What would be your dream job or opportunity?

Robert Smith:

I tell you man to move away, live on top of a mountain with nobody around, fish a pond when I want to fish, hang out with my family. You know, you, You're always under the gun and it's always hustle And bustle. So when you have the opportunity to relax a little bit, it's, it really makes you not necessarily think, but think about the future per se. And I tell you, I'd love to. I'd love to move up to the northern part of Montana, 25, 30 miles from the Canadian border, and do absolutely nothing. Build a cabin right off the land. I'm not sure my wife would be, you know, for that, but but that would be my dream. Yeah, I

Trent Manning:

It's definitely something I've thought about. I don't know that I could do it, but it's you know, you get up there like no internet. You know, but I think, I think you would get used to it eventually.

Robert Smith:

think so, yeah.

Trent Manning:

I don't, have you ever heard Dick Brennegie?

Robert Smith:

Ah, gosh, one of my favorites.

Trent Manning:

Okay, all right, all right, yep, awesome. Yeah, Alone in the Wilderness, I think is, yeah, is His book and there's a video for the listeners that come on whatever PBS or something. I don't know if you can still get the

Robert Smith:

Oh, you can. In fact, I just I bought I bought all, it was four of them about two and a half months ago. It was,

Trent Manning:

No way. Okay. Yeah. I think I've seen two. I didn't know there was two more.

Robert Smith:

yeah, there's two more and they're fantastic. Just as good as the other two.

Trent Manning:

Okay. Ah,

Robert Smith:

and my wife caught that on, I think it was PBS one night. And man, I, he, he's like a splitting image of my grandfather.

Trent Manning:

Okay.

Robert Smith:

my grandfather was a carpenter and he was like a magic man. He could build anything when it came to. And that guy was just absolutely amazing. And then watching Pernicky, I was like, man, that is unbelievable. Especially when he made those hinges out of a couple pieces of naughty stuff. I was like, ah, come on, man. Really?

Trent Manning:

yeah, yeah, I know. Well, and the latch to defeat the bear.

Robert Smith:

Yeah. Yeah.

Trent Manning:

yeah, for the listeners, if you hadn't checked out Dick Prenagy and Alone in the Wilderness, definitely check it out. He, I forget, he's like in his 60s, and he went in the middle of nowhere in Alaska. and lived there for 25 years up until he was 80 something and he said he couldn't handle the 40 below winters anymore so he came back home just yeah crazy

Robert Smith:

Great.

Trent Manning:

yeah really really good story you got a technician you'd like to work with for a day okay

Robert Smith:

I tell you, if I had the opportunity to work with my mentor, Jimmy or you know, a day I, I, I can never stop learning from that man. I don't get out very often, but when I do, I always make a point to go and see him he's, he's in his seventies, mid seventies and still wrench until this day,

Trent Manning:

really at a golf course

Robert Smith:

they had a golf course, same golf course that I started at.

Trent Manning:

Okay. That's awesome. How cool is that?

Robert Smith:

yeah, it's, you know, this is another hard question that you, that you asked. And the reason why I think it's hard is because. Because I'm very fortunate to go to some tournaments. We just got done going up to Lancaster for the Women's Open. And, man, there's so many good mechanics that was up there. I have Palma from Aeronomic, and then Ed Boyski, and there's Shannon from Finch. And it just, there was a lot of really good mechanics up there. And I, I have the pleasure of working with a lot of them. So we just, we got. We got, we have good camaraderie, you know, and it's just always, it's like, it's like a laughing game when we get together, you know,

Trent Manning:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's super cool. When I went to Belle Reed for the 100 PGA in 2018. There was three other mechanic. Well, one mechanic I've been friends with for a long time. He actually read it up with me, Corey Phillips. And but there's two other guys up there and we went advanced week and we ground every reel on property and I'm serious, every reel and we replaced every bed, not, it didn't matter if it was a brand new bed, not if we took it off and replaced it, because that's what they wanted to do. Yeah. Right. You know, I'm, I'm up here to work. I'm not up here to judge,

Robert Smith:

No, not at all.

Trent Manning:

you know, so we were doing it. And so Austin, right, was another one. And ever since then, me and Austin, we talked, you know, not all the time, but enough, you know, I mean, and Patrick drinker, he was up there. I mean, we just had the best time.

Robert Smith:

That's awesome.

Trent Manning:

unfortunately Chris rap, I don't know what happened to him. He left the golf club. business and nobody's heard from him since. But he was the equipment manager up there and he's a super cool guy too.

Robert Smith:

That's awesome.

Trent Manning:

laid back. But I guess the point of all this is for the listeners, you know, take those opportunities or make those opportunities. If you can go volunteer somewhere,

Robert Smith:

A hundred percent, you know, it's

Trent Manning:

something. Oh,

Robert Smith:

big on

Trent Manning:

hmm.

Robert Smith:

for a week, if you only learn one thing, it was worth it. I mean, just the networking you get in itself, and I love going to other people's shops to see what they do, and Not necessarily compared, because everybody's different. I always like to learn something new and you're always trying to better yourself and further your education. That's like prime real estate is getting into a golf tournament or whatnot. I, I, I've had the pleasure and the honor of, of at several opens and just even local tournaments. It doesn't matter what tournament it is. And it doesn't matter what I do. I'll come down there and I'll sweep your, your floor for you. I, I just, I don't care.

Trent Manning:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Robert Smith:

it's just, it's, it's definitely good to be around. People that do the same thing you do. That's a small industry, but yet large industry.

Trent Manning:

I can't tell you how many ideas that I brought back to my shop that we use all the time.

Robert Smith:

Yeah,

Trent Manning:

know, that I, I saw at somebody else's shop, like, ooh, I love that. I'm gonna, I'm gonna take that back. And I think I've, I've told this story before, but I went over to John Patterson's shop and I go over there, you know, I mean, two, three times a year or whatever. But this one time I was over there, I only took one picture and that was his oil sucker. You know, it was a Lincoln, you know, oil drain but it was also pneumatic with a vacuum on it. I'm like, this is the best thing ever. So anyway, I got one and I love that thing. We were using it as a day to suck out the hydraulic fluid out of a hydraulic tank on our chipper, you know? Yeah. Cause it doesn't have a drain on it. Best thing ever. What do you know now you wish you'd known on day one?

Robert Smith:

And don't jump to conclusions, I think it'd make your life a little easier. I know when I first started in this industry, it's, I shouldn't say that I felt like I knew more than most, but I was real quick to say, you know, that's the problem and then, A lot of times it ended up not being a problem. I would say that there's something about doing something once and once only is, man, there's just something about it, you know, you don't have to go back over it three or four or five different times you know, times money and you gotta get a good bearing on your time because A lot of these shops that I've worked at, it was just me. And it's pretty hard to spend eight hours on one machine versus two hours or one hour, you know? So take your time, do things right, jot notes down. There's a, whenever I have a a large fix, man, I'm always carrying around my pen and my notepad taking notes down. Cause I mean, I'm here to tell you five minutes of trying to diagnose a wire harness, I couldn't tell you what I did 30 seconds ago when it came to what wire was, what, what number it was and what color it was. So a lot of note taking that's probably what I would tell myself as well, my younger age. So,

Trent Manning:

Well, no, I definitely agree with that. I don't do that enough, honestly, and I mean, kind of like what you were saying. You know, I've worked with this guy for a while, and he would always, you know, before he disassembled something, you know, the HSL funds, he'd be taking all these pictures of it, and I always kind of looked and said, you know, I don't need to do that. And, you know, and, you know, I was just being conceited and arrogant, you know, by saying that. And I'm still guilty. I still don't do that like I should, but the times I have taken pictures, I always go back and look at them like, Oh, this went right there. Yeah. This went right here, you know? And I mean, there is some other, you know, tricks of the trade. I will, if I'll think about it, we'll talk about those tips and tricks here in a minute, but I don't, it's just really, really important to like you were saying. or what you made me think of is I do think that definitely for me, I can only speak for myself, it's easy to make up a story in my head of what happened that may or may not be true. You know, just, and for instance, I mean, this happened today on this chipper. So the deal with the chipper is the hydraulic pump's leaking and it's belt driven. And, I don't know, it was maybe three months ago, the belt broke, and I replaced the belt. And, yeah, shame on me, because I didn't replace it before it broke, but whatever, it happens. And, so anyway, the pump's leaking, so we get it in, get the pump off of it, and there's a piece of the old belt wrapped around the shaft. So, I'm telling myself, well that took this seal out. So this thing, I'm just going to put a seal in it. And then I started inspecting the shaft and went, that shaft moves on awful lot. think this is gonna, gonna need more than just a seal, you know, but that was the story. Cause I saw the belt and I said, Oh, this is what it's gotta be. And you're talking about that. And I knew this guy, I mean, he's a good friend of mine and you know, we were both younger at the time, but he was always really quick to say, that's the only thing it can be. And I, you know, I have a hard time saying that, but this is the only thing it can be. If I say that you know, I'm pretty damn certain that's what it is.

Robert Smith:

Absolutely, and it brings up a good point, too, that I don't know how many times a piece of equipment breaks down your bosses are up your ass about getting it going, and you think you have a pretty good time frame on how long it's gonna take to fix, but, once again, man, you don't jump to conclusions, because I guarantee you, you tell them it's gonna take an hour to fix. It's going to take three hours to fix because there's going to be something else wrong with it. Gosh, that's happened to me several times and I just, I don't, I don't do it anymore. It's one of those things where, hey guys, be, be patient and I want to make sure this thing's fixed and fixed right before it leaves the shop. So I honestly can't give you a good enough answer. I mean, if it comes to service, that's one thing, but

Trent Manning:

Right.

Robert Smith:

never just a service. It's always a, Hey, let's take this injection pump out real quick and rebuild it.

Trent Manning:

Right.

Robert Smith:

So, it's definitely don't jump to conclusions. That's what I would tell myself for certain.

Trent Manning:

Well, and you're always one broken bolt away from three extra hours or, you know, whatever it is.

Robert Smith:

I think that's the truth.

Trent Manning:

Yeah. That's crazy. Why don't, so do you have that person on your crew? You've done any of that person? How do you deal with that person?

Robert Smith:

Oh, man. Oh, back to what I was saying earlier, patience. We do, we have, every year we always have that person. You know, you try to, I can't think of any other word other than patient. You have to be patient with them. And sometimes you treat them a little differently than the way you treat the other people, you know. You try to explain a little bit better in detail. Because they always have questions that they fire at you, you know. And a lot of times I find myself getting into the whole mechanic language. And I lose them within 15 seconds, but they still shake their head,

Trent Manning:

All right. Right. Right.

Robert Smith:

You know, and. You just kind of walk away, you know.

Trent Manning:

No.

Robert Smith:

need to learn how to deal with them, really. And try to educate them as best of your ability, and if you can't, then man, I, I'm not really sure what to tell you, you know. You, you've done your part.

Trent Manning:

I think that's excellent advice though. Have, have as much patience as you can and educate them the best you can and hopefully things work out.

Robert Smith:

Yeah. Yeah.

Get ready for tips and tricks.

Trent Manning:

What kind of tips and tricks you want to share with us?

Robert Smith:

Tips and tricks, huh?

Trent Manning:

Yeah. What's, what's some of your favorite ones?

Robert Smith:

So, you know, I was watching on TurfNet there a long time ago. This isn't my idea, but this was fantastic. You're trying to fill up a hydraulic reservoir with a funnel and you know how it just burps on you and you got a clean shirt and it just blows back on you. You stick a straw in that thing, man, you're golden. It releases the air. There's no burping and you end up putting too much in because you don't realize how fast it's flowing. That's the only problem, but man, I tell ya, I, I use that pretty much every time I fill something up.

Trent Manning:

So just a regular straw?

Robert Smith:

just a regular straw, yeah, you slip that down in the in the funnel, and now don't overflow it where it's gonna, you know, pour into the straw, but yeah, it releases that air and there's no more burping. I saw that on turf now, this was many, many years ago, and I'm like, man, that guy's a genius. Either that or he's tired of doing laundry, I'm not sure what. But I, I use that all the time. Tips and tricks, I mean, tips, try to be about as clean as you possibly can around your shop. I mean, once again, time's money. And if if you're having a hard time finding something because of, it's not put back where it was supposed to, or, You know, your shop's messy. Then you don't realize how much time you lose throughout the day, looking for that nine sixteenths that you just got done using an hour ago. You know, most people will probably go and grab another nine sixteenths, but there are going to be a few times where you're going to need two of them,

Trent Manning:

Right, right, right, right.

Robert Smith:

you know, try to be about as clean as you possibly can, you know, that goes for your parts room too.

Trent Manning:

Not that I do it. It's one of those, you know, do as I say, not as I do, because, you know, I, I struggle, you know, my toolbox is pretty organized, but. You know, stuff in the shop, you know, I don't know what it is. You know, I try, I do, I try, but everything doesn't have a home. And if everything, you know, if it doesn't have a home, there's no telling where it's going to be. So yeah, for the listeners, if you can make a home for everything you have, that's the way to do it.

Robert Smith:

A hundred percent.

Trent Manning:

And then that way, I mean, it's easy to take inventory too. You say that's not nine sixteenths wrench is not in its home.

Robert Smith:

Yeah.

Trent Manning:

You know, where is it at? You know, and then you go looking for it or, you know, whatever. But one of the other I guess tips that I thought, or maybe it's a trick they were talking about like disassembling stuff is, you know, putting bolts back where they go. Like, you know, say, say you pull off a sock cover. You know, off an engine or something, putting the bolts back in there if you can, or putting them in the engine. The other thing I've seen people do, and I've done this before with like head bolts, if I want to keep track of the head bolts and what hole they were in. I'll take a piece of cardboard and just punch the bolt through there and I'll number them. You can do the same thing with, you know, valves. You know, punch them through a piece of cardboard and label it with a sharpie. And the other thing that I guess it's kind of hard to explain over the radio here, but I'll do the best job I can is witness marks. So a lot of times when you take something apart, you will you know, it will have a mark on it where it made it with another service, another surface. So that is a witness mark. So, and that witness mark, it can tell you a lot of different things on how something goes back together. And the same thing, or the same example, so, so you pull a sump cover off an engine and you go to put it back on, what I do is I'll stick, you know, say it's got 10 bolts, I'll stick all 10 bolts in where I think they go. And if one is sticking out further than another and another one is, you know, in too far, then I know those two need to be reversed. That I got them in the wrong spot because, you know, all these things are machined to pretty tight tolerances. So if you stick a bolt in the hole and you didn't start it, you know, it's going to stick out whatever a quarter or three eighths of an inch, whatever the spec is. So, I think that's, you know, something that you can definitely look at and something that makes it easier when you're, reassembling stuff. Well, tell me about your apprenticeship program y'all got there at marion. And is that just for shop people or is that, you know, like interns for superintendent? How does that work?

Robert Smith:

typically the people we pull in the they range from crew members to outside superintendents that want to do something else on, you know, this side of the industry. So, it's primarily people that we've, we've pulled off the golf course. Uh, just crew members that definitely show interest. and to be honest with you, man, a lot of the really good operators. Have come to me a few different times and said, Hey, I'm might be interested in maybe going through your program. It's like, come on, we'll bring them into the shop for about a week. See how they do. See if they like it, you know, and completely honest with them, man, when it comes to our work ethic in here. And I want to, I always tell him, Hey, listen, man, if this doesn't suit you, you need to let me know, because. I don't want you to waste my time and I most certainly don't want to waste your time. So, but uh, if you want to make a career out of this, then we can most definitely help you in putting the right foot forward. So, Marion's very gracious with moving up in the industry and we, we really pushed for that. Uh, Paul Washall was really good at doing that on his end with superintendents. And you know, he was, uh, I was very fortunate that when Paul came here in 17, he left me continue to do what I was doing So far we've placed, uh, it's nine or 10 people,

Trent Manning:

wow.

Robert Smith:

some local, some out of state. And like I said, it ranges anywhere from crew members to old superintendents. A superintendent came through here. That was from the Poconos. Just ended up being a really good guy, really good mechanic. But, what we typically like to do here is I like to have two full time guys, besides me on, on property all the time. And I like that third being kind of like a part time floater kind of fellow. So what he'll do is, he'll continue to do his work or she will continue to do her work out in the golf course. The most important thing is to understand how to operate the equipment, what they do, what their intentions are. Out in the golf course and it's a lot easier to train somebody in the shop in that respect because they understand already what it's supposed to do. Now it's time for me to show them what we do to get it there.

Trent Manning:

Right, right.

Robert Smith:

But we've had some really good success. People range from going through the internship program or the apprenticeship program anywhere between nine months to, you know, two and a half years, three years. By all means, we don't push him out here, you know, we don't push him out of Marion. But there is not a month that goes by that I don't get a phone call asking, Hey, do you know of a mechanic? I'm, I'm looking for one. And, let's face it, the mechanics side of things is, and I don't mean any disrespect to anybody, but it's just like an, it's an old head game. There's a lot of older people that are mechanics. They're starting to retire. And man, jobs are just opening up left and right. And I think a lot of the superintendents understand now that it takes somebody that definitely has background in that sort of thing, because it's such a small niched. place somebody in.

Trent Manning:

Do

Robert Smith:

we'll, we'll bring them into the shop. We start out with real technology. Uh, I have them, uh, check in fairway mowers and they do that for about a week and a half to two weeks. And we just kind of get the ball rolling from there. I don't.

Trent Manning:

down on paper? As far as the program or anything?

Robert Smith:

don't. And that's kind of where I lack a little bit at. There's no really set schedule when it comes to, you know, educating and mechanic. A lot of my classes are, real life. Hey, this, this workman here is broke down. Come in here. I'm going to show you what's going on. We're going to diagnose it. I'm gonna explain what's going on and where to start, where to stop, and hopefully we can fix it. So. That happens an awful lot.

Trent Manning:

Yeah, and I'm right there with you and I'm fortunate enough to have some people working in the shop with me. And yeah, every time I'll just say, Ooh, this is a really good learning opportunity. and I'll bring the guy over, You know, the gal or whatever And say, Okay, this is what we're doing here

Robert Smith:

Absolutely.

Trent Manning:

know, this, this is what I'm thinking, you know, this is what. I want to do, you know, to diagnose or, you know, whatever it is, you know, that we're doing. I think there's a ton of good learning opportunities that come up on a daily basis, you know, for us in the shop, for the younger people that have not done it before. And, I think it's very rewarding for them, too, to see how much they can learn in a Very short period of time.

Robert Smith:

Yes. Very much so. You can, that's one of the reasons why I do it, man. To see their faces just fulfilled. Very rewarding. And I spoke earlier about my mentor, Jimmy Fox. I mean, he took me under his wing and he didn't have to do it. It's just, he was such a fantastic person to do that. And, it's kind of my way of giving back. You see, there's a lot of good mechanics out there that didn't necessarily have that when they first started out in the industry. And, if we can bring somebody into the shop here and kind of kickstart their, their career, I mean, that's what we're going to do. That's kind of our way of giving back to the industry. That's for sure.

Trent Manning:

No, I mean, I think that is great what y'all are doing. And I mean, imagine if we could get a hundred clubs to do that. You know, how many people is that putting out a year? But you know, a lot of clubs are not willing to do something like that. No,

Robert Smith:

a Terry,

Trent Manning:

yeah, yeah, yeah. And I mean, that's gonna happen.

Robert Smith:

Absolutely. And I, and I'm,

Trent Manning:

Yeah, I do think, I mean, most people in our field, we like learning hands on,

Robert Smith:

100%.

Trent Manning:

that's, Yeah, I don't, you know, we pick things up easier that way. And I was fortunate enough to have a gentleman work with me for three years. And then he went and actually worked with Corey for two years. And now he's at a real high end course here. in Georgia and doing great. And I'm so proud of him. But he told me this not too long ago. one of the things. that really helped him when he was working for me, at the time, I was doing a bunch of side work. and I was getting tractors in all the time, splitting them, putting clutches in them. You know, we weren't doing that necessarily at the golf course. Not that I wouldn't, but not our, you know, I got three tractors. I didn't need a clutch in them, you know? so you know, doing this side work and, you know, and I did all kind of different type of side work. And he was saying how much that helped him too, learning different stuff. You know, not just your normal everyday golf course stuff. So that, you know, since y'all are doing that type of stuff at Marion, I mean, that is awesome. I mean, that's next level stuff. You know, I think most courses probably send out a tractor to get the clutch replaced. you know, maybe not most, maybe that's not fair, but there is a large majority that does. Let's say, you know, and you know, it doesn't matter if the technician knows how to do it or not. You know, maybe he doesn't have the time. If it's one person in the shop, you know, you don't have time to split a tractor apart and put a clutch in.

Robert Smith:

uh, we just didn't have time to do it. But, you know, shortly after that. there was another one that went out and, you know, we had time to do

Trent Manning:

No, I, I, can't, can't agree more. And I think we'll end on that. That's awesome. I was, yeah, that's so good. We will hit a little bit of rapid fire. Bring it. All right. I love it. What's your favorite movie?

Robert Smith:

road to perdition.

Trent Manning:

You're gonna have to educate me here. I'm sorry. I missed that one.

Robert Smith:

mafia. Maybe not necessarily gory, but it's, uh, back in the Mafia days in the 1940s, 1930s, uh, when Mafia was real big. It's just, uh, it's about a Tom Hanks, the dad and his son, going to the aunt's place and the adventures that they, uh, went on during that road trip.

Trent Manning:

Okay.

Robert Smith:

It's, it's fantastic.

Trent Manning:

All right. I'm gonna have to check it out then. Putting it on the list right now. What would be your last meal in your log cabin in the middle of nowhere?

Robert Smith:

Pork, sauerkraut, dumplings, mashed potatoes, and green beans.

Trent Manning:

Oh, man. I don't know that I've ever had pork, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes.

Robert Smith:

Man, there's nothing better, Trent.

Trent Manning:

I, well, I mean, don't get me wrong, I love pork, I love sauerkraut, and I love mashed potatoes, so I'm sure I've just never had them all mixed together. Yeah, where, is that a German thing, or?

Robert Smith:

You know what, I have no idea. My mom used to make it for me whenever I was uh, uh, growing up. We had it maybe once every other month maybe.

Trent Manning:

Okay.

Robert Smith:

that I'm a grown ass man, I have it every other week now. So, it's

Trent Manning:

awesome.

Robert Smith:

Try it and then give me a call. Let me know how you,

Trent Manning:

Okay. Well, I might, you might have to text me a recipe or something. I'll see if I could throw it, throw that together. No, that's awesome. What are you most proud of besides your kids? And obviously, I know you're proud of your family and and your two girls.

Robert Smith:

Very proud of my the apprenticeship program that we've created here. Very proud of that, uh, work ethic. And I think everything kind of bundles into one, really. But definitely the apprenticeship program. Being able to give back and, just learning what I've learned so far in life. And where I started and where I'm at now. And definitely proud of that.

Trent Manning:

That's awesome. So, so good. Well, thank you so much for being a guest. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Robert Smith:

Likewise, well, thank you very much for having me on. I, I also enjoyed it, Trent.

Trent Manning:

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.