Episode 127: John Michael Clark

Welcome to Episode 127 of the Reel Turf Techs Podcast! Today, we’re chatting with John Michael Clark, Equipment Manager at Frenchman’s Creek Beach and Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, FL—though, at the time of recording, he was at McLemore Golf Club in Georgia.

Join Trent and John Michael as they dive into everything but college football! John Michael shares how he stumbled into turf management, earning a degree from Mississippi State and transitioning from checking reels to running the shop full-time. They explore the challenges of training a crew from scratch, the year-round demands of Florida’s golf industry, the power of intentional communication, and the precision of a granite plate. Plus, they touch on the unique trials of managing a mountain course, like fog and rocks. Don’t miss this insightful episode as we anticipate John Michael’s next exciting chapter.

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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 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 real turf text podcast episode 1 27. Today we're talking to John Michael Clark equivalent manager at French munch Creek beach and country club and Palm beach gardens, Florida. Frenchmans Creek is a private 36 hole club with two championship golf courses, the north and the south. When we recorded this episode, John Michael was a Michael Moore golf club and rising bond, Georgia. Let's talk to John Michael. Welcome John Michael to the real turf text podcast. Thanks for coming on.

John Michael Clark: 1:38

Thanks for having me, Trent. I

Trent Manning: 1:40

Looking forward to it. yeah, I, you know, I'll tell the listeners. So I first met you at sawgrass last year, for the very, very first time. And y'all had a, an equipment manager there, but you were kind of running the show. and seemed like you had a good head on your shoulders and I don't know why but I just kind of hit it off with you like I've known you my whole life and I've only probably stopped and talked to you what four or five times maybe

John Michael Clark: 2:11

just a handful of times.

Trent Manning: 2:13

yeah just a handful yeah that's what it is that's yeah it just makes me feel right at home um because I remember went out in Phoenix I said something off the wall Um, to you and Kelly, my girlfriend, who's like, who is that guy? I was like, I saw Michael, you know, I met him like two times. She's like, I can't believe you said that, but that's kind of my personality too. Well, tell us how you got into the turf industry.

John Michael Clark: 2:41

High school just was driving by a course one day and happened to see an old guy struggling wheat eating and I pulled in and he said, well, you got a job. I was like, well, I didn't ask for a job. He goes, well, you got one. And after a couple of summers and Working with him, he finally taught me into going to school and went to, signed up, went to Mississippi state, got a turf degree. And from then it was just everywhere. After that he kicked me out after two years with him and told me I needed to go find something better to do. And joined a TPC, went to Southwind for almost four, four summers. And then they forced me to finish school. They were like, you know, we can't just keep having you around. Finally graduated and went to Birmingham for about a year and ended up at Sawgrass after months in Birmingham, spent three years there. And now a year ago, two weeks ago, I've been in North Georgia, Macklemore club,

Trent Manning: 3:47

Okay, awesome. So where was this first course?

John Michael Clark: 3:51

Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Trent Manning: 3:53

Oh man. Roll tide. Sorry. I gotta say it.

John Michael Clark: 3:57

words.

Trent Manning: 3:58

Yes. Yeah. No. Roll tide. Um, yeah. So funny. I don't, have you met Corey Phillips?

John Michael Clark: 4:04

I'm not sure.

Trent Manning: 4:05

Um, maybe not. He's another Georgia guy. I met him when I was working for Jerry Pate and he grew up in Berry, Alabama, just outside of Tuscaloosa. And he's got four siblings and they're the whole family's Alabama.

John Michael Clark: 4:21

I did meet him. was at the show, wasn't he? Yeah, I met him.

Trent Manning: 4:25

Um, but yeah, his whole family's Alabama except him. He's Auburn fan just to be different. Yeah. I don't know, man. I don't know. Let's let's not talk college football, I guess. Um, all right. So you worked there at that club. What club did you work at in Birmingham?

John Michael Clark: 4:42

it was Highland Club or yeah, Highland Golf Club in downtown.

Trent Manning: 4:47

Okay. Yep, there's a lot of good clubs there in Birmingham. Yeah,

John Michael Clark: 4:54

very low budget, but high demand. I mean, we were 150 rounds a day and a small 88 acre golf course.

Trent Manning: 5:03

that's crazy. So how did you get into the shop?

John Michael Clark: 5:07

When I was at North River I think it was like week three, our mechanic just didn't show up.

Trent Manning: 5:12

Wait. Hang on. North River? That's the one in Tuscaloosa? That's where Cory started working.

John Michael Clark: 5:20

I think me and Corey just missed each other

Trent Manning: 5:22

Okay, well, and I think Cory's dad, when he worked at the coal mine as an electrician, And whenever they would go on strike, he would work at North river and he got Corey in there. Yeah. Anyway, that's crazy, man. Such a small world. Yeah.

John Michael Clark: 5:45

if I send you to Birmingham, can you learn how to check reels? I was like, I mean, I guess I have nothing better to do. So I went up to his previous boss was Jim Simmons at Shoal Creek and he sent me up there and I worked with their mechanic for a few days and I've learned enough how to check a reel and, you know, check cut and check the height. And he said, Oh, you got it now.

Trent Manning: 6:09

That's all there is to it.

John Michael Clark: 6:11

And I helped out a little bit there. And then when I went up to TPC Southwind in Memphis. Our mechanic there, he liked to leave, you know, at 1 30 and day's not over yet. So I had to learn how to, you know, piddle with the old those couplings and the old John Deere verticutting reels.

Trent Manning: 6:29

Oh yeah.

John Michael Clark: 6:30

learn all that. And it just kept going and going. And when I moved down to Sawgrass Cash, the old equipment manager there, he, me and him hit it off really good. And yeah, He pulled me in the shop and he's like, I think you just need to stay in here with me

Trent Manning: 6:48

Okay. Yeah.

John Michael Clark: 6:49

and pretty much did. So I

Trent Manning: 6:53

Well, I mean, what little, you know, I've seen you work down there. I mean, it seems like you got a really good handle on things.

John Michael Clark: 7:00

I had a great teacher, that's for sure.

Trent Manning: 7:03

Yeah, where did he end up going?

John Michael Clark: 7:05

Cash is now at the Loxahatchee Club in I think that's West Palm.

Trent Manning: 7:10

Okay, I've heard of it. Yeah. Um, yeah. So what brought you to Macklemore from Sawgrass?

John Michael Clark: 7:18

The opportunity to, um, one, we're building a brand new course. Two, I got to be in the plannings for the design of the, we'll have two shops eventually. and just the opportunity to sort of, you know, come in a place that didn't really have anything set in stone and sort of, I guess, write my own book.

Trent Manning: 7:41

Yeah, that's awesome, man.

John Michael Clark: 7:44

it's been a lot of headaches. I know you've gotten several calls from me and Cash, his phone rings off the hook and several other, you know, guys that I look up to they've helped out a lot, but we've, we're making strides,

Trent Manning: 7:58

That's good, man.

John Michael Clark: 7:59

finally got a grinder that's, that actually grinds and. We've got a lot of new stuff coming in and been hard for the past year, but we're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Trent Manning: 8:11

That's good. That's good. And yeah, I mean, we can, yeah, I guess talk about it a little bit more, the whole grow in and all the extra things that you end up doing during that process. But before we get into that, tell us what's your least favorite part of the job. Yeah, and

John Michael Clark: 8:31

Just trying to get crews trained up. We're having lots of accidents avoidable mistakes, and it's just, you getting what you're paying for right now. We've got a lot of younger guys that they just, they don't know. And I don't want to say they don't care, but they just don't know. And we're just having a lot of. A lot of mistakes that are starting to get really costly. That

Trent Manning: 8:55

I mean.

John Michael Clark: 8:55

budget starts to shrink

Trent Manning: 8:57

yes yeah, real quick. Like. And it is a shame. I don't, you know, I won't speak for myself, but when I was growing up and where I grew up here in North Georgia, I mean, you know, me and all my friends, you know, we knew a lot of practical stuff that you needed to know at a golf course, you know, like how to hook a trailer up or how to work a ratchet strap. I mean, you know, just what I would think would be basic stuff, but a lot of the people these days, they do not have any of those skills.

John Michael Clark: 9:31

and it's honestly scary. We had a guy the other day. I mean, all diesel caps on John Deere equipment are green. it says diesel on it, and they run a gator with, that was a diesel gator full of gas, and I, right now I don't know if we're pulling the motor or not yet. Come on man just slow down. There's no, no reason to speed.

Trent Manning: 9:54

yeah, no, I'm with you. And yeah, I mean, literally people speeding through the parking lot and you get paid by the hour, like, man, just chill out. It's okay. We're not in a rush here. We'll get it done when we get it done. Well, what's your favorite tool?

John Michael Clark: 10:12

Oof. Right now it's been a sledgehammer. We've had to use a lot of hammers here lately. No, I,

Trent Manning: 10:21

I believe you are the first one guy did say hammer, but he didn't say sledgehammer. You took it to the next level there.

John Michael Clark: 10:29

Well, I ended up, I found a four pound ball peen hammer the other day at a garage sale, solid metal handle, everything. And that, I guess you've caught a mini sledge.

Trent Manning: 10:40

Okay. That's awesome, man. So yeah, what are you doing with this mini sledge?

John Michael Clark: 10:46

Oh man. We're right now. We've got a true turf in the shop. I've got the drive roller out of it right now, trying to straighten the frame out curbs, gotta love curbs. What else have we got? Bent frames on gators. We got a guy hit a bridge the other day putting it in neutral in the rain, going down a hill is never fun. It's just, it's the fun. You just have to smile some days.

Trent Manning: 11:13

Yeah, I mean, what else do you do? You know, I mean, you gotta smile, laugh it off, you know. Well, that leads us right into what do you do to relax and find your balance after you see all these knuckleheads doing crazy things.

John Michael Clark: 11:28

biggest thing right now for me now being up in the mountains, um, we go hiking quite a bit. I enjoy a nice, refreshing adult drink in the afternoons. Fishing's another big thing now that I'm back in freshwater areas. Saltwater got too expensive.

Trent Manning: 11:46

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I was up there not too far, I guess, away from your course on Memorial Day weekend and me and Kelly went to Cloudland Canyon

John Michael Clark: 11:56

You're right across the street.

Trent Manning: 11:57

yeah, and checked some of that out. I didn't know how close I was, but, um,

John Michael Clark: 12:02

that's, I think it's three miles away.

Trent Manning: 12:05

no way. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Um, yeah, I definitely got to get up there and check it out and I will definitely make that trip this fall. If not before then.

John Michael Clark: 12:16

come on.

Trent Manning: 12:16

What's been one of your biggest challenges? Yeah.

John Michael Clark: 12:25

I came from a well established course with a very large crew and, you know, having, I don't want to say an unlimited budget, but brand new equipment every three, four years. You know, I had a lot of help in the shop and a lot of help from others to, you know, if something went wrong, we could get it quick. You know, the biggest problem for me right now is just besides trying to get people told it's, you know, I don't have 16 triplexes, I have three. one goes down, I'm sweating bullets trying to figure out how to get it going again. You know, I think we placed an order Wednesday. I've got eight reels coming. Hopefully be here this week. Cause we got a lot of reels to replace.

Trent Manning: 13:14

Wow. That's yeah. All from damage stuff.

John Michael Clark: 13:17

Yeah.

Trent Manning: 13:18

Oh, wow. That's yeah. I don't had you just ground the real when I got damaged. I mean, I don't, is that Murphy's law or

John Michael Clark: 13:27

I don't know. We had just ground all of our team mowers, all of our 2, 500s. And we sent two out one. I mean, it wasn't an hour after he got out. I get a text message dinging. I was like, all right, we'll bring it to the shop. He gets on the third one goes out. Hey, the reels won't spin. They just worked because I just checked him before they left. comes back and the, you know, reels hanging down below the bed and I thought, Oh gosh, I guess something had to break today. So we got two down, so we're moving reels around, trying to get another triplex going, finally got a second one up and going, you know, that's when I walk in my office and just sat my head down for a minute, I was like, we're going to survive. It's only 7. 30.

Trent Manning: 14:16

I know, man that's terrible though. It's so frustrating when that happens and I don't know why it always has to be right after you ground the reel and

John Michael Clark: 14:24

Well, and that's, you know, we had just gotten our granite in and. I'd finally gotten to start really dialing in these reels. I was like, all right, this is perfect. These are the first time these go out. We have spent a lot of time on them. And then I mean, bang right there.

Trent Manning: 14:40

Yeah, that's terrible. Well, maybe this is one of the strangest things you've had happen to two mowers in one day, I don't, yeah. Do you got any strange stories you've seen? Over the years

John Michael Clark: 14:53

Being up on the mountain, we, so the name Macklemore comes from a long story about an Indian and a guy named Macklemore getting married and stuff. So I tell people we've got we're on an ancient Indian burial ground. So we're haunted. We had a brand new Gator come off the trailer. It's a loaner for the grow in package. He drives it off the trailer. And I mean, it hadn't been off the trailer five seconds, but both tires just fall off of it. And I was just, I look, I was like, you gotta be kidding me. And there was one lug nut for each side. I was just like, that's it. Here's our side.

Trent Manning: 15:33

Wow. Yeah. That's incredible. Yeah. And I, before we started recording, you said you had some John Deere stuff show up without the centric for the bed knife. I don't, I mean, I don't know how you miss that stuff.

John Michael Clark: 15:47

I just, you got to smile.

Trent Manning: 15:49

Yeah.

John Michael Clark: 15:50

That's my biggest thing I've had to learn is, you know, let the little things go. That's, I guess people are, they tell me I have a pretty small one, so I'm going to start smiling more.

Trent Manning: 16:01

There you go. Well, do you have a mentor in the industry other than cash?

John Michael Clark: 16:07

Haas is another big one. He's down at the. I think it's Bears Club.

Trent Manning: 16:12

Yep.

John Michael Clark: 16:12

Um, you know, he's, he used to invite us all the time to come down. They I that's the Treasure Coast area. They have a lot of the EM meetings and he was always the, you know, second they found out I'd get a text message, whatever you gotta do, you need to get down here.

Trent Manning: 16:29

Okay.

John Michael Clark: 16:30

had never gotten to work with him, but talking with him and, you know, I don't know how he, Been at that club for a long time. And I mean, he's a walking notebook for Toro.

Trent Manning: 16:42

I'll bet.

John Michael Clark: 16:43

sort of jealous cause he actually has Toro sometimes, but Help me. But he's getting to talk with him. He, I've been, I've enjoyed our long conversations and, you know, it's not always about work. Some, we'll talk fishing and hunting everything else. Another one. I pick his brain a lot. Chris Langley's been another big help for me.

Trent Manning: 17:04

Yep. Yep. Oh,

John Michael Clark: 17:08

and out. Anytime he actually texts me this morning, they hit the call button on the grinder. So he's sitting, what's wrong? It's like, I'm not even in the shop yet.

Trent Manning: 17:21

Yeah. Yeah, so that's pretty cool. So they have a call button.

John Michael Clark: 17:25

Yeah. The new the 5, 500 dual express. If you, it's got a. And our guys, they get the button sometimes mixed up, but there's a button on the top of the screen. If you hit it, it sends your tech a message saying, you know, so and so's machines having an issue or they're having an issue with, and he'll send me a text message right then.

Trent Manning: 17:47

Oh, wow. That's really cool. That's pretty neat stuff. Yeah, I've known Chris for quite a while. I guess I first met him at East Lake like probably whatever 1012 years ago and ever since then, I always look forward to seeing him anytime I can whether it be a show or down there. Um real good down there. Yeah. And he was a equipment tech too one day.

John Michael Clark: 18:15

Yeah,

Trent Manning: 18:16

You know, in

John Michael Clark: 18:17

did several years in it. Yeah.

Trent Manning: 18:19

What would be your dream job or opportunity?

John Michael Clark: 18:22

You know, I've actually talked about trying the international game, maybe, and, you know, go down to Mexico or something like that for a while. Being young in the industry and also not married and don't have any kids. And I've lived in a camper for four or three years when I was in Florida. So it was nice being able to just bounce around and stuff. I finally bought a house, so it's a little harder to move now, but, um, I'm wanting to either, you know, head international or something, or head back to Florida, you know, several years,

Trent Manning: 18:56

I don't, do you like the Florida golf atmosphere where it's go?

John Michael Clark: 19:00

Constant go. I guess it. It kept me on my toes and, you know, I told somebody the other day, now that I have weekends off, I was like, I feel lazy.

Trent Manning: 19:09

Yeah, I don't know. Not a lot. And I've thought about it, but I'm like, I don't know. I don't want to work, you know, 13 months out of the year

John Michael Clark: 19:17

No kidding.

Trent Manning: 19:18

like they do down there. I mean, it's nuts. Oh

John Michael Clark: 19:22

hour weeks add up really quickly.

Trent Manning: 19:26

yeah, for sure. Yeah. How many guys did y'all have in the shop

John Michael Clark: 19:30

The most that was ever there while I was there was four.

Trent Manning: 19:33

Yeah.

John Michael Clark: 19:33

Um, three techs and one equipment manager. And it fluctuated, you know, during the time I was there. I think we had five at one time. We had a part time one of the colleges there had a student that came in sort of like an internship and work two or three days a week, and, but she only, I think she worked 15 hours a week. So I don't consider that a job.

Trent Manning: 19:58

Yeah. The other cool thing is y'all had the wash bay attendant

John Michael Clark: 20:04

Yeah,

Trent Manning: 20:04

that was cool, I thought Yeah,

John Michael Clark: 20:11

that if they didn't wash it right, he had to go wash it. So he sat out there and,

Trent Manning: 20:17

make sure it got done, right Yeah, that's awesome You got a technician you'd like to work with for a day

John Michael Clark: 20:24

that's, I'd love to work with Haas or Chris Johnson would not be another good one. Um, got to talk with him a little bit a while back about grinders. And I know he runs SIPs, but I got in, I talked to Mike Rollins at the show and, you know, he, I guess, hit the right nerve. So I got curious about him and just wanted to learn about him and, Went and saw oh shoot. I can't remember his name. He's at Eastlake now. Went and saw him when we went down to y'all's place. I got to check out his grinders for a day. So.

Trent Manning: 20:56

Chris Lewis.

John Michael Clark: 20:58

Yeah,

Trent Manning: 20:58

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Okay

John Michael Clark: 21:00

I know there's so many.

Trent Manning: 21:02

Yeah, now there's there's a bunch of good techs out there. And there's a few of us in Georgia, not too far

John Michael Clark: 21:08

Yeah.

Trent Manning: 21:09

Yeah, Corey and John Patterson and, um, Josh Brown. He's at Indian Hills. He's another good guy. Yeah. I can't think of all of them off the top. Charlie Carr. He's at Hawks Ridge. I mean, yeah, you met him. Yeah. My shop. Um, yeah.

John Michael Clark: 21:27

that's, I need to make it down to the Atlanta area more. That's I'm so green for that area. That's, I mean, I know how to get to your course and I know how to get to East Lake and that's it.

Trent Manning: 21:36

I don't and hopefully, you know, we slow down this fall. We'll start getting together. I mean, we had that one get together at my shop and you came and Charlie came and. That was about it. And it was funny, you know, I texted everybody and they're like, oh yeah, that day's good. That day's good. And then, you know, it comes up and it's like, okay, can you make it? Um, so hopefully this fall we'll we'll get together again. Bye. Because, I don't, I mean it's fun to me to get a bunch of people, like minded individuals together in the same room and see how other people do stuff, you know. Well, what do you know now you wish you'd known on day one?

John Michael Clark: 22:16

That's

Trent Manning: 22:16

can think, yeah, you can think Miles Kemp, Birdie Bar for coming up. That's his question.

John Michael Clark: 22:22

Probably how to you know, I guess how to talk to others, you know? We get, I get in the moment sometimes and I, it comes out, I don't mean it bad, but it does come out that way that, and sometimes, you know, it was like, what was I thinking, but I made it this far, you

Trent Manning: 22:42

I mean, it's hard. It's challenging not to take some of this stuff personal. And I know, you know, people are not doing it necessarily intentionally, but I mean, it's hard. It's really hard. And it's hard not to react like you want to react. Yeah.

John Michael Clark: 23:04

shot because. At the end of the day, it is yours and you know, somebody mistreating something of yours, it doesn't usually go over well.

Trent Manning: 23:13

No, not at all. What leads us into, how do you deal with that person?

John Michael Clark: 23:17

Well, right now we with our new HR department, I don't handle anything. I pass it on to the assistants and superintendents. I'm blessed with a great superintendent that he listens and usually he can combat stuff before I even get a chance. He's done a great job of wrangling in people. Told him from day one that I was like, you know, we, there's gotta be the nice guy. And I was like, I prefer it to be you. You have to work with him every day. So he's the nice guy.

Trent Manning: 23:48

Yeah. No that's alright. That works. You know, it's a team effort.

John Michael Clark: 23:52

Absolutely.

Trent Manning: 23:53

Yeah. Do they have, at your club, any kind of, so what happens to an employee if they damage something and it's, you know,

John Michael Clark: 24:03

So we just implemented a couple of weeks ago. I actually stole it off of one of our Facebook groups. The point system. So there's, you know, one point for being late to work, two points for no show, no call. I think it's 10 points per quarter and, you know, I think it's at six points you get written up or have a verbal warning or something like that. And then 10 points, you know, We're looking towards termination. And the guys have, they have stepped up since we did this. Um, it took some finagling, but we got it. Um, you know, they, I got a point the other day cause I parked my truck and not my assigned spot. So they got to get me back for that.

Trent Manning: 24:51

Yeah, that's good. Yeah. I mean, that's fair. You know, everybody.

John Michael Clark: 24:54

Oh yeah. It's fair game. You know, I got my superintendent for leaving. He's got a camper shell. He's left it in the shop for, I think, a month now. I was like, dude, you got three points. Like, making up space.

Trent Manning: 25:11

Yeah, that's good stuff. Gotta get the boss in there too. Um, one thing that we did and it was mainly just for people being late. And I think it comes from Athens country club. So out, you know, close to UGA when our superintendent at the time, he worked at Athens country club when he was going to UGA and they had three strikes. If you were late three times, I was it. No questions asked three, three lights gone. I mean, they didn't play, you know, and I think about that now. If we had that policy, we wouldn't have anybody working with us.

John Michael Clark: 25:53

I wouldn't be working.

Trent Manning: 25:55

Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. I know. It's crazy.

John Michael Clark: 25:59

Well, that's, we have to have a little bit of leeway, so we'll get these fogs up on the mountain. It's insane. You can't see a hundred feet in front of you. And, you know, I actually called the other day. I was like, I can see work, but I can't see the road good enough to get there. I was like, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna park on the side of the road and wait.

Trent Manning: 26:19

That's crazy. It's that thick.

26:21

Get ready for tips and tricks.

Trent Manning: 26:23

Well, what kind of tips and tricks you want to share with us? Some of your favorites.

John Michael Clark: 26:29

you know, the biggest thing that I've learned with John Deere, we, when I was at Sawgrass, they were big into the granites and finally got one. And, you know, I live by it. I've got a technician that he's been around the Chattanooga area for 20 years and We finally started playing with it the other day and he's, you know, he calls it the magic because if you do it right, it all works out just right. That's probably, you know, my best thing in the shop right now. Cause we're still going through mowers. We've had it set up for two weeks now and just the amount of equipment, me being pulled to both courses right now. We hadn't had a chance to get through everything. That's I guess my trick or

Trent Manning: 27:16

Yeah, well, yeah, walk us through that process. How do you do it on the granite? How do you square one up?

John Michael Clark: 27:25

so we, we follow, um, Stephen Tucker's way of doing it. We'll roll the, you know, get the height set and everything. Roll it back, lock it down, and take a surface gauge and measure it out. Divide by four, move the eccentrics as well as the height adjustment on it. And if you do it right, you roll it back forward and same height on both sides and, you know, ready to go. And it took me a while and talking with others that were doing it because that brain wasn't, I guess, as complex enough to understand what I was actually doing. Finally, you know, when I was at Sawgrass seeing that, you know, some of the heights we were mowing at, it was, we were getting pretty low and Finally, one of them took Cash took me out there one day and he pointed and he goes, now you see it, he goes, and that's less than 10 thousandths from, you know, corner to corner. And I was like, and that's why you're such a stiffler on if it ain't two thousandths, it ain't right.

Trent Manning: 28:25

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, when you're doing that, do you try to, do you adjust on the same side? Yeah. If you move the eccentric on one side, you're moving the back row on that same side. Okay. Yeah. I played around with it too. And I don't know, I just think there's gotta be an easier way.

John Michael Clark: 28:49

I, and that's, we played. Or I've played around with it trying to, cause I was like, this is the most time consuming thing. And, you know, I've talked to other guys that, and I'm not saying one's right or the other, but they'll do the old one on the surface plate and roll the reel up to the bed knife touches and just adjust the front roller. And I tried it and I was like, I can still see a line and, you know, learning more and talking more, you know, some of that could have been the shadowing from the roller getting a double roll. You know, I just, I go back to it every time, and it's been faithful to me, so I just, I've stuck with it.

Trent Manning: 29:35

Well, yeah, I mean, you know, it's like the old saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Um, I just, and not that it's so hard to do. I mean, it's not hard. It's just really time consuming

John Michael Clark: 29:48

Yes.

Trent Manning: 29:49

and

John Michael Clark: 29:50

we'll just say 10 minutes or five to 10 minutes a real shoot. Once you do a triplex, you're half an hour in

Trent Manning: 29:56

Yeah, easily. And then what about a fixed head mower? How big a pain is that?

John Michael Clark: 30:02

So we have the two 20 SLs. That's it's a nightmare just cause you have to take the side plate off. And you know, the eccentric on it is so finicky. Cause if you don't tighten the bolts back in the correct order, a certain order, It'll pop right back out. But you know, we went and got all those done on a surface plate. I guess it was in October of last year. And honestly, you know, we put them on the granite and they haven't moved.

Trent Manning: 30:31

Okay, nice.

John Michael Clark: 30:32

I don't know if these are just special ones, cause I know the ones that sawgrass love to move every time they touch the grinder, but we've been very lucky with these.

Trent Manning: 30:43

Wow,

John Michael Clark: 30:43

Hopefully it's a one and done deal.

Trent Manning: 30:45

Yeah, do you think it's the way they're transported or anything like that?

John Michael Clark: 30:49

I don't think it's, because I mean, these guys are just as rough as they were down there on transporting that. I really think it's just the amount of use we're, we swap in and out with fixed heads. We'll, mainly we're using those early in the year and in the, you know, wait till the fall. We've got our flex heads right now going. That's, I really think it's just the amount of use. Um, we're actually using our fixed heads right now on the new course just because. trying to get a little aggressive. We've got, I think our oldest green's three and a half months old right now over there. So we're about to start setting some groomers down, getting those to start thinning a little bit.

Trent Manning: 31:34

Do you think the fixed head cuts more aggressive? Yeah, and

John Michael Clark: 31:41

in my personal opinion you and that's I know you can adjust the quick the flex head You can do so much more adjustments with it, but just something about a fixed head mower

Trent Manning: 31:51

I want to say, is it Toro now on their newest, latest Fixed head, the rear roller is adjustable, I think. The drum, you can move it. There's like two positions depending on your height. Yeah, which is, yeah, pretty pretty slick. And I mean, you know, I run a knife deer, but I do think Toro's ahead of the curve on a lot of that stuff. On cutting unit geometry and a lot of those things from

John Michael Clark: 32:22

just the hardened reels and hardened bedknives are a game changer

Trent Manning: 32:27

Oh yeah, hands down and Tony out at Trinity's Forest, he done a test to get John Deere and Toro on the Zoysia Fairways and the Toro blew it out of the water and he was counting, you know, the number of clicks he was doing, you know, to adjust each time it came in and um, I mean, it's some hardcore data he's got going on but

John Michael Clark: 32:52

think it was last year. We went down me and another tech that worked at Sawgrass together We went down to see Cash and, you know, have to give him grief sometimes, you know, he's getting old, so we have to keep him going and we went and watched him, you know, check his mowers in and I was like, you just gave him a click. I was like, well, you must've ground last week. He goes, Oh, we ain't ground three weeks on greens. I'm like, you're kidding. He goes, I ain't gonna grind for another two or three more weeks. So I was sitting out there thinking, I'm about to go take the top dresser out and throw some gravel on these greens so he has to grind some more.

Trent Manning: 33:28

Um, But he's running Toro.

John Michael Clark: 33:31

Yeah.

Trent Manning: 33:32

Yeah. That's something when

John Michael Clark: 33:37

is going to be all, it's wall to wall zoysia, except for greens. And I was like, we're going to be grinding every, you know, every two or three cuts.

Trent Manning: 33:46

I don't know what they're doing now at East Lake, but like when I first started helping out down there for the tour championship, David flowers, he was the equipment manager down there and he was getting three months and ground. I mean, every third month or after the third month, throw it on the grinder.

John Michael Clark: 34:07

I talked

Trent Manning: 34:07

that's crazy.

John Michael Clark: 34:09

I was talking to a guy out in Texas the other day, and I think they have Cavalier. I'm not exactly sure. And He's like, we'll send a mower out. He goes, they'll mow nine holes or nine, the front nine fairways. They'll bring that mower in, drop it off, grab the other one and go back out. And he goes, you know, to extend the life that I can, he goes, it's not that I like it, but he goes, I have to backlap, you know, after they get done with the front nine and he goes, Then when they go out to mow the next time and he goes when they finish the front now with that mower He goes the reels come off and they go straight in the grinder And he's like, you know, they were doing the whole I mean they were relief and everything and he's like I can get two mows and he goes then we're going grinding.

Trent Manning: 34:53

Man, that is, yeah, that's crazy. Um, so I got Georgia at our midtown course and I mean, Joel, he runs a show down there, but he's getting seven or eight cuts. He does lap, you know, every other Mo he'll lap. Yeah. Um, but that is one thing, you know, I came from, you know, bent grass and I was technically over that shop and Joel was doing all the work and cause everybody knows I don't work. But, um, anyway, I was, you know, and we lapped a bunch and what we found out is you get to a certain point where you lap and the mowers cutting good, you send it out and. You know, it's only a nine hole course down there. So, but after three holes is, you know, yellow and pulling the strings out of the Zoysia, you know, it's just, it don't look good.

John Michael Clark: 35:53

On that we did a test We had a 2653 we sent out the other day to mow some of this stuff and he mowed a few holes And I stretched the moat the reels out as far as I could And, you know, we brought it back ground, sent it back out and then I lapped it once and I was like, you know, as bad as this sounds, I was like, I'd rather not lapped it and just let it suffer, you know, a couple more holes. This didn't look right.

Trent Manning: 36:25

Yeah. Yeah. I don't, and that's, I guess what I was getting at when I started laughing or I learned how to laugh. I wouldn't doing it the right way. We would wait till the reels wouldn't cut paper and then we would lap and that is not the way you should do it. Um, you know, you know what they say about opinions. This is just my opinion, but I think you should lap, you know, before you lose that cut because once you lose that cut, yeah, you can lap and get it to cut, but it ain't going to cut very well. So, it's really there for maintaining the edge and I know other clubs. I mean, they'll lap every single time they mop.

John Michael Clark: 37:07

Yeah, it's a guy were the E. M. And Memphis. It didn't matter if you mode one hole or 10 holes. You brought your mower in, you wash it off, you pulled it over to the laughing station and he'd laugh. It was just that was his thing.

Trent Manning: 37:22

Yeah, I don't. What kind of lapping compound? I mean, like what grit?

John Michael Clark: 37:26

Well, that was eight years ago.

Trent Manning: 37:29

That was too many adult beverages ago. Okay.

John Michael Clark: 37:32

many concussions ago.

Trent Manning: 37:34

Fair enough. Fair enough. Well, let's talk about grow in and yeah. How hard is that? How much stuff is breaking because they're doing construction? How much construction equipment are you working on? Wow.

John Michael Clark: 37:51

Guys have gotten to know each other very well over the last year. I mean, it's a daily thing. If we send a mower out, it's going out for one day and then we're taking it to the shop to grind. And I think we've been mowing fairways for three weeks over there and. We only have two fairway mowers over there, and I think we've went through 20 bed knives between the 2 25 bed knives. And it's just, I mean, we're on the mountain, so we have rocks everywhere. We, I, um, I think there's only 10 to 18 inches of soil at the most in our deepest areas. I mean, I've never seen so much dynamite go off in my life as we had to up there just to put in irrigation.

Trent Manning: 38:38

Wow. That's crazy.

John Michael Clark: 38:39

That's I don't want to be the irrigation tech up there, that's for sure. Unless we get an excavator with a rock what do they call it? A rock hammer or something like that.

Trent Manning: 38:50

That's crazy.

John Michael Clark: 38:51

But it's been a, it's been fun, it's been exhausting, but just getting to see, I mean, when I stepped foot on property in April of last year, they had not finished clear cutting everything. And to get to see it from then until now, and look back at pictures It's incredible the amount of work that's went into it. Um, you know, our greens up there they're finally filling in. They're actually looking really good. The winter was pretty rough on us. We lost a lot of short grass, but the stuff that we've been getting the last month that it's coming along quick, we're it's going to be a one height or two height course. Everything T to approach will be one height and then the greens will be their own height. But,

Trent Manning: 39:39

Okay, that's cool.

John Michael Clark: 39:40

mowing everything right now, it's. It's starting to look good. You know, we're pushing stuff a little bit longer than we should, but with the amount of, you know, hitting everything and I mean, we, where we're having to park equipment over there and the roads that we're transporting on it's understandable.

Trent Manning: 39:59

When is that core supposed to open?

John Michael Clark: 40:01

Um, September 1 is the last. If I remember right, it's the last day that any equipment will be on the court.

Trent Manning: 40:10

Okay.

John Michael Clark: 40:10

So, they'll have, you know, a member's opening or an investor's opening probably the next weekend. Um, I think they're going to start selling some teatimes for mid to late October, But it's It's coming along. They still have a lot of work to go, but it's been a good learning experience.

Trent Manning: 40:30

Oh, I bet. I bet. So it's Zorja wall to wall except greens?

John Michael Clark: 40:34

Yes. It's Stadium Zoysia. I'm not exactly sure. It's a, I know it's a cross between Xeon and I think it's got the color of a Meyer. I'm not exactly sure, but it's a, you know, for a Zoids, it's very thin blade. I don't think it's as coarse as some of the older varieties. I mean, it's mowing really nice. Thankfully we're not mowing this week. We just finished top dressing all wall to wall. So they're going to let me have a break for a couple of days.

Trent Manning: 41:04

Yeah, how often, you know, when you are mowing, how often are you mowing the Zorja? Yeah.

John Michael Clark: 41:13

And they've got every, we're down to half an inch on all the sod that was laid last year and earlier this year. The stuff that was laid in the past 2 weeks, I think we're, we have some at an inch, some at like 750. So, they're keeping me busy with weekly height changes and greens right now are at daily height change. So, as quick as I can get there in the morning and go from shop 1 to the lay down yard, we don't even have a shop, it's the lay down yard. You know, we're changing heights, so

Trent Manning: 41:49

How come so many greenshot? Just trying to work it down?

John Michael Clark: 41:53

working it down and then, we did it in sections. So they seeded two or three greens and then they seeded two or three more greens and then they. And they're all at different stages of maturity now, so we're getting them all dialed in closer, um, and that's, I think we're at the height on our more mature greens that we're going to stay at until we get closer to opening, but we're just trying to play catch up right now with everything that's new, we're,

Trent Manning: 42:21

Gotcha. Makes sense. are you ready to do some rapid fire questions?

John Michael Clark: 42:29

whew, it's late in the day for that,

Trent Manning: 42:32

no. That's good, man. That's good. What's your favorite movie?

John Michael Clark: 42:37

ooh old yeller.

Trent Manning: 42:39

Oh, man. Going way back. Way back. Man. Yeah, I cried.

John Michael Clark: 42:45

I did.

Trent Manning: 42:46

Yeah.

John Michael Clark: 42:46

I got to get emotional every once in a

Trent Manning: 42:48

Yeah. No, that's yeah. What would be your last meal?

John Michael Clark: 42:51

Ooh probably a tomahawk ribeye homemade mac and cheese and some fried okra.

Trent Manning: 42:58

Oh, man. Proud okra. Yes. I mean, I don't know. My mom, she made the best fried okra and ever said, you know, I hadn't had any since she passed away four years ago because I mean, it just ain't, it ain't the same. And one thing, and I think other people do this, I guess, but she didn't, she used flour and corn meal to bread her okra. And it was the best thing ever.

John Michael Clark: 43:26

I'm gonna write that down. Whatever I'm doing ain't right, and granny won't tell me the secret.

Trent Manning: 43:33

Yeah, that might be the secret. Throw a little cornmeal in there. What are you most proud of?

John Michael Clark: 43:38

Probably, you know, finally buying a house. That's probably the biggest thing here lately that I can think of.

Trent Manning: 43:45

No, that's good, man. That's good. And yeah, I think you should be proud of your career too. And how far you came. And who knows how far you're going to go. You might end up in Mexico. Or somewhere else. And I mean, that is one of the cool things I think about this industry. You know, you can go anywhere in the world. I mean, there's golf everywhere. You know, you pick where you want to be and you can go there. You find a job at a golf course. And I mean, for us, you know, the technicians mechanics and all that, you know, I think we can write our own ticket

John Michael Clark: 44:19

Well,

Trent Manning: 44:19

we want to go.

John Michael Clark: 44:20

that's one of our biggest things of finding, you know, I'm looking for three more guys right now.

Trent Manning: 44:26

Yeah.

John Michael Clark: 44:26

And I haven't, you know, it's hard to get anybody to even answer an email.

Trent Manning: 44:31

Yeah, that's the economy I guess we live in. Yeah, how far is the closest town?

John Michael Clark: 44:38

The closest town, probably 25 minutes. Um, I mean, I'm living in Alabama working in Georgia

Trent Manning: 44:47

Yeah.

John Michael Clark: 44:47

and it's 30, 35 minutes of back roads. Yeah. The area where we are at the mountain. I mean, there's no grocery store. There's nothing for 25, 30 minutes.

Trent Manning: 44:58

Yep.

John Michael Clark: 44:59

So it's definitely a difficult area for hiring and. Our pool is not very big.

Trent Manning: 45:05

Yeah, because how far are you from Chattanooga?

John Michael Clark: 45:09

About 45 minutes.

Trent Manning: 45:10

Yeah. So, but, you know, who wants to drive 45 minutes up the mountain every day? So, yeah that's a tough sell. Well, I wish you the best of luck for sure. Tell the listeners how they can get a hold of you. You're on

John Michael Clark: 45:26

on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram I think it's Clark. I don't get on Twitter much. They y'all taught me into getting back on it, but it's a Clark, John, Mike on Twitter, and then I think it's JM Clark 13 on Instagram, and you know, those are the two easiest ways to get ahold of me. I'd usually check those throughout the day. Cause I'm one of those. I like to post done things, you know? So.

Trent Manning: 45:56

nothing wrong with that. Yeah, I love posting. Like look at this. Can you believe this happened today? Yeah.

John Michael Clark: 46:04

And I'll get a call. Did you mean to post that?

Trent Manning: 46:07

I guess I shouldn't have. Yeah, it sure did.

John Michael Clark: 46:11

Fat bum.

Trent Manning: 46:13

Yep. Blame it on the thumbs.

John Michael Clark: 46:14

Yes.

Trent Manning: 46:15

Well, thank you, John Michael. I really appreciate you being a guest. Um, thank all the listeners for for listening. And if you got any ideas for this podcast or you want to be a guest, reach out to me. Um, we're always looking for guests and always looking for ideas too.

John Michael Clark: 46:33

Well, thanks for having me, Trent. I appreciate it very much. Hopefully we'll get to catch up soon.

Trent Manning: 46:38

Yes, sir. No, we definitely going to, we're going to get together sooner rather than later. 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.