Reel Turf Techs Podcast
Reel Turf Techs Podcast
Episode 129: Ryan Deering
In Episode 129 of the Reel Turf Techs Podcast, we sit down with Ryan Deering to hear about his journey into the turf industry. Ryan shares his roots in small engine repair, learning the trade while working with his grandfather in their family-owned equipment shop, where no two days were ever the same—whether fixing hovercrafts or steamrollers. Ryan discusses his time at Home Depot, climbing the corporate ladder, and developing valuable management skills, before making the leap into the golf industry. Ryan recounts the humorous yet humbling moment during his first interview at a golf course when he unintentionally insulted the superintendent by complimenting the "camouflage" look of the fairways. Tune in for a story filled with hands-on mechanical knowledge, career pivots, and Ryan's unique perspective on the world of turf maintenance.
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Episode 129: Ryan Deering
Trent Manning: [00:00:00] 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 .
Trent Manning: 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 [00:01:00] Foley C o.com Foley Ready for
Intro
Trent Manning: play Welcome to the real turf text podcast, episode 1 29. Today, we're talking to Ryan Deering equipment manager at rolling green. Country club in Arlington Heights, Illinois.
He has roughly a hundred pieces of equipment. The fleet is primarily made up of Toro mowers and easy go lithium carts. He works out of a converted pole barn. That's split in between. A heated shop and cold storage. Let's talk to Ryan.
Interview
Trent Manning: Welcome, Ryan, to the RealTurfTex Podcast. Thanks for coming on. How you doing today?
Ryan Deering: I'm doing well. Yourself?
Trent Manning: I'm good, man. I'm good. Thank you so much for being here.
Ryan Deering: Thanks for
having me.
Trent Manning: Yeah, for sure. Tell us how you got into the turf industry.
Ryan Deering: Well, I kind of was groomed in the small engine repair shop from an early [00:02:00] age. I was fortunate enough to officially work with my grandfather for 15 years in our family's small equipment shop. We got to work on anything between a hovercraft, golf cart, which was interesting, to a steamroller. We never knew what was coming in the door.
Later on, when I was thinking about getting engaged to my now wife, I wanted to buy a ring, but I wanted to have it paid off before we got married. So I started working part time for Home Depot, and in that time span, they a position opened up for overnight freight, and they wanted me to take it, or especially this operations manager at the time, and I said, I really can't do it, I'm just looking to pay off a ring.
In that short span, he said, what's your number? And I said, you're going to laugh at this because I started there making ten bucks an hour. I'm like, if you want me to work for you full time, you've got to meet my, my number. I also knew I needed to get some management skills because I was third generation for my family's company.
So, usually third [00:03:00] generation if you don't learn the tricks of the trade. The business doesn't do so well. So I took the job with home Depot, worked there for seven years, kept climbing the ladder. Got to meet a lot of vendors, a lot of overnight people that would come do installs for the big box store.
I still have a couple of those contacts these days, but I'm not at the store anymore. Obviously I'm now in the golf industry. They did corporate, did a realignment with home Depot. So they created a new position. I had a new manager over the top me. I got the promotion while I was on vacation to Florida and our, our ideas didn't quite align.
And my father in law mentioned that his old golf course he worked at in the eighties was looking for a mechanic. He knew how mechanically inclined I was working for Home Depot. I'm not allowed to touch the machines. It was frustrating to watch a new hose get installed and Leak or immediately and I couldn't just grab a wrench off the shelf tighten it, right?
I was equipment trainer there a whole bunch of other things that [00:04:00] you wouldn't think of key carrier Whatever title equipment trainer just anything and everything to help out the store but the job opened up I applied for it told the lowman I'll get you my resume when I get back from town. He was cool at that We interviewed when he took me on a tour in the course.
We are a mixed, er, a mixed grass course. So we have different, we have poe, we have bent, we have blue, mixed, and we have fairways. Not knowing much about the turf industries, I didn't realize how much I insulted him until later. When I went and said, oh, I really like the camouflage pattern of your fairway So I'm going at the time that I didn't think anything of it But
Trent Manning: That's a good
Ryan Deering: I left thinking that the interview went well He ended up passing on me for a different candidate.
So I went all right, I'm gonna interview a couple other courses Got to know a couple other other salesmen in the area that I was introduced [00:05:00] to I mean it didn't help that at the time I didn't know how to grind either. I had never done it because I had a rotary grinder in my shop or I was grinding rotary blades because it was commercial instead of golf course equipment.
put me in touch with other courses that were looking for equipment managers at the time. So I interviewed there. I ended up with pair of offers and then I got a phone call back from Roland Green. And honestly I like the course. I like, I like the area. I like the shop. It was well set up. So I ended up working at Rolling Green for Shane Lohman.
We worked together for about a year, and then he transferred out to New York, an engineer's club for invited. We got a new superintendent, Jeff Everson. Really enjoy working for him too. It's, it's been a really, really great experience working in the golf course industry, meeting all these people.
Trent Manning: That's awesome,
Ryan Deering: And then getting all this help it's really, really welcoming community.
Trent Manning: Nice. Yeah. Very, very cool. Yeah. So, did you, did you like to play golf or what kind of drew you other than your father in law mentioning him? [00:06:00] The golf course was looking for a person
Ryan Deering: Well, I've been turning wrenches for the 15 years, my grandfather in our shop. And like I said, I, I went to work for Home Depot. I was frustrated. It was a, it was a yearning thing. Like I missed being able to wrench tightening that hydraulic hose or fixing that repair, that machine, knowing I could do it.
And then just getting that opportunity to come back. Some things happened while I was with Home Depot full time and my family, my. Father had a stroke.
Trent Manning: To hear that.
Ryan Deering: and then my grandfather, my mentor passed away from
Trent Manning: Man, sorry to hear that too
Ryan Deering: we kind of shuttered half the business. So there really wasn't much to get back to.
It's, it's still around. My uncle still runs it, but it's, it's a lot smaller.
Trent Manning: Yeah.
Ryan Deering: Maybe one day I want to open it up and grow it a little bit bigger, but it's kind of hard with some of the other shops to open it up and expanding. and I'm doing, I'm enjoying what I'm doing right now.
Trent Manning: Yeah, that's awesome Yeah, would you ever thought [00:07:00] that you would be working at a golf course
Ryan Deering: My only experience golfing ever was actually with Home Depot at a couple different courses for some corporate outings where you're supposed to meet the bigwigs and hang out and you really get to know people for four hours sitting there in a golf cart. So it's, it's, it's very intimate experience.
I've only golfed a handful of times, but
Trent Manning: I don't, I'm not a golfer and there's a lot of AMs that are not golfers and
Ryan Deering: I've, I'll be honest, I haven't played my own course. I just haven't at the end of the day. I'm like, alright, there's golfers out there, members are happy, they're enjoying the greens, good, I'm doing my job, I'm gonna go home, hang out with my family.
Trent Manning: yeah, I mean, you know, it's it's like uh if you work in the restaurant industry. When you get off work and you go home, you probably don't want to cook or you don't want to wait on somebody or, you know, whatever your, your job
Ryan Deering: gotta get here,
Trent Manning: Yep. That's right.
Favorite part of the job?
Ryan Deering: [00:08:00] discovering breaks. When
Trent Manning: Without being told?
Ryan Deering: didn't bring it to my attention. And I find it a couple weeks later where he could have addressed it earlier. Right after it happened.
Trent Manning: that could fall right into a pet peeve of mine too. Yeah, when that happens,
Ryan Deering: Breaks happen. Let me know immediately. I'm not I don't get mad. I don't have the energy for it. But next time we need the machine, if I don't know that part broke off in the middle of the field and it's sitting right there and I don't see it, what am I gonna do with the day we need it?
Trent Manning: Well, yeah, exactly. Yeah. And we don't know what we don't know.
Ryan Deering: Right?
Trent Manning: we don't, we don't know that we need to fix something that nobody tells us because we don't have enough time to go around the shop and make sure everything stop, you know, starts and runs and all that stuff on a daily basis. Yeah.
Ryan Deering: I don't want to put a bandaid on a [00:09:00] fix, I want to fix it right the first time.
Trent Manning: Yes. Oh, yeah. Very, very important. I mean, we've talked about it here too before I think but yeah, finding the root cause of an issue. You know, say a belt breaks on a piece of equipment. What caused the belt to break? You know, was the belt just wore out and old or is there idler pulley froze up? You know, what what really caused this belt to break?
Right. Right. Exactly. So finding that root cause and fixing it right. What's your favorite tool?
Ryan Deering: My favorite daily tool, I use them all the time, it was actually a gift from my wife. It was the first tool she ever bought me, it's a set of black craftsman wrenches, those black oxide.
Trent Manning: Okay.
Ryan Deering: don't flex. So when I'm working on bronze bushings, they don't slip, they don't strip it out, because that is probably one of the most annoying things to deal with, is when you're changing one of those fittings and it just slips and strips.
I've had them almost 15 years, and they look like [00:10:00] the day I got them, except for the case. The case lost the cover like maybe a weekend. But they've made it to every shop I've ever worked at. In every location, I always have in my toolbox.
Trent Manning: Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. And yeah, for the listeners or anybody that's new to the industry or things like that, and you want to buy tools. I would suggest investing your money in the tools that you use all the time.
Ryan Deering: That was, that was a good piece of advice, yeah, when I said start buying my own tools. If you know you're going to need a tool for the job, it was something brought to my attention by I don't know if you ever heard of Adam Savage, one of the Mythbusters.
Trent Manning: Oh, yeah,
Ryan Deering: saying, he would say, I would buy the cheapest tool I could to get the job done, the first time.
If that tool broke, I know I used it, so I bought the best tool I could. So it'll last forever.
Trent Manning: really good way to look at it, too. [00:11:00] Because, you know, a lot of these tools have lifetime warranty and all that stuff, and that's great. But You know, if you need the tool and it breaks, you need, you still need the tool because it just broke on you. So the lifetime warranty is, you know, is okay, but you know, I need it right now.
Ryan Deering: Right?
Trent Manning: don't need, I don't need it to break ever. what do you do to relax or find your balance?
Ryan Deering: I go home, I cook. I, I really enjoy it. I mean, sometimes it's simple, I make we call it giant German pancake in my house. But we can throw all sorts of different fruits in it. It's real simple, it's a cup of flour, six eggs, half a stick of butter, And a cup of milk. You mix it all together. There you go.
Dinner's in the oven.
Trent Manning: Okay. Awesome.
Ryan Deering: in there. It's, it's delicious. It's simple. It's something my, my two young kiddos can help me with.
Trent Manning: Oh, that's cool
Ryan Deering: like, it's, it's bonding time.
Trent Manning: Yeah. No, that's awesome. Yeah. Family, family activity. Doing a little [00:12:00] cooking. What's been your biggest challenge working at the golf course?
Ryan Deering: Understanding how my Real units affect the turf and what turf conditions I can control. I'm trying to get a consistent cut on the turf, but if I can't, if the turf conditions aren't perfect, I'm going to get patterns that may look like it's, say, rippling, or washboarding, some guys call it. And it could just be a little bit of separation because it has been Aerated enough or doesn't have enough stand or something
Trent Manning: Yeah, what do you think the what's been your biggest challenge in cutting unit setup?
Knowing what you don't know?
Ryan Deering: that that's always a challenge not When I first started it was not knowing anything about real units and then Grinding my looking at my real grinder going looking at my foley going. All right, this doesn't look right It was it was jerky traveling and needed to have bearings replaced So that was my first repair job out of the [00:13:00] shop was repair my my real grinder But then, getting it lined up for the first time and getting it all squared up, realizing that it's over 20 thousandths out of, out of square.
Trent Manning: Yeah.
Ryan Deering: initial, the initial setup and then the importance of keeping your rollers even and square.
Trent Manning: Mm hmm. Yep. No, all that stuff, super, super important. And it's, you know, I don't know that everybody knows that in the industry. Which is, might be sad. But, I mean, that's one reason we got a podcast here. And we got the WhatsApp community.
Ryan Deering: Oh yeah, it's, it's been great watching, or asking questions and then being able to help some other guys out with something I know.
Trent Manning: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's yeah, that's great. It's very
Ryan Deering: and somebody will have the schematic out and look at this part number 34 and this description and like, that's, that's what you're looking at. I'm like, oh, okay, let's go.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah. No, it's awesome. Great. Great resource for sure. what did you say? Your after cut appearance [00:14:00] thing was said washboarding.
Ryan Deering: I, it was when I started, I had 7000 hour jakes. So they've, they've had their mileage on. We had fairway unit. That's what I started with. And I was trying to get them to cut beautifully. So the grass looks smooth and it just. Couldn't happen with those units that the frames are rusted. the rollers were a little thin.
There's, there's just things that were too worn on them. And we knew we had some new, new units coming and, Oh, it's going to be this month, it was 2022. So there's still that back order of equipment. It wasn't until a year later, we finally got our fairway units in February.
Trent Manning: Mm hmm.
Ryan Deering: So we, we dealt with those jinx for a year, but I mean, I had texts coming in.
I called him the Jacobson Master Bob Keys came in to help me out, John McGuire mechanic came in to help me out, and he's like, these are cutting the best they can. But this, this is how you can set, I, I didn't have enough experience to say, go to Shane and go, [00:15:00] hey, I don't, these are as good as they're gonna get, this is what we're gonna have to float with until we get a different unit, or we can put a lot of money into them.
Trent Manning: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's good. Good stuff. What's the strangest thing you've seen at the golf course?
Ryan Deering: Well, it was a personal experience and it happened two weeks ago. I was a squirrel jumping in my lap.
Trent Manning: Oh, nice!
Ryan Deering: I, I mean, I was pulling up to our 9 green on the cart path. There's a little fenced area. There's a cart path. There's a rollout. Green. The assistant superintendent was cutting cups that day, so he rolled up.
And he scared the squirrel. The squirrel darted in front of me, went to go up the fence, didn't quite make it. And then springboard onto my lap and all he's heard was, Ah! And that squirrel flying out of my cart. So, it was quite the experience. I think that has the strangest thing I've seen. I mean, I've seen equipment in the ponds, unfortunately, but that's just somebody not paying [00:16:00] attention.
Or just sliding sideways. We had a fully loaded sprayer go in once.
Trent Manning: Oh, wow.
Ryan Deering: sideways down the turf, you just watched him go, and it's Alright, he didn't completely sink it.
Trent Manning: Mm
Ryan Deering: kept the front two wheels up, but
Trent Manning: Dang. Yeah,
Ryan Deering: it happens.
Trent Manning: Oh, yeah. Yep. Do you have a mentor in the industry?
Ryan Deering: I got a lot. There's, there's been a lot of people that helped me along the way. Joe Etten, when I first started, was the one that originally taught me how to grind reels. Then I had Chris Hyman explaining to me the importance of relief grinding.
Trent Manning: Okay.
Ryan Deering: going into details with the rabbit hole and how far is too much, because you don't want to make it too thin, because it'll fold over if you hit something.
You don't want to have too much, too much contact, that kind of thing. I really hadn't been doing it up until that point and then I started doing it and I noticed a lot less wear, a lot less grabbing on the bed knife
Trent Manning: Okay. Yeah, yeah. All right. So, yeah, let's, let's talk about that. Cause I think that's really [00:17:00] important and really good stuff. So. What did you, what did you decide or what was your experience for how thick the land width should be?
Just a ballpark
Ryan Deering: for my, for my greens mowers, I like it having a dime thickness.
Trent Manning: Okay.
Ryan Deering: enough. I mean, we have, we call them whirly gigs up here that if one, two gets in there, it's not going to bend the edge. It's not too thin that if we do a light top dressing, it's not going to destroy the bed knives. I'm not going to have to grind.
Right after that mow I may get one more till the sands up
For my T mowers and my fairway mowers about a nickel.
Trent Manning: Okay.
Ryan Deering: a little little thicker Because I know the crews tries to pick up all the sticks, but they don't get all of them and we got acorns We've got oaks along our fairways. So they do catch some of that It you don't want to go too thin because it'll bend it over It'll take a notch out and then you could be [00:18:00] leaving a streak of grass if it doesn't have enough fins You
Trent Manning: Yeah, no, that's super, super good stuff. And, yeah, so for the listeners, I, I take mine down to a sixteenth of an inch. You know, I don't, I get it down there and it doesn't matter, greens, fairways, whatever. And, you know, I've, I've been happy with that. So, but you,
Ryan Deering: a little bit different turf you're cutting. What kind of grass?
Trent Manning: well, yeah, so, well, for the most part, I, I cut Warm season turf, so Bermuda grass, Zoysia, down here in the south with a real mower. We got some fescue, but most of the time that's rotary. And then, we do overseed our course with ryegrass, which is a winter annual grass. And So, you know, and it's soft and supple and all those things, so not very abrasive on a real blade.
And I don't, we're pretty debris free. I mean, I'm not [00:19:00] gonna say we don't have any sticks or limbs. We definitely got plenty of sweet gum balls. Hopefully with our course renovation that will go away. But yeah, what was your experience going from not, I'm assuming, not relief grinding to putting a good relief on? What did you see with the cut?
Ryan Deering: Cleaner cuts. It was more consistent on the turf. I didn't see any jam ups if I was following the machine. I didn't see any, any slowdown on the reel speed. We had an old 2653A we were doing an intercut with, and it didn't have a relief grind in it. But I could get it to cut paper clean. I felt it was a little stiff to turn over, and I took the motor off, checked the bearings, took the bed knife off, everything spun free, but it could clean paper, or it could cut paper nice and clean.
It was, that was great. When I put a relief grind on it after talking with Chris, And we set it out there the first time, oh man, that grass was flying, it could go full speed, there [00:20:00] was very little resistance to the turf, and it was easier to maintain that edge.
Trent Manning: Okay. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm a huge proponent of relief grinding but they are a lot of naysayers out there and leave us a comment and and we can talk about it.
Ryan Deering: Right?
Trent Manning: It'll be a discussion. What would be your dream job or opportunity?
Ryan Deering: there's, there's a couple of big courses in the area. I'd like to have a couple, couple of technicians. I could teach what I've learned. So they don't have the struggles I did when I first started in the industry. I was talking with a senior equipment manager over at a different country club. I was, and actually I would say he's, he's my mentor in the industry now, cause he's doing what I, or he did what I'm doing now.
And he would say, He wished he knew reels when he first started. So he was kind of in the same boat when he first started in the industry. He didn't know reels. He could fix the hydraulics, he could do all the engine repairs. But that was something he wished he knew. But yeah, no, this, from what I understand, I didn't come [00:21:00] from the automotive industry.
This, this industry is very, very welcoming to newcomers and sharing ideas and what they've seen. But I guess my dream job, like there's Medina's open right now. Brian, I respect very much. I'm, I'm excited about that course in that opening. If I was to happen to land that job, that'd be very cool.
But again, they're looking for somebody that's been there a little bit longer.
Trent Manning: Yeah, yeah, yep, yep.
Ryan Deering: I don't know, maybe in eight years it opens up again or five years and the tech moves on to do something else or another, another course like, like Medina opens up. I mean, it's very cool. They got the president's cup 2026 coming.
Trent Manning: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that is cool, super cool. Yeah, and Medina, it's awesome. I got to visit Brian up there a couple years ago, and it's, it's somethin else. Special place. Yeah,
Ryan Deering: a lot of work, but it's worth it.
Trent Manning: and like I said, who knows? I think opportunities present themselves from time to time, and, Mm hmm. Things have, have a way of working out. [00:22:00] That's
Ryan Deering: yeah. I mean, I'm in the golf industry now. I'm not doing what I was doing. So. I've, I've enjoyed my time in the industry.
Trent Manning: and I'm, I'm glad that you're having a good experience with it. I don't know if that's the norm or not for, for newcomers. I
Ryan Deering: Oh, I mean, there's, there's, there's bad days.
Trent Manning: well, of
Ryan Deering: There, there, I mean, It's, it's just a day, man. Next day. It's a new day. Right?
Trent Manning: Yeah. Mm hmm. I just meant, yeah, overall. It seems like you're having a good experience, you know, getting, getting into the golf industry and learning some things where, you know, other people, I don't, I don't know if they're that lucky, you know,
Ryan Deering: I, I,
Trent Manning: depends on all, all about where you're at.
Ryan Deering: Right?
Trent Manning: Yeah.
Ryan Deering: I mean, I guess the advice I can say is don't be afraid to ask a question.
Trent Manning: Oh yeah.
Ryan Deering: if you don't know something,
Trent Manning: You know, and they always say [00:23:00] there's no, no such thing as a stupid question.
Ryan Deering: No.
Trent Manning: You know,
Ryan Deering: you don't know, No.
Trent Manning: right. And we, well, that's the thing. I guarantee none of us when we, you know, had to grind a real for the first time, knew how to grind a real,
Ryan Deering: Right?
Trent Manning: you know, I mean, we all learn at some point or another.
Yeah. And there's some of us have been doing it a lot longer than others, but still, we all had to learn at one point. What technician would you like to work with for a day?
Ryan Deering: Either, either Brian or Jeff, my mentor, just to spend a day in their shop and see what they do. They keep the high quality cut they have and all those machines because they have bigger fleets than I do. Brian's got 54 holes. Jeff's, of course, just, you know, It does a lot of stuff. So, either one of those two.
Just another course in general. A technician in my area.
Trent Manning: Mm hmm. No, that's awesome. Yeah. And you got
Ryan Deering: to any of these [00:24:00] seminars and I, if I learn one thing, I call it a win.
Trent Manning: Oh yeah, it was definitely worth the trip if you pick up one thing and, and not even just learning something but, you know, meeting somebody and, you know, expanding your network and, who, you know, who knows what, Knowing this person's gonna lead to, you know, just like if you talk to Brian, who, you know, who knows what, what could happen a year from now or three years from now or, you know, whatever.
Yeah. So that's, that's exciting for sure. what do you know now you wish you had known
Ryan Deering: What would I have liked to know on day one besides grind how to grind reels how much importance you can put in the relief grinding but
That's that's a tough one there's a I wish it would have relief ground in the beginning. I didn't when I first started, but just after I started relief grinding, I noticed the benefits of it just not grabbing as much or binding. A [00:25:00] little bit less stress on the hydraulic motor. What else?
Trent Manning: so yeah, I want to go into that a little bit more too. On your reel grinding, what would have been maybe the easiest way, and not, maybe not just necessarily for you, but what is the easiest way, in your opinion, for a technician to learn how to grind reels?
Ryan Deering: You can read a manual, but sometimes it can be hard to translate that. Having a guy show you, or having someone show you hands on a couple of times, and then letting you do it, hands up, hands off, then just checking the work afterwards to make sure it's correct. Just, just having that, that lifeline next to you, like mentoring you through the process a couple of times.
Cause yeah especially when you're relief grinding a 14 blade reel, it's a little tight. You gotta be careful.
Trent Manning: Mm hmm.
Ryan Deering: But we won't go into that.
Trent Manning: Well, no, we've I've I've had guys do it. I've done it [00:26:00] before. I mean, you know, it happens sometimes. I think, yeah, anybody that's ground to fourteen or fifteen bladed reel, they've probably done it. And a bunch of the old guys, if we would admit, we've probably done it on eleven blade reel.
You know, by accident. I mean, it it can happen, you know. So all in your setup and you're in a hurry and you're doing you know, you're just going you're doing things
Ryan Deering: it, you walk away, let it do it's thing, and you just hear BANG and it's, oh,
Trent Manning: Yeah, I mean it wouldn't I don't know a couple years ago had a guy working for me in the shop And he's like I can't get this real to cut and I knew he had just grounded and relieved and you know all that stuff And I
Ryan Deering: oh no, okay,
Trent Manning: and the real blade is at like a point Like this, you know, where it was, had been ground on both sides.
And I was like, I think we're gonna have to spin that one some more to get it to cut. Yeah, it don't work that way.
Ryan Deering: That was, that was something I was [00:27:00] told to do too, do the front first and then relief grind. It was something that was recommended to me. I don't know if your process is the same, to do the relief grind second.
Trent Manning: that's the way I do it. And I've been told by people, you know, to relief first, then spin. And, you know, I don't know. I just, I like the idea of spinning first and getting the reel back to a true cylinder and then putting the relief on it and the real leaf being even all the way across. Because if the reel is not a true cylinder and I put a relief on it and I have more relief on one side and less on another and then I have to spin it to put the edge on it. You know, and then the relief's different, you know, I don't know if that really affects anything having a little bit different relief from leading to trailing, but
Ryan Deering: [00:28:00] Right.
Trent Manning: I don't know. That's just
Ryan Deering: That, that was the, the story I was given when they were showing me. Okay.
Trent Manning: Yeah.
Get ready for tips and tricks.
Well, let's do some tips and tricks.
Ryan Deering: Let's see what I guess the latest tip I learned if you have the opportunity to put an o ring on the old string the string trick where you start it you put the string around string it through the o ring you start it opposite and you pull it through puts the o ring on real smooth I mean it was it was a social media trick I saw but it was simple
Trent Manning: Hmm.
Ryan Deering: didn't I think of that before Oh,
Trent Manning: I'm not drawing a good mental picture on this.
Ryan Deering: I wish I had it here to demo for you. But, you take a piece of twine, string, something you have a groove, you gotta put an o ring in to seal something, but it's, it keeps slipping out of your hand and getting frustrated. This I did it once the other day and it worked beautifully, like first try. But you put the string in the [00:29:00] groove, and you put it around the o ring, or through the o ring, and you start it, and as you start pulling the string around, it stretches the o ring just enough to creep over the shaft you're putting the o ring on.
Trent Manning: Oh, okay.
Ryan Deering: you pull it through, and when the string stretches taut, the L ring will be in the groove where you set it. It, it, it, I was surprised how smooth it worked. The other I guess the other one I learned, I kind of, my wife, my wife sent it to me as a joke when I was going to National Golf Day. She said, don't, don't forget how to tie a tie.
Sure enough, that, that day too Bill Meyer, the superintendent over at Heritage, was rimming with me. And he saw me struggling to tie the tie and he's laughing. And I'm like, you know what? I got a video from my wife sent me about wrapping on the forearm and pulling it through and all that. I wonder if this will actually work.
Sure enough, it, it, it worked. It was, and he's looking at me, he's going, did you just. Do [00:30:00] that. Yeah, it works, man. I mean, my tie straight, it's all set. It was like, send me that video. So then a national golf day was sharing with a couple of the other guys. There was, I don't know how many guys actually used it, but I know that day that first day I was so stressed out.
I forgot how to tie a tie and I've been tying it since high school. So for all these sporting events and everything, we had to show, right.
Trent Manning: Yeah, no, that's cool.
Ryan Deering: It's not something I wear every day. You don't want a tie when you're working around anything rotating. Yeah.
Trent Manning: Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ryan Deering: But as a joke my wife sent it to me she's like don't don't forget, honey,
Trent Manning: Ha ha
Ryan Deering: and I like yes, dear,
Trent Manning: She jinxed you.
Ryan Deering: right?
Oh, man, I I think I failed like 10 times before I watched this video and actually did it around there It it was funny. It was he's laughing So I I really don't know how many superintendents actually saw that video of me doing it
Because I sure one or two could have been in the same boat for Being [00:31:00] at the Capitol the first time and it was, it was a cool experience, but just that moment I'm like, Oh no, I'm supposed to dress up nice.
I'm all suited up and I can't tie a tie. What's going on here?
Trent Manning: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's good. Well, that's great too because this transitions us right into National Golf Day. So how did, how did you get there? What was that story?
Ryan Deering: I'm the mags technician liaison. Justin Prescott was it before, but he was focusing on some other stuff. So the position was open. I was a Melrose grant recipient. So I ended up going to the conference last year where I met everybody. I met Luke Sella. He's the director for a chapter. If I got the title wrong, I apologize, Luke.
And I asked, Hey, is there any way, anything you need help with? Let me know. He followed up with, yeah, would you like to be our technician liaison? I'm like, what is that? Well, you come up with training ideas. You do this. You get 10 board meetings. You [00:32:00] listen in you give your opinion for what, what equipment managers need in the industry or what, what they can help with or give us a little insight of what you guys are looking for.
A couple meetings later, National Golf Day came about and they were looking for volunteers. A couple superintendents went our, our commercial advisor went, and then there was, they were looking for, sent four guys, I went home, talked to my wife, I sent a text to Luke the next day, like, hey, if it's still open, I'd like to go. And he's like, yeah, sure, it'd be a great experience for you. So I ended up going, MAG sponsored me to go. GCSA wrote an article about it from Andrew Harlock. Yeah, I was nervous. I didn't, I didn't know what to expect. I thought, oh, there's going to be a bunch of other equipment managers there. No so I got, I was the first and only one apparently
those guys are hilarious. If you look at the Jefferson Memorial picture, they pushed me to the front right next to Hava.
Trent Manning: really.
Ryan Deering: just to her [00:33:00] left, right front and center. Yeah, it was when I got there and I sat with the meeting and listen to everybody talk about what to expect, they, they really, they really prepared us well with what's topics we could talk about.
Went over things and then yeah, I was told to tell more equipment managers that you're welcome to come join up. They, the next day we had our meetings with The Representatives and the Senators those conversations weren't as stressful. It was more like having a conversation five other people.
It was just having a conversation, discussion in the room, the importance of golf, turf grass research, all, all that. What I got to talk about was a the FID Act where it opens up your health savings account to be used towards your greens fees to do an ounce of prevention versus a pound of cure kind of thing.
Trent Manning: Okay.
Ryan Deering: use your health savings account for that. That's, that's what I got to speak on, because I'm not, compared to the, the amount of knowledge a director of agronomy, a [00:34:00] golf course superintendent has concerning turf versus what I have mechanically, they know way, way, way more. So I would defer to them when those questions arise.
And then also at the same time, because I was the only, only equipment manager there, the gathering after the initial meeting from Melrose introduced me to a bunch of people there and was pulling me around, introduced me to people, and It was, it was a great time, but when I got back to my little group, one of the superintendents is like, What are you, the freaking unicorn?
So I said, I got a five year old daughter, so I said I was gonna run with that. I knew a graphic designer, he designed me a logo, and then I shared with our WhatsApp group, and I don't know which one of them sent me a hundred of them in sticker form.
Trent Manning: Oh, really?
Ryan Deering: Yeah, I got a hundred of these things, like, I don't know what I'm gonna do with them,
Trent Manning: What, you're gonna hand them out the next time you go to show or National Golf Day? Or put it, yeah. Put [00:35:00] a tweet out on Twitter and ask who wants one and you can mail them out.
Ryan Deering: start mailing them out.
Trent Manning: Yeah, start mailing them out.
Ryan Deering: But I want to know who sent them to me because it was hilarious it came anonymous a hundred of them
Trent Manning: Hmm.
Ryan Deering: My my guess is Whitaker, but I don't know.
Trent Manning: Yeah, him uh, Forsos. I could see either one of them doing it.
Ryan Deering: I I put it on my business card. I mean
Trent Manning: that's awesome though,
Ryan Deering: it.
it. It's it's a cool little logo. It's it's different But yeah, that's the third day was the volunteer project. It wasn't It was a lot of a lot of mulch moving around the net double jefferson memorial You at one point I had Jeff White shoveling my wheelbarrows.
And I didn't, I didn't think not everybody would be working so hard. But I mean, we were bucket brigading it. I was bringing a wheelbarrow empty, he was filling one up. Like, he had one going. At one point I think we had [00:36:00] three wheelbarrows going. And he's just shoveling. I go to him and I go, Don't you have a little pole, man?
And he goes, What do you mean? And I said, Couldn't you just go grab that bobcat and start filling these? And he starts laughing at that.
Trent Manning: No, yeah. Well, I don't, smarter not harder, right?
Ryan Deering: Well. One of, one of my superintendents commandeered a workman pro gator to start moving mulch around to the remote areas.
Trent Manning: Mm hmm.
Ryan Deering: And I'm like, that was my idea.
Trent Manning: Yeah,
Ryan Deering: So yeah, he, he actually did it. I was like, Oh, okay.
Trent Manning: Why not? So Superintendents are notorious for that. If an equipment manager or mechanic or a technician comes up with an idea, the superintendents are pretty good about saying, nah, and then waiting a week, a month, maybe even a year, and saying, hey, let's do this. I'm like, that's the exact idea I had a year ago. [00:37:00] No, no, no, you know, so as long as it's their idea, it's okay, you know, and I found out that just it's okay. It doesn't always have to be our idea. We can, we can just be okay with it because it makes the job easier. Mm
Ryan Deering: Jeff Jeff's made my superintendent, Jeff's made this, this job pretty, pretty easy, straightforward. He knows what he, we went through different size times to see what we liked for verification for late top dressing. We ordered I'm going to call it the cheap set, but just the ones that wear, wear faster.
Just see if we like the size. And then we had a discussion and said, look, these are going to cost three times as much. But if we like the size, I'm going to stick with it. Let's go with the infinity tines that are going to last longer. And we've gone through I want to say six aerifications, 18 holes with the same, same tines and very, very little wear.
Like, we're, we're very happy with the results. Instead of [00:38:00] buying times, maybe every two verifications for that same application. I guess we're, we're happy with the results, but like, it's, I've, I've heard the stories of superintendents taking the ideas and running with them week, month later, right. I, I've seen the collaborate really well with, with Jeff and it helps that the assistant superintendent chimes in and says, yeah, that's not a bad idea.
So it kind of helps
Trent Manning: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ryan Deering: But between those two, just listening to those two converse about chemicals How, what they want to use and what, what cocktail they want to use for their, for the, whatever, whatever turf we're treating. I passed the EMCP level one turf grass test.
Trent Manning: Congratulations.
Ryan Deering: Because of those two, I, I thought that was going to be the hardest one to pass.
And because of those two and just listening to them go back and forth every day at lunchtime, I passed. I was very happy with it. I mean, I have my pesticide, or my spray license, but still,
Trent Manning: Mm hmm.
Ryan Deering: I, I don't spend all that [00:39:00] time with the chemicals as much as they do.
Trent Manning: Well, they don't spend as much time with cutting units as you do.
Ryan Deering: Right. Yeah, it's a
Trent Manning: So we, yeah, we all have our specialty.
Ryan Deering: Exactly
Trent Manning: we all work off of each other's strengths. Because I mean you could sit down and talk relief angles and bed knife angles and attitude and all that.
And they wouldn't even know what we were talking about.
Ryan Deering: right. Well, that's, that's, so I have hopefully Jeff Smith and Bradley Moxley, I believe, stopping by in January to do some discussions on that for JMS lineup to discuss their, their times and their, their reels and their angles and why they have them set in the book at five and 15 for this bed knife set up.
Trent Manning: Oh,
Ryan Deering: I got a lot, I brought that to the board to set up the training for, to find a course that'd be willing to accommodate that and. [00:40:00] Seems to be a lot of superintendents want to know that knowledge so they can actually have that conversation with their equipment manager in my area
Trent Manning: yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think it's, I think it's an excellent, excellent idea because I'm fortunate I can talk to my director of agronomy about these things on Real Setup and he gets it. But I know there's a lot of guys out there and gals that, that don't get it. And I think they need to. And I appreciate Mike Rollins doing his Cutline as King class because it is bringing a lot of awareness to superintendents.
Ryan Deering: right?
Trent Manning: more superintendents in his class than Managers or at least, you know, 5050 and yeah, I think it's super important for superintendents
Ryan Deering: brought up a lot of my area to get, see if we can get him up here to do it, the performance cut line.
Trent Manning: Mm hmm. Yep. Yeah, and let me know. I'm game too. I [00:41:00] love coming to speak. Yes. Yep. I went to first of September. I got to go down to Florida and hang out with those guys and
Ryan Deering: Oh man, I wish I could
Trent Manning: really, really
Ryan Deering: of their, their things, Haas and the guys. Really have it going down there. Hope they're okay though.
Trent Manning: I think they fared okay over on their side, but we'll see after Milton comes through, because I don't know, it looks, it looks pretty bad.
Ryan Deering: Right?
Trent Manning: Yeah, hopefully it's not, it gets downgraded or, or something before it hits landfall.
Yeah, I mean, any more challenges being a newer person in the industry?
Ryan Deering: I can see setting up priorities, priority tasks as being an issue. Like how do you set your schedule up? For, for a daily task, or what you gotta check in the morning, like, the way I have it set is greens, tees, fairways, rotaries, and then everything [00:42:00] else. Just, after they go back out, or after they come back in, I check them, and then put them away.
But, what do you do when a machine comes in that broke down that they need for a task right now, like, how do you get back to those, those other real machines, or other machines.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah. Now that it is tough and I definitely think it's misconceived and probably for people that don't have a background in golf because if you just walk through the shop, you would probably pick out a fairway mower or a rough mower and say that is the most important piece of equipment because it's the biggest and it's the most expensive.
But that's not the case. It's that it's that greens mower. That's the most
Ryan Deering: whether it's a walker or a triplex. Yeah.
Trent Manning: Exactly. Exactly right. And I'm sure a lot of, you know, people that's just getting into the industry would not think that on day one.
Ryan Deering: I guess I could say I wasn't one of those. Oh, no. When I got [00:43:00] hired, that was, This is your most important machine. Make sure this one's 100%.
Trent Manning: Yeah. And that's good. I mean, that's great that you get that guidance. But I know a lot of people just get thrown to the wolves and like there's, there's some tools and this is your work area. Have fun.
Ryan Deering: That's, that's the
Trent Manning: you at lunchtime.
Ryan Deering: I've heard horror stories of guys not having tools in their shop. Or not, or having to provide their own tools. I'm fortunate enough, I was provided impacts and stuff to work with and sockets and everything. They have a pretty good supply. I mean, the brand we have here now is Ryobi.
Just cause that, I got a Home Depot down the street. I'm comfortable with them, I mean I came from Home Depot. But they're not bad tools. I don't use some of them every day,
the batteries are all the same.
Trent Manning: Any other challenges being a newer person to the industry that you can think of that might help young technicians
Ryan Deering: building a routine. Being able to, [00:44:00] for us we have a schedule, we mow greens every day. Roll every day. We mow fairways Monday, Wednesday, Friday. We mow T's Monday, Wednesday, Friday. We have the crew and capacity and the machinery to do it. So if I had something break down in the afternoon for second on second tasks, I need to fix that.
I know I still have to fix my green smellers. I may have that buffer to check my T's and fairways the next day. I don't like doing that. I like getting everything done in one, one day, checking them out after they mow. And then I know I got all day Tuesday. until the Greensboro's come back in to work on any major project.
But having the superintendent or the director of agronomy or director of golf operations setting that schedule and keeping it pretty consistent, I'm able to keep the machinery consistent or up at a higher level.
Trent Manning: yeah, that's
Ryan Deering: And then it's easier to schedule maintenance, your oil changes, your, your grindings and everything, knowing the machine's going to be down that day anyways. [00:45:00] I mean, you hit a sprinkler head and you got a real shatter. Okay, that, that's a little different. But, for most, most preventative maintenance, you can, you can schedule that if you have a routine set.
Trent Manning: Yeah, yep, no, that's good stuff. Mm
Ryan Deering: I'm, 90 percent Toro they offer what's called an, they call it an MVP kit, but it's for 800 to 1, 000 hours depending on the machine. Provides your basic oil filters, hydraulic filters, all that stuff. It's a little cheaper to buy it that way, and then you know you got the basics covered for that amount of time.
Trent Manning: Mm hmm. Yeah.
Ryan Deering: been helpful. Especially when you're, when you have a budget. You gotta work with.
Trent Manning: I don't, it's been quite a few years since I've probably even thought about this, but when I was working with Jerry Pate, the Toro distributor down here, I remember some customers getting the MVP kits built [00:46:00] into their equipment package. Because they knew they were going to keep the piece of equipment for, you know, four years, five years, whatever it was.
So they would get enough kits in the purchase of the package to cover them for the life of the equipment. And I thought that was a great, yeah, I thought it was a great idea because most of the time our repair and maintenance budget equipment repair and maintenance is not growing. at the rate it needs to with the
Ryan Deering: Oh man. Yeah.
Trent Manning: Yeah,
Ryan Deering: So that's, that's when I get a new piece of equipment, I buy that MVP kit immediately. Just so I have the basics, so if a cable goes out, cause that's not in there, I have the budget for it when I need it. Cause it shouldn't go out within the first hundred hours or so.
Trent Manning: yeah, right, right.
Ryan Deering: Right, like it shouldn't wear that quick. Right. You know, you're covered for the basics. Maintenance.
Trent Manning: Yep.
Rapid Fire
[00:47:00] You want to do some rapid fire?
Ryan Deering: Sure, let's do it. Uhhh
Let's do my favorite Christmas movie, Die Hard.
Trent Manning: Oh, yes. Yeah, we're on the same page. Same page.
Ryan Deering: mean, I once had a movie marathon scheduled for all the Die Hards. They get progressively worse. But they're awesome, they're the same formula every time. No, that's, that,
Trent Manning: fan. That is awesome. Yes, I love it.
Ryan Deering: I enjoyed Talladega Nights or Stepbrothers, enjoy those guys.
Trent Manning: Mm hmm.
Ryan Deering: My wife can't stand that, that kind of comedy.
Trent Manning: Yeah.
Ryan Deering: But, that's okay.
Trent Manning: Okay.
Ryan Deering: oh man.
Trent Manning: What would be your last meal?
Ryan Deering: I'd have to say a nicely smoked pork butt.
Trent Manning: Ah, okay.
Ryan Deering: Yeah, I make a pretty good one with my smoker. I'm pretty happy with it. The last, last one I made was some barbecued pork. Yeah, that was, that was pretty [00:48:00] good. I need to
Trent Manning: What kind of smoke do you prefer?
Ryan Deering: I like the Applewood. That was pretty good.
Trent Manning: Mm,
Ryan Deering: again, when I, when I first did it, I messed it up completely.
I got the dripping pan and the, the wood chips mixed up. I just steamed it. I'm like, why
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah.
Ryan Deering: Why is there no smoke? Went to a buddy's house and he was explaining how it works. Like, I thought, oh, this is easy. I can't mess this up. Yeah, I got them backwards. The woodchips didn't burn, nothing. Never got the temp. I'm like, this isn't right. I had to buy dinner that night. Learned my lesson the next time. It was fantastic. But, yeah,
Trent Manning: Yeah. I'm the, I'm the same way. I don't know. You know, I, I definitely do not like Mesquite. I'm sorry for the Texas people that listen to the podcast. I do not like mesquite
Ryan Deering: Right?
Trent Manning: It's just Mm-Hmm. Not my thing. But I'm a big fan of fruit wood. So if it's apple or pecan or something like that, that's, that's where I want to be.
Ryan Deering: I'm not going [00:49:00] to turn down somebody who hands me a hunk of mesquite smoked meat of some sort. But yeah, no, I like my applewood or my pecan. Just a different flavor. Don't have a preference on barbecue sauce, there's, there's a whole bunch of good ones out there.
Trent Manning: Oh, wow. Yeah, that's
Ryan Deering: that can be a whole nother worm, or can of worms there,
Trent Manning: that would actually be a whole nother podcast. If we want to talk a barbecue sauce,
Ryan Deering: Oh man,
Trent Manning: what are you most proud of besides your family?
Ryan Deering: what am I most proud of? I took away the easy answer.
Trent Manning: Yep.
Ryan Deering: amount of people that have helped me out and then me being able to return the favor I guess is a lesson my grandfather taught me. When we used to commercially plow snow before he passed away, before my dad had a stroke, I was finally allowed to join the family fleet full time. So I'm out in the snow, we have a blizzard, right?
We're going around, I'm going around the turn, I'm on my own, I'm on a remote section. In Inverness, [00:50:00] I slide off because there's some black ice, and I fall into the ditch, and I'm stuck. And the rule is, if you're the one that falls in, you're the one that's gotta get the chain set up, you make the phone call, and you gotta be out there waiting in the snow.
So when the other guy can pull you out. I fell in a way that my grandfather was convinced at the time that the truck wouldn't be able to pull it out. I got extremely lucky, there was this guy in skid steer coming down the road he was, he was doing some commercial property or some, some homeowner properties out there.
He pulled me out. His name was Matt. I still have his phone number. I came out. I didn't really know what the protocol was. My grandfather showed up a little bit later after I got pulled out by him and I was just stank. I was like, dude, thanks for getting me out of there. My grandfather whipped out a 5 bill out of, out of his wallet, handed to him, go buy yourself a coffee.
And we went on our ways to go finish the route. Yup. I get back to the shop the next day. We're working on machines and we're sitting down at lunch like grandpa Why'd you hand him five [00:51:00] bucks? He's go. It's always nice to have another friend out there.
Trent Manning: Hmm.
Ryan Deering: Couple years later. I'm still plowing snow for my family.
We're still going out there and I see this truck go plow across Or there's a little y intersection. He's trying to get out of my way And I see him like I honked my horn and everything it's daylight and I knew there's a ditch there Truck drove right in the ditch trying to get out of my way so I can go down the y You So I, I, backed up, hooked up the chain and everything.
Guy gets out of the, er, guy gets out of the truck. Turns out to be the same guy. I haven't seen him in four years.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy.
Ryan Deering: so Matt opens up his wallet. And, it should be in the back of my wallet. I don't know if I can dig it out. Got a whole bunch of stuff in there. But I still have that same five dollar bill.
He had the same one in his wallet. He's like, I think this belongs to you.
Trent Manning: No way. That
Ryan Deering: Yeah, it was. I couldn't believe it, [00:52:00] like, what are the odds? The guy was trying to be a nice guy, just get out of my way. I mean, what, we were not going fast, it's another blizzard. And, yeah,
Trent Manning: That's super
Ryan Deering: I got the five bucks back from my grandfather.
I went to give it to him, he's like, no, no, it's yours, you earned it. I
Trent Manning: Oh, wow. That is.
Ryan Deering: him five bucks that one time. He's like, no, no, you earned it, you learned your lesson.
Trent Manning: that's
Ryan Deering: I wish I could say I didn't get stuck another time, but
Trent Manning: Well, yeah, it's, you know, it happens. I'm sure.
Ryan Deering: Though, that one Super Bowl blizzard up here made quite a bit of money pulling people out of ditches in the, in the neighborhoods.
They were having some fun during halftime. Yeah, that was a good time.
Trent Manning: Yep. Well, good stuff, man. Tell the listeners how they can get a hold of you.
You on any of the socials?
Ryan Deering: I'm on the Equipment Managers Uncensored. I think Haas is the manager of that, that one.
Trent Manning: Okay. Yep.
Ryan Deering: wanna hold them either, I got Facebook, I got Instagram, I have a Twitter. I think it still has my Home Depot. My thoughts are my own, I don't represent the [00:53:00] company. Spiele on there still.
Trent Manning: Mm hmm.
Ryan Deering: Yeah. They're, I mean our WhatsApp group, you can remember, we always message me on there.
Trent Manning: yeah, yeah. For
Ryan Deering: Or your, your WhatsApp group.
Trent Manning: Well, no, I mean, it's, it's, it's our WhatsApp
Ryan Deering: you, yeah. It's been a great, great tool to have that,
Trent Manning: Awesome. I'm glad to hear it. I love
Ryan Deering: Yeah, no, it's been, been very helpful. Yeah, there's, yeah, if you ever need, got a question, you think I can help you, reach out like anybody.
Trent Manning: Good deal, man. Thank you so much for being on, Ryan. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Ryan Deering: me. I enjoyed
Outro
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.