Reel Turf Techs Podcast

Hey - I’m Trent, your host of the Reel Turf Techs podcast. Have you ever found yourself asking, “is there a podcast that focuses on the equipment manager’s unique roles and challenges?” Have you wondered what the high-end course or the tech down the road does at their facility? Would you like to hear the latest tips and tricks from around the globe? And do you want to know where the industry is headed next, direct from equipment manufacturers? Then my friend, you’re in the right place. As you know, working in the shop can feel like a solitary pursuit. This podcast will connect you with other techs facing similar challenges and offer solutions, ideas and innovations. Hear from turf technicians, equipment manufacturers, and other industry leaders on daily issues faced by the turf tech and fun stuff like fabrication projects, side hustles and favorite tools. Hit subscribe and let’s get reel. Join the conversation @reelturftechs on Twitter or email me at reelturftechs@gmail.com

All Episodes

Reel Turf Techs Podcast

Episode 138: Live From CTS 2025 in San Diego

March 05, 2025 • Trent Manning • Episode 138

Send us a text

In Episode 138 of the Reel Turf Techs Podcast, we’re live from the trade show floor at the 2025 GCSAA Conference and Trade Show in San Diego! This special episode features conversations with three industry pros sharing their experiences, insights, and takeaways from the event.

Justin Wilkerson, a first-time attendee, braved a Wyoming blizzard to make it to sunny SoCal. He discusses the best education sessions he attended, the innovations catching his eye on the trade show floor, and the challenges of implementing cutting-edge technology—like autonomous mowers and agricultural drones—at a remote cattle ranch.

Chris Whittaker, CTEM, shares his thoughts on his favorite class, teaching on the importance of superintendents supporting their equipment managers’ professional growth, and what Canadian EMs do during the winter months.

Tyler Miget makes history as the first equipment manager selected for the prestigious Bernhard Delegation.

Join us for an exciting episode packed with insights on education, technology, and professional development straight from the heart of the industry’s biggest event!

Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning
Email us at ReelTurfTechs@gmail.com
Check out our YouTube Channel

Trent Manning: 0:52

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

1:09

Thank you so much for joining us, Justin. I'll just clip this right here on your shirt. Perfect, thank you. Yep, we can leave this right here, and I want to hear all about your adventurous trip getting to San Diego from Wyoming. Alright, well it's not that exciting, but you know, woke up Sunday morning to get here mid Sunday afternoon, direct flight. Woke up to the roads being closed due to avalanche control. They shut down the road, said seven to nine hours to open. It never takes seven to nine hours, so I'm like, I'm just gonna go anyway. On my way, flight got canceled, so turned around, headed back home, figured out a new flight, headed out, had an avalanche slide maybe 20 minutes in front of us, so we're shut down for a few more hours. That flight gets canceled. So I go so we start headed back to town. Get a new flight and thankfully roads opened back up and finally made it up, made it on the flight, got here, oh, just after midnight Monday morning. So it was mass, it was, you know, another 12 hours of the day or whatever than I was planning on. But yeah, it's. It sounds like a lot, but it's normal where I live, so it's just another day if you wanted, like, if you wanted a crazier story in the 90s and late 80s, like when most of my friends were born, we had what were called canyon babies and it's because their moms would give birth in the canyon because they couldn't get past the avalanches. Oh, wow. A little more extreme. Yeah, that's a little more extreme. Yeah. Yeah. For me, it was just, yeah it's a long delay getting just part of life. So, all right, well, good. Yes, sir. So, what do you think about your first show? How are you enjoying it? It's been a great experience. You know, I think most people would say fairly overwhelming. You know, I'm a fairly quiet person. Tend to be introverted. You know, I came out to do this morning with you just because I really appreciate all you've done for us equipment managers. And so, I was like, I've already been on the podcast once, might as well come again and, you know, support this thing because you know, it's important for all the rest of the equipment managers to kind of get plugged into each other because we're kind of our own islands unto ourselves. So, you know, in a lot of ways, unless we intentionally, you know, reach out to others and stuff. So, and it's been what's really helped progress my career. So anyway, getting back to the show part, you know, the classes have been awesome very educational. This whole industry show has just been, you know. Drinking out of a firehose, but yes, definitely like drinking out of the firehose. What was the best education you attended? Honestly, it was your class. Oh, so. Yeah, of course it was. I did pay Justin to say that. Yeah. I'll expect my payment in full next week. Yes, I will. Anyway. But no, it was just nice for the tips and tricks. You know, we're in process of building another nine holes. We want to expand the shop. And there's a lot of things that just gave great ideas on things we can add to the shop to really improve the workflow and stuff like that. So it's been Awesome. So that was great. Also taking the the case study for Applebrook out there in Pennsylvania for their new facility. They did like a breakdown of costs and process of building a whole new facility because there is the option we might be building a new facility versus just expanding. So, so that was a great just very concise breakdown. That was awesome to be able to see how that actual process works. So at what club was that? I think it was Applebrook. Okay. So cool. Pennsylvania. I might've said that wrong. It's something broke. Is that where Terry Apple's at? No, you don't know. You don't know where we're at. We're polling the audience here. All two of them. Well, sorry, three, we got three people in the audience. Whoa, here comes Chris Whitaker to make number four in the audience. So mental note to self. And since we're recording this, hopefully I'll remember. Maybe don't pick the 9 o'clock slot as soon as the show opens on the last day of the show. That's, yeah. That's okay though. I mean you did put out the announcements. I did put out the announcements and Does he count as a guest? He's taking pictures. So, yeah. Yeah, you're a guest. Alright, hey! We got our fifth guest. Thanks for coming. Appreciate you. What, sorry. You know, J. R. calls himself the squirrel. Yeah, I'm pretty squirrely too. Yeah, that's exactly how it is. Bright light over there. Yeah, something shiny. Let's do that over there. Yeah, that's 100 percent how I operate. What's the coolest thing you saw on the trade show floor? So, the main focus for us when they sent me to the show we're moving a lot into the robotics stuff. Ah, okay. So, seeing all the new drop stuff from Toro and John Deere to You know, the new Husqvarna stuff. We're already heavily involved with Husqvarna mowers. I've got 13 of them already, so. Oh, awesome. And we would like to double that fleet this year, so We'll see how that actually turns out, but so that stuff was cool. Anything in particular that led you to Husqvarna? Over other competitors? They they were the most proactive towards us. Yeah. And then when they did Come out to demo for us because we're out in the middle of absolutely nowhere. You know, cell service and all that's limited. So, their system worked well on our property. You know, all this new RTK stuff looks awesome. We're just not sure how it's going to actually work out on our property. Cause we're so remote, you know, like three quarters of my day. I have no cell service. So like, you know. I mean, are they putting an RTK repeater or something on property? Well, that's what we've been looking into is that option. So, you know, Husqvarna doesn't use the RTK. So we haven't gone that route yet. But our distributor just picked up two more brands. And so they're like, well, let's bring you some options just in case. So they have Husqvarna. Now they have Nexmo, Cress. So, you know, cool. See what works. So what did. So John Deere's got some new stuff or not? Not really. Okay, but Toro's got yes, they got lots. Honestly, that new triplex is going to be looks like it's going to be really sweet for the fairway units. Also the fire, the firefly automatics looks pretty awesome as well. It's all up and coming, you know? Yeah, I talked to I got Caught or trapped, however you want to call it, from Firefly yesterday as I was trying to get out of here. And talking about, so they designed that cutting unit like from the ground up. So it's totally different than any other cutting unit I've ever seen. Did you try, like did you touch the cutting unit? Yes. Yeah, so those adjustments, I like that. Like it's just a very positive, very concise feeling, you know. They said the rear roller had a cut. I know the audience is going to love this when we get deep in the weeds. So the how to cut adjustment, the gentleman told me it was ten thousandths per click. Yeah. On the rear roller. I thought that was kind of cool. Yeah. And then the reel to bed knife adjustment was six and a half ten thousandths. And I, so I was giving him a hard time. I said, you just wanted to get in between John Deere and Toro. Right. Yeah. You know, cause Deere's five and Toro's seven. Right. Yeah. Six and a half. Oh, they are? I didn't know that. Yeah. It's kind of like the guy who says he's like five foot eleven and a half, you know. Oh yeah. I got to throw that yeah. Not quite six foot. Yeah, not quite there. I think my daughter's five two and a half. Yeah. You know. Trying to get to five three. Yep. Maybe one day. Yeah. So what all did Toro have? So they have partnered. I haven't been to their booth yet. So they partnered with Echo for some of their robotic stuff. So they have mowers that are similar to the Husqvarna's. They offer much larger options which has some nice benefits, you know, for that wider cutting path. The ones that we use have the 9 inch cutting path. And so, they aren't necessarily fast, but they work 24 hours a day. So they cut an acre and a half a day. And and right now we're running them exclusively on our sorry, words landscaping areas. And but we're trying with this new grow in to put robots out there, at least for the initial grow in and then to maintain the rough. And we're trying to decide what we're doing with fairways. So, you know, they do provide a great cut on the fairway. These Husqvarna's do, because we've already experimented with that. It's just, it comes down to what they want for appearance. So, you know, they still really love the stripes, and I understand that, so. Yeah, I don't, that's one thing I guess I've saw with the, you know, just pictures I've seen with the robotic stuff, it's all the little tire tracks going back and forth, it's not necessarily the most. That's the most appealing to the eye. It actually looks great in our landscaping. It really does. You just have to work with it for when they're doing the transport paths, when they're done mowing, that you put it around the outer perimeter. Otherwise it'll just cut right through everything they just cut. So you just have this one random line but just straight through everything else. But other than that, it's actually very appealing. I'll have to show you some pictures of it. So, okay. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. I think maybe in the EM round table somebody was talking about they're getting frustrated It's basically mowing the cleanup in a three to nine direction. So it's just like back and forth. And then somebody else in the group said that they come out with a firmware update. Yeah, exactly. So I was gonna say ours don't do that. Ours do the regular cleanup tasks. Okay. Nice. Yeah. Very cool. But yeah, it's been, they've been awesome. You know, I change blades once a month. Really? I mean, granted we're in cool season grasses, so a little less aggressive, But we've been very, for me, it's kind of a relief because we added on 16 acres of sod that we need to take care of instead of buying another big rotary mower and all that, that I have to change oil and do stuff on, which is obviously part of my job, but I'm already swamped, you know, having these mowers that just once a month I go change all the blades, make sure everything's cleaned up on them, let them roll again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's awesome. It just makes it nice. And I guess the other thing that y'all deal with there, you're so isolated, it's probably hard to find labor. Yeah. And that is the biggest thing. Cause like, you know, when we started bringing them on, a lot of our people were like, oh, are you replacing us? We're like, no, we're just growing so fast. Like you guys aren't going anywhere. Yeah. We just. We can't keep up with all this expansion. So it, and it does help a lot in that sense. Cause like I was actually pretty anti robotics when I came into the industry. Just because small town, I'm like, we just need to support the community, like hire more people and stuff like that. But after four years, like it's so hard to get people like. We've tried to expand the crew and it's just been super difficult. So it's like, okay, well, then we just jumped in full on into robotics, both feet. And like I said, we've been very pleased with it so far. That's awesome. Yeah. Didn't you say you're in a town of 2000, 2000? Yeah. 2000. Yeah. Not a huge labor pool. No. I mean, we are halfway between the next town over, which is like. 1400. Okay. So a little bit more, but yeah, it's, you know, it's a 35 minute commute roughly for most people. So yeah, it's just, you know, and maybe you're doing 35 minutes in the city, but works five miles away where for us, you know, you're driving 30 miles for that 35 minutes, you know, you're going out in the middle of nowhere. So Well, you know, in Atlanta, the hardware store is my favorite hardware store. It's called Highland Hardware. And it's two and a half miles from the shop, and it takes 25 minutes to get there. I mean, it's stupid. Right. Yeah. All the traffic lights and stuff in the city of Atlanta is crazy. I'm gonna go turn his volume down over there. Cause it is it's a little aggressive. And it's very distracting. I don't, do they have a microphone over there and a speaker? Yeah, they have to. Yeah, they have to. Right. They have to. All right. Well, our audience has dwindled down to three again. So it's about to dwindle to two when you get Chris up here. Yeah. We're gonna have to send Chris Whittaker out to recruit more to more audience members. So, yeah, anything else exciting you've seen here at the show? We're definitely looking into some of the drone technology as well. Okay. So, yeah, what do you plan on doing with drone technology? Well, initially we were just like we can just fly the drones just to take, you know, weekly video of the course just to have comparisons. But now with all the new technology they have that we can just scan the turf directly and it shows up. It's not thermal imaging, but doing the chlorophyll readings and stuff like that, so that way you can see the actual health of the turf. Oh, really? Wow. Like, it'll map it, and like, and you can set it up, so when it comes up, it looks like a thermal image, about like, here's your hot spots, here's your dead spots, here's your like, super healthy grass, here's So, daily you can adjust your irrigation and stuff to it. Really? Yeah. That's pretty cool stuff. It is super cool stuff. Yeah. That is neat. So we've kind of looked into that a bit. And then also because we're building this new nine holes, just having a drone for construction documentation and all that stuff. Yeah. It makes it really handy and slick. But then I've already forgotten the name of the booth but they have the agricultural sprayer drones, which, you know, has 110 pound payload. And so they said roughly two acres per gallon for application. Depending on what you're applying. But, you know, it holds 13 gallons, so you can do 20 to 25 ish acres. Huh. 26, if we went by perfect numbers. But yeah. But just the the abilities for that. So for, like, for us, you know, we could apply on greens one day, and then we could load it up with like Mosquito Killer, and go out and, like, spray the fairways and kill mosquitoes and other things. You know, it's a, it's actually super cool technology. Huh. Interesting. so. I don't know. I just always kind of looked at the drone spraying as maybe that was just a game. Well, more than, you know, I think it's gotten a lot more serious in the last two, three years. Yeah. Yeah. You know, beneficial. Yeah. And you know, especially with drift and propellers and right. Well, so where we're at, like our, all of our mosquito control is done by helicopter and some ground application. But The pilot that we had moved on they got a new pilot, but he's not sure if he's sticking around So like we're looking into better options. Okay. Yeah, particularly the mosquitoes because we're at like it should be the state bird. So It's bad They're giant they're nasty so They're and especially out there because we got lots of sitting water, especially because we're on that six thousand acre cattle ranch So when we they still do flood irrigation So, what that is they just kick open the ditches and just flood the entire field. And that's how they irrigate for the hay out there. And so, as a result, you have That turns into a rice field. Yeah, so think about rice fields and mosquitoes. Same idea. That's how that works. Yeah, anything else exciting, or? I mean, those were the biggest things. I mean, there was, there's always lots of cool things around here, but you know, those are the ones that stick out the most in my mind. So I don't, did you make it by Hector's booth? That's where I'm headed next. All right. Yep. All right. Yeah. His presentation at 10 o'clock. I'm headed over there. Oh, okay. Perfect. Yep. I'll make sure and get you out in time to get over there. Yeah, for sure. I think you've got plenty of time. Yeah. We got plenty of time. I mean, so I'm trying to think, did I see anything cool? I don't, I started on Hector's end and I made it. to about the 5400 block. Okay, yeah, so not very far. Yeah, not very far. And I don't know how many hours that was. We started, what time did we start yesterday? 10? Started at 10, took a little lunch break, left here at 5, made it maybe a third of the way. Yeah. Through. I did the opposite, I went that way and worked my way. So I'm 80 percent of the way like this way. Oh, you're doing good then. Yeah, way, way ahead. Way ahead of the curve. You know, I'm trying to hit up other things other than just equipment, but equipment's what we do. Yeah, that's what you automatically, you know, zone in on. Yeah, when I see some of these booths, I'm like, eh, nah, I'm out of the apartment, right? Yeah, exactly. You know, there's been a few things I've collected information, you know, for our super and stuff like that, that I've seen, I'm like, oh, I know he'll want something from this, but. But other than that, because they sent me by myself. So like, Oh, nice. Yeah. So, so as your superintendent attended before. Oh yeah. Okay. Yep. Just chose not to come to this one. Yep. Yeah. Why did you want to come to this one? Well the biggest part, so they've been trying, well, we've been wanting to send us back out since I got hired and it just hasn't worked out for us to make it. And so this year because of the new nine coming on. We need to come up with more efficient ways and more equipment, you know, we're expanding the equipment. So we're trying to come up with what is best for what we're bringing on, you know, how are we bringing the owner the most value for his money. So, you know, and so some of that, like I said, particularly the robotics and what's new in that area, but also we're only halfway through this new nine and we've had a few hurdles because we're mostly doing it kind of in house. Yeah. Like we're the contractor. So we're hiring different people and stuff like that, but we're trying to fill gaps and stuff. And some of that means we're providing equipment and stuff like that. You know, either we're buying it, some of it, we plan on renting, but for the most part we're buying up equipment for finishing out this new nine. So that's kind of was part of sending me here was in, in the full perspective of a new nine coming on what, you know, How can we outfit this better? Yeah. Very cool. I don't know, it makes me think about coming to the trade show and the conference and networking with everybody and Mitch told me this, Mitch Hunt from Traverse City, Michigan told me this story, and his first trade show was in Orlando. And he, you know, so we connected, Hey, how you doing, whatever, traded numbers. And then it's like six months later, he calls me one day. And he's asked about his Foley grinder. I don't even remember what the problem was. I didn't have the solution, but I said, call Vince at Foley. So Vince, he's been at Foley for 30 plus years. And he knows everything there is to know about a Foley grinder, inside and out. And Mitch had already, before he called me, he had called his local distributor that sells Toro, or Foley, and also Toro. And they came out and gave him a quote of 4, 500 to repair his grinder. And so anyway, he calls me, I send him to Vince. Vince says you need a 200 part. And, it's so he's telling Steve Hammond, his boss. That's also a GCSA board member, that, and he's like, that's worth the price of getting into the trade show. Yeah. You know, you made one connection, you made one phone call to another phone call, and it saved the club that much money. Yep. So that's a good way to justify it. And then, Kelli and I were talking to what is his name the northeast guy, Connecticut, another board member. Mark Weston second favorite board member of mine. Just below Scott Griffiths, the Georgia guy. Anyway, Mark was saying that he puts his equipment manager coming to show and the parts line item on their budget. Yeah. Because if he puts it under education, they're like, eee, we're cutting education. You don't need education. So he puts it in parts. I'm like, that's pretty, that was pretty clever. Yeah, that was pretty clever. That was worth my price of admission to come this year to find out that little trick. Right. Yeah, no, that's good stuff. Does your whole crew come out for this? No. Actually I'm the only one here from my club. We're doing the renovation now. So super or director of agronomy, he didn't want to come out. And normally he doesn't send a lot of people. Yeah. I mean, the main reason that I get to come is put in a proposal to teach for GCSA each year, and that's a good way of getting in. So anybody that's looking to get to a trade show, put in your proposal. And it's open to the end of February. March. End of March. Okay, we've got plenty of time to get those proposals in. And if you need help putting together a proposal, reach out to GCSA. You want me to name any names? Reach out to BrandI. What's your last name, BrandI? Turner. I knew that. I've seen it on your name tag several times, but reach out to BrandI Turner. And she would be happy to help you put together a proposal to teach. That's a good way to get here. Yeah. And it gets you out of your comfort zone. Yeah, that, that's the biggest thing that's so I've told the story, I know, before on the podcast, but I'll tell it again. My first year being an instructor was in San Antonio. And I did that in conjunction with Corey Phillips and the late Eric Duncanson. Yeah. Passed away a few years ago, and so it was three of us giving this education, and it was how to study or train up for the EMCP exams. Like, how to pass the exam, right? So a little study guide overview. And I was so nervous, I was ready to throw up in the corner. Yeah, it was terrible. There was probably 15 people in the room. You know, I mean, it wasn't like it was a really big room. It was just, it was a small room. But I was so nervous and just about to lose it. And then, now, I mean, you saw the presentation Tuesday. We had a hundred people in there. And it's like, yeah, it's what you do. Yep. You know? Yeah, you just gotta get used to it. Right, you gotta get used to it. And I was explaining this to somebody, I think, last night. is the first time you took a carburetor apart, it could have been a little nervous. Like, ooh. There's a lot of little parts. Yeah, these are a lot of little parts. I got to keep up with all these parts. Maybe you get a little overwhelmed. But after you tear it apart for the 10th time, you're like, okay, yeah, this goes here, that goes there. You know, it's no big deal. Yeah. It got, you get to the point where literally somebody brings you a carburetor in 46 pieces and they're like, I don't know. And you're like, yeah, you can just put it back together. You're like, don't have to think about it. Yeah, exactly. Exactly right. So, yeah, but any, so what's on your agenda for today? This work. Well, I mean, any certain things, I'm going to hit up. Yeah. I'm going to hit a Pector's both his classes and then just finish out the trade show. And, but that's all I've got today. Gotcha. So I don't, you want to come up here and talk for a minute, Chris? Why not? Yeah. Chris has nothing to say. Yeah. Whatever. Chris always has something to say. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Come on. Well, thanks. Thank you so much. Justin Wilkerson, everybody. Thank you. Yes, sir. Yep. Great job. You know how to use that? Yeah. I had to do this yesterday. Oh, okay. Maybe that'll work right there. We'll see if your tag hits it. Alright, hopefully it doesn't. Did you get a shorter lanyard than everybody else? No, I tied it on the back just so I'm not ripping off my ribbons at the bottom. Oh, alright. Are you trying to see how many ribbons you can get on a badge? Yes. Okay. The ribbon game, it has to be strong. Yeah, it's gotta bring a strong ribbon game to show. Yeah. So, yeah, is that a custom international member ribbon? Of course it's a custom international, well, it's one of these things being Canadian, there isn't a lot of other things out there, but you have an international buyer and you also have a committee member. So if you combine the two of them, you get international member and my superintendent, he's an international member. So why doesn't the GCSA have an international ribbon? But it's, you know, there's not another color in the alphabet, I suppose. Yeah, there's no more selection of colors, background colors. Yeah, there's no more colors. Yeah. This is my podcast. I can make it up as I go here. All right. Yeah. No more help from the peanut gallery. Thank you.

Trent Manning: 25:55

Supercharged course maintenance with Task Tracker, the leading golf course maintenance software in the industry. Built for precision and efficiency, Task Tracker simplifies daily operations, optimizes water usage, and keeps your team on track. With real time updates and streamlined workflows, It's the essential tool for modern superintendents. Learn more at www. clubessentials. com backslash task tracker. Let's get back to the episode.

26:30

So. Have you enjoyed your show here? I love these shows. Yeah. Yeah. These are awesome. What was the best education? The one you gave? Well, no. The one that I actually really appreciated was Austin Wright's portfolio. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How he's working it in conjunction with the resume and when you're out going actually looking for that new position or that new location the portfolio just supports your resume and it's basically pictures which are a thousand words. And it really sort of promoted him, so he was able to get his position. But I'm not looking, but it's nice just to have a record of what you've done because it does showcase you and your career. Yeah. And Austin is not a social media person. I know. So, I think the, you know, I do think some people and You know, Twitter's changed. It's not the same, in my opinion. I really dislike the platform. I mean, you know, it's just not what it was. And it doesn't seem like there's as much activity, or the algorithm's different, or something. Because I just see all this crap in my feed, and I don't even follow all these people, and I'm like, I don't want to see any of this stuff. But, anyway, social media can be a good portfolio. It can, and that's what I started, and that's why I was all over Twitter. I'm still calling it Twitter. I love Twitter. But yeah, it was nice to be able to put all your pictures on there. Just send messages, see what other guys are doing, learn from them. But yeah, there's way too much advertising. I think Elon needs some more money or something. Yeah. It's foolish. Right, crazy. But no, that's awesome. Hey, we got some, I got some other people showed up. Yay! Our South Florida guys, John Watson and Haas. Minglo? Manglo. I don't know sorry dude. That's alright. Yeah, you know, it's tough. It's just Haas. Yeah. Yeah, it's just Haas. That's what I like. It's Haas. Alright, other than the portfolio, I was busy teaching. Busy teaching. Yeah. So what talks did you give? I was actually speaking to the superintendents about building relations with your equipment manager. You did that with Chris Hyman? Yeah, we did that and that was running around all over the place, one end of the building to the other. I know how many steps I didn't do, but it was just crazy. But yeah, it was it's awesome just to be able to, To network, do this kind of stuff, make friends, get out of your comfort zone because I'm totally throwing this at you because when you came up to see me in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, I met this guy outside who was having a dart and he's just enjoying the weather and enjoying the view and we just started chatting and talking and I associate you as one of my friends and one of my mentors because of the fact that you basically started putting yourself out there and showing me what you could do as an equipment manager. And I've never been one on one with you to be able to say thank you, but thank you very much, buddy. Oh, well, thank you. I totally appreciate you and what you've done. And anytime that you're going to do one of these things, if I'm in the area, I'm going to come down and support you. so much for supporting me and saying that, too. And, yeah, I don't know what inspired me to do that. You know, I don't know. Started doing it, you know, but, and then that's the thing I've learned since starting is just get out of your comfort zone and do some stuff, you know, and it could be fun. Oh, it's very fun. I think it's the funnest thing out here. I mean, I was always the guy at most of these parties that was over in the corner, hanging out by myself, or maybe I knew somebody and I would just stay there and talk to them the whole time and not meet any other new people. And I still struggle, you know, sometimes with that, but You've definitely blossomed and come out of your shell. Yeah, I come out of my shell a little bit. And there's probably, maybe some people want to put me back in there, but that's alright too. No, it's good. It's good. It's been it's been a lot of fun. It's been super rewarding. The podcast, and now the YouTube channel. You know, I get text and DMS and emails and, but you're willing to accept them and respond to them as well. That's the best part of it. And that's almost like a tight community that's equipment manager based that we can rely upon and we can lean on. And yeah, it's just a great experience just to be able to be part of this organization and part of this group. Well, yeah, the WhatsApp group I think is truly remarkable. And I don't know where the gentleman got my number from, but I've added him yesterday, last night. Oh, yeah. But he sent me a message in WhatsApp, a voice message. So, and I listened to it, and he's in I forget the name of the club, but he's in St. Lucia. And he's having, you know, a good many problems with different equipment and wanted to join the group. Yeah, so he's in there going to all the little corners of the world. Yeah, I mean, it's crazy But it's I think one of the most valuable resources in our industry for an equipment manager is that group? Network is there's so much knowledge in there Yeah, and the network and I mean that's a huge aspect of it And then the other cool thing about coming to the conference and the trade show you get to put a lot of faces to names Yeah, you see him in the WhatsApp group or on social media or something like that and here they are sitting in person just like this. It's awesome. Well, yeah, I know Haas for fishing, but at least I see his picture all the time. Everyone knows me as the little golf ball, but they've never seen my face that much, but who knows, that could change. Yeah. But it's totally a wonderful thing to be able to network and put faces with. Profiles. Yeah. For sure. For sure. In this world and yeah, how the hell am I supposed to know about you guys with deep south states, warm states and I'm stuck in the frozen north and yeah, I can still call you up. I have called you up in the past and I've chased something down and with the John Deere world because I don't have a lot of John Deere. I'm mostly total but It's nice to be able to do that part of it. Well, I don't, you know, I don't know because I don't see it, but who knows how much in the WhatsApp group, how much chat goes on outside of the group. You know, people connecting directly. You know, especially if they're in kind of the same area or whatever. Y'all have a WhatsApp group, right, in South Florida? I mean, huge group. Yeah, we've got one in Alberta. All right. That's great. We started off just as a roundtable talk. Yeah. Everyone sort of threw their name into the WhatsApp thing and we'll shuffle it around and we'll bounce questions off or we'll try to unload a piece of equipment that we're not using anymore, but it might be helpful for someone else. Oh, right, right, right. We're selling stuff. Yeah. Yeah, it's nice to be able to do that as well. Because little groups become bigger groups that become international groups. Yeah. Yeah, I hadn't seen much. You know, we do have some international people in there. The real Turf Tech WhatsApp group, but I hadn't seen much for them lately, but, you know, oh, they're in a way different type zone. Lot different time zone and Yeah. Especially from you, the UK to Yeah. Yeah. We time Chris Miton and stuff like that. Yeah. And stuff like that. And Matthew Axton he's way over there as well, so, and then Matthew Kane. Is in Dubai. Yep. So, so yeah, that's the one I gotta get on the list. That's where I want to go. To do a tips and tricks seminar. Well, they should actually be coming here and presenting the differences. Well, yeah, that would be good stuff too. If they actually came and showed the differences between what they do during the It's like, from what I do in the winter December months, I basically sit and build. Where, how are you in December? Are you guys busy playing golf and shutting down in the summer or anything like that? That, for me, that was completely different. And I wouldn't have known that your busy season is December through February where everything is frozen and hibernating in my world. Right, right. When I was even taken back a little bit, when they invited me down to South Florida, they were like, yeah, we're fixing to get our H 2B labor in, and this is like September. Like, H 2B comes in October and leaves in what, April ish or something? And we get our HTB help in April, and they leave at the end of November. You know? And we're not that far away. Seven hours away. Or, way I know, from Chris Johnson's shop to my place is like nine hours. But, yeah, that's a good point. That's just because of traffic. Yeah. But no, it is eye opening. It is. The way, you know, we're all doing similar stuff. And one thing that Brian Eplin said that's been sticking with me, he's in Nebraska and I mean, they're probably a longer season than you have in Alberta, you know, it's a lot shorter than the season I have in Atlanta. He's like, you know, the pay's about the same, you know, for me, you know, versus him and he's got a lot more free time. Which is, you know, cool too. I don't see how y'all do it in South Florida. Like, no thanks. No thanks. Yeah, when a few years before it started, they were having a lot of difficulties keeping an equipment manager, or keeping even just a mechanic. They would lay them off, and then they would have to go through the hassle of trying to find someone in April or March, or May, depending upon when Mother Nature would show up. And it was very difficult for them to maintain. a full time position. So at one point they said, okay, we're going to need to make this a full time position and they sort of bit the bullet. And when it's cold and when the greens are put to sleep and stuff like that I really don't do a lot of grinding. All my superintendents, they basically said, okay, the assistance, we need to keep them on as well. Let's see them about real geometry, real. bearings, blades, whatever, angles, faces, why you do all that kind of stuff. We, so we said, okay, let's share the knowledge of it. So there is a little bit of sharing of some tasks, but I'm not going to ask them to rebuild the carburetor because yeah, it's not in their lane and they're not going to ask me to say, what would you recommend on this? disease. I have no idea. I'm in my lane. I'm happy in my lane. I'll just travel along and do it. Right, right, right, right. No, that's awesome though. And I think it, you know, it gives them a head start on their career because I do think every superintendent should at least understand the basics of cutting unit set up, you know, sharpening and those kind of things. Yeah, they should know the basics and I appreciate the fact that when they do Some of these little things that they understand where we're coming from when we have to deal with it. And when, yeah, I know that your big pet peeve is, yeah, should I put blades into sand? And put that in the right budget and stuff like that. But I don't know any different. So it's just like, oh, right, well, they're putting sand out there. They're going to eat metal. And that's what's going to happen. Right, right, right. Yeah, I mean, that's definitely what happens. Yeah. In the overall big picture of the whole golf course, it's still one bank account that the check gets cut from. So if they're buying sand, if they're buying parts, if they're buying new equipment, if they're paying labor, it's still the whole club. And if I can, Yeah, but I only got so much in my equipment repair line. Yeah. So I don't want any more to come out of that than than has to. Live audience question right here from Haas. So Haas's question is, in Alberta, when does the grass shut down? And what do you do as, yeah, and how long are you shut down? We have a hard shutdown date of October 15th. We basically closed down the course. We put tarps out, we insulate all the greens and stuff just so they stay sort of alive. But we'll have kill, frost kill and stuff like that. But we could still be like tank watering up until November and December sometimes, depending upon how much the weather changes. Because I'll have a temperature change of 40 degrees easily. It will go from 10 degrees. All the way up to 50 degrees. So any water or any ice that's out there, it'll have melted. Any, anything that we can do to help sort of keep the grass going, we do it. So, we've lost all of our staff. We'll have an assistant super having to fill up a tank and go out there, wear big rubber gloves to keep his hands warm and they'll just go out there and water the grass. We will have, we've got POA. So it'll look like crap until the middle of June. So, yes, we might put out something to make it look a little greener. But we also have ryegrass mixed into it as well. And we just try to keep it going. It's just one of these weird things that we react based upon what Mother Nature gives us. If we can open up in May, we'll do it. If we have to open up in March, even better. But we still could have a snow event In what July the hottest months. Yeah, that's crazy. We have all kinds of weird things We had one where with snowmageddon we had Trees were all in full leaf We had all the snow come in here and it basically just snapped trees in half It would rip limbs off and stuff and we just ran around trying to get a second part to that question What do you do in the wintertime? Yep. All right. Yep. We mow our greens up until we cover them. With our insulation of the greens, we have a permeable tarp, some form of insulation, and then an impermeable tarp. We throw down the permeable tarp just because it'll collect all the straw and all the little bits and pieces that we get like a good 12 to 18 inches of insulation. Then we cover that with an impermeable, so if any water or snow gets onto it, it's not going to leach into the insulation. So we have that good air zone on it. In the winter, we'll also have to put in venting tubes. So any necrotic gases and stuff like that, there's getting some fresh air going into it. And it tries to keep it in a happier state. And my boss says, I don't know if it works or if it doesn't. But if we didn't do it and the greens totally. died out on us, there would be, there'd be a lot of issues. So as a precaution, we're going to do it just because. So it's helpful. It helps. It just makes me think in Atlanta, when we cover our Bermuda greens, if the course down the road covered, you better cover too, you know, because if you didn't, then you don't, you have winter kill or something like that. Like, well. But how quick does it recover for you? Well, winter kill, luckily on greens, we have not had winter kill, but I remember having winter kill on 419 Bermuda grass fairways and there is no recovery. Yeah. I mean, it'll like kill the whole fairway, which is, yeah, and then we've had sections of re sodding. Yeah. A whole fairway. Yeah. When you start sodding or sprigging fairways, that takes a while for it to come back. Yeah, we've had situations where we lost half of a green, so we're throwing seed out, we're putting growth tarps on it, that'll let the light in, keep the moisture in, peel them off, put them on, peel them off, put them on, and we've had to do that for weeks, just to get it back into a playing surface and condition. Yep, crazy. Any other questions? From the audience? Our audience is growing. It's around Christmas. Come on, Tyler. Why don't you come up here and talk about Bernhardt stuff? Alright? This young gentleman, he won the Bernhardt experience and he went over to Britain. Oh yeah. And he was one of the equipment managers that actually got to experience that. Where do you want me at? Right here. So down. Yeah. And we only got just a minute, but figure out how to get this off. There it is. Here's the clip. Alright. Thank you Chris Whitaker for the support, the friendship of this clip. Just clip clipper, right? There should be good. Check. Check. Yep. Yep. Mic check. I get the buttery smooth on here. How do you say your last name? Mijet. Mijet. It looks like midget without the D. Okay. Is that French? Very French. Very classy. All right. So Tyler, Mijet thanks for sitting down with us. And Chris Whitaker kind of pointed you out and said, Hey, come up. Because is it the Bernhardt Academy? So what was it called? The Bernhardt Delegation. Bernhard delegation. So it was the Bernhard company and big the British and International Greenkeepers Association and the GCSAA put this all together. So the Bernhard delegation, they had been bringing guys to our trade show for, I think over 20 years. So there've been a couple iterations of it where they've taken, you know, folks from our association and took them over to. B. T. M. E., which is their trade show and and their continuing education stuff. But I think this is our kind of like Thank you, Justin, for coming by. Sorry to interrupt. The, this'll be like the next iteration where every other year, kind of like a Ryder Cup or something, I guess, where they'll send 10 of us over there and then the following year, 10 of them will come over here to the U. S. and kind of back and forth. So I was yeah, I was honored to be selected for the first iteration of that for us. Was it all equipment managers? I was the sole equipment manager. Sole equipment manager? Awesome. I would, yeah, out of the ten. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, it was a real honor. I got to brush shoulders with some pretty awesome folks. Yeah. I'd be remiss if I didn't shout out DJ Brent Downs. Okay. And Matt Gourlay was on our delegation as well. He won the president's award yesterday. So, clay pain, buffalo dunes, a real legend in the business of making. So, yeah, really awesome. Good stuff. Yeah. So we got to go. We got to do a number of site visits and I just, I can't say enough for the experience and the hospitality that the Bernhardt company folks showed us. Sammy Angelique and Steve and We got to, so obviously we got to do the education and trade show, which is way different than ours here. A lot smaller, I'm guessing. Yeah, definitely smaller. And it's in a, it's in a town called Harrogate which is like north of leads. And it's, you know, we have like one big open hall here and there's this like, I don't know, maybe five or six different smaller halls and it's kind of a labyrinth. You know, you get in and then you're just kind of stuck in there until you can find your way out. Um, but yeah, it was a blast. And and then another part of that is, you know, we got to go tour like the Man City campus, Manchester City Football Club. And see all of their agronomic stuff. And yeah. Where's Chris Minton at? Chris Minton. Yep. He's a UK guy and he's at one of the Oh, Chris Minton, he, oh geez, what a, I I'm awful with names, but I can picture a face. Okay. So Chris Minton is actually, he's at Leicester city football club. And he's actually one of the guys spearheading, um, over there, the Tito, which is the turf equipment technicians organization spelt with an S. So they're very classy. No but no, they're studs over there. They, I got to go in and sit with them for a little bit. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Connected with them and did you get to meet Matthew Axton? Probably at some point. Yeah. He's part of that group too. Yeah. Yeah. I get that off the floor, or actually, I think Matthew wasn't there. If Matthew, if you're listening and you were there and I did meet you, I, and I suck. I'm really sorry. Oh, it's all good. But I got to hang out with James. Okay. Wil Wilkerson, I think. I didn't put, I didn't put it's all good. Yeah, us right now. You're not stuff. Yeah, everybody li names. I mean, I'll do it show me pictures, you kno board. I could poke anybo I met that guy, I met tha then, you know, the last we got to go to Manchester city. Got to go to Ro and Wallacey and get site visits at all those places. And it really, it was a tremendous experience, but I think getting to do it shoulder to shoulder with eight other of my countrymen. Well minus Carol Turner, she's a Canadian total stud. Yeah, they were all awesome. But I guess people from our continent, my continents lads. It was so awesome. Just, you know, To get to see what they were thinking what they were observing at these different places kind of the you know Where are the problems similar that we're solving and where are the problems? Different and it was just a fabulous experience and stoked to have those connections coming home. Yeah how do you get in on that? It's a pretty lengthy application process. I think it was maybe five months obviously like a written application that's vetted. They had hundreds of applicants. Yep, I was one of them. Were you? Yeah, I applied. Oh, I'm sorry. I sure did. That's why you're angry at me. Yeah, that's why I'm really mad right now. No, man, I'm happy for you. Seriously. Yeah it, I don't know. It Yeah, that's awesome. It written application you know, a couple phone interviews. I saw an email maybe. For, you know, asking for the application. Oh. And then I sent in an application. Yeah. And then obviously I didn't hear anything else back, but you gotta do Yeah. Well, yeah. Nobody reached out to me for it. I was just, I was piddling around on the GCSA website looking for for some professional development opportunities and, okay. I read through the links to success thing and thought it was a complete long shot. Like I would have no chance to do it. So, but yeah, it, you know, it was a written interview, a couple phone interviews, and then you had to make a a five minute video and that was about all the direction that you got. So, yeah we pestered Sammy about that. Like what, you know, what was that like, could you give us a little more direction? And she was like, well, the whole selection committee, that's kind of what we wanted. We wanted to see what you would come up with. Sammy Strutt is the, she's leading the Bernhardt Academy like organization. Now they, I guess, I guess Steve Nixon poached her from Vegas. So Jim Croxton's a little pissed, but not actually, but it's all in jest, but yeah. Real studs out there. Well, thank you so much for telling us about your experience. Yeah, it was awesome. We're going to wrap this thing up. We had an hour, so. We're a little over. You can cut me out. No, it's all good man. No. It's really good. Thank you so much for getting up here. And thanks for the recommendation, Chris. And thank everybody else for stopping by and supporting the RealTurf Techs podcast. I hope we can do it again next year. I don't know. This might go away, I guess. So I get here today, and I'm like They sent me an email in December and said, You want to do the live podcast? Sure, did it the last two years, it's fun, whatever, we'll do it. And, so, well yeah, I will do it later in the day, next time for sure. But, you can sign up Wednesday or today. And I just picked 9 o'clock today, whatever. Nobody done one yesterday, and this will be the only one today. So maybe it's going away. I don't know but so let's keep it alive Trent. We're gonna try to keep it alive Well, I mean long as they'll give me the space. I'll do it. If not, I mean we could I guess get in on. I know a guy Put some chairs together and stuff. But yeah. Yeah. Thanks for being here. Thanks, Justin Wilkerson and Chris Whitaker for also Guesting today until next time See you back

Trent Manning: 51:12

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.