Episode 150: Taylor Cairns Returns

Welcome to Episode 150 of the Reel Turf Techs Podcast! Today we’re catching up with Taylor Cairns, Equipment Manager at London Hunt and Golf Club in London, Ontario, Canada. Taylor first joined us back in July 2021, and this time he shares how his journey has evolved from splitting time between the shop and the course while earning a turf management degree and working as a spray technician and assistant superintendent, to ultimately focusing fully on the equipment side. At London Hunt, a true parkland course, Taylor manages a Toro fleet with one assistant in the shop. We dive into how he got started in the industry, the strength of the Canadian equipment manager network, and why he believes in keeping it simple when it comes to diagnostics.

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Transcript

Trent Manning: 0:56

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

1:21

Welcome to The Real Turf Text Podcast, episode one 50. Today we're talking to Taylor Cairns, equipment manager at London Hunt and Golf Club in London, Ontario. The Hunt Club is a Parkland course in the truest sense. Taylor is the Lone Tech in the shop. He has mostly Toro equipment. Let's talk to Taylor.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 1:49

Welcome, Taylor to the Realtor Turex podcast. Thanks for coming on. How you doing?

Taylor Cairns: 1:54

Good, man. Good. Thanks for having me again.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 1:56

what did you just say about the weather up there

Taylor Cairns: 2:00

it is sweaty.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 2:02

sweaty? I like it. I love it because it is very sweaty down here too. And today the high temperature I think was 84, which, you know, is not that hot. But man, the sweat factor it's way up there.

Taylor Cairns: 2:16

Yeah. Yeah, we're we're probably right on par with with that about up here. So,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 2:22

Okay, well, tell us how you got into the turf industry.

Taylor Cairns: 2:26

well just, you know what, it was funny, just answered that a newspaper ended up at at one of the local court courses by my house, rattlesnake Point and kind of. Fell in love with it. I was doing a split in time between the shop and outdoors, kind of a, an assistant tech role as well. Decided to get more into the outdoor thing and went to school and got my diploma for turf management. And so. Heck, we're going way back now. This is now like, like heck, almost 15 years now. So yeah, there was, so did the whole turf thing there. Rattlesnake for a few years. Decided to have a change of scenery. Went to Glen Abbey. The. Summer for the season 2009 season. They had a Canadian open there as well.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 3:22

no.

Taylor Cairns: 3:24

so I was a spray tech there for for a few years, did the oh nine Canadian Open. And then I was a assistant superintendent at Herron Point. And then went up north and worked out a few courses up North Northern Ontario, and decided to change it up and go full-time in the shop.'Cause at the Northern Ontario courses I was doing a lot of my own wrenching again, and decided that I was kind of. Where I felt I was better at. And and just transition there and ended up at a pheasant run with Alicia Schwab.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 4:06

Okay.

Taylor Cairns: 4:08

and she gave a turf guy a shot in the shop and it worked out. And, kind of doing that full time there. Decided to find a different challenge after a few years and went back up to Muskoka area at the Rock. That was kind of where we first chatted there and,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 4:28

Okay.

Taylor Cairns: 4:28

We got into it and now at the London Hunt and Country Club. Now this is my. Fourth season, third, fourth season. It's been a bit of a blur.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 4:39

yeah. I know man. Time flies. You know, they say when you're having fun. I don't know. Sometimes it's it might all, not all be fun in games, but How did you, I guess let's back up and tell me about wrenching and where. That came in, you know, where did you grow up? You and your dad working on cars or lawnmowers or what?

Taylor Cairns: 5:02

yeah, a little bit of everything. My dad was pretty hands-on and a bit of a do it yourselfer and we had a couple little project cars that we would work on and throughout, and we'd do home renovations. So, you know, getting a tool in your hand wasn't. It wasn't outta line. I was actually in high school that I got into a youth apprenticeship program doing automotive mechanics. So did that for a few years. Did my first year of trade school bounced around through some shops. Then I kind of just decided the automotive industry wasn't. And and then yeah, answered that, that ad in the newspaper. And now here we're,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 5:46

Yep. The rest is history, right? As they say.

Taylor Cairns: 5:49

that's right.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 5:50

what's your least favorite part of the job?

Taylor Cairns: 5:55

going out in the rain.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 5:57

Yeah,

Taylor Cairns: 5:58

dealing with a breakdown in the rain. You know, the you're getting messy from the machine or a breakdown or, and then you gotta get in the wet ground and it stuff's dripping on you.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 6:12

Oh yeah.

Taylor Cairns: 6:13

it's just all kinds of not fun when it's raining out, you know? So, going to do a repair in the rain is probably my least favorite thing to do.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 6:22

I could agree with that and I've had this conversation before.'cause. In my travels, I've seen some really nice shop carts and they're cool, you know, and they got all this stuff on there. But honestly, that's why I have a shop. I wanna get that piece of equipment back to the shop so I can work on it there where I got everything I need, you know? So I've got innovated over the years, you know, on getting stuff in, whether, you know, whatever it is, if you can put it on a trailer or tow it in, or, it just so happened we had a 7,500 John Deere fairway mower and the rear axle snapped. And yeah, so I'm like, how am I gonna get this in? And it's got this big tube on the back of the frame, and I took a panel hitch on our tractor. On the three point hitch of the tractor, backed it up and hooked it right there and drove it in that way. It was like, it worked out perfect. It was

Taylor Cairns: 7:24

Yeah,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 7:25

you know, so you do have to get creative, you know,'cause they don't make some of this stuff easy to tow in. But if you, if I'm can get it to the shop, I'm getting it to the shop. I don't, I'm not laying in the grass. I mean, I have before we all have. Right. But,

Taylor Cairns: 7:39

Yeah. Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 7:41

no thanks.

Taylor Cairns: 7:42

No, I agree man. If I can get it, if I can get it to, into the, with the roof overhead. Absolutely.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 7:48

yeah, for sure. And yeah, even as hot as it is, at least we can get a fan blowing us on us. And we're in the shade,

Taylor Cairns: 7:54

That's right. That's right.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 7:58

What's your favorite tool?

Taylor Cairns: 8:00

I might, this one might change up from the last episode, but I'm gonna go with the internet. You know, just being able to research things as fast as we can now, you know? You know, I know some guys like to flip through books and stuff like that, but now it's so quick to find information and, or and even if you're struggling to find that information, you know, having access to the group chats that we do now and just some of the associations that, that you guys can piggyback off of like, you know, yourself. Chad Braun Seth Sheldon, John Boso, those guys, you know, are wealth of knowledge that, I've been really good at sharing that that knowledge as well with guys that having those questions. So, you know, it's it's nice to be able to ask those questions and have them. Answered pretty efficiently. So yeah, internet for sure. Every, that's where everything's going these days. Right? So everything's

Trent Manning, CTEM: 9:09

Oh yeah,

Taylor Cairns: 9:10

and just, and how easy we can communicate and find things these days.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 9:14

Yeah, I agree a hundred percent and I, most everybody knows this. Listen to me for any amount of time. I use Google Drive a lot for stuff and all my manuals are in there that I can get in there and I mean, it's just great'cause it's right there at your fingertips. I can look at it on my phone or on my tablet or on my computer or you know, wherever. It don't matter where I'm at. As long as I have an internet connection, I can pull that manual up and see what I'm looking at. And I mean, the other really nice thing about that, especially as we get older and we can't see as good looking at electricals, somatics and hydraulics somatics, it's really nice to be able to blow that up. So I got whatever, you know, 50 inch TV screen over my toolbox that I have a Chromebox that runs it and speaking you drop. Chad Bro's name. He, when he was, he come here a couple years ago in Georgia and taught his I don't remember the name of the class. You have to forgive me, but the one where he's talking about keeping it clean.'cause he says does such a good job about keeping all the stuff clean. But anyway, he was in town. I brought him by the shop and he's like, how do you get, you know, the stuff on the tv? So I was telling him about the Chromebox and he's like, oh, that's how you do it. So, yeah, for anybody that's listening that doesn't know it's made by Google and it's called a Chromebox and I don't

Taylor Cairns: 10:38

I

Trent Manning, CTEM: 10:39

or something.

Taylor Cairns: 10:40

yeah, you can get pretty good ones now for a pretty decent price. I'm a little bit old school. I I was fortunate to, I, so I, you know what? I just asked the id it department at the club and they were able to facilitate me with a whole little diagnostic laptop. And and I got a TV in the shop as well. And I just use an old HDMI and I'll just cycle through on the laptop, but blow it up on the tv.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 11:08

Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah.

Taylor Cairns: 11:10

just like you said, just blow up schematics and really pinpoint and zoom in. from there. So it's it's a little bit cumbersome at times, but certainly works.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 11:21

Oh, that's awesome. No, I mean, that's cool. And just so everybody knows the Chromebox does have its limitations too, because the more you have open and try to do on there, you know, the processor's pretty small. It's not a full blown computer, so you can only have a few pages open at a time. Or it starts and then you got music playing in the background, you know, and then it starts dragging on it. Where in that case, I think a laptop or something or a desktop computer would probably be a better solution. What do you do to relax and find your balance? You still playing video games?

Taylor Cairns: 11:58

I am still playing video

Trent Manning, CTEM: 12:00

all right.

Taylor Cairns: 12:00

And and you know what, I'm I've enjoyed some yard work. As I've gotten older,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 12:07

Ah, okay.

Taylor Cairns: 12:07

you know, just, you know, doing a bit of gardening and cutting the lawn and just, yeah, just getting into that a little bit more too. But yeah, certainly video games and and my sports are two of the main reasons. Yeah. Ways to relax.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 12:23

I gotcha. Yeah. Are you mowing your yard with a real mower? no, I hadn't got that deep into it.

Taylor Cairns: 12:30

Yeah. No. Not that deep. But it's just a good old fashioned rider.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 12:34

No. Okay. Nothing wrong with that. I don't, you know, a lot of people, I've bet a lot of people that really enjoy doing that. It's just, I don't know. I don't find that much enjoyment out of it. I don't know

Taylor Cairns: 12:46

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 12:47

what it is about mowing

Taylor Cairns: 12:48

So it went, when it's this hot, it's not as enjoyable. I wanna get it done. But when it's, it is nice getting it all trimmed up and cars driving by and

Trent Manning, CTEM: 12:57

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely rewarding after everything's finished, it looks good, and the, yeah, sense of pride and ownership and like, yeah, that looks good. You know, whatever I get

Taylor Cairns: 13:09

the, it's a, I wanna say it's it's a 50 kilometer an hour lawn. It

Trent Manning, CTEM: 13:17

Okay. Right, right, right,

Taylor Cairns: 13:18

good as they're driving by.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 13:20

Yeah. Yeah. I hear you. That's good. Good stuff. What's been your biggest challenge to date?

Taylor Cairns: 13:27

just keeping up. You know, it's, summer stresses, you know, demand membership is demanding. And all, all in a very good way, mind you. But yeah, just keeping up the heat. This year has really been a a stressor of sorts. So making sure. You know, staff and machines are both running. Cool. So, just keeping up and keeping everything sharp and rolling through and happy is, has been a big challenge to date. And we've had a, we have a big fleet at our property, so, just gotta make sure everything's ready to roll and go from there. So always, always busy.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 14:14

Yep. Never. Never a dull moment for

Taylor Cairns: 14:16

Not at all.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 14:17

Yeah, and I mean, it is amazing to me. You know, how many holes are you, remind me again.

Taylor Cairns: 14:25

We're just 18,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 14:27

Well, right, well you can say just 18, but I mean, just 18 now. I mean, a lot of 18 hole clubs has the amount of equipment. I mean, I know, you know, my, me personally, I got more equipment than a 36 hole and I'm 18. And I know, I mean, there's more and more clubs that are that way. You know, some of your mom and pop, you know, 18 hole courses, maybe they have a limited amount of equipment. But, you know, I'm also in charge of the nine hole course that's in Midtown Atlanta, and we got more equipment there than some eighteens, you know, and it's just not, I mean it's crazy.

Taylor Cairns: 15:07

Yeah, sometimes it's a good problem to have, but you know, it's trying to fit it all in into a maintenance schedule. You know, when, then, when, you know, incidents happen or breakdowns happen, you know, it's kind of throws your whole list off.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 15:26

That what? Right. Right.

Taylor Cairns: 15:27

gotta scramble a little bit and do some problem solving there. So, so, yeah, it's it can be good and bad at sometimes having such a big fleet, so

Trent Manning, CTEM: 15:36

Yeah. And yeah, I was not complaining about having a big fleet. I do enjoy having a big fleet and we can, you know, it gives us the opportunity to get a lot of stuff done out on the course at one time if we have the labor there. But like you said, trying to take care of everything. And then, yeah, you should have a couple breakdowns and failures and then. Then your PM goes out the window and you know you're playing

Taylor Cairns: 16:03

Yeah, two weeks. Two weeks of catch up and then you're back into it.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 16:06

Oh, yeah. Oh yeah.

Taylor Cairns: 16:08

yeah. Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 16:10

What's one of the strangest things you've seen at the shop?

Taylor Cairns: 16:15

well I'll keep this one g rated

Trent Manning, CTEM: 16:17

Yep yep.

Taylor Cairns: 16:18

yeah. But, it's unfortunate the, some of the members have some fences and just some deer getting caught up on the fences. That's been one of the strangest things, and that's unfortunate. But but no, it's been pretty low key lately.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 16:30

Okay.

Taylor Cairns: 16:31

So

Trent Manning, CTEM: 16:31

a good

Taylor Cairns: 16:32

too much strangeness. Just just some unfortunate circumstances with the deer. So.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 16:37

Gotcha. This is one that just happened Friday. So we have a sump pump on number 14, and we're, so we're currently under renovation and they're redoing the whole course from top to bottom. And the construction crew hadn't got to this sump pump. Anyway, I went, I go out, I install a new sump pump, and the wires are just left laying on the ground. Because they still gotta do all the prep work, you know, around the sump basin and all that. So I get a call Friday the pump's not working. So I ride out there, I pull the lid off, and when they backfilled it, they just took all the cables and they threw'em in the sump, and then the pump sucked it up and chewed the wires up.

Taylor Cairns: 17:28

Oh

Trent Manning, CTEM: 17:28

I don't know who thought that would be a good idea. Like, let's just throw'em in there. You know? I don't know. You know, it's just, it's, it gets very frustrating. Like you said, it's hot, it's summertime. Like I could have went without that happening. Right. There's enough other stuff going on.

Taylor Cairns: 17:46

that's right. That's

Trent Manning, CTEM: 17:47

Do you have a mentor in the industry?

Taylor Cairns: 17:51

obviously Kevin Henninger is a pretty good one. You know, I always look up to guys like yourself. The, and the gents I mentioned earlier you know, Chad Broun, John Boso Seth Sheldon, John Patterson you know, Dave Curry up here as well. Jerry Knight. I like to, speak and engage with guys that that, that are at top level clubs and have been successful. And that's not to knock anybody though, right? So, but you just from networking and interactions and knowing where those guys are and, you know, those guys are always, those peers are guys that I look up to and just being able to call on those guys when and when you're having an issue is awesome to be able to

Trent Manning, CTEM: 18:42

Oh yeah. Networking is so important. And I'm you mentioned John Patterson and I'm fortunate enough down here to be about 45 minutes away from him. And, and I talked him into helping us do some video stuff. If you hadn't checked it out to the listeners on YouTube, go check out our YouTube channel. But anyway, me and then the guy that does all the filming for me and the editing and makes everything look good went over to John's shop on a Sunday and spent, I don't know, probably five, six hours with him. And I mean, he's just such a nice guy down to earth, you know? Yeah. And every time I go over there I learn something. You know, it's just one of those, and not that he's trying to teach us anything, you know, I mean, whatever. You just pick up things. Right.

Taylor Cairns: 19:30

That's right. Yep.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 19:32

and I know I'm gonna mess this saying up, but, and I don't know it was in the book or whatever about you're the sum of the five people you hang out with or whatever. And I mean, it is, it's so true, like you're saying, and yeah, I mean, you can hang out with whoever you wanna hang out with. That's cool. But. Yeah. Try to find some of these people that are at the top level of their craft and hang out with them for a little while.

Taylor Cairns: 19:57

Absolutely.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 19:58

Yeah. It's so, so worth it.

Taylor Cairns: 20:01

Yeah. You never know what little nuggets you're gonna pick up and stick in your mind that you can bring back to your shop and your facility and all of a sudden the light bulb clicks. And, you know, and it's turned into a revelation for what you can do or what you're able to do in your shop too,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 20:21

Oh, yeah.

Taylor Cairns: 20:21

yeah, just being able to spitball with all everybody about everything,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 20:27

Right, right, right,

Taylor Cairns: 20:27

you know, is just such a good such a good experience.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 20:32

What would be your dream job or opportunity? You living the dream.

Taylor Cairns: 20:39

it's kind of one of my my bucket list is, you know, to get into like a Caribbean type job or, you know, probably just go somewhere hotter. I can't believe I just said that,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 20:52

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Taylor Cairns: 20:55

but but yeah, maybe something on like a, like on an island like you see what some of the courses that are popping up and like, what's the, Cabot, St. Lucia type places, right? So, or Bermuda, you know, some of the places there and, yeah, maybe just someplace exotic a little bit for before settling down,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 21:19

Yeah. Yeah. No, that, that could definitely be fun.

Taylor Cairns: 21:22

I do think that this is one of my, one of my dream stops, you know, with, the club supports what we're doing in the shop. You know, we we've got good resources and to facilitate what we wanna do, and that's half the ballot and Right. Not necessarily a location

Trent Manning, CTEM: 21:41

Oh yeah.

Taylor Cairns: 21:42

to have the resources to, to do your job properly and be successful and provide. A good golf experience. Right. So, so that's a big part of it too.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 21:57

Well, I was fortunate enough to, I got to volunteer for a tournament in Exuma in The Bahamas, and, but like your. Kind of talking about the lack of resources there. I mean it was really sad, the lack of resources they had beautiful property and they done, you know, a tremendous job with what they had. But I mean, it's just like they didn't have batteries to go in equipment. They would take batteries outta one piece and put it in another piece'cause they couldn't get batteries. And the lack of tools they had. Like I said, you got a pair of needle nose. Nope. Don't have a paralegal nose. Like who doesn't have a pair of needle nose pliers? You know, I mean, we're just so accustomed to it, you know, here where we got a parts store, you know, right around the corner and you can get whatever you need, home Depot and

Taylor Cairns: 22:51

very much so. And yeah that's you hear that from some of the guys in the groups and the struggles and delays to get parts and equipment out to them. It, you can certainly see how that can be a struggle.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 23:05

Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, and that's, I'm, I ended up making a couple trips down there and I took a carry on full of parts the second time I went down there. Just'cause it was easier, you know, doing, taking them down than ordering them and getting them shipped. What technician would you like to work with for a day?

Taylor Cairns: 23:24

shoot, I've been fortunate to work with so many already. I would I would say John Patterson's probably at the top of the list, I'm sure for a few.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 23:32

Oh yeah. Yep.

Taylor Cairns: 23:33

So I, you know, I've been, you know, fortunate to work with Kevin and and Seth and went and saw Brad Bailey and the guys down at the Four Seasons and Wyatts down there too,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 23:47

Uhhuh. Yep.

Taylor Cairns: 23:48

so yeah, I was fortunate to go see those guys. But just, yeah. John Patterson, just for what you were saying earlier, this the little knowledge bombs, he drops all the Without meaning to

Trent Manning, CTEM: 24:00

Right, right. Right. Yep.

Taylor Cairns: 24:01

that, you know, and he's been one of the, one of the premier successful guys in the industry at top facilities for a long time. So for

Trent Manning, CTEM: 24:11

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yep. What about Chad Broun? Would you go work with him for a day?

Taylor Cairns: 24:16

Oh, absolutely. Oh yeah. He is right at the top of the

Trent Manning, CTEM: 24:19

Yeah. Yeah. He's at the top two and I mean, I think him and John are, you know, right there, been doing it forever and they're at the top of their craft

Taylor Cairns: 24:29

Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 24:32

yeah, really fun to hang out with those guys.

Trent Manning: 24:35

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Trent Manning, CTEM: 25:13

What do you know now you wish you'd known on day one?

Taylor Cairns: 25:17

how much I like doing this better than growing grass

Trent Manning, CTEM: 25:21

Ah, okay. Yeah that's

Taylor Cairns: 25:23

and, I like providing the means, you know? Yeah. Okay. I still get to go do some of the fun stuff, like, you know, doing the aerating in the tractor and or hopping on the verta cutter and you know, so still being able to. To play with the big boy toys but I've found I'm, I like providing the tools for the people to you know, the brushes to paint the picture, I guess.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 25:54

Yeah, there you. I mean, you're right. It's cool'cause we still get to do some of the fun stuff, whether it's getting on a tractor or we're doing this construction. So I've hopped on a dozer a couple times and I don't know, I just, I enjoy it. I enjoy being on a dozer.

Taylor Cairns: 26:10

So, but you know, to that point, I am thankful for the experiences because that's allowed me to out what I think is be a better equipment manager for the golf course to have that understanding. Of why you're doing certain practices, you know, and to have that background really helps facilitate everything as well in the shop, I think too.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 26:39

Yeah, a hundred percent. And it's, I mean, one of my favorite things is when my director comes to me and says, this is my challenge. What kind of piece of equipment, what piece of equipment should we use to do this or do that? You know, I mean, whatever it is that he's trying to. Thing and you know, I love, you know, troubleshooting and problem solving with him and trying to come up with the best game plan to get stuff done. I don't, I mean, that's part of the fun of it, I think.

Taylor Cairns: 27:08

And and then yeah, not slogging in the rain. Or, you know, and kudos to all those guys that do it, but slugging hoses in, in, in all this weather just to do some hand watering and keeping grass alive. And I'm happy that those stresses aren't on me yet right now,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 27:28

Right, right, right. Yep.

Taylor Cairns: 27:31

So.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 27:32

Yeah. There's been a lot of hair lost about Yeah. Losing grass in the summertime at a golf course. For

Taylor Cairns: 27:39

Yeah.

Trent Manning: 27:46

Get ready for tips and tricks

Trent Manning, CTEM: 27:55

Well share some tips and tricks with us.

Taylor Cairns: 27:59

the biggest one that I remind myself of, it constantly is is a nice little acronym, is to just kiss it, just to keep it simple, stupid, That's my biggest tip is to not get overworked about it. Start with your basics, especially when it comes to troubleshooting and of any kind, is just. You know, a battery doesn't start well, there's the key in it,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 28:26

right. Yeah.

Taylor Cairns: 28:27

So sometimes the key is just needs to be jostled around and, you know, that key switch is maybe a little bit funky, right? So, yeah, just to keep it simple,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 28:37

Yeah, it is. And it's something, it is hard to do sometimes to keep it simple, you know, because you're doing it and you just, I mean, you've been doing it for a long time and it's really easy to look over the easiest thing and move on to something harder because you. You know, I guess humans in our mind, we wanna make the problem harder than what it is. But yeah, so we had a fly mow the other day we were met. Long story on this fly mow. And there's another guy, we're out there fly mowing with this fly mow we were having some issues out of trying to figure out what was going on. And another guy's fly mowing and he turns his fly mow off, and he moves at whatever, you know, 30 feet. Down the bank and then he starts pulling on it and it won't start. And I mean, it was just running. I'm like, that was just running. So anyway, we load it in the cart, we take it back to the shop and I get busy working on whatever, and the guy helping me, I said what was wrong with that? And he said it was outta gas. It's like, well, dang, that would've been easy to check right there on the spot. But, you know, you gotta, like you said, keep it simple. Does it have gas in it? Is the switch on, you know, all those things.

Taylor Cairns: 29:50

Yep. So, yeah, I had one of those last year limo again too. It was I don't know whether if the pickup in the tank was just at a weird angle, but yeah, if it got over, if it got to a certain point with the gas in the tank and then the certain angle, it would just run itself out. The pickup wouldn't. Be able to pick up anymore and once that carburetor's empty and to reprime it all over again and Oh

Trent Manning, CTEM: 30:19

do it again.

Taylor Cairns: 30:20

yeah. Gimme a battery powered flying, that's for sure.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 30:24

Do you have any more tips or tricks or you wanna, you want to go on to some battery powered stuff?

Taylor Cairns: 30:32

no that's pretty well my main one. You know, everybody else got some really good ones, so that's, yeah,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 30:39

Yeah. No, that's good. That's a good one. Well, do you have a battery powered plumber?

Taylor Cairns: 30:47

I actually do.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 30:48

And tell me what brand?

Taylor Cairns: 30:52

So it is a Toro.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 30:54

It's the Toro. Okay.

Taylor Cairns: 30:55

'cause I don't think you can get gas units from Toro anymore.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 30:59

'Yeah, I heard they discontinued the

Taylor Cairns: 31:02

Yeah. So, hold onto those if you have them

Trent Manning, CTEM: 31:05

Okay.

Taylor Cairns: 31:06

because you can't get a new one. But we use it for our inter, our step cut intermediate.'cause we have the style of our bunkers from our renovations. We have like one inch drop-ins, so the intermediate will go into the bunker. So to facilitate those cuts, I have the electric fly mow set to one inch approximately. Because what I found out with those is you can't use the extension kit. With the electric fly. Mow,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 31:49

Ah, okay.

Taylor Cairns: 31:49

something about RPM doesn't rotate enough to give it the lift with the extension kit. So, you know, so if you're, if you wanna cut over two, think two inches you can get to with a factory fly mo. If you wanna cut over two an inches which we do on our other. Parts at two and a half. You can't use the electric flywheel.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 32:14

Gotcha. Okay. What's the runtime on the electric fly? Mow.

Taylor Cairns: 32:19

I went big and I got a 10 amp hour battery with with those units. So, we can probably get about an hour per battery.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 32:29

Okay.

Taylor Cairns: 32:30

You know, but

Trent Manning, CTEM: 32:31

batteries with it then I guess.

Taylor Cairns: 32:33

it, yeah, I did two batteries with the single unit. They're using probably about a battery and a half to get through all the one inch drop-ins,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 32:48

Okay. Gotcha. Well, that's cool. I.

Taylor Cairns: 32:52

so I don't know if it's sustainable on to do like a big fly mo trim bunker, you know, rotary day. I don't know about making it through that. Might wanna have three or four locked up, but

Trent Manning, CTEM: 33:06

Well that's kinda what I wonder. I mean, we send our guys out with four or five fly mows and they're out most of the day, you know, six hours anyway, so I'm like that's a lot of batteries to, to go through to get their job done, and not that they're, you know, fly mowing that entire time, but.

Taylor Cairns: 33:27

but yeah, no I know what you're saying.'Cause yeah, I think just that's the little bit of the Achilles with the battery powered stuff right now is the need for longer run times. I see it the biggest with the backpack blowers. You know, you, the power to duration isn't there just yet with those units, unless you buy a big, super heavy battery, and then it's awkward as hell to

Trent Manning, CTEM: 33:58

Right.

Taylor Cairns: 33:59

it on, put your shoulder straps on, and you got this monster battery on your back. It's heavier than a gas powered Anyways.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 34:06

Right, right, right. Right.

Taylor Cairns: 34:07

So just for the sake of a bit of noise. so yeah the backpack blowers are the biggest struggle right now with all that electric stuff. But I think it's great for, you know, light duty, chainsaw work you know, line trimming, pull saws, some of the stuff you don't use all the time. You know, you don't have to worry about that pole saw not starting on the first pole'cause it hasn't been used in two months.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 34:36

Right, right, right, right.

Taylor Cairns: 34:37

So it's easy to just throw a battery in there and and fire it up and go having that instant power. Then truck and then when the fall comes with leaves, I don't know, it You can't beat the power of we have still br six hundreds. But yeah, you can't beat a good bat gas blower in the fall when you

Trent Manning, CTEM: 35:00

Right, right.

Taylor Cairns: 35:01

millions of leaves on the ground.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 35:03

Yep. For sure. Well, let's talk about robotic mowers a little bit. You, y'all are using those quite a bit, I think.

Taylor Cairns: 35:13

yeah. I've got I've got. Three brands currently on course, we're demoing the husqvarnas. I haven't got any of those just yet. They're on my wishlist for next year. So we have two crest units and two echo units. So the echo units are on our driving range. They split the fairway at a, at the lower height. I think the lowest it, it maxes out at is 20 mil on those units.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 35:45

Okay.

Taylor Cairns: 35:45

so they're a little bit higher because they got the ball deflectors and things like that on there, so you're not

Trent Manning, CTEM: 35:51

Right.

Taylor Cairns: 35:52

up any of the range balls. Then, yeah, they got, I got'em all scheduled and mapped and it, the one unit cuts around the driving range t early morning. After in between the irrigation cycles and before it gets set up. So it'll go cut around the range T to keep that area managed, and then it'll come down and cut the whole left side rough of the fairway, and then the other bot will cut the right side rough overnight. then during the day when it's dry, it'll come and cut the fairway.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 36:29

Okay.

Taylor Cairns: 36:30

our, basically our whole driving range is pretty well fully automated.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 36:35

Yeah, just with two. Two robots.

Taylor Cairns: 36:39

two robots.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 36:40

Okay. Huh? Yeah. I don't know why I thought driving range. It might take four or five. I mean, that's a pretty big area most of the time.

Taylor Cairns: 36:49

yeah. So it's a, I wouldn't mind, and this is just. Wanting to have one more, but I think a third robot would be would be good just to have a dedicated unit on the fairway itself. And then I can push the boundaries of my other two bots out a little bit farther in the rough areas. Obviously'cause of a smaller area, I get a smaller robot,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 37:16

Right, right.

Taylor Cairns: 37:18

But yeah, it's it's pretty well fully automated.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 37:20

So what's the cut width on one of these?

Taylor Cairns: 37:25

the two thousands are the big guys. So they're about three feet.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 37:36

Oh wow. Okay.

Taylor Cairns: 37:37

Yeah, they're about three feet across. They got five discs. They can they're little tanks out there, man. They can cut a lot of grass. When it comes to the scheduling, it's it basically doesn't stop it. It, it mows and it charges, then it mows and it charges. So,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 37:58

Yeah. Not much downtime then. Just,

Taylor Cairns: 38:01

no, not for those guys. No.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 38:03

How often are you changing blades and that kind of stuff?

Taylor Cairns: 38:07

I'm changing. I can, I've found I can change blades monthly.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 38:12

Okay.

Taylor Cairns: 38:12

well now that we're out of like seeding STEMI season you know, cool season grasses in the summer are pretty straightforward too. It's a cut. So they're so soft. It's not like some of the southern stuff that you guys have trying

Trent Manning, CTEM: 38:29

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Taylor Cairns: 38:30

So it, once it gets through the stock, the seed head stock season, yeah. I'm almost pushing a monthly blade change. I clean them and inspect them weekly. Tip them up, blow them out. Do a quick visual inspection, check, spin all the heads, checking bearings, things like that. It's funny how, you know, you stalk bed knives and stuff and now you're worried about micro blades, making sure you got stocks of micro blades.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 38:57

Yeah. yeah.

Taylor Cairns: 38:58

So,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 38:59

Yeah.

Taylor Cairns: 39:00

yeah, no, they've been really good. We have the two crest units, one's doing our. Putting green practice area and 14th green surround. They're,'cause they're kind of close together that we can do that as well. And then we have a intermediate height circle lawn, which which we have a robot there at. And it manages that area as well.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 39:26

Okay.

Taylor Cairns: 39:27

So our main, in our main focus with the robotics was areas where member interaction with the big loud machines would be. An irritant, you know

Trent Manning, CTEM: 39:45

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Taylor Cairns: 39:46

So our practice facilities, the driving range, short range areas, putting greens you know, just to have that premier member experience, you know, it's tough. It's tough to get tho to those areas first thing in the morning. Right. We want to get through the golf course. You, you know, fairways tees, you know, your typical playing surfaces take so much time. So to circle back around to get to your practice facility you know, you're starting to interact with people a little bit more. And not everybody likes a big, loud diesel engine as you're trying to cut, trim, surrounds while they're practicing their chip shots, right? So, yeah. So being able to manage those areas without feeling pressured to cut them more frequently has been a big benefit for us. We feel

Trent Manning, CTEM: 40:39

Yeah. No, that's awesome. What's been member feedback?

Taylor Cairns: 40:43

they've,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 40:44

like looking at'em. Watching em.

Taylor Cairns: 40:46

Them. it's funny you kind of get both ends of the spectrum. You get some members that, that really enjoy them and the ladies think they're very cute. you get some of the members that ask about them because their lawns are so big, they want one so they can play more golf.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 41:03

All right. Right, right.

Taylor Cairns: 41:04

and then you get some of the ones that, that are, that worry about it taking jobs away from staff and you can appreciate where they're coming from. But you know, you just have to explain that it's not a job reducer, it's a job redistributor.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 41:24

Yeah. Right, right, right.

Taylor Cairns: 41:25

Right. So, you know, in instead of, you know, having somebody just. Cut a wasteland area, you have a robot out there so that staff member can do something that's more, more important to the club than just going out mowing deep rough.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 41:44

Right, right. Yeah. Yeah.

Taylor Cairns: 41:45

So, yeah. So we've, I've had conversations with members on both ends of those spectrums and you know, some of the ones that. Are a little bit more hesitant, have walked away in a better frame of mind just because you've been able, we've been able to discuss and they understand now about where we're coming from when it comes to a member service aspect.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 42:12

Yeah, I mean, yeah, ultimately the member is getting a, should be getting a better experience because other things are taken care of because however many employees are not mowing the driving range.'cause you got robots out there doing it and those employees can be re-tasked to do other things.

Taylor Cairns: 42:31

And that and for us, I know I know some guys have gotten into fairways and lower heights we're. We're pretty well happy with just rough heights. Two and a half. Keep it manageable. Really the lowest we'll go will be like an intermediate height, which is what we keep our range fairway at. I don't know, I just find anything shorter than that. It's a struggle with a rotary anyways. It likes a reel, you know. I could be wrong,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 43:02

No, I don't. I mean, I agree with you. Yeah. Maybe we're both wrong, but I agree with you a hundred percent. Yeah. If it's below a really below two inches, I want a reel on it. And I know a lot of people rotary rough or rotary mow rough at an inch and a half and one inch and all that stuff, but I don't like it. I'd rather see a reel on it.

Taylor Cairns: 43:23

No I like the consistency of the reel. With our intermediates, what we did was actually the machine went down. I needed to get to chew up the the hydrostat belt 3,100,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 43:35

Okay.

Taylor Cairns: 43:35

the Hydrostat belt and of course Toro. It's the same platform of a 3,500, 3,100, and, you know. A stretch to the 35 50, but it's the same platform really. But you think it would be the same hydrostat belt for all three units, but no, it

Trent Manning, CTEM: 43:55

No, it is

Taylor Cairns: 43:56

All three are different.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 43:58

Oh, there? Yep.

Taylor Cairns: 43:59

So, and of course it was the one belt I didn't have in stock, so, but because everything's we're, you know, prime growing season, what I did was a, I dropped a side winder. Down to inch and a quarter. And we just, we were able to maintain for a cut or two until I got the belt in. And then it was all hunky.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 44:22

Nice.

Taylor Cairns: 44:23

yeah, it was a quick save.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 44:26

Uhhuh. Good Save. You ready to do some rapid fire questions?

Taylor Cairns: 44:35

All right. Lemme start. Lemme get

Trent Manning, CTEM: 44:37

yeah. Yep. Stretch up.

Taylor Cairns: 44:39

There we go. All right. Fire away.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 44:41

What's your favorite movie?

Taylor Cairns: 44:44

Oh, favorite movie. You know what? Anything out of the Lord of the Rings

Trent Manning, CTEM: 44:48

Okay. All right. Fair enough. Yep. What would be your last meal?

Taylor Cairns: 44:54

steak and mashed potatoes.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 44:57

Oh, I love it. What kind of steak?

Taylor Cairns: 44:59

A nice big fat filet. Bacon wrap, filet mignon.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 45:03

Okay. All right. I'll eat it. Yes. It's almost dinner time too

Taylor Cairns: 45:07

Yeah, I know.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 45:08

me. Yeah. What are you most proud of besides your family?

Taylor Cairns: 45:12

besides my family, just where I'm at with my career,

Trent Manning, CTEM: 45:17

Yep.

Taylor Cairns: 45:17

be honest.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 45:18

Awesome.

Taylor Cairns: 45:19

Yeah, and just how how it's elevated and just everybody I've met along the way and yeah, that'd be something I'm proud of

Trent Manning, CTEM: 45:27

Yeah, no,

Taylor Cairns: 45:28

my family.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 45:30

Yeah. Right, right, right. No. Yep. No, and that's why I had to put that on the question because I mean, obviously, hopefully everybody is proud of their family. If they're not, they need to probably do some therapy and work on their mental health. Yeah. Yep. Go back to the drawing board. But no. That's awesome. You know, you are doing great and I'm glad that you're liking it at London Hunt Club.

Taylor Cairns: 45:57

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 45:58

Living the dream up there. That's awesome, man. It's good

Taylor Cairns: 46:02

the sweaty Dr. Sweaty dream right

Trent Manning, CTEM: 46:04

Yeah. Yeah. The sweaty dream. Well, thank you so much for being on and really appreciate you coming back on.

Taylor Cairns: 46:12

No problem. Thanks again for having me. Now is this now besides Chris Whitaker? I know he's been on a couple of times. Is this the second time? This is, am I the only second Canadian guest?

Trent Manning, CTEM: 46:27

Yes. Yep. You're the only official. Second guess

Taylor Cairns: 46:32

Aha.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 46:33

not nothing against Chris Whitaker, but he was on like at the show.

Taylor Cairns: 46:38

Yes.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 46:39

I had him on Right, right. Yeah. When we were having the live podcast, he hopped on a couple times. And I want to say, so Skip Hines, he's no, he is awesome. He is like one of the nicest people you've ever met for sure. Skip Hines, I've had him on two times. And I knew you were kind of itching to do it again, or I thought you were, so that's why I sent you an invite to Yeah. To have a, yeah. I appreciate you, man. I do do a little bit of a redo and not that there's anything wrong with the first one, but it was a little bit on the shorter side and that is not your fault. I was a new host at the time too, so I didn't know how to like.

Taylor Cairns: 47:22

What was, it was like one of the first 15 or something.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 47:26

yeah. Yeah. It was definitely in the

Taylor Cairns: 47:27

yeah. Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM: 47:28

maybe the top 10. Yeah, it was, yeah, I was still getting warmed up on the podcast. Yes, sir. Well, thanks man. Really enjoyed it and appreciate it again,

Taylor Cairns: 47:39

Absolutely. Pleasure, sir. Good to see you.

Trent Manning: 47:48

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.