Reel Turf Techs Podcast

Episode 160: Bobby Medina

• Trent Manning • Episode 160

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Welcome to the Reel Turf Techs Podcast, Episode 160.

Today Trent is talking with Bobby Medina, Equipment Manager at Snowmass Club in Snowmass Village, Colorado. Snowmass Club is a private 18-hole course supported by an approximately 8,000-square-foot maintenance facility, with a fleet that’s primarily Toro.

Bobby shares his path into the turf industry, starting out as a snowcat operator in Mammoth Lakes before making the jump into golf course equipment management. They talk honestly about the transition from winter operations to turf, the steep learning curve, and the importance of keeping your cool while learning on the job. Bobby also reflects on finding balance in a mountain town, making time for snowboarding and golf, and how the support and community within the turf industry have played a big role in his growth as an equipment manager.



Trent Manning:

Welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we'll learn tips and tricks. I'm your host, Trent. Manning let's have some Welcome to The Real Turf Text Podcast, episode one 60. Today we're talking to Bobby Medina, equipment Manager at Snowmass Club in Snowmass Village, Colorado. Snowmass Club is a private 18 hole course. He has primarily Toro equipment. Let's talk to Bobby.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Welcome Bobby to the Real Turf Text podcast. Thanks for coming on.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah. Appreciate it.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

You getting settled in to the new place there?

Bobby Medina:

yeah. Getting getting all settled in and, going through everything, seeing what's what. And yeah, it's exciting.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Awesome. Good stuff. Tell us how you got into the turf industry.

Bobby Medina:

I lived in a ski town in California named Mammoth Lakes, and I needed a summer job,'cause I had a winter job. You know. That's never hard to find. Just driving, you know, at the time I was driving Snowcats and a buddy of mine was like, Hey, you know, I wanna come work at the golf course. And he's we'll get you in. And I said, all right, let's do it. So one thing led to another and yeah, like I said, it was just a summer thing and then eventually became full-time thing. So here I'm,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Very cool. Did you go straight in the shop

Bobby Medina:

No. I got I guess I skipped so started out as a greenskeeper and did that for I think, like five years.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Okay.

Bobby Medina:

And then and then the mechanic thing just kind of came up. I was just kind of hanging around the shop and superintendent there at the time had asked me, he's Hey man, you wanna be a mechanic? And I'm like. I don't know, man. I don't know if I can do that. And he's ah, I'll teach you a couple things. You'll be fine. You know, we can, I got faith in you. And I was like, oh, let me think about it. And thought about it for, I don't know, a few days, maybe a week, something like that. And I was like, let's go. And then

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Okay. Awesome.

Bobby Medina:

yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

That's super cool. Yeah, that's the way we get you. You start hanging around the shop too much. You'll end up being a golf course mechanic.

Bobby Medina:

yeah. Never really thought about it, you know? And then yeah, like I said, once I, once it started, I was, you know, I just got into it and made it made it everything. Made it my life. So

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Okay. Very cool. Very cool.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Did you you were working out the course and then were you still doing the Snowcat thing

Bobby Medina:

Yeah. Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

and the winters?

Bobby Medina:

yeah, it at first, that's the way it started. You know, just doing the greenskeeper thing and then when he offered me the mechanic job, you know, it was a year round position, so I pretty much had to give the snowcat thing up, which is kind of a bummer. I don't know anybody who's ever ran those things. They're something else. Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah. I'm highly interested in Snowcats. I know what one is, but that's about it.

Bobby Medina:

It's an incredible machine, man. I mean, I look back on that if I ever get a chance to get in the seat of one, I mean, it's, man, I look forward to it.'cause they're impressive. I mean, what they can do, you know?

Trent Manning, CTEM:

so does it, has it got a blade on the front and it's basically grooming trails or

Bobby Medina:

yeah. I was doing it for the ski area. Yeah, just go out there in the evening, start at four o'clock when everybody's done.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

mm-hmm.

Bobby Medina:

you know, I'd get done around like midnight. But yeah, you just get a tiller on the back and it chews up the snow and it lays down that nice corduroy that you see. And that's it. Yeah. You got the blade, you know, and you're just moving it around and slope maintenance is what they, is, what they call it. So you're just maintaining that slope because everybody beats it up, you know?

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Okay.

Bobby Medina:

throughout the day, and then we go out there and then we smooth it all out. So when everybody shows up in the morning, it's, you know, flat as can be.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah, no, that's all it is. Kind of like the samone,

Bobby Medina:

yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

right? Just on a whole lot bigger scale.

Bobby Medina:

I mean, it's like I said too, it's impressive how, like, how they climb up the hills. I mean with no, you know, nothing, they don't even bat an eye, just cruise right up. You know what I mean? And I mean, you could do some serious damage if you don't know what you're doing. But I mean, you try to get all that outta the way at the beginning and then, you know, once you get better at it, you know, you know, that's how it goes.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah. Do you mainly go up and down the hill

Bobby Medina:

Yeah. Yeah. That's what

Trent Manning, CTEM:

and

Bobby Medina:

Make a, make

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Sideways.

Bobby Medina:

no, you just go straight up and down. You just make like long loops all the way around and just up and down. Sometimes, you know, depending on the conditions and how much snow there is. You sometimes, you know, most of the time you can groom'em up and then you groom'em back down and you just make all these big loops all around and just

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Okay.

Bobby Medina:

keep everything nice and clean so that way you know, you're not you know, you're not making things worse. So when everybody like, you know, basically the goal is between the swing shift and the graveyard shift. Everything's just perfect when everybody shows up in the morning.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Gotcha. No, that's super cool. What kind of engines in one of those things.

Bobby Medina:

Man. I never really got too into that at the time, you know? But I know that the ones that I was driving had some sort of, you know, Mercedes

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Okay.

Bobby Medina:

in it or something like that, you know what I mean? Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

That's pretty cool. Way off topic from golf, but that's interesting

Bobby Medina:

yeah. That's it.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

different, you know?

Bobby Medina:

If now it's good to go back and then, you know,'cause at that time I just was like, you know, full throttle with that and I was like, just loving, you know, heavy equipment, you know, all those big machines. And I thought that, you know, some way, shape or form, I would either do that or you know, just run big machines. Is what I wanted to do. And then, like I said, then the golf thing came outta nowhere as a, just to fill the gap for the year, you know, to have a year round. Because the golf course I worked for was, you know, it was a resort course and it was owned by the ski area. So I could just kind of transition into six months here, six months up there.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah that's a pretty good deal. Yeah. So how many courses have you kinda been a part of? So you

Bobby Medina:

this is my third one. That first one, um, was named Sierra Star, and like I said, that was in in Mammoth in the eastern Sierra. And then so all mountain golf and then the next one was not too far from here, over in Montrose named Cornerstone. Another mountain course. But not quite as much snow. And then then this new gig came up at Snowmass.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Okay snow mass. I'm assuming there's a lot of snow there.

Bobby Medina:

yeah, not at the moment, but nor they get their share, you know what I mean? So it's your,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

yeah.

Bobby Medina:

Near near Aspen and whatnot. So yeah, there's definitely some incredible ski areas here. Yeah, it's kind of weird though that, you know, I mean, the golf course, you know, the thing, and they kind of go hand in hand. Everybody, you know, they need stuff to do during the summertime. You know, people, you know, they can ski and snowboard during the winter and then you know, in the summer if you don't like, you know, mountain biking and all that, you can, you know, get to the course and play golf. Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Do y'all have a lot of staff that transfers back and forth?

Bobby Medina:

Yeah. Yeah. From what I heard, I haven't really quite got all the ins and outs on it, but it's probably what I'm guessing. The nice thing is with the transition here is it's very similar to my first course to Sierra Star, because I was at Sierra Star, I was there for 13 years.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Oh wow.

Bobby Medina:

So Yeah. And so basically coming here it's very similar. So yeah, I, if I had to guess, I would say there's probably. Probably a lot of guys do similar type thing. You know, they work for the ski area during the winter and then and then come down here and have a summer job, and that's how everybody pays their bills, you know?

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah. Yep. Best of both worlds there.

Bobby Medina:

Yep.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

So you started working in the shop at Sierra Star.

Bobby Medina:

Yep.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

How did you learn about reels and cutting units? Or did you have a mechanic background before? Did you work on cars or,

Bobby Medina:

no. Nothing like that to speak of, to be honest. I looking back on it my dad is a landscape contractor, I don't know. The best thing I can come up with is maybe just being around all that equipment, all those years when I was little and growing up and all that, maybe that had something to do with it. But yeah, no no real you know, formal training or anything like that, just kind of got into it. I mean, once I got into the shop, I just, I made it, you know, my whole life. I started taking all the you know, service manuals home with me, and I wouldn't let it go. I would, you know. I was a little bit obsessed with it, you know, I was like, I gotta, this is what I gotta do to get it, you know, I need to get it quick. And so that's what I would do. I'd study at home and then go on the shop and just try to apply that stuff to what I was doing. And then that's it, man. And then just over time things started making sense, you know, and I had a good teacher, Patrick was the superintendent there at the time, and he knew he was a superintendent. He knew, you know, he knew a lot about everything. So, you know, learning under him was great. I mean, it was great to be able to, you know, be a greenskeeper and learn all that stuff and then

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Oh, yeah.

Bobby Medina:

what he taught me and put the two things together, you know what I mean? And and just apply it that way. So I.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah. I think it's important to know how to operate the equipment and it can help you work on the equipment too, when you know how it needs to be operated. Right.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah, so I had that was nice. I had all that, you know, in my head on how things are supposed to be and how we're doing things and why we're doing things.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Mm-hmm.

Bobby Medina:

was never any real, there was, I mean, there was definitely like questions that I had, but I figured if I knew how to do that side of it, you know, once I learned how to, you know, do this side of it, then, you know, I mean. And you kind of, you know, you know, I mean, you know a little bit about everything, so

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Right. Yeah, that's we end up learning a little bit about everything.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

for sure.

Bobby Medina:

definitely.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

I mean, that's, you know, one of the things that makes the job so fun to me anyways, we're doing something you know, different on most days, not just the same old thing every single day. We get to learn some new stuff.

Bobby Medina:

Yep. Definitely. It's never. Never the same thing. It's always yeah, it definitely keeps you on your toes for sure. And then not only that, like even when you do, you know, know all this stuff or get all this knowledge, then, you know, curve balls get thrown on you. You gotta adapt. You know what I mean? So it's yeah, it's, yeah, it keeps you on your toes for sure.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah, and I mean, when I actually, I said it today, one of the guys that works in the shop, I'm like, this, you know, it changes by the hour, sometimes by the minute, you know, on what priorities are and all that kind of stuff. We can develop our plan in the morning and what all we want to get accomplished and, wa that up, throw it in the trash can and do whatever needs to be done that day. That's part of the fun for me anyway, and I think for a lot of others that we enjoy that part of it. And obviously there's some people that probably don't enjoy that, that needs more, you know, structure. You know, this is the way it needs to work, but that isn't the way my brain works.

Bobby Medina:

no, you're right. You're absolutely right. I mean, it's definitely not for for everybody, but that's all right. That's why there's all these different career paths for people that can kind of choose which way they want to go. But yeah, like I said, yeah, so 13 years over there and five years at Cornerstone and so yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

All right. That's, yeah, you're almost 20 in here,

Bobby Medina:

yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

just like that.

Bobby Medina:

Yep.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

What's your least favorite part of the job?

Bobby Medina:

I feel like,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

about all the good stuff.

Bobby Medina:

yeah, I feel like maybe if I had to think of one thing, maybe just, sometimes not being able to, have the time to do what we need to do out there because. Whoever the golfers or, you know, they're in such a hurry, so we get rushed and sometimes things don't go as smooth as they could possibly go. Where if we just had the time to do it, we would. I mean,'cause at the end of the day, our goal is what to. Produce the best product we can. Right. And sometimes we get, I been pulled in all these different directions where people, they want it, they want this and they want that. You know, and it's like, ah. So maybe that's top of my head. The only thing I can really think of that really, you know, sometimes, you know, we're trying to do whatever it is, you know, aeration and all that kind stuff, you know what I mean? Things that need to be done, but then they want the golf course. You know, we want it now. You know, it's like,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Bobby Medina:

Got it.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah, it can definitely be frustrating at times trying to, yeah, to fit in all the cultural practices and everything else that comes along. And, I mean, I know we're maintaining a golf course and it's there for the golfers, but man, it sure would be nice if they were not in our way so we could get stuff done. But I understand why we're there. It's for

Bobby Medina:

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, it's definitely another balance'cause yeah.'cause at the end of the day you know, we need them to go out there and en enjoy and pay for all those things. So it's yeah. It's got, tends to be like a little bit of you know, a little battle, you know.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

yeah, and I think it's definitely a juggling act too on, you know, how many cultural practices you are doing, how many you can do in the normal course of the year, and working all that around play. I remember that was one of the things when, so at my course, you know, I'm in the south and we were originally bent grass greens, which is, you know, winter grass. And we went to Bermuda. And one of the reasons we made that transition, I mean, obviously it was really hard to keep bent grass alive in the summer and stressed everybody out and all those things. But we would always aerify our bent grass in the spring and in the fall. And that's some of the best playing weather for playing golf around here. You know, in the summertime it gets so hot and humid. It's pretty miserable, you know, 4th of July and that kind of stuff. You don't really wanna be out there playing anyway. You know, too hot to fish too. Too hot for golf and too cold at home, you know, just like the old country song. So anyway, switching to Bermuda. We do all our cultural practices 4th of July when a lot of our members are out of town on vacation and whatever. So it, that works out really well.

Bobby Medina:

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

TT tell us what your favorite tool is.

Bobby Medina:

Favorite tool I gotta go with? Just a three eights impact. I just think that, you know, once you get comfortable with it, it's just a happy medium. It's good for everything. It's not too powerful. It's not too, you know, underpowered. It's got just enough, you know? I feel like, you know, if you get into like the half inch one, then that's, man, those things there, you're not careful with it. You do some damage. But the three eights I'm real comfortable with. So, I, you know, that's the one thing that I don't. You know, a lot of people, can I borrow it? Nope. Can't borrow it. Staying right here.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Right.

Bobby Medina:

But you got two of them. Doesn't matter. I need both

Trent Manning, CTEM:

keep that close by. That's right. That's why you have two, just in case one fails, right? Yeah, Are you a Milwaukee guy or.

Bobby Medina:

yeah. Yeah. But at the same time, kind of, you know, places I've been at they mostly have DeWalt too. So I'm I'm good either way. I'm good either way. I don't really

Trent Manning, CTEM:

yeah,

Bobby Medina:

It's all good. I like'em both.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

yeah. I wasn't trying to put you on the spot, but I guess I did.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

I've I've been, I mean, I had Snap on. I still got Snap on. I, that's still kind of my go-to, but. and far as the shop stuff, we got a lot of Milwaukee stuff, and I don't, I've been really happy with it. That's really, that's good stuff.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah, for sure.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

And, you know, I ran DeWalt drills and that kind of stuff for a long time. Never had a issue with that. I don't know, I think it's just the flavor of the day. More than anything, than one

Bobby Medina:

it's kind of just been like more. It's just been more of a coincidence in anything that that everybody kind of, you know, and then you know how the batteries are. Everybody's always looking. The batteries are all over the place. Everybody's always looking for'em. And I got a few of my own, but you know, if I get to, another facility and I'm like, oh, you guys got some dewal here? Okay we'll just keep going that direction. And how about

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. What do you do to relax or find your balance?

Bobby Medina:

you know, if it, I guess kinda depends on the time of year, if it's if it's winter, you know, when I can definitely try to get out there and snowboard. I mean, that's kinda what I've been doing for a long time. So when I do that, I can just kind of forget about everything and just, you know, you're just doing that. And then if it's summertime, you know, I'll go play golf. summertime, same thing. If I can work in my yard and tinker around, I got a little shop set up over there too. If I can do that, then, um, I try not to get too crazy like working on, things because then, you know, then you're just doing it all the time, you know? But as far as like working on the yard, on my yard, I love doing that that I can just kind of put the phone away and just go do that for however long. And, um, yeah, I mean,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

that's, awesome. Yeah. More power to you on that? I don't know. I'm not much for yard work. I don't, that's not my thing.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah. It's weird. Sometimes I think about it when I'm out there doing it. I'm like, you know, we grow grass up there, you know, at the golf course and we're cutting it and all that, and here I am at home, you know? Growing my grass and cutting it, you know? But there's just something, don't know, maybe it's just, there's just something satisfying about taking, you know, that's what we do. You take a look at the, what you've done, you can see it. It's there. You know, it's a tangible thing that you can, you know. Yeah,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

No, I mean, I get it. I do. It's just, I don't, for whatever reason hadn't been my cup of tea. I don't, I've really started I think hating it at a young age

Bobby Medina:

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

was my job and I was required to mow the grass once a week

Bobby Medina:

Rake the leaves.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Rake the leaves and do all the weed eating and you know, all the stuff. And

Bobby Medina:

I get that too, for sure.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

dad turned me loose with some roundup and I really didn't like to weed eat, so I sprayed a lot, Roundup

Bobby Medina:

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

you know, around everything. Way more than I should have probably.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah, I don't really have it's not a huge I just bought a small house in Montrose and it was just nice. Like I always wanted something that was like, that was my own that I could, you know, take care of, you know, and

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah, yeah. And I mean, that's the other thing I got, you know, a huge yard and it's full of weeds and, all that stuff. So maybe if it was small and, you know, it was all the same grass, maybe I could get into maintaining that.

Bobby Medina:

Yep. Definitely.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

What has been one of your biggest challenges to date?

Bobby Medina:

I mean, I guess, you know, looking at the big picture with the job I, and you know, there's something electrical, okay at it, but I just it's just something that I've never, I always wanted, you know, you're always trying to get better at, you know, these. You know, whatever. And electrical has always been something that kind of, it just gets me, you know what I mean? But, you know, kind of got by over the years just with, you know, learning little techniques here and there. So if I had to look at one, one thing, you know, that would probably be the one thing that I've always wanted to get better at it. So not giving up.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

I think a lot of people struggle with electrical, you know, obviously because you can't see it, right? You can't see it moving. It's not like, hydraulic. Fluid that you can see moving through the system or whatever.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah. Or if you're not like touching like just the right way with the probes and whatnot, you don't, you know, it's kind of hard to get you know, the readings and whatnot and all that kinda stuff. But I mean, at the end of the day, it is what it is. You gotta, you know, you can't, you can only dance around it so much.'cause it's a thing. So we deal with

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah. Right. It's, you're gonna. It would benefit you or anyone else listening to learn as much as you can and get comfortable with electrical. And I think a lot of it yeah, is more in our minds it's, you know, we make it out to be harder than what it is. And when we're nervous or intimidated by a subject, we're not gonna do as well in it.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

So the, you know, just like you were saying, when you first started there in the shop and you're taking the books home and all that kind of stuff, that's, you know, that's what what it takes sometimes pick up electrical book. It's pretty boring reading. YouTube videos too. I mean, you learn, you know, all kind of stuff on YouTube.

Bobby Medina:

Any chance I get to, to listen to somebody talk about it, you know, I can see for them that it's you know, and I try to just pick up as much as I can from, from whoever it is that is talking about it.'cause obviously they understand it, you know, very thoroughly. And I'm always like, yeah, one day, one day. Maybe it'll be that.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah, and if you're coming to Orlando Nevermind. Because the, I think it's already sold out, but Jordan Roth, he's doing an electrical class in Orlando.

Bobby Medina:

with him. Yeah. Yeah. All

Trent Manning, CTEM:

he, yeah, he's a good dude.

Bobby Medina:

that is awesome.

Trent Manning:

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Trent Manning, CTEM:

What's one of the, one of the strange things you've seen around the golf course?

Bobby Medina:

strangest thing I ever saw, eh, that's gonna go back to Sierra Star man. The superintendent, he was off, he was gonna be off for the weekend. He asked me, he's Hey man, can you you know, hold down the. The course this weekend. I said, yeah, that's fine. You know, I'll go you know, what do you need me to do? Gives me the rundown. Whatever. I got my guys, I got set up, you know, weekends pretty mellow. Go cut the cups, you know, cut the greens type of thing. That's it. So for me, I was gonna be, I was cutting the greens, you know, and I had a guy that was supposed to be cutting the cups. I get out way in front of everybody and I don't see the guy that's supposed to be cutting the cups. And I'm like, where is this guy? You know? And I'm like, okay, whatever. Drive the greens mowers back to the triplex back to the shop and get on a cart, go looking for him. And he's over on like the second hole and he's got like a, it's like a mess. He's trying to cut the cup, can't figure out what he's doing or how he's going about it. I'm like, Hey, man, you all right? And he's like, I was. And he's like, no. I'm like, you need help. And he's like. Yeah, and it's just, he's like. He just couldn't like, communicate with me at all. I mean, I don't know what was going on. He's all, you know, whatever. And and so, but like I said, it was just crazy. I kind of wish I could have taken a picture of it.'cause he had like dirt all over the green. And I look over at the first hole, we're on hole two. I look over on hole one and the golfers are coming down. So I'm like having to clean up this whole mess, you know? And I'm like, get'em, just get'em in the cart and keep'em away from, you know, whoever you know. And, that one definitely takes the cake for me. I'll never forget that. That was an interesting day to say the least.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

Bobby Medina:

so then from then we're just going, let's just put the flags in. We're not cutting the cups. Let's go back to the

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah. Right, right. Yep. Do you have a mentor in the industry? You kind of talked about your sup first superintendent there.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he's definitely one, I mean, I talk to him and I still keep in contact with him and you know, definitely you know, pick his brain on things. But got a pretty good story. My, my buddy Scott that I grew up with, he would always tell me about his uncle. Is Uncle Paul and you know how he was a golf course mechanic, you know, and I didn't pay any attention to it when we were younger. And you know, about, I'd say, God, it must have been like four, maybe five years ago. No, it was probably like six or seven years ago. I said, Hey. You know, you gotta gimme your uncle's number. I need, I just wanna talk to him. And I called him just outta the blue and kind of told him who I was and, you know, what I do. And we just clicked. I mean, we spoke the same language immediately.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Mm-hmm.

Bobby Medina:

And yeah, I mean, he's my guy. I mean, he's, she you know, grew up where I grew up and he's in Colorado now, just like how I am. And the odd part is I've never met him. Face to face,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Oh wow. Okay.

Bobby Medina:

we talk on the phone. Yeah we talk on the phone all the time.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

That's so cool.

Bobby Medina:

yeah. And he's, if there, there's nothing, I mean, every time I mention it, he gets a kick out of it.'cause every time I mention, you know, a lot of the things that I'm, that I got going on, I mean, he's laughing because,'cause he's been there and done. a lot of times it's kind of crazy.'cause while I'm wondering what's next and what's gonna happen, he's kind of telling me, he's this is what's gonna happen and this is how it's gonna go down. And I'm like, all right, we'll see man. But

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah. Yeah. That's cool though.

Bobby Medina:

yeah,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

That's awesome. so yeah. Do you.

Bobby Medina:

but

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Do you plan on meeting up with him someday? Going, checking his shop out or,

Bobby Medina:

yeah. I'm sure we will. It's. A fine line.'cause like I said, when I met him, he was just like, ah, you know, I just, as much as I love the golf course industry, you know, at the same time I'm retired and I'm enjoying my life. And so we, I kind of keep that balance with him and just kinda walk that line a little bit and not try to overstep any boundaries.'cause he's an incredible

Trent Manning, CTEM:

I gotcha. Yeah.

Bobby Medina:

saying?

Trent Manning, CTEM:

All right, so He's not He's not at a course right now.

Bobby Medina:

no he's retired. He he's a retired. Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Very cool.

Bobby Medina:

But yeah he you know, he was at a bunch of different courses and just got incredible stories to tell and like, just I mean, like I said, every time we do talk, it's just, it just flows real good. I mean, it just speak the same language and you know, it's incredible. Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah, it's definitely, I mean, it's something special, being able to pick the phone up and call somebody that knows what you're talking about, you know? And not that we do, you know, anything, any special thing, but you know, anybody that's worked at a golf course for a period of time, you know, they get it about all our struggles. And I've talked about it plenty of times. But Brian Harper, he's up at he's in Virginia and. He said the first time he heard the podcast, he's man, there's other people that's dealing with what I'm dealing with. You know what I mean? That's one of the great things about the podcast. So I mean, it's just it's awesome being able to connect with other people in the industry that it's doing the same thing we are.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah, because I mean, at the end of the day, depending on who it is and what they do, I mean, a lot of times if we bounce things, off of them, I mean, I feel like, you know, they might think we're, from the mechanic standpoint, you know, we're all a little on the crazy side or whatever, you know, but when you got somebody who's just, you know, on your side and you know, knows what you've been through and what you're going through and all that kinda stuff, whether it's good or bad, you know,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Right, right, right.

Bobby Medina:

incredible. Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Or this guy, and he's telling, he's going, he's telling you what you're gonna go through soon. You know? It's

Bobby Medina:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that one that one's always kinda weird'cause I'm like we'll see. It's just one of those things there, which you're gonna have to experience, you know, as

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah. See how it plays out. What would be your dream job or opportunity? Running a snowcat all the time.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

winter.

Bobby Medina:

yeah, I mean, that or, I almost had the opportunity over at Cornerstone, but you know, just being at a place where you can you know, design the shop from the ground up, you know, just clean slate, brand new facility, you know what I mean? And'cause we had a temporary shop there and we were close to getting it getting it built

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Mm-hmm.

Bobby Medina:

I was definitely, absolutely looking forward to it, but it was just kinda a little too far outta reach and whatnot. But that would probably be the dream. And yeah, throw a snowcat in there too. And that

Trent Manning, CTEM:

There you go. That's good.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

You have a technician you would like to work with for a day.

Bobby Medina:

I'm gonna have to, you know, I'm gonna have to go back with Paul, man cause

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Okay. Yeah.

Bobby Medina:

you know, I just think it, it's you know, something about it'd be nice to compare, you know. I let him come in and show me some of the things, you know, the techniques that he was doing and then, you know, see what we're doing today. And, you know, a lot of it would probably, you know, some of the stuff would probably, you know, blow my mind. But I think on the other end, the things that we are doing now and would probably blow his mind as well, you know what I mean? So it'd be cool to

Trent Manning, CTEM:

that would be,

Bobby Medina:

line.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

You should hook that up. I mean, that would be awesome. Have him come over for a day and hang, hang out for a while.

Bobby Medina:

Yep.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

be really good. What do you know now you wish you'd known on day one?

Bobby Medina:

I think how I hate to toot like our own horn as mechanics, but I wish I knew how how valuable we were back then. I mean, I know things have changed and whatnot, but I wish, does that make sense? I

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah. No,

Bobby Medina:

Valuable. We were to the golf course back then. I mean, I understand it now. It's definitely, you know, it's important. If the shop thing isn't going well then I don't think, you know, the rest of it can go well. And never really quite understood that at the beginning I was just focused on learning the trade and whatnot, I think it would've been, I don't know what it would've changed or whatever, but I just, you know, at the beginning I just didn't understand, I just kind of thought we were just there. But what we do is it's important, man. I mean, we gotta a gap in the shop, you know?

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah, I don't know. I probably wish I would've known my value in the earlier days.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah. And, you know, pays increased and all that. And that's been great. But I think a lot of it too is how you feel at your current place. You know, do you feel valued and, you know, maybe you don't.'cause it, you know, it isn't all just about money. I mean, there's guys, you know, making a lot more than me. And you probably that, Aren't valued, you know, you know, it isn't all about the dollar sign

Bobby Medina:

No. No.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

that, that may help a little bit. Um, if you got enough zeros back there. But you know, I don't know. I think it's important to work at a place that you're valued and you know, they value you, you value them. You know, it's a two, two-way street for sure.

Bobby Medina:

Yep. Absolutely. I.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

How do you deal with that person? got that person working on your crew? A

Bobby Medina:

like I said no not really, but I mean there, I feel like there's people that Deb definitely like, you know, crossed paths with. But me personally, man, I mean, I I don't know. Something that I told myself when I first started doing this, and it's easier said than done, is that I hang my hat on. Just trying to stay you know, as cool as I possibly can and not overreacting, you know? Because I don't think I know nothing good in my opinion comes from that for anybody.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

No.

Bobby Medina:

as a person that's overreacting, you know, and you know, it's just bad. It's just bad for everybody. So, i, you know, depending on where you're at I try to just keep as cool as I can and you know, be professional about it and bring it to the powers that be and let'em know, Hey, this is the situation. This is what we got going on, let's handle it, you know, as opposed to

Trent Manning, CTEM:

yeah.

Bobby Medina:

throwing the wrench, you know what I mean?

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Oh yeah.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah. Never wanted to be that guy. It's really not who I am. Like I said, I, over the years, I just, like I said, I, it's just something that I told myself at the beginning, Hey, if I'm gonna do this is what I'm going to, this is how I'm gonna be, this is how I'm gonna handle things. And I think I've done that up until this point, so

Trent Manning, CTEM:

That's awesome, man. Good for you. Yeah. Did What What caused you to tell yourself that? Did you experience other, you know, the other way?

Bobby Medina:

maybe not, maybe just hearing stories about it, you know, from, from, other people about, oh man, this guy's crazy. You know what I mean? And so I guess maybe that, you know, just hearing about, you know, and then, you know, just knowing that Hey, you know what people don't, you know, respond to that, you know, in a positive way, you know? And you know, I feel if you go the other way, then you know, it's just a better way to go for

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Oh yeah, it is. Yep. A whole lot better way to go all the way around on both sides and everything.

Trent Manning:

Get ready for tips and tricks

Trent Manning, CTEM:

What kind of tips and tricks you got for us?

Bobby Medina:

Man tips and tricks?

Trent Manning, CTEM:

It doesn't have to be new or, you know, something we hadn't talked about. I mean, just some of your favorite that you like.

Bobby Medina:

one of my favorite things, something that that Patrick told me early when I first started doing it. If it's in your way, get it out of the way

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah.

Bobby Medina:

and

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah, I mean? that sounds super simple, but I mean, I've been guilty of that, you know, working all around something when just spend the two minutes and take out the five bolts or whatever it is and get it outta your way.

Bobby Medina:

Yep. Yep. That is something that's that stuck with me since the beginning. And I, it comes up a lot, you know, with what we're doing. And, you know, a lot of times I'm like, even if somebody else, if I see somebody else working on something and they're trying to fight it, or I'm like, what are you doing? Just move that outta the way. And they're like, what do you mean? I'm like. If it's in the way, move it out of the way

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah. Yeah.

Bobby Medina:

and then, you know, so that's, yeah,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

I know we had this irrigation tech back. I don't, this was late nineties and he was not the best at repairing irrigation, but he was really good at digging. And I pull up on him one day and he has a hole. You could drive a golf cart with a top on it and bury it. You know, it's the biggest hole I've ever seen. What are you doing over there, Gary? He's like, I can't figure the problem out. So I just keep digging and I, but I, you know, I think about that, you know, just like me in the shop, if I can't figure the problem out, I just keep digging. You know? I keep looking over here, looking over there, you know, you're trying to figure it out. But that reminds me, yeah, just get it outta your way,

Bobby Medina:

That. And another thing came up too. I was, while you're, I mean, that reminded me one of my go-tos is at the end of the day, if you're fighting something, if you have the opportunity, just walk away.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Oh yeah. Yeah. Yep.

Bobby Medina:

get a good night's sleep, come back, pick it up. It's amazing what, you know, what you can do, you know, but it takes, you know, some discipline.'cause you know, you know, most of us are probably pretty stubborn, you know, and I wanna get it. I gotta get it. Now. If your back's not against the wall and you have the opportunity to walk away from it, walk away and come back the next day,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's a really good piece of advice there. And like you're saying, maybe you don't have, you know, maybe you don't have time to. Leave it overnight and come back the next day. But sometimes just walking away for five minutes can kinda reset your brain and give you a different way of looking at things.

Bobby Medina:

Go for a drive. Go drive around a couple holes,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Right. Yeah. What, yep. Whatever it is, get out and clear, clear your mind a little bit and jump back on it. No that's a really good one. Any other ones?

Bobby Medina:

That's all I got. I think

Trent Manning, CTEM:

All right.

Bobby Medina:

use, use leverage. Use leverage whenever you can.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

that well, right, and I mean, it's some of this stuff that, you know, you might say that's obvious, but you know, a lot of times you don't think about it. And I don't know how many guys that I've trained over the years in the shop and I'm not stronger than the next guy. A lot of it's technique. And you're talking about leverage and, you know, longer bar, you know, whatever it is. But you know, Don't fight yourself. You know, you end up pulling on something in one direction and it's moving and yeah. You just slow down. Think about what you're doing. I got a guy in the shop right now probably the hardest working person I've ever had worked for me.

Bobby Medina:

Mm-hmm.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

just needs to slow down.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

take a breath man, and we'll figure this out. But he's just go.

Bobby Medina:

Yep. Yep.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

yeah, lot of things you can solve with technique,

Bobby Medina:

Yep.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

but any other thing you wanna talk about?

Bobby Medina:

I don't know, man. I guess just kind of take the chance to say thank you to you for, you know, doing the whole all this stuff. I mean, it's the, you know, the WhatsApp thing that we got going and all that. I mean, it's just, it's such a powerful platform where and I'm sure you probably heard this a million times, but it's a chance for me to, you know. Thank you myself and say, Hey, you know, it's been a great thing to be able to'cause prior, before that, to my knowledge, I mean, yeah, there was other little things here and there, but nothing like what's there now and just a safe place for us to all communicate and trade war stories and whatnot. And yeah, it means a lot.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Awesome. Thank you for saying that. I do appreciate it. And I don't, you know, it just, it's funny how things work out. I had this crazy idea about starting a podcast and then the next thing I know, we got a community, a great community of, like-minded individuals that you know, we're, we just talk shop and. Whatever it is. You know, if you're having a good day, a bad day, or you got a question about this or that. I mean, it's just, it's really good to, to have that. And, you know, I hope nothing ever happens to it. And I mean, as far as I'm

Bobby Medina:

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

hopefully it lives forever and we get more people coming in that's interested, you know, and with all that being said, it's not for everybody. Some, you know, some people. You know, join, and they're like, eh, those guys, they talk too much. Or, you know, whatever it is. But it's definitely just another tool in our toolbox. Right. I, I've never said I have too many tools. I don't think, I don't think too any mechanic has said he's got too many tools. So just having another tool and toolbox is nice and being able to vent to, you know.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Have you seen this or have you seen that? So

Bobby Medina:

Yeah. Or even just. Or even just seeing, you know, somebody talk about a certain thing and you're like, you know, you can identify with it. You know, you're like, okay, you know, I've been there. Sometimes, you know, you chime in. Other times you just kind of, you know, you can just at least like know that like, you know, hey, that's, you know, it's, I've been there. You know what

Trent Manning, CTEM:

right, right, right. Yeah, for sure. You know, and yeah, so there's only, you know, the four equipment manufacturers, and honestly, there's two equipment manufacturers that are most popular. And if John Deere has a problem with this fairway mower, it's, you know, across the board. So if a guy. 500 miles down the road has that same mower, he's probably seeing the same issue.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

You know, or, you know, we've experienced that before and it can save you a lot of time in troubleshooting something,

Bobby Medina:

Definitely,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Hey,

Bobby Medina:

is huge. cause at the end of the day, we all have our hands full with everything that we're doing. And you know, you know, if you can just kind of throw a message out there and say, Hey, has anybody, anybody seen this? And sometimes you know nothing. And other times, you know, there's a lot, oh yeah, this is, you know, just do this and try this and next thing you know, boom. Done.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

That's, yep, that's it. And I mean, not that I'm trying to grow it and get more people in there. I mean, that's not the goal, but, it is one of the benefits, the more people that join, the more experience we have in the group. And we all come from different backgrounds too, which I think is beneficial.'cause you might have some off the wall question about something you've never experienced before. And this person down the road that's in the group has been doing that for years. You know, whatever it is. So definitely a

Bobby Medina:

And then not only that, depending on, yeah, depending on what resources you have and who you have to reach out to. I mean, some people, wherever they're at maybe they don't have, you know, the best. Distributor or the best vendors or the best whatever. And so if they can, you know, find a way to, you know, if they're just starting out or whatever, you know, they can reach out right there and just start talking to people that have, you know, all different kinds of experience. So it's, yeah, it's incredible man.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yep. That's good stuff. So thanks again for saying that. I do appreciate it. You ready to do some rapid fire questions?

Bobby Medina:

It go.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

What's your favorite movie?

Bobby Medina:

I am going with the Godfather,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Oh, classic. Yeah.

Bobby Medina:

can't decide between one and two. So it's, yeah. I'm gonna just gonna say,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

That's a, we'll leave it at Godfather. That's definitely a classic for sure. What would be your last meal?

Bobby Medina:

just gonna go with some good chicken wings,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Good chicken wings. Okay. I, go ahead.

Bobby Medina:

I get'em everywhere. Everywhere I go, I gotta try'em, you know?'cause they're all, everybody makes'em a little bit different, you know?

Trent Manning, CTEM:

So is this like a buffalo wing or

Bobby Medina:

yeah. Yep. Buffalo Wing. Yep.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Buffalo? Okay. Yeah. What does most people in Colorado eat? What's a popular Colorado dish?

Bobby Medina:

I don't really eat it, but I'd say a lot of elk.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Okay. A lot of elk. All right. All right. I appreciate that.

Bobby Medina:

of elk. Yeah. I've tried it, you know, didn't really didn't really take for me, but yeah, people, there's, you know, a lot of hunting going on around, around here, you know, definitely. Big thing people hang their hat on the, on their their elk.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

That makes sense. What are you most proud of besides your family?

Bobby Medina:

most proud of, I guess just just where I'm at now, just, having started at the bottom in the industry. And you know, I'm not saying I'm at the top, but I mean, just starting at, you know, from the beginning I guess I could use a better word. And just, and not giving up, you know, just just giving it everything I got and you know, putting my best foot forward every day. And, you know, for whatever lack of knowledge I had along the way, I was always just going to, you know, come in and work as hard as I could. And it hasn't failed me yet.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

That's awesome. That's good. I mean, a good work ethic that goes so far, right? No matter what you're doing. Just having a good work ethic and putting your head down and getting

Bobby Medina:

A positive attitude, you know, put that out in the in the atmosphere and people seem to. Respondent. Good thing.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yeah, I've been listening to, I just started it I actually heard about it on another podcast, but it's the Phish philosophy and it's about the fish market in Seattle. But what one the first step is you get to choose what kind of attitude you're gonna have every morning. You know that's your choice. And they say,

Bobby Medina:

Control.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

What, if traffic's bad or whatever it's still your choice on how you want to handle that or react to it or not react to it. So

Bobby Medina:

Yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

pr pretty cool

Bobby Medina:

what? Control what you can control, you know? There's a lot of things that, that we come across that, you know, for whatever we don't have any control of it, but, you know, there's things that we do have control of and, you know, that's us. You know

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yep.

Bobby Medina:

we're gonna be, you know. How we're gonna approach things and that's it. I know. Easier said than done,

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Oh yeah.

Bobby Medina:

Can give it a

Trent Manning, CTEM:

yep. Gotta start somewhere though. You know, just thinking about it I think is part of the battle. You know, maybe that's not all the battle, but anyway, thank you so much Bobby, for being on, I really enjoyed this. It's been been great. Tell the listeners how they could get ahold of you. You got you know, on any of the socials or email address.

Bobby Medina:

No not really. I I don't really get into too much of that. I mean, I'm just kind of, kind of around, you know, you know, yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

All good.

Bobby Medina:

you know, always have, you know, email, you know, you can email me at my you know, I guess company email armMedina@snowsnowmassclub.com. it, man.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

All right,

Bobby Medina:

open to always talk about things, so yeah.

Trent Manning, CTEM:

Yep. No, thanks so much for being on. I really enjoyed it. Appreciate you.

Bobby Medina:

Yeah. Appreciate it. Thanks.

Trent Manning:

thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf techs podcast. I hope you learned something today. Don't forget to subscribe. If you have any topics you'd like to discuss, or you'd like to be a guest, find us on Twitter at Reel turf techs.