Episode 163: TJ Vollmar

Welcome to the Reel Turf Techs Podcast, Episode 163.

Today we’re talking with TJ Vollmar, Equipment Manager at Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. Desert Mountain is a massive private facility with 126 holes of golf spread across 8,500 acres. TJ oversees an operation that includes 13 technicians working out of five shops, with room to grow to 15, supporting a fleet that’s primarily John Deere equipment.

TJ shares how he found his way into the turf industry after starting out in automotive work in southwest Florida. A connection through his superintendent father-in-law helped open the door to the golf side, and from there he built a career that eventually led him to one of the largest club operations in the country.

They talk about why it’s important for technicians to spend time actually operating the equipment they work on, how that experience changes the way you diagnose and maintain machines, and the importance of communicating confidently as the technical expert. TJ also discusses the realities of managing people across multiple shops, building trust with your team, and continuing to grow as a leader.

The conversation touches on finding balance outside the shop through family time and exploring Arizona, the mentors who shaped TJ’s career, and the value of networking and visiting other facilities to see how different operations run. TJ also shares a practical troubleshooting tip involving Toro Cool Tops and no-crank issues caused by corroded power connections.

It’s a wide-ranging conversation about career growth, taking chances on new opportunities, and continuing to push yourself through certifications, education, and learning from others in the industry.

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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 this episode are real turf techs on golf course industries Superintendent radio network is presented by Foley county a strong supporter of equipment technicians and golf course maintenance departments everywhere Foley county offers a proven solution for above and below the turf for turf professionals To learn more about Foley company's line of real grinders bed knife grinders and the air to G2 family of products or to find a distributor visit www dot Foley C o.com Foley Ready for play Welcome to The Real Turf Text Podcast, episode 1 63. Today we're talking to TJ Vollmar, equipment Manager at Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. Desert Mountain Club is a private course with 126 holes of golf on 8,500 acres. He has 13 techs and five shops with room for 15. he has mostly deer equipment. Let's talk to tj. Okay. Just me and you talking shop, you know,

TJ Vollmar 2:28

Yes, sir.

Trent Manning 2:30

yep. And I know I'm older than you, but you don't have to call me, sir. But if you want to, I understand it's habit. And I appreciate that. Yeah. It's all good, man. It's all

TJ Vollmar 2:40

boss yells at me all the time for doing the same thing.

Trent Manning 2:43

right. Okay. I got you. Have you heard of Mark Snyder?

TJ Vollmar 2:48

yeah. I've heard that name thrown around out here. He predates me out here.

Trent Manning 2:53

Yeah. I run into him the last couple days. I was in Idaho speaking at their conference. And anyway, he said, you don't happen to know Jason Fontana, do you? And I said, I don't associate with people like that. And he, you know, his eyes got real big. He's what? He's great. I'm totally kidding. He's awesome. I don't, yeah, he texted me last week about bed life selection. Jason did. He's a cool guy, man.

TJ Vollmar 3:24

did. I was just gonna say, did you ever hear about how him and I have crossed paths?

Trent Manning 3:30

No.

TJ Vollmar 3:31

So, we both were going for the Medina job that he ultimately ended up with,

Trent Manning 3:37

Oh, okay.

TJ Vollmar 3:38

we were both the final two in-person interviews that Tyler brought in and at the airport I get on, I'm waiting in line to get on the train to go to the car rental. I see this guy wearing a death metal band hat, and I'm a big death metal guy. And I look at him and I'm like, Hey, man, like the hat said something about it. And just started talking about death metal for five, 10 minutes. And I was talking about how, I was literally at a show the night before in Tampa, and he's oh, cool, we, so you live in Tampa? I was like, yeah, south Florida, about two hours south. He goes, oh, why are you here? Said, oh, I'm here for a job interview. He goes, oh, that's cool. I said, what about you? Oh, I'm from Arizona. Yeah. What are you doing here? Oh, I'm here for a job interview. That was it. We never talked again.

Trent Manning 4:26

No way.

TJ Vollmar 4:28

We literally never talked again.

Trent Manning 4:30

That is so crazy.

TJ Vollmar 4:32

never exchanged names, never exchanged job, actual titles, what we did, who we worked, what industry, nothing.

Trent Manning 4:40

Yeah. Yeah.

TJ Vollmar 4:41

and later on I, like I did some math. Once I found out I wasn't getting the Medina position you know, I started putting two and two together and I saw this opening and I was like, huh, I wonder who that guy. And I looked him up and I was like, that's the guy I met. That's crazy.

Trent Manning 4:56

that is so crazy. So have you talked to him since then?

TJ Vollmar 4:59

I've only spoken to him. I spoke with him briefly at the show. We haven't really

Trent Manning 5:05

Okay.

TJ Vollmar 5:05

time discussing anything. I'd like to get to know him a little bit more and just, you know, just. Just, I'd like to get to know everyone in the industry. You know, that's,

Trent Manning 5:15

Oh

TJ Vollmar 5:16

but

Trent Manning 5:16

Start a podcast

TJ Vollmar 5:17

more, yeah,

Trent Manning 5:19

if you wanna

TJ Vollmar 5:20

I don't know if I'm that ambitious. Trent.

Trent Manning 5:22

Okay. No I don't, I mean, I'm trying to remember. Oh. I did. I shouldn't say I did. I said I was one of the at testers for his attesting for C Tim when he was there at, yeah. So I got his contact after then reached out to him, asked him to be on the podcast, and he was a guest. And then when the first year that the show was in Phoenix, I've hooked up with him and said, Hey, could I come by for a visit? And I knew John Patterson was driving from Georgia out to Phoenix, and I've, he's I really need to go see Jason Fontana. And I said, I'm going let's go together. So anyway he come and picked me up at the hotel, like Sunday morning or whatever, and we rode up there and hung out for a couple hours and then went and had lunch. And then last. Last January, not this past January, but the January before I was speaking at a shop in Chicago and Jason attended the, I was doing like, you know, real maintenance or whatever it was.

TJ Vollmar 6:34

Yeah.

Trent Manning 6:35

so I gotta see him there. And then the next day we got up and went by Medina

TJ Vollmar 6:40

Oh, nice.

Trent Manning 6:40

checked that place out. Man. That's something else. Next

TJ Vollmar 6:43

It definitely was. Yeah. No, it was cool. I was a little, I was pretty bummed out for a long time, but like seeing pictures of their winners, I'm all right.

Trent Manning 6:52

Yeah. Yeah. Why don't, I mean, what Jason told me one of the biggest reasons he wanted to get out of the desert is just the heat. I can't do it anymore.

TJ Vollmar 7:00

It's tough, man. It's definitely tough, but I don't know. Being from Florida, I'm prepared.

Trent Manning 7:06

yeah. Well, and he said, I guess he grew up in Flagstaff. You know, it gets pretty cool up that way.

TJ Vollmar 7:12

it's really, it's Flagstaff's the eighth snowiest city in the country,

Trent Manning 7:17

That's crazy.

TJ Vollmar 7:19

isn't it?

Trent Manning 7:20

yeah the last time when we were in Phoenix, me and, excuse me and Kelly, we went to Sedona up through Flagstaff and went all the way to Grand Canyon, hung out there. It was cold and snowing at the Grand Canyon. I was like, I know the Grand Canyon got snow

TJ Vollmar 7:36

isn't it nuts?

Trent Manning 7:38

But yeah, it was pretty cool stuff.

TJ Vollmar 7:41

Yeah, man.

Trent Manning 7:41

Yeah. Sorry, that I'm just rambling here.

TJ Vollmar 7:44

Ah, all good.

Trent Manning 7:46

You ready to do it? All

TJ Vollmar 7:47

sir.

Trent Manning 7:48

Welcome TJ to the Real Turf X podcast. Thanks for being here.

TJ Vollmar 7:52

Absolutely. Thank you, Trent.

Trent Manning 7:54

looking forward to this. We met I think two years ago and I didn't get your info

TJ Vollmar 8:00

Yeah.

Trent Manning 8:01

and now I got your card. So

TJ Vollmar 8:04

Yep,

Trent Manning 8:05

here you are. That's the way it works. For anybody listening, if you wanna be on the podcast, just gimme your phone number and I'll reach out and bug you to be on the podcast until you do it.

TJ Vollmar 8:15

that was it. Yes, sir. That's what happened.

Trent Manning 8:19

I didn't bug you too much. Now don't scare the listeners off. Okay. I didn't bug you too much.

TJ Vollmar 8:24

no. It was good. It was perfect and the timing was good. But yeah we bumped into each other and then, like you said, a year ago, and then we just kept bumping into each other recently, so it just worked out good.

Trent Manning 8:35

true. Tell us how you got into the turf industry.

TJ Vollmar 8:40

So. A lot of guys all have very similar stories that have been on here, right? We all grew up with some form of passion with wrenching or automobile, something. I grew up with a strong passion for cars, trucks and wanted to turn that into something. And, you know, when I got outta high school, I didn't really have much career path. I knew from an early age, like I bought my first truck for$400 at 15 years old, parked it in my driveway and rebuilt the engine with my stepdad, you know?

Trent Manning 9:09

Oh, that's awesome.

TJ Vollmar 9:10

yeah, I mean, we did a, we did valve jobs on the heads on my back porch, rebuilt a carburetor sitting next to a pool.

Trent Manning 9:18

Oh, that's good stuff, man.

TJ Vollmar 9:19

yeah. So from an early age, I was just enthralled with just working on it, you know, fixing it myself, fixing all my buddy's cars. And when I got outta high school, I was like, man how do I make this a career? Growing up in southwest Florida, there's water everywhere. I tried putting two and two together saying, let's go be a boat mechanic. So I go to tech school for boats and about halfway through I'm like, Nope, this is not what I want to do. Do not wanna work on things that sit in salt water 90% of their life. Yeah, so I got a job working for my next door neighbor. He owned a shop down on the little island. I grew up on Marco Island and I worked there for years just working through, you know, working up the ladder there. Started as a general service tech and then went all the way up to you know, one of the lead techs up there. And just kept working on cars. Eventually met my girlfriend, who is now my wife. Worked on her car, worked on her brother's car, worked on her family, all her family's cars, and eventually years go by. Her father-in-law comes to me and says, Hey, I wanna take you guys to lunch. Okay, where's this going? It was a job offer, like

Trent Manning 10:36

Oh, really? Okay.

TJ Vollmar 10:37

I had no idea, you know, we're married at that point. We had been dating for a long time. We finally got married and he is listen, I've got an older mechanic. He's fit to retire at some point. He was already like 71 at the time. And that dude was, I mean, great mechanic. Leo was his name. But he is I want to make sure I have the right replacement set up. And at first I went to his shop. I looked at everything after that lunch meeting and I'm looking at this equipment going, dude, this looks nothing like anything I've seen. I don't know.

Trent Manning 11:10

Mm-hmm.

TJ Vollmar 11:11

I passed on it at first

Trent Manning 11:13

Okay, so hang on. Let's back up. So was he a superintendent?

TJ Vollmar 11:18

yeah. Sorry. So he is a superintendent. He is a superintendent.

Trent Manning 11:23

Into the industry. I love it.

TJ Vollmar 11:26

Yeah. And I had no idea, I didn't know anything about the golf world when I got into this. You know, he handed me a magazine article from, I don't know, 2000, maybe 13, I think 2012, 2013 from GCM talking about the need for mechanics in this industry and how most guys will go their whole life and not know that this industry exists. That's from the mechanic side. Right. I read that article and I was like, okay, let's give it a shot. And yeah, I jumped right in. I actually didn't go into the shop full-time, even though I had, you know, thousands of dollars in tools that I had used in the automotive world.

Trent Manning 12:11

Mm-hmm.

TJ Vollmar 12:12

I spent the first six months working on the course.

Trent Manning 12:15

Okay.

TJ Vollmar 12:16

But eventually through all these different things, you know, we went in and he helped me get my footing and worked my way through as and becoming a mechanic in the industry.

Trent Manning 12:27

That's so cool. That's awesome. Yeah. How beneficial was it to spend six months mowing and work, you know, operating the equipment?

TJ Vollmar 12:37

I think it's crucial

Trent Manning 12:38

Yeah.

TJ Vollmar 12:39

I, when I'm looking to bring people in, you know, some of my favorite, some of my best hires I've had, some of my favorite hires are guys that we've brought in from the crew.

Trent Manning 12:50

Mm-hmm.

TJ Vollmar 12:51

'cause they have a great understanding of not only, you know, not only how to use the machine, but what its intended purpose is and when you're trying to fix it. When you're trying to make something work, right. And you know how it's supposed to operate. I've had guys who have no idea what the machine's supposed to do on the course, and I'm trusting this guy to set up this greens mower that's gonna go mow these greens. You know,

Trent Manning 13:17

yeah. No, true.

TJ Vollmar 13:18

so having that knowledge, I think it's crucial. So for me it was huge.

Trent Manning 13:23

Yeah. No, that's awesome. I hired a guy, he's been automotive mechanic for nine years, and actually his dad's a golf course mechanic and we're friends. So anyway, that's kinda how he got there. He was getting tired of flat rate pay and all those things, and he plays golf, but, so anyway to make a long story, not as long, I was talking to my director of agronomy and he said, does he know how to mow greens? I said, no, he never used a greens mower. He's I don't want anybody here. If they don't know how to mow greens, hey, fine. I don't care. I think that's great. So we're, you know, we, this was over the winter and now we're just now mowing greens again on Bermuda. And we're training him how to mow greens. And I think it's great that he's gonna know, and we ain't gonna just train him. We're gonna give him a greens route and let him get comfortable doing it so he can understand what the operators go through every day out there mowing greens. So, I mean, I think it's great and I definitely will continue that. Anybody that I hire without experience, at least let'em mow greens if nothing else.

TJ Vollmar 14:31

I like it. I like it for sure.

Trent Manning 14:33

And then, I mean, the other thing, if they're working on the weekends and somebody doesn't show up or whatever, you know, they can grab a mower and go mow, you know, it's all about team effort.

TJ Vollmar 14:43

The only thing I have against that is I've had guys in the past, supers I've worked with, where they're like, oh, on the weekend there's one mechanic, Hey, that guy knows how to mow greens. And my greens mower didn't show up and they grab him. But now our mechanic's tied up and we had an instance where I got a call from a very upset super because a roller broke down on a green and I said, well, where's the mechanic? Well, he's mowing greens.

Trent Manning 15:08

Sorry, buddy.

TJ Vollmar 15:09

Well, you wrote that one, bud.

Trent Manning 15:13

Right, right, right, right. Yep.

TJ Vollmar 15:15

But no, I do think it's very valuable to have guys who have the knowledge of how the course operation goes, how the equipment works. Yeah, it's huge.

Trent Manning 15:25

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree. Same thing. I don't play golf, but I think it is important to under, at least understand the game and you know, what we're trying to accomplish out there. I think all that's important.

TJ Vollmar 15:36

for sure.

Trent Manning 15:37

What's your least favorite part of the job?

TJ Vollmar 15:41

Least favorite part of the job. That's an evolving thing for me.

Trent Manning 15:45

Or have you found it yet?

TJ Vollmar 15:48

I can name a bunch of things that I haven't liked. I would say right now, currently fuel invoicing at this large of a place with as many departments as we have, is a very daunting task. It's time consuming, but I think the real worst thing is as a manager, managing guys, managing a crew basically of mechanics. Having to be that bad guy, having to enforce, you know, write-ups and things like that. Ever having to let someone go, that's never fun.

Trent Manning 16:21

Right, right, right.

TJ Vollmar 16:22

For me, that's the worst part. I'm a pretty happy, positive guy and I try to like, bring that into all the guys around me. But having to just fill the space with negativity on stuff like that, when you're having to just drop that hammer, it just, for me, it just puts me in a bad mood and it just affects me the rest of the day.

Trent Manning 16:41

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. No, I totally, yeah, I understand that. That's definitely the part that sucks. And I had this conversation the other day with my director of agronomy. You know, a lot of us end up in positions like this where we're managing other people and not just, you know, mechanics, but also superintendents too. Right. And we have no training in managing other people or, you know, any of that stuff. So, and I mean, it is good. GCSA does offer some of that type stuff at the conference, but I've highly recommend to anybody listening, I mean, pick up some books. You know it. And something that I've discovered recently is I don't like to read books. I've done that for a long time, but I really enjoy listening to books. So I listen to books all the time, and I've been doing that for probably the last 10 years, and I really enjoy listening to books. And it does make you see things differently.

TJ Vollmar 17:44

Yep. When I when I made the drive out here, initially, I drove out on my own from Florida, and that's what I did pretty much the whole time, was listening to books.

Trent Manning 17:53

oh yeah, you can get a lot of books between south Florida and Phoenix for sure. That's awesome. I do want, so we did have this conversation briefly, and I would like to hear it again about you looked at a job in Atlanta and your wife said, no, because it's too hot. And you end up in Phoenix. I still ha, I'm still trying to wrap my head around that.

TJ Vollmar 18:21

yeah. She might hit me when I get home after telling all this,

Trent Manning 18:25

Okay. All right. Well we can cut this out too. I mean, if this is crossing the line.

TJ Vollmar 18:31

No, I love it. I love it. I'll call her out.

Trent Manning 18:33

Yeah, that's good.

TJ Vollmar 18:35

yeah, growing up south Florida, like that's hot, right? Florida's hot. Everyone knows it's hot down there. Humid, all that. We had taken some trips to Atlanta. I've got a, one of my best friends growing up, he lives up there, so we had taken some summer trips and spent a few days with him a couple times. And there were some, there was a couple clubs that had some openings up there at different times. And I'm like, man, go to my wife. And we were entertaining this idea of leaving, and I said, I think I would have a really good shot. If I apply to these, what do you think? I just don't know. Every time we go to Atlanta, it's just so hot there. I'm like, okay. And literally as we're on our way moving to Phoenix with her and my kids taking the road trip out from Florida, we stop again to see my friend in Atlanta. And as we left, she's you know, I think we, I think I could have lived there.

Trent Manning 19:32

Yep. Too late. Too late.

TJ Vollmar 19:35

Now you're signed up for the real heat. Now we got real hot conditions.

Trent Manning 19:39

Yeah, that's it's next level there and I remember talking to Jason record days over one 15 or something like that, and it's I can't imagine.

TJ Vollmar 19:50

it's rough. I, my, my AC went out in my truck in mid-August and it's the only job I won't do. It's the heater core. And if you've ever done one on a car, you know how terrible they are. I've done them. I don't wanna ever want to do one again. It's nine hours of pulling your dashboard. So I toughed it out for two weeks and it was two of the worst weeks I can remember. It was rough.

Trent Manning 20:17

that's funny. That's

TJ Vollmar 20:18

Yeah.

Trent Manning 20:21

What's one of your favorite tools?

TJ Vollmar 20:24

my favorite go-to is like a quarter inch ratchet with a quick little magnet set of sockets. I just, I don't know. I've always liked quarter inch ratchet. I don't know why. Just it's easy to use, quick to grab, lightweight. You can carry a whole set of sockets with you in one hand with the

Trent Manning 20:41

mm-hmm.

TJ Vollmar 20:42

That's a solid one. My Milwaukee Battery tools.

Trent Manning 20:46

Yes. Yep.

TJ Vollmar 20:47

I love them and I, my very first tool I bought off the full, the tool truck when I got out of a tech school and got my first full-time mechanic job. Still have it. It's my first power probe. Love the power probe. I know some guys, I know some guys hate'em. I love it.

Trent Manning 21:09

That's awesome. Yeah. I'm not gonna say that I hate the power probe'cause I've never used one. I've heard all these great things about it. And, but I don't know. I've never bought one. I will one day, but I'm, my fluke multimeter that I bought in the late nineties is still right by my side and we've been pretty successful over the years. I,

TJ Vollmar 21:32

Yeah, multimeter is great. I've still got my first one when I got out of, when I went to tech school, we had to buy'em. And I still got that one regardless of the superintendents that tried to ruin it over the years. Test testing their irrigation boxes. but yeah, that power probes just, it's good for quick, you know, it's a test light that can do a lot more, you know, you can supply power supply ground. You, you can do some really quick if you're good with it. And you know enough about electronics and can do some pretty quick dag on electrical problems.

Trent Manning 22:08

Yeah. Yeah. No, that's good stuff. And I'm really glad you brought up a quarter inch ratchet because that is my go-to. I will get yeah, my set of quarter inch sockets and ratchet before I pick up anything else. And I learned that from David Blo. He's been on the podcast too. I don't remember what episode it was, but most of the stuff that we run into in our world can be handled with a quarter inch and, you know, it's lighter weight and just all the things you can get it in tighter spots, you know, so for at least 80% of the stuff we run into, it's great.

TJ Vollmar 22:49

I've got the little magnetic one that you can put all your deeps and all your shallows on one block carry it with you. I got an extra slot where I can put an extension. I mean, one hand. I'm just carrying that thing with me.

Trent Manning 23:02

I wish I had a picture of mine because I bet it looks just like yours. I got the exact same setup and it's maybe a, I don't know, is the ratchet six inches long? Five inches long? And it'll set in between the deep and the short and you just pick the whole thing up. Carry it away. Yeah,

TJ Vollmar 23:20

It's perfect.

Trent Manning 23:21

a universal in there and whatever, a two inch extension or something.

TJ Vollmar 23:26

That's all you need, man.

Trent Manning 23:27

I mean it's, yeah, you can get, well, that's another thing not to get too deep in the rabbit hole, but I bought a set of snap-on quarter inch drive. It was a ratchet sockets, deep and short and metric, and the screwdriver, the ratcheting screwdriver.

TJ Vollmar 23:48

Mm-hmm.

Trent Manning 23:48

And I've fixed more stuff with that set. I keep it in my car at all times and I can't tell you how many times I like go in a hotel room or wherever you know. No, I mean, it's crazy the times that you end up needing it that you never would've thought of.

TJ Vollmar 24:05

Yep.

Trent Manning 24:06

You know, I don't know. That's, I'm definitely a mechanic at heart too.

TJ Vollmar 24:10

Yeah.

Trent Manning 24:12

What do you do to relax or find your balance?

TJ Vollmar 24:16

Leave work.

Trent Manning 24:18

Yeah. Get away. Just get away.

TJ Vollmar 24:21

being out here is, it's been really nice'cause it's like a whole new state to explore, so it's been really cool. We've got a lot of cool options. We were talking, you know, like Flagstaff, Sedona, the Grand Canyon are all not too far, so we can do really nice little weekend trips with the family. So even if it's just even if it's just a day, we can drive an hour and a half and we're in Sedona. We, my, my wife, my kids, we love being outdoors. We like hiking. Just going outdoors and being with them

Trent Manning 24:52

Yeah. That's

TJ Vollmar 24:52

that's what I need.

Trent Manning 24:54

Yeah, I don't, Sedona iss beautiful too.

TJ Vollmar 24:56

It's unreal.

Trent Manning 24:57

enjoyed it. I did caught no major trails, but we've done some hiking

TJ Vollmar 25:02

Yeah.

Trent Manning 25:02

and I mean, it's cool. There's a ton of trails there.

TJ Vollmar 25:05

Oh, it's endless. Like it's endless trails up there. Yeah.

Trent Manning 25:09

Very cool. That's good stuff. What's been one of your biggest challenges to date?

TJ Vollmar 25:16

yeah, so I thought about this one. I think really my biggest challenge was moving here, was leaving everything. My wife and I have known our whole life. We've spent in Naples, Florida. Our family is still there. Our parents you know, the house that, you know, my kids were growing up in, it was our first house we bought. I don't know, there was a lot of emotional

Trent Manning 25:36

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

TJ Vollmar 25:38

lifelong friends, family. I mean, I know people do it all the time, but it was a tough move. And driving out here and starting all over, not knowing anyone. Still don't know a lot of people,

Trent Manning 25:50

Mm-hmm. No that's gotta be a challenge for sure.

TJ Vollmar 25:54

Yeah.

Trent Manning 25:55

I don't How old are your kids?

TJ Vollmar 25:57

My son just turned 12 and my daughter's nine.

Trent Manning 26:00

Okay. All right. So how are they enjoying the move.

TJ Vollmar 26:04

they, it took'em a while, but I mean, they're doing great. My son's thriving now at school. They're both on you know, they're doing academically, they're doing so well. My son is like excelling in, in sports out here compared to what he was doing, you know, in Florida. It just it just opened up a new side of their personalities, I feel like.

Trent Manning 26:28

Huh. That's cool. That is

TJ Vollmar 26:29

And yeah, so we're like, you know, we're looking into buying a house and looking at different areas and both my kids are like, no, we can't leave this school. We gotta stay with these friends. We like, okay, alright. It's

Trent Manning 26:44

yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

TJ Vollmar 26:45

gotta stay here, then we gotta stay in this situation, this zone, this area. So, so yeah, they've taken pretty well to it. It took'em a little bit to get out and feel it out, but they love it now. They miss the beach. I'll say that

Trent Manning 26:58

Yeah. Yeah. Why don't you wait a few more years? Right. And

TJ Vollmar 27:02

yeah.

Trent Manning 27:02

might have a beach in Arizona. I don't know. Yeah, no. That's awesome though. I'm glad Yeah. That they're acclimating well to the new surroundings.

TJ Vollmar 27:13

Yep.

Trent Manning 27:14

What about you and your wife? A hard time finding friends or,

TJ Vollmar 27:19

we haven't really branched out. We've met a few people. Most of the people I see that I interact with, you know, is the guys at work. We've met a couple of the wives from the other supers. You know, we got seven of them here, so there's no shortage of guys to meet and interact with. But yeah we just, we haven't really branched out as much as we probably should have at this point, but we've been doing, we've been doing a lot of family time stuff, which is, I dunno, I've really loved it. You know, just all these really cool trips that we've done that I just feel like some people never get the chance to do some of the stuff that we've been going and seeing. So it's pretty fun.

Trent Manning 27:58

No, that's cool. That's very cool. What's the strangest thing you've seen at work?

TJ Vollmar 28:04

Yeah, this was another fun one to think about.'cause I've seen, you know, working on a course in southwest Florida, all the animals, you get all the calls the pro shop will call you with oh, we've got a dead deer on the cart, path on number nine.

Trent Manning 28:20

Mm-hmm.

TJ Vollmar 28:21

Okay, what do you want me to do? Well, I guess I gotta carry it in the woods. Or we got a gator floating in the lake and we're about to have a wildlife tour. Can you pull it out?

Trent Manning 28:30

Right.

TJ Vollmar 28:30

I came in one morning. I've heard other guys talk about finding, you know, donut tire tracks on greens and things. We came into something similar to that one morning and found the bumper. The whole bumper, front bumper of the car left in a bunker. So we picked it up and we drove around the neighborhood and found the car it went to.

Trent Manning 28:53

That's great. That's

TJ Vollmar 28:55

Yeah, I let someone else handle that, but I think. The coolest thing I've seen. Coolest or weirdest or just strangest thing. I say cool, the luck, I feel really lucky. I saw a Gila monster within three months of working here, and apparently they're really rare to see. I've been told by many people that some folks will live their whole life in Arizona and never see one, and I got to see one already. So

Trent Manning 29:21

You're gonna have to, what I'm missing out here. What? What

TJ Vollmar 29:24

Aila monster, it is one of two venomous lizards in North America.

Trent Manning 29:30

Ah, okay.

TJ Vollmar 29:31

Yeah, it's, there's, yeah, it's a venomous lizard. It's orange and black. It's very cool looking. They're slow, but they hiss. You know, maybe about a

Trent Manning 29:42

okay.

TJ Vollmar 29:43

you know, give or take. But yeah, it's a venomous lizard, so if it bites you and gets in to, it can get to your bloodstream. It's got venom in there.

Trent Manning 29:52

That's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I had no

TJ Vollmar 29:54

and people literally go their whole life and will never see one. And I saw one within months of being here, so it's pretty, I felt, I thought that was pretty

Trent Manning 30:02

No, that is super cool. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's, yeah. Very cool.

TJ Vollmar 30:06

If you look it up, it's spelt with a G so it's like Gila Monster, but it's pronounced Gila.

Trent Manning 30:12

okay. Yeah.

TJ Vollmar 30:13

Just f

Trent Manning 30:14

it up. Yeah. Just yeah. I would've been, yeah. Hea, hea, hilla looking it up for

TJ Vollmar 30:19

Yeah.

Trent Manning 30:20

yeah, I don't spell things that way. I compare, I don't even spell my name. I got it memorized. is how bad my spelling is. Yeah. Do you have a mentor in the industry?

TJ Vollmar 30:31

within the industry, I would say probably my father-in-law, Dale Dale Walters, the guy who got me into this.

Trent Manning 30:38

Is he still a super,

TJ Vollmar 30:39

he's not, he retired two years ago

Trent Manning 30:42

okay.

TJ Vollmar 30:42

I think 45 years.

Trent Manning 30:45

All right.

TJ Vollmar 30:46

Yeah. And the reason I say that is I've worked with a lot of really good guys. I've worked with a lot of great mechanics. I've worked under some great mechanics. But the knowledge that he instilled in me to view things from his, you know, perspective the attention to detail is what he like drove into me. Right. And I think that's one of the most crucial things on our job, like this whole industry is attention to detail. It doesn't matter if you're fixing things, if you're you know, setting up a golf course, you need attention to detail to be really good at this. And he instilled that in me from day one. So yeah, I give him a credit

Trent Manning 31:27

Yeah. That's awesome. Well, what about outside the industry?

TJ Vollmar 31:31

Outside the industry, I would say that my first mechanic boss, Keith, was his name, Keith Pershing. The guy I worked for who was my neighbor and owned his own shop, the the way he taught you to like critically think about diagnosing and repairing equipment was just, I had never seen anyone. I still, I go to automotive shops once in a while if I'm getting tires done or something, or I'll have people come talk to me about, oh, you know, we get it all the time. People come in, Hey I'm getting my car looked at, what do you think? And when they tell me this stuff, I'm like, man, and it, I just go back to my early days of learning mechanics and from this guy and these guys don't know what they're talking about. You need to go to a different shop. And I always try to steer people to like mom and pops, not that other places don't have good mechanics. Some of the corporate places are more worried about money, and the mom and pops really care about you. And that's what this was. It was mom and pop and he relied on seasonal, people always coming back, so he treated them really well. So, you know, he just, he instilled a lot of really good values in me, mechanically, professionally. Yeah.

Trent Manning 32:44

Yeah. Yeah. No that's really good. And I'm glad you bring that up because you're right. The local shops, that's where it's at. And nothing against, you know, the corporate places, but they, you know, they do care about you more

TJ Vollmar 32:59

absolutely. I've worked for both.

Trent Manning 33:01

yeah. Okay. I mean, I've never worked for either one, but just my experience, you know, being a user of each one I'd rather go to the local place,

TJ Vollmar 33:12

Absolutely. I mean the money stays local and like you said, the people just, they care about you a lot more. You know, it's a more personable experience and yeah, he instilled that and I think that's part of why I interact with people the way I do. Whether it's my technicians or it's crew members, or it's supers, whoever it is, you know, I try to relate with them more and explain things. Probably my wife tells me I overexplain things all the time, but he taught me to explain things to a customer'cause they don't know anything about their car. So I try to do the same thing. Not that people don't know, you know, I'm not in saying that some of these guys I'm talking to, but I try to really just make it super easy for everyone to understand.

Trent Manning 33:55

No, I really like that, and I would venture to say that probably needs to happen more often because I definitely, I don't think of the operator a whole lot, you know, in explaining, you know, I mean, maybe I'll explain how hopefully we could prevent this in the future. From happening, but I mean, I think that's pretty good, you know, to Yeah. Start explaining stuff more, because I do think the more we can get operators or crew members or whoever to buy into what we're doing the better it is for the whole operation.

TJ Vollmar 34:34

absolutely. And if we can get them to, you know, have a level of respect and care for the equipment too, by really explaining to them, you know, how crucial this part is, or this is, you know, they're just gonna treat it better and make our jobs better at the end of the day.

Trent Manning 34:50

Mm-hmm. No, for sure. What would be your dream job or opportunity?

TJ Vollmar 34:56

you know, I don't want to sound cheesy, but this is. Maybe it this is definitely up there. I mean, to be honest, I it never crossed my, my, radar to be coming out to the Southwest. but being here a year now just seeing what this operation is and seeing what opportunities are coming with it is, it's I'm pretty, pretty in on this being

Trent Manning 35:22

Mm-hmm.

TJ Vollmar 35:23

a top opportunity for me. The only thing I would, that I hope to be able to do one day is to help I really love setting up shops. I know most of us do, right?

Trent Manning 35:34

Oh, yeah.

TJ Vollmar 35:35

I would love to be able to like, help create and build out shops and equipment packages and like some form of a consultant, you know, form like that would be. The next past this level, I think,

Trent Manning 35:51

Well, and to that, I do think there's an opportunity there, and maybe it's not a full-time opportunity, but.

TJ Vollmar 35:59

right?

Trent Manning 36:00

You know, like in your situation there, when you have a lot of techs that can handle a lot of the day to day stuff that could afford you the opportunity to take a couple days and go to Course X and help them set a shop up. So

TJ Vollmar 36:17

Yeah.

Trent Manning 36:18

there and there's people looking for that, you know? There

TJ Vollmar 36:21

I'm sure there is, and yeah through the continuing networking that I'm trying to, you know, keep going on I'm hoping to hopefully one day be able to build off of something like that.

Trent Manning 36:32

Yeah. No, that's great. That's awesome. I remember what I was gonna say. So, yeah, sorry. Hell

TJ Vollmar 36:38

It's all good.

Trent Manning 36:39

A lot of stuff on my mind here. Bob Smith he's, I don't remember the name of the club he's at now. I saw him in Orlando, but he was at PGA Frisco, so at Frisco, Texas. And anyway, when I had him on the podcast and I asked him what his dream job would be, he said owning an NFL team, that, that was his dream. So, and I think about that a lot because I asked the question, what's your dream job? And some people, it's something to do with golf and then other people like Bob, it's I wanna own an f an

TJ Vollmar 37:16

I re

Trent Manning 37:17

You know,

TJ Vollmar 37:17

funny you bring that up. I remember hearing you talk about that same answer before and it made me think about my answer for outside of the industry and I do have an outside the industry answer. It would be to work at Disney. Again, whatever you think of it or not. We spent a lot of time going to Disney when we were in Florida. The detail that goes into maintaining those places is and is on a level that just I most people can't fathom. Right.

Trent Manning 37:49

Mm-hmm.

TJ Vollmar 37:49

And to be in charge of something there, you know, and be managing some aspect of that detail, that level of detail at those places yeah, that would be unreal for me.

Trent Manning 38:02

that's, yeah, that's next level for sure.

TJ Vollmar 38:05

Yeah.

Trent Manning 38:06

I think it's easy for people to take their kids there and enjoy it and have spending quality time with their family and all that, and not see all the details that are being checked,

TJ Vollmar 38:24

Yeah. I'll give you a fun

Trent Manning 38:25

many, yeah, go ahead.

TJ Vollmar 38:28

Trash cans. There's a trash can within 50 feet of another trash can, because Walt Disney sat down in at other parks and watched how long people would carry a piece of trash before they dropped it, and the average was 50 feet.

Trent Manning 38:43

Oh wow, okay. Yeah.

TJ Vollmar 38:44

if you go, I mean, I've literally counted, I've walked between trash cans and I'm, there's one. So just silly things like that, but I'm like, they don't skip on any detail of anything. And I just, I love that when I would go there, I would pay attention to stuff. Obviously I'm enjoying it as a father and with my family, but I love that detail that goes into the industry because again, our whole industry is detail. Whether you like it or not, it really is.

Trent Manning 39:13

Well, it's funny that it makes me think too,'cause we were having this conversation about clubs in the Atlanta area. And we're an A level club, but we're at the very bottom of the A level. Right? I mean there's a lot of really good clubs in Atlanta and all their budgets are a lot more than ours. But what does that money buy? So it's about the same amount of fertilizer. It's the same amount of chemicals, same amount of mowing equipment. It's like for an 18 hole course, everything's the same. The only thing you increase is labor and detail. Right? It's the details, just like you're talking about. That's the only thing that's changing between the different level clubs is detail.

TJ Vollmar 40:03

that's exactly it.

Trent Manning 40:04

Yeah. And I don't know why I'd never really, I guess, thought about it that way, but it's just details. Do you have a technician you would like to work with for a day?

TJ Vollmar 40:16

Honestly anyone in, in everyone really.

Trent Manning 40:20

There you go. I like it.

TJ Vollmar 40:23

I think there's so much value if I were to come spend a day with you if I'm go down the road and spend a day with Randy at TPC you know, I think there's so much value of putting two of us in the same shop for a day for both of us. You know, I had Clint McKee from Big Cedar came up early on when I first started,

Trent Manning 40:44

Yeah. Yeah. He's awesome too.

TJ Vollmar 40:46

yeah, he's great man. And he came in to kind of'cause. I was new to deer stuff, you know, I'm still new to deer stuff. Right. I came from an all red facility to a huge all green facility, like a lot of it. And so Clint came in to kind of just spend a day with me and just go over the QA, fives and sevens and just show me those fun roller adjustments.

Trent Manning 41:09

Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. Yep.

TJ Vollmar 41:10

but we both we both walked away with stuff that day. You know, I think he, he walked away with different thoughts on how to manage and run shops a little bit. And I'm walking away with more like technical skill, application knowledge, you know, but just us spending the whole day together was, I mean, it wasn't enough. We need more

Trent Manning 41:32

Well, right, right, right. Yeah.

TJ Vollmar 41:34

literally, if I could come spend a day with anyone at any point, like I think it's huge for both of us.

Trent Manning 41:41

Oh, yeah. I mean, yes, I agree 100%. Are you gonna go see Clint at Big Cedar?

TJ Vollmar 41:48

we were talking about it,

Trent Manning 41:49

Yeah. Why not, right?

TJ Vollmar 41:51

we were last together. We were like, man, we definitely need to make a trip happen. So he was telling me, just bring the family out. So we might do that, but you know, I'd like to make a little work trip out there too, for sure.

Trent Manning 42:03

Yeah. No, it's awesome. When I remember, this has been a few years ago. But Jerry, Kara at Wide Oak, he went up and hung out with John Patterson for two days and he called me, he's you mind if I come over to your place? And he come over and hung out at my place for a little while. You know? I mean, it's just something like that goes so far spending time with, you know, people like John or Clint or any of those guys. And the other great thing about this industry is 99% of the people you would wanna spend a day with are more than happy to spend a day. It might even be over 99%

TJ Vollmar 42:42

Oh, I'm sure it is.

Trent Manning 42:43

you know, I mean, I don't know anyone that would say no to spending a day in their shop.

TJ Vollmar 42:50

and if anyone wants to ever come up to my shop, any one of'em, like any day, let's do it. Like I'm open door. Like I love having that stuff. I love bouncing ideas off of each other. Yeah,

Trent Manning 43:02

Yeah, well, just like I was telling you when I was in Chicago, I run over to see Jason Fontana at Madina, you know, and I didn't hang out that long, but it's and it wasn't the first time I've been to Madina, but every time you go to one of these shops, you see something different. You're like, oh, I like that idea.

TJ Vollmar 43:21

Yeah.

Trent Manning 43:21

matter. It doesn't have to be a Medina or a Desert Mountain. You can go see Billy Bob down the road and pick up something in his shop. You know? I mean, it doesn't, I'm not saying you only go see high-end facilities

TJ Vollmar 43:33

No, absolutely. There's

Trent Manning 43:35

something from anybody.

TJ Vollmar 43:36

anyone, there's some solid old school guys who, you know, just didn't have the, didn't wanna go to these high end facilities, like we're all, you know, trying to achieve to go to, you know, and pull our hair out at, but, you know, maybe those guys got it figured out more.

Trent Manning 43:52

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's we were talking a little before we got on and I was telling you about the guy I hired that's working in the shop and his dad's an equipment manager and his dad had been at some really high level clubs. He was at Black Diamond in Florida when it was during this heyday. He was down there with John Cunningham and Carlos Araya. And then he was back up here, golf Club of Georgia. He worked at East Lake for a while, and when he left East Lake, he went to, it's managed by used to be, I'm trying to think, invited, so it's an invited course and it's an 18 hole course, and he works Monday through Friday, half a day Friday.

TJ Vollmar 44:39

Nice.

Trent Manning 44:39

said, man, you are semi-retired. And he's I've done the grind, man. I put my time in. I'm

TJ Vollmar 44:46

Yeah. Good for him.

Trent Manning 44:47

Punching the clock, doing my thing and then going home.

TJ Vollmar 44:51

Heck yeah.

Trent Manning 44:52

so yeah, I mean, you have that option as an equipment manager too, you know?

TJ Vollmar 44:58

Oh yeah.

Trent Manning 44:58

so why not? But it is fun to give him a hard time about being semi-retired at a, you know, laid back course that

TJ Vollmar 45:07

Oh, that's nice.

Trent Manning 45:08

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

TJ Vollmar 45:13

A lot. A lot of stuff. I mean, so I think one of the biggest things for me is the communication side. How to really communicate effectively with, you know, your peers, your supervisors, your directors, your superintendents getting them the knowledge they need. And the other thing is like being confident in your communication too, right? Because a there's a lot, a long time in my career where I'd get called out and, you know, addressing an after cutt appearance issue or a material handler that's not working and like they want an answer right now, right? They want that answer. They want that thing fixed right now. And I'm just like, for a long time I felt like if I give them the answer that. I'm not sure what's wrong with it, you know, or we need to take it back to the shop. There was like a fear almost of that, but then eventually I realized they, they hired me to be the quote unquote expert in this field at this facility. I need to lean on that. I need to give them the answer that even though they don't want to hear it, they need to hear it. Right.

Trent Manning 46:28

Okay. Yeah, that's good. Good

TJ Vollmar 46:30

Communicating your expert advice as the, you know, hired expert in the field of what we're doing.

Trent Manning 46:39

Mm-hmm. No, I think that's really good. And it is okay to say, I don't know.

TJ Vollmar 46:44

Yeah, a hundred percent.

Trent Manning 46:46

they don't know. They damn sure don't know. And sometimes we don't know either. Sometimes we might have a good idea. I think it's this, but I don't know until I get in there,

TJ Vollmar 46:57

yeah.

Trent Manning 46:57

let's tear it apart and look.

TJ Vollmar 46:58

Let's look into it. Let me find out. Let me figure it out. Exactly.

Trent Manning 47:03

Yeah. Give me a little bit. I'll let you know.

TJ Vollmar 47:06

exactly.

Trent Manning 47:07

you'll be the first to know.

TJ Vollmar 47:10

Yep. Yep. A hundred percent.

Trent Manning 47:13

no, that, I mean, that is really good and I'm glad you said that.'cause it is, I mean it's super important and it makes me think of going back to you and Clint too, that saying that he learned a lot from you just being at your operation and seeing how all that stuff, and you learned a ton from him. I was fortunate enough, I hired a gentleman that I was actually friends with his brother anyway, he just got out of the army and he had no golf experience, no equipment. I mean, he worked, you know, a little bit in the military on odd end stuff, but he was not a mechanic in the military, you know? He had checked oil and stuff, right. And he worked on his own vehicles and had some four wheelers and worked on that. Anyway, I learned so much from him while he was working here. You know, just about, you know, communication being one of the biggest ones. And one of the things I learned from him that he would always say is, feed the bear. If you feed the bear, they won't eat you. So every day, if I was not there, he would send me a text and give me a sit rep at the end of the day of, you know, and it wasn't like super detailed or whatever, but you know, we had this happen, whatever. See you tomorrow. I mean, you know, three sentences or whatever. But it makes me know he's on top of it. Right. You know, and that was super cool and helpful. And you know, since he's left and other assistants working there, I've asked, Hey, you mind just let me know what happened today. You know? And it is not like checking up on him or I care, I just want to be in the know. Right.

TJ Vollmar 48:47

want to have the knowledge.

Trent Manning 48:48

Yeah. Yeah. Want to have the knowledge. So, good stuff on him.

TJ Vollmar 48:52

no, I love that. That's awesome.

Trent Manning 48:55

Get ready for tips and tricks Let's do some tips and tricks.

TJ Vollmar 48:59

Okay.

Trent Manning 48:59

What you got.

TJ Vollmar 49:01

Tips and tricks. So, one of the, one of the ones that, man, I wish I would've known this before. I spent so much time, the Toro Cool Tops. They have a goofy wiring. They're wired right to the battery, and if that 12 volt connection, they may have redone it since the last time, you know, in the past year since I was here. But I saved, I've saved some guys some time, and once I learned this, I've, I looked like a magician going out to the course, you know, the little power wire that supplies power to the cool top. However, they ran it after they install it at the dealer. If it separates from corrosion, you'll won't even see it in the nylon. But it'll separate and lose its power and it'll affect the ECU and you'll get a code and it will not crank.

Trent Manning 49:52

Really? Huh. That's

TJ Vollmar 49:54

So I replaced two starters because I thought one was bad. I put batteries. I mean, I did everything to this one. It was a 50 10 H and I'm like, what is going on with this thing? And I finally got someone to help me. And we chased it down. We found this just random, you know,'cause it's not in the main schematic, it's an aftermarket you know, an afterthought accessory. And we eventually got it figured out. And then, yeah, anytime we would have, you know, I turned it into a routine maintenance thing. Make sure you're checking these. And it happened one time. It got missed out on the course. In the middle of a pass. They turned around, they went to go down, they turned it off for something and they went to turn it back on. It wouldn't I go out there with a new butt connector?

Trent Manning 50:43

Nice. Yeah.

TJ Vollmar 50:45

Yeah. So pay attention to those if you got'em.

Trent Manning 50:48

Mm-hmm. No, that's a really good one. And I do wonder, I wonder, is it something that, that Toro distributor was doing the way they were installing it? And the reason I asked that, and I'll tell this story quick, I think I've told it before, but I was at Augusta National and I was helping some Toro engineers, Jeff Drake, he was the product engineer for the 50 10 series fairway Mowers. And they were doing some testing on engine vibration at startup. And it was, you know what a, I think it was a four cylinder diesel engine. When you'd first started up, it would just vibrate like crazy. And then soon as you bumped it off the throttle, it was fine. It was good to go and ended up being the motor mounts and they done rework and changed all the motor mounts. But while we were out there, Jeff asked me, he said. It's a, you know, on the front cutting units, they have the little metal arms that

TJ Vollmar 51:47

Mm-hmm.

Trent Manning 51:48

stabilize the hydraulic hoses going up. Well, on this unit, that metal arm was on the rear cutting units. And he said why are the stabilizers on the rear cutting units? I said, I have no idea. That's every one I've run across, that's where they are. And I thought, that's kind of stupid. Why are they putting'em back here? And he said, they're supposed to go on the front. And so I worked at, for the Toro distributor, Jerry paid at the time. And what it was Derek, our setup guy that was setting up all the new mowers, was putting them back there. He missed it in the instructions. They were all supposed to be on the front. He is putting'em all in the back. So that's why I asked if, you know, if it was a dealer thing, you know,

TJ Vollmar 52:32

It could

Trent Manning 52:32

the way it's, you know, you tape it up or where it's mounted or you know, some of that stuff.

TJ Vollmar 52:39

Yeah. I don't know. It could be'cause I've reached out, I shared that info at like a Toro training. We were at one year. And one of the guys who was like, he was a little bit north of us, but still it would, would've been the same distributor. He's dude I looked into that and all of mine were corroded and falling apart. And I'm like, so, so it saved his butt.

Trent Manning 53:01

yeah. No, I mean, that's good. Yeah. Well, and I mean just, I mean, I know the distributor down there and they have a huge territory. I mean, how many machines are they putting out, you know?

TJ Vollmar 53:12

lots. Yeah.

Trent Manning 53:14

that's a lot of machines. So you could save a lot of people, some trouble and some nightmares. And I mean, that leads me into to think about the networking, you know, how important it is to know other techs, you know, especially in your local area, because you got the same distributors, you're seeing the same problems.

TJ Vollmar 53:35

Yep.

Trent Manning 53:36

like the guy that you're speaking of. So it's really important to

TJ Vollmar 53:39

Huge. Yeah.

Trent Manning 53:41

for sure. Well, you want to go on to growing your career.

TJ Vollmar 53:47

Sure. Yeah. So I think one of the biggest things for me in career growth, you know, is like I was talking about earlier, you know, like facing one of the hardest things for me was moving out here, getting over those fears, jumping over those roadblocks, getting outta complacency. That's the number one thing for me. Coming here I saw a huge opportunity to not just grow my career, but I could help the careers of 14 individuals, right? And. I was really excited about that opportunity. You know, my, my job has changed a lot as an equipment manager. You know, I'm still in charge of a huge fleet of equipment, but the main thing I'm working on, you know, I said this couple weeks ago to someone, the main thing I'm working on now is technicians.

Trent Manning 54:39

Right, right, right, right. Yeah.

TJ Vollmar 54:41

I'm repairing and diagnosing and maintaining technicians and all the drama that might come and go with that. But, you know, that's what I'm really trying to do and I'm trying to grow these guys' careers whether they have seen it or not. But, you know, I've came in and there's really great practices already in place here from my predecessors, but I saw some just like bad habits. And so I'm like, okay, we're gonna shake things up, we're gonna change things up. And some of the guys weren't excited, but I'm like, the complacency will hold back your career. Right? So I'm trying to really get that through to them. And everyone I talk to, I try to like really push that, you know, and never stop learning, you know? I know you're a huge proponent for education, continuing education. Like it's huge. I should be coming to you with my C 10 certification, but I got snagged on the second half and I haven't completed level two yet. You know,

Trent Manning 55:39

Oh, that's all good. Yeah.

TJ Vollmar 55:41

this job is demanding, but I think that's huge for our careers. Get those certifications get any certification you can and put it on your resume and be proud of it, you know?'Cause not every superintendent that you're gonna interview with or director really knows what all went into that certification. Whether it was an hour long forklift training class, doesn't matter if it was a welding class for half a day. You're certified as a welder. You're certified as an operator on a forklift, right? That stuff carries weight and makes you look more, it makes you more valuable. So any opportunity you have, jump on it. Keep training, keep learning, take the classes, like you said, the GCSA classes. I split my days at the last show this last one in Orlando. I did one whole day of career developing classes and one day of one day of tech classes. You know, and for guys in our position, I don't think enough of us look at, you know, the professional side of what we can do. A lot of us do,

Trent Manning 56:46

Mm-hmm.

TJ Vollmar 56:46

I think there's still a huge gap of how we can be viewed as real professionals in the industry. Right? And

Trent Manning 56:55

Yep.

TJ Vollmar 56:56

there's still some work to be done there, but I just, I encourage everyone to really go out there, keep learning, you know, don't just get complacent and setting up reels and fixing hydraulic hoses, do the extra steps and. Apply for the job that you don't know if you should go for or not. Just go for it. Practice the interview. At least

Trent Manning 57:17

Right, right. No, I mean, I think that's excellent advice because yeah, just you know, I mean, yeah, maybe you get the job, maybe you don't, but it gives you that practice and how are you gonna be good at an interview if you never do one?

TJ Vollmar 57:32

a hundred percent. Yep.

Trent Manning 57:33

it's just like, how am I gonna be good at rebuilding a carburetor if I've never rebuilt one? Right. I mean, it's the same thing. You gotta take it apart. You gotta see the way it works. You gotta do all the

TJ Vollmar 57:43

do it hundred percent. Yep.

Trent Manning 57:46

I love that. That's yeah. Really good stuff. And I mean, good for you, for, you know. Jumping off in the deep end. Right. I mean, that's a huge risk. Or I mean, maybe it isn't a risk, but it's gotta be trying to think of the word. I mean, it's gotta be scary for one

TJ Vollmar 58:03

it's.

Trent Manning 58:03

up and move and go to a place that you don't know anyone.

TJ Vollmar 58:07

nerve wracking. You know, I had been, I'd never been here, I'd never been to Arizona. The furthest west I'd ever been was the Toro facility in Minnesota.

Trent Manning 58:15

Oh, wow. Okay.

TJ Vollmar 58:16

That's the furthest I'd ever been, you know? So yeah, my first time coming out here was when I interviewed, and my wife had never been here until I drove over here to move, you know?

Trent Manning 58:25

Oh, wow. Okay.

TJ Vollmar 58:27

yeah.

Trent Manning 58:27

Yeah. Scary.

TJ Vollmar 58:29

don't be afraid of taking those steps, you know, some guys are just like, you know, I don't know if I should do it. Don't question it. If you think you, you have a chance to do something, to go to the next bigger, better place, don't feel bad about the place you're leaving behind. You know, think about it as they helped build you into how good you are right now, and if you're at the level where you know, you can keep going. You know, we always have, I know you would agree, everyone. That you've talked to on this podcast would agree that you're never done learning, you're never done getting better. Right.

Trent Manning 59:07

Right. No, I agree a hundred

TJ Vollmar 59:09

we should always keep pushing for that.

Trent Manning 59:11

Yep. No, I'm not gonna be done learning until my feet turn up. That's, I mean, I learn something every day and I love every minute of it, you know? I mean, that's what keeps me going. You know, and I ain't saying everybody is like that, but that's, I mean, that's the only way I know to live. That's, you know, what I've been doing my whole life and I want to keep doing it. I mean, that was one of the. So when I first went back to the club I'm at now, and this is my second tour there, so I was there for eight years, or almost eight years, and I took an eight year break from that club doing other things. And I come back to the club and when I interviewed with the same director of agronomy that I'd worked with before, he said, what are you gonna do to keep from getting bored?'cause I mean, he knew, I mean, he knew the way my brain works and how I gotta stay. So yeah, I start a podcast now. I got a YouTube channel. It's it's hard to get bored when you got all the irons in the fire, but you know, you gotta keep your your brain going for sure.

TJ Vollmar 1:00:10

yeah, absolutely.

Trent Manning 1:00:11

and the other thing you made me think of too, when you were talking there about certifications and anything you can get, and I don't even remember who I was talking to, but it wasn't even in the golf industry, but they were talking about going to their local community college and getting a welding certificate. It, you know, going at night or whatever. So if that's something, you know, if you're weak in welding and you want to learn, go do something like that. I mean, there's a lot of these trade schools, local trade schools, and it's not a ton of money. And you get a piece of paper at the end of the course and you learn some really good skills. I mean, maybe it's HVAC, you know, whatever it is.

TJ Vollmar 1:00:52

Yeah. And more likely than not, like welding something that can pertain to what we're doing. Your club might even pay for it, you know?

Trent Manning 1:00:59

Oh, yeah. Very possible for

TJ Vollmar 1:01:01

Yeah,

Trent Manning 1:01:03

Yeah. When, so at this club I'm at now, in the late nineties the local tech school had started they tried to start a program like they had at Lake City, and they paid for me to go to that. And they ended up, they only had, I think they had five classes or something that I attended. But still, you know, I mean, it was cool learning something new.

TJ Vollmar 1:01:25

Yep.

Trent Manning 1:01:26

It's good. You ready to do some rapid fire

TJ Vollmar 1:01:34

Let's do it.

Trent Manning 1:01:35

All right. What's your favorite movie?

TJ Vollmar 1:01:39

Jurassic Park.

Trent Manning 1:01:41

That's a cool one for sure. What would be your last meal?

TJ Vollmar 1:01:45

pizza.

Trent Manning 1:01:47

Oh, all right. What kind? New York Deep Dish. What?

TJ Vollmar 1:01:50

There's a spot up in strawberry, about an hour north of here from, it's called Old County. Big shout out to them. They got one called the Poncho with roasted pork green chilies and like a pesto drizzle. That

Trent Manning 1:02:05

Awesome. All right. That sounds pretty good.

TJ Vollmar 1:02:07

the one man.

Trent Manning 1:02:09

that sounds really good. What are you most proud of besides your family?

TJ Vollmar 1:02:13

yeah, I think, again, where I'm at right now in my career and where I started at and where I am,

Trent Manning 1:02:21

Yeah. No, that's awesome, man. Yeah, you should be proud of yourself for sure. I mean, that's

TJ Vollmar 1:02:26

I hate to sound like a little full of myself or

Trent Manning 1:02:28

No,

TJ Vollmar 1:02:29

that way, but you know, coming from, you know, basically a high school dropout to, you know, a facility this size it's kind of crazy to sit back and look at sometimes.

Trent Manning 1:02:41

No, that's awesome. And I do think a lot of us struggle with being proud of ourself, and there's nothing wrong with being proud of yourself, so thank you for saying that.

TJ Vollmar 1:02:53

yeah. I, we all

Trent Manning 1:02:55

listening, you should be proud of yourself too,

TJ Vollmar 1:02:58

you. You absolutely should be. I mean, and I've worked for guys who, I've worked for, guys who told me I wouldn't amount to, to, you know, being a successful equipment manager, I've worked for those superintendents, you know, maybe other guys I know have as well. And to be where I am, despite those guys and their opinions, I'm pretty proud of it.

Trent Manning 1:03:18

Yeah. That's awesome, man.

TJ Vollmar 1:03:19

Everyone should be proud of their wins.

Trent Manning 1:03:21

Yep. Good for you. Good for you. That's awesome. Well, I can't think of a much better way to end a podcast. That was great. That was good. That was really good stuff, man. Thank you so much for being on. I've really enjoyed it. For sure. You want to give out an email address or anything like that if

TJ Vollmar 1:03:41

Yeah.

Trent Manning 1:03:42

Up?

TJ Vollmar 1:03:43

yeah, I just wanna say again, thank you Trent, for reaching out. It has been a pleasure. Hopefully we'll keep running into each

Trent Manning 1:03:50

Oh, for sure. I ain't going nowhere.

TJ Vollmar 1:03:52

yeah, right on. Email, if you want to email me, it's TV as in Victor, OLLM as in Mary, A r@desertmt.com. That's my work email. I get so many emails but, you know, if anyone's got a question, everyone wants to connect. I also, I'm trying to do a social media thing on Instagram. I'm, I got enough time that I lose at work, so trying to do that too. I gotta get a page outta your book, but

Trent Manning 1:04:23

Hire somebody.

TJ Vollmar 1:04:24

Yeah.

Trent Manning 1:04:25

that's what it boils down to. Hire somebody.

TJ Vollmar 1:04:27

I got an Instagram for, I got a personal one, but then I do a, my golf side one and I gotta get more on there. It's called Turf Tech 2, 3 9.

Trent Manning 1:04:36

Okay. Turf tech 2, 3, 9 on Instagram.

TJ Vollmar 1:04:40

Yeah. Yep. That's

Trent Manning 1:04:41

You heard it here first. People go check it out.

TJ Vollmar 1:04:43

there's not a lot going on right now, but we will hopefully be more active on it soon.

Trent Manning 1:04:49

yeah. All good, man. Well, thank you again so much. It's been a pleasure.

TJ Vollmar 1:04:53

Thanks, Trent.

Trent Manning 1:05:01

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.