Reel Turf Techs Podcast
Reel Turf Techs Podcast
Episode 167: David Sluder
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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 Techs podcast, episode 167. Today, we're talking to David Sluder, equipment manager at Threes Greenville in Greenville, South Carolina. Threes is a public par 3, 12-hole course. All 12 holes were designed by a different architect. They also have an 18-hole putting course called Humps and Bumps He has mostly Toro equipment Let's talk to David
Trent Manning, CTEMwelcome David to the Real Turf Techs podcast. Thanks for coming on. How you doing today?
David Sludergood
Trent Manning, CTEMall right. We're gonna do this little thing called a podcast. Tell us how you got into the turf industry
David SluderSo, well, I'll back up a little bit. Whenever I was in high school, they had the public school system decided that I was too hard to teach, so they threw me in the special ed class. So I started from the parents of the public school giving up on me, and eventually worked my way through doing yard work, different stuff for different people outside and various stuff. Eventually, my older brother got onto a golf course, and I put in at his course when they started looking for some people. And at the same time, another golf course of the same company, a sister course, they had a father and son that put in the same course. So they decided to switch. So instead of having two brothers and a father and a son work together, they switched, so we went to different places.
Trent Manning, CTEMOkay.
David SluderI started-- Yeah, I got to start there and work my way through the maintenance department. Then eventually our landscape department grew, and I got moved to landscape, got to go all over the property, seeing different houses and doing yard work and enjoying that side. And then our mechanic ended up getting fired. He-- And two days later, I walked into the boss's office. They put me in the shop at that course, and then I worked my way from there. The assistant, there was a course that was being redone, just threes, and our assistant left. He went there to be the superintendent. And a couple of days later after he got put in, I want to say it was about two weeks, three weeks, they lost their mechanic. They didn't have anyone. He knew where I was at and he knew my skill level, gave me a call and offered me to come up there and talk to them and see what they could offer for threes.
Trent Manning, CTEMThat's
David Sluderwas in, I think it was right around early '21 when I started at threes.
Trent Manning, CTEMAll right, so you've been there since 21, so five years or something like that? Or going on five years?
David SluderYep, somewhere right around there. I, for about a year I went to part-time 'cause I had, I was very expensive on gas. So
Trent Manning, CTEMOh, yeah
David Sluderwent part-time for about a year, then they called me and went back full-time and stayed there ever since
Trent Manning, CTEMAll right. Well, that's cool, man. Yeah. So yeah, what got you into turning wrenches? Did you do that as, at a younger age or
David SluderYeah, I mean, I always enjoyed working on vehicles. I mean, I was really, whenever I was younger, I was out jumping bicycles and jumping bikes quite often and blowing up the tires and
Trent Manning, CTEMOh, yeah
David Sluderto change out my bicycle tubes and figure that out and just kept going from that. Worked up to motorcycles then cars when I got into where I started driving. And when I found out about the turf side or golf course and they had their mechanic posi- Well, I skipped a step. Let me, I'll back up a little. When I was in high school, I got an opportunity to go and work at a tractor dealership, which is what got me really into the professional side of turning wrenches. And so I got to work there for about a year as a tractor dealership. And when I got the golf opportunity for a golf course, and it's like, well, they got a mechanic here, and when that position opened up, it's like, I wanna take it, and got my opportunity
Trent Manning, CTEMWhat were you doing at the tractor dealership?
David SluderSo I would, I mainly done their new equipment for when it was sold, I'd do the PDI sheet of it to go over and inspect it. I would do assemble the new equipment, all the tractors and the mowers and everything that came in.
Trent Manning, CTEMOkay. Yeah
David SluderHandle a lot more of that. I didn't do too much of the repairs then
Trent Manning, CTEMI don't, I think that's, I mean, a pretty good starting job, 'cause it shows you some of the ropes, starting out. Just get more familiar with the equipment. You get to put it together. You see how it bolts up and, you get to be around it and learn stuff about it. I know, like when I worked with the Toro distributor, the newer people, they would kind of put them on equipment setup when they came in the shop. And I think that's a good place to start, and then work your way up to troubleshooting and repairs and all those things later on.
David SluderYeah, it was definitely handy getting to learn to how to assemble it and find out what parts went where to begin with rather than just starting off on, "Here's an issue, figure it out. Good luck." And
Trent Manning, CTEMRight,
David Sluderso it was good to kind of have that starting point where I had to, I had somebody where I was able to take my time and I had the book that I could go over and
Trent Manning, CTEMNo, that's good stuff. What's your least favorite part of the job?
David SluderI don't know if I really have too much of a least favorite.
Trent Manning, CTEMThat's a
David SluderWe have some parts that we are-- were not more aggravating maybe.
Trent Manning, CTEMАга
David SluderRobert, my superintendent his one thing he always goes off of He's out trying to spray, and then golf shows up and he can't spray. And we end up, we oftentimes have our pro shop likes to send golf out a little early, so then they catch up to us whenever we get a busy day.
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah, I think a lot of pro shops do that, and I don't know why they let a single off on the back nine. We used to have that happen all the time. When you had a front nine start, they would slip a single out on the back and it just, yeah, kills your routine, your rhythm, everything. But they're trying to get golfers out on the course. That's their job
David SluderBut for us, we're a 12-hole par three. So they'll typically start everybody on one, but especially around the fall when we got all the leaves everywhere and we're trying to blow greens off then mow, we might get to three and we're just covered, and golf catches up to us on two.
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah. That's,
David Sluderreal small and packed together, so it's not too far of a drive for us. But you can stand in about one spot and see 90% of the golf course
Trent Manning, CTEMRight, I gotcha. What's one of your favorite tools?
David Sludermy favorite tool that we got would probably have to be my creeper
Trent Manning, CTEMOkay. Tell me about a creeper. I don't,
David SluderI, well, we don't have a lift. I don't have a lift. I'm doing everything on the ground. So I got a nice creeper that I've about rolled the wheels off of, and I can pull the little pin on the side and it flips up into a stool. So if I'm-- depending on what I'm doing, I can have the stool or I can flip it down into a creeper and be able to roll underneath the machines.
Trent Manning, CTEMOkay. Yeah.
David SluderMakes it a, lot easier for me without having a lift
Trent Manning, CTEMthat's definitely a must if you don't have a lift. I don't know that I would wanna go back doing it without a lift. I don't... I've definitely got spoiled after having a lift. And when I was a younger guy, I was rolling around on the floor in cardboard and everything else to check reels, but I really would not wanna go back to doing it that way. You're gonna have to talk to your superintendent, see if they can put one of those in the budget
David SluderBut the, they've talked about putting a lift in, but our shop is so small. I think we're about 30 feet by 60 feet for everything. So our, the whole shop area we got a s- well, our chemical room, you can about stand in the middle of it and touch all four walls, and a small bathroom. And my superintendent, he's got two tables for his desk.
Trent Manning, CTEMOkay.
David SluderAnd I've pretty much got the rest of it for working on equipment, and I limit on height, and fortunately we can't fit a lift inside. But there's talks of expanding or putting a lift outside for now, but it's a little down the road
Trent Manning, CTEMYep. Well, I hope you get one soon. Any other favorite tools you like using?
David SluderYeah. Man, I've gotten-- I haven't gotten a chance to use it, but I got this I think, I don't know what it's called, but I got like almost like an extension that you got one end you can get into those hard to reach places, and you can interchange it with a half inch, three-eighths or quarter, and it's probably a bar that's a foot and a half long. Those, I can attach a wrench to it and get in there to those really tight areas. Trying to find an excuse to use that and haven't found one yet.
Trent Manning, CTEMWell, don't worry it'll come when you least expect it probably. What do you do to relax or find your balance?
David SluderI mean, honestly, I probably work a little too much, but when I have time, I'll get on the Xbox with some buddies and we try to have the same games and just enjoy what we can do
Trent Manning, CTEMMm-hmm. That's good, man. That's good. Yeah, you've, you gotta find something to take your mind off of it. And I heard when we first started talking, you got kids, so try not to work too much. I know I worked too much when my kids were younger, and I do have a few regrets. I would've spent a little more time with them. I mean, I tried to make all the major, activities they had going on, but now that they're 18 and 21, they're not kids anymore. I mean, they're still my kids, but it is, it's different. Our relationship is different. It's good, but I wish I would've spent a little bit more time with my kids. So that's goes for any of y'all that are listening. Give your kids a big hug and spend as much time as you can with them because they don't stay little very long.
David SluderYeah, luckily I got, yeah, luckily I got the one that's in school and the one that hasn't quite started school yet
Trent Manning, CTEMOkay. Yeah. It's something else. And everybody tells you, "Oh, they grow up so fast," and you say, "Ah, whatever." But it's true. They grow up so fast Somebody also told me that they stay big longer than they stay small, and that's true too. What's been one of your biggest challenges around the golf course?
David SluderOh, I mean, for quite a while it was, I was more so there by myself. I didn't know about the podcast or how good the golf community is. So just trying to go through some of the struggles of we have something break, trying to figure out how to just work my way through figuring out the issue when it's something that's more challenging. I had-- I don't know how it happened. I had one day, I had a-- we came in and went and hit the pedal on the mower, and the mower engine was spinning backwards, and then couldn't figure it out. Came in a couple days later and the engine was spinning in the correct direction. I don't know how that happened, why it started acting up. Somebody else was in there tampering with some wires or mixed something around.
Trent Manning, CTEMstrange one there.
David SluderYeah, that was-- it had me stumped for a little bit, then it fixed itself overnight and
Trent Manning, CTEMHuh.
David Sluderit's working so
Trent Manning, CTEMyeah. No, that's that's strange. So what are some of the things that you've found to help you when you run into a problem that is challenging?
David Sluderoh. Due to, I say I think I, I like to assume that I might think through stuff a little bit differently than some other people were. I'm sure there's a lot of other golf course guys that are similar. But I take a step back and kinda look at what could be the issue rather than just diving straight in to go to the first thing and just take a step back, think through. Or maybe if I'm leaking hydraulic fluid, it's not just go straight to the tank or anywheres. Or though the issue, where is the problem starting and then look from what connects to it and just kinda take a chance just to think through issues and try to see what I can think or figure out
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah, I think it's, yeah, really important, like you said, to take a step back and look at the whole picture. 'Cause so-
David Sluderdoesn't take much to jump in the wrong way and you get mixed down a chain or you start chasing one thing and it's the opposite direction.
Trent Manning, CTEMOh, I know. I've talked to plenty of people over the years that's trying to hunt down an electrical issue, with, like, a no start situation, and they're telling me about the headlights. And I'm like, "W- why are we even looking at the headlights? I don't care if the headlights work or not at this point. We're worried about, trying to get the machine to turn over." So but it's And I mean, I'm guilty too. I think we all have probably done it. It's easy to jump down a rabbit hole in the wrong direction when you're troubleshooting something. So what's some of the other things that you do? 'Cause y- you mentioned that the Before you knew about the podcast and things like that what else do you do to help you figure out some of these things?
David SluderI did have a few people I was able to call up here around Greenville. I know if it's something to do with club cars, I can call up Adventure Golf Carts. Clay is our-- the parts guy there. He's really good. If I have a question for anything to do with club car, you can ask him and he gives you pretty close to what the issue could be. we used to have a guy that was, he, he left. He no longer works for the Cliffs. He left and went to do his own thing. But he was really good and I could give him a call if I had anything. So I had a few people I could reach out to, but I was limited on what I could reach out and get help when needed.
Trent Manning, CTEMGotcha. Yep. Yeah, and I mean, that makes it tough if you don't have any friends in the industry and phone a friend. Makes it hard So I definitely, I try to, anybody that I get to talk to or give them the suggestion of grow your network as much as you can. Get to know the people, in your area for sure. Like you're saying, Greenville, there's a lot of other golf courses around there. Get to know those guys. And if the superintendents don't know the other superintendents down the roads, talk to some of your salespeople that's coming in. Say, "Hey, who's the mechanic at this course?" And, see if you can get their number. Call them up one day and whatever, go have a coffee or go have a hamburger or go have a drink just to get to know them. And the other thing is you, if you need, a bed knife or a tire or, whatever happens through the season you got somebody you can pick the phone up and call. I've definitely done that for a lot of my friends in the industry, loan them a tire or a bed knife. And same for me, if I need something, then I know who to call
David SluderYeah, we're hoping-- So, Three's is owned by a company called Purple Horse, and Purple Horse just took over management of another course in Greenville called Verde. And unfortunately, they don't have a mechanic currently, but whenever they get one, they have a lot more of a parts inventory, so I might be able to talk with them, be able to borrow some stuff, and we work something out so I could go there. They're 10 minutes away from us. They're not like they're too far to get to
Trent Manning, CTEMyeah.
David SluderBut I, I definitely wanna try to get in contact with some of the other guys in the area. I know the Walker Course in Clemson, they have the same type of greens as we do, and I keep trying to make time to make it up there and check out the Walker Course and talk to some of the guys in their shop and haven't quite got the time yet
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah. And it's tough, it's tough 'cause you're working your full-time job there, and it's hard to break away. You never feel like you can leave, or if you do leave, something's gonna break while you're gone. And y- it's tough. It is tough. What's been one of your biggest biggest challenges working at the golf course?
David Sluder嗯。 I said it's probably just been where I was out there working on stuff, trying to figure it out myself and not having the reach to be able to go out and get help from people as often. So just that issue where I come back to something breaks and I can't figure it out, trying to think through the-- what the issue could be
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah. No, that makes it tough, yeah, if you don't have anybody to call, to lean on all those things. You're in the WhatsApp group now, right?
David SluderYep, I'm in WhatsApp and TTech
Trent Manning, CTEMOkay. Yeah, the TTAC's got a WhatsApp group also. So I mean, that's a really good resource for all of us, to get in there, and I sent a guy an invitation today on it. It's been really helpful, rewarding, all those things
David SluderI'm not the best at reading, and typically somebody will throw a question up and I'm trying to read through what the question is to figure it out, and there's 10 other people have already responded to them before I can get done reading the question.
Trent Manning, CTEMOh, right. Yeah. No, it's, Yeah, there's
David Sludernot on there as often as I think I probably could be for helping people, but
Trent Manning, CTEMWell, yeah,
David Sluderwhen you need it
Trent Manning, CTEMthat's the cool thing about it is there's so many people on there that's been doing this for a long time and, if you see a problem with a John Deere mower or a Toro mower half the people in the group's already seen that same problem. So they can say, "Hey, try this. I saw this, a month ago," or two years ago, whatever it was, "Give this a try." So, it's a handy resource for sure.
David SluderYeah,
Trent Manning, CTEMWhat's,
David Sluderanytime I have had an issue and I throw something on there Chad down at the beach has been nice on, "Here's what I've done. Try this," and just kinda give me something to go off of
Trent Manning, CTEMRight. Yep. No, Chad's a good one for sure
David SluderYeah
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Trent Manning, CTEMWhat's one of the strangest things you've seen at the golf course?
David SluderWell う
Trent Manning, CTEMAny good stories happening around there?
David Sluderdon't know if it's a, if it's a different question you ask or another one, but I know we did-- Well, the previous course I was at when I started in the shop we had one guy that he's alive, but he ended up getting buried. They had a irrigation issue, and he was-- They were, I think it was about 12, 15 feet under the surface of the dirt level. And some two guys were in the bottom of the hole doing some work, one guy on top, and the guy on top seen some movement and said, "Get out." And one guy's a 20-year-old, and one guy's in his 50s, and the 20-year-old ran like a 20-year-old, and the 50-year-old ran like a 50-year-old. The 20-year-old turned around and was looking at him when a wall of dirt came down on top of him. So he was like, "He's right here. I know where he was at," and started digging for him immediately to try to find him. And they found him. it was-- They got really lucky whenever they first found him. His elbow, he got above his head, and it just curled all the skin off his elbow. But he had a small pocket of air around his mouth, he was able to breathe for just enough time for them to get to him.
Trent Manning, CTEMso scary.
David SluderYeah. As in he, he made it, but that, that was a very scary moment for him. And afterwards, that company, they just got really big on safety. They had gotten-- They kind of slacked off a little bit for a while, and that kind of a major incident was something where they were like, "Oh, we need to take a step back and look through some safety and make our courses a little better."
Trent Manning, CTEMthat they're getting on the safety bandwagon 'cause yeah, trench collapse, I mean, that's serious stuff. There's been plenty of people killed like that. And I mean, we had an incident, I wasn't there, but the company that I worked for, it was before I started working for them. But anyway, a employee, he was walking on a pipe, a drainage pipe. They'd already dug the trench. He's walking on the pipe, and the pipe was just, not that deep below ground level, but it was like a 36-inch pipe, and he slipped and fell down next to the pipe, and it collapsed, and he died. I mean, it's, And if he would've been standing up next to the pipe, he would've been, head above the dirt. But he fell down, it collapsed on him. I mean, it's scary, dangerous stuff
David SluderThe weight of the dirt and if it's wet, there's so many different stuff that can factor into that type of situation. Like, so whenever we had, after the safety picked up, they had some guys went to a class, and this may have changed, but I think at that point they said there's, I want to say it was either 13 or 14 people a day go to work and don't return home. That could be car wrecks, it could be an incident at work, and that, that's from a few years ago, so it could be different now. But That's just, at that point we, we had a chance we could think back and look and go, maybe we should take a chance to grab chaps when you're running a chainsaw or make sure you have some of the correct equipment when you're doing something, 'cause it doesn't take much
Trent Manning, CTEMOh yeah. No, it's... Yeah, it does not. Yep, blink of the eye, and it's, usually like chainsaw safety. It's somebody that's been using a chainsaw their whole life, and they think they don't need chaps on, and it just happens in a blink of an eye. You get tired, you can't... you're not holding the saw up like you need to. I mean, it just happens so fast. We definitely trained all our crew at the golf course on chainsaw safety, and you didn't run a chainsaw unless you had chaps on, and glasses and hearing protection and all the right PPE. It's no excuse. I remember and they do it at TTAC. They're- they'll get the steel guys to come in and do training, safety training, and, maintenance on chainsaws and their other equipment. But Mark, I forgot his last name, but he's retired now. He just retired. He said if he was using a chainsaw without a pair of chaps, he would be fired from steel immediately. Like, there's no questions asked. And I mean, he'd been there forever, but it was- they took it very serious. S- you know, because if s- somebody else saw him not wearing chaps, then they'd think, "Oh, well, the Steel guy's not even wearing chaps. I don't need chaps." So he was,
David SluderYeah, that's definitely something for-- We're such a small crew, we only have five people total. So for if I start doing one thing and I-- that is not as safe or I shouldn't be doing, it doesn't take much for somebody else to think they can do the same thing. So you
Trent Manning, CTEMOh, right.
David Sluderyou're being correct at everything.
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah. Well that's, I mean, the other thing we said around my club was safety's everybody's priority and everybody's in charge of safety. So the lowest person on the totem pole could tell the highest person they're not being safe. You know what I'm saying? So, the lowest paid person there could tell the director of agronomy he's not being safe, and he was the one telling everybody that, so they believed it, and that's the way it was. That was true. Do you have a mentor in the industry?
David SluderI've had-- When I was at the Cliffs, I had luckily had a chance to work through three different superintendents, or not superintendents, three different head mechanics.
Trent Manning, CTEMOkay
David SluderSo I got to learn a lot from different ones and like, I like how this guy done this, I don't like how this guy done this, and kind of pick and choose stuff that they did and kind of come up with my own. So like I said, Aaron, he's been a-- he was a big help for me. Kyle, he was-- he done a lot for helping show me and get me to where I'm at. There's another guy that he-- it wasn't quite in turf. It was a automotive guy that he helped me a lot, Million or Paul Million. He was a big help for me.
Trent Manning, CTEMThat's
David SluderYeah, I had a few people that helped me and teach me various stuff that got me to where I'm at
Trent Manning, CTEMAwesome. What would be your dream job or opportunity?
David SluderWell, I'm really happy with Three's. Man, I'm-- I said I'm one of the highest respected person there. They call me for, it doesn't matter if some drunk person ripped the handrail off the wall or a light bulb, I get to go and kind of look at all this different stuff fixing stuff in the shop. So I'm really happy where I'm at Three's. I do have an ideal location if they would open it there, but I don't really know of a course I'd rather go to over Three's right now
Trent Manning, CTEMGotcha. No, that's cool. And it's really important, yeah, to feel valued at the place you're at, and the variety of the things you get to do. Like you're talking about getting called to the clubhouse to look at this or that or whatever. Always loved being the go-to guy. No matter what the problem was, I liked somebody coming to me
David SluderI get our he's our COO, and I mean, he's the second highest guy in the company. If I'm not there, I've been told from people all over the pl- all over the golf course, if I'm not there, he's bragging on me on just how good I am and what all I've been able to do and how much I can
Trent Manning, CTEMThat's awesome.
David SluderHe thanks me when he sees me. When I'm not there, he's bragging on me with all the other people. So
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah. That's super cool
David Sludera, it's a nice company to work for
Trent Manning, CTEMThat's good. What technician would you like to work with for a day?
David SluderI'd be good with anybody. said, "It could be working with you, it could be working with Chad." I said, "I'd like to, if I had a chance to go down to Walker Course," because they have the same greens, and some time working with them.
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah
David SluderI know at one point they were talking about Davis, our owner, was gonna see about sending me to Augusta to get to learn and work with those guys a little bit. I don't know how that's, if that's gonna happen or not, but there was
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah,
David Sluderof it at one point
Trent Manning, CTEMyeah, that would be super cool to do
David Sluderthey're not too far away from us
Trent Manning, CTEMno. Not at all. Yeah, just right down the road. Yeah, I mean, that would be super cool, and that is... I mean, the cool thing about this industry is most mechanics and most shops, it's a open door policy, especially for another mechanic. They might push salesmen away or something, but another mechanic, yeah, come on in. I'll
David SluderYeah, I've been,
Trent Manning, CTEMyou got
David Sluderyeah, I've been trying to, if I go somewhere and I can get time, see if there's a golf course in the area, I can stop by and check out their shop and talk to the mechanics and see if I can learn anything or just trade
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah.
David SluderTips around
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah. I've had several people stop by my shop when they were coming through Atlanta for whatever reason, and always love having them, come by and hang out for an hour or two and then go on. I forget who it was. Somebody, they were... It was a tech. I don't... Was he in Florida? I forget where he was at, but he was driving up to like North Georgia Mountains on his with his wife for their anniversary or something, and he stopped by the shop, and I'm like, "That's cool, man." And I rode him and his wife around the course and showed them around. It's cool. I'm always happy to do stuff like that. What do you know now you wish you'd known on day one?
David SluderJust how good the turf industry is and how much you can reach out to people and get the help and advice.
Trent Manning, CTEMThat's a good one.
David SluderI said It I, it's something more recent I found out about, but it's been a big help ever since I did find out. I start struggling, I can just get on T Tech or get on the Reel Turf Tech and throw it out there and get a response typically fairly quick. It depends on how busy people are
Trent Manning, CTEMyeah. All depends on the day and the time of year and stuff. But yeah, usually a pretty quick response. No, that's awesome. I'm glad, yeah, that you have that resource. How do you deal with that person on the crew?
David SluderWell, luckily we don't have him there right now.
Trent Manning, CTEMOkay,
David Sluderleft and decided he wanted to go work for Amazon.
Trent Manning, CTEMAll right.
David Sluderall of our people are pretty good.
Trent Manning, CTEMto him. Good luck, Amazon. I don't know what it is. I th- I do think some people are just unlucky
David SluderThe majority of them weren't even his fault. He just happened to be on it whenever it broke
Trent Manning, CTEMWell, that's kinda what I'm saying, but it's weird that they're the ones that are always on it when it breaks, even though we know it wasn't anything that they did that caused the problem. That isn't always the case. Sometimes they do some knucklehead stuff, but
David SluderWe had the guy that, this guy, there was one day I was out doing some work around our pro shop, and he was outside, he was out mowing tees, and he drove up to me and, "This engine sounds a little funny." "Yeah, you only got one cylinder it's hitting on. Take it back to the shop, wash it up." He did, and pulled it into the shop afterwards. This, it drove to the shop, drove into the shop, and I started tearing it apart and looked, and the piston was not moving. It luckily broke at top dead cylinder, but it didn't blow out the side of the wall. The engine casing stayed intact, so I was able to rebuild it
Trent Manning, CTEMHuh. That's... Yeah, that's crazy. You don't see that happen very often. It's
David SluderYeah, that was
Trent Manning, CTEMhole in the block. Yeah. That's crazy. What kind of tips and trick... Go ahead
David Sluderthat one, like I said, that wasn't his fault. When we tore it apart, the three-quarters of the piston rod was already broke previously, so it just let go and he was on it
Trent Manning, CTEMWow. Yeah, that's something else. You never know when it's gonna let go
Trent ManningGet ready for tips and tricks
Trent Manning, CTEMYou got any tips and tricks you wanna share with us?
David SluderJa I know I think some people have done something similar, but something I've done occasionally if I get, like, a bolt that is hard to reach place, just take a paper towel, napkin, or piece of paper. You can put that over the bolt and just push the socket down onto it, and it likes to lock the socket on so you can get in those hard to reach places a little bit easier. Some people have the magnetic sockets, but if you don't have that, just paper towel or piece of paper works just as good
Trent Manning, CTEMNo, that is, that's a good idea. Yeah, definitely a good idea. I've done similar to that too before, take a piece of towel or something and stick it in a socket so the bolt doesn't go into the socket as far. If you got a short bolt that you're trying to get started somewhere, in a tight spot you can put a little paper towel in the socket, behind the bolt to help
David SluderYeah, just take up some space
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah. Take up some space. Exactly. Yeah, I mean, there's an endless number of tips and tricks out there in the mechanic world, and I started... I'm really good at starting stuff. I'm really terrible at finishing things sometimes. So I started putting together from the podcast all the tips and tricks that people had shared in all the episodes. And I got about halfway through and I got sidetracked and I need to get, I need to get back on that 'cause I think it would be a really cool, resource for people to put it, kinda like in a PDF or book format and, you could just glance through it and see what kinda tips and tricks you could find. 'Cause they'd all be right there in one spot
David SluderYeah. Yeah, that'd be really good 'cause like there's a lot of stuff where I just get so busy working on something and I miss stuff. So I was thinking I need to go back and re-watch just about all of them just to see what stuff I missed.
Trent Manning, CTEMう ん。 yeah, yeah
David Sludertips and tricks that could be handy that I just overlooked or didn't hear 'cause I was focusing on something else at the time
Trent Manning, CTEMOh, yeah. And so I listened to quite a few books, and I listened to this one book. It was an older b- it's a really old book actually, but it's like, "How to Win Friends and Influence People." Super positive book or, a really good book, but it was released around turn of the century. The nine- or yeah, 20th century. So early 1900s. And anyway, in the book it says, "Listen to a chapter and then re-listen to that same chapter again." And I thought, "Okay, I'll try that." And it was amazing. You listen to a whole chapter and then immediately go back and listen to it again, and you would hear paragraphs that you didn't remember, that you just listened to. Which, it's cra- and I mean, I would like driving down the road, so it wouldn't like I'm working or, necessarily distracted, but your mind ends up wan- wondering, you're thi- and deep in thought about this or that, or whatever, and you just totally miss parts of the book. So since I listened to that book, all the other books I've listened to, I've been listening to the whole thing and then immediately start it again and listen again. So listening to it two times back to back, and I think if you do that, you get 85% of the material there. That's my guess. I still don't think you get 100% even, two times. Still missing some stuff Anyway, Any other tips or tricks you can think of?
David SluderI'll probably go to work tomorrow and say, "I could have said this one," or complete
Trent Manning, CTEMOh,
David Sluderor completely forget about it right now, but
Trent Manning, CTEMYep. No, we're all guilty of that. Anything else you wanna talk about? You wanna talk about being newer to the industry or... I mean, the floor is yours. Anything you wanna talk about
David SluderWell, yeah, I mean, I think, like I said, 'cause I started-- I got a start in high school working in, mechanics, turning wrenches. It's definitely been different once I got to the point where I was doing turf
Trent Manning, CTEMУгу
David SluderI was surprised whenever we took the T-Tech class, one of the guys recommended having a tractor or a class about it. I think at that point they're all happening things. So maybe there's not as many people that have maybe more automotive, or maybe they don't start in some of the other different industries. That's something I was able to learn and pick up that might help me a little bit now whenever I work on our tractor or some of our stuff
Trent Manning, CTEMOh yeah. 'Cause yeah, a lot of the automotive guys, they might not have any idea about tractor stuff. And I don't-- We do have a large number of technicians in the golf world that came from automotive. There's a handful that maybe came from ag, but... and a few from, heavy equipment. A couple of those guys out there, but definitely the majority is automotive. So yeah, those guys don't get a whole lot of training on, hydraulics and tractors and implements and all those things. Yeah, any- anything else?
David SluderThat was it. It's just, like I said, I got into the turf industry. I've just tried to stay working hard and learning what I can and keep progressing, working my way up. Like I said, I went from being public school system gave up on me to now where I'm pretty much a go-to person for anything that requires a specialized skill set.
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah. I mean, how awesome is that, right? I mean, to have a hard time in school and have teachers giving up on you, and then now you're the go-to guy. I mean, that's super cool.
David SluderYeah it's been a journey, but I said it's-- I think it's paying off now that I got people that they, they, realize I don't think the same as what other people do, but due to me not thinking the same, I'm a lot more knowledgeable in figuring out and working my through issues. I-- We just had our pro shop, our, the bar side the other day, the bartender was taking a drink, load of drinks out in a beverage cart and spilled half of them all over the cart, and after I was like, "Y'all need something made to where y'all have something to hold your drinks in?" And they were like, "Yes, that's gonna be very handy having something." Like, "Well, I'll work on something and come up with something and get back to y'all on what we can do to make your job easier."
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah, I mean, that's super, rewarding part of being at the golf course too, getting to help other people and make their job easier. Really cool stuff. Yeah, so what are you gonna build for 'em?
David Sluderright now, because our... We don't have a proper beverage cart. They, well, we call it the Carryall Turf 500 is a Turf 2 body with a Carryall 500 everything else, and they're using that for running their drinks out, and they don't have any way to hold them, so they're trying to... Not everybody is good at driving with one hand and holding the drinks. So some people have to drive with both hands, and there's so many bumps and hills out there that they'll lose their drinks and end up having to make more.
Trent Manning, CTEMyeah,
David SluderSo I'm trying to... I wanna make something that's magnetic that I can set in the seat, but they can, somebody can pull it off if somebody, like the golf pros need to use the cart
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah, no, that'd be cool. Yeah. Let me post it in the WhatsApp group. Let me know what you come up with there You ready to do some rapid
David SluderI think it'll be handy to show some other people might be able to use it. Yeah
Trent Manning, CTEMOh yeah. Yeah, I'm sure. So let's do some rapid fire. What's your favorite movie?
David SluderOh, probably be John Wick
Trent Manning, CTEMOh, yeah. That's, yeah, that's good stuff. The first one too, right?
David SluderI think the, I like the second one better 'cause the first one there's a lot of where they're speaking Russian, and due to not being able to read too quick, it's hard to read, catch up with those subtitles when they're changing so fast. So I think to me two was a little bit better to keep up with
Trent Manning, CTEMOkay. Yeah. No, I mean, yeah, I enjoyed all of them, but I was kind of partial to one. What would be your last meal?
David SluderYeah, they're all good, but I mean, it'd be the one thing I would really like to get would be my grandma's biscuits and gravy
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah. Biscuits and gravy. Nothing like it. That's yeah, really good stuff.
David SluderYeah.
Trent Manning, CTEMmo-
David Sluderfound anybody else who's been able to make her recipe
Trent Manning, CTEMOh, I'm sure. I'm sure. Yeah, you probably never will. I was at,
David SluderIt might be wrote down somewhere, but it hasn't been found yet
Trent Manning, CTEMLast year I was at the US Open in Oakmont in Pennsylvania, and they had biscuits and gravy one morning, and it was Northern biscuits and gravy, and it was definitely not Southern biscuit and gravy that I remember eating from my grandma's house growing up. But it was quite funny 'cause there's a bunch of people over from the UK and they'd never had biscuits and gravy, and they tried it and thought it was the worst thing they'd ever put in their mouth. So it was kinda funny What are you most proud of besides your family?
David SluderMm-hmm. Probably all the stuff I've done at Three's.
Trent Manning, CTEMYeah, that's
David SluderWe just had the other day or the other week, we were up there with the family and I was sitting on, around the pro shop on our patio and just looking at all the different projects and stuff that I've made that most of the customers have no idea about
Trent Manning, CTEMThat's cool though. I mean, it's awesome to, yeah, have all the stuff right there that you can see that it's got your name on it, that's really cool. Good for you. That's awesome. Well, thank you so much, David, for being on the podcast. Really enjoyed it as always Appreciate it
Trent Manningthank 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.