July 17, 2024 • 55 mins
Welcome to Episode 123 of the Reel Turf Techs Podcast! Today we’re talking to Haas Mengloi, CTEM, Equipment Manager at The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, FL. The Bear’s Club, a private 18-hole club, is Jack Nicklaus’s home club when he's in Jupiter.
Young Haas initially planned on being a school teacher, attending the University of Guam before moving to Florida and earning certificates as a marine mechanic. Haas found his new home and a long and successful career at the golf course. When not at work, Haas is an avid hunter and fisherman.
In this episode, Haas shares the value of patience, humor, and letting things go in training technicians, and emphasizes the importance of doing things right the first time. We have a great discussion about how book smarts aren't the only type of intelligence that matters in the world. Haas also stresses the importance of taking care of your hearing from day one.
Haas recounts his story of cold-calling area superintendents to start an equipment technician association in Palm Beach County and highlights the importance of local networking for support systems and salary awareness.
Tune in for an inspiring conversation with Haas on this episode of the Reel Turf Techs Podcast!
- Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning
- Email us at ReelTurfTechs@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Trent Manning (00:05):
welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the
technician that wants to getreel follow along.
As we talk to industryprofessionals and address hot
topics that we all face alongthe way we'll learn tips and
tricks.
I'm your host, Trent.
Manning let's have some thisepisode are real turf techs on
(00:27):
golf course industriesSuperintendent radio network is
presented by Foley county astrong supporter of equipment
technicians and golf coursemaintenance departments
everywhere Foley county offers aproven solution for above and
below the turf for turfprofessionals To learn more
(00:47):
about Foley company's line ofreal grinders bed knife grinders
and the air to G2 family ofproducts or to find a
distributor visit www dot FoleyC o.com Foley Ready for play
Welcome to the real turf textpodcast, episode 1 23..
(01:09):
Today, we're talking to Haasmango with.
C 10.
The equipment manager at thebears club and Jupiter, Florida.
The bears club is a private 18hole facility where the nine
hole.
Par three.
Is Jack Nicholson's home course.
When he's in Jupiter, Florida.
Awesome has mostly Toroequipment.
Let's talk the Haas.
Welcome Haas to the RealTurfTechs podcast.
(01:31):
Thanks for coming on.
How are you doing?
Haas Mengloi (01:33):
I'm doing very good.
Thank you for having me.
Trent Manning (01:36):
Oh, absolutely.
Nope.
Looking forward to it.
Tell us how you got into theturf industry.
Haas Mengloi (01:40):
Well, it started back in the 80s.
When I got off high school, Iknew exactly that I wanted to be
a school teacher.
So I took primary ed in college,and that lasted about two years.
Decided that's not the routethat I wanted to go.
(02:00):
So I moved to Florida And wentto a two year certificate course
in South Technical Institute inBoynton Beach, Florida And got
certified in marine engines.
So I thought I wanted to be aboat mechanic And I did that for
(02:21):
Not quite a year and the firstsix months the guy that owned
the it was a mercury marinedealership You He brought me
about 20 buckets, 5 gallonbuckets of stainless steel
bolts, nuts and bolts, and twobrand new bins.
And my job the first few monthswas to sort out all those nuts
(02:42):
and bolts in a quarter by 20 bythree quarter.
I mean, they got to the pointlike if you throw A bolt in the
air, I can tell you what size itwas before it hit the floor.
Trent Manning (02:54):
Good.
Haas Mengloi (02:56):
after six months or, he started telling me that
they were gonna have to lay meoff.
And, I didn't like that so Itold, I started telling my
neighbor at the time.
And he told me exactly, he'slike, hey man you helped fix my
lawnmower.
I saw in the newspaper, wherethey were looking for a
(03:17):
lawnmower mechanic at a golfcourse.
I'm like, really?
And he said, yeah.
So he showed me, you know, thiswas 89, so we still looked in
the newspaper.
And I saw the ad, and Went toapply the position was for an
assistant technician.
The equipment manager asked mewhat machines I knew how to work
(03:38):
on.
And I looked around and thefirst things I saw were those
old Toro walk mowers.
And I said, oh, you see thosemachines right there?
I can fix them all.
He said, well, you're hired.
That's the, just so happened tobe the guy that they were
replacing.
Hey, that was his job.
So
Trent Manning (03:58):
Okay,
Haas Mengloi (03:58):
like, yeah,
Trent Manning (04:01):
So, did you turn wrenches before that?
Haas Mengloi (04:04):
not
Trent Manning (04:04):
led you down the mechanic road?
Haas Mengloi (04:07):
When I was going to school in, oh, I attended the
University of Guam.
That's where I'm from.
And my brother, my oldestbrother wanted me, I always
worked on stuff.
You know, he was a car mechanic.
My dad was a engineer on cargoships.
So we were all mechanics.
(04:27):
He wanted me to learn how to fixboats and go back to the Pacific
Island and, you know, be themarine guy.
When I went through the golfcourse, I've never seen you
know, I've never seen anythingthat looked like a walk mow, so
I didn't know what I was lookingat, how to fix it.
How did he tell the equipmentmanager that I knew how to work
on it?
(04:48):
So when the first Monday that Istarted, they finished it was
two golf courses.
That used the walk mowers.
So it was course one and coursetwo.
They line up the walk mowers andI was supposed to check them.
So I put one on the table and Ilooked at it and finally I
called the equipment managerover and I said listen, Avi, I
(05:09):
know how to fix this mower, butI know how to fix it my way.
But since you're my boss, I wantto do it your way, so you tell
me how you fix it, and fromtoday forward, I'll fix it
exactly how you do it.
He got excited, he called themeeting.
You see this guy right here?
Now, that's the first mechanicthat wants to do things my way.
(05:31):
So, and he was very thorough, Imean, he put a Walkmore up on
the table, and, All right, firstthing you do is you grab this
hand file and you face the bedknife back then, you know We
didn't have die grinders So itwas all hand file and adjusting
and he went through the wholething and after that I did the
(05:55):
second one and Third one andjust kind of as I went,
Trent Manning (06:01):
That's awesome, though.
That's cool.
Haas Mengloi (06:03):
yeah,
Trent Manning (06:04):
I mean, what better way to, to learn about
that stuff?
Haas Mengloi (06:08):
oh yeah.
The other technicians were on tome real quick though.
It was a 418 hole golf courseclub and there was probably like
nine mechanics including me.
And it took them about three,four days.
To realize I didn't knowanything and they started like
(06:28):
kind of giving me a hard time.
I was like buying people sodasand
Trent Manning (06:32):
Yeah.
That's funny.
That's good stuff.
Well, cool.
What's your least favorite partof the job?
Haas Mengloi (06:39):
Probably the paperwork part.
But other than that not reallyanything.
I love everything I do
Trent Manning (06:46):
Do you end up doing a lot of paperwork?
Haas Mengloi (06:49):
Not really.
I mean, it's more like i'm Irecently got the MyTurf Pro, and
I started inputting all thatinformation and I said to
myself, I hate this part righthere.
Trent Manning (07:02):
Oh yeah.
Haas Mengloi (07:03):
that kind of stuff I don't like, but everything
else, I think it's, you know,including the people, you know,
there's nothing I don't likeabout it.
Trent Manning (07:12):
No, that's good.
And I don't know of anybody thatgot in the business and said, I
want to do paperwork.
You know, I mean, most of uslike to work with our hands and
all those things.
So, you know, I don't know.
But,
Haas Mengloi (07:26):
when I'm sorry, when I first started here, I've
been here 24 years.
When I first started here, asyou, most of you guys do it,
equipment managers, they usuallygo to like management meetings.
I went to one and I asked myboss, I'm like, Hey, listen,
this meeting really didn't haveanything to do with what I'm
doing.
Do you mind if I skip them?
(07:49):
And it's like, Hey, if you don'twant to go, you don't have to
go.
So I got out of that and neverwent back
Trent Manning (07:55):
I don't blame you there.
Yeah.
A lot of us we like to stay inthe shop and kind of behind the
scenes and nothing wrong withthat at all.
Haas Mengloi (08:03):
yep
Trent Manning (08:04):
favorite tool?
Haas Mengloi (08:05):
I don't think I have a favorite tool other than
I really like that xbim that Iheard on one of your podcast
That thing is like a palm saverthat
Trent Manning (08:16):
Oh yeah.
Yep.
Yeah.
I seen you post on X or Twitterabout that.
That's awesome.
Haas Mengloi (08:22):
but um probably I would say it's my most
sentimental tool You It's a setof Mac tools, sockets, that I
bought when I first started.
I want to say they cost me 280
Trent Manning (08:36):
Oh yeah.
Haas Mengloi (08:37):
Inch drive.
I have them in my toolbox.
Hardly ever use them anymore.
But, I look at them every oncein a while.
Just remember my old boss like,oh, you're investing in
yourself.
You gotta get them
Trent Manning (08:49):
that's awesome.
Did y'all have a tool guy thatcome by the shop back then?
Haas Mengloi (08:54):
We had both snap on and Mac tool And I went into
that for over a decade Yep
Trent Manning (09:09):
a week for the rest of your life.
Yeah, it's crazy the way you getthey get you and yeah, what
stuff you know How expensiveeverything is but you know, they
are coming by the shop if youdid break something they'll
change it out You know all thosethings There is some perks there
Haas Mengloi (09:29):
Yeah, here at my job now, my current job, I
talked with my boss, mysuperintendent, like, maybe 17
years ago, everybody wasborrowing my tools.
And I told him, I said, here'sthe deal, I don't mind you
borrowing my tools, I said, buteventually you will lose my
tools.
I said, you're losing myexpensive tools.
(09:50):
I said, you use my tools andwhatever I feel that I need as a
tool, I would purchase it and itgoes in my toolbox as my
personal tool, but you will payfor it.
And it's worked out fine for,you know, the last 20 years.
Trent Manning (10:06):
No, that's awesome.
Then.
Yeah, I don't know thateverybody is lucky as you are
No, that hasn't been myexperience.
I mean, luckily at my place, wehave a shop box and you know, it
has tools that we use to, I havemy own set and the guys that
helped me in the shop.
(10:26):
I let them use my stuff, butnobody on the crew is going to
use my stuff just because theway they, you know,
Haas Mengloi (10:34):
You've been around, yeah, you've been around
long enough.
I remember when I first started,you can't even look at
somebody's toolbox, or you goclose to somebody's toolbox,
they look at you like, you know,you're getting
Trent Manning (10:48):
Oh yeah.
Well, actually the mechanic thatmentored me and I kind of
trained under as an assistantmechanic, if he saw somebody
getting close or, you know,opening a drawer on his toolbox
and he was a little busy, Imean, he was a short guy,
probably, I don't know, five,eight, And a little wiry guy,
(11:12):
though, you know, 140 poundsneed to say, that's a good way
to get your GED arm broke.
I mean, he would say, I mean,all serious to don't mess with
his tools.
Yeah.
And I mean, there's a lot ofpeople that are that way.
And I mean, understandably so,you know, I mean,
Haas Mengloi (11:31):
felt,
Trent Manning (11:32):
it's just like if somebody on the crew went and
got in your vehicle, right.
And was, you know.
Like, you know, yeah it'ssimilar for sure.
Do you have a story there?
I cut you off.
No,
Haas Mengloi (11:47):
you know, the assistants I've had over the
years, I let them borrow mytools, but I will tell them
like, hey, if you borrowed atool, It's probably something
that you ought to buy and I tellthem you don't have to buy snap
on or mac tool You know, but buythat tool that you need, you
know, so
Trent Manning (12:06):
that's a really good point.
And I had a close friend and heworked with me for a little
while, but we've been friendsbefore and after that.
And he started out more in theautomotive industry.
And when he was working underpeople, when he first got
started, He had a mechanic, amaster mechanic that was
(12:28):
mentoring him and every time hewould borrow a tool, the guy
would make him write it downwhat tool he borrowed.
And once he borrowed the sametool three times, he had to get
his own
Haas Mengloi (12:42):
That's
Trent Manning (12:42):
and you know, and that's a good way to like build
your set.
Because, you know, I mean,nobody wants to go out and dump,
you know, however much, fivegrand, 10 grand, 20 grand, you
know, on a full set of reallynice tools.
So, you know, you get it.
It's like the old Johnny Cashsong, one piece at a time.
Haas Mengloi (13:01):
Yeah.
Trent Manning (13:01):
get it.
One piece at a time.
Haas Mengloi (13:03):
That's right.
Trent Manning (13:04):
What do you do to relax or find your balance?
Haas Mengloi (13:07):
Well, I do a lot of fishing and a lot of hunting
and a lot of fishing.
I don't necessarily call itrelax.
I mean, you, I know you do a lotof bass fishing.
Got to get up super early.
You stay up late tying rigs andall that kind of stuff.
When I go on vacation, like I'llgo, I usually hunt out of state.
(13:29):
When I can't wait, sometimes Ican't wait to come back after a
two week hunt.
And get back to that, it's morerelaxing at work to me, You get
in your group, it's familiarthings and, you know.
After work, sometimes peopleleave and I'm still here.
And I'm relaxed, you know, but Ido a lot of fishing and I do a
(13:50):
lot of hunting.
Trent Manning (13:51):
That's awesome.
That's all good stuff.
Yeah.
Where do you hunt?
Out of state.
Haas Mengloi (13:55):
Um, do archery in the mountains up in Southwest
Virginia and do rifle inKentucky.
Sometimes I did a lot of huntingin Georgia also.
Trent Manning (14:07):
Okay.
Haas Mengloi (14:08):
Um, but now it's mostly like in the mountains of
Virginia.
I do it all over there archery.
Season, rifle season, I domuzzle loader.
Trent Manning (14:18):
Okay.
You have a land you lease or youhunt on the public land?
Haas Mengloi (14:24):
It's a private lands, it's a few private lands.
I have a friend of mine thatlives there, actually three
friends of mine.
And I go there and I, there's somany deer, they'll put whatever
they put me, I'm harvestingsomething.
Trent Manning (14:37):
Oh, that's awesome.
Yeah.
No, that's fun.
Very cool.
What has been your biggestchallenge to date?
Haas Mengloi (14:45):
Biggest, I wouldn't call it a challenge.
Probably like the training part,you know, I've trained over the
24 years I've been here, I havetrained five or six equipment
managers and it's challenging attimes.
Every one of them is different,Personalities, different
(15:06):
mentality.
And probably the biggestchallenge is for me to adapt to
each new assistant and work withwhat they have.
Trent Manning (15:16):
Yeah.
No that's really good.
Do you have any tips for us on?
Or anything you found that worksfor you on that?
Because I think that's somethingthat we all struggle with.
Haas Mengloi (15:28):
I would say patience and don't get mad.
You know, don't, you know, Ishouldn't say don't get mad.
Don't let it, don't stay mad.
You know, that's I'm quick toget on somebody, but I'm quick
to let them know it's done.
I'm.
You know, we'll, you know, we'llgo for a ride and, you know,
we'll crack jokes and go on ourlives.
(15:50):
You know, it's enough to justlet somebody know that's not the
way to do this.
Or, you know, you can do better,And then let it go.
No,
Trent Manning (16:01):
a good point because anything that you hold
on to, it just makes every dayget a little bit worse.
I think if you're holding on tosomething, so yeah, it's
definitely better to just air itout, get it in the open and you
know, we all mess up, we allmake mistakes every day.
Haas Mengloi (16:20):
The biggest change that I'm, I've been working on
is, Trying to be more positiveor give them more positive
input.
One of my, one of my lastassistant, he's, he got an
equipment manager's job.
And, you know, most, almost allof them, actually, all of them
are in private clubs and, youknow, after he's got established
(16:43):
there, he invited me and my wifeto dinner at their house and his
wife said, yeah, you know, Robwas always complaining about how
you never say anything good.
Trent Manning (16:54):
Mhm.
Haas Mengloi (16:55):
always point out the bad, but look how well he's
doing now.
And, you know, we're alllaughing and kidding about it.
But I went home and I'm like,you know, maybe I should, you
know, I need to be more positiveand give more positive input,
you know.
Trent Manning (17:21):
some productive feedback like that, you know,
give it to us because sometimeswe don't really know if we're
doing it right or wrong.
And I mean, none of us are, Isay, none of us, most of us.
Didn't go to school to learn howto be a manager.
You know, we just started out asa mechanic and then we were
(17:43):
successful.
So then we got somebody workingunder us and then you're trying
to manage people.
And I think we need, we all needa little help in that area.
Haas Mengloi (17:53):
I, I, and I think it's progressed a lot like I
remember I've been doing thisfor 35 years and you've been
doing it for a minute as welland you've seen The change in
the culture.
I mean when I first started itwas nothing For a mechanic to
throw wrench across the shop orthrow wrench at somebody,
Trent Manning (18:14):
Oh
Haas Mengloi (18:14):
know nowadays you know, it's not acceptable and
you'll get in trouble for it andit's not the right way to do it
and You know people are justdoing things the correct way,
you know, we're more educated.
Or we have evolved.
I've definitely evolved a lot.
You know, the way I do reels,the way I deal with people,
(18:35):
everything.
Trent Manning (18:36):
Oh yeah.
Haas Mengloi (18:37):
we learn over the years.
Trent Manning (18:39):
Yep.
Every day is a learningopportunity.
And yeah learn something everyday if you can.
And you're right.
The culture has changed so much.
I mean, I remember when I firststarted, you know, and it was at
a private club, but it was go.
And I mean the, you know, prettystressful pressure on, and I
(19:03):
find myself over the years.
I think I was so comfortablewith all that pressure that now
nobody else is putting thepressure on me.
So I put that pressure on myselfand I'm not saying that's
healthy.
Um, I need to take a step backand say, it's okay.
(19:24):
But as you say, we're, you know,I have got better than I was.
And you know, some of that, Ithink comes with age too.
Haas Mengloi (19:33):
Yeah, I think
Trent Manning (19:34):
That, that helps some.
What's the strangest thingyou've seen on a golf course?
Haas Mengloi (19:41):
Probably on my previous job probably seeing a
plane land on number 12,fairway.
And taxi all the way to, almostto the green, didn't make it on
the green, but it was rightthere on the approach.
Trent Manning (19:55):
Wow.
That's crazy.
It's a, was it emergencylanding?
Haas Mengloi (19:59):
Yes, yeah, they, I think they ran out of gas or
they immediately like roped itoff and.
We weren't allowed anywhere nearit.
Trent Manning (20:08):
I guess FAA has got to do their stuff.
Haas Mengloi (20:11):
Yep.
Trent Manning (20:12):
Yeah, that's crazy.
Yeah, but fairway, that's a goodplace to set one down if you
have to.
Yeah,
Haas Mengloi (20:22):
renovations.
You can't do it now, but backthen it was like wide open
fairways on that one particulargolf course.
Trent Manning (20:28):
We had it was actually a member guest
tournament and one of ourmembers was I forget exactly
what his title was, but he wasbasically a used aircraft
salesman and anyway, so he had abuddy.
That owned a helicopter and flewhim and his guest in on a
(20:52):
helicopter.
They landed in one fairway and,you know, it was a big deal.
That was pretty cool though,because the, we have a, an open
area that is owned by the golfcourse.
And that's where we keep all ournatural debris and stuff like
that.
But there's a field there, anice landing zone.
So I was out there talking tothe pilot for hours, you know,
(21:16):
about how the helicopter works.
So that was, yeah, super coolexperience.
Haas Mengloi (21:20):
Okay.
Trent Manning (21:20):
Do you have a mentor in the industry?
Haas Mengloi (21:23):
He recently passed away.
He was the guy that hired mewhen I first started.
His name is Augustin Montes.
He was a farm mechanic fromMississippi and they moved to
Florida, the whole family movedto Florida and somehow he got on
the golf course.
The guy could hardly read, buthe knew his stuff and I learned
(21:46):
everything that I mean, hetaught me how to weld, he taught
me he taught me just abouteverything that I learned in
those 10 years that I worked forhim.
And if I was to say the onething that he taught me that I
will never forget is whateveryou do it right the first time.
Don't let it come back and biteyou in the, you know what?
Trent Manning (22:06):
Yeah, yep.
Haas Mengloi (22:07):
He said that constantly.
And I mean, I just, it'ssomething I tell all my
assistants, you know, don't letit come back and bite you,
Trent Manning (22:15):
No, I mean, that's words of wisdom, words to
live by for sure.
And I do think it's Interesting,I guess might be a good term,
but people that I believeanyway, that a lot of people
judge other people that may beilliterate where they can't
(22:38):
read, they can't write, and theythink automatically they think
they're stupid.
But those people.
I mean, honestly, I thinkthey're smarter than most other
people, even though they mightnot know how to read or write,
you know, and I don't knowexactly why, but, and I bring
this up because my grandfather,he couldn't read or write.
(22:59):
He only went to school until hewas like eight years old and he
couldn't even sign his name.
He just put an X on the paper,but.
He was a really good mechanic.
He was a good brick Mason, youknow what I mean?
All these things.
And he definitely struggled withdescribing how things work
because he had such a small, um,vocabulary and he would say this
(23:24):
Hickey moves that Hickey thisthing, I'm a jig.
Yeah.
I mean, he called everything athing of a jig or a Hickey.
Um, but yeah, anyway,
Haas Mengloi (23:34):
no, he's, that's how he was.
I mean, he would, I rememberwhen it was like in the 90s when
John Deere first came out withthe 3365 fairway rough mower,
the big tractor mower.
And none of us knew anythingabout it.
And they said, they gave us a,like a service and parts manual.
(23:56):
And every time something brokeon it.
He would wait until everybodyleft and he would call me over
and we would read that servicemanual I would read it to him
and he'll sit there and thinkabout it and say, okay, I know
exactly what's wrong.
right.
What you need to do.
So I'm reading it to him.
I'm not comprehending what I'mreading, but he knows exactly
(24:18):
what I'm reading and he'stelling me like, all right, I
know what we have to do.
We have to take this apart andwe have to do this.
And That's, yeah.
Trent Manning (24:26):
yeah, it's, that's cool.
So I think it's important to, orit's important to me that I grew
up that way and I got toexperience that.
And it makes me appreciate beingable to read and write a whole
lot more.
(24:47):
And I think a lot of us probablyjust take it for granted because
just about everybody knows howto read and write now.
But it wasn't that long ago thatwas not the case.
What would be your dream job oropportunity?
Guiding hunts?
Haas Mengloi (25:01):
Guiding hunts or guiding fishing or,
Trent Manning (25:04):
yeah.
Haas Mengloi (25:05):
yeah, like some, like a combination outfitter,
you know.
Probably one or the other.
Yeah.
Trent Manning (25:10):
That was good.
Yeah, I was just
Haas Mengloi (25:12):
No, that's exactly
Trent Manning (25:15):
I guessed it.
All right.
Oh, awesome.
Very cool.
Well, I don't want to, I don'twant to steal your thunder
there.
Haas Mengloi (25:22):
No, that's I mean, If I'm staying in the industry,
I probably would want to teach.
You know, probably We used tohave a school here in Lake City
That, that taught you know, wehad turf classes and equipment
managers classes.
(25:42):
And that's probably, thatprobably would have been my
dream job is one day be teachingthose classes.
But outside of the industry,yeah, I'm definitely fishing
guide or hunting guide.
Trent Manning (25:58):
I love it.
That's good stuff.
Yeah, I don't know what we'regoing to do about the education
and schooling and all those kindof things.
There's, you know, I don't thinkthere's enough interest because
enough people don't know aboutit.
You know, I don't know exactlywhat the answer
Haas Mengloi (26:15):
I mean, I don't know how you guys are doing in
your state, but we areexperiencing a serious shortage
of equipment managers at the atthat level, you know, at a
higher level.
We are experience, experiencinga shortage.
And I have a lot ofsuperintendents that call me
(26:36):
looking for equipment managersbecause I usually place people.
And two weeks ago, last week,There was a job for 130, 000 and
I couldn't play somebody.
I struggled.
I had two guys Both turned itdown.
And there's really nobody elsethere.
You know, not at the level thatwe're at.
(26:59):
You know, and that's a problem.
And, you know, I don't know howto address it or how we can
address it, but, you know, I'mbringing an assistant in.
I'm only hiring people that areinterested in becoming equipment
managers.
And I'm taking two years, threeyears, or four years at the most
(27:21):
to train them to be equipmentmanagers and place them in
another club.
And.
You know, can't do it fastenough.
The last, my last assistant, Ihad to call the superintendent
and I told him, I'm like, hey, Iknow you want to hire my guy and
his, you know, his cutting unitsare, you know, pretty good.
(27:44):
I said, but we list ourequipments on a three year
lease.
Hasn't had a lot of, you know,wrench turning on machines, you
know, on the actual rebuildingengines or anything like that.
You're going to, you guys aregoing to have to give him a
little support on that.
And they're like, man, we'lltake him.
We don't care.
Trent Manning (28:03):
Yeah.
Haas Mengloi (28:04):
They're, I mean, they were desperate.
Trent Manning (28:06):
And I think there is, yeah, a lot of clubs.
Yeah.
And I mean, I think the shortageis nationwide and you know, I
don't know about over in Europeand some of these other markets,
but definitely in the U S it'sshort everywhere.
And there's a high end club herein Atlanta that's been looking
for somebody for probably twomonths, at least.
(28:29):
And I mean, good pay, nice club,great facility, and they hadn't
filled it yet.
And, you know, everybody aroundin my area that's would be
really good for the job alreadyhas a job and, you know, not
interested in moving.
(28:49):
And, but then what happens is westeal somebody from your state.
And then there's another spot tofill.
You know, I mean, that's justthe way it works.
And I mean, there's a bunch ofour guys in Georgia going south
too, in different directions.
So I don't know what the answeris, but I hope we figure
something out pretty soon.
Do you have a technician youwould like to work with
Haas Mengloi (29:12):
probably, I wouldn't mind working with one
of my assistants you know, justfor a day to see how they're
doing.
But that's probably thepolitically correct way of
answer.
The real, my real answer is Iwant to work with my buddy,
Chris Johnson.
The senior, his dad,
Trent Manning (29:31):
Ah, okay.
Haas Mengloi (29:33):
not the Chris Johnson, you know, by his dad,
because we like fishing and welike hunting and we like talking
about the, how we used to beback in the day, you know, when
we first started in the industryand how it's all different now.
Trent Manning (29:47):
Okay.
So, Chris Johnson Senior.
He's an equipment manager too.
Haas Mengloi (29:54):
It's an equipment manager at a private club north
of me
Trent Manning (29:58):
Okay.
Haas Mengloi (30:00):
he used to work like close to me and we used to
do lunch every Friday.
Trent Manning (30:05):
Oh, awesome.
Haas Mengloi (30:06):
yeah, he's further away now.
So, yeah,
Trent Manning (30:10):
Well, very cool.
Yeah, I didn't know that.
I just knew Junior.
Haas Mengloi (30:14):
yes, yeah.
Chris Johnson and I we're goodfriends and we love to talk
about fishing and hunting and.
You know, all the old equipmentswe used to have, and the higher
heights we used to have, and howit's changed, and
Trent Manning (30:28):
oh yeah, it has.
It's crazy the change we'veseen.
And I mean, really, it hasn'tbeen that long.
I mean, 20, 25 years and there'sa lot of things that's changed
in that amount of time
Haas Mengloi (30:46):
I mean, how long you been doing this?
You've been doing this for quitea while.
Trent Manning (30:50):
since 95 when I first started and we were mowing
low heights on greens butfairways weren't low heights I
mean we were using a Toro 450dwith those whatever 30 inch 32
inch cutting units to myfairways,
Haas Mengloi (31:08):
I want to say, because I want to say in 95 we
were still mowing fairways atthree quarters, you know, but
our greens, we were more, westill haven't, we didn't
transition to Fifth Eagle untillike 97, we had like, one of our
courses, they didn't.
They were still kind of in theexperimental stage was the Thief
(31:31):
Eagle.
So we still had Thief Dwarfs andwe were mowing them at I want to
say 156 or five, you know, wewere mowing them.
We were actually mowing themwith the fractions, you know,
like, Oh yeah.
I said that at 530 seconds or,you know, now we're going into
season.
Let's set them at 964, And nowthat's where the, I remember
(31:53):
when we went to Thief Eagle, Andwe had to like start lowering
our heights But we didn't havethe bed knives for them yet I
don't know if you remembergrinding the belly of the bed
knife so you can Get down to 125or below,
Trent Manning (32:10):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.
Haas Mengloi (32:12):
so
Trent Manning (32:13):
No.
Yeah, it's crazy how much haschanged for sure.
Yeah, I remember that now.
Yeah, 156.
That was definitely a popular.
Haas Mengloi (32:21):
156 was the standard
Trent Manning (32:22):
Yeah, that was a popular how to cut right
Haas Mengloi (32:25):
Yeah
Trent Manning (32:26):
That's funny.
Haas Mengloi (32:28):
then going into the season it was like 964.
That's when You know, you hadthose events and you know,
you're like, alright, now wegotta go down to 964, but you
know, take your time bringing itdown, you know, yeah.
Trent Manning (32:42):
That's crazy.
What do you know now?
You wish you'd known on day one.
Haas Mengloi (32:46):
Probably that my hearing is not replaceable.
And my knees, oh yeah, and myknees, man, I probably should
have taken better care of them,but mainly my hearing.
Trent Manning (32:59):
What about your back?
Haas Mengloi (33:02):
My back, would have messed it up going offshore
on the boats anyway, so.
No, but my hearing, mainly myhearing, I think my hearing is,
it's a direct I've lost quite abit of my hearing and it's a
direct result of me notlistening to those guys in those
(33:25):
early years when they weretelling me to wear earplugs and
earmuffs.
Trent Manning (33:30):
Yeah.
And I know, I mean, I walkthrough the shop and one of my
guys is doing something loud andI start pointing at his ears
and, you know, get it in becauseI'm the same way.
And it's frustrating liketalking to my kids or just other
people and you can't hear whatthey're saying and they have to
(33:50):
speak up and especially femalevoices because they're usually
softer.
It's just hard to hear.
Haas Mengloi (33:58):
My wife gets frustrated at me.
Trent Manning (34:01):
Yep.
Yep.
How do you deal with thatperson?
You got any persons like that onyour crew?
Yeah.
Haas Mengloi (34:11):
yes, I do.
The easiest way for me to do itis is send them send them to the
assistant superintendent.
You know, we have, like, we haveour superintendent and then we
have two assistants.
Those two assistants don't wantto hear me all the time.
So if I say something to themabout one of the operators,
(34:33):
they're going to correct itbecause they definitely don't
want to hear me again about it.
So,
Trent Manning (34:37):
Yeah.
Haas Mengloi (34:38):
gets solved really quick.
Trent Manning (34:40):
That's good.
That's a good system to have inplace for sure.
Haas Mengloi (34:45):
yeah.
Get ready for tips and tricks.
Trent Manning (34:49):
Let's do some tips and tricks.
What do you got that you want toshare with us?
Haas Mengloi (34:55):
I really, I mean, I probably have learned more
tips and tricks on this podcast.
The one thing that I do havethat I, I learned like 35 years
ago, and I still do it to thisday.
We're not allowed, especially atmy shop, to put any kind of
flammable stuff in tires andblow them up.
(35:15):
But what I have in my tiremounting compound bucket is I
have a long rag that stays inthere and I take that rag and I
go around the rim on the whiteside, the, that's opposite of
the valve stem And I pack it andpush it down and blow the valve
stem up where the valve stem is.
(35:35):
I'll sit that beam and then I'llflip it back around.
Now I can pull it down and thensit the other beam.
Trent Manning (35:43):
Okay, so
Haas Mengloi (35:44):
yeah,
Trent Manning (35:45):
just putting a rag in there to kind of
Haas Mengloi (35:47):
rag with the grease, with that mounting
compound.
Trent Manning (35:51):
Ah, okay.
Yeah.
Haas Mengloi (35:52):
Yeah.
So every once in a while I'llhave, I mean, I have a, I'll
have an equipment manager fromanother club.
They'll bring their tire over.
Hey, man, I can't get this tireto I can't get the beats to see
and I'm like, all right, bringit over and they'll bring it
over and I'll show them how todo it.
Trent Manning (36:08):
Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah, you need to make a videoof that and put it on Twitter or
Haas Mengloi (36:13):
It's like a really old it's a really old tip that I
learned a long time ago and Ijust Nobody does it anymore.
I think everybody used toLighter fluid or something.
Trent Manning (36:24):
Well, yeah, or the bead seeders.
Haas Mengloi (36:26):
the big
Trent Manning (36:27):
cheetahs or whatever they're called.
Yeah.
All right.
Awesome.
Well, let's talk aboutnetworking and what you got
going on there in Florida withyour local technician group.
Haas Mengloi (36:39):
Yeah, so when I first started this job was 24
years ago.
I was in a different end of thestate Well, not the state but
the different side of the countyand when I first moved here I
didn't know anybody and we usedto have we used to have an
association like years ago YouAnd I've always heard about the
(37:03):
Carolina Turf EquipmentTechnician.
And I decided that I wanted tostart one over here in our area,
a local one.
And basically it was just phonecalls.
I asked my boss for one of hisdirectory phone books for the
superintendents.
And I went club by club and Iwould call the superintendent
(37:27):
and introduce myself and say,Hey, I, you know, I'd like to
get to know your mechanics.
If we're going to do lunch, itwas a lot of phone calls, a lot
of,
Trent Manning (37:38):
Yeah.
Haas Mengloi (37:38):
But it happened, you know, that's.
Eventually we had a firstmeeting.
I set up a first meeting inafter we've had a lot of get
togethers, we set up ourassociation in 2005.
We had the first meetingofficial meeting here at my
shop.
And ever since then, we'vealways, we've had seminars and,
(38:02):
um, you know, we have meetings.
We have Friday lunches that willgo anywhere from two guys to,
um, You know, dirty guys gettingHaving lunch at a local place.
Trent Manning (38:12):
Yeah, no, that's super cool.
Haas Mengloi (38:14):
Yeah.
So we have, we started, itstarted out as a county, we
called it a Palm Beach CountyMechanics Association.
And then we went to Southeastbecause we had a lot of people
coming from Miami And South.
And about that time, JohnPatterson was actually next door
to me back in those days.
(38:35):
And he was starting the ITC, himand Tucker.
They were starting that but Itell you what, I the thing with
this, you know, I tell everybodythat you have to start this
networking.
A, when I am having a problemwith the machine.
I know how many people I cancall who are either Toro guys,
(38:59):
John Deere guys, or Jacobson,or, you know, this guy used to
be a car mechanic, or, itdoesn't matter what it is,
you're networking, you know thepeople in your area, you're
going to have some, you're goingto have some help, and sometimes
you'll have to be the guyhelping, but it's, that's how it
(39:19):
works, and also, one of thethings that Chris Johnson and I
have been doing, Is we're kindof we're kind of bringing like
the salary awareness Amongst theother guys that we network with
So you don't have this bigDifference in salary, you know,
(39:40):
we have guys that are you knowMaking six figures and then you
have somebody over here makingsixty thousand In a comparable
club, that's not right,
Trent Manning (39:49):
Right.
Haas Mengloi (39:50):
But unless you're networking with other, with your
peers and with other guys,you're not going to know that,
you know, and that's,
Trent Manning (39:56):
Right.
Yeah.
Haas Mengloi (39:57):
yeah.
And that's one of those thingswhere you have to network to get
those kinds of knowledge, to getthose, you know, to get that
kind of awareness.
And I think that's how importantit is.
This networking, I mean, allowsme to get to know guys like you
and me.
You know, guys within theindustry, I can name off names
(40:20):
of people I've never seen that Irespect because I see what
they're doing.
I'm part of their network, youknow
Trent Manning (40:28):
Oh yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Haas Mengloi (40:30):
Yeah, so
Trent Manning (40:31):
I mean, I'm super fortunate and I'll, you know, I
owe it to the listeners andeverybody that's been a guest
too, that I've got to travelaround and meet a lot of these
people.
And that, you know, I mean,that's just icing on the cake.
I mean, I love doing theinterviews and hearing
everybody's story and theirbackground, but getting her go
(40:56):
see them at their shop.
That's super cool.
And if you can do that in yourlocal area,
Haas Mengloi (41:02):
We have I mean, it's our local area like when we
have one of our seminars We canhave anywhere from 50 to 80
people at the seminars, you knowSo it's we're having quite a few
people and now We're havingvendors this friday lunches that
I do Actually, chris johnson isdoing I shouldn't say I You
(41:24):
Because about two years or threeyears ago, I thought Chris
Johnson.
I'm like, Hey, you're the guyYou're going to have to take
over our meetings and you'regoing to take over the Facebook.
And, you know, let me relax alittle bit.
So he's the guy doing it.
But when we do this, when we dothis launches now, we're having
vendors like calling us likeeither me or Chris and say, Hey,
(41:48):
when are you guys doing lunch?
We'd like to come and pay foryour lunch, you know, because
Trent Manning (41:53):
So is this, is that the big three like John
Deere or Toro or
Haas Mengloi (41:59):
Big three we had our last launch was paid for by
one of the fuel and oil vendors
Trent Manning (42:07):
no, That's super cool.
Haas Mengloi (42:09):
Yeah
Trent Manning (42:10):
Yeah, we had Kim search, you know, they sell
grease and that
Haas Mengloi (42:13):
Yep.
Yep.
Trent Manning (42:15):
Um, He would buy our lunch from time to time.
And then the parts master guy inour area, you know, it's kind of
like Lawson's.
Um, actually they got absorbedby Lawson's.
He would take care of us fromtime to time.
So that opportunities there, youknow, cause a lot of times it's
the same salesman that's comingby and seeing you and Chris and
(42:38):
everybody in that area.
And he doesn't mind buyingeverybody lunch.
Haas Mengloi (42:42):
And talking about the salesman I tell these guys
like that salesman is part ofyour network system He is the
guy that will tell you and, youknow, give you names and give
you people that you can networkwith that are like-minded, I see
so many people who are, youknow, can get rude with some
(43:03):
salesmen.
I don't do that.
I treat'em like friends.
I shake their hands, I say hi tothem, and it's been a good
relationship.
But going back to thisnetworking.
It's a lot of work.
The reason why every time wehave a meeting or we have a
lunch, I post it on Twitter oron Facebook.
Now it really doesn't doanything, but I just want to try
(43:25):
and encourage other clubs andother equipment managers
elsewhere that you guys can doit.
You know, it just, it takesphone calls.
It takes a little bit of, youknow, it takes a lot of phone
calls.
A lot of times that's how youmaintain those relationships
and, you know, doing thoseFriday lunches.
But you can do it, you know, andnowadays with WhatsApp, you
(43:49):
know, Chris got me hooked up inyour WhatsApp group, You know,
and then he created like aWhatsApp for our area and
somebody I think it was Shelbythat created the Florida Watch
app,
Trent Manning (44:02):
Okay.
Haas Mengloi (44:03):
it, there's so many, there's so many resources
out there as far as this, youknow, social media that you can
utilize to be a part of anetwork or to be aware of the
people around you and who'swhere and who's doing what.
You know, and who would you liketo go and hang out with, or
(44:23):
learn from or maybe help,
Trent Manning (44:26):
Oh yeah.
For sure.
And I get people DM me all thetime.
I had a guy DM me yesterday,which was Sunday and wanted to
talk because he was, he's asuperintendent and he's getting
ready to hire an equipmentmanager.
And he just wanted a littleadvice, like putting the ad
together, you know?
(44:47):
And, um, you know, um.
I'm sure you get the, a lot ofthe same thing, but that's, you
know, that's the reason I'm onsocial media is I'm there.
And
Haas Mengloi (44:59):
yeah.
Trent Manning (45:00):
I hadn't hadn't ghosted anybody.
If they if they send me amessage, I'll get back to them
when I can and try to answertheir question to the best of my
ability or, um, the other thing,I think that's really important.
Like you're mentioning with yournetwork.
If somebody asks me a questionand I don't know the answer,
there's a good chance I know aperson that will know the
(45:22):
answer.
You know, and it's just like youwere saying with your network,
you get to know who the car guyis, who the two stroke guy is,
who's really good on sprayers,who's good on hydraulics,
whatever it is, and you can sendpeople in their direction.
Haas Mengloi (45:37):
I mean, I, you know, listening to your podcast,
I get very humbled.
I find out there's so manytalented people, you know, in
our industry.
I'm not even, I wouldn't even bein the same room with them, you
know.
But the fact that I have thisnetwork system, I can have a
spray rig.
Go down at six o'clock and I'malready, I've already made three
(46:00):
phone calls and I already, youknow, I don't even wait I just,
you know, my boss knows like myfirst priority is to get that
machine going.
I have no problem callingsomebody else and there's, you
know, I have a couple of friendsaround here that I know you
know, if I call them, they knowthe answer.
(46:21):
You know and i'll call them, youknow, i'll call them
immediately.
I have phone numbers to theservice tax You know, for our,
you know, our dealership, butnothing stays broken here for
any length of time because ofthat network system.
Not because I'm that smart.
Trent Manning (46:41):
Well, yeah, but you are that smart because you
have a really good networksystem.
Haas Mengloi (46:46):
Exactly.
Trent Manning (46:47):
So you are smart and
Haas Mengloi (46:49):
My boss thinks, my boss says, man this is the
smartest guy I've ever seen.
Yeah.
Trent Manning (46:59):
network system and that's the other thing that
I don't think we've talked aboutright now, but if you call
somebody in your network systemand you need a bed knife or you
need a tire or, you know,whatever it is and you know,
nothing like that.
And especially if you're in aclose area and you're 10 minutes
down the road or something, youknow.
(47:20):
No big
Haas Mengloi (47:21):
The areas we're at, everybody's within a
slingshot.
You can go out and throw a stoneover the fence and hit another
club, you know?
So,
Trent Manning (47:30):
for sure.
Well, let's do some rapid fire.
Haas Mengloi (47:36):
all right,
Trent Manning (47:37):
You ready?
What's your favorite movie?
Haas Mengloi (47:39):
Here's the thing.
I tell everybody that's myfavorite movie and it probably
is.
But I know all the lines to Dumband Dumber for some reason.
Trent Manning (47:48):
that's really good.
What would be your last meal?
Haas Mengloi (47:51):
I've talked about this with Chris Jr.
actually.
I would say probably it's gonnabe a grits and eggs over easy
Trent Manning (48:00):
Okay.
Haas Mengloi (48:01):
probably a venison ham and a nice big, just a whole
blueberry pie to finish it off.
Yep.
Trent Manning (48:11):
Man, that sounds good.
Talking about language when youstart talking about dessert.
I'm all over some sweets.
What are you most proud ofbeside your family?
Haas Mengloi (48:20):
Probably my assistants.
Like I said, I have I think fiveor six of them that have moved
on to, they're all in high endprivate clubs doing really well.
And I'm very proud of, you know,what they've done.
Trent Manning (48:35):
Well, and how proud does that make you feel
that you helped them start theircareer?
Haas Mengloi (48:41):
It makes, it gives me a really good sense of
accomplishment, you know.
I just, I mean, I know whatAugie, you know, like I said
about my mentor, I know whatAugie did for me, Augustine, you
know.
And I know that I'm just payingit forward, you know, to the
assistance I've had.
Trent Manning (49:03):
Well, yeah you're paying it forward, but there's
nothing like that feeling.
I mean, in my opinion, anyway,that's way better than fixing a
piece of equipment or anythinglike that is being instrumental
in a young person's life.
And I don't think, I know Ididn't anyway, I probably didn't
(49:23):
realize it until I was close to40, how impactful we are on
young people.
And we get a lot of young peopleat the golf course, you know,
teenagers and, you know, highschoolers, college people, that
age group.
And they're looking up to you,you know, whether you see it or
(49:47):
not.
Haas Mengloi (49:48):
I hope you get to interview Chris Johnson, the
junior.
Um, I mean, I helped him get hisfirst equipment manager's job.
He started like coming here andtalking to me.
I think John Patterson was nextdoor he would go and talk to, he
was, he had a mission to findout what he needed to do, you
(50:12):
know, to be really good at whatwe do.
And he did that, and like Isaid, I helped him find his
first job and probably, youknow, his last job, um, but he's
at the point now where I callhim and ask him a lot of
(50:32):
questions and he's there.
I mean, I, He's way smarter thanI am, way more knowledgeable in
a lot of things, you know.
And just to know that, you know,he'll probably learn way more
from John Patterson than he didfrom me.
But just to know that I havebeen part of that journey, gives
me, that's, those kind of stuff.
It still makes me feel good,like, look at this guy, you
(50:55):
know, that, you know, he wasover here asking me questions.
You know, those many years ago.
Now I'm asking him questionsnowadays, you know, and I have
no problem doing it either, youknow.
Trent Manning (51:07):
Yeah, no that's awesome.
Yeah, I had a guy work for methree years and he's at a nicer
club than I am now.
But, and I'm so happy for him.
Like, man, that's awesome.
Haas Mengloi (51:19):
oh Yeah,
Trent Manning (51:20):
I mean, one, soon as the job come available, I
called him up and I said, Hey,you need to be looking at this.
And you know how small ourindustry is.
My superintendent knew thesuperintendent there gives that
superintendent a call.
So this guy worked with us forthree years, really good guy.
He squared away and.
(51:42):
When Charlie went for theinterview, he was like, it
wasn't even hardly an interviewbecause the superintendent
already had anothersuperintendent that he's been
friends with for 30 years.
Give him a good word on him, youknow?
So like you're saying, you gottadon't burn any bridges and now,
cause everybody knows everybodyaround here.
Haas Mengloi (52:05):
Yeah, I think most of my assistants have better
jobs than I do.
Not, better paying jobs than Ido.
And I'm okay with that.
You know, I'm stoked for them.
Happy for them.
And You know,
Trent Manning (52:16):
Yup.
No, that's good.
We'll tell the listeners howthey can get a hold of you.
You're on Twitter.
You're on Facebook.
Haas Mengloi (52:24):
yeah, I'm on Twitter, but I forgot.
I was, I meant to write it down.
I'm definitely on Facebook asHasmengloy.
And I'm on Twitter.
And I want to say.
Maybe HMengloy on Twitter,
Trent Manning (52:39):
We'll find it.
We'll tag you when we drop theepisode.
Haas Mengloi (52:42):
yeah.
Trent Manning (52:43):
thank you.
Haas Mengloi (52:44):
yeah, I was going to say, if you guys are in the
area, if you're anywhere nearSouth Florida, you or any
listeners stop by, say hi to meor Chris Johnson, or, you know,
we'll take you guys around, showyou guys around and.
You know, we'll have lunch orsomething.
Trent Manning (53:00):
Oh yeah for sure and
Haas Mengloi (53:03):
That's up
Trent Manning (53:04):
I was I was already pre planning on this
when the show's back in Orlando.
I may come down early.
Or stay late one of the two andcome down to South Florida
Haas Mengloi (53:16):
Absolutely.
I know Chris has been talkingabout maybe having you coming
down to one of our doing one ofour seminars
Trent Manning (53:23):
I would love to.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You just let me know when andwhat, well, he, the one y'all
had last year in September, itwas like the same weekend that
we were having a member guesttournament or something, but I
just, I couldn't make it, butyeah, I would definitely be
honored to come down there.
Alright, well thank you verymuch.
(53:44):
That's a wrap.
Haas Mengloi (53:44):
Thank you very much, man.
I appreciate it
Trent Manning (53:47):
Yes sir.
Thank you so much for listeningto the Reel turf techs podcast.
I hope you learned somethingtoday.
Don't forget to subscribe.
If you have any topics you'dlike to discuss, or you'd like
to be a guest, find us onTwitter at Reel turf techs.
welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the
technician that wants to getreel follow along.
As we talk to industryprofessionals and address hot
topics that we all face alongthe way we'll learn tips and
tricks.
I'm your host, Trent.
Manning let's have some thisepisode are real turf techs on
(00:27):
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presented by Foley county astrong supporter of equipment
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everywhere Foley county offers aproven solution for above and
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Welcome to the real turf textpodcast, episode 1 23..
(01:09):
Today, we're talking to Haasmango with.
C 10.
The equipment manager at thebears club and Jupiter, Florida.
The bears club is a private 18hole facility where the nine
hole.
Par three.
Is Jack Nicholson's home course.
When he's in Jupiter, Florida.
Awesome has mostly Toroequipment.
Let's talk the Haas.
Welcome Haas to the RealTurfTechs podcast.
(01:31):
Thanks for coming on.
How are you doing?
Haas Mengloi (01:33):
I'm doing very good.
Thank you for having me.
Trent Manning (01:36):
Oh, absolutely.
Nope.
Looking forward to it.
Tell us how you got into theturf industry.
Haas Mengloi (01:40):
Well, it started back in the 80s.
When I got off high school, Iknew exactly that I wanted to be
a school teacher.
So I took primary ed in college,and that lasted about two years.
Decided that's not the routethat I wanted to go.
(02:00):
So I moved to Florida And wentto a two year certificate course
in South Technical Institute inBoynton Beach, Florida And got
certified in marine engines.
So I thought I wanted to be aboat mechanic And I did that for
(02:21):
Not quite a year and the firstsix months the guy that owned
the it was a mercury marinedealership You He brought me
about 20 buckets, 5 gallonbuckets of stainless steel
bolts, nuts and bolts, and twobrand new bins.
And my job the first few monthswas to sort out all those nuts
(02:42):
and bolts in a quarter by 20 bythree quarter.
I mean, they got to the pointlike if you throw A bolt in the
air, I can tell you what size itwas before it hit the floor.
Trent Manning (02:54):
Good.
Haas Mengloi (02:56):
after six months or, he started telling me that
they were gonna have to lay meoff.
And, I didn't like that so Itold, I started telling my
neighbor at the time.
And he told me exactly, he'slike, hey man you helped fix my
lawnmower.
I saw in the newspaper, wherethey were looking for a
(03:17):
lawnmower mechanic at a golfcourse.
I'm like, really?
And he said, yeah.
So he showed me, you know, thiswas 89, so we still looked in
the newspaper.
And I saw the ad, and Went toapply the position was for an
assistant technician.
The equipment manager asked mewhat machines I knew how to work
(03:38):
on.
And I looked around and thefirst things I saw were those
old Toro walk mowers.
And I said, oh, you see thosemachines right there?
I can fix them all.
He said, well, you're hired.
That's the, just so happened tobe the guy that they were
replacing.
Hey, that was his job.
So
Trent Manning (03:58):
Okay,
Haas Mengloi (03:58):
like, yeah,
Trent Manning (04:01):
So, did you turn wrenches before that?
Haas Mengloi (04:04):
not
Trent Manning (04:04):
led you down the mechanic road?
Haas Mengloi (04:07):
When I was going to school in, oh, I attended the
University of Guam.
That's where I'm from.
And my brother, my oldestbrother wanted me, I always
worked on stuff.
You know, he was a car mechanic.
My dad was a engineer on cargoships.
So we were all mechanics.
(04:27):
He wanted me to learn how to fixboats and go back to the Pacific
Island and, you know, be themarine guy.
When I went through the golfcourse, I've never seen you
know, I've never seen anythingthat looked like a walk mow, so
I didn't know what I was lookingat, how to fix it.
How did he tell the equipmentmanager that I knew how to work
on it?
(04:48):
So when the first Monday that Istarted, they finished it was
two golf courses.
That used the walk mowers.
So it was course one and coursetwo.
They line up the walk mowers andI was supposed to check them.
So I put one on the table and Ilooked at it and finally I
called the equipment managerover and I said listen, Avi, I
(05:09):
know how to fix this mower, butI know how to fix it my way.
But since you're my boss, I wantto do it your way, so you tell
me how you fix it, and fromtoday forward, I'll fix it
exactly how you do it.
He got excited, he called themeeting.
You see this guy right here?
Now, that's the first mechanicthat wants to do things my way.
(05:31):
So, and he was very thorough, Imean, he put a Walkmore up on
the table, and, All right, firstthing you do is you grab this
hand file and you face the bedknife back then, you know We
didn't have die grinders So itwas all hand file and adjusting
and he went through the wholething and after that I did the
(05:55):
second one and Third one andjust kind of as I went,
Trent Manning (06:01):
That's awesome, though.
That's cool.
Haas Mengloi (06:03):
yeah,
Trent Manning (06:04):
I mean, what better way to, to learn about
that stuff?
Haas Mengloi (06:08):
oh yeah.
The other technicians were on tome real quick though.
It was a 418 hole golf courseclub and there was probably like
nine mechanics including me.
And it took them about three,four days.
To realize I didn't knowanything and they started like
(06:28):
kind of giving me a hard time.
I was like buying people sodasand
Trent Manning (06:32):
Yeah.
That's funny.
That's good stuff.
Well, cool.
What's your least favorite partof the job?
Haas Mengloi (06:39):
Probably the paperwork part.
But other than that not reallyanything.
I love everything I do
Trent Manning (06:46):
Do you end up doing a lot of paperwork?
Haas Mengloi (06:49):
Not really.
I mean, it's more like i'm Irecently got the MyTurf Pro, and
I started inputting all thatinformation and I said to
myself, I hate this part righthere.
Trent Manning (07:02):
Oh yeah.
Haas Mengloi (07:03):
that kind of stuff I don't like, but everything
else, I think it's, you know,including the people, you know,
there's nothing I don't likeabout it.
Trent Manning (07:12):
No, that's good.
And I don't know of anybody thatgot in the business and said, I
want to do paperwork.
You know, I mean, most of uslike to work with our hands and
all those things.
So, you know, I don't know.
But,
Haas Mengloi (07:26):
when I'm sorry, when I first started here, I've
been here 24 years.
When I first started here, asyou, most of you guys do it,
equipment managers, they usuallygo to like management meetings.
I went to one and I asked myboss, I'm like, Hey, listen,
this meeting really didn't haveanything to do with what I'm
doing.
Do you mind if I skip them?
(07:49):
And it's like, Hey, if you don'twant to go, you don't have to
go.
So I got out of that and neverwent back
Trent Manning (07:55):
I don't blame you there.
Yeah.
A lot of us we like to stay inthe shop and kind of behind the
scenes and nothing wrong withthat at all.
Haas Mengloi (08:03):
yep
Trent Manning (08:04):
favorite tool?
Haas Mengloi (08:05):
I don't think I have a favorite tool other than
I really like that xbim that Iheard on one of your podcast
That thing is like a palm saverthat
Trent Manning (08:16):
Oh yeah.
Yep.
Yeah.
I seen you post on X or Twitterabout that.
That's awesome.
Haas Mengloi (08:22):
but um probably I would say it's my most
sentimental tool You It's a setof Mac tools, sockets, that I
bought when I first started.
I want to say they cost me 280
Trent Manning (08:36):
Oh yeah.
Haas Mengloi (08:37):
Inch drive.
I have them in my toolbox.
Hardly ever use them anymore.
But, I look at them every oncein a while.
Just remember my old boss like,oh, you're investing in
yourself.
You gotta get them
Trent Manning (08:49):
that's awesome.
Did y'all have a tool guy thatcome by the shop back then?
Haas Mengloi (08:54):
We had both snap on and Mac tool And I went into
that for over a decade Yep
Trent Manning (09:09):
a week for the rest of your life.
Yeah, it's crazy the way you getthey get you and yeah, what
stuff you know How expensiveeverything is but you know, they
are coming by the shop if youdid break something they'll
change it out You know all thosethings There is some perks there
Haas Mengloi (09:29):
Yeah, here at my job now, my current job, I
talked with my boss, mysuperintendent, like, maybe 17
years ago, everybody wasborrowing my tools.
And I told him, I said, here'sthe deal, I don't mind you
borrowing my tools, I said, buteventually you will lose my
tools.
I said, you're losing myexpensive tools.
(09:50):
I said, you use my tools andwhatever I feel that I need as a
tool, I would purchase it and itgoes in my toolbox as my
personal tool, but you will payfor it.
And it's worked out fine for,you know, the last 20 years.
Trent Manning (10:06):
No, that's awesome.
Then.
Yeah, I don't know thateverybody is lucky as you are
No, that hasn't been myexperience.
I mean, luckily at my place, wehave a shop box and you know, it
has tools that we use to, I havemy own set and the guys that
helped me in the shop.
(10:26):
I let them use my stuff, butnobody on the crew is going to
use my stuff just because theway they, you know,
Haas Mengloi (10:34):
You've been around, yeah, you've been around
long enough.
I remember when I first started,you can't even look at
somebody's toolbox, or you goclose to somebody's toolbox,
they look at you like, you know,you're getting
Trent Manning (10:48):
Oh yeah.
Well, actually the mechanic thatmentored me and I kind of
trained under as an assistantmechanic, if he saw somebody
getting close or, you know,opening a drawer on his toolbox
and he was a little busy, Imean, he was a short guy,
probably, I don't know, five,eight, And a little wiry guy,
(11:12):
though, you know, 140 poundsneed to say, that's a good way
to get your GED arm broke.
I mean, he would say, I mean,all serious to don't mess with
his tools.
Yeah.
And I mean, there's a lot ofpeople that are that way.
And I mean, understandably so,you know, I mean,
Haas Mengloi (11:31):
felt,
Trent Manning (11:32):
it's just like if somebody on the crew went and
got in your vehicle, right.
And was, you know.
Like, you know, yeah it'ssimilar for sure.
Do you have a story there?
I cut you off.
No,
Haas Mengloi (11:47):
you know, the assistants I've had over the
years, I let them borrow mytools, but I will tell them
like, hey, if you borrowed atool, It's probably something
that you ought to buy and I tellthem you don't have to buy snap
on or mac tool You know, but buythat tool that you need, you
know, so
Trent Manning (12:06):
that's a really good point.
And I had a close friend and heworked with me for a little
while, but we've been friendsbefore and after that.
And he started out more in theautomotive industry.
And when he was working underpeople, when he first got
started, He had a mechanic, amaster mechanic that was
(12:28):
mentoring him and every time hewould borrow a tool, the guy
would make him write it downwhat tool he borrowed.
And once he borrowed the sametool three times, he had to get
his own
Haas Mengloi (12:42):
That's
Trent Manning (12:42):
and you know, and that's a good way to like build
your set.
Because, you know, I mean,nobody wants to go out and dump,
you know, however much, fivegrand, 10 grand, 20 grand, you
know, on a full set of reallynice tools.
So, you know, you get it.
It's like the old Johnny Cashsong, one piece at a time.
Haas Mengloi (13:01):
Yeah.
Trent Manning (13:01):
get it.
One piece at a time.
Haas Mengloi (13:03):
That's right.
Trent Manning (13:04):
What do you do to relax or find your balance?
Haas Mengloi (13:07):
Well, I do a lot of fishing and a lot of hunting
and a lot of fishing.
I don't necessarily call itrelax.
I mean, you, I know you do a lotof bass fishing.
Got to get up super early.
You stay up late tying rigs andall that kind of stuff.
When I go on vacation, like I'llgo, I usually hunt out of state.
(13:29):
When I can't wait, sometimes Ican't wait to come back after a
two week hunt.
And get back to that, it's morerelaxing at work to me, You get
in your group, it's familiarthings and, you know.
After work, sometimes peopleleave and I'm still here.
And I'm relaxed, you know, but Ido a lot of fishing and I do a
(13:50):
lot of hunting.
Trent Manning (13:51):
That's awesome.
That's all good stuff.
Yeah.
Where do you hunt?
Out of state.
Haas Mengloi (13:55):
Um, do archery in the mountains up in Southwest
Virginia and do rifle inKentucky.
Sometimes I did a lot of huntingin Georgia also.
Trent Manning (14:07):
Okay.
Haas Mengloi (14:08):
Um, but now it's mostly like in the mountains of
Virginia.
I do it all over there archery.
Season, rifle season, I domuzzle loader.
Trent Manning (14:18):
Okay.
You have a land you lease or youhunt on the public land?
Haas Mengloi (14:24):
It's a private lands, it's a few private lands.
I have a friend of mine thatlives there, actually three
friends of mine.
And I go there and I, there's somany deer, they'll put whatever
they put me, I'm harvestingsomething.
Trent Manning (14:37):
Oh, that's awesome.
Yeah.
No, that's fun.
Very cool.
What has been your biggestchallenge to date?
Haas Mengloi (14:45):
Biggest, I wouldn't call it a challenge.
Probably like the training part,you know, I've trained over the
24 years I've been here, I havetrained five or six equipment
managers and it's challenging attimes.
Every one of them is different,Personalities, different
(15:06):
mentality.
And probably the biggestchallenge is for me to adapt to
each new assistant and work withwhat they have.
Trent Manning (15:16):
Yeah.
No that's really good.
Do you have any tips for us on?
Or anything you found that worksfor you on that?
Because I think that's somethingthat we all struggle with.
Haas Mengloi (15:28):
I would say patience and don't get mad.
You know, don't, you know, Ishouldn't say don't get mad.
Don't let it, don't stay mad.
You know, that's I'm quick toget on somebody, but I'm quick
to let them know it's done.
I'm.
You know, we'll, you know, we'llgo for a ride and, you know,
we'll crack jokes and go on ourlives.
(15:50):
You know, it's enough to justlet somebody know that's not the
way to do this.
Or, you know, you can do better,And then let it go.
No,
Trent Manning (16:01):
a good point because anything that you hold
on to, it just makes every dayget a little bit worse.
I think if you're holding on tosomething, so yeah, it's
definitely better to just air itout, get it in the open and you
know, we all mess up, we allmake mistakes every day.
Haas Mengloi (16:20):
The biggest change that I'm, I've been working on
is, Trying to be more positiveor give them more positive
input.
One of my, one of my lastassistant, he's, he got an
equipment manager's job.
And, you know, most, almost allof them, actually, all of them
are in private clubs and, youknow, after he's got established
(16:43):
there, he invited me and my wifeto dinner at their house and his
wife said, yeah, you know, Robwas always complaining about how
you never say anything good.
Trent Manning (16:54):
Mhm.
Haas Mengloi (16:55):
always point out the bad, but look how well he's
doing now.
And, you know, we're alllaughing and kidding about it.
But I went home and I'm like,you know, maybe I should, you
know, I need to be more positiveand give more positive input,
you know.
Trent Manning (17:21):
some productive feedback like that, you know,
give it to us because sometimeswe don't really know if we're
doing it right or wrong.
And I mean, none of us are, Isay, none of us, most of us.
Didn't go to school to learn howto be a manager.
You know, we just started out asa mechanic and then we were
(17:43):
successful.
So then we got somebody workingunder us and then you're trying
to manage people.
And I think we need, we all needa little help in that area.
Haas Mengloi (17:53):
I, I, and I think it's progressed a lot like I
remember I've been doing thisfor 35 years and you've been
doing it for a minute as welland you've seen The change in
the culture.
I mean when I first started itwas nothing For a mechanic to
throw wrench across the shop orthrow wrench at somebody,
Trent Manning (18:14):
Oh
Haas Mengloi (18:14):
know nowadays you know, it's not acceptable and
you'll get in trouble for it andit's not the right way to do it
and You know people are justdoing things the correct way,
you know, we're more educated.
Or we have evolved.
I've definitely evolved a lot.
You know, the way I do reels,the way I deal with people,
(18:35):
everything.
Trent Manning (18:36):
Oh yeah.
Haas Mengloi (18:37):
we learn over the years.
Trent Manning (18:39):
Yep.
Every day is a learningopportunity.
And yeah learn something everyday if you can.
And you're right.
The culture has changed so much.
I mean, I remember when I firststarted, you know, and it was at
a private club, but it was go.
And I mean the, you know, prettystressful pressure on, and I
(19:03):
find myself over the years.
I think I was so comfortablewith all that pressure that now
nobody else is putting thepressure on me.
So I put that pressure on myselfand I'm not saying that's
healthy.
Um, I need to take a step backand say, it's okay.
(19:24):
But as you say, we're, you know,I have got better than I was.
And you know, some of that, Ithink comes with age too.
Haas Mengloi (19:33):
Yeah, I think
Trent Manning (19:34):
That, that helps some.
What's the strangest thingyou've seen on a golf course?
Haas Mengloi (19:41):
Probably on my previous job probably seeing a
plane land on number 12,fairway.
And taxi all the way to, almostto the green, didn't make it on
the green, but it was rightthere on the approach.
Trent Manning (19:55):
Wow.
That's crazy.
It's a, was it emergencylanding?
Haas Mengloi (19:59):
Yes, yeah, they, I think they ran out of gas or
they immediately like roped itoff and.
We weren't allowed anywhere nearit.
Trent Manning (20:08):
I guess FAA has got to do their stuff.
Haas Mengloi (20:11):
Yep.
Trent Manning (20:12):
Yeah, that's crazy.
Yeah, but fairway, that's a goodplace to set one down if you
have to.
Yeah,
Haas Mengloi (20:22):
renovations.
You can't do it now, but backthen it was like wide open
fairways on that one particulargolf course.
Trent Manning (20:28):
We had it was actually a member guest
tournament and one of ourmembers was I forget exactly
what his title was, but he wasbasically a used aircraft
salesman and anyway, so he had abuddy.
That owned a helicopter and flewhim and his guest in on a
(20:52):
helicopter.
They landed in one fairway and,you know, it was a big deal.
That was pretty cool though,because the, we have a, an open
area that is owned by the golfcourse.
And that's where we keep all ournatural debris and stuff like
that.
But there's a field there, anice landing zone.
So I was out there talking tothe pilot for hours, you know,
(21:16):
about how the helicopter works.
So that was, yeah, super coolexperience.
Haas Mengloi (21:20):
Okay.
Trent Manning (21:20):
Do you have a mentor in the industry?
Haas Mengloi (21:23):
He recently passed away.
He was the guy that hired mewhen I first started.
His name is Augustin Montes.
He was a farm mechanic fromMississippi and they moved to
Florida, the whole family movedto Florida and somehow he got on
the golf course.
The guy could hardly read, buthe knew his stuff and I learned
(21:46):
everything that I mean, hetaught me how to weld, he taught
me he taught me just abouteverything that I learned in
those 10 years that I worked forhim.
And if I was to say the onething that he taught me that I
will never forget is whateveryou do it right the first time.
Don't let it come back and biteyou in the, you know what?
Trent Manning (22:06):
Yeah, yep.
Haas Mengloi (22:07):
He said that constantly.
And I mean, I just, it'ssomething I tell all my
assistants, you know, don't letit come back and bite you,
Trent Manning (22:15):
No, I mean, that's words of wisdom, words to
live by for sure.
And I do think it's Interesting,I guess might be a good term,
but people that I believeanyway, that a lot of people
judge other people that may beilliterate where they can't
(22:38):
read, they can't write, and theythink automatically they think
they're stupid.
But those people.
I mean, honestly, I thinkthey're smarter than most other
people, even though they mightnot know how to read or write,
you know, and I don't knowexactly why, but, and I bring
this up because my grandfather,he couldn't read or write.
(22:59):
He only went to school until hewas like eight years old and he
couldn't even sign his name.
He just put an X on the paper,but.
He was a really good mechanic.
He was a good brick Mason, youknow what I mean?
All these things.
And he definitely struggled withdescribing how things work
because he had such a small, um,vocabulary and he would say this
(23:24):
Hickey moves that Hickey thisthing, I'm a jig.
Yeah.
I mean, he called everything athing of a jig or a Hickey.
Um, but yeah, anyway,
Haas Mengloi (23:34):
no, he's, that's how he was.
I mean, he would, I rememberwhen it was like in the 90s when
John Deere first came out withthe 3365 fairway rough mower,
the big tractor mower.
And none of us knew anythingabout it.
And they said, they gave us a,like a service and parts manual.
(23:56):
And every time something brokeon it.
He would wait until everybodyleft and he would call me over
and we would read that servicemanual I would read it to him
and he'll sit there and thinkabout it and say, okay, I know
exactly what's wrong.
right.
What you need to do.
So I'm reading it to him.
I'm not comprehending what I'mreading, but he knows exactly
(24:18):
what I'm reading and he'stelling me like, all right, I
know what we have to do.
We have to take this apart andwe have to do this.
And That's, yeah.
Trent Manning (24:26):
yeah, it's, that's cool.
So I think it's important to, orit's important to me that I grew
up that way and I got toexperience that.
And it makes me appreciate beingable to read and write a whole
lot more.
(24:47):
And I think a lot of us probablyjust take it for granted because
just about everybody knows howto read and write now.
But it wasn't that long ago thatwas not the case.
What would be your dream job oropportunity?
Guiding hunts?
Haas Mengloi (25:01):
Guiding hunts or guiding fishing or,
Trent Manning (25:04):
yeah.
Haas Mengloi (25:05):
yeah, like some, like a combination outfitter,
you know.
Probably one or the other.
Yeah.
Trent Manning (25:10):
That was good.
Yeah, I was just
Haas Mengloi (25:12):
No, that's exactly
Trent Manning (25:15):
I guessed it.
All right.
Oh, awesome.
Very cool.
Well, I don't want to, I don'twant to steal your thunder
there.
Haas Mengloi (25:22):
No, that's I mean, If I'm staying in the industry,
I probably would want to teach.
You know, probably We used tohave a school here in Lake City
That, that taught you know, wehad turf classes and equipment
managers classes.
(25:42):
And that's probably, thatprobably would have been my
dream job is one day be teachingthose classes.
But outside of the industry,yeah, I'm definitely fishing
guide or hunting guide.
Trent Manning (25:58):
I love it.
That's good stuff.
Yeah, I don't know what we'regoing to do about the education
and schooling and all those kindof things.
There's, you know, I don't thinkthere's enough interest because
enough people don't know aboutit.
You know, I don't know exactlywhat the answer
Haas Mengloi (26:15):
I mean, I don't know how you guys are doing in
your state, but we areexperiencing a serious shortage
of equipment managers at the atthat level, you know, at a
higher level.
We are experience, experiencinga shortage.
And I have a lot ofsuperintendents that call me
(26:36):
looking for equipment managersbecause I usually place people.
And two weeks ago, last week,There was a job for 130, 000 and
I couldn't play somebody.
I struggled.
I had two guys Both turned itdown.
And there's really nobody elsethere.
You know, not at the level thatwe're at.
(26:59):
You know, and that's a problem.
And, you know, I don't know howto address it or how we can
address it, but, you know, I'mbringing an assistant in.
I'm only hiring people that areinterested in becoming equipment
managers.
And I'm taking two years, threeyears, or four years at the most
(27:21):
to train them to be equipmentmanagers and place them in
another club.
And.
You know, can't do it fastenough.
The last, my last assistant, Ihad to call the superintendent
and I told him, I'm like, hey, Iknow you want to hire my guy and
his, you know, his cutting unitsare, you know, pretty good.
(27:44):
I said, but we list ourequipments on a three year
lease.
Hasn't had a lot of, you know,wrench turning on machines, you
know, on the actual rebuildingengines or anything like that.
You're going to, you guys aregoing to have to give him a
little support on that.
And they're like, man, we'lltake him.
We don't care.
Trent Manning (28:03):
Yeah.
Haas Mengloi (28:04):
They're, I mean, they were desperate.
Trent Manning (28:06):
And I think there is, yeah, a lot of clubs.
Yeah.
And I mean, I think the shortageis nationwide and you know, I
don't know about over in Europeand some of these other markets,
but definitely in the U S it'sshort everywhere.
And there's a high end club herein Atlanta that's been looking
for somebody for probably twomonths, at least.
(28:29):
And I mean, good pay, nice club,great facility, and they hadn't
filled it yet.
And, you know, everybody aroundin my area that's would be
really good for the job alreadyhas a job and, you know, not
interested in moving.
(28:49):
And, but then what happens is westeal somebody from your state.
And then there's another spot tofill.
You know, I mean, that's justthe way it works.
And I mean, there's a bunch ofour guys in Georgia going south
too, in different directions.
So I don't know what the answeris, but I hope we figure
something out pretty soon.
Do you have a technician youwould like to work with
Haas Mengloi (29:12):
probably, I wouldn't mind working with one
of my assistants you know, justfor a day to see how they're
doing.
But that's probably thepolitically correct way of
answer.
The real, my real answer is Iwant to work with my buddy,
Chris Johnson.
The senior, his dad,
Trent Manning (29:31):
Ah, okay.
Haas Mengloi (29:33):
not the Chris Johnson, you know, by his dad,
because we like fishing and welike hunting and we like talking
about the, how we used to beback in the day, you know, when
we first started in the industryand how it's all different now.
Trent Manning (29:47):
Okay.
So, Chris Johnson Senior.
He's an equipment manager too.
Haas Mengloi (29:54):
It's an equipment manager at a private club north
of me
Trent Manning (29:58):
Okay.
Haas Mengloi (30:00):
he used to work like close to me and we used to
do lunch every Friday.
Trent Manning (30:05):
Oh, awesome.
Haas Mengloi (30:06):
yeah, he's further away now.
So, yeah,
Trent Manning (30:10):
Well, very cool.
Yeah, I didn't know that.
I just knew Junior.
Haas Mengloi (30:14):
yes, yeah.
Chris Johnson and I we're goodfriends and we love to talk
about fishing and hunting and.
You know, all the old equipmentswe used to have, and the higher
heights we used to have, and howit's changed, and
Trent Manning (30:28):
oh yeah, it has.
It's crazy the change we'veseen.
And I mean, really, it hasn'tbeen that long.
I mean, 20, 25 years and there'sa lot of things that's changed
in that amount of time
Haas Mengloi (30:46):
I mean, how long you been doing this?
You've been doing this for quitea while.
Trent Manning (30:50):
since 95 when I first started and we were mowing
low heights on greens butfairways weren't low heights I
mean we were using a Toro 450dwith those whatever 30 inch 32
inch cutting units to myfairways,
Haas Mengloi (31:08):
I want to say, because I want to say in 95 we
were still mowing fairways atthree quarters, you know, but
our greens, we were more, westill haven't, we didn't
transition to Fifth Eagle untillike 97, we had like, one of our
courses, they didn't.
They were still kind of in theexperimental stage was the Thief
(31:31):
Eagle.
So we still had Thief Dwarfs andwe were mowing them at I want to
say 156 or five, you know, wewere mowing them.
We were actually mowing themwith the fractions, you know,
like, Oh yeah.
I said that at 530 seconds or,you know, now we're going into
season.
Let's set them at 964, And nowthat's where the, I remember
(31:53):
when we went to Thief Eagle, Andwe had to like start lowering
our heights But we didn't havethe bed knives for them yet I
don't know if you remembergrinding the belly of the bed
knife so you can Get down to 125or below,
Trent Manning (32:10):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.
Haas Mengloi (32:12):
so
Trent Manning (32:13):
No.
Yeah, it's crazy how much haschanged for sure.
Yeah, I remember that now.
Yeah, 156.
That was definitely a popular.
Haas Mengloi (32:21):
156 was the standard
Trent Manning (32:22):
Yeah, that was a popular how to cut right
Haas Mengloi (32:25):
Yeah
Trent Manning (32:26):
That's funny.
Haas Mengloi (32:28):
then going into the season it was like 964.
That's when You know, you hadthose events and you know,
you're like, alright, now wegotta go down to 964, but you
know, take your time bringing itdown, you know, yeah.
Trent Manning (32:42):
That's crazy.
What do you know now?
You wish you'd known on day one.
Haas Mengloi (32:46):
Probably that my hearing is not replaceable.
And my knees, oh yeah, and myknees, man, I probably should
have taken better care of them,but mainly my hearing.
Trent Manning (32:59):
What about your back?
Haas Mengloi (33:02):
My back, would have messed it up going offshore
on the boats anyway, so.
No, but my hearing, mainly myhearing, I think my hearing is,
it's a direct I've lost quite abit of my hearing and it's a
direct result of me notlistening to those guys in those
(33:25):
early years when they weretelling me to wear earplugs and
earmuffs.
Trent Manning (33:30):
Yeah.
And I know, I mean, I walkthrough the shop and one of my
guys is doing something loud andI start pointing at his ears
and, you know, get it in becauseI'm the same way.
And it's frustrating liketalking to my kids or just other
people and you can't hear whatthey're saying and they have to
(33:50):
speak up and especially femalevoices because they're usually
softer.
It's just hard to hear.
Haas Mengloi (33:58):
My wife gets frustrated at me.
Trent Manning (34:01):
Yep.
Yep.
How do you deal with thatperson?
You got any persons like that onyour crew?
Yeah.
Haas Mengloi (34:11):
yes, I do.
The easiest way for me to do itis is send them send them to the
assistant superintendent.
You know, we have, like, we haveour superintendent and then we
have two assistants.
Those two assistants don't wantto hear me all the time.
So if I say something to themabout one of the operators,
(34:33):
they're going to correct itbecause they definitely don't
want to hear me again about it.
So,
Trent Manning (34:37):
Yeah.
Haas Mengloi (34:38):
gets solved really quick.
Trent Manning (34:40):
That's good.
That's a good system to have inplace for sure.
Haas Mengloi (34:45):
yeah.
Get ready for tips and tricks.
Trent Manning (34:49):
Let's do some tips and tricks.
What do you got that you want toshare with us?
Haas Mengloi (34:55):
I really, I mean, I probably have learned more
tips and tricks on this podcast.
The one thing that I do havethat I, I learned like 35 years
ago, and I still do it to thisday.
We're not allowed, especially atmy shop, to put any kind of
flammable stuff in tires andblow them up.
(35:15):
But what I have in my tiremounting compound bucket is I
have a long rag that stays inthere and I take that rag and I
go around the rim on the whiteside, the, that's opposite of
the valve stem And I pack it andpush it down and blow the valve
stem up where the valve stem is.
(35:35):
I'll sit that beam and then I'llflip it back around.
Now I can pull it down and thensit the other beam.
Trent Manning (35:43):
Okay, so
Haas Mengloi (35:44):
yeah,
Trent Manning (35:45):
just putting a rag in there to kind of
Haas Mengloi (35:47):
rag with the grease, with that mounting
compound.
Trent Manning (35:51):
Ah, okay.
Yeah.
Haas Mengloi (35:52):
Yeah.
So every once in a while I'llhave, I mean, I have a, I'll
have an equipment manager fromanother club.
They'll bring their tire over.
Hey, man, I can't get this tireto I can't get the beats to see
and I'm like, all right, bringit over and they'll bring it
over and I'll show them how todo it.
Trent Manning (36:08):
Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah, you need to make a videoof that and put it on Twitter or
Haas Mengloi (36:13):
It's like a really old it's a really old tip that I
learned a long time ago and Ijust Nobody does it anymore.
I think everybody used toLighter fluid or something.
Trent Manning (36:24):
Well, yeah, or the bead seeders.
Haas Mengloi (36:26):
the big
Trent Manning (36:27):
cheetahs or whatever they're called.
Yeah.
All right.
Awesome.
Well, let's talk aboutnetworking and what you got
going on there in Florida withyour local technician group.
Haas Mengloi (36:39):
Yeah, so when I first started this job was 24
years ago.
I was in a different end of thestate Well, not the state but
the different side of the countyand when I first moved here I
didn't know anybody and we usedto have we used to have an
association like years ago YouAnd I've always heard about the
(37:03):
Carolina Turf EquipmentTechnician.
And I decided that I wanted tostart one over here in our area,
a local one.
And basically it was just phonecalls.
I asked my boss for one of hisdirectory phone books for the
superintendents.
And I went club by club and Iwould call the superintendent
(37:27):
and introduce myself and say,Hey, I, you know, I'd like to
get to know your mechanics.
If we're going to do lunch, itwas a lot of phone calls, a lot
of,
Trent Manning (37:38):
Yeah.
Haas Mengloi (37:38):
But it happened, you know, that's.
Eventually we had a firstmeeting.
I set up a first meeting inafter we've had a lot of get
togethers, we set up ourassociation in 2005.
We had the first meetingofficial meeting here at my
shop.
And ever since then, we'vealways, we've had seminars and,
(38:02):
um, you know, we have meetings.
We have Friday lunches that willgo anywhere from two guys to,
um, You know, dirty guys gettingHaving lunch at a local place.
Trent Manning (38:12):
Yeah, no, that's super cool.
Haas Mengloi (38:14):
Yeah.
So we have, we started, itstarted out as a county, we
called it a Palm Beach CountyMechanics Association.
And then we went to Southeastbecause we had a lot of people
coming from Miami And South.
And about that time, JohnPatterson was actually next door
to me back in those days.
(38:35):
And he was starting the ITC, himand Tucker.
They were starting that but Itell you what, I the thing with
this, you know, I tell everybodythat you have to start this
networking.
A, when I am having a problemwith the machine.
I know how many people I cancall who are either Toro guys,
(38:59):
John Deere guys, or Jacobson,or, you know, this guy used to
be a car mechanic, or, itdoesn't matter what it is,
you're networking, you know thepeople in your area, you're
going to have some, you're goingto have some help, and sometimes
you'll have to be the guyhelping, but it's, that's how it
(39:19):
works, and also, one of thethings that Chris Johnson and I
have been doing, Is we're kindof we're kind of bringing like
the salary awareness Amongst theother guys that we network with
So you don't have this bigDifference in salary, you know,
(39:40):
we have guys that are you knowMaking six figures and then you
have somebody over here makingsixty thousand In a comparable
club, that's not right,
Trent Manning (39:49):
Right.
Haas Mengloi (39:50):
But unless you're networking with other, with your
peers and with other guys,you're not going to know that,
you know, and that's,
Trent Manning (39:56):
Right.
Yeah.
Haas Mengloi (39:57):
yeah.
And that's one of those thingswhere you have to network to get
those kinds of knowledge, to getthose, you know, to get that
kind of awareness.
And I think that's how importantit is.
This networking, I mean, allowsme to get to know guys like you
and me.
You know, guys within theindustry, I can name off names
(40:20):
of people I've never seen that Irespect because I see what
they're doing.
I'm part of their network, youknow
Trent Manning (40:28):
Oh yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Haas Mengloi (40:30):
Yeah, so
Trent Manning (40:31):
I mean, I'm super fortunate and I'll, you know, I
owe it to the listeners andeverybody that's been a guest
too, that I've got to travelaround and meet a lot of these
people.
And that, you know, I mean,that's just icing on the cake.
I mean, I love doing theinterviews and hearing
everybody's story and theirbackground, but getting her go
(40:56):
see them at their shop.
That's super cool.
And if you can do that in yourlocal area,
Haas Mengloi (41:02):
We have I mean, it's our local area like when we
have one of our seminars We canhave anywhere from 50 to 80
people at the seminars, you knowSo it's we're having quite a few
people and now We're havingvendors this friday lunches that
I do Actually, chris johnson isdoing I shouldn't say I You
(41:24):
Because about two years or threeyears ago, I thought Chris
Johnson.
I'm like, Hey, you're the guyYou're going to have to take
over our meetings and you'regoing to take over the Facebook.
And, you know, let me relax alittle bit.
So he's the guy doing it.
But when we do this, when we dothis launches now, we're having
vendors like calling us likeeither me or Chris and say, Hey,
(41:48):
when are you guys doing lunch?
We'd like to come and pay foryour lunch, you know, because
Trent Manning (41:53):
So is this, is that the big three like John
Deere or Toro or
Haas Mengloi (41:59):
Big three we had our last launch was paid for by
one of the fuel and oil vendors
Trent Manning (42:07):
no, That's super cool.
Haas Mengloi (42:09):
Yeah
Trent Manning (42:10):
Yeah, we had Kim search, you know, they sell
grease and that
Haas Mengloi (42:13):
Yep.
Yep.
Trent Manning (42:15):
Um, He would buy our lunch from time to time.
And then the parts master guy inour area, you know, it's kind of
like Lawson's.
Um, actually they got absorbedby Lawson's.
He would take care of us fromtime to time.
So that opportunities there, youknow, cause a lot of times it's
the same salesman that's comingby and seeing you and Chris and
(42:38):
everybody in that area.
And he doesn't mind buyingeverybody lunch.
Haas Mengloi (42:42):
And talking about the salesman I tell these guys
like that salesman is part ofyour network system He is the
guy that will tell you and, youknow, give you names and give
you people that you can networkwith that are like-minded, I see
so many people who are, youknow, can get rude with some
(43:03):
salesmen.
I don't do that.
I treat'em like friends.
I shake their hands, I say hi tothem, and it's been a good
relationship.
But going back to thisnetworking.
It's a lot of work.
The reason why every time wehave a meeting or we have a
lunch, I post it on Twitter oron Facebook.
Now it really doesn't doanything, but I just want to try
(43:25):
and encourage other clubs andother equipment managers
elsewhere that you guys can doit.
You know, it just, it takesphone calls.
It takes a little bit of, youknow, it takes a lot of phone
calls.
A lot of times that's how youmaintain those relationships
and, you know, doing thoseFriday lunches.
But you can do it, you know, andnowadays with WhatsApp, you
(43:49):
know, Chris got me hooked up inyour WhatsApp group, You know,
and then he created like aWhatsApp for our area and
somebody I think it was Shelbythat created the Florida Watch
app,
Trent Manning (44:02):
Okay.
Haas Mengloi (44:03):
it, there's so many, there's so many resources
out there as far as this, youknow, social media that you can
utilize to be a part of anetwork or to be aware of the
people around you and who'swhere and who's doing what.
You know, and who would you liketo go and hang out with, or
(44:23):
learn from or maybe help,
Trent Manning (44:26):
Oh yeah.
For sure.
And I get people DM me all thetime.
I had a guy DM me yesterday,which was Sunday and wanted to
talk because he was, he's asuperintendent and he's getting
ready to hire an equipmentmanager.
And he just wanted a littleadvice, like putting the ad
together, you know?
(44:47):
And, um, you know, um.
I'm sure you get the, a lot ofthe same thing, but that's, you
know, that's the reason I'm onsocial media is I'm there.
And
Haas Mengloi (44:59):
yeah.
Trent Manning (45:00):
I hadn't hadn't ghosted anybody.
If they if they send me amessage, I'll get back to them
when I can and try to answertheir question to the best of my
ability or, um, the other thing,I think that's really important.
Like you're mentioning with yournetwork.
If somebody asks me a questionand I don't know the answer,
there's a good chance I know aperson that will know the
(45:22):
answer.
You know, and it's just like youwere saying with your network,
you get to know who the car guyis, who the two stroke guy is,
who's really good on sprayers,who's good on hydraulics,
whatever it is, and you can sendpeople in their direction.
Haas Mengloi (45:37):
I mean, I, you know, listening to your podcast,
I get very humbled.
I find out there's so manytalented people, you know, in
our industry.
I'm not even, I wouldn't even bein the same room with them, you
know.
But the fact that I have thisnetwork system, I can have a
spray rig.
Go down at six o'clock and I'malready, I've already made three
(46:00):
phone calls and I already, youknow, I don't even wait I just,
you know, my boss knows like myfirst priority is to get that
machine going.
I have no problem callingsomebody else and there's, you
know, I have a couple of friendsaround here that I know you
know, if I call them, they knowthe answer.
(46:21):
You know and i'll call them, youknow, i'll call them
immediately.
I have phone numbers to theservice tax You know, for our,
you know, our dealership, butnothing stays broken here for
any length of time because ofthat network system.
Not because I'm that smart.
Trent Manning (46:41):
Well, yeah, but you are that smart because you
have a really good networksystem.
Haas Mengloi (46:46):
Exactly.
Trent Manning (46:47):
So you are smart and
Haas Mengloi (46:49):
My boss thinks, my boss says, man this is the
smartest guy I've ever seen.
Yeah.
Trent Manning (46:59):
network system and that's the other thing that
I don't think we've talked aboutright now, but if you call
somebody in your network systemand you need a bed knife or you
need a tire or, you know,whatever it is and you know,
nothing like that.
And especially if you're in aclose area and you're 10 minutes
down the road or something, youknow.
(47:20):
No big
Haas Mengloi (47:21):
The areas we're at, everybody's within a
slingshot.
You can go out and throw a stoneover the fence and hit another
club, you know?
So,
Trent Manning (47:30):
for sure.
Well, let's do some rapid fire.
Haas Mengloi (47:36):
all right,
Trent Manning (47:37):
You ready?
What's your favorite movie?
Haas Mengloi (47:39):
Here's the thing.
I tell everybody that's myfavorite movie and it probably
is.
But I know all the lines to Dumband Dumber for some reason.
Trent Manning (47:48):
that's really good.
What would be your last meal?
Haas Mengloi (47:51):
I've talked about this with Chris Jr.
actually.
I would say probably it's gonnabe a grits and eggs over easy
Trent Manning (48:00):
Okay.
Haas Mengloi (48:01):
probably a venison ham and a nice big, just a whole
blueberry pie to finish it off.
Yep.
Trent Manning (48:11):
Man, that sounds good.
Talking about language when youstart talking about dessert.
I'm all over some sweets.
What are you most proud ofbeside your family?
Haas Mengloi (48:20):
Probably my assistants.
Like I said, I have I think fiveor six of them that have moved
on to, they're all in high endprivate clubs doing really well.
And I'm very proud of, you know,what they've done.
Trent Manning (48:35):
Well, and how proud does that make you feel
that you helped them start theircareer?
Haas Mengloi (48:41):
It makes, it gives me a really good sense of
accomplishment, you know.
I just, I mean, I know whatAugie, you know, like I said
about my mentor, I know whatAugie did for me, Augustine, you
know.
And I know that I'm just payingit forward, you know, to the
assistance I've had.
Trent Manning (49:03):
Well, yeah you're paying it forward, but there's
nothing like that feeling.
I mean, in my opinion, anyway,that's way better than fixing a
piece of equipment or anythinglike that is being instrumental
in a young person's life.
And I don't think, I know Ididn't anyway, I probably didn't
(49:23):
realize it until I was close to40, how impactful we are on
young people.
And we get a lot of young peopleat the golf course, you know,
teenagers and, you know, highschoolers, college people, that
age group.
And they're looking up to you,you know, whether you see it or
(49:47):
not.
Haas Mengloi (49:48):
I hope you get to interview Chris Johnson, the
junior.
Um, I mean, I helped him get hisfirst equipment manager's job.
He started like coming here andtalking to me.
I think John Patterson was nextdoor he would go and talk to, he
was, he had a mission to findout what he needed to do, you
(50:12):
know, to be really good at whatwe do.
And he did that, and like Isaid, I helped him find his
first job and probably, youknow, his last job, um, but he's
at the point now where I callhim and ask him a lot of
(50:32):
questions and he's there.
I mean, I, He's way smarter thanI am, way more knowledgeable in
a lot of things, you know.
And just to know that, you know,he'll probably learn way more
from John Patterson than he didfrom me.
But just to know that I havebeen part of that journey, gives
me, that's, those kind of stuff.
It still makes me feel good,like, look at this guy, you
(50:55):
know, that, you know, he wasover here asking me questions.
You know, those many years ago.
Now I'm asking him questionsnowadays, you know, and I have
no problem doing it either, youknow.
Trent Manning (51:07):
Yeah, no that's awesome.
Yeah, I had a guy work for methree years and he's at a nicer
club than I am now.
But, and I'm so happy for him.
Like, man, that's awesome.
Haas Mengloi (51:19):
oh Yeah,
Trent Manning (51:20):
I mean, one, soon as the job come available, I
called him up and I said, Hey,you need to be looking at this.
And you know how small ourindustry is.
My superintendent knew thesuperintendent there gives that
superintendent a call.
So this guy worked with us forthree years, really good guy.
He squared away and.
(51:42):
When Charlie went for theinterview, he was like, it
wasn't even hardly an interviewbecause the superintendent
already had anothersuperintendent that he's been
friends with for 30 years.
Give him a good word on him, youknow?
So like you're saying, you gottadon't burn any bridges and now,
cause everybody knows everybodyaround here.
Haas Mengloi (52:05):
Yeah, I think most of my assistants have better
jobs than I do.
Not, better paying jobs than Ido.
And I'm okay with that.
You know, I'm stoked for them.
Happy for them.
And You know,
Trent Manning (52:16):
Yup.
No, that's good.
We'll tell the listeners howthey can get a hold of you.
You're on Twitter.
You're on Facebook.
Haas Mengloi (52:24):
yeah, I'm on Twitter, but I forgot.
I was, I meant to write it down.
I'm definitely on Facebook asHasmengloy.
And I'm on Twitter.
And I want to say.
Maybe HMengloy on Twitter,
Trent Manning (52:39):
We'll find it.
We'll tag you when we drop theepisode.
Haas Mengloi (52:42):
yeah.
Trent Manning (52:43):
thank you.
Haas Mengloi (52:44):
yeah, I was going to say, if you guys are in the
area, if you're anywhere nearSouth Florida, you or any
listeners stop by, say hi to meor Chris Johnson, or, you know,
we'll take you guys around, showyou guys around and.
You know, we'll have lunch orsomething.
Trent Manning (53:00):
Oh yeah for sure and
Haas Mengloi (53:03):
That's up
Trent Manning (53:04):
I was I was already pre planning on this
when the show's back in Orlando.
I may come down early.
Or stay late one of the two andcome down to South Florida
Haas Mengloi (53:16):
Absolutely.
I know Chris has been talkingabout maybe having you coming
down to one of our doing one ofour seminars
Trent Manning (53:23):
I would love to.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You just let me know when andwhat, well, he, the one y'all
had last year in September, itwas like the same weekend that
we were having a member guesttournament or something, but I
just, I couldn't make it, butyeah, I would definitely be
honored to come down there.
Alright, well thank you verymuch.
(53:44):
That's a wrap.
Haas Mengloi (53:44):
Thank you very much, man.
I appreciate it
Trent Manning (53:47):
Yes sir.
Thank you so much for listeningto the Reel turf techs podcast.
I hope you learned somethingtoday.
Don't forget to subscribe.
If you have any topics you'dlike to discuss, or you'd like
to be a guest, find us onTwitter at Reel turf techs.
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