Episode 125: Robert Smith

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Welcome to the Reel Turf Techs Podcast, Episode 125! Today, we’re chatting with Robert Smith, Equipment Manager at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, PA. Merion is a private 36-hole facility with two shops and a rich history of hosting five U.S. Opens. Robert oversees a team of two full-time mechanics and one part-time assistant.

Golf runs deep in Robert's family, with a father who worked as a part-time golf cart mechanic and a mother employed in the pro shop of their local course. Uniquely, Robert knew he wanted to be a golf course mechanic as a teenager and pursued a combined ag/golf program to make it his career. Outside of work, Robert enjoys quality time with his wife and two daughters, fishing, and quiet time at home.

In this episode, Robert shares the challenges of training in all aspects of golf course maintenance, emphasizing the importance of recognizing individual learning styles. He offers wisdom on the value of patience and the usefulness of note-taking when diagnosing equipment issues along with insight on the internship program at his facility. Robert and Trent also bond over their admiration for outdoorsman Dick Proenneke and the fun of volunteering at tournaments. Tune in for an insightful conversation filled with practical advice and shared passions.

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Episode Transcript

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 RealTurf TexPodcast, episode 125.

(01:09):
Today we're talking to RobertSmith, Equipment Manager at
Marion Golf Club in Ardmore,Pennsylvania.
Marion is a private 36 holefacility.
Robert has two shops there.
Marion has hosted five U.
S.
Opens.
Robert has two full timemechanics, one part time.

(01:31):
He has a mixture of Toro, Deere,and Jake.
Let's talk to Robert.
Welcome Robert to the RealTurfTechs podcast.
Thanks for coming on.
Yep.
Yeah, it's only been a fewmonths since I saw you in San
Diego.
Hanging out with your bestbuddy, Mike Elliott, I'm sure.
How, how far do y'all go back?

Robert Smith (01:57):
Gosh it's been probably about 10 years.

Trent Manning (02:00):
Okay.

Robert Smith (02:00):
So you know, the good thing about this area is we
got a, a lot of really good, youknow, Really good text in the
area that we communicate backand forth on a daily basis.
So, we're not talking, we're nottalking shop, we're playing
golf.
So

Trent Manning (02:15):
Oh, that's good.

Robert Smith (02:17):
Keep that the camaraderie going.
And it's always a good timehanging out with Mike.
So

Trent Manning (02:22):
Awesome.
What about Terry Apple?

Robert Smith (02:24):
yeah, Terry's a good friend of mine to

Trent Manning (02:26):
Okay, good.
Yeah.

Robert Smith (02:27):
talk to Terry.
Not probably as often as what Ishould, but you know, when you
get into the whole mayhem duringthe season, it's less and less
talking, but off season, Italked to him from time to time
and gosh, he's only a few milesdown the road from me, so,

Trent Manning (02:43):
Well, the next time I get up there, I'm going
to stop by and see you too.
I stopped by his shop a coupleof years ago when I was up that
way.

Robert Smith (02:51):
okay.

Trent Manning (02:52):
And I stopped by and I saw Mike at the one South
New Jersey.

Robert Smith (02:57):
Okay,

Trent Manning (02:58):
Cape May down that way.
I don't remember the name ofthat club,

Robert Smith (03:02):
national.

Trent Manning (03:04):
yeah, maybe.
Yeah.

Robert Smith (03:06):
so I know he has the pleasure of dealing with
three shops now.
So, a little bit of a differentstory with him, but no, he has,
he's a good guy, but yeah,you're in the area anytime,
anytime, you're more welcome toshow up.
So

Trent Manning (03:20):
appreciate that.
And yeah, for anybody listening,I hadn't met anybody yet that
said, don't come by my shop.
I mean, I mean, serious.
So to all the listeners, ifyou're going somewhere vacation
or whatever, and you want tostop by a shop, you know, just
reach out to them, set somethingup.
Cause most people's, you know,it's open door policy

Robert Smith (03:45):
a few times down at the shows where I'll, I'll
get in touch with a, a JohnDeere dealer or a Toro dealer
and say, Hey, could I have a fewcontacts in this area?
And sometimes I just like tomaybe skip out on some education
and go look at some shops.
And there's a lot of times whereI, I get a little bit more out
of that than when I do anythingelse.
So, and we don't, I have noproblem with if somebody wants

(04:08):
to contact me to swing in, ifthey're in the area.
You know, if they give me alittle bit of a notice, that
would be great.

Trent Manning (04:14):
where, right, right, right, right.

Robert Smith (04:15):
But yeah, it's, we have, we have no problem showing
the shop off.
We're very proud of it.
And yeah.

Trent Manning (04:22):
Awesome.
When you were talking about thatmade me think me and John
Patterson, we went up and seenJason Fontana at desert mountain
when we were out in Phoenix.
And that was amazing facilitythat he's got.
And I mean, he's super cool guytoo.
And I mean, you know, it's likeeverybody you meet, I know
there's probably some a holes inthe crowd, but most everybody is

(04:44):
pretty cool.
You

Robert Smith (04:45):
Yeah, they are.
I mean, I think especially inthis business, everybody has the
same goal, right?
And I met a lot of really nicepeople in this industry and it
seems like everybody just wantsto help people out.
So.

Trent Manning (04:58):
That's a fact.
Well, Tell us how you got intothe turf industry.

Robert Smith (05:03):
Well, I think this is a pretty common thread
amongst a lot of your a lot ofyour episoders.
It was my father actually gotin, got me into it.
Golf runs pretty deep in ourveins and my family and my mom
was she worked at a pro shop atour local golf course.
And my father, he was a parttime golf cart mechanic.
So, I was about probably threeor four years old.

(05:26):
Instead of getting a babysitter,they just.
shoot me down at the course withthem.
And man, I had such a good time.
We used to fish and then golfand it, it was a very family
oriented golf course everybodyknew everybody.
And, and my passion for the gamejust kind of grew from there.
I used to go over and bother mydad when he was working and help

(05:47):
him out from time to time.
There was definitely an interestthere.
I, I loved tearing stuff apartand I think dad kinda kind of
shoved me in that direction tomaybe

Trent Manning (05:58):
Mm hmm.

Robert Smith (06:00):
I don't know if this is legal to say, but I was
about nine when I startedworking raking bunkers, just
kind of helping out the localcourses and,

Trent Manning (06:08):
Mm hmm.

Robert Smith (06:10):
they needed some help in the shop.
And I started working with a,with a fella and.
It just kind of grew from there.
And I was listening to a few ofyour episodes and there's some
people in there that said youknow, in high school, you don't
really, you haven't really heardof anybody saying, you know
what, I'm going to be anequipment manager at a golf
course, but I'm here to tellyou, man, I was that guy.

(06:34):
I was at the right place at theright time and things just kind
of.
Fell in the right spots for me.
I worked under this guy by thename of Jimmy Fox.
Till this day, he's probably oneof the smartest mechanics that I
have ever met in my entire life.
And To work under him was just,it was a godsend.

Trent Manning (06:53):
Where did you work under him?

Robert Smith (06:55):
So his golf course back in South Central PA, it's
called Downriver Golf Courseowned by the Michaels and they
are really good friends of ourfamily.
And he opened a lot of doors forme.
So, it just kind of grew fromthere, really, and all the way
through high school, theyoffered a program my junior and
my senior year in school, it wascalled Diversified Occupations,

(07:17):
so you go to school for half aday and go work for half a day,
and

Trent Manning (07:22):
yeah.

Robert Smith (07:24):
I wasn't much of a schoolgoer, so

Trent Manning (07:26):
Mm hmm.

Robert Smith (07:28):
would rather work,

Trent Manning (07:29):
I think that's that's pretty common in this
industry too, I think.

Robert Smith (07:34):
I think you're right there,

Trent Manning (07:35):
for, for most of us.
I mean, it's interesting you saythat because I did the exact
same thing.
We had a program.
I don't remember, but I think wecalled it work exit or
something.
Or yeah, we went to school forhalf a day and go golf course in
the afternoon.
Do our thing.

Robert Smith (07:50):
I mean, it was perfect.
There wasn't a lot of people init, but there was enough people.
They kept the program going andyou know, everybody else was
still in school when I was outin the golf course work.
And I mean, that's

Trent Manning (08:00):
Mm hmm.

Robert Smith (08:00):
at 138 acre classroom.
You can't beat that.
Right.
So

Trent Manning (08:04):
yeah, yeah.
That's hard to beat.

Robert Smith (08:06):
it is hard to beat, but yeah, I mean, it just
kind of went on from there.
No, I ended up going to PennState, Maine for this industry.
It was called turf grass andagricultural equipment service
technician program.
And then the short version wasthe TAE program is what it was
called.

Trent Manning (08:21):
Okay.

Robert Smith (08:22):
So, it was such a really good program and
unfortunately it doesn't existanymore because, well, they
couldn't find a lot of bodies tofill it, but,

Trent Manning (08:30):
Hmm.

Robert Smith (08:32):
two year program and.
First year consisted ofschooling and then we did an
internship, which I had apleasure doing that at center
hills and, went back to school,went back to center hills.
They hired me full time.
And then yeah, just kept ongoing on from there.
Went up to New York for a while,up at Scarsdale, New York is a

(08:52):
place called Quaker Ridge,worked up there for a while, and
then came back to Lancaster,worked at a family owned
business or golf course.
And then eventually had apleasure of coming to Marion,
Marion golf club.
So

Trent Manning (09:08):
So, yeah, how long have you been at Marion?

Robert Smith (09:12):
this is my 16th season.

Trent Manning (09:14):
Okay, you're a veteran then.
That's awesome.

Robert Smith (09:17):
I, yeah, it's this place will work you hard, man.
It's, it's such a good timethough, here.
You know, it's hustle andbustle.

Trent Manning (09:25):
hmm.

Robert Smith (09:26):
by quick and you kind of lose track of time at
this place, that's for sure.
So you got to be on top of yourtoes with that, but

Trent Manning (09:33):
I'll bet.

Robert Smith (09:34):
you want to keep the wife happy.

Trent Manning (09:36):
Mm hmm.
Yep.
I understand that for sure.
I mean, that's an awesome story.
And I would like to hear alittle bit more about the
program they had there.
I mean, they teach you cuttingunits and electrical, hydraulic,
all that stuff.
Mm

Robert Smith (09:57):
you were practically certified and all
that stuff.
And it's such a shame that, thatit went you know, went downhill.
I think, well, I graduated in05.
Graduation of 06.
I think there might've beeneight students, 07.
There was maybe five.
And then I think the last year,and I could be wrong about this,
but I think the last year waseither nine or 10 there was

(10:19):
maybe three graduating classes.
So they, they combined the agprogram with the golf course
program.
And we covered hydraulics,electrical fuel systems,
engines, two strokes, fourstrokes.
You name it, we covered it andthere was some really, really,
really good professors that wehad up there.

(10:40):
Harshman, Yoder, and then they,they ran a lot of the ag stuff.
So they just kind of carriedtheir weight on the golf course
industry as well.
We had finances, business.
It covered an awful lot.
It was a lot of information totake for the seven months we

(11:01):
were in school.
And, you know, we even coveredwelding, torching, I mean, TIG,
MIG, stick.

Trent Manning (11:09):
Cool.

Robert Smith (11:11):
it was just a really, really good program.
And the coolest thing about thatprogram, a lot of the students
that went to that school, orthat was enrolled into that
program, it was a little bit ofa different experience than
maybe a normal collegeeducation.
So we would go to school fromMonday to Thursday, and then we
would have off on Fridays.

(11:33):
So a lot of the, a lot of thestudents, including myself,
would go to, go back home, workat the golf course, you know,
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, to tryto earn some money to, you know,
eat for the next,

Trent Manning (11:45):
Mm hmm.
Right, right.

Robert Smith (11:47):
But man, they crammed a lot of info Monday
through Thursday.
We would classes started sevenin the morning and a lot of
times wouldn't be done until sixor seven at night.

Trent Manning (11:58):
Oh, wow.
Okay.
Yeah, they didn't mess around.

Robert Smith (12:01):
you know, man, you don't have time to get into
trouble.
That's for

Trent Manning (12:03):
Mm hmm.

Robert Smith (12:05):
And I think that's probably pretty good being in
college.

Trent Manning (12:08):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, at that age, for sure.

Robert Smith (12:11):
Absolutely.

Trent Manning (12:12):
I should have stayed a little busier than what
I did at that age.

Robert Smith (12:17):
Look at you now.
I think you're in good shape.

Trent Manning (12:19):
Well, yeah, it all worked out okay, I guess.

Robert Smith (12:22):
Yeah.

Trent Manning (12:23):
What's your least favorite part of the job?

Robert Smith (12:26):
Say the office work, really.
I I'm kind of a go, go, go guyand to sit down and code bills
and answer emails and I strugglewith that a little bit, you
know, I really find I have ahard time finding time for it,
to be honest with you butsomething that you have to do,
right?

Trent Manning (12:45):
Well, my personal opinion, the reason that you
struggle finding time for it isyou don't like doing it and I'm
in the exact same boat.
You know, I mean, It's, youknow, it depends if I'm sitting
behind the computer researchingsomething like trying to find
the part, aftermarket, somethinglike that, I can get into that.

(13:05):
But yeah, just filling out POsand paperwork and yeah, coding
stuff like that.
It's not

Robert Smith (13:12):
Yeah.
It gets, it gets old prettyquickly.
But

Trent Manning (13:16):
For sure.

Robert Smith (13:17):
It's all good now.
It's part of the job, right?

Trent Manning (13:19):
Yep, that's it.
What's your favorite tool?

Robert Smith (13:21):
I tell you, man, as goofy as this sounds, I
actually have it right here.
This little screwdriver,

Trent Manning (13:27):
Huh.

Robert Smith (13:27):
little pocket screwdriver, man, has saved me
hours of hassle.
I forget I have it in my pocketuntil I need it, but I mean,
this thing can This thing'sfixed rough motors for me
before.
It's just

Trent Manning (13:42):
Oh, right.
Yeah.

Robert Smith (13:43):
It's fantastic to pop off controller plugs, or if
I'm trying to pry something upjust a little, you know, a
little bit, but it's definitelyone of my favorites.
I have a few more, but it's not,I mean, I love all my tools to
be honest with you, right?

Trent Manning (13:56):
Well, right, right, right.

Robert Smith (13:57):
you know, it's a little pocket flashlight I use
all the time, but right here inmy left pocket, it's, that's my
heartbeat.

Trent Manning (14:04):
Yep.
No, I'm right there with you.
I carry the, one of the littlesteel screwdrivers in my pocket
for years and years and years.
And if I start getting busyagain, I'll probably have it
back in my pocket.
Cause I mean, it's just one ofthose things, like you say, I
mean, no telling what, and I'veused it.
I don't know how many times.

(14:25):
Not at work,

Robert Smith (14:26):
Oh yeah,

Trent Manning (14:27):
you know, you're whatever you're out for dinner
and you know, needs up, youknow, and I don't know how many
times my kids like coveringtheir face up.
Like this is my dad over hereworking on a stool that had a
loose screw in it.

Robert Smith (14:42):
I get the same look, but I never leave home
without it.
And whenever I do, man, I'mlost.
I don't know what to do.

Trent Manning (14:49):
Yep.
No, I know that feeling.
What do you do to relax or findyour balance?
Mm hmm.

Robert Smith (15:07):
So when I'm not here at work, I'm normally just
at the house hanging whetherwe're cooking out or throwing a
little get together forsomething or.
I just, I love being at thehouse.
It's like my own little castle,you know, anything and
everything to do with my kids,whether we go fishing and like I
said, hanging out.
So we unfortunately don't get totravel too often.

(15:29):
Maybe once a year, but yeah,it's just soon as I'm home, I
level out.
I've over the years, I've gottenpretty good about leaving work
at work and not bringing thathome.
So, but

Trent Manning (15:42):
That's a challenge too.

Robert Smith (15:44):
most certainly

Trent Manning (15:45):
it it was for me for years and years and years.

Robert Smith (15:48):
No, it was definitely a big challenge for
me.
And I got about an hour drivehome.
So it gives me a lot of time tothink, kind of think out.
My problems per

Trent Manning (15:58):
Mm hmm.

Robert Smith (15:58):
Kind of what I'm going to do the next following
day to, you know, get a littlebit of a game plan together.
But that, that, that car ridedefinitely helps me an awful
lot.
But yeah, whenever, whenever Igo home, man, that's my neutral
ground.
It's,

Trent Manning (16:10):
Mm hmm.

Robert Smith (16:11):
that's kind of what I do to balance myself out.

Trent Manning (16:14):
Why don't tell me about your kids?

Robert Smith (16:17):
Oh, I got two beautiful girls.
One's about

Trent Manning (16:19):
dad in the house.
I love it.

Robert Smith (16:21):
Yeah, buddy.
My grandfather, I'll tell you,I'll never forget this.
My grandfather said, you, you,have two little girls.
You're going to be taken care offor the rest of your life, man.
I tell you, I, my oldest onewill cook for me now when mom is
not around and

Trent Manning (16:35):
Oh nice

Robert Smith (16:36):
it's fantastic.
So, yeah, she's soon to be 14,just getting ready to go into
high school.

Trent Manning (16:41):
Okay

Robert Smith (16:42):
And my youngest one She is she's 11 and she's
getting ready to go into sixthgrade.

Trent Manning (16:49):
Okay, awesome.
Yeah, I don't I mean, you know,I got two girls, too They're not
so little anymore 16 and 19, butyou know, I don't know.
I love it I

Robert Smith (17:01):
Oh, that's the best, isn't it?

Trent Manning (17:02):
it's the best.
Yeah, it really really is What'sbeen one of your biggest
challenges there at the golfcourse Mm

Robert Smith (17:12):
would honestly think hands down training,
training, training notnecessarily people in my shop
interns, AITs, you know, we'vegot a pretty good turnaround
here at Marion.
Not, not for a bad reason, butthey have a really good
internship program set up here.
And very successful people tryand try and try to get into it.

(17:35):
And you know, we really want togive them 110 percent whenever
we're training somebody fortheir sake and clearly for our
sake, our sake as well.
So it's, that's definitely achallenge.
You have people that's been intobusiness a little longer than
say the others, but we have atendency to find a good little

(17:57):
program and kind of run with it,you know, so just face it,
everybody, everybody, learnsdifferently.

Trent Manning (18:03):
Yeah, yeah.

Robert Smith (18:04):
you know, once you kind of figure out how they
learn you kind of just go andrun with it.
So, so

Trent Manning (18:10):
No, I mean, yeah, it definitely makes sense and we
all learn different.
And, yeah, how hard is it tokind of figure out how they
learn?

Robert Smith (18:21):
you already, you, you always have this starting
base for everybody and youalways start out about the same
process, really.
You're just trying to learnabout them a little bit.

Trent Manning (18:35):
Mm

Robert Smith (18:35):
always felt if you're a pretty good people
reader, it's not that difficultto kind of swing in their
direction.

Trent Manning (18:42):
Okay.

Robert Smith (18:43):
At the end of the conversation, we're always like,
Hey, listen, if you ever haveany questions, by all means,
please ask, you know, we're,we're here to help.
We're here to educate you.
We want.
you to get the best educationyou can out of this and

Trent Manning (18:59):
Mm hmm.

Robert Smith (19:01):
please don't hesitate.
So

Trent Manning (19:03):
And I think that would be super important too is
just making sure that they knowthat but you know Y'all are
really there for them as much asthey are there for you.
So that's

Robert Smith (19:14):
you know, a lot of the people that we, we, we get
in here, they're so nervous tobe on property to begin with,
you know, and I think that'snormal.
Cause I remember whenever I was,you know, first started working
here and I was super nervous.
I didn't know what to do.
Whatever, you know, about aweek, you start to get a little
comfortable and, and you knowwhat you can and cannot do, and

(19:35):
I see the same thing from a lotof these younger, younger kids
that come in through here.
Well, not necessarily kids, butyoung men and women.
So,

Trent Manning (19:43):
Yeah, yeah, what's the strangest thing
you've seen around there

Robert Smith (19:47):
oh, my goodness.
You know, I was pondering aboutthis for about a week and a
half, Trent, and I, I don't havea good answer for you on that
one.
I've seen strange things.
It's not one particular.
One thing I will tell you isthere's, there's been a few
times where somebody has broughtback a piece of equipment that's

(20:08):
just completely, not necessarilydestroyed, but bent in ways that
it shouldn't have been bent.
And you don't know whether itapplaud them or It's it's crazy
how that is.
It's like how did you do that?
You know,

Trent Manning (20:24):
Mm

Robert Smith (20:25):
and the the best part of it is is when they try
to tell the story, their storynever adds up or,

Trent Manning (20:33):
no.

Robert Smith (20:34):
you know, and I've, I've actually driven to
the scene of the crime before.
And it's like, all right, Idon't understand how you started
there and ended there.
I'm not sure how that was, but Iwould say that's probably the
strangest thing I've seen with alot, with a lot of machines we
have around.

Trent Manning (20:53):
Mm hmm.
No, and it is, it is trulyamazing.
And it, you reminded me of this,this story.
We had so number four green ispretty close to our river.
But it's not like a sheer dropoff.
I mean, it's a steep drop off tothe river.
And I mean, it's probably, Idon't know, 25, 30 feet.

(21:15):
To the river from the green andthe operator was mowing 10 to 4
and he's going towards the rivertowards 10 o'clock and I don't
know if he just let go.
This was, you know.
Before we had the bales, youknow, where it releases, you

(21:35):
know, operator presence, allthat stuff.
Anyway, the mower goes back thenwe had a fringe.
So it goes through the fringe.
It goes through the collar.
It goes through the rough intotall fescue that's, you know,
knee high, and then it goes offdown to the river.
I'm like, and so from the greento the river.

(22:00):
It's probably 50 feet.
You know, I mean, it's, youknow, it ain't like it's, you
know, a really close distance.
Like, you know, the river wasright on the edge of the green.
I mean, it, it traveled, I mean,through the rough, it probably
traveled 15 feet.
So it's like, you didn't havetime to stop this.

(22:20):
And, you know, I'm gonna asksomeone, what happened?
He's like, I don't know.
I don't know why I think so.
I don't, you know, I don't.
How do you explain that?
Like, I mean, you could at leastsay I got a phone call and just
let the mower go, because Imean, I really think that's what
happened.
He let the mower go for somereason or fell asleep.

(22:41):
You know, I don't know.
It's crazy.
All the stuff that we see aroundthere.
Well, you kind of talked aboutyour mentor that taught you a
lot.
What was one of the mostvaluable lessons that he taught
you?
How

Robert Smith (23:09):
that was, it was Jimmy, Jimmy said that, and my
dad said that an awful lot too.
My dad was probably one of themost patient men that you'd ever
want to meet in your life, and Ilearned an awful lot of patience
from him.
And I'm here to tell you thatsaved me an awful lot of times
in this industry, at least.
You know, gosh, you have to havepatience in this business.

(23:31):
You really do.
Or when somebody breakssomething, you want them to, you
want to be approachable.
And that takes patience.
You know, you want them tounderstand they could have done
to prevent this.
That takes patience.
I was working on a 2550 triplexyesterday and I'm here to tell

(23:54):
you I was losing patience.
I walked away from it and kindof regrouped, came back and you
have to have patience.
You really truly do.
And the funny thing is, is it'snot just when you leave work.
It's like when you go home andI, I think that's.
Really helped me an awful lot.
Leaving my work life at work ishaving patience.

(24:18):
You know, I don't leave thisplace all.
anymore and kinda brush it offyour shoulder and just kind of
go from there.
So

Trent Manning (24:28):
many times have you gotten frustrated with a
piece of equipment for whateverreason, you know, you're
diagnosing, troubleshooting, andyou walk away and then you come
back and it's like the answer isalmost there and there.
You know, staring at you.

Robert Smith (24:47):
more times than I can count, Trent.

Trent Manning (24:49):
I don't, you know, it's crazy how, how that
works, you know, and I don'twant to go, go too deep in the
weeds on that, but yeah, what,what makes that happen?
I don't know, but it happens.

Robert Smith (25:01):
you know, electrical.
I mean, gosh, you have to havepatience with that.
Now it's, you look at the bookand you think you found what
that wire is supposed to do andwhat it's doing doesn't make any
sense at all.
And it's just like, okay, I'm.
I'm going to back off from thisa little bit because I'm about
ready to blow my cap off.

(25:21):
So, yeah man, more time is none.
That's, that's definitely helpedme out tremendously by walking
away and, and coming back andkind of regrouping, refreshed a
little bit.
So,

Trent Manning (25:33):
I don't remember exactly how old I was, but I
don't, I mean, I had to be like10, 11, something like that.
And I've got, I think I had thebasketball goal, but I've got
like a new bag board orsomething.
And I'm trying to put ittogether and I get so frustrated

(25:57):
and I go to my mom and I'mtelling her, you know, how, you
know, it's not right.
It's broke.
It's not going to work.
So just take a break from it,you know, go back to it later.
And you know, and of course I'm10, 12 months, you don't know
what she's talking about, youknow, or whatever, but, and I

(26:17):
did, I go do whatever.
And then I come back and I'mlike, okay, yeah, it goes away.
It goes together just like this,know?
And I mean, it was so simple,but I've been missing it for 30
minutes, getting frustrated onhow it went together.
So.
Props to mom on that one.

Robert Smith (26:35):
absolutely.
God love mom.

Trent Manning (26:37):
Yeah, that's right.
What would be your dream job oropportunity?

Robert Smith (26:42):
I tell you man to move away, live on top of a
mountain with nobody around,fish a pond when I want to fish,
hang out with my family.
You know, you, You're alwaysunder the gun and it's always
hustle And bustle.
So when you have the opportunityto relax a little bit, it's, it
really makes you not necessarilythink, but think about the

(27:07):
future per se.
And I tell you, I'd love to.
I'd love to move up to thenorthern part of Montana, 25, 30
miles from the Canadian border,and do absolutely nothing.
Build a cabin right off theland.
I'm not sure my wife would be,you know, for that, but but that

(27:29):
would be my dream.
Yeah, I

Trent Manning (27:34):
It's definitely something I've thought about.
I don't know that I could do it,but it's you know, you get up
there like no internet.
You know, but I think, I thinkyou would get used to it
eventually.

Robert Smith (27:45):
think so, yeah.

Trent Manning (27:47):
I don't, have you ever heard Dick Brennegie?

Robert Smith (27:49):
Ah, gosh, one of my favorites.

Trent Manning (27:51):
Okay, all right, all right, yep, awesome.
Yeah, Alone in the Wilderness, Ithink is, yeah, is His book and
there's a video for thelisteners that come on whatever
PBS or something.
I don't know if you can stillget the

Robert Smith (28:07):
Oh, you can.
In fact, I just I bought Ibought all, it was four of them
about two and a half months ago.
It was,

Trent Manning (28:13):
No way.
Okay.
Yeah.
I think I've seen two.
I didn't know there was twomore.

Robert Smith (28:18):
yeah, there's two more and they're fantastic.
Just as good as the other two.

Trent Manning (28:22):
Okay.
Ah,

Robert Smith (28:27):
and my wife caught that on, I think it was PBS one
night.
And man, I, he, he's like asplitting image of my
grandfather.

Trent Manning (28:33):
Okay.

Robert Smith (28:34):
my grandfather was a carpenter and he was like a
magic man.
He could build anything when itcame to.
And that guy was just absolutelyamazing.
And then watching Pernicky, Iwas like, man, that is
unbelievable.
Especially when he made thosehinges out of a couple pieces of

(28:55):
naughty stuff.
I was like, ah, come on, man.
Really?

Trent Manning (28:59):
yeah, yeah, I know.
Well, and the latch to defeatthe bear.

Robert Smith (29:04):
Yeah.
Yeah.

Trent Manning (29:08):
yeah, for the listeners, if you hadn't checked
out Dick Prenagy and Alone inthe Wilderness, definitely check
it out.
He, I forget, he's like in his60s, and he went in the middle
of nowhere in Alaska.
and lived there for 25 years upuntil he was 80 something and he
said he couldn't handle the 40below winters anymore so he came

(29:31):
back home just yeah crazy

Robert Smith (29:35):
Great.

Trent Manning (29:36):
yeah really really good story you got a
technician you'd like to workwith for a day okay

Robert Smith (29:45):
I tell you, if I had the opportunity to work with
my mentor, Jimmy or you know, aday I, I, I can never stop
learning from that man.
I don't get out very often, butwhen I do, I always make a point
to go and see him he's, he's inhis seventies, mid seventies and
still wrench until this day,

Trent Manning (30:05):
really at a golf course

Robert Smith (30:06):
they had a golf course, same golf course that I
started at.

Trent Manning (30:09):
Okay.
That's awesome.
How cool is that?

Robert Smith (30:12):
yeah, it's, you know, this is another hard
question that you, that youasked.
And the reason why I think it'shard is because.
Because I'm very fortunate to goto some tournaments.
We just got done going up toLancaster for the Women's Open.
And, man, there's so many goodmechanics that was up there.
I have Palma from Aeronomic, andthen Ed Boyski, and there's

(30:33):
Shannon from Finch.
And it just, there was a lot ofreally good mechanics up there.
And I, I have the pleasure ofworking with a lot of them.
So we just, we got.
We got, we have goodcamaraderie, you know, and it's
just always, it's like, it'slike a laughing game when we get
together, you know,

Trent Manning (30:52):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, that's super cool.
When I went to Belle Reed forthe 100 PGA in 2018.
There was three other mechanic.
Well, one mechanic I've beenfriends with for a long time.
He actually read it up with me,Corey Phillips.
And but there's two other guysup there and we went advanced

(31:15):
week and we ground every reel onproperty and I'm serious, every
reel and we replaced every bed,not, it didn't matter if it was
a brand new bed, not if we tookit off and replaced it, because
that's what they wanted to do.
Yeah.
Right.
You know, I'm, I'm up here towork.
I'm not up here to judge,

Robert Smith (31:36):
No, not at all.

Trent Manning (31:37):
you know, so we were doing it.
And so Austin, right, wasanother one.
And ever since then, me andAustin, we talked, you know, not
all the time, but enough, youknow, I mean, and Patrick
drinker, he was up there.
I mean, we just had the besttime.

Robert Smith (31:55):
That's awesome.

Trent Manning (31:56):
unfortunately Chris rap, I don't know what
happened to him.
He left the golf club.
business and nobody's heard fromhim since.
But he was the equipment managerup there and he's a super cool
guy too.

Robert Smith (32:09):
That's awesome.

Trent Manning (32:10):
laid back.
But I guess the point of allthis is for the listeners, you
know, take those opportunitiesor make those opportunities.
If you can go volunteersomewhere,

Robert Smith (32:22):
A hundred percent, you know, it's

Trent Manning (32:24):
something.
Oh,

Robert Smith (32:25):
big on

Trent Manning (32:26):
hmm.

Robert Smith (32:27):
for a week, if you only learn one thing, it was
worth it.
I mean, just the networking youget in itself, and I love going
to other people's shops to seewhat they do, and Not
necessarily compared, becauseeverybody's different.
I always like to learn somethingnew and you're always trying to
better yourself and further youreducation.

(32:47):
That's like prime real estate isgetting into a golf tournament
or whatnot.
I, I, I've had the pleasure andthe honor of, of at several
opens and just even localtournaments.
It doesn't matter whattournament it is.
And it doesn't matter what I do.
I'll come down there and I'llsweep your, your floor for you.
I, I just, I don't care.

Trent Manning (33:09):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Robert Smith (33:10):
it's just, it's, it's definitely good to be
around.
People that do the same thingyou do.
That's a small industry, but yetlarge industry.

Trent Manning (33:21):
I can't tell you how many ideas that I brought
back to my shop that we use allthe time.

Robert Smith (33:28):
Yeah,

Trent Manning (33:29):
know, that I, I saw at somebody else's shop,
like, ooh, I love that.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna take thatback.
And I think I've, I've told thisstory before, but I went over to
John Patterson's shop and I goover there, you know, I mean,
two, three times a year orwhatever.
But this one time I was overthere, I only took one picture
and that was his oil sucker.

(33:49):
You know, it was a Lincoln, youknow, oil drain but it was also
pneumatic with a vacuum on it.
I'm like, this is the best thingever.
So anyway, I got one and I lovethat thing.
We were using it as a day tosuck out the hydraulic fluid out
of a hydraulic tank on ourchipper, you know?
Yeah.
Cause it doesn't have a drain onit.

(34:09):
Best thing ever.
What do you know now you wishyou'd known on day one?

Robert Smith (34:13):
And don't jump to conclusions, I think it'd make
your life a little easier.
I know when I first started inthis industry, it's, I shouldn't
say that I felt like I knew morethan most, but I was real quick
to say, you know, that's theproblem and then, A lot of times
it ended up not being a problem.

(34:34):
I would say that there'ssomething about doing something
once and once only is, man,there's just something about it,
you know, you don't have to goback over it three or four or
five different times you know,times money and you gotta get a
good bearing on your timebecause A lot of these shops

(34:57):
that I've worked at, it was justme.
And it's pretty hard to spendeight hours on one machine
versus two hours or one hour,you know?
So take your time, do thingsright, jot notes down.
There's a, whenever I have a alarge fix, man, I'm always
carrying around my pen and mynotepad taking notes down.

(35:17):
Cause I mean, I'm here to tellyou five minutes of trying to
diagnose a wire harness, Icouldn't tell you what I did 30
seconds ago when it came to whatwire was, what, what number it
was and what color it was.
So a lot of note taking that'sprobably what I would tell
myself as well, my younger age.

(35:39):
So,

Trent Manning (35:40):
Well, no, I definitely agree with that.
I don't do that enough,honestly, and I mean, kind of
like what you were saying.
You know, I've worked with thisguy for a while, and he would
always, you know, before hedisassembled something, you
know, the HSL funds, he'd betaking all these pictures of it,
and I always kind of looked andsaid, you know, I don't need to

(36:03):
do that.
And, you know, and, you know, Iwas just being conceited and
arrogant, you know, by sayingthat.
And I'm still guilty.
I still don't do that like Ishould, but the times I have
taken pictures, I always go backand look at them like, Oh, this
went right there.

(36:24):
Yeah.
This went right here, you know?
And I mean, there is some other,you know, tricks of the trade.
I will, if I'll think about it,we'll talk about those tips and
tricks here in a minute, but Idon't, it's just really, really
important to like you weresaying.
or what you made me think of isI do think that definitely for

(36:45):
me, I can only speak for myself,it's easy to make up a story in
my head of what happened thatmay or may not be true.
You know, just, and forinstance, I mean, this happened
today on this chipper.
So the deal with the chipper isthe hydraulic pump's leaking and

(37:07):
it's belt driven.
And, I don't know, it was maybethree months ago, the belt
broke, and I replaced the belt.
And, yeah, shame on me, becauseI didn't replace it before it
broke, but whatever, it happens.
And, so anyway, the pump'sleaking, so we get it in, get

(37:28):
the pump off of it, and there'sa piece of the old belt wrapped
around the shaft.
So, I'm telling myself, wellthat took this seal out.
So this thing, I'm just going toput a seal in it.
And then I started inspectingthe shaft and went, that shaft
moves on awful lot.
think this is gonna, gonna needmore than just a seal, you know,

(37:51):
but that was the story.
Cause I saw the belt and I said,Oh, this is what it's gotta be.
And you're talking about that.
And I knew this guy, I mean,he's a good friend of mine and
you know, we were both youngerat the time, but he was always
really quick to say, that's theonly thing it can be.
And I, you know, I have a hardtime saying that, but this is

(38:12):
the only thing it can be.
If I say that you know, I'mpretty damn certain that's what
it is.

Robert Smith (38:19):
Absolutely, and it brings up a good point, too,
that I don't know how many timesa piece of equipment breaks down
your bosses are up your assabout getting it going, and you
think you have a pretty goodtime frame on how long it's
gonna take to fix, but, onceagain, man, you don't jump to
conclusions, because I guaranteeyou, you tell them it's gonna
take an hour to fix.
It's going to take three hoursto fix because there's going to

(38:40):
be something else wrong with it.
Gosh, that's happened to meseveral times and I just, I
don't, I don't do it anymore.
It's one of those things where,hey guys, be, be patient and I
want to make sure this thing'sfixed and fixed right before it
leaves the shop.
So I honestly can't give you agood enough answer.
I mean, if it comes to service,that's one thing, but

Trent Manning (39:03):
Right.

Robert Smith (39:04):
never just a service.
It's always a, Hey, let's takethis injection pump out real
quick and rebuild it.

Trent Manning (39:11):
Right.

Robert Smith (39:12):
So, it's definitely don't jump to
conclusions.
That's what I would tell myselffor certain.

Trent Manning (39:18):
Well, and you're always one broken bolt away from
three extra hours or, you know,whatever it is.

Robert Smith (39:25):
I think that's the truth.

Trent Manning (39:26):
Yeah.
That's crazy.
Why don't, so do you have thatperson on your crew?
You've done any of that person?
How do you deal with thatperson?

Robert Smith (39:35):
Oh, man.
Oh, back to what I was sayingearlier, patience.
We do, we have, every year wealways have that person.
You know, you try to, I can'tthink of any other word other
than patient.
You have to be patient withthem.
And sometimes you treat them alittle differently than the way
you treat the other people, youknow.
You try to explain a little bitbetter in detail.

(39:57):
Because they always havequestions that they fire at you,
you know.
And a lot of times I find myselfgetting into the whole mechanic
language.
And I lose them within 15seconds, but they still shake
their head,

Trent Manning (40:09):
All right.
Right.
Right.

Robert Smith (40:10):
You know, and.
You just kind of walk away, youknow.

Trent Manning (40:14):
No.

Robert Smith (40:16):
need to learn how to deal with them, really.
And try to educate them as bestof your ability, and if you
can't, then man, I, I'm notreally sure what to tell you,
you know.
You, you've done your part.

Trent Manning (40:28):
I think that's excellent advice though.
Have, have as much patience asyou can and educate them the
best you can and hopefullythings work out.

Robert Smith (40:37):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Get ready for tips and tricks.

Trent Manning (40:43):
What kind of tips and tricks you want to share
with us?

Robert Smith (40:47):
Tips and tricks, huh?

Trent Manning (40:48):
Yeah.
What's, what's some of yourfavorite ones?

Robert Smith (40:51):
So, you know, I was watching on TurfNet there a
long time ago.
This isn't my idea, but this wasfantastic.
You're trying to fill up ahydraulic reservoir with a
funnel and you know how it justburps on you and you got a clean
shirt and it just blows back onyou.
You stick a straw in that thing,man, you're golden.
It releases the air.
There's no burping and you endup putting too much in because

(41:15):
you don't realize how fast it'sflowing.
That's the only problem, butman, I tell ya, I, I use that
pretty much every time I fillsomething up.

Trent Manning (41:25):
So just a regular straw?

Robert Smith (41:26):
just a regular straw, yeah, you slip that down
in the in the funnel, and nowdon't overflow it where it's
gonna, you know, pour into thestraw, but yeah, it releases
that air and there's no moreburping.
I saw that on turf now, this wasmany, many years ago, and I'm
like, man, that guy's a genius.
Either that or he's tired ofdoing laundry, I'm not sure
what.

(41:47):
But I, I use that all the time.
Tips and tricks, I mean, tips,try to be about as clean as you
possibly can around your shop.
I mean, once again, time'smoney.
And if if you're having a hardtime finding something because
of, it's not put back where itwas supposed to, or, You know,
your shop's messy.

(42:08):
Then you don't realize how muchtime you lose throughout the
day, looking for that ninesixteenths that you just got
done using an hour ago.
You know, most people willprobably go and grab another
nine sixteenths, but there aregoing to be a few times where
you're going to need two ofthem,

Trent Manning (42:22):
Right, right, right, right.

Robert Smith (42:23):
you know, try to be about as clean as you
possibly can, you know, thatgoes for your parts room too.

Trent Manning (42:30):
Not that I do it.
It's one of those, you know, doas I say, not as I do, because,
you know, I, I struggle, youknow, my toolbox is pretty
organized, but.
You know, stuff in the shop, youknow, I don't know what it is.
You know, I try, I do, I try,but everything doesn't have a

(42:51):
home.
And if everything, you know, ifit doesn't have a home, there's
no telling where it's going tobe.
So yeah, for the listeners, ifyou can make a home for
everything you have, that's theway to do it.

Robert Smith (43:04):
A hundred percent.

Trent Manning (43:06):
And then that way, I mean, it's easy to take
inventory too.
You say that's not ninesixteenths wrench is not in its
home.

Robert Smith (43:14):
Yeah.

Trent Manning (43:15):
You know, where is it at?
You know, and then you golooking for it or, you know,
whatever.
But one of the other I guesstips that I thought, or maybe
it's a trick they were talkingabout like disassembling stuff
is, you know, putting bolts backwhere they go.
Like, you know, say, say youpull off a sock cover.

(43:35):
You know, off an engine orsomething, putting the bolts
back in there if you can, orputting them in the engine.
The other thing I've seen peopledo, and I've done this before
with like head bolts, if I wantto keep track of the head bolts
and what hole they were in.
I'll take a piece of cardboardand just punch the bolt through
there and I'll number them.

(43:57):
You can do the same thing with,you know, valves.
You know, punch them through apiece of cardboard and label it
with a sharpie.
And the other thing that I guessit's kind of hard to explain
over the radio here, but I'll dothe best job I can is witness
marks.

(44:17):
So a lot of times when you takesomething apart, you will you
know, it will have a mark on itwhere it made it with another
service, another surface.
So that is a witness mark.
So, and that witness mark, itcan tell you a lot of different
things on how something goesback together.

(44:40):
And the same thing, or the sameexample, so, so you pull a sump
cover off an engine and you goto put it back on, what I do is
I'll stick, you know, say it'sgot 10 bolts, I'll stick all 10
bolts in where I think they go.
And if one is sticking outfurther than another and another

(45:02):
one is, you know, in too far,then I know those two need to be
reversed.
That I got them in the wrongspot because, you know, all
these things are machined topretty tight tolerances.
So if you stick a bolt in thehole and you didn't start it,
you know, it's going to stickout whatever a quarter or three

(45:24):
eighths of an inch, whatever thespec is.
So, I think that's, you know,something that you can
definitely look at and somethingthat makes it easier when
you're, reassembling stuff.
Well, tell me about yourapprenticeship program y'all got
there at marion.
And is that just for shop peopleor is that, you know, like

(45:46):
interns for superintendent?
How does that work?

Robert Smith (45:52):
typically the people we pull in the they range
from crew members to outsidesuperintendents that want to do
something else on, you know,this side of the industry.
So, it's primarily people thatwe've, we've pulled off the golf
course.
Uh, just crew members thatdefinitely show interest.
and to be honest with you, man,a lot of the really good

(46:13):
operators.
Have come to me a few differenttimes and said, Hey, I'm might
be interested in maybe goingthrough your program.
It's like, come on, we'll bringthem into the shop for about a
week.
See how they do.
See if they like it, you know,and completely honest with them,
man, when it comes to our workethic in here.
And I want to, I always tellhim, Hey, listen, man, if this

(46:35):
doesn't suit you, you need tolet me know, because.
I don't want you to waste mytime and I most certainly don't
want to waste your time.
So, but uh, if you want to makea career out of this, then we
can most definitely help you inputting the right foot forward.
So, Marion's very gracious withmoving up in the industry and
we, we really pushed for that.

(46:57):
Uh, Paul Washall was really goodat doing that on his end with
superintendents.
And you know, he was, uh, I wasvery fortunate that when Paul
came here in 17, he left mecontinue to do what I was doing
So far we've placed, uh, it'snine or 10 people,

Trent Manning (47:15):
wow.

Robert Smith (47:16):
some local, some out of state.
And like I said, it rangesanywhere from crew members to
old superintendents.
A superintendent came throughhere.
That was from the Poconos.
Just ended up being a reallygood guy, really good mechanic.
But, what we typically like todo here is I like to have two
full time guys, besides me on,on property all the time.

(47:37):
And I like that third being kindof like a part time floater kind
of fellow.
So what he'll do is, he'llcontinue to do his work or she
will continue to do her work outin the golf course.
The most important thing is tounderstand how to operate the
equipment, what they do, whattheir intentions are.

(47:57):
Out in the golf course and it'sa lot easier to train somebody
in the shop in that respectbecause they understand already
what it's supposed to do.
Now it's time for me to showthem what we do to get it there.

Trent Manning (48:14):
Right, right.

Robert Smith (48:15):
But we've had some really good success.
People range from going throughthe internship program or the
apprenticeship program anywherebetween nine months to, you
know, two and a half years,three years.
By all means, we don't push himout here, you know, we don't
push him out of Marion.
But there is not a month thatgoes by that I don't get a phone
call asking, Hey, do you know ofa mechanic?

(48:36):
I'm, I'm looking for one.
And, let's face it, themechanics side of things is, and
I don't mean any disrespect toanybody, but it's just like an,
it's an old head game.
There's a lot of older peoplethat are mechanics.
They're starting to retire.
And man, jobs are just openingup left and right.

(48:58):
And I think a lot of thesuperintendents understand now
that it takes somebody thatdefinitely has background in
that sort of thing, because it'ssuch a small niched.
place somebody in.

Trent Manning (49:10):
Do

Robert Smith (49:14):
we'll, we'll bring them into the shop.
We start out with realtechnology.
Uh, I have them, uh, check infairway mowers and they do that
for about a week and a half totwo weeks.
And we just kind of get the ballrolling from there.
I don't.

Trent Manning (49:29):
down on paper?
As far as the program oranything?

Robert Smith (49:34):
don't.
And that's kind of where I lacka little bit at.
There's no really set schedulewhen it comes to, you know,
educating and mechanic.
A lot of my classes are, reallife.
Hey, this, this workman here isbroke down.
Come in here.
I'm going to show you what'sgoing on.
We're going to diagnose it.

(49:55):
I'm gonna explain what's goingon and where to start, where to
stop, and hopefully we can fixit.
So.
That happens an awful lot.

Trent Manning (50:05):
Yeah, and I'm right there with you and I'm
fortunate enough to have somepeople working in the shop with
me.
And yeah, every time I'll justsay, Ooh, this is a really good
learning opportunity.
and I'll bring the guy over, Youknow, the gal or whatever And
say, Okay, this is what we'redoing here

Robert Smith (50:22):
Absolutely.

Trent Manning (50:22):
know, this, this is what I'm thinking, you know,
this is what.
I want to do, you know, todiagnose or, you know, whatever
it is, you know, that we'redoing.
I think there's a ton of goodlearning opportunities that come
up on a daily basis, you know,for us in the shop, for the
younger people that have notdone it before.

(50:45):
And, I think it's very rewardingfor them, too, to see how much
they can learn in a Very shortperiod of time.

Robert Smith (50:53):
Yes.
Very much so.
You can, that's one of thereasons why I do it, man.
To see their faces justfulfilled.
Very rewarding.
And I spoke earlier about mymentor, Jimmy Fox.
I mean, he took me under hiswing and he didn't have to do
it.
It's just, he was such afantastic person to do that.

(51:14):
And, it's kind of my way ofgiving back.
You see, there's a lot of goodmechanics out there that didn't
necessarily have that when theyfirst started out in the
industry.
And, if we can bring somebodyinto the shop here and kind of
kickstart their, their career, Imean, that's what we're going to
do.
That's kind of our way of givingback to the industry.
That's for sure.

Trent Manning (51:33):
No, I mean, I think that is great what y'all
are doing.
And I mean, imagine if we couldget a hundred clubs to do that.
You know, how many people isthat putting out a year?
But you know, a lot of clubs arenot willing to do something like
that.
No,

Robert Smith (51:57):
a Terry,

Trent Manning (51:57):
yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I mean, that's gonna happen.

Robert Smith (52:00):
Absolutely.
And I, and I'm,

Trent Manning (52:02):
Yeah, I do think, I mean, most people in our
field, we like learning handson,

Robert Smith (52:09):
100%.

Trent Manning (52:09):
that's, Yeah, I don't, you know, we pick things
up easier that way.
And I was fortunate enough tohave a gentleman work with me
for three years.
And then he went and actuallyworked with Corey for two years.
And now he's at a real high endcourse here.
in Georgia and doing great.
And I'm so proud of him.
But he told me this not too longago.

(52:32):
one of the things.
that really helped him when hewas working for me, at the time,
I was doing a bunch of sidework.
and I was getting tractors inall the time, splitting them,
putting clutches in them.
You know, we weren't doing thatnecessarily at the golf course.
Not that I wouldn't, but notour, you know, I got three
tractors.
I didn't need a clutch in them,you know?
so you know, doing this sidework and, you know, and I did

(52:55):
all kind of different type ofside work.
And he was saying how much thathelped him too, learning
different stuff.
You know, not just your normaleveryday golf course stuff.
So that, you know, since y'allare doing that type of stuff at
Marion, I mean, that is awesome.
I mean, that's next level stuff.
You know, I think most coursesprobably send out a tractor to

(53:19):
get the clutch replaced.
you know, maybe not most, maybethat's not fair, but there is a
large majority that does.
Let's say, you know, and youknow, it doesn't matter if the
technician knows how to do it ornot.
You know, maybe he doesn't havethe time.
If it's one person in the shop,you know, you don't have time to

(53:39):
split a tractor apart and put aclutch in.

Robert Smith (53:41):
uh, we just didn't have time to do it.
But, you know, shortly afterthat.
there was another one that wentout and, you know, we had time
to do

Trent Manning (53:48):
No, I, I, can't, can't agree more.
And I think we'll end on that.
That's awesome.
I was, yeah, that's so good.
We will hit a little bit ofrapid fire.
Bring it.
All right.
I love it.
What's your favorite movie?

Robert Smith (54:06):
road to perdition.

Trent Manning (54:07):
You're gonna have to educate me here.
I'm sorry.
I missed that one.

Robert Smith (54:11):
mafia.
Maybe not necessarily gory, butit's, uh, back in the Mafia days
in the 1940s, 1930s, uh, whenMafia was real big.
It's just, uh, it's about a TomHanks, the dad and his son,
going to the aunt's place andthe adventures that they, uh,
went on during that road trip.

Trent Manning (54:33):
Okay.

Robert Smith (54:34):
It's, it's fantastic.

Trent Manning (54:36):
All right.
I'm gonna have to check it outthen.
Putting it on the list rightnow.
What would be your last meal inyour log cabin in the middle of
nowhere?

Robert Smith (54:44):
Pork, sauerkraut, dumplings, mashed potatoes, and
green beans.

Trent Manning (54:49):
Oh, man.
I don't know that I've ever hadpork, sauerkraut, mashed
potatoes.

Robert Smith (54:54):
Man, there's nothing better, Trent.

Trent Manning (54:56):
I, well, I mean, don't get me wrong, I love pork,
I love sauerkraut, and I lovemashed potatoes, so I'm sure
I've just never had them allmixed together.
Yeah, where, is that a Germanthing, or?

Robert Smith (55:08):
You know what, I have no idea.
My mom used to make it for mewhenever I was uh, uh, growing
up.
We had it maybe once every othermonth maybe.

Trent Manning (55:17):
Okay.

Robert Smith (55:18):
that I'm a grown ass man, I have it every other
week now.
So, it's

Trent Manning (55:23):
awesome.

Robert Smith (55:24):
Try it and then give me a call.
Let me know how you,

Trent Manning (55:26):
Okay.
Well, I might, you might have totext me a recipe or something.
I'll see if I could throw it,throw that together.
No, that's awesome.
What are you most proud ofbesides your kids?
And obviously, I know you'reproud of your family and and
your two girls.

Robert Smith (55:42):
Very proud of my the apprenticeship program that
we've created here.
Very proud of that, uh, workethic.
And I think everything kind ofbundles into one, really.
But definitely theapprenticeship program.
Being able to give back and,just learning what I've learned
so far in life.
And where I started and whereI'm at now.
And definitely proud of that.

Trent Manning (56:04):
That's awesome.
So, so good.
Well, thank you so much forbeing a guest.
Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Robert Smith (56:10):
Likewise, well, thank you very much for having
me on.
I, I also enjoyed it, Trent.

Trent Manning (56:15):
Thank you so much for listening to 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.