October 2, 2024 • 58 mins
In this episode of Reel Turf Techs, we sit down with Kevin Kline, an equipment manager who has had quite the journey into the turf industry. Kevin shares how he started in the turf program at Ohio State University ATI, but his path took a detour as he ventured into electrical work and later became the director of facilities at a community college in Ohio. Years later, an unexpected job ad led him back to the golf course, where he now manages over 300 pieces of equipment at a private 38-hole facility.
Kevin discusses his love for golf, averaging 110-150 rounds a year, and how that passion for the game ultimately guided him back to the golf industry. He also highlights his goal to connect with members through weekly rounds and a league he set up for the Green staff. Tune in to hear Kevin’s unique journey, his thoughts on balancing work with his passion for golf, and how he brings his experience from multiple industries into his current role.
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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 ReefWelcome to the real turf text
(00:26):
podcast, episode 1 28.
Today, we're talking to KevinKlein.
Northern Ohio golf courseequipment manager.
And Northern Ohio golf course.
Superintendent associationliaison.
Kevin is a equivalent manager ata 38 hole private facility.
He has a head technician.
(00:47):
An assistant plus a part-timereal tech.
Let's talk to Kevin.
Welcome Kevin to the RealTurfTechs podcast.
How you doing today?
Kevin Kline (00:57):
Doing really well.
How are you doing today?
Trent Manning (00:59):
I'm good.
I'm good.
Yep.
It's uh, it's Monday.
So it wasn't too bad of aMonday.
I can't complain.
Kevin Kline (01:06):
Monday is my favorite day of the week.
Trent Manning (01:09):
Why is that?
Kevin Kline (01:10):
Because nobody else likes them and I like to be a
little different.
Trent Manning (01:13):
Oh, all right.
Well, nothing wrong with thatfor sure.
Cool.
Tell us how you got into theturf industry.
Kevin Kline (01:19):
so I graduated from high school and, uh, started at
OSU ATI in the turf programthere.
Uh, I went there from 93 to 94.
And then, uh, I only have twoclasses to complete my turf
degree, but I got into doing bigconstruction electrical and did
that for 20 plus years.
(01:40):
And then I was the director offacilities at a, uh, small
community college in Ohio.
that for seven years and I sawan ad one day for equipment
manager and I was like, I canprobably sort some rackets and
do that at a private club andhere to come to find out.
(02:00):
It's a equipment manager runningsomewhere close to 300 pieces of
equipment.
So I got back into golf.
I average anywhere between 110and 150 rounds of golf a year.
So, I love to play golf and whynot?
work at a golf course.
We are a 38 hole facility.
So, uh, 100 percent completelyprivate.
(02:22):
So, it's a good time.
Trent Manning (02:24):
Yeah, that's awesome.
How often do you get to play onyour course?
Kevin Kline (02:28):
Uh, I play at, well, I play with the membership
group on Wednesday nights.
One of my goals was to meet asmany members as possible.
So there's about 25 of us thatmeet, uh, and play on
Wednesdays.
And then I try to play with theguys.
Uh, I set up a league this yearon Sunday evenings for Green
staff.
(02:49):
Uh, we have, we carry about 52staff in the summertime, so just
to allow them to get out andplay.
I, uh, started a league thisyear and they get out and we
play, we're some type of gamethat, that I stole from the
members that I play with.
So, we just get out and enjoy.
The first week we had like sixor eight, though last week we
(03:11):
had 20.
So
Trent Manning (03:13):
Okay.
Yeah, that's cool though.
That's awesome.
So I guess you enjoy golf.
Before you ever went to ATI,right?
Kevin Kline (03:22):
Yes, yeah, I played high school golf and all that
too.
Trent Manning (03:25):
And when you went to ATI, were you planning on
working full time at a golfcourse?
Kevin Kline (03:31):
Yeah, I wanted to be a greenskeeper back then.
So, so I did my internship and Idecided that when I played golf
at the place where I did myinternship, I found myself
carrying around a notebook andfinding all the stuff that we
had to do all day long.
And, uh, the next day I went inand told the guys, you know,
this is what we, uh, it startedaffecting my golf game.
(03:52):
And then I was like, eh, maybe Idon't want to do this.
So, cause I wanted to playcompetitive golf.
So,
Trent Manning (03:57):
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (03:58):
I belonged to Northern Ohio Golf Association
and playing events for them.
So I don't know.
I just like competitive golf.
So I, it kind of was like eatingaway at me that I had saw all
this stuff that needed done atthe golf course.
And then, My golf game startedto go, I chose to change my
profession instead of findingthat work life balance type.
Trent Manning (04:21):
Oh, nothing wrong with that.
That's cool.
That's cool.
So do you relief grind at yourclub?
No.
Kevin Kline (04:29):
Two years ago, the year I started here in 22, we
sent out all of our fairwaymowers to be relief ground.
In January of this year, we arepurchasing our own relief
grinder for all of our fairwayunits.
So, we only relief grind thefairway units.
So, we've had a lot of successin spin grinding.
(04:51):
They're like 40 percent rightnow.
So, when we grind for the lasttime of the year to get ready
for next spring, we'll look atthose units and we'll probably
go ahead and relief grind them
Trent Manning (05:02):
When you Do you really grind?
How far or how much relief doyou put in?
Kevin Kline (05:10):
about 80%.
Trent Manning (05:11):
80 percent
Kevin Kline (05:12):
Yeah, we don't go all the way back because, if we
need to put more on later inlife, we're going to have our
own grinder, so, I'd rather go,instead of going all the way
back and then causing a problemor something happening, Rather
go back 80%, and that's what wedid when we did the When we sent
him out, we went to 80%.
I didn't have him go.
Trent Manning (05:32):
Okay, no, that's cool.
Yeah, I mean everybody'sdifferent strokes different
folks
Kevin Kline (05:37):
Yeah.
Trent Manning (05:37):
Backwards in it in a different folks different
strokes Tell me something youfabricated lately
Kevin Kline (05:44):
I am working on a prototype.
I actually have installed it.
I'm putting a toolbox underneathmy elite.
golf carts.
there's a spot, the elite cartsfrom Cushman that have chargers
on board.
The battery sits back backunderneath of the, uh, bed.
(06:05):
So what we, what I did was I putin a toolbox, upright nice
sturdy one.
just got it on Amazon.
It stands the tools up.
I can put a, I put a, organizerin there, washers, nuts, and all
that kind of stuff.
And then put a bag, a roll bagof tools in there that has all
my sockets and everything in it.
(06:26):
That thing works great.
I drove around the golf courseand hit just about every bump
possible and I didn't loseanything.
So, I actually showed it to thegolf course superintendent today
and he's like, uh, it looks likea pretty good idea.
So maybe, I mean,
Trent Manning (06:39):
Okay.
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (06:41):
We've got 11 of those carts.
So, I mean, and.
Tools getting wet in the back ofthe, and then trying to throw
hose reels in there and all thatkind of stuff is just big pains.
We're going to try this now, Ithink.
Trent Manning (06:55):
Yeah.
No, that's a great idea.
And yeah, thank you for sendingme a picture of it because uh, I
got 23 of these carts betweenboth clubs and uh, I think I'm
gonna add that to the arsenal.
Maybe not on every cart butdefinitely the manager's carts
and
Kevin Kline (07:13):
Well, we thought the irrigation guy, uh, he
looked at it today and he'slike, oh, I'm getting one of
those.
I'm like, well, I'll probably beordering at the beginning of the
year.
We're going to order and thenfit all, fit everybody that
needs them.
Uh, probably like you said, themanager's carts, maybe not the
golf course superintendent, but,uh, he was thinking of a way to.
(07:33):
put something with his, uh, raingear and all that stuff, which
would work too.
I mean,
Trent Manning (07:39):
Oh, yeah.
That's a good idea.
Kevin Kline (07:40):
throw that in there and then he can throw some
wrenches and stuff in there andmaybe a prism if he needs to or
whatever.
So, And he was worried abouttools bouncing out, but like I
said, I, Jumped a couple oftoday and I didn't lose any
tools.
Trent Manning (07:56):
Put her through the paces, huh?
Kevin Kline (07:58):
Yeah, there's pretty much no way that tools
are going to fall out of there.
And then I took bungee cords andto the, it comes with a strap
that you can put over yourshoulder.
I filed that and then use bungeecords to go down underneath.
the frame and right back throughthat hole.
So it actually holds the thingdown tight to the, so it doesn't
(08:20):
bounce up and down.
So
Trent Manning (08:21):
Oh, nice.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's cool.
Kevin Kline (08:24):
it's a work in progress and I'm sure we'll
probably change it 10 moretimes, but it's a pretty good
start.
So,
Trent Manning (08:30):
What I think it'll be something that easy go
eventually or Cushmaneventually, yeah, incorporates
into their accessories.
Kevin Kline (08:39):
charge.
200 or
Trent Manning (08:41):
What?
Yes.
Yeah, right, right, right.
Kevin Kline (08:43):
40.
Trent Manning (08:45):
Tell me what your favorite tool is.
Kevin Kline (08:47):
My head technician and I were talking about, the
first year I was here, he wasn'tthe head technician yet, but he
was looking through Amazon andwe were looking for something to
make our oil changes easier whenThe equipment was up on the
rack.
So, we found form a funnel.
They're on Amazon.
You buy a two pack.
One's a short one.
(09:08):
One's a long one.
It just instead of stuffdripping off of arms and
everything else they work outreal well.
I mean, They form to whatever,and then when you're done with,
uh, draining the oil, you putthe drain plug in and turn it
around and you can use it for afunnel to go back in to the, you
know, to get to those hard toreach spots on pouring oil back
(09:32):
into them.
Trent Manning (09:34):
Yeah I saw it for the first time on Hector's shop.
And this was years ago.
It was one of his earliervideos.
And, uh, got one after seeing itthere.
And yeah, I mean, it's just sohandy.
I don't know why some of theengineers that work for these
companies can't put a drainplug, you know, in the spot
(09:54):
where it would go straight intoan oil pan.
But they struggle with that.
Kevin Kline (09:59):
they probably need to stand underneath a machine
and drain the oil one time,without a form of funnel.
And they would figure out, youknow, when I was in the
electrical world the state ofOhio has changed when you get
your electrical engineeringlicense.
You have to have two years of,you know, In the field work.
(10:19):
So either as a installer or as alike a project manager or
something like that before youcan get your stamp.
So, some of these engineers thatbuild these machines for us,
they probably ought to have thatbefore they.
Trent Manning (10:34):
Yep.
Some practical
Kevin Kline (10:35):
Practical.
Yeah.
Trent Manning (10:37):
Yeah, that would be good.
What do you do to relax or findyour balance?
Kevin Kline (10:42):
So, like I said, I play a lot of golf.
Competitively.
I play in probably, I think Ijust played Friday.
I played in my 16th tournamentfor the year.
Just scrambles, usuallybenefits.
Uh, I do a lot of benefit golfplay play golf with my dad a
lot.
I've played, I just recordedround 107.
(11:05):
my goal for, my personal goalwas 150.
I have till December 31st.
So I'm pretty sure I'll reachthat.
Trent Manning (11:12):
Yeah, you can get that in.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
How's your dad?
Kevin Kline (11:17):
My dad's 76.
And the last time we played, heshot 75.
So he's still shooting his.
Trent Manning (11:25):
Wow.
That is awesome.
Kevin Kline (11:27):
Yeah.
He's got a good swing coach.
I've been teaching golf since Iwas.
Uh, 18, I went to Florida forsix weeks and learned how to
teach, so, I teach a lot of highschool kids.
Just pro bono because withoutgolfers, we don't have jobs on
the golf course, let alone Golfclubs, so, I sell golf clubs on
the side too.
Trent Manning (11:48):
Okay.
Awesome.
That's so cool.
Yeah.
Who would have thought?
What's uh one of the strangestthings you've seen around the
golf course?
Yeah,
Kevin Kline (12:03):
road views, north course and south course
telephone poles.
We have lights around one of theevent centers, little short
lights.
Seems like the Ventrac and theSteiner operators ring
themselves around that and assoon as they get in there,
they're like, Oh, I can getmyself out and jimmy in around
(12:26):
and Turn around.
It looks like a horseshoe ringerwithout hitting the post.
I mean, just since I've beenhere, it's happened six times
and I have pictures of all ofthem.
So there, you know, it's like afresh thing.
I teach it in the spring to thenew operators.
It doesn't fail.
Three weeks goes by.
(12:46):
Oh, I thought I could get out ofthis.
They're not getting out of it.
Trent Manning (12:51):
the harder you work to get out, the tighter it
brings you in.
Kevin Kline (12:54):
And I, you know, You know, the first time it ever
happened, I was like, oh yeah, Ican get that off of there
without, you know, calling atractor.
I should have called thattractor first.
Trent Manning (13:04):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
No, I've been there.
Yep, I guess anybody that's beenon a Ventrac or a Steiner,
they've probably been there.
If you've operated at any lengthof time, you've had it happen.
What's one of your pet peevesaround the shop?
Kevin Kline (13:20):
So it happened again today, uh, shop tools
being left out.
I was doing a walkthrough today.
Uh, I know somebody that wasworking on something last
Thursday when I was here.
Tools just laying out.
Rags still there.
pieces, parts, stuff that theytook off in every place, still
laying there.
Just put it away.
(13:40):
I mean, I don't care if you haveto Go get the tools back out
after you've made youradjustments, because I know
they're not going to come backand put it away.
So put it away the first time.
And then what happens is I putit away or one of my technicians
puts it away and then they're,they come back and it never
fails.
Hey, where'd those tools go?
(14:01):
And it could be like 3 or 4 dayslater.
I had them out for a reason.
Well, put them away.
And then you just keep going.
I mean, so, you know, theyalways tell me that it's the
tool fairies that leave them out
Trent Manning (14:15):
Uh, uh
Kevin Kline (14:16):
then it wasn't me.
It wasn't me.
I did.
I didn't do that.
Trent Manning (14:19):
Yep.
Kevin Kline (14:21):
I just put it away.
Trent Manning (14:22):
So that happens at your course too?
Kevin Kline (14:25):
Yeah.
So when I first started here,when I first started here, the
main technician that was here,he's like, the guys complain
that, you know, they can neverfind anything.
Tools are being left out.
I mean, we try as hard as wecan.
Can to put our tools away.
If you know, I have techniciansthat we, that leave work on
(14:46):
Thursday and don't come back forthe weekend.
And then one guy that worksthrough Saturday and then, you
know, at the end of their day onwhatever day they end on for
their week, they put their stuffaway.
I mean, it's everybody.
And I hate to say it, it'severybody else.
I mean, it happens.
Trent Manning (15:04):
Yeah, it happens and definitely some people are
better than others.
Kevin Kline (15:09):
Oh yeah, there's, well, at the beginning of the
year when we went through, builttwo brand new buildings
recently, and in the spring weopened them and, you know,
everything was, yeah, let's doit, you know, get, let's keep
this place clean, and then todaywe did a walkthrough and I'm
like, this is, you know, not theway it's supposed to be.
They forgot, they must haveforgot how to do it.
(15:30):
So, we'll train them again thisyear and then next year this
time we'll train them again.
Trent Manning (15:35):
Yeah.
How often do you go through thetraining with?
Kevin Kline (15:39):
the full timers will get it done twice.
Uh, they get it done about everysix months.
And then uh, I just sat down.
I'm the safety guy for ourdepartment now too.
So, I run all of our, uh,monthly safety meetings and I'm
now on the corporate safetycommittee.
So, I have to put together a 52week training so it's toolbox
(16:03):
talks every Monday startingJanuary 6th all the way till
December 29th.
So I just laid out 52 weeks oftraining and I'm getting ready
to do fourth quarter trainingnow for fourth quarter coming up
just as a pilot for next year tosee how it's going to go.
But we have 52 people in thesummertime, so.
It's hard to wrangle in allthose people.
(16:25):
We hang it up, they sign it,they read it.
As soon as their name goes onthe board, I go, actually go to
them and talk about you know,normal everyday stuff, but then
throw in a couple of thosequestions that I know that if
they've read it or not, so thenI go.
you know, then they have toreread it.
But, you know, it's, the pointis trying to get the high level
(16:47):
part of it together.
So that way we're teaching themexactly what they need to keep
to stay safe.
So,
Trent Manning (16:56):
Is that something you'd be interested in sharing?
Kevin Kline (16:59):
yes.
Trent Manning (17:01):
If you wouldn't mind.
So, and this is something that,for the listeners, that I've
thought about, and just hadn'treally devoted the time to doing
it.
I have a website, and it couldbe a really good resource, you
know, and there's no point in merecreating the wheel, you know,
(17:21):
or reinventing the wheel.
When there's guys like youthat's putting stuff together
and we could just put a link onthere to you know, a google
folder or whatever and You knowshare it with everybody.
I think it would be a reallygood resource.
So if you wouldn't mind Yeah,after we get off, that would be
awesome
Kevin Kline (17:38):
Yeah.
So what I'm, my goal is I have asafety committee meeting
tomorrow as a matter of fact,but I'll be meeting with our
safety director for here atwork.
She and I.
came from the constructionworld.
I built this for theconstruction world.
I've built these for the collegeworld, you know, facilities
world.
So I've got some background andthen she's got some background
(18:04):
in it also because she was thesafety director for Ruland
Company.
But by putting this alltogether, I pull it from public
OSHA knowledge.
You know, we have, we take OSHA10 training here for all of our
full timers.
There's a package deal that youbuy and then, you know, the only
thing that you have to do isthan every year is bloodborne
(18:25):
pathogen.
You don't have to do any of thatother stuff.
And then there's a refreshercourse every three years for the
guys that come back every threeyears, you know, And then we do
CPR with our, and AED trainingwith all of our, uh, fire
departments.
They are more than happy to dothat.
Most fire departments do that.
They, uh, they're actuallycoming to Westfield and training
(18:47):
70 some of them this year.
So,
Trent Manning (18:50):
Oh,
Kevin Kline (18:50):
but Yeah, I, it's not hard to do.
I mean, I, like I said, I'vedrawn from a lot of the stuff
that I've done in the collegeworld and the construction
world.
So, as soon as I get everythingscanned in, I'll share it with
you and see what you think andall of that.
Trent Manning (19:07):
Yeah, for sure.
And I mean, honestly, it's not,you know, it didn't what I think
about it, you know, share itwith everybody else.
And, you know, and that's onething.
And I've had this conversationwith other people in the
industry to there's very feworiginal ideas.
And a lot of times we just stillideas from other people.
(19:28):
And that's okay.
You know, I mean, that's what wedo here.
And some of us,
Kevin Kline (19:32):
at Mike.
Mike Rollins is one of the bestteachers, uh, to put, you know,
to put grinding in English forall of us to understand.
And that's what I mean.
That's what I'm doing is I'mputting a safety program
together.
That's, you know, it's a Alreadyput together, you know, all you
got to do is the stuff is allthere and toolbox talks is
(19:53):
probably the biggest thing Thatpeople don't understand that,
you know, you deal with heatrelated you deal with bees you
deal with, you know PPE allforms of PPE and you know slips
trips falls All that stuff.
I mean, it's all in our industryand people just don't think
about it until something happensand they're like, Oh, yeah, we
(20:14):
probably should have gone overthat.
Yeah, I'll be more than happy toshare however you want.
However, we want to do this.
I mean,
Trent Manning (20:22):
Yeah.
That'd be awesome.
Yeah.
We'll, uh, we'll figure thatout.
So how long is these toolboxmeetings?
Kevin Kline (20:31):
so this is what I do is I have usually have two or
two pieces of paper, you know,that have the high have the
whole thing on it.
I highlight the high levelparts.
I go over them.
Literally, I read thehighlighted parts, and I say,
Guys, when you get a freemoment, this is what the talk is
(20:53):
about.
When you guys get a free moment,ten minutes before you leave,
you know, five minutes afterlaunch, do whatever.
Read these, sign your name.
You know, so it's basically Itell them what the gist of it
all.
It's like five minutes everymorning.
I mean, every Monday morning iswhen we do them.
So, and it's like five minutes.
So, it's not, there's no, youknow, it's right before
(21:17):
everybody goes out to go, youknow, get on the golf course and
all that kind of stuff.
As they come in, they read it,they sign it and by Friday I
pull it and then I'm done.
The following Monday I putanother one up.
Trent Manning (21:26):
Okay.
Cool.
And yeah.
So each week you're, do youhighlight, you know, different
things
Kevin Kline (21:33):
Yeah, so I do it by you know, cold weather's coming
for us in Ohio, so it'll be coldweather, uh, PPE, cold weather,
how you deal with, you know,extreme temperatures, uh, wind
and all that, you know.
So it'll be, wind will be oneweek, extreme temperatures next
week.
You know, so it's kind of likelittle short nuggets, but able
(21:57):
to teach them, you know, kind ofwhat, what's going on instead of
giving them a 10 page piece ofpaper and expect them to read
it.
I don't expect that.
So that's just, that's a wasteof time.
So,
Trent Manning (22:08):
No, I agree with that.
Do you have a mentor in theindustry?
Kevin Kline (22:14):
uh, many.
Trent Manning (22:15):
Many.
All right.
Let's go through a few of them.
Kevin Kline (22:18):
Okay.
So, a lot of I apologize.
deal with Kevin Kroll at BakerVehicle.
He's a ex superintendent, usedto wrench on his own equipment
does a lot of Jake stuff.
I have a lot of Jake stuff here.
So, not only, I mean, he's asalesman, but he's also someone
that has, like I said, done allhis own wrenching and worked
through a lot of things.
(22:39):
And he's a very quick, You know,hey, this is what I see, what's
going on, da, and he's rightthere, uh, he'll stop at the
course, he'll talk through withme on the phone just an all
around good guy about, you know,taking care of things that he's
seen and we can talk throughthings and not be, I'm not
totally off base, you know,he'll wrangle me back in if I'm
(23:02):
thinking about something that'sleft field, so, another big help
is um, at SIP.
He, we have a bed bar grinderfrom him.
We have the 6, 000.
So his help with how we look atcuts and all that kind of stuff.
And then me being a member ofthe Northern Ohio Gulf Coast
(23:22):
Superintendent Association,equipment manager, uh, liaison
guy Gary Bagdansky from Sharon,Trent Weber from Kirtland, Nick
Ballas from Barrington.
Those guys are all in a chatgroup with me and we're throwing
stuff as far as like, right now,aerification season.
So, we're always talking aboutthat.
(23:44):
We're talking about what we see.
We meet every month, you know,just to go over what Northern
Ohio wants to do and then whatwe're seeing in the industry and
making purchase decisions, butwhat we're You know, what they
see compared to what I see andyou know, just bouncing things
off of people.
Things and then reading youryour manner of mind because you
(24:07):
run that, run their WhatsApp.
I mean, without that, I mean,1100 messages the other day, I
read every single one of them.
I mean, I sat down last nightand there was 153.
Well, of those 153, about 40 ofthem pertained to what I was
reading.
Been dealing with, you know,equipment wise.
So, you know, it's sometimesit's hard to catch up, but all
(24:30):
that stuff is good stuff.
I mean, I post pictures in thethe autonomous mower stuff.
I do all kinds of things.
I mean, I try to be involvedwith that so that I can get
feedback and people can figureout who I am too.
Trent Manning (24:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I mean, I think that's goodand That's what it's there for.
It's just another tool in ourtoolbox, another resource that
we got.
And yeah, it's amazing with allthe people in there and the
amount of knowledge they haveand more than likely, if you
know you're having an issue witha piece of equipment, somebody
else has seen it before, youknow, and dealt with the same
(25:07):
thing that you're currentlydealing with.
There's not that many newproblems.
You know, you get new equipmentout and you know, maybe there's
a few bugs here and there rightout of the gate.
But you know, the distributorpeople, they get that figured
out pretty quick too.
Kevin Kline (25:23):
Yeah, exactly.
Trent Manning (25:26):
Yeah, I remember like, when I was working for
Jerry Payton, riding the roads,me and Corey, we were on the
phone, you know, we had so muchwindchill time.
Anyway, we're on the phone everyafternoon, like, Oh, I'm seeing
this on 55 10.
You seen that yet?
They're like, no, I haven'tseen.
I'll look next time.
You know, the next place theygo.
Oh, yeah.
Yep.
Yep.
That's a problem.
Yeah, all kinds of warrantywork.
(25:47):
Sorry Toro for that, but youknow, we're keeping the customer
happy.
What would be your dream job oropportunity?
Oh yeah,
Kevin Kline (25:58):
these people donating time for big golf
events.
And I see Mike Rollins, hespends a lot of time donating.
With the grinding and all ofthat stuff for big events, so
someday I want to volunteer fora big event, but I don't want to
be like the equipment side.
I want to be.
I have, not a lot of input, buta lot of discussions with the
(26:19):
turf guys.
At the course I'm at withquality cut and height of cut
and, you know, and all that kindof stuff.
So, you know, maybe the guy inthe morning that checks quality
of cut with the prism, maybe beone of those guys, but, you
know, just to be at a big event.
And then possibly a play daythat I could play a golf course
(26:42):
that I don't get to play or thatI dream about playing.
So, I
Trent Manning (26:46):
for sure.
And just about all these bigtournaments, they have a play
day for their volunteers.
And most of the time, you canreally kind of volunteer
wherever you want to volunteer.
You know, if you want to rakebunkers, they'll let you rake
bunkers.
You know, they need somebodydoing all the jobs.
And it's so rewarding, you meetso many good people.
(27:10):
I mean, honestly, that'sprobably where I met Mike, I
guess.
I'm thinking back to it.
I don't remember if we kind of,No.
I met him at, uh, JohnPatterson's shop.
Went, well, but he was upvolunteering for, it was the
women's something anothertournament.
And Mike was up and I went overjust to hang out for a day.
(27:33):
Yeah, so, it's amazing who allyou can meet throughout the
industry at these tournaments.
Cause there's a lot of peoplethere, a lot of volunteers.
Great networking opportunity.
Just like the conference andtrade show is.
What I love about task trackeris they're constantly innovating
(27:54):
and listening to their users.
They've added dozens of updatesto make our job easier.
One new feature is the abilityto upload manuals to the
equipment.
All you have to do is scan theequipment.
QR code.
And you have the manual and allother information at the tip of
your fingers.
You can even create links tothose manuals and the work
orders.
(28:15):
And it goes directly to the pagethat you need.
Make your life a lot easier andcheck them out at AASB task.
tracker.com.
Let's get back to the episodeWhat technician would you like
to work with for a day?
Kevin Kline (28:28):
Kevin Henninger, just because he and I share the
same name.
No, I'm kidding.
Trent Manning (28:32):
Okay, so there'll be two cabins in one shop.
Kevin Kline (28:36):
yeah, Kevin squared.
So Kevin was at OTF last year.
Uh, I spoke at OTF last yearabout the autonomous mowers.
He did some, uh, shoporganization and just talking
with him about, you know,building our new buildings and
all that kind of stuff.
And just going through the, hewas just in Hector shop.
(28:57):
a guest on there about settingup new bed bar resurfacing
practices and that kind ofstuff.
We got, we just got new greensmowers recently.
So just kind of picking brainson, you know, I'm kind of
excited.
He is speaking again this year,I believe.
So, kind of just sit and talk tohim and he's real good down to
(29:20):
earth guy that, you know, just,and that accent of his is pretty
awesome too.
So,
Trent Manning (29:25):
Oh yeah, can't beat that.
Kevin Kline (29:27):
yeah.
So I'm
Trent Manning (29:28):
I've said it on the podcast before, but I'm
gonna say it again.
You know, I'm from the south.
So and everybody talks aboutsouthern hospitality down here
and all those things.
But honestly, we don't havenothing on Canadians.
They are so nice and thehospitality is unmatched.
(29:49):
And I've only been to Canada onetime, but that was enough to
prove it.
Like everybody here is so nice.
And maybe I just got lucky andrun into a lot of good people.
And you say accents.
So when I was up there the lady,I'm trying to remember her name.
I think her name was Kimsomething another that was the
(30:13):
executive for this chapter thatI was speaking for in Alberta.
And, it was so funny.
her jaw dropped when she heardme talk.
And then she says, hang on justa minute.
And she went and got a couple ofher friends.
And like, come over, you gottahear this guy talk.
So, evidently, I sound a littlestrange to them.
(30:36):
And that's okay.
But, uh, it did make me laugh.
Yep.
I've been talking this way mynow you wish you'd known on day
one?
Kevin Kline (30:47):
I consider day one as when I was in college
working.
I worked three years at AshlandBrookside Golf Course while I
was going to college.
I really wish I would haverealized that, uh, you could
have work life balance and be agolf course superintendent or
even a technician.
I mean, the golf course I wasworking at, We did some of our
(31:08):
own wrenching too, so, I should.
just probably should have it outand not an electrician for 20
years.
But I mean, I made a good livingas an electrician.
I learned some stuff and now,you know, I, fire alarms are
just like irrigation systems.
So, but I just really wished Iwould have just stuck it out and
(31:34):
received my degree.
And, you know, I'd have 30 yearsin the business, 32 years are in
the business right now.
Yeah.
And I could think aboutretirement at like 60 instead of
like 90.
So,
Trent Manning (31:47):
Well, hopefully, you don't have to uh work that
long or if you do work thatlong, maybe you're just working
part time and mowing fairways orsomething like that.
Which I'm not gonna get on thatsoapbox.
I do not think autonomousfairway mowers is where we
should be starting because it'sgonna take all these retired
people's jobs away.
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (32:08):
Not to get
Trent Manning (32:10):
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (32:12):
because I don't need one.
I'm six foot nine.
So, we Fairways, but we're alsomowing roughs in areas that grow
excessively and have reallythick grass.
keep them down and we aren'treplacing workers.
We are repurposing workers.
(32:33):
The goal is to keep that staffand be able to cover vacations
and do that kind of stuff.
So that was the argument when Iput my case study together that
we don't lose people.
We repurpose them to the finersides of the golf course.
So we're not losing anyone.
We're gaining extra help inareas that we see in our
(33:00):
operation that need those, youknow, I consider us, we're not a
top 100 golf course, but Iconsider our golf courses as
championship golf courses.
So, I mean, when you're dealingwith something that's the fine
tunings and things that peopledon't see and you're doing them
right, then that's the goal ofmine is to provide that.
(33:24):
So that way we're, turning out aproduct that's even better and
using the same amount of staff.
So we're not really replacinganybody.
We're getting the parts of thegolf course that you can't get
back to mow it twice a week ormow it three times a week or
whatever.
That's what we're doing.
So, and we are mowing fairwaystoo, but, You know, at the
(33:44):
beginning of the year,somebody's going to have to mow
those fairways because theycan't mow them right out of the
gate, so, and then I don't knowwhat they do with leaves yet
because they're on a golf coursewith no leaves, so.
Trent Manning (33:55):
Yeah.
That must be nice.
Wow.
Kevin Kline (33:57):
have 15 trees on our north course.
Of those 15 trees, they are notin play unless you're a terrible
golfer.
Trent Manning (34:07):
Okay.
That's.
Kevin Kline (34:09):
so.
I mean, there's no, I mean, wedon't use, we hardly ever use
buffalo blowers on the north.
And we use it to do rough spotswhere, the grass is excessive.
So, you know, our target isobviously to use those
autonomous mowers in thoseareas,
Trent Manning (34:26):
Yeah.
No.
And it makes sense.
And I guess my thought behind itis I would like manufacturers to
focus on automating Jobs thathumans do not like to do.
Kevin Kline (34:42):
like pick the driving range.
Trent Manning (34:44):
Pick the driving range, rake bunkers, fly mow,
weed whip, weed eat, whateveryou want to call it, string
trimmer around trees.
That's what we need to automate,not fairway mowers, because I
mean, that's one of the easiest,funnest jobs there is on a golf
(35:06):
course.
So why take
Kevin Kline (35:07):
I've not been on a fairway mower this year, and I
tried to get one on one thismorning, but we got so much
rain, we didn't mow fairway.
One of my joys of the offseason, you know, not, I mean
the shoulder seasons when wedon't have as many employees,
I'm like, I really need to geton a mower because I need to
know how they work.
(35:28):
I mean, how are we doing formaintenance and all that?
And they're like, yeah, we gottoo many operators.
I'm like, doesn't matter.
I still need to get on one.
Trent Manning (35:36):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's uh I think that it'stherapeutic getting on a fairway
mower.
Kevin Kline (35:42):
what do you think?
Have you seen the firefly?
Trent Manning (35:45):
Yes, I have.
I have seen it.
Kevin Kline (35:48):
I'm not sold?
Trent Manning (35:49):
I hadn't seen it in person just you know on
Kevin Kline (35:51):
Yeah.
I saw it on YouTube.
Trent Manning (35:54):
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (35:55):
I'm not sold because, you know, the
adjustment screws and all thatkind of stuff is just, I don't
think it's, there's no way totrade.
Trent Manning (36:03):
well, yeah, I don't know.
Hopefully, that was a misprint.
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (36:08):
posted that, didn't you?
Trent Manning (36:09):
Yeah, well somebody
Kevin Kline (36:11):
and I went,
Trent Manning (36:12):
Yeah, six thousandths reel to bed knife
adjustment when John Deere isfive tenths and Toro is seven
tenths.
Yeah, so hopefully that was amisprint but Let's do some tips
and tricks you ready
Kevin Kline (36:30):
Yes, sir.
Get ready for tips and tricks.
Trent Manning (36:35):
what kind of tips and tricks you want to share
with us?
Kevin Kline (36:39):
we were talking about drain plugs earlier.
our world, our second assistantshelp with, uh, services in the
wintertime.
Uh, never fails when we dosecond service in the spring.
We're got a strip drain plug,uh, something like that.
I have a welder on staff.
He welds, uh, piece of bar stockon the drain plug.
(37:01):
And we actually leave that thereafter we've welded that drain
plug because it just teaches ourguys when they go back and do it
again in the fall we might put anew drain plug in it but we let
them know this is you know,don't do this or make sure that
you're doing it right.
Telling us what's going on.
Another thing, drain plugs.
Uh, we've been adding drain plugextensions for our buffalo
(37:24):
blowers.
You have to loosen the motor toreplace an existing drain plug.
So, have to tip that motor upthat you can put a new, one of
those new fangled yellow plugsthat you're supposed to be able
to quarter turn and it opens thedrain.
Well, that,
Trent Manning (37:41):
Oh Yeah
Kevin Kline (37:42):
Those don't work real well.
So we started putting, uh, drainextensions on so that we don't
have to do that.
And then we just drain the motorand it's good to go.
We just have to add whatever thelength of hose is.
We have to add that to the oil,uh, because it comes all the way
obviously out to that.
So,
Trent Manning (38:01):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (38:04):
We've started this year putting MoDEC applications
on the rear discharge mowerslike our 9009 rotaries and our
7200 reel mower from John Deere.
We found out it compromises theheight of cut when that grass
gets built up on those rearrollers.
(38:25):
So, the MoDEC application, youapply it.
every other time it's out.
So we mow short, rough twice aweek.
every Monday after mowing, itgets put on.
So then that way they know itjust gets put on that day.
So we've been doing that and hada lot of success.
(38:47):
The mowing time has gone downabout 40 minutes because they
don't have to get off and cleanthose rollers off.
Trent Manning (38:54):
wow.
Really?
Okay.
Kevin Kline (38:56):
Yeah.
With the rear discharge, theyjust get all gummed up and you
know, we mow those before golfin the morning.
So it takes about three hours tomow all the, those and it's down
to about two hours and 15minutes
Trent Manning (39:09):
Nice.
Kevin Kline (39:10):
the way around the course.
So,
Trent Manning (39:11):
And is that uh metal rollers?
Kevin Kline (39:14):
uh, those are medical.
Trent Manning (39:15):
Yeah, like the OEM metal rollers.
Yeah.
Cuz and not that they're perfectbut the golf cart rollers, they
do help.
Kevin Kline (39:24):
Yeah, they do.
We went to, uh, the replacementsthat we've been putting on the
9009 mowers are the Gofcorollers because I can buy a set
of four of those or five ofthose at a lesser amount of
money than buying, you know,five metal ones.
I just don't like that tingnoise when it goes across cart
(39:45):
paths because, you know, guyscan't just get right up to the
edge of the cart path.
They have to drive down the cartpath.
Trent Manning (39:52):
Right, right.
Yes.
Yup.
I don't know why that is butthat's is what they do.
Kevin Kline (39:58):
I explain to operators all the time that they
do that.
Trent Manning (40:02):
And for the listeners that don't know it, I
know at least my distributorsdown here in the south, they
will put golf co rollers on fromthe factory which is really
nice.
Yup.
So, and everybody knows thatgolfers rollers are they're kind
of pricey.
But you work them into yourpackage when you're buying a new
(40:25):
unit, you know, and then youdon't have to worry about it.
Kevin Kline (40:34):
They're in Oroville, which is two minutes
from my house.
But I asked them about, we blewthrough eight rollers from
Ventrac.
Those are four hundred andthirty eight dollars.
And we did eight last year.
So, you know, what, twenty sevenhundred dollars or so?
No, thirty eight.
Thirty eight.
400.
So I was like, what do you havefor setup that we're doing
(40:58):
wrong?
And what they did was they gaveme the book that the dealer
gets, not the book that we get,the book the dealer gets.
There's a whole setup page inthere, how you set those rollers
up.
You can ask for those books.
They said they'll send them toyou all day long.
So ours were in the wrongposition.
They were in position five andthey should have been in
(41:20):
position eight.
We've used two rollers this yearand one of them was my fault.
I had knocked it off the thing.
I hit a manhole cover.
So, I mean, I absolutelystripped it out, destroyed it,
blew it up.
I mean, it was my fault.
And then, so we've only usedone.
With the operator this year.
So
Trent Manning (41:38):
Okay.
Kevin Kline (41:39):
going from eight last year to one this year, and
it was just a wear problem onthe one that we blew up.
So, I mean.
Having that thing set up rightis obviously the key to
everybody, but that book is notavailable to technicians, unless
you know somebody.
Trent Manning (41:58):
Yeah.
And
Kevin Kline (41:59):
Anybody that has a, anybody that has a Ventrac out
there has a right to email the,their teaching people, and
they'll send it to you, even ifit costs you a ton.
10 bucks.
It's way worth it becausethere's a lot of information in
there that's not in the manual.
Trent Manning (42:18):
Yeah, I don't, it's a shame that distributors
or dealers, whoever,manufacturers do that.
And, I mean, that's one of mygripes with John Deere, is they
don't make more of that stuffready, available.
I love Toro because they put allthat stuff out there.
And, you know, one thing is youmight have to have 25 different
(42:41):
manuals for this one machinewith Toro, but, uh, at least you
can get it.
And that is, that's a goodthing.
And, you know, deer, I don'tknow if they'll ever get on
board, but hopefully all theother manufacturers kind of
follow suit because that'sdefinitely the way it
Kevin Kline (42:59):
Yeah, definitely.
Trent Manning (43:01):
You want to talk about the Northern Ohio?
Golf course superintendentsassociation.
Kevin Kline (43:07):
Yeah, so I'm the, I was appointed the Northern Ohio
Golf Course SuperintendentAssociation Equipment Manager
Liaison.
That's a huge, I don't even knowhow you do that.
N O G C S A E M L,
Trent Manning (43:21):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (43:23):
anyway, I'm very passionate about this program.
We're trying to grow I did get ahold of the lady at G C S A, uh,
Diana,
Trent Manning (43:31):
Yes.
No,
Kevin Kline (43:45):
I'll be sending those out soon of just trying to
put together some trainings andtrying to make it beneficial.
A lot of pushback from areasuperintendents.
We have a lot of public golf uphere.
And they think there's thesuperintendents think that they
need to have their guys staythere.
How is it beneficial and allthat?
(44:05):
So we're trying to explain thatnow.
We're having three trainings.
January, February, March.
Uh, one every month.
We know that the big show, theconferences in the middle of
that, but the people that don'treally get to go to the show,
maybe we draw that interest.
One of the big things thatNorthern Ohio does is the first
year for technicians is free andthen every year after that is
(44:28):
only 45.
So, you know, we're just tryingto put something together that,
you know, that we can grow andhave a, uh, tight knit group
that meets, we meet every fourto six weeks in the summer,
talking about what trainings wecan have.
We're now like I said, DianaKern is helping me with, uh,
(44:49):
applying for CTEM credits.
Our training classes will becovered for GCSA CTEMs.
And then I like the idea of youSome day coming up and, you
know, let's talk about, or even,uh, like in the summer times
when we're having our meetings,you know, sometimes we do a zoom
meeting instead of having to gettogether all, you know, just
(45:12):
come in and rap about, you know,what, you know, what we're
seeing and all that kind ofstuff.
So, so we're trying to increaseknowledge and then knowledge is
power.
And if we're helping one person,we may be helping a ton of
people.
In January, when I started asthe liaison, we had three Uh,
(45:33):
equipment technicians slashmanagers.
We currently have 10.
We are having a vendor day inOctober that I'm hoping to gain,
you know, quite a few more.
But, you know, it's just tryingto explain the benefits of the,
our group.
You know, just guys, girlstrying to.
Learn the trade and trying toexchange information so that
(45:57):
nobody feels like they're lostin a world of nobody's gonna
help me.
And then this opens up for theWhatsApp for the one that you
run.
You know, that information, youknow, that Allows them to get on
there and I need, I just sawTrent Weber just posted not too
long ago on that, he's veryactive on there.
I'm on there.
Nick Ballas from Barrington.
(46:18):
He's on there quite a bit.
So yeah, it's just trying tobuild that small time Ohio
community.
So that way we have someplace togo to and don't feel overwhelmed
with all the other big stuff.
Trent Manning (46:33):
I think it's, I mean, it's great what you're
doing and yeah, thank you.
And thank everybody else iscontributing to that.
And I don't remember.
I was talking to somebody theother day.
Actually it was Terry Apple.
He's a EM at Overbrook inPennsylvania, just outside of
Philadelphia.
(46:53):
And he called me because himand, uh, I can't, Mike Elliott
and another Mike, I don'tremember him, I apologize.
What the other Mike's name was,but they were kind of tasked
similar to you to be a liaisonand help, you know, grow
equipment managers thing.
So anyway, he was just pickingmy brain when he called the
(47:14):
other day, but, and I wastelling him how awesome it is
because he's doing it.
You're doing it.
Ben Beard got a lot of stuffgoing in Michigan and then Mitch
Hunt has since took it over.
Brian Eplin and Jordan Roth inNebraska.
They're getting stuff going, uh,Haas down in Florida and
Kevin Kline (47:37):
are the three people she gave me Haas.
Trent Manning (47:40):
Yeah.
Well, yeah, you got it, man.
You got it.
Kevin Kline (47:43):
The guy I was talking to a guy I had a guy
here, uh, looking at our, uh,Jacobson 530s, uh, mowers, and
he was from Pittsburgh, just anine hole muni course We were
talking to him about, you know,what Northern Ohio is doing and
all that.
And he's like, you know,Pittsburgh is big enough that
they could have, you know, kindof like their own, but they
(48:06):
don't have anybody that, youknow, wants to jump in and do
anything.
And I, you know, I've talked toBen Beard before Mitch took over
and I'm like, you know, if let'spartner with the, a few places,
you know, Pittsburgh, he droveover that morning and he got
there, got here at nine 30.
So it's like two and a halfhours from Pittsburgh.
So it's not, I mean, we're notin the middle of nowhere by any
(48:30):
means.
I mean, and then Ben said, let'smeet halfway and have like a
little conference at a, youknow, somebody's golf course or
whatever.
And then hopefully the O.
T.
F.
Will open some people's eyesabout what we're trying to do.
And maybe we can get an Ohiogroup the full four sections of
(48:51):
Ohio together and be able toCincinnati kind of does whatever
they want to do because they'rekind of smaller.
But, you know, Columbus and Youknow, and all that kind of
stuff.
It's just, I think the sky's thelimit for what we want to do.
And I think, you know, we've gota really good thing that it
started and got a lot of goodguys on.
(49:12):
I mean, Gary's 40 some years inthe trade.
Trent Manning (49:15):
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (49:16):
you know, and he's training new guys all the time
in his, at his club.
So, I mean, he's got a reallygood young technician there now
that, you know, and then he'sgot, uh, they've been working,
GCSAA has been dealing with agprograms.
So we hired the ag instructor ata local school here, and we've
(49:37):
actually started talking to herabout going to her class, her ag
class because of not justautonomous mowers, but you know,
the geolink systems that we haveon our, uh, Toro stuff, you
know, the kids nowadays are socomputer oriented that's all
that stuff is.
I mean, it's all computers.
Trent Manning (49:55):
Mhm.
Kevin Kline (49:56):
you know, it's exciting because I get to learn
it, but I would think, you know,the big ag people would be like,
Hey, this, you know, this mightbe someplace I want to go or
diesel mechanics.
Nick Ballast at Barrington, he'sgot a kid that's out of the JVS
that is a diesel mechanic andhe's doing an internship.
(50:16):
He's actually doing, they'vebuilt an internship.
He and Gary put somethingtogether and this is what
they're going to learn.
And, you know, it kind of.
goes back to his instructor andsays this is what he can learn.
He doesn't have to curl underthis big huge piece of equipment
to do what we do at the golfcourse.
So, I mean, the things that theag world, those kids, you know,
(50:39):
that they have soils behindthem.
They've got some turf, some, youknow, they do all these tests
and.
You know, studies and all thatstuff.
And why not drop them right intothe golf course where
Trent Manning (50:54):
Yeah, why not?
Yeah, that is awesome.
That's very cool.
Very good stuff.
Super exciting.
You ready to do some rapid fire?
Kevin Kline (51:06):
Yes.
Trent Manning (51:07):
What's your favorite movie?
Kevin Kline (51:09):
Greatest game ever played the Francis Wimet story
in the U S open.
Trent Manning (51:14):
Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to go watch that
one.
That's new to me.
Yeah what year did that comeout?
Kevin Kline (51:20):
I don't know.
I've probably watched it,
Trent Manning (51:23):
Just a guess.
Kevin Kline (51:24):
Probably 98,
Trent Manning (51:26):
Okay.
Okay.
Alright.
Kevin Kline (51:28):
It's from the.
It's from the 1921 U.
S.
Open.
I think Harry Varden senior isthe pro that's in it.
So,
Trent Manning (51:37):
Okay.
What would be your last meal?
Kevin Kline (51:41):
uh, steak, scallop, potatoes.
Trent Manning (51:44):
Alright.
Kevin Kline (51:46):
Yeah, it was raining.
It was raining last night and Iflipped open the golf umbrella
and went out there and I grilledsteaks.
Trent Manning (51:53):
Oh, nice.
Awesome.
What are you most proud ofbesides your family?
Kevin Kline (51:58):
Our equipment maintenance team.
So, and I was hired in October22.
my head technician left inNovember of 22.
I hired, seasonal employee thatturned second assistant that
turned head technician in May of23.
I added a second assistant inAugust of 23.
And then we have eight full timeemployees in the winter time
(52:22):
helping do cart maintenance andall of that, just changing oils,
filters, trying to get throughthings so that we can get back
out on the golf course and dotrenching projects and stuff
like that.
So our team is probably.
When we're clicking on all thecylinders in the wintertime, you
know, we get stuff done.
We the first year I was here,the goal was to get everything
(52:44):
done by the 15th of March.
Usually we're on the turf thefollowing week.
We actually put I think it wasMarch 16th and 23.
I put stuff on the turf, butputting stripes down.
And then last year we were donewith all services except for big
tractors by, uh, February 10th.
(53:04):
So we, I 300 pieces of equipmentthat includes the reels, but we
take, we break down the reels.
Grind them all, put them allback together, get them ready
for the year.
So, to be done in February, Ithink that was, that's our goal
every year now.
Trent Manning (53:20):
No, that's awesome.
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (53:22):
so we can help on the golf course when we got
trenching.
We do all in house trenching andall that kind of stuff
ourselves.
Trent Manning (53:29):
Yeah what are you trenching?
Kevin Kline (53:31):
So, we're trenching drainage lines.
So, we're doing they did a growin and we blew the north gulf
course up in 2019, uh, opened itin Labor Day of 2020.
And then, just working out, youknow, they say four or five
years, you see the places thatneed to be drained out, so
(53:51):
that's what we've been workingon, so.
We bought a stack trencher thatlifts the dirt off the ground.
That's probably the best thingever invented right there,
Trent Manning (54:00):
Okay.
Yeah, that is cool.
Yeah I have seen those,
Kevin Kline (54:04):
yeah, it's well worth the money, I mean, and
then we run workmans, and we gota, uh, Pronovost, uh, trailer,
you know, Pronovost trailer, put4000 pounds on it, no problem,
so, uh, we run that thing, andthen we reuse all that, so, uh,
not back into the hole, but onthe golf course later in life,
(54:25):
so,
Trent Manning (54:25):
Okay.
Cool.
That's awesome.
Yep.
I love it.
Well, let the listeners know howthey can get a hold of you.
Kevin Kline (54:32):
on Twitter, now X, I'm KevinKlein39.
and that's Klein with a K.
And I looked at Facebook lastnight.
I think I'm in 14 golf turftechnician related things.
Uh,
Trent Manning (54:49):
I didn't know there was that many.
Kevin Kline (54:50):
uh, there's some for Ohio, so I'm, and then
there's a lot for autonomousmowers.
So we're, I'm in like four orfive of those.
So, just trying to gain moreknowledge, but and then on your
real turf tech.
What's up, I'm tall guy cuttingshort grass.
So yeah, so
Trent Manning (55:09):
Awesome.
Kevin Kline (55:09):
out and get any questions.
Just let me know.
Trent Manning (55:12):
Well, thank you so much, Kevin, for being on.
I enjoyed this, as always.
And I look forward to, uh,working with you in the future.
And when you get that stufftogether on your train and yes,
send it over and I'll, uh, I'llthrow it up on the website.
Kevin Kline (55:28):
Okay.
I
Trent Manning (55:29):
And for all the listeners, start checking out
the website and there's going tostart being more stuff there.
I'm telling you now, so it'llhold me accountable to get stuff
on it.
So if you hadn't seen some newstuff on it in the coming weeks
reach out to me and let me know.
And I would like to hit on onething you're talking about
(55:53):
talking to Diana.
Definitely reach out to her andI mean all the people we named
off in this.
Reach out to them and if youneed their number.
I'll give you their number and,uh, I did not ask their
permission.
So hopefully they're okay withit.
No, I mean, all those people,super, super good bunch of
(56:15):
people.
And I mean, that's what I'vesaid it a hundred times, but
that's what I love about thisindustry.
A lot of really good people init.
Kevin Kline (56:22):
I feel like everybody wants to help
everybody else.
I mean, that's what it's about.
So, uh, I just appreciate theopportunity here.
I mean, I've only been in theindustry for two years again,
but everybody's been veryhelpful.
And I look forward to everywherethat everybody is that way, you
know, I'm not coming to the showagain until Orlando.
So, but I will be there.
(56:45):
Hopefully I'll be pretty closeto CTM by then.
So,
Trent Manning (56:49):
All right.
And well, I will definitely seeyou at OTF this year in
December.
So, all right.
Talk to you later.
Thanks.
Kevin Kline (56:57):
all right.
Thank
Trent Manning (57:03):
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.
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 ReefWelcome to the real turf text
(00:26):
podcast, episode 1 28.
Today, we're talking to KevinKlein.
Northern Ohio golf courseequipment manager.
And Northern Ohio golf course.
Superintendent associationliaison.
Kevin is a equivalent manager ata 38 hole private facility.
He has a head technician.
(00:47):
An assistant plus a part-timereal tech.
Let's talk to Kevin.
Welcome Kevin to the RealTurfTechs podcast.
How you doing today?
Kevin Kline (00:57):
Doing really well.
How are you doing today?
Trent Manning (00:59):
I'm good.
I'm good.
Yep.
It's uh, it's Monday.
So it wasn't too bad of aMonday.
I can't complain.
Kevin Kline (01:06):
Monday is my favorite day of the week.
Trent Manning (01:09):
Why is that?
Kevin Kline (01:10):
Because nobody else likes them and I like to be a
little different.
Trent Manning (01:13):
Oh, all right.
Well, nothing wrong with thatfor sure.
Cool.
Tell us how you got into theturf industry.
Kevin Kline (01:19):
so I graduated from high school and, uh, started at
OSU ATI in the turf programthere.
Uh, I went there from 93 to 94.
And then, uh, I only have twoclasses to complete my turf
degree, but I got into doing bigconstruction electrical and did
that for 20 plus years.
(01:40):
And then I was the director offacilities at a, uh, small
community college in Ohio.
that for seven years and I sawan ad one day for equipment
manager and I was like, I canprobably sort some rackets and
do that at a private club andhere to come to find out.
(02:00):
It's a equipment manager runningsomewhere close to 300 pieces of
equipment.
So I got back into golf.
I average anywhere between 110and 150 rounds of golf a year.
So, I love to play golf and whynot?
work at a golf course.
We are a 38 hole facility.
So, uh, 100 percent completelyprivate.
(02:22):
So, it's a good time.
Trent Manning (02:24):
Yeah, that's awesome.
How often do you get to play onyour course?
Kevin Kline (02:28):
Uh, I play at, well, I play with the membership
group on Wednesday nights.
One of my goals was to meet asmany members as possible.
So there's about 25 of us thatmeet, uh, and play on
Wednesdays.
And then I try to play with theguys.
Uh, I set up a league this yearon Sunday evenings for Green
staff.
(02:49):
Uh, we have, we carry about 52staff in the summertime, so just
to allow them to get out andplay.
I, uh, started a league thisyear and they get out and we
play, we're some type of gamethat, that I stole from the
members that I play with.
So, we just get out and enjoy.
The first week we had like sixor eight, though last week we
(03:11):
had 20.
So
Trent Manning (03:13):
Okay.
Yeah, that's cool though.
That's awesome.
So I guess you enjoy golf.
Before you ever went to ATI,right?
Kevin Kline (03:22):
Yes, yeah, I played high school golf and all that
too.
Trent Manning (03:25):
And when you went to ATI, were you planning on
working full time at a golfcourse?
Kevin Kline (03:31):
Yeah, I wanted to be a greenskeeper back then.
So, so I did my internship and Idecided that when I played golf
at the place where I did myinternship, I found myself
carrying around a notebook andfinding all the stuff that we
had to do all day long.
And, uh, the next day I went inand told the guys, you know,
this is what we, uh, it startedaffecting my golf game.
(03:52):
And then I was like, eh, maybe Idon't want to do this.
So, cause I wanted to playcompetitive golf.
So,
Trent Manning (03:57):
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (03:58):
I belonged to Northern Ohio Golf Association
and playing events for them.
So I don't know.
I just like competitive golf.
So I, it kind of was like eatingaway at me that I had saw all
this stuff that needed done atthe golf course.
And then, My golf game startedto go, I chose to change my
profession instead of findingthat work life balance type.
Trent Manning (04:21):
Oh, nothing wrong with that.
That's cool.
That's cool.
So do you relief grind at yourclub?
No.
Kevin Kline (04:29):
Two years ago, the year I started here in 22, we
sent out all of our fairwaymowers to be relief ground.
In January of this year, we arepurchasing our own relief
grinder for all of our fairwayunits.
So, we only relief grind thefairway units.
So, we've had a lot of successin spin grinding.
(04:51):
They're like 40 percent rightnow.
So, when we grind for the lasttime of the year to get ready
for next spring, we'll look atthose units and we'll probably
go ahead and relief grind them
Trent Manning (05:02):
When you Do you really grind?
How far or how much relief doyou put in?
Kevin Kline (05:10):
about 80%.
Trent Manning (05:11):
80 percent
Kevin Kline (05:12):
Yeah, we don't go all the way back because, if we
need to put more on later inlife, we're going to have our
own grinder, so, I'd rather go,instead of going all the way
back and then causing a problemor something happening, Rather
go back 80%, and that's what wedid when we did the When we sent
him out, we went to 80%.
I didn't have him go.
Trent Manning (05:32):
Okay, no, that's cool.
Yeah, I mean everybody'sdifferent strokes different
folks
Kevin Kline (05:37):
Yeah.
Trent Manning (05:37):
Backwards in it in a different folks different
strokes Tell me something youfabricated lately
Kevin Kline (05:44):
I am working on a prototype.
I actually have installed it.
I'm putting a toolbox underneathmy elite.
golf carts.
there's a spot, the elite cartsfrom Cushman that have chargers
on board.
The battery sits back backunderneath of the, uh, bed.
(06:05):
So what we, what I did was I putin a toolbox, upright nice
sturdy one.
just got it on Amazon.
It stands the tools up.
I can put a, I put a, organizerin there, washers, nuts, and all
that kind of stuff.
And then put a bag, a roll bagof tools in there that has all
my sockets and everything in it.
(06:26):
That thing works great.
I drove around the golf courseand hit just about every bump
possible and I didn't loseanything.
So, I actually showed it to thegolf course superintendent today
and he's like, uh, it looks likea pretty good idea.
So maybe, I mean,
Trent Manning (06:39):
Okay.
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (06:41):
We've got 11 of those carts.
So, I mean, and.
Tools getting wet in the back ofthe, and then trying to throw
hose reels in there and all thatkind of stuff is just big pains.
We're going to try this now, Ithink.
Trent Manning (06:55):
Yeah.
No, that's a great idea.
And yeah, thank you for sendingme a picture of it because uh, I
got 23 of these carts betweenboth clubs and uh, I think I'm
gonna add that to the arsenal.
Maybe not on every cart butdefinitely the manager's carts
and
Kevin Kline (07:13):
Well, we thought the irrigation guy, uh, he
looked at it today and he'slike, oh, I'm getting one of
those.
I'm like, well, I'll probably beordering at the beginning of the
year.
We're going to order and thenfit all, fit everybody that
needs them.
Uh, probably like you said, themanager's carts, maybe not the
golf course superintendent, but,uh, he was thinking of a way to.
(07:33):
put something with his, uh, raingear and all that stuff, which
would work too.
I mean,
Trent Manning (07:39):
Oh, yeah.
That's a good idea.
Kevin Kline (07:40):
throw that in there and then he can throw some
wrenches and stuff in there andmaybe a prism if he needs to or
whatever.
So, And he was worried abouttools bouncing out, but like I
said, I, Jumped a couple oftoday and I didn't lose any
tools.
Trent Manning (07:56):
Put her through the paces, huh?
Kevin Kline (07:58):
Yeah, there's pretty much no way that tools
are going to fall out of there.
And then I took bungee cords andto the, it comes with a strap
that you can put over yourshoulder.
I filed that and then use bungeecords to go down underneath.
the frame and right back throughthat hole.
So it actually holds the thingdown tight to the, so it doesn't
(08:20):
bounce up and down.
So
Trent Manning (08:21):
Oh, nice.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's cool.
Kevin Kline (08:24):
it's a work in progress and I'm sure we'll
probably change it 10 moretimes, but it's a pretty good
start.
So,
Trent Manning (08:30):
What I think it'll be something that easy go
eventually or Cushmaneventually, yeah, incorporates
into their accessories.
Kevin Kline (08:39):
charge.
200 or
Trent Manning (08:41):
What?
Yes.
Yeah, right, right, right.
Kevin Kline (08:43):
40.
Trent Manning (08:45):
Tell me what your favorite tool is.
Kevin Kline (08:47):
My head technician and I were talking about, the
first year I was here, he wasn'tthe head technician yet, but he
was looking through Amazon andwe were looking for something to
make our oil changes easier whenThe equipment was up on the
rack.
So, we found form a funnel.
They're on Amazon.
You buy a two pack.
One's a short one.
(09:08):
One's a long one.
It just instead of stuffdripping off of arms and
everything else they work outreal well.
I mean, They form to whatever,and then when you're done with,
uh, draining the oil, you putthe drain plug in and turn it
around and you can use it for afunnel to go back in to the, you
know, to get to those hard toreach spots on pouring oil back
(09:32):
into them.
Trent Manning (09:34):
Yeah I saw it for the first time on Hector's shop.
And this was years ago.
It was one of his earliervideos.
And, uh, got one after seeing itthere.
And yeah, I mean, it's just sohandy.
I don't know why some of theengineers that work for these
companies can't put a drainplug, you know, in the spot
(09:54):
where it would go straight intoan oil pan.
But they struggle with that.
Kevin Kline (09:59):
they probably need to stand underneath a machine
and drain the oil one time,without a form of funnel.
And they would figure out, youknow, when I was in the
electrical world the state ofOhio has changed when you get
your electrical engineeringlicense.
You have to have two years of,you know, In the field work.
(10:19):
So either as a installer or as alike a project manager or
something like that before youcan get your stamp.
So, some of these engineers thatbuild these machines for us,
they probably ought to have thatbefore they.
Trent Manning (10:34):
Yep.
Some practical
Kevin Kline (10:35):
Practical.
Yeah.
Trent Manning (10:37):
Yeah, that would be good.
What do you do to relax or findyour balance?
Kevin Kline (10:42):
So, like I said, I play a lot of golf.
Competitively.
I play in probably, I think Ijust played Friday.
I played in my 16th tournamentfor the year.
Just scrambles, usuallybenefits.
Uh, I do a lot of benefit golfplay play golf with my dad a
lot.
I've played, I just recordedround 107.
(11:05):
my goal for, my personal goalwas 150.
I have till December 31st.
So I'm pretty sure I'll reachthat.
Trent Manning (11:12):
Yeah, you can get that in.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
How's your dad?
Kevin Kline (11:17):
My dad's 76.
And the last time we played, heshot 75.
So he's still shooting his.
Trent Manning (11:25):
Wow.
That is awesome.
Kevin Kline (11:27):
Yeah.
He's got a good swing coach.
I've been teaching golf since Iwas.
Uh, 18, I went to Florida forsix weeks and learned how to
teach, so, I teach a lot of highschool kids.
Just pro bono because withoutgolfers, we don't have jobs on
the golf course, let alone Golfclubs, so, I sell golf clubs on
the side too.
Trent Manning (11:48):
Okay.
Awesome.
That's so cool.
Yeah.
Who would have thought?
What's uh one of the strangestthings you've seen around the
golf course?
Yeah,
Kevin Kline (12:03):
road views, north course and south course
telephone poles.
We have lights around one of theevent centers, little short
lights.
Seems like the Ventrac and theSteiner operators ring
themselves around that and assoon as they get in there,
they're like, Oh, I can getmyself out and jimmy in around
(12:26):
and Turn around.
It looks like a horseshoe ringerwithout hitting the post.
I mean, just since I've beenhere, it's happened six times
and I have pictures of all ofthem.
So there, you know, it's like afresh thing.
I teach it in the spring to thenew operators.
It doesn't fail.
Three weeks goes by.
(12:46):
Oh, I thought I could get out ofthis.
They're not getting out of it.
Trent Manning (12:51):
the harder you work to get out, the tighter it
brings you in.
Kevin Kline (12:54):
And I, you know, You know, the first time it ever
happened, I was like, oh yeah, Ican get that off of there
without, you know, calling atractor.
I should have called thattractor first.
Trent Manning (13:04):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
No, I've been there.
Yep, I guess anybody that's beenon a Ventrac or a Steiner,
they've probably been there.
If you've operated at any lengthof time, you've had it happen.
What's one of your pet peevesaround the shop?
Kevin Kline (13:20):
So it happened again today, uh, shop tools
being left out.
I was doing a walkthrough today.
Uh, I know somebody that wasworking on something last
Thursday when I was here.
Tools just laying out.
Rags still there.
pieces, parts, stuff that theytook off in every place, still
laying there.
Just put it away.
(13:40):
I mean, I don't care if you haveto Go get the tools back out
after you've made youradjustments, because I know
they're not going to come backand put it away.
So put it away the first time.
And then what happens is I putit away or one of my technicians
puts it away and then they're,they come back and it never
fails.
Hey, where'd those tools go?
(14:01):
And it could be like 3 or 4 dayslater.
I had them out for a reason.
Well, put them away.
And then you just keep going.
I mean, so, you know, theyalways tell me that it's the
tool fairies that leave them out
Trent Manning (14:15):
Uh, uh
Kevin Kline (14:16):
then it wasn't me.
It wasn't me.
I did.
I didn't do that.
Trent Manning (14:19):
Yep.
Kevin Kline (14:21):
I just put it away.
Trent Manning (14:22):
So that happens at your course too?
Kevin Kline (14:25):
Yeah.
So when I first started here,when I first started here, the
main technician that was here,he's like, the guys complain
that, you know, they can neverfind anything.
Tools are being left out.
I mean, we try as hard as wecan.
Can to put our tools away.
If you know, I have techniciansthat we, that leave work on
(14:46):
Thursday and don't come back forthe weekend.
And then one guy that worksthrough Saturday and then, you
know, at the end of their day onwhatever day they end on for
their week, they put their stuffaway.
I mean, it's everybody.
And I hate to say it, it'severybody else.
I mean, it happens.
Trent Manning (15:04):
Yeah, it happens and definitely some people are
better than others.
Kevin Kline (15:09):
Oh yeah, there's, well, at the beginning of the
year when we went through, builttwo brand new buildings
recently, and in the spring weopened them and, you know,
everything was, yeah, let's doit, you know, get, let's keep
this place clean, and then todaywe did a walkthrough and I'm
like, this is, you know, not theway it's supposed to be.
They forgot, they must haveforgot how to do it.
(15:30):
So, we'll train them again thisyear and then next year this
time we'll train them again.
Trent Manning (15:35):
Yeah.
How often do you go through thetraining with?
Kevin Kline (15:39):
the full timers will get it done twice.
Uh, they get it done about everysix months.
And then uh, I just sat down.
I'm the safety guy for ourdepartment now too.
So, I run all of our, uh,monthly safety meetings and I'm
now on the corporate safetycommittee.
So, I have to put together a 52week training so it's toolbox
(16:03):
talks every Monday startingJanuary 6th all the way till
December 29th.
So I just laid out 52 weeks oftraining and I'm getting ready
to do fourth quarter trainingnow for fourth quarter coming up
just as a pilot for next year tosee how it's going to go.
But we have 52 people in thesummertime, so.
It's hard to wrangle in allthose people.
(16:25):
We hang it up, they sign it,they read it.
As soon as their name goes onthe board, I go, actually go to
them and talk about you know,normal everyday stuff, but then
throw in a couple of thosequestions that I know that if
they've read it or not, so thenI go.
you know, then they have toreread it.
But, you know, it's, the pointis trying to get the high level
(16:47):
part of it together.
So that way we're teaching themexactly what they need to keep
to stay safe.
So,
Trent Manning (16:56):
Is that something you'd be interested in sharing?
Kevin Kline (16:59):
yes.
Trent Manning (17:01):
If you wouldn't mind.
So, and this is something that,for the listeners, that I've
thought about, and just hadn'treally devoted the time to doing
it.
I have a website, and it couldbe a really good resource, you
know, and there's no point in merecreating the wheel, you know,
(17:21):
or reinventing the wheel.
When there's guys like youthat's putting stuff together
and we could just put a link onthere to you know, a google
folder or whatever and You knowshare it with everybody.
I think it would be a reallygood resource.
So if you wouldn't mind Yeah,after we get off, that would be
awesome
Kevin Kline (17:38):
Yeah.
So what I'm, my goal is I have asafety committee meeting
tomorrow as a matter of fact,but I'll be meeting with our
safety director for here atwork.
She and I.
came from the constructionworld.
I built this for theconstruction world.
I've built these for the collegeworld, you know, facilities
world.
So I've got some background andthen she's got some background
(18:04):
in it also because she was thesafety director for Ruland
Company.
But by putting this alltogether, I pull it from public
OSHA knowledge.
You know, we have, we take OSHA10 training here for all of our
full timers.
There's a package deal that youbuy and then, you know, the only
thing that you have to do isthan every year is bloodborne
(18:25):
pathogen.
You don't have to do any of thatother stuff.
And then there's a refreshercourse every three years for the
guys that come back every threeyears, you know, And then we do
CPR with our, and AED trainingwith all of our, uh, fire
departments.
They are more than happy to dothat.
Most fire departments do that.
They, uh, they're actuallycoming to Westfield and training
(18:47):
70 some of them this year.
So,
Trent Manning (18:50):
Oh,
Kevin Kline (18:50):
but Yeah, I, it's not hard to do.
I mean, I, like I said, I'vedrawn from a lot of the stuff
that I've done in the collegeworld and the construction
world.
So, as soon as I get everythingscanned in, I'll share it with
you and see what you think andall of that.
Trent Manning (19:07):
Yeah, for sure.
And I mean, honestly, it's not,you know, it didn't what I think
about it, you know, share itwith everybody else.
And, you know, and that's onething.
And I've had this conversationwith other people in the
industry to there's very feworiginal ideas.
And a lot of times we just stillideas from other people.
(19:28):
And that's okay.
You know, I mean, that's what wedo here.
And some of us,
Kevin Kline (19:32):
at Mike.
Mike Rollins is one of the bestteachers, uh, to put, you know,
to put grinding in English forall of us to understand.
And that's what I mean.
That's what I'm doing is I'mputting a safety program
together.
That's, you know, it's a Alreadyput together, you know, all you
got to do is the stuff is allthere and toolbox talks is
(19:53):
probably the biggest thing Thatpeople don't understand that,
you know, you deal with heatrelated you deal with bees you
deal with, you know PPE allforms of PPE and you know slips
trips falls All that stuff.
I mean, it's all in our industryand people just don't think
about it until something happensand they're like, Oh, yeah, we
(20:14):
probably should have gone overthat.
Yeah, I'll be more than happy toshare however you want.
However, we want to do this.
I mean,
Trent Manning (20:22):
Yeah.
That'd be awesome.
Yeah.
We'll, uh, we'll figure thatout.
So how long is these toolboxmeetings?
Kevin Kline (20:31):
so this is what I do is I have usually have two or
two pieces of paper, you know,that have the high have the
whole thing on it.
I highlight the high levelparts.
I go over them.
Literally, I read thehighlighted parts, and I say,
Guys, when you get a freemoment, this is what the talk is
(20:53):
about.
When you guys get a free moment,ten minutes before you leave,
you know, five minutes afterlaunch, do whatever.
Read these, sign your name.
You know, so it's basically Itell them what the gist of it
all.
It's like five minutes everymorning.
I mean, every Monday morning iswhen we do them.
So, and it's like five minutes.
So, it's not, there's no, youknow, it's right before
(21:17):
everybody goes out to go, youknow, get on the golf course and
all that kind of stuff.
As they come in, they read it,they sign it and by Friday I
pull it and then I'm done.
The following Monday I putanother one up.
Trent Manning (21:26):
Okay.
Cool.
And yeah.
So each week you're, do youhighlight, you know, different
things
Kevin Kline (21:33):
Yeah, so I do it by you know, cold weather's coming
for us in Ohio, so it'll be coldweather, uh, PPE, cold weather,
how you deal with, you know,extreme temperatures, uh, wind
and all that, you know.
So it'll be, wind will be oneweek, extreme temperatures next
week.
You know, so it's kind of likelittle short nuggets, but able
(21:57):
to teach them, you know, kind ofwhat, what's going on instead of
giving them a 10 page piece ofpaper and expect them to read
it.
I don't expect that.
So that's just, that's a wasteof time.
So,
Trent Manning (22:08):
No, I agree with that.
Do you have a mentor in theindustry?
Kevin Kline (22:14):
uh, many.
Trent Manning (22:15):
Many.
All right.
Let's go through a few of them.
Kevin Kline (22:18):
Okay.
So, a lot of I apologize.
deal with Kevin Kroll at BakerVehicle.
He's a ex superintendent, usedto wrench on his own equipment
does a lot of Jake stuff.
I have a lot of Jake stuff here.
So, not only, I mean, he's asalesman, but he's also someone
that has, like I said, done allhis own wrenching and worked
through a lot of things.
(22:39):
And he's a very quick, You know,hey, this is what I see, what's
going on, da, and he's rightthere, uh, he'll stop at the
course, he'll talk through withme on the phone just an all
around good guy about, you know,taking care of things that he's
seen and we can talk throughthings and not be, I'm not
totally off base, you know,he'll wrangle me back in if I'm
(23:02):
thinking about something that'sleft field, so, another big help
is um, at SIP.
He, we have a bed bar grinderfrom him.
We have the 6, 000.
So his help with how we look atcuts and all that kind of stuff.
And then me being a member ofthe Northern Ohio Gulf Coast
(23:22):
Superintendent Association,equipment manager, uh, liaison
guy Gary Bagdansky from Sharon,Trent Weber from Kirtland, Nick
Ballas from Barrington.
Those guys are all in a chatgroup with me and we're throwing
stuff as far as like, right now,aerification season.
So, we're always talking aboutthat.
(23:44):
We're talking about what we see.
We meet every month, you know,just to go over what Northern
Ohio wants to do and then whatwe're seeing in the industry and
making purchase decisions, butwhat we're You know, what they
see compared to what I see andyou know, just bouncing things
off of people.
Things and then reading youryour manner of mind because you
(24:07):
run that, run their WhatsApp.
I mean, without that, I mean,1100 messages the other day, I
read every single one of them.
I mean, I sat down last nightand there was 153.
Well, of those 153, about 40 ofthem pertained to what I was
reading.
Been dealing with, you know,equipment wise.
So, you know, it's sometimesit's hard to catch up, but all
(24:30):
that stuff is good stuff.
I mean, I post pictures in thethe autonomous mower stuff.
I do all kinds of things.
I mean, I try to be involvedwith that so that I can get
feedback and people can figureout who I am too.
Trent Manning (24:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I mean, I think that's goodand That's what it's there for.
It's just another tool in ourtoolbox, another resource that
we got.
And yeah, it's amazing with allthe people in there and the
amount of knowledge they haveand more than likely, if you
know you're having an issue witha piece of equipment, somebody
else has seen it before, youknow, and dealt with the same
(25:07):
thing that you're currentlydealing with.
There's not that many newproblems.
You know, you get new equipmentout and you know, maybe there's
a few bugs here and there rightout of the gate.
But you know, the distributorpeople, they get that figured
out pretty quick too.
Kevin Kline (25:23):
Yeah, exactly.
Trent Manning (25:26):
Yeah, I remember like, when I was working for
Jerry Payton, riding the roads,me and Corey, we were on the
phone, you know, we had so muchwindchill time.
Anyway, we're on the phone everyafternoon, like, Oh, I'm seeing
this on 55 10.
You seen that yet?
They're like, no, I haven'tseen.
I'll look next time.
You know, the next place theygo.
Oh, yeah.
Yep.
Yep.
That's a problem.
Yeah, all kinds of warrantywork.
(25:47):
Sorry Toro for that, but youknow, we're keeping the customer
happy.
What would be your dream job oropportunity?
Oh yeah,
Kevin Kline (25:58):
these people donating time for big golf
events.
And I see Mike Rollins, hespends a lot of time donating.
With the grinding and all ofthat stuff for big events, so
someday I want to volunteer fora big event, but I don't want to
be like the equipment side.
I want to be.
I have, not a lot of input, buta lot of discussions with the
(26:19):
turf guys.
At the course I'm at withquality cut and height of cut
and, you know, and all that kindof stuff.
So, you know, maybe the guy inthe morning that checks quality
of cut with the prism, maybe beone of those guys, but, you
know, just to be at a big event.
And then possibly a play daythat I could play a golf course
(26:42):
that I don't get to play or thatI dream about playing.
So, I
Trent Manning (26:46):
for sure.
And just about all these bigtournaments, they have a play
day for their volunteers.
And most of the time, you canreally kind of volunteer
wherever you want to volunteer.
You know, if you want to rakebunkers, they'll let you rake
bunkers.
You know, they need somebodydoing all the jobs.
And it's so rewarding, you meetso many good people.
(27:10):
I mean, honestly, that'sprobably where I met Mike, I
guess.
I'm thinking back to it.
I don't remember if we kind of,No.
I met him at, uh, JohnPatterson's shop.
Went, well, but he was upvolunteering for, it was the
women's something anothertournament.
And Mike was up and I went overjust to hang out for a day.
(27:33):
Yeah, so, it's amazing who allyou can meet throughout the
industry at these tournaments.
Cause there's a lot of peoplethere, a lot of volunteers.
Great networking opportunity.
Just like the conference andtrade show is.
What I love about task trackeris they're constantly innovating
(27:54):
and listening to their users.
They've added dozens of updatesto make our job easier.
One new feature is the abilityto upload manuals to the
equipment.
All you have to do is scan theequipment.
QR code.
And you have the manual and allother information at the tip of
your fingers.
You can even create links tothose manuals and the work
orders.
(28:15):
And it goes directly to the pagethat you need.
Make your life a lot easier andcheck them out at AASB task.
tracker.com.
Let's get back to the episodeWhat technician would you like
to work with for a day?
Kevin Kline (28:28):
Kevin Henninger, just because he and I share the
same name.
No, I'm kidding.
Trent Manning (28:32):
Okay, so there'll be two cabins in one shop.
Kevin Kline (28:36):
yeah, Kevin squared.
So Kevin was at OTF last year.
Uh, I spoke at OTF last yearabout the autonomous mowers.
He did some, uh, shoporganization and just talking
with him about, you know,building our new buildings and
all that kind of stuff.
And just going through the, hewas just in Hector shop.
(28:57):
a guest on there about settingup new bed bar resurfacing
practices and that kind ofstuff.
We got, we just got new greensmowers recently.
So just kind of picking brainson, you know, I'm kind of
excited.
He is speaking again this year,I believe.
So, kind of just sit and talk tohim and he's real good down to
(29:20):
earth guy that, you know, just,and that accent of his is pretty
awesome too.
So,
Trent Manning (29:25):
Oh yeah, can't beat that.
Kevin Kline (29:27):
yeah.
So I'm
Trent Manning (29:28):
I've said it on the podcast before, but I'm
gonna say it again.
You know, I'm from the south.
So and everybody talks aboutsouthern hospitality down here
and all those things.
But honestly, we don't havenothing on Canadians.
They are so nice and thehospitality is unmatched.
(29:49):
And I've only been to Canada onetime, but that was enough to
prove it.
Like everybody here is so nice.
And maybe I just got lucky andrun into a lot of good people.
And you say accents.
So when I was up there the lady,I'm trying to remember her name.
I think her name was Kimsomething another that was the
(30:13):
executive for this chapter thatI was speaking for in Alberta.
And, it was so funny.
her jaw dropped when she heardme talk.
And then she says, hang on justa minute.
And she went and got a couple ofher friends.
And like, come over, you gottahear this guy talk.
So, evidently, I sound a littlestrange to them.
(30:36):
And that's okay.
But, uh, it did make me laugh.
Yep.
I've been talking this way mynow you wish you'd known on day
one?
Kevin Kline (30:47):
I consider day one as when I was in college
working.
I worked three years at AshlandBrookside Golf Course while I
was going to college.
I really wish I would haverealized that, uh, you could
have work life balance and be agolf course superintendent or
even a technician.
I mean, the golf course I wasworking at, We did some of our
(31:08):
own wrenching too, so, I should.
just probably should have it outand not an electrician for 20
years.
But I mean, I made a good livingas an electrician.
I learned some stuff and now,you know, I, fire alarms are
just like irrigation systems.
So, but I just really wished Iwould have just stuck it out and
(31:34):
received my degree.
And, you know, I'd have 30 yearsin the business, 32 years are in
the business right now.
Yeah.
And I could think aboutretirement at like 60 instead of
like 90.
So,
Trent Manning (31:47):
Well, hopefully, you don't have to uh work that
long or if you do work thatlong, maybe you're just working
part time and mowing fairways orsomething like that.
Which I'm not gonna get on thatsoapbox.
I do not think autonomousfairway mowers is where we
should be starting because it'sgonna take all these retired
people's jobs away.
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (32:08):
Not to get
Trent Manning (32:10):
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (32:12):
because I don't need one.
I'm six foot nine.
So, we Fairways, but we're alsomowing roughs in areas that grow
excessively and have reallythick grass.
keep them down and we aren'treplacing workers.
We are repurposing workers.
(32:33):
The goal is to keep that staffand be able to cover vacations
and do that kind of stuff.
So that was the argument when Iput my case study together that
we don't lose people.
We repurpose them to the finersides of the golf course.
So we're not losing anyone.
We're gaining extra help inareas that we see in our
(33:00):
operation that need those, youknow, I consider us, we're not a
top 100 golf course, but Iconsider our golf courses as
championship golf courses.
So, I mean, when you're dealingwith something that's the fine
tunings and things that peopledon't see and you're doing them
right, then that's the goal ofmine is to provide that.
(33:24):
So that way we're, turning out aproduct that's even better and
using the same amount of staff.
So we're not really replacinganybody.
We're getting the parts of thegolf course that you can't get
back to mow it twice a week ormow it three times a week or
whatever.
That's what we're doing.
So, and we are mowing fairwaystoo, but, You know, at the
(33:44):
beginning of the year,somebody's going to have to mow
those fairways because theycan't mow them right out of the
gate, so, and then I don't knowwhat they do with leaves yet
because they're on a golf coursewith no leaves, so.
Trent Manning (33:55):
Yeah.
That must be nice.
Wow.
Kevin Kline (33:57):
have 15 trees on our north course.
Of those 15 trees, they are notin play unless you're a terrible
golfer.
Trent Manning (34:07):
Okay.
That's.
Kevin Kline (34:09):
so.
I mean, there's no, I mean, wedon't use, we hardly ever use
buffalo blowers on the north.
And we use it to do rough spotswhere, the grass is excessive.
So, you know, our target isobviously to use those
autonomous mowers in thoseareas,
Trent Manning (34:26):
Yeah.
No.
And it makes sense.
And I guess my thought behind itis I would like manufacturers to
focus on automating Jobs thathumans do not like to do.
Kevin Kline (34:42):
like pick the driving range.
Trent Manning (34:44):
Pick the driving range, rake bunkers, fly mow,
weed whip, weed eat, whateveryou want to call it, string
trimmer around trees.
That's what we need to automate,not fairway mowers, because I
mean, that's one of the easiest,funnest jobs there is on a golf
(35:06):
course.
So why take
Kevin Kline (35:07):
I've not been on a fairway mower this year, and I
tried to get one on one thismorning, but we got so much
rain, we didn't mow fairway.
One of my joys of the offseason, you know, not, I mean
the shoulder seasons when wedon't have as many employees,
I'm like, I really need to geton a mower because I need to
know how they work.
(35:28):
I mean, how are we doing formaintenance and all that?
And they're like, yeah, we gottoo many operators.
I'm like, doesn't matter.
I still need to get on one.
Trent Manning (35:36):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's uh I think that it'stherapeutic getting on a fairway
mower.
Kevin Kline (35:42):
what do you think?
Have you seen the firefly?
Trent Manning (35:45):
Yes, I have.
I have seen it.
Kevin Kline (35:48):
I'm not sold?
Trent Manning (35:49):
I hadn't seen it in person just you know on
Kevin Kline (35:51):
Yeah.
I saw it on YouTube.
Trent Manning (35:54):
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (35:55):
I'm not sold because, you know, the
adjustment screws and all thatkind of stuff is just, I don't
think it's, there's no way totrade.
Trent Manning (36:03):
well, yeah, I don't know.
Hopefully, that was a misprint.
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (36:08):
posted that, didn't you?
Trent Manning (36:09):
Yeah, well somebody
Kevin Kline (36:11):
and I went,
Trent Manning (36:12):
Yeah, six thousandths reel to bed knife
adjustment when John Deere isfive tenths and Toro is seven
tenths.
Yeah, so hopefully that was amisprint but Let's do some tips
and tricks you ready
Kevin Kline (36:30):
Yes, sir.
Get ready for tips and tricks.
Trent Manning (36:35):
what kind of tips and tricks you want to share
with us?
Kevin Kline (36:39):
we were talking about drain plugs earlier.
our world, our second assistantshelp with, uh, services in the
wintertime.
Uh, never fails when we dosecond service in the spring.
We're got a strip drain plug,uh, something like that.
I have a welder on staff.
He welds, uh, piece of bar stockon the drain plug.
(37:01):
And we actually leave that thereafter we've welded that drain
plug because it just teaches ourguys when they go back and do it
again in the fall we might put anew drain plug in it but we let
them know this is you know,don't do this or make sure that
you're doing it right.
Telling us what's going on.
Another thing, drain plugs.
Uh, we've been adding drain plugextensions for our buffalo
(37:24):
blowers.
You have to loosen the motor toreplace an existing drain plug.
So, have to tip that motor upthat you can put a new, one of
those new fangled yellow plugsthat you're supposed to be able
to quarter turn and it opens thedrain.
Well, that,
Trent Manning (37:41):
Oh Yeah
Kevin Kline (37:42):
Those don't work real well.
So we started putting, uh, drainextensions on so that we don't
have to do that.
And then we just drain the motorand it's good to go.
We just have to add whatever thelength of hose is.
We have to add that to the oil,uh, because it comes all the way
obviously out to that.
So,
Trent Manning (38:01):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (38:04):
We've started this year putting MoDEC applications
on the rear discharge mowerslike our 9009 rotaries and our
7200 reel mower from John Deere.
We found out it compromises theheight of cut when that grass
gets built up on those rearrollers.
(38:25):
So, the MoDEC application, youapply it.
every other time it's out.
So we mow short, rough twice aweek.
every Monday after mowing, itgets put on.
So then that way they know itjust gets put on that day.
So we've been doing that and hada lot of success.
(38:47):
The mowing time has gone downabout 40 minutes because they
don't have to get off and cleanthose rollers off.
Trent Manning (38:54):
wow.
Really?
Okay.
Kevin Kline (38:56):
Yeah.
With the rear discharge, theyjust get all gummed up and you
know, we mow those before golfin the morning.
So it takes about three hours tomow all the, those and it's down
to about two hours and 15minutes
Trent Manning (39:09):
Nice.
Kevin Kline (39:10):
the way around the course.
So,
Trent Manning (39:11):
And is that uh metal rollers?
Kevin Kline (39:14):
uh, those are medical.
Trent Manning (39:15):
Yeah, like the OEM metal rollers.
Yeah.
Cuz and not that they're perfectbut the golf cart rollers, they
do help.
Kevin Kline (39:24):
Yeah, they do.
We went to, uh, the replacementsthat we've been putting on the
9009 mowers are the Gofcorollers because I can buy a set
of four of those or five ofthose at a lesser amount of
money than buying, you know,five metal ones.
I just don't like that tingnoise when it goes across cart
(39:45):
paths because, you know, guyscan't just get right up to the
edge of the cart path.
They have to drive down the cartpath.
Trent Manning (39:52):
Right, right.
Yes.
Yup.
I don't know why that is butthat's is what they do.
Kevin Kline (39:58):
I explain to operators all the time that they
do that.
Trent Manning (40:02):
And for the listeners that don't know it, I
know at least my distributorsdown here in the south, they
will put golf co rollers on fromthe factory which is really
nice.
Yup.
So, and everybody knows thatgolfers rollers are they're kind
of pricey.
But you work them into yourpackage when you're buying a new
(40:25):
unit, you know, and then youdon't have to worry about it.
Kevin Kline (40:34):
They're in Oroville, which is two minutes
from my house.
But I asked them about, we blewthrough eight rollers from
Ventrac.
Those are four hundred andthirty eight dollars.
And we did eight last year.
So, you know, what, twenty sevenhundred dollars or so?
No, thirty eight.
Thirty eight.
400.
So I was like, what do you havefor setup that we're doing
(40:58):
wrong?
And what they did was they gaveme the book that the dealer
gets, not the book that we get,the book the dealer gets.
There's a whole setup page inthere, how you set those rollers
up.
You can ask for those books.
They said they'll send them toyou all day long.
So ours were in the wrongposition.
They were in position five andthey should have been in
(41:20):
position eight.
We've used two rollers this yearand one of them was my fault.
I had knocked it off the thing.
I hit a manhole cover.
So, I mean, I absolutelystripped it out, destroyed it,
blew it up.
I mean, it was my fault.
And then, so we've only usedone.
With the operator this year.
So
Trent Manning (41:38):
Okay.
Kevin Kline (41:39):
going from eight last year to one this year, and
it was just a wear problem onthe one that we blew up.
So, I mean.
Having that thing set up rightis obviously the key to
everybody, but that book is notavailable to technicians, unless
you know somebody.
Trent Manning (41:58):
Yeah.
And
Kevin Kline (41:59):
Anybody that has a, anybody that has a Ventrac out
there has a right to email the,their teaching people, and
they'll send it to you, even ifit costs you a ton.
10 bucks.
It's way worth it becausethere's a lot of information in
there that's not in the manual.
Trent Manning (42:18):
Yeah, I don't, it's a shame that distributors
or dealers, whoever,manufacturers do that.
And, I mean, that's one of mygripes with John Deere, is they
don't make more of that stuffready, available.
I love Toro because they put allthat stuff out there.
And, you know, one thing is youmight have to have 25 different
(42:41):
manuals for this one machinewith Toro, but, uh, at least you
can get it.
And that is, that's a goodthing.
And, you know, deer, I don'tknow if they'll ever get on
board, but hopefully all theother manufacturers kind of
follow suit because that'sdefinitely the way it
Kevin Kline (42:59):
Yeah, definitely.
Trent Manning (43:01):
You want to talk about the Northern Ohio?
Golf course superintendentsassociation.
Kevin Kline (43:07):
Yeah, so I'm the, I was appointed the Northern Ohio
Golf Course SuperintendentAssociation Equipment Manager
Liaison.
That's a huge, I don't even knowhow you do that.
N O G C S A E M L,
Trent Manning (43:21):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (43:23):
anyway, I'm very passionate about this program.
We're trying to grow I did get ahold of the lady at G C S A, uh,
Diana,
Trent Manning (43:31):
Yes.
No,
Kevin Kline (43:45):
I'll be sending those out soon of just trying to
put together some trainings andtrying to make it beneficial.
A lot of pushback from areasuperintendents.
We have a lot of public golf uphere.
And they think there's thesuperintendents think that they
need to have their guys staythere.
How is it beneficial and allthat?
(44:05):
So we're trying to explain thatnow.
We're having three trainings.
January, February, March.
Uh, one every month.
We know that the big show, theconferences in the middle of
that, but the people that don'treally get to go to the show,
maybe we draw that interest.
One of the big things thatNorthern Ohio does is the first
year for technicians is free andthen every year after that is
(44:28):
only 45.
So, you know, we're just tryingto put something together that,
you know, that we can grow andhave a, uh, tight knit group
that meets, we meet every fourto six weeks in the summer,
talking about what trainings wecan have.
We're now like I said, DianaKern is helping me with, uh,
(44:49):
applying for CTEM credits.
Our training classes will becovered for GCSA CTEMs.
And then I like the idea of youSome day coming up and, you
know, let's talk about, or even,uh, like in the summer times
when we're having our meetings,you know, sometimes we do a zoom
meeting instead of having to gettogether all, you know, just
(45:12):
come in and rap about, you know,what, you know, what we're
seeing and all that kind ofstuff.
So, so we're trying to increaseknowledge and then knowledge is
power.
And if we're helping one person,we may be helping a ton of
people.
In January, when I started asthe liaison, we had three Uh,
(45:33):
equipment technicians slashmanagers.
We currently have 10.
We are having a vendor day inOctober that I'm hoping to gain,
you know, quite a few more.
But, you know, it's just tryingto explain the benefits of the,
our group.
You know, just guys, girlstrying to.
Learn the trade and trying toexchange information so that
(45:57):
nobody feels like they're lostin a world of nobody's gonna
help me.
And then this opens up for theWhatsApp for the one that you
run.
You know, that information, youknow, that Allows them to get on
there and I need, I just sawTrent Weber just posted not too
long ago on that, he's veryactive on there.
I'm on there.
Nick Ballas from Barrington.
(46:18):
He's on there quite a bit.
So yeah, it's just trying tobuild that small time Ohio
community.
So that way we have someplace togo to and don't feel overwhelmed
with all the other big stuff.
Trent Manning (46:33):
I think it's, I mean, it's great what you're
doing and yeah, thank you.
And thank everybody else iscontributing to that.
And I don't remember.
I was talking to somebody theother day.
Actually it was Terry Apple.
He's a EM at Overbrook inPennsylvania, just outside of
Philadelphia.
(46:53):
And he called me because himand, uh, I can't, Mike Elliott
and another Mike, I don'tremember him, I apologize.
What the other Mike's name was,but they were kind of tasked
similar to you to be a liaisonand help, you know, grow
equipment managers thing.
So anyway, he was just pickingmy brain when he called the
(47:14):
other day, but, and I wastelling him how awesome it is
because he's doing it.
You're doing it.
Ben Beard got a lot of stuffgoing in Michigan and then Mitch
Hunt has since took it over.
Brian Eplin and Jordan Roth inNebraska.
They're getting stuff going, uh,Haas down in Florida and
Kevin Kline (47:37):
are the three people she gave me Haas.
Trent Manning (47:40):
Yeah.
Well, yeah, you got it, man.
You got it.
Kevin Kline (47:43):
The guy I was talking to a guy I had a guy
here, uh, looking at our, uh,Jacobson 530s, uh, mowers, and
he was from Pittsburgh, just anine hole muni course We were
talking to him about, you know,what Northern Ohio is doing and
all that.
And he's like, you know,Pittsburgh is big enough that
they could have, you know, kindof like their own, but they
(48:06):
don't have anybody that, youknow, wants to jump in and do
anything.
And I, you know, I've talked toBen Beard before Mitch took over
and I'm like, you know, if let'spartner with the, a few places,
you know, Pittsburgh, he droveover that morning and he got
there, got here at nine 30.
So it's like two and a halfhours from Pittsburgh.
So it's not, I mean, we're notin the middle of nowhere by any
(48:30):
means.
I mean, and then Ben said, let'smeet halfway and have like a
little conference at a, youknow, somebody's golf course or
whatever.
And then hopefully the O.
T.
F.
Will open some people's eyesabout what we're trying to do.
And maybe we can get an Ohiogroup the full four sections of
(48:51):
Ohio together and be able toCincinnati kind of does whatever
they want to do because they'rekind of smaller.
But, you know, Columbus and Youknow, and all that kind of
stuff.
It's just, I think the sky's thelimit for what we want to do.
And I think, you know, we've gota really good thing that it
started and got a lot of goodguys on.
(49:12):
I mean, Gary's 40 some years inthe trade.
Trent Manning (49:15):
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (49:16):
you know, and he's training new guys all the time
in his, at his club.
So, I mean, he's got a reallygood young technician there now
that, you know, and then he'sgot, uh, they've been working,
GCSAA has been dealing with agprograms.
So we hired the ag instructor ata local school here, and we've
(49:37):
actually started talking to herabout going to her class, her ag
class because of not justautonomous mowers, but you know,
the geolink systems that we haveon our, uh, Toro stuff, you
know, the kids nowadays are socomputer oriented that's all
that stuff is.
I mean, it's all computers.
Trent Manning (49:55):
Mhm.
Kevin Kline (49:56):
you know, it's exciting because I get to learn
it, but I would think, you know,the big ag people would be like,
Hey, this, you know, this mightbe someplace I want to go or
diesel mechanics.
Nick Ballast at Barrington, he'sgot a kid that's out of the JVS
that is a diesel mechanic andhe's doing an internship.
(50:16):
He's actually doing, they'vebuilt an internship.
He and Gary put somethingtogether and this is what
they're going to learn.
And, you know, it kind of.
goes back to his instructor andsays this is what he can learn.
He doesn't have to curl underthis big huge piece of equipment
to do what we do at the golfcourse.
So, I mean, the things that theag world, those kids, you know,
(50:39):
that they have soils behindthem.
They've got some turf, some, youknow, they do all these tests
and.
You know, studies and all thatstuff.
And why not drop them right intothe golf course where
Trent Manning (50:54):
Yeah, why not?
Yeah, that is awesome.
That's very cool.
Very good stuff.
Super exciting.
You ready to do some rapid fire?
Kevin Kline (51:06):
Yes.
Trent Manning (51:07):
What's your favorite movie?
Kevin Kline (51:09):
Greatest game ever played the Francis Wimet story
in the U S open.
Trent Manning (51:14):
Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to go watch that
one.
That's new to me.
Yeah what year did that comeout?
Kevin Kline (51:20):
I don't know.
I've probably watched it,
Trent Manning (51:23):
Just a guess.
Kevin Kline (51:24):
Probably 98,
Trent Manning (51:26):
Okay.
Okay.
Alright.
Kevin Kline (51:28):
It's from the.
It's from the 1921 U.
S.
Open.
I think Harry Varden senior isthe pro that's in it.
So,
Trent Manning (51:37):
Okay.
What would be your last meal?
Kevin Kline (51:41):
uh, steak, scallop, potatoes.
Trent Manning (51:44):
Alright.
Kevin Kline (51:46):
Yeah, it was raining.
It was raining last night and Iflipped open the golf umbrella
and went out there and I grilledsteaks.
Trent Manning (51:53):
Oh, nice.
Awesome.
What are you most proud ofbesides your family?
Kevin Kline (51:58):
Our equipment maintenance team.
So, and I was hired in October22.
my head technician left inNovember of 22.
I hired, seasonal employee thatturned second assistant that
turned head technician in May of23.
I added a second assistant inAugust of 23.
And then we have eight full timeemployees in the winter time
(52:22):
helping do cart maintenance andall of that, just changing oils,
filters, trying to get throughthings so that we can get back
out on the golf course and dotrenching projects and stuff
like that.
So our team is probably.
When we're clicking on all thecylinders in the wintertime, you
know, we get stuff done.
We the first year I was here,the goal was to get everything
(52:44):
done by the 15th of March.
Usually we're on the turf thefollowing week.
We actually put I think it wasMarch 16th and 23.
I put stuff on the turf, butputting stripes down.
And then last year we were donewith all services except for big
tractors by, uh, February 10th.
(53:04):
So we, I 300 pieces of equipmentthat includes the reels, but we
take, we break down the reels.
Grind them all, put them allback together, get them ready
for the year.
So, to be done in February, Ithink that was, that's our goal
every year now.
Trent Manning (53:20):
No, that's awesome.
Yeah.
Kevin Kline (53:22):
so we can help on the golf course when we got
trenching.
We do all in house trenching andall that kind of stuff
ourselves.
Trent Manning (53:29):
Yeah what are you trenching?
Kevin Kline (53:31):
So, we're trenching drainage lines.
So, we're doing they did a growin and we blew the north gulf
course up in 2019, uh, opened itin Labor Day of 2020.
And then, just working out, youknow, they say four or five
years, you see the places thatneed to be drained out, so
(53:51):
that's what we've been workingon, so.
We bought a stack trencher thatlifts the dirt off the ground.
That's probably the best thingever invented right there,
Trent Manning (54:00):
Okay.
Yeah, that is cool.
Yeah I have seen those,
Kevin Kline (54:04):
yeah, it's well worth the money, I mean, and
then we run workmans, and we gota, uh, Pronovost, uh, trailer,
you know, Pronovost trailer, put4000 pounds on it, no problem,
so, uh, we run that thing, andthen we reuse all that, so, uh,
not back into the hole, but onthe golf course later in life,
(54:25):
so,
Trent Manning (54:25):
Okay.
Cool.
That's awesome.
Yep.
I love it.
Well, let the listeners know howthey can get a hold of you.
Kevin Kline (54:32):
on Twitter, now X, I'm KevinKlein39.
and that's Klein with a K.
And I looked at Facebook lastnight.
I think I'm in 14 golf turftechnician related things.
Uh,
Trent Manning (54:49):
I didn't know there was that many.
Kevin Kline (54:50):
uh, there's some for Ohio, so I'm, and then
there's a lot for autonomousmowers.
So we're, I'm in like four orfive of those.
So, just trying to gain moreknowledge, but and then on your
real turf tech.
What's up, I'm tall guy cuttingshort grass.
So yeah, so
Trent Manning (55:09):
Awesome.
Kevin Kline (55:09):
out and get any questions.
Just let me know.
Trent Manning (55:12):
Well, thank you so much, Kevin, for being on.
I enjoyed this, as always.
And I look forward to, uh,working with you in the future.
And when you get that stufftogether on your train and yes,
send it over and I'll, uh, I'llthrow it up on the website.
Kevin Kline (55:28):
Okay.
I
Trent Manning (55:29):
And for all the listeners, start checking out
the website and there's going tostart being more stuff there.
I'm telling you now, so it'llhold me accountable to get stuff
on it.
So if you hadn't seen some newstuff on it in the coming weeks
reach out to me and let me know.
And I would like to hit on onething you're talking about
(55:53):
talking to Diana.
Definitely reach out to her andI mean all the people we named
off in this.
Reach out to them and if youneed their number.
I'll give you their number and,uh, I did not ask their
permission.
So hopefully they're okay withit.
No, I mean, all those people,super, super good bunch of
(56:15):
people.
And I mean, that's what I'vesaid it a hundred times, but
that's what I love about thisindustry.
A lot of really good people init.
Kevin Kline (56:22):
I feel like everybody wants to help
everybody else.
I mean, that's what it's about.
So, uh, I just appreciate theopportunity here.
I mean, I've only been in theindustry for two years again,
but everybody's been veryhelpful.
And I look forward to everywherethat everybody is that way, you
know, I'm not coming to the showagain until Orlando.
So, but I will be there.
(56:45):
Hopefully I'll be pretty closeto CTM by then.
So,
Trent Manning (56:49):
All right.
And well, I will definitely seeyou at OTF this year in
December.
So, all right.
Talk to you later.
Thanks.
Kevin Kline (56:57):
all right.
Thank
Trent Manning (57:03):
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.
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