Episode 135: Ron McCall

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In this episode, we chat with Ron McCall, Equipment Manager at The Highlands at Harbor Springs Resort, home to 81 holes of golf. With over 40 years in the industry, Ron shares his inspiring journey from owning a lawn care company to becoming a self-taught expert technician and advocate for veterans in golf.
Ron recounts how a health setback led him to start walking greens as a groundskeeper, sparking his fascination with equipment maintenance after a bedknife revelation. A United States Air Force veteran, Ron emphasizes the value of camaraderie, proactive communication, and fostering a welcoming shop atmosphere.
We also explore:
The transition from superintendent and irrigation tech back to the shop.
The benefits of playing golf to understand its impact on the course.
Building a strong network of superintendents, equipment managers, and distributors in Michigan.
The importance of record-keeping and relationship-building.
Advocacy for turf technician education and veteran employment through Ron’s initiative, hireavet4golf.org.
Ron’s story is a testament to his passion for learning and the power of connection in the turf industry. Tune in to be inspired! 

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Episode Transcript

Trent Manning (00:05):
Welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the
technician that wants to getreel follow along.
As we talk to industryprofessionals and address hot
topics that we all face alongthe way we'll learn tips and
tricks.
I'm your host, Trent.
Manning let's have some​thisepisode are real turf techs on

(00:27):
golf course industriesSuperintendent radio network is
presented by Foley county astrong supporter of equipment
technicians and golf coursemaintenance departments
everywhere Foley county offers aproven solution for above and
below the turf for turfprofessionals To learn more

(00:47):
about Foley company's line ofreal grinders bed knife grinders
and the air to G2 family ofproducts or to find a
distributor visit www dot FoleyC o.com Foley Ready for play
Welcome to the Real Turf Techspodcast, episode 135.

(01:10):
Today, we're talking to RonMcCall, equipment manager at the
Highlands at Harbor Springs inHarbor Springs, Michigan.
The Highlands is a 81 hole golfresort.
Ron has two technicians workingwith him in the shop.
He has mostly Toro, a little bitof John Deere and Kubota
tractors and some TX and ProGators.

(01:33):
Let's talk to Ron.
Welcome Ron to the real turfconnects podcast.
Thanks for coming on.
How you doing,

Ron McCall (01:40):
to be here.
I'm great.

Trent Manning (01:43):
I appreciate you being here.
Tell us how you got into theturf industry.

Ron McCall (01:47):
I got into the turf industry because I actually
owned a lawn company.
And every week, I went to thedriving range on the way to play
in the league, and It was asmall nine hole executive course
with a driving range.
I went there and hit some ballsand the owner came out one day
and I was in the, I owned alandscaping company and he asked

(02:09):
me who maintained my equipment.
I said, well, I'm one guy, Ican't afford to pay someone to
do it, so I learned how to do itmyself.
And he said, would you beinterested in working on my
equipment?
And that was close to 40 yearsago.

Trent Manning (02:23):
Oh, wow.
Okay.

Ron McCall (02:25):
So I bartered unlimited golf and driving range
privileges for working on hisreels.
That's how I started working onequipment.
And

Trent Manning (02:34):
I don't, did you have like grinders at your house
or shop or

Ron McCall (02:38):
No, I went to Toro back then,

Trent Manning (02:40):
Okay.

Ron McCall (02:41):
Distributors in Auburn Hills, yep.

Trent Manning (02:43):
Yeah.

Ron McCall (02:45):
And self taught the whole time, never really had a
mentor, just started doing andstarted learning and started
researching and really neverlooked back, so.

Trent Manning (02:54):
How hard was it to find resources 40 years ago
on turf equipment?
Oh,

Ron McCall (03:02):
you know, Lapeer County, there were a lot of golf
courses, so I reached out tothem and, you know, talked to
some of the equipment guysthere, and even back then, there
was, I mean, there was a lot ofthings that were just unknown,
you know, old school guys that,you know, were mechanics
someplace at one point in timeand started working on golf

(03:23):
stuff just like we did.
Resources were definitely harderto find back then because, you
know, lack of internet.
I mean, I actually bought myfirst cell phone when I had my
landscaping company and Ithought that was the, you know,
the deal.
You know,

Trent Manning (03:39):
Yeah.

Ron McCall (03:40):
3 watt bag phone.
I went out in the middle of thelake with my, in my boat and
made a phone call just because Icould.

Trent Manning (03:48):
Huh.
No, that's yeah, you're livinghigh on the hog then.

Ron McCall (03:51):
oh yeah,

Trent Manning (03:52):
Yeah, that's something else.
Yeah, so how'd you end up at thegolf course turning wrenches?

Ron McCall (04:00):
Well, I I worked on equipment, you know, off and on.
I've always been a golfer.
And in 2012, I was in anaccident.
And after surgeries and rehaband all of that and being out of
work five years, um, I was, youknow, I had gone from 200 pounds

(04:20):
to almost 300 pounds.
I was like, what can I do tolose weight?
And there was a local car rightaround the corner from me and
they were looking for agreenskeeper.
And I went in, I interviewed, hehired me on the spot, I started
the next day.
And I was walking 13 greens withan old Toro 500, never done it
before.

(04:41):
Um, you know, it's it wasinteresting because I mowed and
the mower was barely, you know,it was just barely cutting.
And I got done and I went up tosee the owner and he says, well,
what do you think?
And I said, well, it needs to beadjusted.
It needs to be ground.
And he goes, well, can you dothat?
And I said, I can, you know,we'll see what's there.

(05:03):
And I went out and I was giventhe mower.
And I just went out and, youknow, did what they told me to
do because I was the brand newguy, you know, and I Deck up and
there wasn't even a bed knife onit.
And I was like, Wow.

Trent Manning (05:18):
Okay.

Ron McCall (05:18):
Yep, literally.
So I went to the owner and Isaid, there's not a bed knife on
this mower.
And he goes, well you'd thinkthat the superintendent might
know that because he's themechanic.
I'm like, hey, you know, justthe guy, you know.
And he goes, well can you fixit?
And I found another one that hada bed knife on there and I
pulled that off because it had abad transmission, I guess.

(05:40):
Pulled the bedknife off, didwhat I could with what was there
and hand filed the reel and handfiled the bedknife.
Number nine green I'll neverforget was right outside the
little shop which was the pumphouse also.
I made a little test cut and itwas like parting the Red Seas.
Was committed.
They had been

Trent Manning (06:00):
yeah.

Ron McCall (06:01):
mowing for almost four months without a bedknife.
Yeah.

Trent Manning (06:06):
yeah, I don't even understand.

Ron McCall (06:08):
No concept.
No concept.
So I was committed then and youknow, I mowed that green and
went and did the rest of themand stayed on that.
And at the end of the season hesays, How'd you like to be the
superintendent next year?
And I'm like, Okay.
So my first year really in theindustry after, you know, a
couple months I was asuperintendent and I did that

(06:29):
for a year and a half and thenwent from a lot of the, you
know, just a little publiccourse and great family course.
And I ended up, I went into theprivate sector.
That's when

Trent Manning (06:41):
Okay.

Ron McCall (06:41):
I went full time with Wah Bee Country Club.
And I was the second superirrigation tech and changing
cups and tees and stayed withthem for six years.

Trent Manning (06:52):
Oh, wow.
Okay.

Ron McCall (06:54):
and Even though I wasn't there full time, I
actually became a tech in theinterim at a, back at the public
sector.
I was at Beacon Hill andBrentwood and that's where I
really learned, you know, goodfriend of mine that I had met
when I was actually thesuperintendent, he was the
equipment manager out at BeaconHill and Brentwood in commerce

(07:15):
and I reached out to him and heneeded help.
So I helped him.
Two weeks later he gave notice.
I'm like, what are

Trent Manning (07:23):
Oh, wow.

Ron McCall (07:24):
He goes, well, I needed someone here that I knew
was going to do a good jobbecause I've got an opportunity.
So, I got really just thrownright into it.
So, had a great time there andyou know, like I said, I've
always for lack of better terms,excelled.
I work hard.
I do, I thrive on education andyou know, so I learn as much as

(07:45):
I possibly can.
I don't like to pay people to dostuff in my personal life, so If
I can buy the tool and do itright, I prefer to do it that
way.
So that's what I did.
I invested in tools and learnedand put the time in and, you
know, and here we are.

Trent Manning (08:01):
that's awesome, that's a good story where did
you get most of I know early on,it was hard to find resources,
but yeah.
Where do you go now or earlierin your career?
Where'd you go to find, youknow, like tech manuals and, you
know, straight to thedistributor or.

Ron McCall (08:21):
to the distributor, Spartan.
I've, you know, I've been toToro University.
I've gone out to Minneapolis.
um, the most of the time I'vehad, you know, in the public
sector, I had a lot of usedequipment.
Um, You know, so it was, there'sa big learning curve.
Started with old Jake's andstarted with old John Deere, you
know, greens, mowers, alltriplexes.

(08:44):
And then when I got theopportunity in the private
sector, I went out to, you know,to my turf or use my turf a lot
for my manuals, but I went outto Minneapolis out to, you know,
to the Toro school.
And it was eyeopening because,you know, you see the R and D
and you see what's really goingon.
You know, and then that,fortunately I was able to really

(09:06):
connect with a lot of guys.
You know, Bob Smith, who, who'sdown in Texas,

Trent Manning (09:11):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Ron McCall (09:13):
He and I went to the same, at the same time.
So we stayed in contact all thistime.
Yep.
So, you know, and I hate, youknow, I'm a, I would say I'm a
professional networker, so Ibelieve in, I don't believe in
burning bridges, Shaking hands,and kissing babies and making
friends.
Because you never know who isgoing to win.
who someone knows, I guess you'dsay, you know, and it's like we

(09:38):
being a veteran, you know,because I'm having, you know,
I'm an U.
S.
Air Force veteran and being aveteran.
And so you have thatbrotherhood.
And I, you know, I look at thegolf industry as big as the
industry is, or even as small asthe state of Michigan is,
there's a ton of courses, butwe're really a small family.

Trent Manning (09:56):
Oh yeah.
Yeah, for sure.

Ron McCall (09:58):
you know, so being able to reach out to somebody
and make that phone call, if youhave a question.
is, you know, is reallyimportant.
So I've done my best to buildthose relationships.
And, you know, I like to learn,but I don't know everything.
And I'm the first one to admitit.
You know, you're, I believe thatit's a good day when you learn
something.

Trent Manning (10:18):
Oh yeah.
No, I'm with you.
I want to learn something newevery single day.
And I would say 99 percent ofthem.
I do.
Maybe even more than that.
I mean, it's, you know, it'scrazy what you might learn and
who you may learn it from, youknow, from.
Yeah, they could be the lowestperson on the crew.

(10:38):
You might can learn somethingfrom them just because they had
different experiences, you know,whatever.

Ron McCall (10:44):
It goes to the saying, you know, think outside
the box.
I mean, there's always more thanone way to do something.
And, You know, my way may notalways be the most efficient.
It's you know, that's thebiggest thing is that, you know,
we're in an industry that as welearn and as we repair
equipment, we want to do itright.

(11:05):
But we want to do it efficientlyand cost effectively.
You know, I believe in being agood steward of my employer's
money.
So I don't like to really spendmoney unless I have to.
So if I can make something or Ican repair something properly,
you know, and get it back on thecourse, it's, I'm a lot better
off and so is my employer.
So,

Trent Manning (11:25):
Oh yeah, for sure.
And like you said,

Ron McCall (11:27):
makes a big difference.

Trent Manning (11:29):
this industry is so small.
There might be 15, 000 golfcourses, but it's a small
industry and most everybodyknows everybody and if you don't
you'll get to know him and it's,I mean, it's crazy how things
come full circle.
I've been telling the story agood bit.

(11:49):
Um, here lately.
So we're under renovation rightnow.
We closed in at Labor Day andthe construction superintendent
that works for Donick Golf.
They're based out of Minnesota.
Um, when I started in 1995 atthe golf course I'm currently

(12:11):
at, he was the irrigation techon the crew with me.
And now he's the constructionsuperintendent working for this,
you know, huge company, um, youknow,

Ron McCall (12:23):
project.

Trent Manning (12:24):
yeah, running the project.
And I mean, to be fair, he wenton, you know, he was, I don't
know, he's probably five yearsolder than me, maybe seven years
older than me.
Um, and not too long at he'dstayed there another year or
two, he was going to school forturf grass and, He got an
assistance job and then he wassuperintendent for probably 20

(12:46):
years at a golf course and thennow he's working for Dunick, but
I mean, it's just so cool, butyou know to come full circle
like that What's your leastfavorite part of the job

Ron McCall (13:00):
Wow, that's a loaded question.
Um,

Trent Manning (13:03):
Do you have a least favorite do you just
really enjoy all

Ron McCall (13:06):
believe I, I don't really believe I have the least
favorite.
You know, that goes into the petpeeves.
I mean, I love what I do becauseit's always something different.
You know, you never know what'sgoing to walk through the door.
It's always a challenge.
And if you look at it that, youknow, I have a firm belief that
equipment managers andtechnicians, you know, were

(13:27):
there to fix stuff.
Um, I literally say grass growsand shit breaks and that's why I
have a career in this industry.

Trent Manning (13:34):
Yeah.

Ron McCall (13:35):
It's very simple, you know.
But the issue is that you know,the saying is that a lot of
equipment guys and technicians,they're hotheads.
And, you know, and I'm notsaying I don't have a temper
occasionally, and, you know, Iwant things done certain ways
because if I don't havestructure for what I do, I'll

(13:57):
never catch up.
So my pet peeve is that if youbreak something, let me know if
you know, something, if you goto use a piece of equipment, it
doesn't start, don't grabanother piece of equipment and
just leave it sitting there andgo on about your day.
Let me know that something'sbroken because I can't fix it if
I don't know what's broken.
And, you know, I can always findsomething to do.

(14:20):
There's always something to do,but I'd rather make sure that
when my operators get on thepiece of equipment, that it's
operating properly, it's safe.
And the after cut appearance andwhat I do directly affects the
plague, you know?
So.
If I not, if I can't do thatbecause it's sitting in the shop
and no one tells me that it'sbroken in a storage building, I

(14:43):
don't, I can't deal with it.
So that's a, it's a struggle.
You know, now all of a suddenwhen something does break.
It's the same operator,possibly, that says, Oh, well,
I, you know, can you grabanother one?
Well, I left the other one inthe shop over in the other
building because it wouldn'tstart this morning.
So now they get, now I have twopieces of equipment to fix.

(15:05):
So that, you know, so it allgoes into communication and it
all goes into, you know, andit's For lack of better terms,
being a veteran, I believe inrespect.
It doesn't show respect to thetechnicians.
It doesn't show respect to thesuperintendents when you don't
communicate with them.
Let them know that something'sbroken.
And that, unfortunately, is thestigma that we get as equipment

(15:27):
managers.
that we're hotheads.
Well, we get upset because wedon't get communicated with when
something does break.

Trent Manning (15:37):
Yeah.

Ron McCall (15:38):
so then everyone has a fear about coming to you when
something does break.
And I understand it.
And that's a hard hurdle to getover.

Trent Manning (15:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And especially, you know, onceit gets set up there and, um, I
mean, I'm guilty just like a lotof us are, you know, it's hard
some days.
That's the last thing you wantto see coming through the door.

Ron McCall (15:58):
it's like a revolving door of broken stuff.
And, you know, you know, like,when is it going to end, you
know?
So

Trent Manning (16:05):
Yep.
What's your favorite tool?

Ron McCall (16:10):
my favorite tool recently is this great little
tool that's called a tight reachextension.
And, it's, all it is a, it's apiece of, there's multiple
sizes, and you can hold a nut,you can hold a bolt, and there's
three different lengths, and,you know, you have that one spot

(16:30):
you go to reach in, and you gotto put it between the last two
digits of your fingers, andyou're trying to hold it, And
then you're trying to put a boltin to get it started.
The tight reach extension willhold it.
You just reach in there and itclamps down.
It's a really cool product.

Trent Manning (16:48):
Yeah, I'm I'm Googling it right now.
To see what I've been missingout on here.

Ron McCall (16:54):
I have

Trent Manning (16:54):
me again what it is.

Ron McCall (16:55):
It's called a tight reach extension and it's, they
make a couple of differentproducts.

Trent Manning (17:03):
What I'm saying is like a ratcheting wrench.

Ron McCall (17:05):
make a ratcheting wrench also.
So what that is that you canactually put a ratchet in the
end of it and a socket on theother end of it.
and reach in, but the other oneis actually just a holder.
All it does is hold.
I have all three links.
And, you know, I'm the guy thatwhen the auto parts guy walks in
and says, I got this really coolthing, you know, I'm like, all

(17:28):
right.
So he showed it to me.
I'm like, all right, I'll take,let me have two.
I give one to my assistant andthen I have one.
And then they said, well,there's a three piece set.
All right, well, give me thewhole, give them all to

Trent Manning (17:39):
Right.
Right.

Ron McCall (17:39):
You know, once.
One's 18 and one's 12 and one'ssix inches or something like
that.
So,

Trent Manning (17:45):
Okay.
That's cool.
Yeah.
I have to have to check intothat a little bit more.
What do you do to relax or findyour balance?

Ron McCall (17:56):
well, I am a avid golfer, always have, so I play
golf usually two or three days aweek with the crew.
Um, you know, a lot of the, youknow, I'm on the state committee
for the equipment managers.
I'm the co chair of thecommittee and Mitch from
Traverse City Country Club, heand I, we generally get together

(18:16):
At least every other week andplay a round of golf someplace,

Trent Manning (18:20):
Oh, nice.

Ron McCall (18:20):
talk, talk, shop and you know, and then you know, I'm
a, I, believe it or not, I'mstill an outdoor guy.
I might I mow my lawn and youknow, I weed whip and I blow off
my sidewalks at the house.
And then and the, probably thebig thing for me is I'm an avid
movie guy.
So my relaxation is sitting infront of the, you know, the TV
and watching a good movie and beit a comedy or be it a.

(18:43):
You know, an action movie orsomething like that, but that's
my wind down time.

Trent Manning (18:48):
That's good stuff.
Yeah.
Nothing better than a game ofgolf, right?
Yeah.

Ron McCall (18:55):
It's amazing

Trent Manning (18:56):
it relax you?

Ron McCall (18:57):
guys, yeah, because, you know, I have a solid game,
but my, I had a teaching pro atone time and he says, Ron,
you're not getting paid to play.
Go out and enjoy yourself.
You know, I do my best andeverybody gets frustrated, but
it was, it's right.
You know, it's like.
I'm not going to be a pro.
I'm not getting paid to play.

(19:18):
So let's just go out and play.
And if I hit a bad shot, I mean,you look at the numbers.
A pro only hits the fairway 62percent of the time.
If I hit it 30 percent of thetime, I should be pretty damn
happy.

Trent Manning (19:34):
Ah, yeah, that's, I mean, that's a good way to
look at it.
Yeah,

Ron McCall (19:37):
you know,

Trent Manning (19:39):
Yeah.

Ron McCall (19:40):
can't beat yourself up about, you know, being half
as good as a guy that's making 5million a year playing, you
know, every single day.
So,

Trent Manning (19:48):
No, that's a really good way to look at it.
If I would've looked at it thatway when I first started, maybe
I would've continued on, but Ijust got so frustrated and said,
this ain't for me.
It ain't the game for me.

Ron McCall (20:00):
Well, I hold a firm belief that equipment guys,
whether it's a technician,whether it's a, you know, an
equipment manager, you reallyshould play some, you really
need to understand, you know,what you do directly affects
what they do.
The clients, whether'cause I'mat a resort, whether the resort

(20:21):
guests are getting the best gamethat they can, or in the private
industry, the members aregetting what they want.
Even if you just go out and put,you know, let the guys mow the
grass, go out and put the greenand see what it's doing.
So that you can, you know, trulyunderstand that what you're
doing directly affects thatplay.
It's really important.
It's, it surprises me how manyequipment guys in the industry

(20:44):
don't even play golf.

Trent Manning (20:46):
I'm one of those, I'm one of those guys that
doesn't play golf, but

Ron McCall (20:50):
But you understand picking a putter up and hitting
it on a green and, you know,watching the roll and see what
it does and if it doesn't rollsmooth or all of that stuff.
So.
You know, and that, that's

Trent Manning (21:00):
and I do understand the game pretty good,
and I understand what we'retrying to accomplish.
With smoothness and firmness andyou know, all those things and
how I can be assistance to thatwith mower set up and those
kinds of things, what's beenyour biggest challenge?

Ron McCall (21:22):
The biggest challenge, um, The biggest
challenge would be finding youngguys that come into the
industry.

Trent Manning (21:30):
Yeah, I heard that.

Ron McCall (21:33):
There's,

Trent Manning (21:33):
Yeah, it's tough.

Ron McCall (21:34):
it's tough.
I mean, I had an ad out forseven months and not one
applicant for an assistant.

Trent Manning (21:40):
yeah.
Crazy.

Ron McCall (21:42):
That's the biggest struggle.
And it's not just in thetechnician side of it.
It's all the way across theboard.
You know, you know, I got, Iserved in the military.
I, after I got out of themilitary, I actually applied for
pro golf management school and Igot accepted.
I had a solid game for handicapcame back from playing overseas.
And then I decided I didn't wantto go back to school again.

(22:03):
I never thought about gettinginto the agronomy side of it.
Never even thought about it.
Never crossed my mind.
And it's so finding someone thatplays golf and then can golf for
free, unlimited, usually, youknow, depending on where you're

(22:24):
at, um, that wants to make agood career and make a good, you
know, make a good living andhave a good career.
It's, you know, it's a struggle.

Trent Manning (22:35):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.

Ron McCall (22:37):
You know, I mean, finding the young bucks to come
up and do what we do, they'rejust not there.
You know, so, that's one of thethings we're doing in the state
of Michigan is we're reachingout to the colleges and, you
know, we released a video to,you know, To do just that, to
transition someone from maybe anautomotive or small engine

(22:57):
repair into the golf industry.
So, um,

Trent Manning (23:02):
the thing.
I mean, there's people gettinginto automotive for sure, and
not that they're, I'm sure theyhave their own struggles, but I
do think there's some of thosekids that enjoy playing golf.
That enjoy turning wrenches.
That would be a perfect fit fora golf course.
They just don't know about us.
They

Ron McCall (23:22):
Yeah, so that's a big struggle.
So that would be our biggeststruggle is to find that person.
Be it for the guy that's gonnago out and mow the greens or run
the weed whip or rake bunkersor, you know, get on the machine
and, you know, mow fairways andmow rough.
The, there's the opportunitiesare there, especially when you

(23:42):
get into a bigger club that'swilling to send you to school,

Trent Manning (23:45):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.

Ron McCall (23:47):
It's a, you know, it's a great industry.
It's a great opportunity, butgetting it out there and letting
people know that's probably,that would be my biggest
struggle in the industry rightnow.

Trent Manning (23:59):
Oh yeah.
Oh, I would agree with that.
I've been fortunate the lastcouple of years to you know,
handpick somebody off the crew,you know, and it just worked out
well.
But who knows when they leave,what I'm going to do next.
You know, it's always

Ron McCall (24:16):
Well, the struggle with a crew and that, you know,
I've done my best to do that.
Also, my struggle with a crew isthey see what I go through every
day.
You know, when you've got six or7 million of equipment, you've
got 81 holes, you're running itout of one shop and they see it.
They're like, they're just, Idon't know how you do it.
I'm like, well, we barely are.

(24:37):
I couldn't do it.
So,

Trent Manning (24:39):
Yeah.

Ron McCall (24:40):
like, you know, you're, you've created your own
monster.
And they're like, well, that'snot for me.

Trent Manning (24:45):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep.

Ron McCall (24:46):
So,

Trent Manning (24:48):
Well, you said you didn't have a mentor in the
industry.
You have anybody that that comesto mind of superintendent or an
old boss or.
Yeah.

Ron McCall (25:12):
years at Wabi Country Club.
He's now just recently retired.
He was a Marine.
I was, I'm an Air Force guy.
So we got along really good.
We had a lot of structure.
We had a lot of, you know,similarities.
Um, when I left Wabik, I went toFlint.
I was actually the assistantsuperintendent and the equipment
manager simultaneously at FlintGolf Club.
And I went there and worked withAlex Lincoln, who's now over at

(25:34):
the lakes over and over nearPickney.
And we still communicate, um, alot.
And it, you know, um, you know,John Gray, a lot of people know
John Gray.
You know, I worked with him andhelped him out.
He doesn't have an equipmentguy.
He's got a nine hole course overBirmingham.
And, you know, now I'm at acourse where I have two

(25:55):
superintendents and, you know,there's, you know, I work real
closely with, you know, withSeth from, you know, that's down
in Oakland County still.
And he's at St.
John's and, you know, Mitch atTraverse City Country Club.
And, you know, even though I'venever had anyone that for lack
of better terms, groomed me todo what I do.

(26:16):
We all communicate to the pointwhere we have an issue or we
can't figure something out or,you know, we reach out to them,
you know, I've done my best tobuild a really good relationship
with Spartan Distributors, whichis now, you know, um, we have,
it's just, you know, you haveTom down in Auburn Hills and
John Garlitz who's been aroundthe industry for over 30 years

(26:36):
and, You know, those guys, youknow, you make a phone call and,
you know, they're there to help.
And even those guys don't knowit all.
You know, it's amazing that youhave that much time in the
industry and, you know, so.
But those relationships make abig difference, especially when
you have a, unfortunately youhad a piece of equipment catch
on fire last year.

(26:57):
You know, and you gotta reachout to them and say, what do we
do?
And, you know, the, you know, wehave a big fleet, so, you know,
we were able to get some of itcovered and some of it we had to
cover.
So,

Trent Manning (27:10):
That's good though.
Yeah.
I mean, it is a partnershipbetween these dealers and the
course a lot of times.
And I mean, we've been veryfortunate with our distributors
down here, you know, and kind ofthe same deal.
We had a, or a similar deal.
We had a, an equip a fire in ourshop, um, been like a year and a
half ago.

(27:31):
And it was crazy.
Everybody that reached out.
Hey, you need something.
You want to borrow a mower?
You know, I mean, from dealers,distributors to our neighboring
courses.
Can we do anything to help you?
You know, I mean, just supernice to to have that.
And we, you know, we would dothe same thing for them.

Ron McCall (27:53):
right.

Trent Manning (27:53):
What's one of the strangest things you've seen
around the golf course?

Ron McCall (27:59):
Around the course, well, the strangest thing I saw
in the shop is, I was, it wasactually at Wabik.
They said, well, can you fixthis mower?
You know, look at this.
It was a push mower, it wouldn'tstart.
You know, Toro, fixed wheel.
Like, I go over to it, there wasno, the pull cord handle was a
piece, it was a stick.
And it had been on there so, Iasked them, I said, how long has

(28:21):
this been there?
They said, about eight years.
And there was a, and I was newthere.
But there was a drawer full ofhandles.
They just never said anythingabout it, and it was on there so
long that it actually wore agroove in the center of it from
the rope.

Trent Manning (28:36):
Nice.

Ron McCall (28:37):
I still have it.
It's in my toolbox.

Trent Manning (28:39):
That's a good memento to hang on to.

Ron McCall (28:41):
yep, so, but well, it, you know, there's not really
anything I've been fortunate Ihaven't had a rollover.
But I've had a lot of, you know,a lot of guys have experienced
rollovers at their career.
I know I've had a lot ofequipment stuck in bunkers and a
lot of, you know, swamps and,you know, get a little too close

(29:02):
to a little, a pond and sucksthat wheel right in.
I mean, I, when I got to WahBee, I mowed greens.
I drove right behind the green,didn't know there was a drain
there.
I got the mower stuck my secondday there.

Trent Manning (29:16):
Oh, wow.
Yep.

Ron McCall (29:19):
you should know better.
And I'm like, I've been here twodays out.
Oh, I know there's a drainthere, you know?
So, but I mean, I've seensprayers stuck in areas that
shouldn't be at.
And, you know, you see it all,but I don't know if there's
anything really, that's so offthe wall, unusual that no one

(29:40):
else has ever seen.

Trent Manning (29:43):
Well, what would be your dream job or
opportunity?

Ron McCall (29:45):
My dream job opportunity would be to create a
turf school, actually.
Yeah.
Not,

Trent Manning (29:54):
do it.
Let's do it right now.

Ron McCall (29:56):
I really, I mean, I really want to do a turf school.
I want to, you know, just likethe Motorcycle Institute down in
Orlando, but I'd like to have aturf school that when you, when
someone makes a decision totransition to turf they come in,
whether it be a certificate,whether it be a two year
program, and really teach peoplewhat to do, how to do it, how to

(30:17):
do it right, teach them on allthe, you know, as much as you
possibly can.
And have a real school for turfindustry.
It doesn't exist,

Trent Manning (30:27):
Yeah, no, I would love to see it.
And I think the biggest reasonwe don't have one is, you know,
nobody knows about it.
So where are you, where to findthe students?
And I think that's what they runinto.
The ones, the programs that wereestablished like Lake City
Community College, you know,just not enough interest, not

(30:47):
enough people getting into it.

Ron McCall (30:50):
believe the hurdle is that they don't understand
the opportunity.
The income of bail, you know,how you can make a really good
living in this industry.
Um, that, It's not as hard asyou'd think and it's, you know,
there's this belief that, Idon't know, I mean, I never

(31:13):
really struggled and I say itdidn't struggle, I had to learn
all of that, but it's like I, Ithrived on gaining the
knowledge, so I put myself outthere to learn, you know, and
now, you know, it's like, how doyou get, you know, we already
discussed it, it's like, wheredo you get these young guys to

(31:36):
come in?
We've reached out to thecommunity colleges reach, we're
reaching out to the vote tax.
You know, we've sent this videoout that we created that, you
know, it's like, what do you do?
You know, and first is to getthe word out there and Then, but
then you have to have a placefor them to go.
Do you, you know, we're in theprocess of creating a mentor

(31:58):
program here in the state ofMichigan that, you know, we can
be there for these guys if youreally wanna get into it and you
ha wanna make a phone call, pickup the phone, call us and we'll
help you out.
And, you know, that's thestarting phases of it.
I it's a struggle,

Trent Manning (32:13):
Yeah, now it is a struggle and I think that's
great though, what y'all aredoing with that.
And I remember talking to Sethwhen he was at Oakland Hills
about, hey, let's tradeassistance for a week.
I mean, how cool would that be?
And you know, and not that the,you know, it just hadn't worked
out yet.
I hadn't gave up on the idea.

(32:34):
But I would love to send myassistant up there to work with
him in Oakland Hills for a weekand he can send his down to work
with me.
And I think that would bebeneficial for everybody
involved.
You know, hopefully

Ron McCall (32:47):
different set of hands.
Always see something differentand then always learn something
different.

Trent Manning (32:51):
Yeah, it would be awesome.
I mean, I would really enjoythat as much as hopefully they
would enjoy that.
So, and I don't, I think we can,you know, do that.
I don't know exactly what itlooks like and how we make ends
meet, but I think it can bedone.

Ron McCall (33:09):
well, with the big players, you know, if we can get
everybody on board, be it ascholarship program, be it,
however, there is a way to do itso, you know, because, first of
all, I mean, if you're swipped,if you're swapping to swap, then
you have another body.

(33:30):
But if you don't, you know, thenthey have to figure out travel.
Then you have to figure out, youknow, so maybe it's a
scholarship program that the,you know, the red and the green
and the orange, they getinvolved and, you know, they you
know, they help out with sometravel and stuff like that.

Trent Manning (33:47):
Yeah, no, that would be awesome too.
I wouldn't care if anybody wantsto come and work a week with me
in my shop, doing whatever I'mdoing that week.
Come on.
You know, that, that would bereally cool.
Do you have a technician youwould like to work with for a
day?

Ron McCall (34:05):
You know, I'd like to work with JD

Trent Manning (34:08):
I don't know, who's J.
D.?

Ron McCall (34:09):
Patterson

Trent Manning (34:10):
okay, j.
P.
Yeah yeah, yep.
He's his name's got droppedquite a few times for that, and
I don't blame you at all.
He's awesome.

Ron McCall (34:20):
Well, and he just has that dynamic, um, he's got a
good attitude about it,

Trent Manning (34:30):
Oh yeah, for sure,

Ron McCall (34:31):
about just about the job and the industry and the
career, you know, it's like, youknow, and then, you know, then
the knowledge.
So it's you know, even just togo and see a shop and spend a
week with them would be, Ibelieve would be, you know,
really interesting.

Trent Manning (34:50):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Definitely.
Yeah.
If you ever down Atlanta way,you hit me up and we'll go by
JP's.
Okay.
Yeah.

Ron McCall (35:01):
might be down, I might be in Franklin on
Thursday.
I got a funeral to go toactually.

Trent Manning (35:05):
Oh, no.
No.
Franklin, North Carolina.

Ron McCall (35:08):
Yep.
Yeah we're a founding family,Franklin, North Carolina.
So if I make, I might fly intoeither Asheville or Atlanta on
Wednesday.
So.

Trent Manning (35:18):
Got you.
Well, if you have any

Ron McCall (35:20):
through town right now, actually.
As we speak, they're probablydriving by your house.

Trent Manning (35:26):
Oh, okay.
Alright.

Ron McCall (35:28):
They left this morning to go to Newport
Ritchie.
So,

Trent Manning (35:32):
Gotcha.
Get ready for tips and tricks.
What kind of tips and tricks yougot for us?

Ron McCall (35:40):
Oh, something there's something that I have
never done.
And we just JP actually justcame into and taught at our
seminar that we had here inMichigan.
And one of the things that hehad that he does, and I've never
done it, is grinding your bedknife down to half the width of

(36:01):
your cutting height.

Trent Manning (36:02):
Yeah,

Ron McCall (36:03):
Never done that.
Never even thought about it.

Trent Manning (36:07):
Yeah, I'm pretty.
Yeah, I mean, I can't say maybethere's a lot of people doing
that, but I don't think there'sa ton of people doing that and
I'm not,

Ron McCall (36:17):
I just thought it was an interesting concept.

Trent Manning (36:19):
I don't know if he was the first one to do that,
but yeah, no, I think it's superinteresting and especially
mowing at super low heights.
I know, I mean, in the early2000s, there was guys grinding
the backside of the bed knife sothey could get it down lower.
But I don't know of anybody, youknow, grinding off the top face

(36:44):
to get a certain front facethickness.
But why not?
I mean, that's a great idea.
Right,

Ron McCall (36:56):
and the other big tip and trick is that I swear by
is making sure that all yourreels are the same diameter.
You know, do your best to mateyour reels up on your machines.
Um, you know, what I've seen inthe industry is that a lot of
guys are struggling with why isthere a darker line here than

(37:20):
this one is or why is it notblending in?
And then you really startlooking and the bed knives are
thicker on the one because theyswitched a bed knife because it
got damaged, it didn't getground down.
So everything is different.
And mating and keepingeverything as close to, as
closely, you know, symmetricaland same size as everything else

(37:43):
that's on the same unit isreally important.
That, that was one, that'sprobably one of the biggest tips
that you can give somebody, youknow.

Trent Manning (37:52):
Yeah, I would agree with that.
And when I interviewed or when Italked to Jerry Gellman, that
was one of the reasons Toro comeup with the DPA cutting unit.
And moving the pivot pointhigher for the bed bar is so
that behind center distancewould stay similar throughout

(38:13):
the life of the reel because ofthat happening.
If Mom and Pop course had atriplex and they damaged a reel,
you know, and all their othertwo reels were wore out and they
just replaced that one reel, howthe cut would look totally
different.
With, you know, one new rail andthe two old ones.

(38:35):
Um, yeah, it's just, yeah,definitely a best practice for
sure.

Ron McCall (38:40):
another tip or trick for me is, you know, I'm a big
one on communication anddocumentation.
You know, document.
I do my best to remember things,but I'd rather use my brain
energy on other things.
So if you can document it andstay organized, then

Trent Manning (38:57):
Does any of that come, does any of that come from
military?

Ron McCall (39:02):
Oh, definitely.
Yep.

Trent Manning (39:04):
yeah.

Ron McCall (39:04):
Yeah, definitely from the military.
It's

Trent Manning (39:06):
Oh yeah,

Ron McCall (39:07):
you know.
It's a, the reference backwithout having to guess It saved
me.
It's, you know, it saves me acouple of times, especially on,
um, you know, I, in my, I'vebeen that at this full time now
for 15 years, almost 40 yearstotal, and I've never had a
piece of equipment catch onfire.
I've lost two pieces ofequipment.

(39:28):
That's one this year and onelast year.

Trent Manning (39:31):
nice,

Ron McCall (39:32):
you know, and last year was a 4, 700 Toro.
This year was a.
We had a fire on a vent track.
First thing they asked me iswhen was the last service and
what have you done to it?
I could go right to the book andI could pull the paperwork and
I'd say, well, this is what Idid.
This is what we've done.
This is the maintenance we'vedone.
And we had done very little too.
It only had 1300 hours on it.

(39:54):
So we're still don't know whathappened to it.
But it's like, if I don't havethose records, when they asked
me for it, it can create issues.

Trent Manning (40:07):
Oh yeah, for sure.
And so, I've told this story onthe podcast several times but
Charlie Carr, twenty two years,I think, retired, army, first
sergeant, and I was lucky enoughthat he worked for me for three
years and one of the biggestthings I learned from him is

(40:28):
feed the bear and you talk aboutcommunication.
Um, you know, Every day at theend of the day, he gave me a sit
rep.
I never asked for a sit rep thefirst time.
Every day he gave me one, youknow,

Ron McCall (40:41):
Right,

Trent Manning (40:42):
feed me the information, feed the
information, feed the bear, bearwon't eat you.
Um, but it was a really goodlesson for me to learn too.
You know, the more informationyou give somebody, you know,
they might get tired of hearingit at some point, but you're not
get in trouble for giving themtoo much information.

Ron McCall (41:01):
Yeah and the information, you know, our job
as equipment managers is to keepthe equipment running and to
make sure that the aftercutappearance is right.
It's as an equipment, you know,as the manager for all the
equipment, when it goes out andit mows, I go out and I check it
every day.

(41:21):
I do my best to get on thecourse and look at my greens
every day.
And if there's a problem, it'smy responsibility to pull that
off.
If the superintendent noticesit, and they have to pull, they
have to call me and say, hey, wegot a problem on this mower.
I'm not doing my job.
That's how I look at it.
So, you know, and if I have topull a piece of equipment, I'll

(41:43):
pull the greens mower off, andthen I let the superintendent
know.
Hey, I pulled greens mower off,they're on their way back,
there's going to be a littledelay, whatever the case is.
And then the superintendent forthat course will usually meet me
out there and say yep, goodcall, you know, we want to
prevent, you know, damage orwhatever the case is.

(42:04):
You know, it might be somethingsmall, but, you know, we're a
premium resort and when you havesomeone comes up there and
they're paying what they are inorder to play our courses, they
want the best conditions.
And that's my responsibility.
You know, I do know how to growgrass because I was a
superintendent.
I know, you know, so it makes abig difference that, you know,
that I take that level ofconcern and care and

(42:26):
understanding.
And I believe a lot of guys thatare in the position that I'm in
and you're in, you know, do.
So,

Trent Manning (42:33):
Yeah.
No, I would agree with that.
Yeah.
And I mean, it's a littledifferent set up at some
different places, but yeah, forsure.
If you're out there and you seesomething wrong, you know, it's
one of those see something, saysomething,

Ron McCall (42:46):
right.

Trent Manning (42:47):
you know,

Ron McCall (42:47):
Yeah, and you know, we don't have to explain
everything to thesuperintendent, but keep them
apprised of what's going on.
You know, it's like, Hey, I didthis, or this is going on, or
this is going on, or you know,when they come to you and say,
Hey, we need the top dress nextweek.
And I, you know, I didn'tcommunicate that the top dress
was down.

(43:08):
That's a problem.
So, you know, that's where itall, you know, yep.
Yep.

Trent Manning (43:17):
on a sprayer, it doesn't matter what I'm doing to
that sprayer.
If I'm checking the air pressurein the tires, I tell
superintendent about it.
Hey, I'm pulling sprayer in.
I'm going to check it out.
You know, we're doing all chat,you know, just whatever it is.
Um, you know, I see them notusing it.
You know, I'll clarify.
No, they're not using it.

(43:37):
Just give them a rundown.
Yeah.
We're just going to go throughit.
Check it out.
You know, make sure everything'sokay.
Because soon as you know, youknow, tear it apart and then
they're like, Oh we need that.
We got to go spray this rightnow.

Ron McCall (43:49):
Yep.
Oh, yeah, cuz they're out theredriving around on the course
you're in there in the shop nextthing No, they come in and like
oh we found some dollar spot.
We got to hit it.

Trent Manning (43:57):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.

Ron McCall (43:58):
you know, they're like, oh crap I didn't tell them
and I got the sprayer in thereand I had to pull the pump off
because it was leaking orwhatever The case is, you know,
if you don't it's all about andthat's you know, that's why
communication is so veryimportant

Trent Manning (44:11):
Yeah.
It is, I mean, it's one of thosethings is so important and we
all talk about how important itis, but we all, not all, maybe
not all of us.
I'm guilty.
We forget about it.
You know, a lot of times, youknow, you get, get in your mind
about what all you got to getaccomplished for the day.
You put your head down, youstart working, you're getting
things done and you forget tocommunicate.

(44:34):
I mean, you know, it happens toall of us.
I do believe.

Ron McCall (44:37):
I use these little ring binders these I don't know
these disc binders This is justwhat little peep that I

Trent Manning (44:43):
Okay.
Yep.
Yep.

Ron McCall (44:45):
And every time something is said for as best as
I possibly can do, I write itdown.
I write the date on top of it,and then I write it down.
And I can always refer back toit.
I used to use steno pads, andI'd put a starting date on the
front cover of it.
And then every day when I camein, I'd draw a line, and I'd put

(45:06):
a date.
And that was from that date on.
And if I made a phone call and Igot information, I wrote part
numbers down, I wrote pricesdown, or whatever the case is,
then the next day when I comein, I draw my new line, I put a
new date on there.
When that gets filled up, I putit in my filing cabinet.
I can always refer back to it.

(45:26):
But, you know, it's like, youknow, C Y A.

Trent Manning (45:32):
Oh yeah.
Yep.

Ron McCall (45:34):
I'm

Trent Manning (45:34):
I remember like when I first got in, got to
doing this the mechanic that Iwas working underneath, um, same
thing.
We had our notepad and we jotteddown what we done every single
day.
And I mean, not in like superdetail, but you know, wrote it
down, everything we worked onthat day.
And just for that CYA.

(45:55):
So if the boss ever said, what'dyou do yesterday?
You can show right here.
That's what I've done.
I

Ron McCall (46:08):
every piece of equipment and everything that we
do on the equipment, there, Ihave a sheet for it.
And that, and every piece ofequipment has a, you know, if I
have it like right now, I have azero turn 7200 in the shop.
There's a clipboard sitting onthe seat with a sheet on it for
what we're doing to that pieceof equipment and that goes into
a binder on everything that wework on every single day.

(46:32):
So that stack of papers is not,you know, every, at the end of
the day gets put into the binderthat says, you know, this is
what we, you know, so I do havea chronological order of
everything that we've done onevery piece of equipment.
yeah.

Trent Manning (46:47):
And I'm techie too, and I like technology.
But some days I kind of want togo back to the three ring binder
on my equipment because I couldflip it open to, you know, my
fairway mower and I seeneverything I've done to that
fairway mower.
I don't have to look on thecomputer, you know, I don't have
to search for it.

(47:08):
I don't have to run a report,you know, all those things like,
okay here it all is.
And I mean, even, you know, webuy all our equipment, so we're
keeping it, you know, for sometime.
And a fairway mower that is sixyears old.
Most everything that I've doneto it in six years fits on a
single page.
You know, so I mean, it's notlike it's, you know, 20 pages

(47:31):
worth of stuff there.
And

Ron McCall (47:34):
yeah, I mean I Prior, you know, I've gone to
places that had no recordsAlmost every place that I've
actually gone to an equipmentmanager didn't have records.

Trent Manning (47:45):
Yeah,

Ron McCall (47:46):
So I've created everything So I actually I do
get I do use a sheet of paperEvery time that we work on
something What that's done forme is that I am able to track
parts and I, you know, So I logall the parts that we put on, I
log how much oil we put into it,you know, I actually track what

(48:08):
we paid for it.
And then I, you know, I have aGoogle spreadsheet that I track
every single part of and supplythat I bought from my shop and
it saved me.
It, one of the things it's donethough is it saved me.
I bought, I remember I bought aswitch one week, it was 32 and I

(48:29):
ordered it the next week and itwas 77.
I'm like, why?
Oh, it was a typo.
You know,

Trent Manning (48:37):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Ron McCall (48:39):
you know,

Trent Manning (48:40):
Yeah.
That

Ron McCall (48:41):
You need two or three of those switches and all
of a sudden you're spending 90extra because there was a little
error when they entered in thenew part or whatever the case
is.
I don't know.

Trent Manning (48:52):
Right.
Right.
Right.
Right.
That's a good point too.
While you bring it up, it'sprobably worth mentioning.
You know, if you do seesomething like that with parts
you're ordering, you know, evenif you're just not sure.
Pick the phone up, make a phonecall because we all make
mistakes every day and it's easyto key in the wrong price.

Ron McCall (49:13):
Right.

Trent Manning (49:13):
You know, easy for that to happen.

Ron McCall (49:16):
I remember buying a, I bought a new gear for a
Sawskill roller.
My chains wore out my gear, so Ibought a new gear for it.
And it was, I don't know, 8.
It was supposed to be 80.

Trent Manning (49:34):
Oh,

Ron McCall (49:34):
I ordered three of them, because I needed three of
them.
And, you know, I got them in.
And then when I got the bill,they charged me 80.
I'm like, You know, so I wasable to go back in my paperwork
and I said, look, I, you know, Iget what you're saying, but this
is my invoice and this is whatI'm going to pay because that
your mistake is not my problem.

(49:57):
And they honored it, you know,and if I really wanted to be a
jerk about it, I could haveordered every single one of
them, sold them on eBay.

Trent Manning (50:05):
Oh yeah.

Ron McCall (50:06):
it's like, yeah, like I'm just going to buy all
10 you had an inventory and I'llsell them for 800 bucks.
No, you know, so, but I didn'teven really, I didn't even
question.
I'm like, well, okay, it's notas bad as I thought.
But when the invoice came in, Iwas like, Hey, you know, wait a
minute.
So, you know, and I was a retailguy for a long time.
So, you know, this is what I wassupposed to pay.

(50:26):
This is what I'm going to pay.
Now, if you need to change itgoing forward, okay.
But for right now, this is wherewe need to be.

Trent Manning (50:33):
I hear you.

Ron McCall (50:36):
it's all in the neck.
We see why.

Trent Manning (50:38):
Yeah.
Yep.
That's right.
Was there anything else you wantto cover under the communication
and

Ron McCall (50:46):
Um, no, I mean, you know, we covered it.
It's like communicate openlywith your supers and communicate
with your staff, let them knowthat you're there to fix stuff,
you know, make them feel, youknow, welcome in the shop.
That's the biggest thing islike, you know, my where I'm at
now, when I got there, there wasan old beat up desk in the

(51:09):
office at one end and a wholeroom of parts and I've made it
into this inviting, warm spacethat the guys, I mean, the
coffee machine is in my office.
In and, you know, everybodycomes in the morning, gets their
coffee in there, and I've got,you know, flavored creamer in
the refrigerator.
And, you know, it's like, Imean, I even have a grinder.

(51:30):
We grind our beans to makecoffee every morning for every
single pot.
You know, so they come in andthey can sit down and they can
talk.
And.
You know, what do you got?
You guys having any problems?
Did you have any problems withyour equipment yesterday?
Cause sometimes we're not thereand these guys are working
longer than we are, you know,and that's, you know, it's just
the nature of the beast when youhave 81 holes of golf, you know,

(51:52):
I can't, you know, we're notthere 24 hours a day, so that
opens the door for them tocommunicate with you freely.
And, you know, we do a littlethings like, you know, every
other week I cook out for thestaff.
I've got a smoker, I have agrill and I have a flat top
griddle in my shop.
And.
Every other week I cook for all70 staff members, we, for lunch.

Trent Manning (52:12):
wow.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's super cool.
Yeah.

Ron McCall (52:20):
we switch it up.
You know, one week we'll havedogs and brats and sometimes
we'll do Philly Steak Subs.
Sometimes we do tacos, sometimeswe do, it doesn't matter what it
is, but.
They know that at 11 o'clockevery other Thursday, they're
going to get a meal and we coverthat out of the shop, you know.
So,

Trent Manning (52:35):
Oh, nice.
Yeah.

Ron McCall (52:37):
keep that camaraderie and, you know, and
that opens up the door, becausethen everybody can sit around
and talk about what's happeningor not happening, or problem
with the, you know, every pieceof equipment.
That's one of the things that,you know, You know and the
industry is that every piece ofequipment has a quirk, doesn't
matter what it Well, if you'regetting on number three, you got
to turn the key three times andpush the, you know, the forward

(53:01):
and reverse pedal down and thenpull it back a little bit and
then it'll start up and youwon't have any problem.
You know, it gives everybody achance to communicate, you know,
and say, hey, you know, this iswhat's going on, or this one's
moving slower, and then, youknow, it, because what happens
is the same operator gets on it,they notice it, but they get
used to it.
So then they just

Trent Manning (53:21):
Yeah.

Ron McCall (53:22):
Doesn't mean that it's right, but they accept
that's the way it's going to be.
Well, if you let us know, thenwe'll fix it so that, the way
it's supposed to be.
So,

Trent Manning (53:29):
right.
Yeah.
I had a prog gator that you hadto hold down the PTO switch or
the PTO lever, you know, tostart it.
You know, it's

Ron McCall (53:37):
We got one that if you have the brake pulled all
the way up, it'll start.
But if you put it all the waydown, it will shut off so that
you have to put

Trent Manning (53:47):
yeah.

Ron McCall (53:47):
Switch adjustment is.
It's like, so we haven't figuredthat one out.
It was a new something thatcame.
It started at the end of theseason.
So, like, oh, this one you haveto, you can't put the brake all
the way down.
If you do, it's one click toomuch, and there's only one
click, literally, one click toomuch and it shuts the machine
off.

Trent Manning (54:06):
Huh.
That's crazy.

Ron McCall (54:08):
you know, just little stuff like that.
But that gives all the guys,while they're sitting around and
they're talking and having asoda or whatever, it gives them
a chance to communicate witheach other and us about some of
the issues, or even courseissues.
You know,

Trent Manning (54:21):
Yep.
Yep.
Stuff they're seeing out on thecourse for sure.
You ready to do some rapid fire?

Ron McCall (54:30):
Sure,

Trent Manning (54:31):
All

Ron McCall (54:31):
will be the test.

Trent Manning (54:32):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This is the test.
We'll see if you pass or failright here.
What's your favorite movie?

Ron McCall (54:39):
Oh, my favorite movie.
That was a tough one, you know,because I've, um,

Trent Manning (54:45):
you're a movie buff and you've watched all
these movies, I was really, I'mexpecting something here.

Ron McCall (54:51):
Well, so we're, I'm, I said I'm a vet.
The job that I did in the AirForce is the same job that Jack
Reacher did.
So, um, in the movie.
So I put down Jack Reacher,

Trent Manning (55:05):
Okay.
All

Ron McCall (55:06):
So I was a federal agent and I was an investigator
in the Air Force.
That's what I did.
So Jack Reacher hits, you know,hits a big nerve with me,

Trent Manning (55:14):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, I could see that.
That's awesome.
What would be your last meal?

Ron McCall (55:19):
Tie peanut curry.
It's

Trent Manning (55:22):
Yeah, I don't.
Yeah,

Ron McCall (55:24):
food.
Spicy.

Trent Manning (55:25):
Yeah, I like spicy.
Just not really a Thai guy andwhen you say curry, I want to go
the other way.
Yeah, I don't know what it is.
Just one of those things, butmore power to you.

Ron McCall (55:38):
Years in Europe, you learn to eat Indian food, I
guess.

Trent Manning (55:41):
Well, yeah, I guess, yeah, that probably makes
a lot of sense.

Ron McCall (55:44):
Yep.

Trent Manning (55:45):
What are you most proud of besides your family?

Ron McCall (55:48):
My, I'm a proud vet, so my military career and then
my rapid advancement in theindustry.
You know, I moved up pretty fastand, you know, from being full
time for 15 years, it's youknow, to go from a greenskeeper
to a superintendent to, and thepublic secretary to a, You know,
second super in the privatesector doing equipment guy to
equipment manager to 81 holes ismoved up pretty fast.

Trent Manning (56:12):
No, that is awesome.
Yeah, very good.
Congratulations on that.
And yeah, thank you for yourservice.
How long did you serve?

Ron McCall (56:20):
10 years total.

Trent Manning (56:21):
Okay, awesome.

Ron McCall (56:22):
Yep.

Trent Manning (56:23):
Yeah, that's it's a different breed.

Ron McCall (56:26):
Yeah, that's why, you know, it's, it.
I put a little note, you know,to myself'cause one of, you
know, part of that is we weretalking about finding people in
the industry and when I got outof the military, I didn't look
at the ag, the agronomy side ofit, and.
Just before COVID, the, youknow, the, at the time the GCSA
president was from Michigan.

(56:46):
And I talked to him about acompany that I had started
called hire a vet for golf.
And I created an online resumeservice for veterans.
So the superintendents could goto that and find, cause I just
in communication, I wasn't asuperintendent that I ever
talked to that said he'severyone that I posed the
question to, they said, youbring me a vet, I'll hire him on

(57:08):
the spot,

Trent Manning (57:09):
Oh yeah.

Ron McCall (57:10):
You know, everything about, you know, the majority of
them anyway, the veterans, theyhave a work ethic and, you know,
the commitment and everythingelse, so.
So I created this company and ofcourse then COVID hit and it got
delayed so I resurrected it thisspring and I put it up and it,
you know, so it's a, so that's apassion that I, you know, I want

(57:32):
to, part of it is giving back tothe industry too because all it
is an online resume service.
But out of that initial fee, Iwant to give part of the initial
fee to the GCSA.
for scholarships and education,you know,

Trent Manning (57:48):
Oh, okay.

Ron McCall (57:49):
So that's the premise of it.
Get the word out there andsupport the industry because if
we don't, we're not going tohave enough people to do the
jobs.
That's, you know,

Trent Manning (57:58):
yeah.
Well, tell all the listeners.
What's the website?

Ron McCall (58:01):
It's a higher, it's higher event for golf.
org and it's actually H I R E A.
Vet and the number four.org.

Trent Manning (58:13):
Okay.
Awesome.
No, that's so cool.
You're doing that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So how do veterans get in, gettheir name on that list?

Ron McCall (58:24):
well, it's a, so we have a, you know, there's a set
fee.
Your initial year, which allowstwo changes is$125.
That gets you an online digitalresume.
And then out of that 125 ofthat, we're giving the 25
initially is going right backinto the GCSA and the Michigan
GCSA for scholarship andtraining.

(58:45):
There's a lot of small coursescan't afford to send someone to,
or even membership dues, to astate or local chapter.

Trent Manning (58:53):
Yeah, right, right, right.

Ron McCall (58:54):
You know, so, how can we get more guys involved?
Let's pay for it, and if itmeans, you know, a little money
out of the pocket, you know, Ican't pay for everybody's
membership, so,

Trent Manning (59:05):
Right, right.
No, that's cool Yeah.
Yeah, very cool.
No, that's awesome.
You're doing that.
Yep Very cool.
Well tell the listeners how theycan get a hold of You got an
email or a twitter or any ofthose things?

Ron McCall (59:20):
I have, well, let's see, I can give my personal
email is easy, cause it's myname, ron at mccalls dot u s.

Trent Manning (59:28):
Okay, that's cool.
Yeah

Ron McCall (59:30):
I've owned that domain for 35 years now almost,
and When the us's came out, myhosting company called me and
said you want McCall's?
I said certainly, so,

Trent Manning (59:41):
Okay, awesome,

Ron McCall (59:43):
but

Trent Manning (59:43):
very cool

Ron McCall (59:44):
so that's the easiest way to get a hold of me.
Or even call me, I mean, I'm, myFacebook is, you know, it's Ron
McCall.
I got a picture that I actuallytook of the Thunderbirds right
on my Facebook page.
And, you know, my number's onthere, my email's, I'm not
hiding from anybody.

Trent Manning (01:00:02):
Gotcha.
Gotcha.
Very cool.
Well, thank you so much, Ron,for being on.
I thoroughly enjoyed this.
And we'll

Ron McCall (01:00:10):
been a pleasure and it's been an honor.
I truly truly enjoyed it.
I look forward to seeing you outin San Diego.
I am going to be out there.
So

Trent Manning (01:00:18):
Very good.
Yep.
We'll definitely connect outthere.
thank you so much for listeningto the Reel turf techs podcast.
I hope you learned somethingtoday.
Don't forget to subscribe.
If you have any topics you'dlike to discuss, or you'd like
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