Episode 137: Anthony Donofrio

Send us a text

Welcome to Episode 137 of the Reel Turf Techs Podcast. Today, we’re talking to Anthony Donofrio, Equipment Manager at Marine Drive Golf Club in Vancouver, BC. Marine Drive is an 18-hole private club where Anthony leads a team consisting of one full-time technician and one part-time grind technician.

The club primarily uses Toro mowers but is introducing new Baroness mowers this year. Their equipment lineup also includes Club Car utility vehicles and Kubota tractors. Anthony's journey in the golf industry began as a summer crew member while studying criminology. Over time, he worked his way up from technician to equipment manager, gaining valuable experience along the way.

In this episode, Anthony discusses the advantages of having a hydraulic press in the shop and how it helps reduce equipment downtime. He also shares the value of regular friendship check-ins to start the weekend on a positive note and tackle weekend projects together. Shop space and setup can present challenges, and Anthony explains how he has adapted to those constraints.

As expectations for quality of cut continue to evolve, Anthony highlights the importance of reel maintenance education, especially for those transitioning into turf equipment management from other careers. He also emphasizes the wealth of opportunities and resources available in the industry and the role that strong mentorship plays in helping technicians grow and succeed.

• Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning
• Email us at [e-mail]
• Check out our YouTube Channel

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 textpodcast, episode 1 37.

(01:10):
Today, we're talking to AnthonyDonofrio.
The equipment manager at Marinedrive golf club in Vancouver,
British Columbia.
Marine drive golf club is aprivate 18 hole course.
Anthony has one full-time techand a part-time tech.
He has primarily Toro equipment.
Let's talk to Anthony.
Welcome Anthony to the real turftext podcast.

(01:31):
Thanks for coming on.
How you doing today?

Anthony Donofrio (01:33):
Good, good.
Yeah, no, thanks for having me,Trent.
Yeah, I've I've heard a few ofthese and I was happy to see
that email come through when yousent it in, so glad to be here.

Trent Manning (01:41):
Well, that's awesome.
I do think some people probablyjust hit delete, delete, you
know, when they see the emailcome through.
And

Anthony Donofrio (01:48):
worried or nervous about it.

Trent Manning (01:49):
Yep, and I've had people to, you know, so now, you
know, I just like to keep tomyself.
I don't want to do that.
And that's fine.
I respect that.
That's cool.
You know?
So if I am sending you emailsand you don't want to do the
podcast, just let me know andI'll stop sending the emails

Anthony Donofrio (02:05):
Don't just ghost you.

Trent Manning (02:06):
Yeah, right.
And if you are interested inbeing a guest on the podcast.
Let me know.
Send me an email.
I'd be happy to have you onbecause we're always looking for
guests and it's, you know, arandom luck of the draw or
unluck of the draw, however youwant to look

Anthony Donofrio (02:23):
sure.
Yeah, no doubt.

Trent Manning (02:25):
Well, Anthony, tell us how you got into the
turf industry.

Anthony Donofrio (02:28):
Yeah, I mean, it sounds familiar sometimes
talking to guys and then otherpeople I talk to, it's
completely different.
But for me, I kind of just fellinto it.
I was going to school forfollowing kind of a law path.
I was going to school forcriminology and kind of thought
that I would end up in some typeof either law enforcement or
lawyer type of role.
And I needed a summer job whileI was going to school.

(02:50):
So I ended up working at thegolf course.
And I started on the crew first.
And within a couple months Ikind of mentioned to the super
that, hey, I have a mechanicalbackground.
My father is a 25 yeartechnician, so, for automotive.
Building stuff since I wasyoung, you know, either with him
or, you know, what have you.
And he gave me that chance backthen.

(03:12):
That would have been in 2012.
12 I guess or 2013 at this pointand I never left.
I Realized that you know, thelaw path is not for me.
I'm not that type of person andI Kind of just stuck with the
golf side of it and tried tofind the ladder to climb I guess
would be the right way of sayingand I didn't really know where

(03:32):
that was gonna lead me justworking at a Lower end club at
the time and I really didn'tknow What was the right path
through that, whether I wantedto become an assistant and
follow the supers route or stayas a technician, but yeah, my
progression was almostaccidental, I would say, because
working up to this point, Ihadn't even, I didn't even know

(03:53):
the industry was like this, tobe perfectly honest

Trent Manning (03:56):
Oh yeah.

Anthony Donofrio (03:56):
first two clubs, I had no idea that, The
GCSAA existed you know, I didn'trealize that there was some
events to go to and networking,you know, conventions, and
things like that, so, it's beenpretty fruitful, I gotta say,
you know, in, in terms ofstarting there, and my dad kinda
looking at me going, wow, it's aweird, you know, shift going
from law to this, and it doesn'tmake any sense, and he was

(04:17):
obviously, you know, worried forhis son that he wasn't gonna,
you know, amount to much orsomething or whatever, but you
know, it's been great, and it'staken care of myself and my
wife, so, yeah the job has beengreat, so,

Trent Manning (04:27):
No, that's awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So yeah.
How long have you been in theindustry?

Anthony Donofrio (04:32):
Yeah.
So it's since 2013.
So what does that put me at now?
I guess 12 years.

Trent Manning (04:36):
Okay.
Yeah, that's awesome.

Anthony Donofrio (04:38):
12 years.
Yeah.
Most of that is, I would saymost of that as a technician and
now stepping into I'm at aprivate club now as more of a, I
guess, management role orequipment manager role with
technicians under me, which isgreat and very different.
You know, not a, it's not alwaysa grass is always greener type
situation.

Trent Manning (04:56):
Right.
Right.

Anthony Donofrio (04:57):
there are some days I wish I could just go back
in the shop and keep wrenching,but you know, there are other
days where I'm very fortunate tobe in the position that I'm in.
So.

Trent Manning (05:04):
Oh, yeah, for sure.
And I mean, I think I've saidthis before, but you know, most
of us kind of end up in yourpredicament, if you will.
Because we're really good atbeing mechanics and working on
things or whatever.
And then, you know, the needarises and you need more help,
so you hire somebody under you.

(05:25):
And then next thing you know,you're a manager.
Well, you know, we didn't go toschool to be managers, you know.
Give me a diesel engine, I'llfix that thing.
But, give me a person to try tolead and instruct to fix that
thing.
That's a whole different.
It's a ball game we're playingwith, but

Anthony Donofrio (05:42):
exactly,

Trent Manning (05:43):
does make it interesting for sure.

Anthony Donofrio (05:45):
Well, for sure.
And you know what?
If anything, it's dynamic, so,it keeps us on our toes and
learning, which is always nice.

Trent Manning (05:52):
Oh yeah, for sure.
So did you have a background ingolf?
Did you like to play or any of

Anthony Donofrio (05:58):
No, actually, up until then, I had I think I
may have played once or twicewith buddies.
I want to say probably not, butif I had, it was only once or
twice, and from then on we haveplayed more.
I'm not sure I can consider whatI do on a golf course as playing
golf, but you know, I do get outthere and I swing a stick
around.
So, you know, I make it happen.

(06:19):
But yeah, I won't be joining anytournaments anytime soon for
sure.

Trent Manning (06:23):
Well, and I mean, I don't play either, but I know
Mitch Hunt and Chris Whitaker.
I'm trying to think Jordan Roth,Brian Eplin all technicians, all
that I've had on the podcastbefore, and they really enjoy
playing.
And I don't know if they're verygood.

(06:44):
I mean, I can't, I've neverseen.
So, you know, but just from whatI hear, they just really have
fun playing.
And so more power to

Anthony Donofrio (06:54):
it's really just getting out with the guys
and just having something elseto do other than work or chores
or, you know, home life stuff.
Right.

Trent Manning (07:01):
right, right, right.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Well, what's your least favoritepart of the job?
Those employees.

Anthony Donofrio (07:10):
Yeah, I guess, well, no, it's not too bad.
I got some great guys right now,you know, I was very fortunate
with who is able to come up within the shop this time.
But I think the least, yeah, theleast likely thing that I would
want to do probably just interms of management is crunching
the numbers and getting sittingdown and going through the
budget meetings.

(07:31):
And although they're necessaryand it's, you know, interesting
spending someone else's money,it's just.
It's kind of monotonous for meto sit there for hours through a
budget meeting or whatever it isand have to figure that out,
although it's, you know, just asimportant as everything else.
It's like, like we understand,right?
My peace comes from sitting andfixing something rather than

(07:52):
sitting behind a desk, but,

Trent Manning (07:54):
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Yeah, there's I don't knowanybody that got into our role
and said, Oh, I really want tosit behind the desk all day
long.
You know, I mean, that's notwhat we signed up for.
Even though, you know, some ofus do end up that, especially
some of these bigger facilities.
I was talking to Jason Fontanalast week and he was at desert

(08:18):
mountain.
I interviewed him out there.
He's also a CTM.
And now he went to Madonna and Ithink, yeah, in Chicago and
which is still a huge operation,all that stuff, but he's going
to be able to get his handsdirty again, and I think

Anthony Donofrio (08:34):
you go.

Trent Manning (08:34):
excited about that, you know?
Because I think Desert Mountainwas just so big, like I want to
say he had 14 techs working forhim or something like that.
I mean, it's a huge property.
So yeah, I mean, he was just,you know, behind the desk all
the time and putting out firesall day long every day.
So yeah he seems really excitedabout the new challenges that

(08:57):
he'll have there at Medina.
So I'm definitely happy for him.

Anthony Donofrio (09:02):
Yeah.

Trent Manning (09:03):
Well, what's your favorite tool?

Anthony Donofrio (09:05):
Favorite tool that I have.
You know, we just we just got ahydraulic press in the shop, a
full hydraulic setup.
And that has been key forgetting stuff back in business.
And I had one originally back atmy first club, but it was a
super basic, you know, setup.
And I don't, I wasn't even ahundred percent sure it was the
correct setup to be honest withyou, but it was just one of

(09:26):
those things that had beensitting in there for 25 years.
So.
We used it, but yeah, no,getting this hydraulic set up
has been really nice.
We tried to stick to the, almostour replacement intervals for
anything going near green, atleast rough.
We kind of push and, you know,let it slide, go past those hour
intervals.
Obviously we don't want to bebuilding hoses for no reason if

(09:46):
they're in good condition.
So, but yeah, no, I, you know, Ireally love that thing.
It's something that's, it'sexpensive of course, but it's a
small thing to have in the shop.
That increases your, your, like,increases your downtime in terms
of, or decreases your downtime,I guess, right?

Trent Manning (10:02):
Oh

Anthony Donofrio (10:03):
instead of us having to grab a hose, clean it
off, put it in the truck, driveover to the shop, you know, hose
shop, get them to rebuild one,or they can't do it same day,
you know, You know, pain in thebutt trying to get all that
done.

Trent Manning (10:14):
Oh, for sure.
Yeah, the situation I'm in, it,you know, it's an hour one way
to the host shop.
So, you know, automaticallythere's two and a half hours out
of my day or, you know, wantsomebody else's day to go get
the hose made.
And I would say 90 percent ofthe time that store is able to

(10:38):
make the hose.
We need, I do have a Napa thatis closer, you know, it's 20
minutes away, but it's.
You know, 10 percent of the timethey might have the fitting I
need to make the hose, so Iusually don't even bother going
over there.
So I've been making my own hosestoo for, I don't know, how long

(10:58):
it's been now?
Probably seven, eight years.
What kind of hose machine didyou get?

Anthony Donofrio (11:05):
we went with the Parker setup.
So same as the factory stuff forToro.
I I didn't choose it because itwas the same stuff that Toro
uses, but they had a incentiveprogram here in our area where
you basically just buy all theproduct and they give you the
crimper.
I'm not sure if that's the samesystem down in the States, but
yeah, it was pretty simple forus.
Just buy all the stock and theyoffer you the crimper for free.

(11:27):
Sort of.
It's based on a, you know, stockordering basis.
So.
It made sense to us at the timeand given that certain pieces of
equipment that we do have thatwe decided to retain longer term
We're gonna have to get fully rehosed I mean you're blowing
through stock pretty quick onsome of these machines right
once you get into that.

Trent Manning (11:46):
No, that's cool.
That was, yeah really awesome.
What kind of crimper is it?
Is it pneumatic or electric?
Right,

Anthony Donofrio (11:58):
It's got all the you know, it's the more
modern ones.
It's got all the phases So youjust crimp down until it stops.
There's no I mean, you shouldcheck your crimp specs anyway,
but it's typically pretty good,especially when new, as long as
your dyes aren't worn, it'sgoing to crimp it down perfectly
every time.
So as long as you have nothingon the hose, sheath, I guess,
before you crimp, but, so it's apretty foolproof one, which is

(12:21):
kind of why I went with it tomake sure that when I do train
other techs, that it's a littlebit, you know, dummy proof in
that sense, where we're notgoing to have any weird blowouts
near greens or anything likethat, based on.
You know, unless it's some typeof strange issue with the
fitting or whatever, that's adifferent story.
But,

Trent Manning (12:36):
Yeah.

Anthony Donofrio (12:37):
I

Trent Manning (12:38):
Yeah, no,

Anthony Donofrio (12:38):
it as easy as possible for guys.

Trent Manning (12:40):
That's good stuff.
Yeah, and I've heard otherpeople in the industry kind of
go the opposite way on that.
Like, I don't want the liabilityof making my own hoses.
You know, so I do get that sideof it but I definitely think
it's situational depending onthe type of course and facility

(13:02):
you're at and you know, if theguy you're working for is behind
it, go for it.
You know, if the guy you'reworking for is not behind it,
buy all your hoses,

Anthony Donofrio (13:11):
yeah, no, for sure, it's a valid point.
I mean, if you're concernedabout it or maybe if you're a
super and you're like, ah, Idon't know about this tech, I
don't know if he's able to, youknow, perform that

Trent Manning (13:22):
Well, true.

Anthony Donofrio (13:23):
that it's not going to have a problem, you
know, it's a valid point.
I've seen some guys where Ishake my head too, so.

Trent Manning (13:28):
Right, right, right, right, right.
Yep, for sure.
What do you do to relax or findyour balance?

Anthony Donofrio (13:35):
I got a pretty good routine with my best
friends every Saturday orSunday, typically Saturday we
always hit the same place forbreakfast, you know, creatures
of habit type of thing.
And basically we, some of uscall it unwinding from the week.
I call it kind of starting upthe weekend.
So, you know, we sit there, youknow, bleed off any of our woes

(13:56):
from the last week and.
You know, talk shop, politics,whatever it is, and then we head
over to my dad's place where wehave a pretty well set up
automotive shop.
We just wrench on our cars orprojects that we have going on
or if none of that happens, wejust sit there and crush cans
all day,

Trent Manning (14:13):
Oh yeah.
No, that is so cool.

Anthony Donofrio (14:16):
just try to stay ahead of it and again, it's
kind of trying to keep us out ofthe house if we can and not
because we don't love our homelife.
It's just, you know, we needthat bit of that balance in
terms of

Trent Manning (14:26):
yeah.
For sure.

Anthony Donofrio (14:27):
at home versus spending time for yourself.
So

Trent Manning (14:30):
No, that's really good.
Yeah.
Some guy time.
Yeah,

Anthony Donofrio (14:33):
yeah, you know, just some, yeah, exactly.

Trent Manning (14:35):
Yeah,

Anthony Donofrio (14:36):
And it's an open door policy.
Whoever's around and available.
Yeah.
Just roll in, you know, comehang out if you want, if you
like that stuff.
Some of the guys, they don'tknow, they don't know anything
about cars.
They just like to hang out.
So it's perfect.

Trent Manning (14:48):
Well, right.
I mean, you need people to drinkbeer with, too, so.
I mean, whatever.

Anthony Donofrio (14:52):
that's just how it is.
Right.
I mean, you know, it's usually agood precursor to a good day.
So

Trent Manning (14:57):
That's right.
No that's good stuff, man.
That sounds like a lot of fun.
I'm definitely going to hit youup when I'm

Anthony Donofrio (15:02):
Hey, if you're ever, if you're ever in
Vancouver, you're more thanwelcome.

Trent Manning (15:05):
What's been one of your biggest challenges
working at the golf course?

Anthony Donofrio (15:09):
Space.
So, it's a great facility.
The building itself is not thatold, and I'm sure that me
complaining about space tocertain guys would be like, Oh,
you're out to lunch.
But the way that the shop iscurrently set up is imagine a
big one bay.
So it's a huge one bay with ahoist in the middle.
I've got a bay door in front ofthe hoist and behind it.

(15:30):
So it's like almost like a drivethru style.
But it's awkwardly built in thesense that I can't really put
equipment on either side of thehoist.
And there's not a, enough roomfront to back to put them on the
edges.
So it makes it kind ofdifficult.
And with the amount of equipmentthat we have, it'd be nice to
have at least two bays.
One for sort of real set up.
And then one for repairs becausea lot of the time we put

(15:52):
something on the hoist and then,you know, you're in the middle
of the repair.
You're like, it's not reallyworth taking it off while we
wait for a part we need to getheadset up or whatever the case
may be.
So, it just tends to be a bitcumbersome and slows us down and
end up running into efficiencyissues.
So, we've been in conversationfor a little bit now and
figuring out how we're going toexpand if we need to.

(16:15):
But there's kind of this longterm goal of getting this shop
moved to a different side of thecourse Where we can build a new
facility.
Anyway, we're pretty small shorton storage as well It's just
changed over the past 30 yearsIn terms of how much equipment
we have and I think they'vebuilt the building a little too
small even back then forthemselves So it's sort of the

(16:36):
same story here in a lot ofplaces to be honest with you.
But yeah.

Trent Manning (16:41):
yeah, the amount of equipment that we have now,
you know, I'm at, I got the twocourses, but the one I stay at
primarily is an 18 hole courseand we have enough equipment
probably for a 54 hole course,you know, it's just crazy how
much equipment that you collectover the years and we do the

(17:03):
best we can on, you know,purging the older stuff that we
don't use.
But I mean, that's the otherthing.
Like, when I first started in95, I think we had 12 people on
the crew, including themechanic, the assistant
mechanic, a superintendent, andan assistant superintendent.
And now, in the summertime, wegot almost 40 guys on the crew.

(17:28):
You know, so you do have to havea lot more equipment than we did
back then.
But space is always an issue.
The other thing I was thinkingabout when you were talking
about that and my recent trip toChicago, I noticed a lot more
people has two lifts in theirshop.
And obviously if you don't haveone, try to get one.

Anthony Donofrio (17:51):
You no doubt.

Trent Manning (17:52):
yeah, but if you got one, I think let's try to
get two because I'm in the samesituation kind of as you are
with the one lift.
I don't use that lift foranything other than checkin
mowers.

Anthony Donofrio (18:06):
Yeah.

Trent Manning (18:07):
And, I mean, you know, I say that.
Occasionally, yeah, I'll do anoil change or somethin on the
lift.
But, again, I can't do a repair.
Somethin that's gonna take, youknow, if it's gonna be down for
a day, that's not an option.

Anthony Donofrio (18:21):
No, exactly.
Yeah.
And that's the tough part.
And I mean, coming from theautomotive side, everything's
done on a hoist.
Right.
And I kind of treat it the sameway.
You know, I try to get my techto use the hoist as much as he
can just to try and save yourbody.
I mean, my dad, his neck ismangled and his back's mangled
from working on stuff.
Right.
So if you can get it on a hoist,you should.
But again, like you said, right,you almost need to, at that

(18:43):
point If the industry is goingto push that way.
So

Trent Manning (18:47):
Yeah, I think everybody, you know, That I
know, we try to check our mowersevery cut.
So, you know, we're mowing everyday and that ties the lift up
for a long period of time.

Anthony Donofrio (19:02):
yeah,

Trent Manning (19:02):
Check, you know, checking mowers in and out.
What's one of the strangestthings you've seen at work?

Anthony Donofrio (19:07):
Yeah, I've seen a couple of things.
Probably one of them was one ofour guys at an old club.
He he was a good guy.
Great operator.
He'd been there for a long time,but, he was driving a tractor
with a slicer on the back of it.
And I don't know if he had, whathad happened.
And I can't remember the exactsituation of why he couldn't

(19:28):
turn.
But he couldn't turn away fromone of our lake hazards, and he
started heading directly towardsit, and I was probably, I don't
know, maybe 200 yards away, andI saw the whole thing unfold,
and he went into the water, andlucky for him, it wasn't a heavy
drop, it kind of sloped in.
So the tractor just followed theslope into the water and he just

(19:49):
calmly killed the key and letthe tractor dive in and he just
started raising his hand abovehis head holding a cigarette to
keep the cigarette from goingout.
And I was like, I've never seensomething so calm and relaxed in
my whole life.
It was just, I'm glad he hit thekey.
So at least it didn't ingestwater.
But yeah,

Trent Manning (20:06):
Oh, yeah.

Anthony Donofrio (20:07):
things I've seen.

Trent Manning (20:08):
That is a really good one.
Yes.
Too bad you didn't get that onvideo

Anthony Donofrio (20:12):
I know.
That's no doubt.

Trent Manning (20:14):
And as you were telling that story, I was, my
first question was going to be,did it bend a rod?
But he got it turned off andthat's

Anthony Donofrio (20:21):
No, he was smart.
He knew.
He's like, Oh, that's it.
It's too late now.
Just shut the engine off and letit go.

Trent Manning (20:27):
That's funny.
Yeah, as far as I know, everydiesel engine that went in a
lake bent a rod.
In my experience, it's like

Anthony Donofrio (20:38):
I want gas.
Yeah.
Not so much.
But with diesels, man, when theyhydrolock it's a lot of
pressure, I guess.
It just doesn't like it.

Trent Manning (20:45):
Nope.
It does not.

Anthony Donofrio (20:47):
No.

Trent Manning (20:49):
Do you have a mentor in the industry?
Yeah.

Anthony Donofrio (20:59):
been really great at just kind of guiding me
through.
And, you know, it's funny, he'ssuper hands off in terms of
mentorship, in the sense that hedoesn't try to push too hard if
that's not what you want orwhatever.
And but his way of running theshow in terms of being kind of
hands off and letting you doyour thing, he won't step in
unless he thinks there'sactually something going on.

(21:20):
But I've learned a lot from himjust in being around him.
You don't even need, he doesn'teven really need to, you know,
have a lot of input per se.
It's just, I kind of just startto reflect the same things that
he's doing and try to presentmyself in the same ways and
become more professional.
So just being kind of with himand near him has made me I
suppose more polished, if youwant to call it that, in terms

(21:42):
of cleaning up the edges andreally trying, especially now
that he's brought, he was theone who's been bringing me down
to the shows and trying to pushfor that difference of image for
us and who we are in terms ofequipment technicians or
equipment managers and just tryto show people, you know,
primarily our membership or theboard that we're not just a
bunch of wrenches, right.
Or there, there's a little,there's a little bit more to us

(22:04):
than you know, just a plain oldmechanic.
So.
It's it's been great in thatsense and like I said, moving to
this club and having him as asuper has completely opened my
eyes to what's out there andavailable.
So,

Trent Manning (22:15):
that is so awesome.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm so glad.
Yeah.
That he's getting you involved.
Like that.
I mean, what has that meant toyou?
Like, how opening is that?
I guess going to the conferenceand some of those things.

Anthony Donofrio (22:31):
It was staggering to be honest with you
in the first, my first year herefirst off being a private club
versus, you know, a public trackthe, just a, the amount of money
that's around, which obviouslycomes more problems,

Trent Manning (22:44):
No

Anthony Donofrio (22:44):
money to spend.
So that was one thing to getover.
Yeah.
But then going to the show was Ijust I probably would not have
imagined that in 100 yearsthat's how the industry was that
there's all these programs andthe trade show is huge, massive
trade shows and the, you know,education side of it, everybody
that's kind of intertwined,ready to help, willing to talk,

(23:06):
willing to You know, getinvolved.
It's it's pretty incredible tobe honest with you.
And what's even probably moreshocking at this point, now that
it's kind of phased off of thesurprise, is how many guys are
still not involved in terms ofthey just don't know it exists,
or their supers don't push theminto it.
Yeah, it's crazy.
Some of the guys I've talked toare like, I don't even know what

(23:27):
you're talking about.
I don't know how to help youthen because you got to see it
for yourself.
You know, I can't really explainit.
So

Trent Manning (23:34):
don't, I do think I hope it's not this way, but I
mean, I think there's some oldschool guys out there that, you
know, they're scared of losingtheir guy and they don't want to
show them what else is outthere, which is really sad if
that is what's happening.

Anthony Donofrio (23:52):
yeah, that could be the case.
Like I said, in terms of whenyou asked me how I started in
the industry and I said I wasvery fortunate, I meant it in
the sense that my second superwell, my first super as well, he
saw a position nearby open up ata different club and he knew
that my trajectory was not goingto be staying, you know, at that
club for him.
So he was the one who said, Hey,listen, you should really apply

(24:14):
for this.
I said, okay, sure.
I mean, if you think that's theright thing and they were paying
more on the whole deal and it'sit was a semi private club.
So you're kind of getting, youknow, a little bit closer to
that upper end.
And then that super, I had onlybeen working with him for two
years, I believe.
Again, I wasn't a part of any ofthe associations and he saw a
posting come up for this privateclub, Marine Drive.

(24:35):
And he said, Hey, listen I'dhate to lose you, but this is
really a huge opportunity andyou should consider taking it.
Right?
And having two superintendentswilling to fall on their sword
because in our area turf techs,or I mean, I guess people
competent enough to be a turftech, they're far and few
between.
Right?
And there's not a lot of guyswilling to work for, you know,
realistically, not the sameamount of money as other

(24:56):
technicians out there.
You know, whether it be heavyduty or whatever.
So, they knew full well that ifthey lost somebody, it could
take some time to get anotherguy in there.
So, hugely fortunate that thatthey decided to do that for me,
and in turn, I try to be thebest guy that I can for my
technicians as well.
I try to push them up the chain.
I got one guy in doing his RedSeal Apprenticeship right now,

(25:16):
because for me, I think that'simportant for him to do and tick
some boxes if he wants to workfor the city or whatever, so I
try to do what I can in terms ofthat.

Trent Manning (25:25):
Yeah.
What all is involved in Yeah.
What all is involved in

Anthony Donofrio (25:28):
For us, it's it's a four year program,
basically not four years flatout it's basically you start off
with like an eight year as your,or sorry, eight month, eight
week period in the first one andthen your second, third, and
fourth start to reduce down by acouple weeks as you go through
school.
It's basically based off ofhours on how that apprenticeship
works.

(25:49):
And then your final is just atest.
So it's your Red Sealcertification, which allows you
to work across Canada except forQuebec for some reason.

Trent Manning (25:57):
Yeah.

Anthony Donofrio (25:58):
so yeah, it's a good program.
It's something that he shouldhave if he ever decides to move
or whatever.
Something happens to the cluband we close, who

Trent Manning (26:04):
Yeah

Anthony Donofrio (26:05):
he's got something to fall back on and
and some accreditation thatfollows that, right?

Trent Manning (26:09):
No, that's cool.
That's really good.

Anthony Donofrio (26:11):
Yeah,

Trent Manning (26:12):
What would be your dream job or opportunity?

Anthony Donofrio (26:16):
yeah, you know, I think about this a lot
in terms of, is there anythingnext for me?
Is it a different club or whatwould I want to do?
But in terms of call it areasonable dream job.
I love like, emergency vehicles,police cars, fire trucks, things
like that.
Even, you know, fire trucks atairports.
I thought it'd be a cool job tobe able to be the procurement

(26:39):
guy on that side of it.
So building them out, specingthe cars out, whatever,

Trent Manning (26:43):
Oh, yeah.

Anthony Donofrio (26:44):
ambulances and stuff.
I, cause I don't know, I'm surethey have internal people that
do that, but for some reason Ithought it'd be just the coolest
thing to be, you know, choose abrand and start decking it out
kind of thing.
Right.
So

Trent Manning (26:55):
Oh yeah.
No, I could definitely, I couldget behind that.

Anthony Donofrio (26:57):
Yeah, for sure.

Trent Manning (26:59):
Yeah, that would be fun for sure.
Yeah, heavy rescue unit orsomething with, yeah, all this.
Yeah.

Anthony Donofrio (27:05):
Yeah, my uncle he's he works ground operations
for one of the big airportsnearby.
So he obviously I Understandwhat's on his you know property
and what kind of equipmentthey're running And yeah Some of
those fire trucks are hugemilitary Oshkosh units and stuff
like that and they have to specall that stuff out I'm like, ah,
that's so cool

Trent Manning (27:23):
That is cool.
That is cool.
Yeah, for sure.
Do you have a technician youwould like to work with for a
day?
Okay.

Anthony Donofrio (27:36):
You know, there's a lot of guys out there
that I think could benefit fromone guy in particular that
stands out, and I met him inOrlando last time, that'd be JR
over on the East Coast.
He was great.

Trent Manning (27:49):
Oh, okay.

Anthony Donofrio (27:50):
I sat next to him and just chatted with him,
and man, he's just a do it allkind of guy.
So I was like, you know what?
This guy seems like somebody Iwould love to Yeah, I just feel
like it'd be one of those superdynamic type of days or, you
know, weeks, whatever, spendingwith him.
I'm sure he's got a millionprojects.
He only, you know, eliminated acouple that he was doing, but

(28:11):
yeah, it was crazy.
So,

Trent Manning (28:13):
You're not the first one that

Anthony Donofrio (28:14):
Yeah, I bet.
Yeah.

Trent Manning (28:16):
Yeah, and I would highly recommend it.
I was fortunate enough to spend,I don't, I think I spent two or
three days, at least two, but Ithink three days with JR around
his shop.
He took me around Long Island.
We visited a bunch of othershops.
But, and hopefully I didn't hurthis feelings.

(28:36):
I don't think I did.
He's got, if you're in, if youlive in New York, you got thick
skin.
Anyway,

Anthony Donofrio (28:41):
Oh, I bet.

Trent Manning (28:42):
yeah, they razz each other.
Yeah, something fierce.
But anyway I said, nothing'sgood enough for you, is it, JR?
Like, anything that he bought,right?
Like, whatever it was.
Like, he had a hydraulic shoppress and the support on the
bottom of the press.
He rigged it up with somepulleys and some cables and a

(29:05):
little winch so he could crankit up and down, you know, to
lower it up and down

Anthony Donofrio (29:09):
Oh, yeah.

Trent Manning (29:10):
height.
And I'm like, that's a reallygood idea.
Why hadn't I thought of that?
You know, or why hadn't I donethat to mine?
Yeah, he had a drill press, likea small bench top drill press
with a die grinder sitting onit.

Anthony Donofrio (29:27):
Okay.

Trent Manning (29:28):
I'm like, what in the world is, you know, what are
you doing with this?
Like, why do you put a benchgrinder on, on your drill press?
And it's for sharpening stumpgrinder teeth.

Anthony Donofrio (29:40):
Oh.

Trent Manning (29:41):
the green teeth, they're round.
So you put them in the chuck ofthe drill and spin them.
And then, you know, lower thequill

Anthony Donofrio (29:49):
And then you, yeah, you bring it

Trent Manning (29:50):
yeah.
And I'm like, bad.

Anthony Donofrio (29:53):
Mill.

Trent Manning (29:53):
right, exactly.
And I mean, one of the latestthing or I don't know who knows
what he's doing now, but youknow, he makes his own tines and
he treats them.
He's got a Ford, you know, allthat stuff, which is super cool,
but he was making his own subair systems like welding the
impeller, having it balanced allthe way down to doing the

(30:18):
fiberglass cover lid that goesover it, molding the fiberglass.
I'm like, is there anything youcan't do, J.
R.?

Anthony Donofrio (30:25):
Yeah, man.

Trent Manning (30:26):
bet, yeah.

Anthony Donofrio (30:27):
that's made in the USA right there.
I mean,

Trent Manning (30:30):
know, it is crazy.

Anthony Donofrio (30:31):
awesome.

Trent Manning (30:32):
It's crazy.
So, yeah.

Anthony Donofrio (30:34):
great.
No.
And you know what?
It's that type of, you know,creativity and ingenuity that,
yeah.
You know, I try to explain to mysuper.
I'm like, we're not just amechanic.
I mean, just a mechanic meansyou specialize in one thing or a
couple things here and there.
I mean, I've done buildingelectrical, you know, machine
electrical, hydraulics, engines,you know, you name it.

(30:56):
We've all been there.
But then you talk to these otherguys that work for, you know,
Caterpillar or whatever, like,yeah, I'm just a diesel tech.
That's it.
That's all I do.
And I'm

Trent Manning (31:04):
Right, right,

Anthony Donofrio (31:05):
yeah, well, that must be nice, but we don't
do that, right?
We kind of have to wear allthose hats all at once, right?
So, you know, it's a pretty,pretty unique situation to be
in, I guess.

Trent Manning (31:15):
I ran into this technician working at a golf
course and he came from theCoast Guard.
And he'd retired.
I don't remember how many years,whatever.
But super knowledgeable guy.
But he said where he messed upin the Coast Guard is he got all
his certificates or degrees orwhatever they were in

(31:35):
electronics because he reallyenjoyed electronics.
Well, he couldn't work onengines because he was certified
on, you know, and I mean, he'dbeen around helicopters, you
know, for whatever it was, 20years.
And, you know, helping theengine mechanics, but he wasn't
certified in engines, so hecouldn't work on them.

(31:56):
And, I mean, it was kind ofcrazy, and that just reminds me
of what you were talking aboutthere.

Anthony Donofrio (32:01):
yeah, it is.
Wow.
I mean, instrumentation is itsown trade really, but yeah, it's
a lot, you know, and then all ofa sudden you're thrown into
something else go.
Actually, I don't know how to dothat part.

Trent Manning (32:13):
Yep.
What do you know now you wishyou'd known on day one?

Anthony Donofrio (32:17):
Yeah, definitely.
Well, I mean, there's a fewthings, but obviously industry
inclusion was probably number 1on my list.
But the 2nd, 1 1 down from thatis really how in depth, you
know, taking care of reels isand then how it affects
performance on the course.
I growing up and in the industryitself and working with another
old timer there was no, stressput on leveling heads or, you

(32:42):
know, even really making surethat it's perfectly, you know,
parallelly ground as long as itsort of cut paper, it was good
to go and send it out.
Right?
And that's just how it was anddid a lot of back lapping and
stuff like that there.
So.
Once I got here and started torealize a bit more of the onus
that's put on quality and wedon't even take it really as far
as it can go.
Of course, I mean, I, you seethe, some of the stuff it's set

(33:04):
ups for these big tournaments,you know, they're really taking
it to an extreme but for our dayto day we're not really going to
do that.
It doesn't really make any sensein terms of cost or, Yeah.
You know, labor input, but yeah,I really wish I had known some
of this stuff because Istruggled in my earlier years,
you know, trying to diagnosewhat was happening to certain
heads or, you know, super wouldcome in and go, Hey, you know,

(33:26):
this feral units got all theselines.
And I'm like, I know it'ssupposed to be 1 color.
I don't know how to make it 1color.
Right?
So, you know, getting to thispoint, and I still have barely
scratched the surface ofunderstanding how these reels
are all.
Yeah.
Different, right, in terms ofJohn Deere versus Toro and Jake
and all that jazz, but yeah itwould have been something that
would have been nice to startoff with rather than learn
later, but,

Trent Manning (33:48):
Yeah, and yeah, how do we as an industry get
that knowledge to beginnertechnicians or you know, people
when they first start out, causeI mean, I've, I mean, I've
learned more.
I've been saying this a lot, butI've learned more in the last
year on cutting units.

(34:09):
have, you know, my first 27years in the industry.
You know, I mean, as when youreally dive into it, you can
learn a whole lot about what allis going on there.
But yeah, I think the hard partis how do we get that to other
technicians to train them?
Because a lot of us and I mean,even including me when I first

(34:33):
started the guy that trained meon You know, a lot of what I've
known was, you know, he was anautomotive mechanic and he was a
really good mechanic and I mean,he could fix anything.
He was, I mean, he was a wizard,you know, when it comes to
engines and I mean, just he wasvery knowledgeable, right about

(34:56):
all kinds of stuff, but what heknew about cutting units is just
what he learned out of the book.
You know, and kind of taughthimself and at the time, we
didn't have a bed knife grinder.
So, we didn't grind bed knives.
We couldn't.
We didn't have a way.
So, we lapped.

(35:17):
You know, that was our only wayand and when I look at, look
back at that, like, wow, how didwe get by?
You know, without having agrinder.
But we were still in the top tenin the state of Georgia.
Our club was, which is, youknow, it's like how do you argue
with that?
You know, I don't know.

(35:37):
And

Anthony Donofrio (35:38):
it makes you wonder,

Trent Manning (35:39):
has expectations changed?
Yeah, expectations have changed.
They're a little bit higher nowthan what they used to be.

Anthony Donofrio (35:46):
Yeah, to me, I mean, yeah.
From what I can tell, it reallyseems like people have been
making this big push for moreknowledge and more change in
terms of how they deal withtheir cutting units over the
past five years, at least fromwhat I can see, but I know guys
that are putting outunbelievable products, you know,
in terms of turf, turf healthand playability with some old

(36:07):
equipment, like pull behind gangmowers that they only back lab,
you know, things like that.
And they're still producinggreat results, so it kind of
makes me wonder how far youshould go with it in terms of an
operational standpoint,obviously, I'm sure we would all
love to be able to do theabsolute perfect thing every
time all the time.
But, I mean, it's not usuallyworth it in the end.

(36:31):
Once you start crunching thenumbers, you know, unless you
have a super importanttournament, we don't host any
big events in terms of PGAstuff, but.
I could see maybe in that sensethey probably have their own you
know, specifics or criteria thatyou have to meet but for the day
to day operation I'm not surethat we should be getting into
too much of the weeds when itcomes to that, right?

(36:53):
I mean,

Trent Manning (36:53):
All right.

Anthony Donofrio (36:54):
a good, healthy cut and everything's
even, then I think for the mostpart we're in good shape.

Trent Manning (36:59):
No and I do, I agree with that a hundred
percent.
The only thing I want to learnor try to figure out or get
better at is there a way to setup a cutting unit where the cut
will last longer.

Anthony Donofrio (37:16):
Yeah.

Trent Manning (37:17):
You know what I'm saying?
That so yeah, if I grind theseangles on my bed knife and you
know, I'm setting my contactlike this.
Yeah.
You know, how long does my cutlast and is there a way to make
that better?
Cause, yeah and, yeah,inconsistent.

(37:37):
You know, and then thesuperintendent top dresses the
green and I just throw all thatinfo out of the, out, you know,
it's all gone.

Anthony Donofrio (37:43):
Yeah.

Trent Manning (37:44):
over.
Get ready for tips and tricks.
Well, let's do some tips andtricks.

Anthony Donofrio (37:51):
Sure.

Trent Manning (37:51):
what do you got for us?
What kind of tips and tricks youwant to share?

Anthony Donofrio (37:55):
Tips and tricks.
I mean, you know, it's funny.
There's certain things that I'mnot sure are really different
than what anybody else does, butthere's certain things like
lifting wheels up if you're, ifyou do have a machine on a
hoist.
One thing that seems to blowpeople's mind is how to lift a
wheel up that's heavy up intoplace.
And people don't realize that ifyou spin the rim so that it's

(38:18):
outside face, it's facing awayfrom you and then you grab the
inside of the rim and just rollit up on your knee, you can
actually just lift the wholething up into place with zero
effort, doesn't hurt your back,none of that stuff.
I see guys struggling withfairway tires, trying to put
them up and I've never had thatissue.
And again, that's somethingthat's an an industry transfer
from automotive.
Cause if you see these guysworking in the shop where

(38:39):
they're working on an F four 50.
Those big dually wheels arecrazy heavy.
Well, they don't have a machine.
I mean, maybe some shops do, butmost of those guys are using
that technique just to bump upthe wheel and get it on.
So that one blew my technician'smind when I showed them for the
1st time.
So, it's 1 that I try to kind ofpush to everybody just, you
know, in terms of shop healthtoo, right?

(38:59):
I've seen, I can't tell you howmany mechanics I've seen that,
you know, their knees are shotand their backs gone and
everything's, you know, kind ofblown out from pushing hard and
just trying to get the job done.
And I'm like, yeah, I agree.
I do the same thing, but try todo it with, you know, a little
bit of thought because onceyou're, you know, in your 60s or
70s, you're really going to wishyou gave it a little more
thought,

Trent Manning (39:20):
yeah, for sure.

Anthony Donofrio (39:22):
Yeah.
So yeah, that's probably one ofthe ones that I have.
I don't know if you haveanything to share with me, but

Trent Manning (39:28):
I don't, I mean, that's that's a really good one
and I mean, it makes me think.
So, if I have whatever kind ofunit it is and I don't remember
who taught me this if it was themechanic that I kind of trained
under but.
You're squatted down, you'reputting the tire on the machine.
You know, the machine's just offthe ground, right?

(39:51):
I'll tell you, you know, I'mright handed, but I take my left
foot and I put my heel on theground and I use my toe to like
hand your lever, the tire upenough to get it onto the studs.

Anthony Donofrio (40:06):
Right.

Trent Manning (40:07):
I don't, you know, it's pretty simple.
But I mean, same thing.
I've seen, you know, I havethese guys come through the shop
that I've tried to teach them,you know, and they just see them
struggle and struggle trying toget a tire on there.

Anthony Donofrio (40:22):
Like straddle their legs underneath whatever
they're trying to mount andthey're trying to hold it

Trent Manning (40:27):
Right, right,

Anthony Donofrio (40:27):
it on and you know they're balanced and I'm
like same idea just stick yourfoot under it and leverage it up
and then you can kind of get thelugs on right but yeah it's kind
of funny how it's usually thesame type of platform right you
see the same type of things andI guess if you've never worked
in the shop that maybe that isthe go to method you know in
terms of how people see thingsright

Trent Manning (40:47):
Right, right.
Yeah.
And I think another thing that Ifind is leverage, like knowing
how to apply leverage.
I see that a lot with, you know,the younger guys and it doesn't
matter, you know, their physicalstrength.

(41:09):
But they're almost fightingagainst themselves.
If you will, you know, if yougot two wrenches and you're way
out here apart and you're tryingto push them together or
something, you know, but likebreaking loose hydraulic
fitting, if you can get the twowrenches where, you know,
they're right side by side andtake your hands and squeeze them

(41:29):
together, right?
Yeah, exactly.
Makes it so, so easy.
Or it makes it a lot easier.

Anthony Donofrio (41:36):
yeah.
Oh, and there's stuff like that.
I mean, I know guys have gonemost of their career not knowing
certain things like that, right?
They see it for the first timeten years later and go, I can't
believe I've been doing that forso long,

Trent Manning (41:47):
Right, right.
Yeah.

Anthony Donofrio (41:48):
So, yeah.
No, that's a good one.
That actually is a good one.

Trent Manning (41:52):
Well, yeah.
And I remember the first time Iseen a guy take a boxed in
wrench and put it on an open endwrench, you know, and connect

Anthony Donofrio (42:00):
Oh

Trent Manning (42:00):
to break something loose.

Anthony Donofrio (42:01):
Create

Trent Manning (42:02):
right, right, right.
I'm like, what

Anthony Donofrio (42:04):
Yeah, and now you've got companies like Snap
on and Mac where they actuallymake the little extension piece

Trent Manning (42:09):
Right, right.
Uhhuh,

Anthony Donofrio (42:10):
It's got like the double hook, right?
Okay,

Trent Manning (42:14):
shared that in our WhatsApp group, I think.
Yeah, and they make one thatlike a ratchet will connect to
that hooks

Anthony Donofrio (42:22):
yeah, that's right.
Yeah, it's got like a little 3 8or half inch drive on it and you
can reef on it.

Trent Manning (42:26):
Yeah, that's pretty cool.
What will they think of next,right?

Anthony Donofrio (42:31):
no doubt.

Trent Manning (42:32):
Well, yeah, what else you want to talk about?

Anthony Donofrio (42:36):
I mean, nothing huge.
I mean, one thing I did want totouch on and it's something
that, you know, some of theother guys have, we've kind of
bounced off of before at some ofthe conferences is, you know,
the difference between atechnician and an equipment
manager and how to sort ofcommunicate that to your
management or super whomever itmay be.
And even like in general day today, you know, I, if I explain

(43:00):
something and I say, Oh, well,you know, my, Fleet manager or
equipment manager for a golfclub.
And the first thing they say is,well, you're just fixing golf
carts?
I don't understand.
Like, what are you managingexactly?
Right?
They don't understand the whole,proclivity of the job.
And and the other thing Inoticed too, is that being an
equipment manager by titledoesn't mean that you do all the

(43:22):
same things at every club.
And I'm not sure if that'ssomething that superintendents
are kind of giving that titleoff and then You know, to, to
adjust a technician, let's say,and they don't give them any of
the responsibility that is kindof part of it, you know, in
terms of myself, I spec theequipment, I quote the
equipment, I go to the leasecompanies and get the
percentages, and then at thevery end, it all gets floated

(43:43):
to, you know, the super, the GM,the board, then they make their
decision behind the scenes.
But there's a ton of guys that Italked to that they don't,
they're basically full hands offother than They're super will
kind of involve them and maybemaking the choice of what type
of equipment, but they're notcrunching the numbers.
They're not doing, you know, themath on the back end and trying
to figure out what's, you know,what's going to be the best for

(44:07):
the club.
And I wonder if there should bea difference there, or if we
should be pushing ourtechnicians to do more to help
possibly raise all of our kindof industry wages if you will
should an EM make more than aregular technician.
And in turn, if you are the onlytech, you should be making a lot
more, right?
I mean, you're kind of runningthe show yourself, right?

(44:29):
So, I see a lot of guys wherethey're running on their own.
They do far more work than I'veever imagined you should be
taking on as one person and I,and my hat's off to them.
They're doing it for, you know,much less than I think should be
fair depending on where they areor, but yeah, it's just
something that I always wonderedand, you know, you kind of hear

(44:49):
rumblings about it, but it neverreally seems to get talked.
About too much in terms of thosespecific, is there different
stages and should there be and,you know, pay increases or not?
I know pay is always aconversation, but not
necessarily between the twotypes.
So yeah, it's always beensomething that dwell, I dwell on
a little bit.
Yeah

Trent Manning (45:08):
yeah.
Nah.
Yeah.
I don't know where to go withthat, honestly.
You know, it's one of thosethings I think each operation
is, you know, so different.
So, I don't, you know, it's, Ithink it's hard to put a label
on that sometimes.
And, I mean, just, I'm thinkinglike, my situation at my club,

(45:28):
and I think my official title isEquipment and Facility Manager.
Because, I also manage the turfcare facility.
So anything that happens, youknow, all the electrical in
there, all the plumbing inthere, you know, all that stuff,

(45:49):
you know, falls under me and,you know, but I know it's not
that way at every club, youknow, and it's just like, I know
some clubs have it set up wherethe equipment manager also
maintains the golf cart fleetfor the golfers.

(46:10):
And like my club, I don't haveto mess with that.
I, you know, I mess, I do I takecare of our range picker.
I take care of our beverage cartbecause it's owned by the club.
But the other stuff is leasedand part of their three or four
year lease, they get theirwhatever they call it.
Where the dealer comes out andservices

Anthony Donofrio (46:32):
Like a main maintenance package of some sort
or whatever.
Yeah.

Trent Manning (46:35):
You know, and then you get clubs like J.
R.
Where he's building his own, youknow, sub air systems.

Anthony Donofrio (46:42):
I'll be surprised if he doesn't start
building carts by himself.
I mean, there's no point inbuying them if he can build
them.

Trent Manning (46:48):
Don't say that.
Okay, when we're in San Diego,don't mention that you get him
going into a rabbit hole.
But yeah, you know, The whole,you know, equipment manager
name, you know, I don't know whoreally come up with that.
I'm not a huge fan, honestly, ofthat name.

(47:08):
At the end of the day, I thinkI'm a mechanic and, you know,
and if I tell somebody I'm amechanic, they get an idea of
what I

Anthony Donofrio (47:18):
Yeah.
They put you in that box.
That's

Trent Manning (47:20):
right, right, right.

Anthony Donofrio (47:21):
that's okay, and that's kind of where it
should be, right?
Like, you know, realistically.

Trent Manning (47:26):
Right.
But yeah, you tell them yourequipment manager like what are
you, what

Anthony Donofrio (47:29):
What the heck does that mean?
Yeah,

Trent Manning (47:30):
does that

Anthony Donofrio (47:31):
don't really understand that part

Trent Manning (47:32):
But again, when you do tell them that you're a
mechanic at a golf course, theysay, oh, you work on lawn mowers
and golf

Anthony Donofrio (47:37):
That's the same, yeah.
Same kind of

Trent Manning (47:39):
I'm like, yeah, the lawnmower that I work on
cost 150, 000 now.
And so it's a little more thanPeople snapper that you grew up
with or, you know, whatever,roll rear engine snapper, one
pull and it would start everytime.

Anthony Donofrio (47:57):
Yeah, no doubt, yeah, this isn't, yeah,
these aren't just toys, that'sfor sure.

Trent Manning (48:01):
right.
Yeah.
So, yeah.
What's kind of the consensusamongst your group?

Anthony Donofrio (48:09):
Like in terms of how that should be played
out, yeah, well, my super thinksthere should be a, like,
definitive line, and I'm notsure if that's just for himself,
given the fact that you know,maybe equipment and the
understanding behind it isn'tstrong for him, right?
Obviously, agronomy and runningthe course and understanding how
to manage people.
That should be his primaryobjective.
And that's kind of where he sitswith it.

(48:30):
So he tends to try to hiresomebody more of in a management
position.
And we can, I can jump in theshop and wrench and do all that
and that's not a problem.
We do have some union stuff thatwe have to be careful with on
how much time I'm spending inthere, but for the most part,
there's no issues.
But yeah, in terms of thedividing line he thinks that
there should be a bit of adifference because if you think

(48:53):
about it, industry, likeindustry to industry this is
probably one of the only onesI've ever seen where you didn't
have somebody in management.
Making the call on a lot of thisequipment, you know, sometimes
half a million dollar packages,million dollar packages, and
you'll have a technician with,you know, no background, no
schooling, no, nothing gettingput in the hot seat and then

(49:15):
having to deal with it.
Right?
And then getting paid pennies todo it.
I don't know.
To me, it just doesn't make anysense.
I mean, you look at the heavyequipment industry, trucking,
whatever, they have all theirown fleet managers.
Right.
That get paid huge amounts ofmoney to take care of stuff.
And when I talk to them, they'redoing all the same stuff we are,
really.
Other than, you know, the handson stuff.

(49:35):
But, when it comes to thespecking equipment, going
through options, you know, Howis this going to work for my
club?
Especially with new stuff.
Obviously, we all understand thesame equipment that's been out
there forever.
You know, 35 55s from Toro orwhatever, right?
So, we get that stuff.
But, when it comes to all theother things, there's a lot
involved.
And I don't know.
It just seems like a weird, abit of a weird mess in our

(49:57):
industry that we just let itkind of slide, you know,

Trent Manning (50:00):
Yeah.

Anthony Donofrio (50:00):
yeah, it's kind of nice having him see it
that way as well.
I'm sure there aresuperintendents that don't but
to the same degree, there aresuperintendents out there that
there doesn't seem to be reallyany you know, pay calculation.
You got supers 2 different clubsright next to each other, making
completely different amounts ofmoney doing the same job.

Trent Manning (50:18):
Oh

Anthony Donofrio (50:18):
I never really understood that either.
So.
Yeah, it's been a bit of an oddgap, I would say, in terms of
what we deal with, but

Trent Manning (50:25):
Yeah, I've seen it even.
Yeah, like assistantsuperintendents, you know, at
one club, they might be making35, you know.
They're making 85, 000 a yearand another club, they're making
85, 000 a year and they're both18 hole facilities.
You know, I mean, all thosethings and they're both private,
you know, it's just crazy howacross the board, some of the

(50:48):
pay ranges can be,

Anthony Donofrio (50:50):
Oh, for sure, yeah.
And is that something we canfix?
Maybe not, but maybe talkingabout it helps?
I don't really know, but I thinkeverybody's generally aware of
the issue.
It's just a matter of how do weget out of it is a whole other
thing.

Trent Manning (51:04):
Right, right, right.
Yep.
You ready to do some rapid fire?

Anthony Donofrio (51:13):
Sure.

Trent Manning (51:13):
What's your favorite movie?

Anthony Donofrio (51:16):
Fury.

Trent Manning (51:17):
Feared?
Okay.
I don't, yeah, I'm not familiar.
What's

Anthony Donofrio (51:21):
Yeah, that's it's a tank crew in World War
II.
With Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf,those

Trent Manning (51:28):
Oh,

Anthony Donofrio (51:29):
yeah really good one I enjoyed it a lot,

Trent Manning (51:31):
That's, okay.
I gotta catch up on some

Anthony Donofrio (51:34):
yeah, fair enough,

Trent Manning (51:35):
what would be your last meal?

Anthony Donofrio (51:39):
ooh, that's a good one if my grandmother on my
dad's side was still around itwould be this dish that she used
to make it sounds super weird,but it's unbelievable, so it's
like, fish in a red sauce withlike, I guess you would say
reduced or sautéed Grapes andraisins that are in it, and it
sounds super weird, but itworked really well, and I didn't

(52:01):
think it was a real thing, Ithought it was just something
she did, but actually it is sometype of real

Trent Manning (52:06):
Oh, okay.

Anthony Donofrio (52:07):
and yeah, an Italian thing that she found at
some point, so, but yeah,unbelievable meal, and just one
of those things that I, bringsback a lot of memories,

Trent Manning (52:15):
Oh, I'm sure.
Well, yeah.
And honestly, anybody'sgrandmother that's going to cook
something.
I'm down.
That sounds so good.
You know, grandma's cooking it.
Heck yeah.
Count me in.

Anthony Donofrio (52:26):
usually can't beat it,

Trent Manning (52:27):
that's right.
Yeah, for sure.
What are you most proud ofbesides your family?

Anthony Donofrio (52:32):
You know, one thing, especially in my area I'm
probably most proud that I wasable to buy a home an apartment
this not this year two years agowith my wife in the, we're not
quite right in the city.
We're in the outskirts, but,it's really difficult in our
area for most people, my age topurchase.
So I, I find myself veryfortunate that I've been able to

(52:53):
do that.
And it doesn't come without itshardships, of course, like any,
you know, like anybody, butyeah, a lot of cutbacks, and
just kind of driving hard tomake it happen,

Trent Manning (53:02):
There, yeah.

Anthony Donofrio (53:03):
Those things, a lot of people that I grew up
with, they have sort of justaccepted they're going to rent
forever and, you know, andthat's okay, as long as you can,
I guess, build up a nest eggsome other way, but I always
grew up thinking that I wasgoing to buy a house and, you
know, have my kids and have mygarage and my cars, but I guess
that's not the reality anymore.
At least not for now.

Trent Manning (53:23):
Right, right.
Not for now.
But, well, congratulationsthough.
That's awesome.

Anthony Donofrio (53:26):
Yeah.
Well,

Trent Manning (53:27):
That's very cool.
Very cool.
Well, tell the listeners howthey can get a hold of you.
On Twitter, email.

Anthony Donofrio (53:36):
Yeah really I mean, they can if they wanted to
get onto an email with me forsure.
I don't know if we can post thatsomewhere or not, but they're
welcome to call.
My phone number for my officeline is on our website for
Marine Drive Golf Club.

Trent Manning (53:49):
Okay.

Anthony Donofrio (53:50):
I am connected to a few of the groups RealTurf
Techs, of course, and SIPGrinders and all that jazz.
So, they're welcome to, youknow, DM me directly through
there if they have any questionsor, Yeah, things like that.
I certainly don't have a problempicking someone's ear, you know,
if I need to you know, have somestrange questions about stuff.
I've definitely reached out topeople, but yeah, at any time,

(54:10):
if you think that you havesomething for me, I'd love to
help.

Trent Manning (54:14):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much Anthonyfor being on.
I look forward to seeing younext week in San Diego.
Actually, what?
We're like five days, right?

Anthony Donofrio (54:24):
that's it.
Yeah we're almost there.
I'm already checked out.

Trent Manning (54:27):
I know.
That's funny.
That's

Anthony Donofrio (54:31):
No, it'll be good.
Yeah, no, I appreciate the theinvite on and yeah, I can't wait
to see whoever's going to bethere.
I'm still putting names tofaces, you know, after five
years of going, but,

Trent Manning (54:40):
Oh yeah.

Anthony Donofrio (54:41):
it's going to be a great time.

Trent Manning (54:42):
Oh, yeah, for sure.
No, I'm really excited and IYeah, I need to say thank you to
David Taylor for stepping up andthrowing some money behind the
bar for some

Anthony Donofrio (54:54):
Yeah.
There we go.
Right,

Trent Manning (54:55):
that is awesome.
Yeah, unsolicited, you know,he's in our WhatsApp group and
he's like, oh, I can throw it.
And so anyway, I call him afterjust to tell the story and like
the next day I call him and I'mlike, thank you so much.
That's so awesome.
And he says, well, what theycharge, like, if he wants to put
a banner above his booth, it'sridiculous money.

(55:17):
Okay.
And he said, I much rather throwy'all some money.

Anthony Donofrio (55:22):
There you go.
Yeah.

Trent Manning (55:23):
y'all can enjoy versus putting a banner up above
my

Anthony Donofrio (55:27):
Yeah.

Trent Manning (55:27):
I'm like, awesome, man.
Thank you.
But,

Anthony Donofrio (55:30):
good giving back.

Trent Manning (55:31):
I've had a good relationship with him and he's
not like any owner that I'veever dealt with.
Stack, they sell.
All kind of accessories, kindof, like tractor mount stuff.
We got two of the top changers,and the top changer is kind of
like dry jack, but they call itthe wet jack.
So it injects sand, but the sanddoesn't have to be wet.

(55:54):
But they sell all kind ofaccessories like that for
cultivation and all that kind ofstuff.
They're based in South Carolina,so they're not too far from me,
but they travel.
Up to your neck of the woods andall over West Coast.
I miss crazy.
Their territory, but

Anthony Donofrio (56:12):
Yeah.

Trent Manning (56:12):
the cool thing about David is when we bought
the machine from him, he givesme his cell phone number and he
says, you have any issues withthis thing?
You call me, you know, not don'tcall my service department.
Don't call your salesman.
You call me and you know, I try,obviously I try not to abuse
that because I mean, he's theowner of the company.

(56:32):
He's a busy man.
Yeah.
But when I have had a questionand I call him, he's always
Johnny on the spot.
Answer the phone.
Yeah.
We'll get that taken care ofright away.
I mean, it's just really goodcustomer service.

Anthony Donofrio (56:45):
That's a good way to run a company for sure.

Trent Manning (56:47):
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
All right.
Well, thank you.
I

Anthony Donofrio (56:53):
Thank you again.
Yeah.
All right.
Take care.

Trent Manning (57:00):
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.