March 19, 2025 • 41 mins
In Episode 139 of the Reel Turf Techs Podcast, we sit down with Carl Michael, Equipment Manager at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, FL. Growing up in the turf industry, Carl's journey began when his family bought a golf course in foreclosure, teaching themselves the business from the ground up. After completing a two-year ag and mechanics program followed by a turfgrass degree at Penn State and working as a superintendent at his family’s course, he eventually transitioned to the equipment side in Florida.
Carl shares the unique challenges of maintaining equipment during the club’s annual one-month closure, the shift in mindset from agronomics to equipment, and the importance of a solid foundation in cutting units. He also reflects on his love for working on the course, spending time at the ball field, and perfecting his skills on the pellet grill. We discuss the importance of exposing young people to the golf course mechanic profession and the rewarding career opportunities it offers. Tune in for a conversation about turf equipment management, industry challenges, and a shared love for the 90-degree ¼-inch Snap-on ratchet!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Trent Manning (00:05):
Welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the
technician that wants to getreel follow along.
As we talk to industryprofessionals and address hot
topics that we all face alongthe way we'll learn tips and
tricks.
I'm your host, Trent.
Manning let's have some thisepisode are real turf techs on
(00:27):
golf course industriesSuperintendent radio network is
presented by Foley county astrong supporter of equipment
technicians and golf coursemaintenance departments
everywhere Foley county offers aproven solution for above and
below the turf for turfprofessionals To learn more
(00:47):
about Foley company's line ofreal grinders bed knife grinders
and the air to G2 family ofproducts or to find a
distributor visit www dot FoleyC o.com Foley Ready for play
(01:10):
Welcome to The Real Turf TextPodcast, episode 1 39.
Today we're talking to CarlMichael, equipment Manager at
Concession Golf Club inBradington, Florida.
Concession Golf Club is aprivate 18 hole facility with a
nine hole par three course.
Carl has one assistant in theshop.
He's primarily Toro Equipment.
(01:33):
Let's talk to Carl.
Welcome Carl to podcast.
Thanks for coming on.
How are you doing today?
Carl Michael (01:39):
Ah, doing great.
Thanks for having me.
Trent Manning (01:40):
It's it's going to be fun.
Carl Michael (01:42):
Yeah, looking forward to it.
Trent Manning (01:44):
Tell us how you got into the turf industry.
Carl Michael (01:47):
So pretty much I was born into it.
My dad and grandfather, a yearbefore I was born they had a
steel fabrication business up inDetroit area.
We're looking to get out ofthat, and somebody told them
there was a golf course andforeclosure sale down in
Pennsylvania, so They came down,made an offer, and won the bid.
(02:08):
So, yeah, essentially they camedown and decided or figured out
they had to learn how to growgrass, and I was born a year
later on the golf course, andgrew up pretty much knowing
nothing but that, so,
Trent Manning (02:22):
Okay.
Wow.
That's definitely a differentpath than a lot of us get here.
Carl Michael (02:27):
Yeah, I would
Trent Manning (02:28):
Get here.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
So walk me through what all.
What'd you do as a kid and ongrowing up on a golf course and
Carl Michael (02:37):
I kid, I was, kid I was always out playing on the
course I mean, grew up messingaround on golf carts all the
time.
Yeah, I don't know, probably 10years old.
I'm not sure, probably frownedupon nowadays, but I was the
cart kid, washing carts over atthe pro shop and and probably 12
years old.
I think a couple of the guys outon the maintenance crew I went
(02:57):
out to golf with them and theysaid, quit doing that sissy
stuff, come out here and work onthe course with us.
So I think around 12, I starteddoing sand traps and everything
kind of progressed from there.
Trent Manning (03:09):
how'd you end up getting into the shop do out in
the shop or
Carl Michael (03:15):
well, no, I'm more or less I started working with
mechanic out there.
I mean, probably by the age of15, I knew how to run everything
from greens, mower, fairway,mower.
God, we had a great all in ourproperty and I knew how to run
that thing.
So, I mean, yeah, just kind ofworked coming up with working
(03:35):
out on the course and everythingwith my dad and the mechanic and
the rest of the grounds crewtrying to.
Learned everything I could aboutthe course, and then my dad kind
of had a grand plan ofeverything.
So for college, he sent me tothe two year, I guess, turfgrass
mechanics program that they hadup there.
Trent Manning (03:56):
Was that at?
Carl Michael (03:57):
Penn State.
Trent Manning (03:58):
Okay.
All right.
Carl Michael (03:59):
Yeah, it didn't last real long, unfortunately.
It was a very good program, butIt was a turf and ag thing,
covered a little bit of bothsides, but two year certificate
program.
And then I followed up with thetwo year turf grass program
after that.
Trent Manning (04:15):
Okay,
Carl Michael (04:15):
So, he pretty much wanted me to come through and be
able to, I don't know, look atany aspect of the business.
know what to do with it.
So,
Trent Manning (04:24):
right, right, right, right So how did you get
from there to where you're atnow?
Carl Michael (04:30):
So pretty much after I graduated the turf grass
program, I was thesuperintendent there at my dad's
course for about 10 years.
I don't know, it started gettinga little rough and was looking
for a change of scenery.
So, I don't know, my wife and Ihave always loved Florida.
So, got a assistantsuperintendent position job down
(04:51):
in Fort Myers at the ForestCountry Club.
Was there for two years and thenCOVID hit and, I don't know,
dealing with the country club.
It wasn't so much my cup of teawith all the greens committee
boards and stuff like that.
So after COVID hit my dad wasstruggling keeping the place
(05:11):
afloat up there.
So we decided to pack up shopand head back to Pennsylvania
to.
Help him kind of keep everythinggoing.
Trent Manning (05:20):
Okay.
So, so you still got everythinggoing?
Carl Michael (05:23):
yeah.
He still got everything going.
Yeah, he was actually, wheneverI came back down here the second
time, he was in the process oftalking about selling the place
and I don't know, it wasn't somuch that I wanted to take over
and run the whole place.
I kind of put myself in aposition where I was definitely
over working myself and Have agood work home life essentially.
(05:46):
So, yeah, it got offered well.
Yeah, I was trying to get backdown here for probably a year
and then talked to one of my oldfertilizer reps down here And he
said have you ever thought aboutturning wrenches?
Yeah I do have kind of abackground of that as well.
And he said I know somebody It'sprobably gonna be looking for
(06:06):
somebody soon.
So I Got the phone call from himand came back down Well, this
will be the beginning of mythird season here, so
Trent Manning (06:16):
Oh, nice.
Awesome.
So you're enjoying it.
I'll take it.
Carl Michael (06:22):
yeah, it definitely was an interesting
change of pace from Don't know,worrying solely about the grass
all the time to I don't know,back to working in the shop and
kind of trying to fine tune allthe mowers and reteach myself
all the stuff that I've kind offorgot about over the last
couple of years, but
Trent Manning (06:41):
Yeah, no, that's good though.
And I think it's exciting to,
Carl Michael (06:44):
yeah, it's,
Trent Manning (06:45):
learn and new
Carl Michael (06:45):
Exciting new New path to be on, I guess I would
say Much worried aboutfertilizer and all the other
stuff, but trying to dive in andlearn as much as I can about
cutting units and all thisother, everything else to go
along with it.
Trent Manning (07:00):
Yeah.
To go back to the way you and Imet, I don't even remember.
Did I reach out to you or youreach out to me on Twitter?
Carl Michael (07:09):
you reached out to me.
It was, I want to say it wasshortly after your podcast with
Robert Smith from Marion.
Trent Manning (07:18):
Okay.
Carl Michael (07:19):
I grew up with him and he worked at my family's
golf course.
So we've known each other prettymuch our home, our whole life.
So.
Yeah, kind of interesting.
Both of us ended up Text thatgolf courses, but
Trent Manning (07:31):
Yeah.
Carl Michael (07:32):
but yeah, it was shortly after that, I think you
were coming down to meet up withskip and then I came over to the
East coast where you we're atChris's place.
Trent Manning (07:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Johnson.
Yeah.
In September the South Florida,whatever the group with Hass and
all awesome guys down
Carl Michael (07:50):
They've got a good group over there.
Trent Manning (07:51):
Yeah.
Really good group.
Yeah I'm envious that they meetlike every Friday or every other
Friday to talk shop and havesome food and, you know, they
meet for lunch on Friday anddon't know.
I think it's very cool.
But yeah, so you got to come outto that too.
Is first time kind of out?
Carl Michael (08:12):
yeah, meeting some other kind of techs in the
industry Went to a couple eventsaround here, but it seems like
it's primarily superintendentsthat show up to them, so, Yeah,
need to start reaching out andtry to get in touch with some
more guys in the area and kindof build that networking, but
Yeah, I've been so busy tryingto re teach myself, it's been
It's been a little hecticlately.
Trent Manning (08:32):
Right.
There's only so much time in theday
Carl Michael (08:35):
Yeah.
Yep.
Trent Manning (08:36):
to get all that stuff done.
Well, what's your least favoritepart of the job?
Carl Michael (08:44):
Least favorite part I would probably have to
say is the one month of closurewe have in the summertime.
It's not that I hate it.
I I know it from the agronomicsside where I know everything
that needs done and completelyunderstand it, but it's like we
rent so many different pieces ofequipment and we're always
(09:04):
changing mowing heights and it'ssomething new almost every day.
And it's just like a constantbattle of what's going to break
down next for a month straight.
And it's yeah, if I had to picksomething that would probably
probably be a, cause it's, yeah,go in, just waiting for the
first call.
Yeah, this is not workinganymore.
And it's usually machines thatI've never never worked on
(09:27):
before.
They just show up a week before.
And Like, all right, what whatdid this guy do?
Trent Manning (09:31):
Right, right, right.
Yeah, this When does that start?
Is it
Carl Michael (09:36):
It's typically, I think this year it's the whole
month of January.
Trent Manning (09:42):
Oh, okay.
Carl Michael (09:43):
yeah, so we've split it up in years past, but I
think we have like four or fiveweeks straight this year.
So,
Trent Manning (09:50):
Oh, all right.
Carl Michael (09:50):
finally got it combined together where we don't
have to kind of bounceverification back and forth.
We can just do everythingstraight through and not have to
worry about opening back up forplay again.
Trent Manning (10:01):
Okay.
So you got all that behind youfor this.
year.
Nice.
Carl Michael (10:06):
yes, behind us and coming up in a couple more
months.
Trent Manning (10:10):
Okay.
Do it.
Do, it again.
Yeah, that's why I was thinkinga lot of the courses close in
the summertime
Carl Michael (10:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we're July.
Did I say January?
Trent Manning (10:21):
Yeah, you said
Carl Michael (10:22):
Oh, I'm sorry.
I meant July.
Trent Manning (10:24):
Okay, alright.
Yeah, nah, it's all good.
Carl Michael (10:28):
Yeah.
July.
So yeah.
Whole month of July for aboutfour or five weeks.
And yeah.
Then open back up right beforeall the snowbirds come down
again.
Trent Manning (10:36):
Yeah.
When I was down there inSeptember, a lot of them were,
yeah, getting ready to start theseason.
And I don't, I mean, that justkind of blew my mind because
it's the exact opposite and I'monly, you know, I'm not that
much further north than y'allare,
Carl Michael (10:52):
Yeah.
It's
Trent Manning (10:52):
Far enough.
Yes,
Carl Michael (10:54):
where you still get to enjoy the seasons.
Trent Manning (10:56):
Yep.
Yeah.
I keep hearing about Florida.
There's two seasons.
It's hot and really hot.
Or if you want to put some Xclip in there, you could.
Carl Michael (11:09):
Yes, it gets very hot.
And yeah, don't mind it toomuch, but man, it seems like it
lasts once it gets here.
Trent Manning (11:15):
Well, what is your favorite tool?
Carl Michael (11:18):
Favorite tool I would have to say is 90 degree
quarter inch snap on ratchetthat I got
Trent Manning (11:26):
Oh, yeah.
huh.
Carl Michael (11:28):
I don't know why, but it seems like almost every
day of the week I'm using thatthing for something.
It's so handy.
And yeah.
First thing I bought off thesnap on truck when he came in
and it's kind of became mylittle little baby.
Trent Manning (11:39):
Nice.
Yeah.
No, I have one, and I absolutelylove it.
It one of my favorite tools, forsure.
And I use it a lot taking DPAsapart.
So Spin out the pivot bolts.
Carl Michael (11:53):
It works perfect for that.
Trent Manning (11:54):
Yeah.
Quick and easy and just zip'emright out don't tell anybody.
But I install'em with that thingtoo.
Carl Michael (12:02):
Ooh.
Okay.
I still do it by hand, but
Trent Manning (12:05):
Yep.
I'm I like, I live on the edge.
Carl Michael (12:08):
I gotcha.
Trent Manning (12:08):
like pushing the envelope yeah.
I, you know, I don't know.
I'm not going to say, you know,I would never say there's
anything wrong with torquing it,but I don't, you know, I hadn't
seen a need to do that.
Yeah,
Carl Michael (12:23):
much power where I think you're going to over
torque it or strip anything out.
So it's probably almost theperfect tool for if you're going
to power it in, go
Trent Manning (12:30):
Yep.
Yep.
I'm one of those, yeah, do as I
Carl Michael (12:36):
Not as I do.
Yep I understand that one
Trent Manning (12:38):
Yep.
I don't, but there is, I dothink there's some, you know,
some stuff you learn over theyears with experience on being
able to feather the trigger, youknow, and you don't down and
yeah there, there's something tothat.
Carl Michael (12:54):
Yeah, I agree.
Trent Manning (12:55):
you were talking about your work life balance.
What do you do to relax and findyour balance?
Carl Michael (13:04):
Right now, I am struggling trying to do that.
My son is in two baseballleagues right now, so it seems
like five or six days a weekwe're at the baseball field.
I don't know.
I enjoy golfing.
I try to get out whenever I can.
It's just yeah, probably thelast thing I want to do whenever
I leave the shop is go out andlook at the golf course again.
And I still kind of have thatsuperintendent mentality where
(13:26):
I'm looking at everything that'swrong out on the property.
And Don't really enjoy myselftoo much, but I don't know
living so close to the water aswe do down here I've got five
fishing poles in the garage andI keep telling myself I need to
grab one of them and get outthere and try to put that back
into my Weekend routine orsomething like that.
(13:47):
But aside from that My weekend'soff.
I'm a big pellet grill smokerguy So
Trent Manning (13:54):
Oh,
Carl Michael (13:55):
typically have that thing running non stop on
the four or five days a weekendor a week.
Trent Manning (14:00):
Okay.
Yeah.
That's sweet.
Yeah, like, you got anyspecialties or anything?
Your favorite ones to do?
Carl Michael (14:07):
Honestly, my favorite one.
I picked it up from one of thoseBrazilian steakhouses.
The picanha it's a top sirloincap.
It's a top sirloin, but it stillhas a big fat cap on the top of
it, but you can slow mo slowsmoke that thing.
Probably three or four hours.
Man, one of the juiciest piecesof meat you'll ever get and
really cheap as well to cook.
(14:28):
So you can pick the thing up for30 bucks and feed probably six
or seven people.
Trent Manning (14:33):
Oh, nice.
Yeah.
Carl Michael (14:35):
That's probably one of my favorites, but,
Trent Manning (14:37):
Okay.
Yeah.
No, that's a good one.
Have you heard of Malcolm Reed?
Carl Michael (14:42):
I have not.
Trent Manning (14:43):
All right check out how to barbecue right dot
com.
All right.
And so Malcolm Reed, he's a, hewas, I guess, still is a
competition barbecue guy.
And he's become really famousover the years.
A friend of mine turned me on tohim.
It was probably seven, eightyears ago now.
(15:06):
but anyway, he's got some reallygood recipes.
And, you know, he's got YouTubevideos, and he sells his own
rubs, and you know, all stufftoo.
But yeah, no, it's He's, he ismy go to if I'm gonna cook
pretty much any kind of meat.
I check out his recipe first.
Carl Michael (15:24):
Yeah.
My guy's usually you know, MattPittman, he has the meat church,
Trent Manning (15:28):
No yeah
Carl Michael (15:29):
yeah, he's always kind of my go to for seasonings
and recipes and stuff like that,but yeah, I'll have to check out
Malcolm, see see what he's gotto offer.
Trent Manning (15:37):
Yeah, I've been smoking a turkey for I don't
like the last seven yearsprobably
Carl Michael (15:43):
Okay,
Trent Manning (15:44):
It's Malcolm Reed's recipe, you know, LeBron
and you know everything
Carl Michael (15:49):
all right, do you spatchcock or do you cook it
whole?
Trent Manning (15:52):
Now I've been cooking at home.
Carl Michael (15:53):
Okay, I've I've started spatchcocking in the
last two or three years and man,is it comes out so nice and even
the whole way across.
Trent Manning (16:00):
Want to do that, but I can't pronounce it it's
like I could How could I do thatif I can't even
Carl Michael (16:08):
I, I understand.
Trent Manning (16:10):
So that's where I'm at.
Well, what's been one of yourbiggest challenges?
Carl Michael (16:17):
I would say probably, well, two.
I mean, just the transition frombeing a superintendent for so
long, switching back to thetechnician side of everything.
It's definitely been a littlebit of a learning curve and
weird when I first started, notrunning out to grab a hose when
it's 100 degrees out and gosyringe greens and stuff, but
but yeah, now that I've kind ofgot that tamed down and focused
(16:41):
majority of my time in the shopand focusing on machines I would
say the transition between likecool season and warm season
grass is
Trent Manning (16:48):
Oh yeah.
Carl Michael (16:49):
yeah, I used to help the mechanic in my dad's
shop set up all the mowers andstuff like that and do the
grinding and stuff up there aswell, so.
I mean, we would grindeverything in the winter and
then maybe have to hit it onceor twice during the season and
really don't have to worry muchmore about that, but got 365
down here.
It has been one heck of alearning curve trying to, I
(17:13):
don't know, schedule everythingand.
Keep on top of everything andfiguring out how soon it needs
reground or I don't know, justthe general preventative
maintenance on stuff.
Cause I mean, every machine'sgoing out almost every other
day.
Those hours man, do they rack upquick, but yeah, I would say
that's probably been the biggestdifficulty with the transition
(17:37):
between everything is trying tokind of set some type of program
up where I can kind of settle upwhere I know when things need
sharpened.
And of course, then we go outand do a heavy top dressing and
it throws a big wrench ineverything.
So.
Trent Manning (17:53):
Right, right, right, right.
Yeah, no it's it's a grindliterally.
Right.
It's a grind.
Keeping it all going.
Do you have help in the shop?
Carl Michael (18:02):
Yeah.
Have have another mechanic inthere with me.
I'm actually very fortunate.
He was the original technicianhere when the golf course opened
back in 2006 and we stillconnected.
Oh, there we go.
Trent Manning (18:15):
Yeah, we had a little glitch there.
Carl Michael (18:17):
Okay.
But yeah, he was the originaltechnician.
He was here for 20 years andthen left for a year to go with
the previous superintendent upto the new course.
He took over up the road Tiredof making the drive and, When we
had an opening, he he came back.
So he's been kind of teaching meall the tips and tricks that
(18:37):
he's learned over the last 20years at the property.
And he's got all the backgroundknowledge of everything and
pretty much
Trent Manning (18:44):
that's super
Carl Michael (18:45):
yeah, almost an identical fleet since they
opened up.
So he's a lot more familiar witha lot of the machines and I've
been, so.
Trent Manning (18:52):
No, that's awesome.
Carl Michael (18:53):
Yeah, it's been great working with him.
So
Trent Manning (18:57):
Well, it kind of leads us into, do you have a
mentor in the industry?
Is he helping mentor you alittle bit?
Carl Michael (19:03):
Yeah, I would say he's definitely helping mentor
me in this portion of it I meanprior to that I would say my dad
and The mechanic that was at hisgolf course he was, he's
probably one of the brightestguys I've ever met.
I mean, he looks at somethingand I don't know, he'll figure
it out within a week or figureout an easier way to do it.
(19:26):
Think when I first startedgrinding reels, I liked 14 or
15.
We had one of the original Foleygrinders, the old ones on the
stands where you had to handcrank everything back and forth.
Trent Manning (19:37):
Yeah.
Okay.
Carl Michael (19:38):
I forget how old the thing was, but within one
season he had relays hooked upon that with different cables
and some type of weight systemwhere it would automatically
drop down to the next reel.
And
Trent Manning (19:48):
Oh, wow.
so cool.
Carl Michael (19:50):
I'm not staying here all winter grinding reels.
And he came up with that.
It was and now that I look backon it, I'm like, man, that, that
was way before it's time.
Trent Manning (19:59):
No, that is awesome.
Yeah very cool.
Carl Michael (20:02):
Yeah, I'd say, I don't know, between my dad and
him, they've probably been thebest through my youth kind of
teaching me my work ethic andall the basics that I've
learned.
But Yeah, Gene's been definitelya great help lately helping with
the transition at more of a highend club where Things are a
little bit more particular andfine tuned man.
Trent Manning (20:23):
yep.
No, that's good stuff.
What's the strangest thingyou've seen?
Ha,
Carl Michael (20:30):
That's a loaded question there.
I mean,
Trent Manning (20:32):
ha.
We got plenty of
Carl Michael (20:34):
yeah, I've seen a bunch over the years.
I mean, my dad's course wasright.
The river wrapped the entire wayaround the property.
So about every two or threeyears, there'd be a major flood
across it.
So, I mean, I remember the oneyear there being.
Three or four pepsi machinesfloating down the 6th fairway
from the baseball fields fivemiles up the road that flooded.
Trent Manning (20:57):
That is cool.
Or not cool, I guess,
Carl Michael (21:00):
yeah, it all depends.
Trent Manning (21:01):
Yeah, something you don't see every day for
Carl Michael (21:03):
no, I definitely don't see that every day, but I
mean, aside from sand prosfloating in ponds or actually I
had, what was it, the roughmower up at my dad's place.
He was notorious for breakingabout everything he touched.
But I remember looking acrossthe property the one day and all
I could see was the biggestcloud of smoke possibly coming
(21:26):
off the top of that thing.
I went running up there.
He was on an old 580D.
He
Trent Manning (21:33):
Oh,
Carl Michael (21:33):
over, yeah, ran over a giant giant limb, had two
of the blades locked up, smokingthe belt like crazy.
And somehow busted the fuel linethat was shooting straight on
the on the exhaust so there wasjust smoke rolling everywhere
and he had not a clue whatsoeverthat anything was wrong just out
there cruising along thinkinghe's mowing grass while half the
(21:55):
mowers about ready to catch onfire
Trent Manning (21:58):
Well, I'm sorry to ask this, but is your dad
that guy?
No.
Okay.
All right.
All
Carl Michael (22:04):
usually pretty good on most machines if he does
break it he'll be the one to fixit
Trent Manning (22:09):
Okay.
All right.
That's all
Carl Michael (22:11):
he's the guy he's had Moe and Ruff for him for the
last five years man, he he is Iguess Murphy's Law.
As soon as he touches it,something's gonna break.
Trent Manning (22:19):
Yep.
I don't know.
And I don't think it's, youknow, an intentional, just some
people have really bad luck when
Carl Michael (22:26):
Yeah, they have a way of making stuff stuff
happen.
Trent Manning (22:29):
Yep.
Well, what would be your dreamjob or opportunity?
Carl Michael (22:36):
I'm really not sure at this point right now.
I mean, I'm extremely happy atThe place I'm at now I talked to
my wife years ago.
If I would ever try somethingdifferent, I always thought
about maybe doing something outon the water related, like, I
don't know, I'm not a goodfisherman, but maybe running, I
don't know, sightseeing cruiseor something like that, I'd.
(22:56):
I don't know, I've alwaysenjoyed being out boating and
stuff like that but now, as ofright now I'm really loving the
position I'm in, and I don'tknow, it's a good new adventure
to be on, and I'm kind oflooking forward to see where it
Trent Manning (23:09):
Well, I think you got in at a good time because,
Carl Michael (23:12):
so.
It it seemed like a good time tomake a transition if something
was going to happen.
Trent Manning (23:17):
Yeah, and I don't, I mean, you know, the
more I do this and interview anddifferent people, I just keep
hearing more and more storiesabout people coming from the
superintendent side over to themechanic side and why not,
Carl Michael (23:30):
Yeah, I mean, it's I don't know.
It seems like a better balancefor me.
And I don't know.
I'm not having nightmares aboutthe grass 24 7 like I used to.
Or more or less, I don't know, anightmare about a hydraulic
line.
But
Trent Manning (23:42):
but right
Carl Michael (23:42):
that's an easier one to check than yeah,
something else like that.
But no, I'm pretty happy withthe change.
Yep.
Trent Manning (23:51):
when I had David flowers on, he said that, you
know, superintendent has to lookat the grass and say, okay, I
think it's this, I'm going tospray that.
And then I'm going to give itseven days and see what it looks
like.
You know, at least with ahydraulic line, you can say,
okay, this line is busted.
I'm going to replace that lineand then go about your day.
Carl Michael (24:11):
Yeah, until it comes to some crazy electrical
thing, it's a lot easier todiagnose.
Trent Manning (24:17):
For sure.
Do you have a technician youwould like to work with for a
day?
Carl Michael (24:21):
I don't know.
I mean, after meeting some ofthose guys over on the east
coast I probably wouldn't mindgoing over and maybe spending a
day with Haas or Chris orsomebody over there.
Trent Manning (24:29):
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Carl Michael (24:31):
Yeah, it seems like they're all pretty good
guys.
I do, I am lucky enough.
Robert Smith has some familydown here in this area.
So about every other year theycome on a vacation down here and
he usually gets bored and asksif he can come by the shop for a
day or something like
Trent Manning (24:44):
Oh, nice.
Carl Michael (24:45):
Nice picking his brain about different stuff.
Cause even though we workedtogether for, I don't know, six,
seven years, something likethat, it's, he jumped straight
into the technician side ofthings and the amount of stuff
he's picked up over the yearsversus Where we kind of
separated it just baffles me ofyeah all the stuff.
He's kind of picked up.
So
Trent Manning (25:06):
No, that's cool.
That's super cool.
Yeah, I don't, I was talking tosomebody.
Trying to remember who it was.
Maybe Mike Elliott.
But they were talking aboutRobert.
milling his own bed bars.
Like he had a milling machineand
Carl Michael (25:22):
Yeah, he's got a milling machine up there and
Yeah, we've went over a coupledifferent stuff and it's very
interesting some of the stuff hegets into
Trent Manning (25:29):
Yeah, no, that's cool.
That's you know, with this job,if, and don't get me wrong, I
was guilty of one in my youngeryears.
I got bored with it.
But it was cause I was young andI didn't know better, but
there's no reason to ever getbored
Carl Michael (25:47):
Now there's so many different things you can do
and come up with it's
Trent Manning (25:51):
you can go all kind of different directions.
Carl Michael (25:53):
yeah, get bored.
Try to make something
Trent Manning (25:55):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Well, what do you know now?
You wish you'd known on day one.
Yeah,
Carl Michael (26:06):
college years, I wish I would've been a little
bit more studious.
Definitely once I got away fromthe home life and got some
freedom up at college, Iprobably wasn't the best student
and took advantage of a lot ofgood education that was right
there in front of me.
So.
Yeah I would say that's probablythe biggest thing I wish if I
could do it over again pay a lotmore attention and, I don't
(26:28):
know, pick up a lot of thelittle things that you kind of
take for granted that's right infront of you and you don't
realize you're gonna need itdown the road.
Yeah.
Trent Manning (26:37):
Just all part of growing up, I
Carl Michael (26:39):
Oh,
Trent Manning (26:40):
yeah, there's Maybe not everybody's guilty of
that, but I definitely know wasguilty of it too.
Carl Michael (26:46):
yep.
Trent Manning (26:47):
Yeah it's tough for sure.
Well, do you have that person onyour crew?
How do you deal with thatperson?
Carl Michael (26:55):
I do, and I'm still trying to figure that out.
Trent Manning (27:01):
Okay.
Carl Michael (27:02):
I mean, I, typically I go in every morning,
open up the shop, and I try tobe real formal with all the
guys, get to know them on a, Idon't know, a pretty good basis
where they're all real friendlyand not afraid to come over to
the mechanics side if there's a,if there's an issue with
something, but But yeah, I can,you can typically tell kind of
by the personality of whichone's going to be up front with
(27:24):
you and you know, they're goingto kind of take care of the
equipment and the other onesthat just yeah, you wait for the
next thing to break down.
And I'd still, I don't know.
I've always kind of had thethree strike rule, but I don't
know.
It's, everything's a little bitdifferent.
I mean, from up north, yeah, itwas it's a whole different kind
(27:45):
of, I don't know, environmentthan down here, so, yeah, 90
percent of our crew all speakSpanish, so it's a little harder
to say don't do that or try toteach them the right way to do
it, but usually whenever theycome in and there's an issue
with something, I try to go overeverything, tell them what the
issue might be, but yeah, Idon't know there's always that
(28:07):
one guy that you can't quitefigure out how to get through to
him sometimes.
Trent Manning (28:12):
yeah, and I don't, yeah, I don't know
Carl Michael (28:14):
I don't know what the correct answer is for that,
but
Trent Manning (28:16):
yeah, no, I don't, I got, I think it depends
on the situation and the personor persons that are involved.
Yeah.
With the what the correct answeris, or if there even is a
correct answer, I don't know.
Carl Michael (28:32):
Yeah I'm not quite sure, but I, if somebody finds
the the golden golden rule ofhow to do it please let me know.
Trent Manning (28:38):
Yeah.
Well, I do remember this storyabout training and I do think a
lot of it does go back toindividuals not being trained
properly, you know, from the getgo And I mean, we're all guilty
of it, you know, and I talkabout training a lot and, you
know, we don't train very much,
Carl Michael (29:00):
yeah, I agree.
It's,
Trent Manning (29:02):
talk about it, everybody knows you need to do
it and then you don't, but.
Carl Michael (29:05):
yeah, show up once you learn the golf course.
All right, here's a mower.
Go try this.
Yeah.
Training, I think is definitelyprobably one of the biggest
biggest things, but.
Yeah, it's such a fast pacedenvironment.
It's a little tricky to makesure you stay on top of that and
train and retrain as much as youcan.
Trent Manning (29:22):
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, it's a challenge for sure.
Get ready for tips and tricks.
Well, what kind of tips andtricks you got you want to share
with us?
Carl Michael (29:34):
I have one.
I don't know if anybody's eversaid it before, how much science
there is behind this.
I had a salesman tell me thisyears ago, but after you put
down or after you plan on doinga top dressing, spray your
wedding agent right behind it.
I don't know if you've evernoticed in the past after you do
your wetting agent, youtypically don't have any dew
formation for the next coupledays on your greens.
(29:56):
I don't know, the guy told me ifyou spray wetting agent on top
of it, it takes the positivecharge off of the sand
particles.
And your mowers won't pick it upnearly as much the next day.
So I, I don't know if there'sany truth to that, but I've been
trying that for the last coupleof years and from doing it to
(30:17):
not doing it, it seems likethere's a pretty substantial
difference how much sand to pickup the following day versus not
doing that.
Trent Manning (30:26):
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, that's awesome.
We do the same thing here and Idon't know.
I think somebody did do researchon it, but I don't know where
the research is.
Carl Michael (30:38):
An old superintendent that I've known
for, or he's been in theindustry for like 30, 40 years.
I said that to him a couple ofyears ago.
And.
He thought it was the greatestthing he's ever heard.
Trent Manning (30:47):
I really, okay.
Carl Michael (30:48):
Like, maybe other people don't know about this.
Trent Manning (30:50):
No, that's cool.
I mean, yeah And it's funny.
Yeah.
Everybody listening to thepodcast is going to go to their
superintendent and say, allright, now we're swearing
wedding agent.
Whenever we top dress, See howthat goes over.
But yeah, leave us some commentsor send me an email.
Let me know if you're doing thatat your course and if it's
(31:11):
helping you out.
No, that's good stuff.
Carl Michael (31:13):
Yeah, that's that's about the only tip or
trick I could really reallythink of.
Trent Manning (31:18):
Okay.
Yeah, no, that's a good one.
Well, let's talk about the firstshot program instead of the
first tee.
It's going to be the first shot.
Yeah, you sent me under in ouremail correspondence back and
forth.
We were we were talking aboutthis a little bit and you were
asking if GCSA does anything.
Carl Michael (31:38):
Yeah.
Trent Manning (31:39):
the question?
Carl Michael (31:40):
Well, it was more or less, I know within the last
couple of years, GCSA hasstarted the first green program
to try to bring more, I guess,younger people into the
superintendent side of thebusiness and everything like
that.
But I didn't know if there hadbeen any talk or anything of
that nature of maybe doing like,offset thing of like the first
shop program where I don't know,maybe you take the kids from the
(32:04):
Votex or ones that are in theautomotive.
or something like that and takethem over to the shop for a day
and show them what we do on ourside.
It's, I don't know, a differentway to maybe try to bring some
more youth into this this sideof the business.
Trent Manning (32:19):
Yeah, I think it's an excellent idea.
I think they're maybe doing alittle something with the first
screen, you know, with somemechanics or not, you know, some
mechanics, but a mechanic youknow, have like a little set up.
they're touring around, youknow, the maintenance facility.
(32:40):
But I've just heard talk aboutit.
I don't know any
Carl Michael (32:43):
okay.
Yeah, I think it'd definitely bea,
Trent Manning (32:45):
details.
Yeah,
Carl Michael (32:50):
hour hour something add on.
You could probably easily do ashop walkthrough, show my grind
reels, and work on differentmowers and stuff like that,
instead of I don't know, doingPERT tests and learning how a
stint meter works.
But,
Trent Manning (33:02):
yeah.
Carl Michael (33:03):
yeah, just I don't know, might be a different
alternative since seems like,GCSA's starting to, I don't
know, push a lot more stuff withthe equipment manager side of
things now.
So.
Trent Manning (33:17):
Well, we got a new executive director here in
Georgia, Tim Busick, and he sentme a text the other day, and I
don't know, it's one of thelocal high schools around here.
That he's working with andthey're going to try to get a
technician mechanic thingstarted.
(33:38):
And he was talking to me and acouple other guys about maybe
going over there and talking tosome students.
you know, as part of, I thinkit's part of the shop class, you
know, like an automotive typeclass, you know, and talking to
those students.
I know personally around.
My area here, you know, usedlike when I was in high school,
(34:01):
all the high schools in mycounty had an automotive class
And construction class and allthat stuff.
And now same county there, Ithink there's only one high
school out of six high schoolsoffer that.
And, yeah, I mean, Atlanta keepsgetting bigger and, you know,
(34:22):
people are not as interested inthat
Carl Michael (34:25):
it's kind of the same thing down here.
It keeps growing and growing,and yeah, we've just been going
through middle school with myson, and yeah, everything's more
computer based now, and not somuch I don't know, I think when
I was in 8th, 9th grade, I hadthe full option to go work, on
engines and stuff all the timeor work in the But yeah, it's
not so much.
So much of a thing anymore.
It doesn't seem like
Trent Manning (34:46):
No, it doesn't.
I do think a lot of theeducation for young people, you
know, everybody wants to pushthem to college.
Carl Michael (34:56):
yeah college and
Trent Manning (34:57):
you know, and there's nothing wrong with going
to college, but, There's onlyabout 25 percent of the jobs you
need a college degree for
Carl Michael (35:06):
at some point you still need the the hands on
people doing all the the workout there.
Trent Manning (35:11):
right?
Well, I mean, it's just like,caddy shacks is the world needs
ditch diggers too.
And you know, I mean, nobodywants to do it, but it is the
truth.
Carl Michael (35:20):
Yeah, I agree completely.
Trent Manning (35:22):
Yup.
Anything else you want to talkabout anything else on your
mind?
Carl Michael (35:28):
I mean, no, nothing I can really think of
off the top of my head.
Trent Manning (35:32):
Okay.
Well, let's do some rapid fire.
Carl Michael (35:35):
All right, sounds good.
Trent Manning (35:42):
What's your favorite movie?
Carl Michael (35:44):
I would have to say the Boondock Saints.
Trent Manning (35:47):
Oh, okay.
Yeah, that's a good
Carl Michael (35:49):
it's been one of my go tos whenever I'm looking
for something to rewatch again.
And yeah, it just, it's got alittle good mix of everything.
The action, good storyline, somecomedy in the middle of
Trent Manning (36:00):
Okay.
Yeah.
No, that's good.
And you said rewatch and it mademe think have you ever listened
to the podcast rewatchables?
Carl Michael (36:08):
I have not.
Trent Manning (36:09):
It's a really good podcast and that's what
they do.
They go over different movies,mean, all the classic movies are
in there and really get deepdive into the movies.
Cool podcast.
Carl Michael (36:21):
to check that out.
Trent Manning (36:22):
What would be your last meal?
Carl Michael (36:24):
I would have to say probably a tomahawk steak.
Smothered in mushrooms andonions.
You know, side of asparagus orbrussels sprouts on the side.
Trent Manning (36:36):
Okay.
Any certain restaurant?
Are you cooking it yourself?
Carl Michael (36:41):
I don't know.
I might cook it myself.
Trent Manning (36:43):
Yeah,
Carl Michael (36:43):
I've grown quite fond of my my steaks.
Trent Manning (36:47):
I don't blame you one bit.
Yeah, and I don't, I struggledto go to a restaurant and spend
a lot of money for a steak andthink, I believe I could have
done better than this at home.
Carl Michael (36:58):
I would say if it would be a restaurant the New
York Casino out in Vegas there'sa restaurant there called
Gallagher's, but they have a, Iwant to say it's like a 28 day
dry aged steak.
Trent Manning (37:11):
Oh
Carl Michael (37:12):
that's probably the only one I would pick that
I've had
Trent Manning (37:16):
Okay.
Nice.
Carl Michael (37:17):
kind of, I fell in love with.
Yeah.
Trent Manning (37:21):
Very cool.
Do you do any dry aging or wetaging or any of
Carl Michael (37:25):
I've tried it in the past.
I don't know.
I've tried dry aging.
It's, I'm still back and forthwith trusting myself to do it
because you almost have to waittill it grows all that mold and
stuff on the outside.
And I don't know, I'm still alittle skeptical of How much I
trust myself trimming all thatoff and not poisoning myself in
the same process.
Trent Manning (37:44):
Right, right, right, right.
Yeah.
I hadn't dove into that.
And doubt I will leave theprofessionals.
Right.
Carl Michael (37:51):
Yeah, I would say so.
Trent Manning (37:52):
What are you most proud of besides your family?
Carl Michael (37:55):
I would almost have to say maybe just in, I
don't know, taking a newadventure and going a different
direction, making kind of a nonanticipated life change and, I
don't know, switching careers,switching states again and
moving back down to Florida.
Kind of starting all over fromscratch, but I don't know, kind
(38:19):
of taking the jump and making itwork.
Trent Manning (38:22):
Yeah.
No, that is awesome.
Yeah.
'cause it takes, I mean, that's,you're, you know, you're putting
a lot on the line Right.
Carl Michael (38:28):
Oh yeah yeah, when I told my wife, like, yeah,
we're gonna move down here andI'm gonna do something I haven't
done in 15 years.
Like, yeah, we're gonna stay inPennsylvania for six months.
Let us know what you think.
Trent Manning (38:38):
Huh.
Oh, ha So they did, they stayedin
Carl Michael (38:41):
Yeah, so I started in January down here, what,
three years ago, but my wife's aschool teacher, so she wanted to
finish out the teaching year upthere, and it kind of worked out
pretty well.
Gave me a chance to get my feetwet with everything.
Made sure it was going to be agood fit before we packed
everything up and move the otherside of the country again.
Trent Manning (39:01):
Yeah, okay, awesome.
Carl Michael (39:02):
But yeah,
Trent Manning (39:03):
Yeah, no, that's awesome.
Well, very good.
Thank you for coming on.
I appreciate it for sure.
Carl Michael (39:09):
thank you for having me.
Trent Manning (39:10):
Yup.
Tell the listeners how they canget ahold of you.
Carl Michael (39:13):
So
Trent Manning (39:14):
Got an email.
Carl Michael (39:16):
yeah, email is cmichael114 at gmail.
com and my Twitter or X iscmichael114.
Trent Manning (39:26):
okay.
Very cool.
Carl Michael (39:28):
my dirt bike racing number over all these
years.
Hey,
Trent Manning (39:31):
Oh, nice.
Alright.
Well, yeah, look.
I mean, we didn't even talkabout dirt bikes.
Dang.
Carl Michael (39:36):
even think about it.
Trent Manning (39:36):
here.
Yeah.
That's I'm sure some of thelisteners grew up on dirt bikes
too.
Carl Michael (39:43):
Oh, yeah, that was kind of the other back into
getting mechanical.
I started racing at probablynine, 10 years old.
And so my, I think I sold mylast bike about 10 years ago.
So yeah, it was probably a good15 years of racing and yeah,
doing all the wrenching andstuff on that.
And finally, one good injury andrealized I'm too old for this.
Trent Manning (40:04):
Yeah.
Yeah, we got to grow upsometime, right?
Carl Michael (40:08):
Yep.
Yeah.
It's a lot easier when you haveto, didn't have to pay the bills
and
Trent Manning (40:12):
Yeah, right.
Carl Michael (40:13):
broken leg, but
Trent Manning (40:14):
For sure.
Well, thanks again.
I appreciate you being on andwe'll talk soon.
Carl Michael (40:21):
All right.
Well, sounds good, Trent.
Trent Manning (40:27):
thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf
techs podcast.
I hope you learned somethingtoday.
Don't forget to subscribe.
If you have any topics you'dlike to discuss, or you'd like
to be a guest, find us onTwitter at Reel turf techs.
Welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the
technician that wants to getreel follow along.
As we talk to industryprofessionals and address hot
topics that we all face alongthe way we'll learn tips and
tricks.
I'm your host, Trent.
Manning let's have some 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
(01:10):
Welcome to The Real Turf TextPodcast, episode 1 39.
Today we're talking to CarlMichael, equipment Manager at
Concession Golf Club inBradington, Florida.
Concession Golf Club is aprivate 18 hole facility with a
nine hole par three course.
Carl has one assistant in theshop.
He's primarily Toro Equipment.
(01:33):
Let's talk to Carl.
Welcome Carl to podcast.
Thanks for coming on.
How are you doing today?
Carl Michael (01:39):
Ah, doing great.
Thanks for having me.
Trent Manning (01:40):
It's it's going to be fun.
Carl Michael (01:42):
Yeah, looking forward to it.
Trent Manning (01:44):
Tell us how you got into the turf industry.
Carl Michael (01:47):
So pretty much I was born into it.
My dad and grandfather, a yearbefore I was born they had a
steel fabrication business up inDetroit area.
We're looking to get out ofthat, and somebody told them
there was a golf course andforeclosure sale down in
Pennsylvania, so They came down,made an offer, and won the bid.
(02:08):
So, yeah, essentially they camedown and decided or figured out
they had to learn how to growgrass, and I was born a year
later on the golf course, andgrew up pretty much knowing
nothing but that, so,
Trent Manning (02:22):
Okay.
Wow.
That's definitely a differentpath than a lot of us get here.
Carl Michael (02:27):
Yeah, I would
Trent Manning (02:28):
Get here.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
So walk me through what all.
What'd you do as a kid and ongrowing up on a golf course and
Carl Michael (02:37):
I kid, I was, kid I was always out playing on the
course I mean, grew up messingaround on golf carts all the
time.
Yeah, I don't know, probably 10years old.
I'm not sure, probably frownedupon nowadays, but I was the
cart kid, washing carts over atthe pro shop and and probably 12
years old.
I think a couple of the guys outon the maintenance crew I went
(02:57):
out to golf with them and theysaid, quit doing that sissy
stuff, come out here and work onthe course with us.
So I think around 12, I starteddoing sand traps and everything
kind of progressed from there.
Trent Manning (03:09):
how'd you end up getting into the shop do out in
the shop or
Carl Michael (03:15):
well, no, I'm more or less I started working with
mechanic out there.
I mean, probably by the age of15, I knew how to run everything
from greens, mower, fairway,mower.
God, we had a great all in ourproperty and I knew how to run
that thing.
So, I mean, yeah, just kind ofworked coming up with working
(03:35):
out on the course and everythingwith my dad and the mechanic and
the rest of the grounds crewtrying to.
Learned everything I could aboutthe course, and then my dad kind
of had a grand plan ofeverything.
So for college, he sent me tothe two year, I guess, turfgrass
mechanics program that they hadup there.
Trent Manning (03:56):
Was that at?
Carl Michael (03:57):
Penn State.
Trent Manning (03:58):
Okay.
All right.
Carl Michael (03:59):
Yeah, it didn't last real long, unfortunately.
It was a very good program, butIt was a turf and ag thing,
covered a little bit of bothsides, but two year certificate
program.
And then I followed up with thetwo year turf grass program
after that.
Trent Manning (04:15):
Okay,
Carl Michael (04:15):
So, he pretty much wanted me to come through and be
able to, I don't know, look atany aspect of the business.
know what to do with it.
So,
Trent Manning (04:24):
right, right, right, right So how did you get
from there to where you're atnow?
Carl Michael (04:30):
So pretty much after I graduated the turf grass
program, I was thesuperintendent there at my dad's
course for about 10 years.
I don't know, it started gettinga little rough and was looking
for a change of scenery.
So, I don't know, my wife and Ihave always loved Florida.
So, got a assistantsuperintendent position job down
(04:51):
in Fort Myers at the ForestCountry Club.
Was there for two years and thenCOVID hit and, I don't know,
dealing with the country club.
It wasn't so much my cup of teawith all the greens committee
boards and stuff like that.
So after COVID hit my dad wasstruggling keeping the place
(05:11):
afloat up there.
So we decided to pack up shopand head back to Pennsylvania
to.
Help him kind of keep everythinggoing.
Trent Manning (05:20):
Okay.
So, so you still got everythinggoing?
Carl Michael (05:23):
yeah.
He still got everything going.
Yeah, he was actually, wheneverI came back down here the second
time, he was in the process oftalking about selling the place
and I don't know, it wasn't somuch that I wanted to take over
and run the whole place.
I kind of put myself in aposition where I was definitely
over working myself and Have agood work home life essentially.
(05:46):
So, yeah, it got offered well.
Yeah, I was trying to get backdown here for probably a year
and then talked to one of my oldfertilizer reps down here And he
said have you ever thought aboutturning wrenches?
Yeah I do have kind of abackground of that as well.
And he said I know somebody It'sprobably gonna be looking for
(06:06):
somebody soon.
So I Got the phone call from himand came back down Well, this
will be the beginning of mythird season here, so
Trent Manning (06:16):
Oh, nice.
Awesome.
So you're enjoying it.
I'll take it.
Carl Michael (06:22):
yeah, it definitely was an interesting
change of pace from Don't know,worrying solely about the grass
all the time to I don't know,back to working in the shop and
kind of trying to fine tune allthe mowers and reteach myself
all the stuff that I've kind offorgot about over the last
couple of years, but
Trent Manning (06:41):
Yeah, no, that's good though.
And I think it's exciting to,
Carl Michael (06:44):
yeah, it's,
Trent Manning (06:45):
learn and new
Carl Michael (06:45):
Exciting new New path to be on, I guess I would
say Much worried aboutfertilizer and all the other
stuff, but trying to dive in andlearn as much as I can about
cutting units and all thisother, everything else to go
along with it.
Trent Manning (07:00):
Yeah.
To go back to the way you and Imet, I don't even remember.
Did I reach out to you or youreach out to me on Twitter?
Carl Michael (07:09):
you reached out to me.
It was, I want to say it wasshortly after your podcast with
Robert Smith from Marion.
Trent Manning (07:18):
Okay.
Carl Michael (07:19):
I grew up with him and he worked at my family's
golf course.
So we've known each other prettymuch our home, our whole life.
So.
Yeah, kind of interesting.
Both of us ended up Text thatgolf courses, but
Trent Manning (07:31):
Yeah.
Carl Michael (07:32):
but yeah, it was shortly after that, I think you
were coming down to meet up withskip and then I came over to the
East coast where you we're atChris's place.
Trent Manning (07:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Johnson.
Yeah.
In September the South Florida,whatever the group with Hass and
all awesome guys down
Carl Michael (07:50):
They've got a good group over there.
Trent Manning (07:51):
Yeah.
Really good group.
Yeah I'm envious that they meetlike every Friday or every other
Friday to talk shop and havesome food and, you know, they
meet for lunch on Friday anddon't know.
I think it's very cool.
But yeah, so you got to come outto that too.
Is first time kind of out?
Carl Michael (08:12):
yeah, meeting some other kind of techs in the
industry Went to a couple eventsaround here, but it seems like
it's primarily superintendentsthat show up to them, so, Yeah,
need to start reaching out andtry to get in touch with some
more guys in the area and kindof build that networking, but
Yeah, I've been so busy tryingto re teach myself, it's been
It's been a little hecticlately.
Trent Manning (08:32):
Right.
There's only so much time in theday
Carl Michael (08:35):
Yeah.
Yep.
Trent Manning (08:36):
to get all that stuff done.
Well, what's your least favoritepart of the job?
Carl Michael (08:44):
Least favorite part I would probably have to
say is the one month of closurewe have in the summertime.
It's not that I hate it.
I I know it from the agronomicsside where I know everything
that needs done and completelyunderstand it, but it's like we
rent so many different pieces ofequipment and we're always
(09:04):
changing mowing heights and it'ssomething new almost every day.
And it's just like a constantbattle of what's going to break
down next for a month straight.
And it's yeah, if I had to picksomething that would probably
probably be a, cause it's, yeah,go in, just waiting for the
first call.
Yeah, this is not workinganymore.
And it's usually machines thatI've never never worked on
(09:27):
before.
They just show up a week before.
And Like, all right, what whatdid this guy do?
Trent Manning (09:31):
Right, right, right.
Yeah, this When does that start?
Is it
Carl Michael (09:36):
It's typically, I think this year it's the whole
month of January.
Trent Manning (09:42):
Oh, okay.
Carl Michael (09:43):
yeah, so we've split it up in years past, but I
think we have like four or fiveweeks straight this year.
So,
Trent Manning (09:50):
Oh, all right.
Carl Michael (09:50):
finally got it combined together where we don't
have to kind of bounceverification back and forth.
We can just do everythingstraight through and not have to
worry about opening back up forplay again.
Trent Manning (10:01):
Okay.
So you got all that behind youfor this.
year.
Nice.
Carl Michael (10:06):
yes, behind us and coming up in a couple more
months.
Trent Manning (10:10):
Okay.
Do it.
Do, it again.
Yeah, that's why I was thinkinga lot of the courses close in
the summertime
Carl Michael (10:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we're July.
Did I say January?
Trent Manning (10:21):
Yeah, you said
Carl Michael (10:22):
Oh, I'm sorry.
I meant July.
Trent Manning (10:24):
Okay, alright.
Yeah, nah, it's all good.
Carl Michael (10:28):
Yeah.
July.
So yeah.
Whole month of July for aboutfour or five weeks.
And yeah.
Then open back up right beforeall the snowbirds come down
again.
Trent Manning (10:36):
Yeah.
When I was down there inSeptember, a lot of them were,
yeah, getting ready to start theseason.
And I don't, I mean, that justkind of blew my mind because
it's the exact opposite and I'monly, you know, I'm not that
much further north than y'allare,
Carl Michael (10:52):
Yeah.
It's
Trent Manning (10:52):
Far enough.
Yes,
Carl Michael (10:54):
where you still get to enjoy the seasons.
Trent Manning (10:56):
Yep.
Yeah.
I keep hearing about Florida.
There's two seasons.
It's hot and really hot.
Or if you want to put some Xclip in there, you could.
Carl Michael (11:09):
Yes, it gets very hot.
And yeah, don't mind it toomuch, but man, it seems like it
lasts once it gets here.
Trent Manning (11:15):
Well, what is your favorite tool?
Carl Michael (11:18):
Favorite tool I would have to say is 90 degree
quarter inch snap on ratchetthat I got
Trent Manning (11:26):
Oh, yeah.
huh.
Carl Michael (11:28):
I don't know why, but it seems like almost every
day of the week I'm using thatthing for something.
It's so handy.
And yeah.
First thing I bought off thesnap on truck when he came in
and it's kind of became mylittle little baby.
Trent Manning (11:39):
Nice.
Yeah.
No, I have one, and I absolutelylove it.
It one of my favorite tools, forsure.
And I use it a lot taking DPAsapart.
So Spin out the pivot bolts.
Carl Michael (11:53):
It works perfect for that.
Trent Manning (11:54):
Yeah.
Quick and easy and just zip'emright out don't tell anybody.
But I install'em with that thingtoo.
Carl Michael (12:02):
Ooh.
Okay.
I still do it by hand, but
Trent Manning (12:05):
Yep.
I'm I like, I live on the edge.
Carl Michael (12:08):
I gotcha.
Trent Manning (12:08):
like pushing the envelope yeah.
I, you know, I don't know.
I'm not going to say, you know,I would never say there's
anything wrong with torquing it,but I don't, you know, I hadn't
seen a need to do that.
Yeah,
Carl Michael (12:23):
much power where I think you're going to over
torque it or strip anything out.
So it's probably almost theperfect tool for if you're going
to power it in, go
Trent Manning (12:30):
Yep.
Yep.
I'm one of those, yeah, do as I
Carl Michael (12:36):
Not as I do.
Yep I understand that one
Trent Manning (12:38):
Yep.
I don't, but there is, I dothink there's some, you know,
some stuff you learn over theyears with experience on being
able to feather the trigger, youknow, and you don't down and
yeah there, there's something tothat.
Carl Michael (12:54):
Yeah, I agree.
Trent Manning (12:55):
you were talking about your work life balance.
What do you do to relax and findyour balance?
Carl Michael (13:04):
Right now, I am struggling trying to do that.
My son is in two baseballleagues right now, so it seems
like five or six days a weekwe're at the baseball field.
I don't know.
I enjoy golfing.
I try to get out whenever I can.
It's just yeah, probably thelast thing I want to do whenever
I leave the shop is go out andlook at the golf course again.
And I still kind of have thatsuperintendent mentality where
(13:26):
I'm looking at everything that'swrong out on the property.
And Don't really enjoy myselftoo much, but I don't know
living so close to the water aswe do down here I've got five
fishing poles in the garage andI keep telling myself I need to
grab one of them and get outthere and try to put that back
into my Weekend routine orsomething like that.
(13:47):
But aside from that My weekend'soff.
I'm a big pellet grill smokerguy So
Trent Manning (13:54):
Oh,
Carl Michael (13:55):
typically have that thing running non stop on
the four or five days a weekendor a week.
Trent Manning (14:00):
Okay.
Yeah.
That's sweet.
Yeah, like, you got anyspecialties or anything?
Your favorite ones to do?
Carl Michael (14:07):
Honestly, my favorite one.
I picked it up from one of thoseBrazilian steakhouses.
The picanha it's a top sirloincap.
It's a top sirloin, but it stillhas a big fat cap on the top of
it, but you can slow mo slowsmoke that thing.
Probably three or four hours.
Man, one of the juiciest piecesof meat you'll ever get and
really cheap as well to cook.
(14:28):
So you can pick the thing up for30 bucks and feed probably six
or seven people.
Trent Manning (14:33):
Oh, nice.
Yeah.
Carl Michael (14:35):
That's probably one of my favorites, but,
Trent Manning (14:37):
Okay.
Yeah.
No, that's a good one.
Have you heard of Malcolm Reed?
Carl Michael (14:42):
I have not.
Trent Manning (14:43):
All right check out how to barbecue right dot
com.
All right.
And so Malcolm Reed, he's a, hewas, I guess, still is a
competition barbecue guy.
And he's become really famousover the years.
A friend of mine turned me on tohim.
It was probably seven, eightyears ago now.
(15:06):
but anyway, he's got some reallygood recipes.
And, you know, he's got YouTubevideos, and he sells his own
rubs, and you know, all stufftoo.
But yeah, no, it's He's, he ismy go to if I'm gonna cook
pretty much any kind of meat.
I check out his recipe first.
Carl Michael (15:24):
Yeah.
My guy's usually you know, MattPittman, he has the meat church,
Trent Manning (15:28):
No yeah
Carl Michael (15:29):
yeah, he's always kind of my go to for seasonings
and recipes and stuff like that,but yeah, I'll have to check out
Malcolm, see see what he's gotto offer.
Trent Manning (15:37):
Yeah, I've been smoking a turkey for I don't
like the last seven yearsprobably
Carl Michael (15:43):
Okay,
Trent Manning (15:44):
It's Malcolm Reed's recipe, you know, LeBron
and you know everything
Carl Michael (15:49):
all right, do you spatchcock or do you cook it
whole?
Trent Manning (15:52):
Now I've been cooking at home.
Carl Michael (15:53):
Okay, I've I've started spatchcocking in the
last two or three years and man,is it comes out so nice and even
the whole way across.
Trent Manning (16:00):
Want to do that, but I can't pronounce it it's
like I could How could I do thatif I can't even
Carl Michael (16:08):
I, I understand.
Trent Manning (16:10):
So that's where I'm at.
Well, what's been one of yourbiggest challenges?
Carl Michael (16:17):
I would say probably, well, two.
I mean, just the transition frombeing a superintendent for so
long, switching back to thetechnician side of everything.
It's definitely been a littlebit of a learning curve and
weird when I first started, notrunning out to grab a hose when
it's 100 degrees out and gosyringe greens and stuff, but
but yeah, now that I've kind ofgot that tamed down and focused
(16:41):
majority of my time in the shopand focusing on machines I would
say the transition between likecool season and warm season
grass is
Trent Manning (16:48):
Oh yeah.
Carl Michael (16:49):
yeah, I used to help the mechanic in my dad's
shop set up all the mowers andstuff like that and do the
grinding and stuff up there aswell, so.
I mean, we would grindeverything in the winter and
then maybe have to hit it onceor twice during the season and
really don't have to worry muchmore about that, but got 365
down here.
It has been one heck of alearning curve trying to, I
(17:13):
don't know, schedule everythingand.
Keep on top of everything andfiguring out how soon it needs
reground or I don't know, justthe general preventative
maintenance on stuff.
Cause I mean, every machine'sgoing out almost every other
day.
Those hours man, do they rack upquick, but yeah, I would say
that's probably been the biggestdifficulty with the transition
(17:37):
between everything is trying tokind of set some type of program
up where I can kind of settle upwhere I know when things need
sharpened.
And of course, then we go outand do a heavy top dressing and
it throws a big wrench ineverything.
So.
Trent Manning (17:53):
Right, right, right, right.
Yeah, no it's it's a grindliterally.
Right.
It's a grind.
Keeping it all going.
Do you have help in the shop?
Carl Michael (18:02):
Yeah.
Have have another mechanic inthere with me.
I'm actually very fortunate.
He was the original technicianhere when the golf course opened
back in 2006 and we stillconnected.
Oh, there we go.
Trent Manning (18:15):
Yeah, we had a little glitch there.
Carl Michael (18:17):
Okay.
But yeah, he was the originaltechnician.
He was here for 20 years andthen left for a year to go with
the previous superintendent upto the new course.
He took over up the road Tiredof making the drive and, When we
had an opening, he he came back.
So he's been kind of teaching meall the tips and tricks that
(18:37):
he's learned over the last 20years at the property.
And he's got all the backgroundknowledge of everything and
pretty much
Trent Manning (18:44):
that's super
Carl Michael (18:45):
yeah, almost an identical fleet since they
opened up.
So he's a lot more familiar witha lot of the machines and I've
been, so.
Trent Manning (18:52):
No, that's awesome.
Carl Michael (18:53):
Yeah, it's been great working with him.
So
Trent Manning (18:57):
Well, it kind of leads us into, do you have a
mentor in the industry?
Is he helping mentor you alittle bit?
Carl Michael (19:03):
Yeah, I would say he's definitely helping mentor
me in this portion of it I meanprior to that I would say my dad
and The mechanic that was at hisgolf course he was, he's
probably one of the brightestguys I've ever met.
I mean, he looks at somethingand I don't know, he'll figure
it out within a week or figureout an easier way to do it.
(19:26):
Think when I first startedgrinding reels, I liked 14 or
15.
We had one of the original Foleygrinders, the old ones on the
stands where you had to handcrank everything back and forth.
Trent Manning (19:37):
Yeah.
Okay.
Carl Michael (19:38):
I forget how old the thing was, but within one
season he had relays hooked upon that with different cables
and some type of weight systemwhere it would automatically
drop down to the next reel.
And
Trent Manning (19:48):
Oh, wow.
so cool.
Carl Michael (19:50):
I'm not staying here all winter grinding reels.
And he came up with that.
It was and now that I look backon it, I'm like, man, that, that
was way before it's time.
Trent Manning (19:59):
No, that is awesome.
Yeah very cool.
Carl Michael (20:02):
Yeah, I'd say, I don't know, between my dad and
him, they've probably been thebest through my youth kind of
teaching me my work ethic andall the basics that I've
learned.
But Yeah, Gene's been definitelya great help lately helping with
the transition at more of a highend club where Things are a
little bit more particular andfine tuned man.
Trent Manning (20:23):
yep.
No, that's good stuff.
What's the strangest thingyou've seen?
Ha,
Carl Michael (20:30):
That's a loaded question there.
I mean,
Trent Manning (20:32):
ha.
We got plenty of
Carl Michael (20:34):
yeah, I've seen a bunch over the years.
I mean, my dad's course wasright.
The river wrapped the entire wayaround the property.
So about every two or threeyears, there'd be a major flood
across it.
So, I mean, I remember the oneyear there being.
Three or four pepsi machinesfloating down the 6th fairway
from the baseball fields fivemiles up the road that flooded.
Trent Manning (20:57):
That is cool.
Or not cool, I guess,
Carl Michael (21:00):
yeah, it all depends.
Trent Manning (21:01):
Yeah, something you don't see every day for
Carl Michael (21:03):
no, I definitely don't see that every day, but I
mean, aside from sand prosfloating in ponds or actually I
had, what was it, the roughmower up at my dad's place.
He was notorious for breakingabout everything he touched.
But I remember looking acrossthe property the one day and all
I could see was the biggestcloud of smoke possibly coming
(21:26):
off the top of that thing.
I went running up there.
He was on an old 580D.
He
Trent Manning (21:33):
Oh,
Carl Michael (21:33):
over, yeah, ran over a giant giant limb, had two
of the blades locked up, smokingthe belt like crazy.
And somehow busted the fuel linethat was shooting straight on
the on the exhaust so there wasjust smoke rolling everywhere
and he had not a clue whatsoeverthat anything was wrong just out
there cruising along thinkinghe's mowing grass while half the
(21:55):
mowers about ready to catch onfire
Trent Manning (21:58):
Well, I'm sorry to ask this, but is your dad
that guy?
No.
Okay.
All right.
All
Carl Michael (22:04):
usually pretty good on most machines if he does
break it he'll be the one to fixit
Trent Manning (22:09):
Okay.
All right.
That's all
Carl Michael (22:11):
he's the guy he's had Moe and Ruff for him for the
last five years man, he he is Iguess Murphy's Law.
As soon as he touches it,something's gonna break.
Trent Manning (22:19):
Yep.
I don't know.
And I don't think it's, youknow, an intentional, just some
people have really bad luck when
Carl Michael (22:26):
Yeah, they have a way of making stuff stuff
happen.
Trent Manning (22:29):
Yep.
Well, what would be your dreamjob or opportunity?
Carl Michael (22:36):
I'm really not sure at this point right now.
I mean, I'm extremely happy atThe place I'm at now I talked to
my wife years ago.
If I would ever try somethingdifferent, I always thought
about maybe doing something outon the water related, like, I
don't know, I'm not a goodfisherman, but maybe running, I
don't know, sightseeing cruiseor something like that, I'd.
(22:56):
I don't know, I've alwaysenjoyed being out boating and
stuff like that but now, as ofright now I'm really loving the
position I'm in, and I don'tknow, it's a good new adventure
to be on, and I'm kind oflooking forward to see where it
Trent Manning (23:09):
Well, I think you got in at a good time because,
Carl Michael (23:12):
so.
It it seemed like a good time tomake a transition if something
was going to happen.
Trent Manning (23:17):
Yeah, and I don't, I mean, you know, the
more I do this and interview anddifferent people, I just keep
hearing more and more storiesabout people coming from the
superintendent side over to themechanic side and why not,
Carl Michael (23:30):
Yeah, I mean, it's I don't know.
It seems like a better balancefor me.
And I don't know.
I'm not having nightmares aboutthe grass 24 7 like I used to.
Or more or less, I don't know, anightmare about a hydraulic
line.
But
Trent Manning (23:42):
but right
Carl Michael (23:42):
that's an easier one to check than yeah,
something else like that.
But no, I'm pretty happy withthe change.
Yep.
Trent Manning (23:51):
when I had David flowers on, he said that, you
know, superintendent has to lookat the grass and say, okay, I
think it's this, I'm going tospray that.
And then I'm going to give itseven days and see what it looks
like.
You know, at least with ahydraulic line, you can say,
okay, this line is busted.
I'm going to replace that lineand then go about your day.
Carl Michael (24:11):
Yeah, until it comes to some crazy electrical
thing, it's a lot easier todiagnose.
Trent Manning (24:17):
For sure.
Do you have a technician youwould like to work with for a
day?
Carl Michael (24:21):
I don't know.
I mean, after meeting some ofthose guys over on the east
coast I probably wouldn't mindgoing over and maybe spending a
day with Haas or Chris orsomebody over there.
Trent Manning (24:29):
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Carl Michael (24:31):
Yeah, it seems like they're all pretty good
guys.
I do, I am lucky enough.
Robert Smith has some familydown here in this area.
So about every other year theycome on a vacation down here and
he usually gets bored and asksif he can come by the shop for a
day or something like
Trent Manning (24:44):
Oh, nice.
Carl Michael (24:45):
Nice picking his brain about different stuff.
Cause even though we workedtogether for, I don't know, six,
seven years, something likethat, it's, he jumped straight
into the technician side ofthings and the amount of stuff
he's picked up over the yearsversus Where we kind of
separated it just baffles me ofyeah all the stuff.
He's kind of picked up.
So
Trent Manning (25:06):
No, that's cool.
That's super cool.
Yeah, I don't, I was talking tosomebody.
Trying to remember who it was.
Maybe Mike Elliott.
But they were talking aboutRobert.
milling his own bed bars.
Like he had a milling machineand
Carl Michael (25:22):
Yeah, he's got a milling machine up there and
Yeah, we've went over a coupledifferent stuff and it's very
interesting some of the stuff hegets into
Trent Manning (25:29):
Yeah, no, that's cool.
That's you know, with this job,if, and don't get me wrong, I
was guilty of one in my youngeryears.
I got bored with it.
But it was cause I was young andI didn't know better, but
there's no reason to ever getbored
Carl Michael (25:47):
Now there's so many different things you can do
and come up with it's
Trent Manning (25:51):
you can go all kind of different directions.
Carl Michael (25:53):
yeah, get bored.
Try to make something
Trent Manning (25:55):
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
Well, what do you know now?
You wish you'd known on day one.
Yeah,
Carl Michael (26:06):
college years, I wish I would've been a little
bit more studious.
Definitely once I got away fromthe home life and got some
freedom up at college, Iprobably wasn't the best student
and took advantage of a lot ofgood education that was right
there in front of me.
So.
Yeah I would say that's probablythe biggest thing I wish if I
could do it over again pay a lotmore attention and, I don't
(26:28):
know, pick up a lot of thelittle things that you kind of
take for granted that's right infront of you and you don't
realize you're gonna need itdown the road.
Yeah.
Trent Manning (26:37):
Just all part of growing up, I
Carl Michael (26:39):
Oh,
Trent Manning (26:40):
yeah, there's Maybe not everybody's guilty of
that, but I definitely know wasguilty of it too.
Carl Michael (26:46):
yep.
Trent Manning (26:47):
Yeah it's tough for sure.
Well, do you have that person onyour crew?
How do you deal with thatperson?
Carl Michael (26:55):
I do, and I'm still trying to figure that out.
Trent Manning (27:01):
Okay.
Carl Michael (27:02):
I mean, I, typically I go in every morning,
open up the shop, and I try tobe real formal with all the
guys, get to know them on a, Idon't know, a pretty good basis
where they're all real friendlyand not afraid to come over to
the mechanics side if there's a,if there's an issue with
something, but But yeah, I can,you can typically tell kind of
by the personality of whichone's going to be up front with
(27:24):
you and you know, they're goingto kind of take care of the
equipment and the other onesthat just yeah, you wait for the
next thing to break down.
And I'd still, I don't know.
I've always kind of had thethree strike rule, but I don't
know.
It's, everything's a little bitdifferent.
I mean, from up north, yeah, itwas it's a whole different kind
(27:45):
of, I don't know, environmentthan down here, so, yeah, 90
percent of our crew all speakSpanish, so it's a little harder
to say don't do that or try toteach them the right way to do
it, but usually whenever theycome in and there's an issue
with something, I try to go overeverything, tell them what the
issue might be, but yeah, Idon't know there's always that
(28:07):
one guy that you can't quitefigure out how to get through to
him sometimes.
Trent Manning (28:12):
yeah, and I don't, yeah, I don't know
Carl Michael (28:14):
I don't know what the correct answer is for that,
but
Trent Manning (28:16):
yeah, no, I don't, I got, I think it depends
on the situation and the personor persons that are involved.
Yeah.
With the what the correct answeris, or if there even is a
correct answer, I don't know.
Carl Michael (28:32):
Yeah I'm not quite sure, but I, if somebody finds
the the golden golden rule ofhow to do it please let me know.
Trent Manning (28:38):
Yeah.
Well, I do remember this storyabout training and I do think a
lot of it does go back toindividuals not being trained
properly, you know, from the getgo And I mean, we're all guilty
of it, you know, and I talkabout training a lot and, you
know, we don't train very much,
Carl Michael (29:00):
yeah, I agree.
It's,
Trent Manning (29:02):
talk about it, everybody knows you need to do
it and then you don't, but.
Carl Michael (29:05):
yeah, show up once you learn the golf course.
All right, here's a mower.
Go try this.
Yeah.
Training, I think is definitelyprobably one of the biggest
biggest things, but.
Yeah, it's such a fast pacedenvironment.
It's a little tricky to makesure you stay on top of that and
train and retrain as much as youcan.
Trent Manning (29:22):
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, it's a challenge for sure.
Get ready for tips and tricks.
Well, what kind of tips andtricks you got you want to share
with us?
Carl Michael (29:34):
I have one.
I don't know if anybody's eversaid it before, how much science
there is behind this.
I had a salesman tell me thisyears ago, but after you put
down or after you plan on doinga top dressing, spray your
wedding agent right behind it.
I don't know if you've evernoticed in the past after you do
your wetting agent, youtypically don't have any dew
formation for the next coupledays on your greens.
(29:56):
I don't know, the guy told me ifyou spray wetting agent on top
of it, it takes the positivecharge off of the sand
particles.
And your mowers won't pick it upnearly as much the next day.
So I, I don't know if there'sany truth to that, but I've been
trying that for the last coupleof years and from doing it to
(30:17):
not doing it, it seems likethere's a pretty substantial
difference how much sand to pickup the following day versus not
doing that.
Trent Manning (30:26):
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, that's awesome.
We do the same thing here and Idon't know.
I think somebody did do researchon it, but I don't know where
the research is.
Carl Michael (30:38):
An old superintendent that I've known
for, or he's been in theindustry for like 30, 40 years.
I said that to him a couple ofyears ago.
And.
He thought it was the greatestthing he's ever heard.
Trent Manning (30:47):
I really, okay.
Carl Michael (30:48):
Like, maybe other people don't know about this.
Trent Manning (30:50):
No, that's cool.
I mean, yeah And it's funny.
Yeah.
Everybody listening to thepodcast is going to go to their
superintendent and say, allright, now we're swearing
wedding agent.
Whenever we top dress, See howthat goes over.
But yeah, leave us some commentsor send me an email.
Let me know if you're doing thatat your course and if it's
(31:11):
helping you out.
No, that's good stuff.
Carl Michael (31:13):
Yeah, that's that's about the only tip or
trick I could really reallythink of.
Trent Manning (31:18):
Okay.
Yeah, no, that's a good one.
Well, let's talk about the firstshot program instead of the
first tee.
It's going to be the first shot.
Yeah, you sent me under in ouremail correspondence back and
forth.
We were we were talking aboutthis a little bit and you were
asking if GCSA does anything.
Carl Michael (31:38):
Yeah.
Trent Manning (31:39):
the question?
Carl Michael (31:40):
Well, it was more or less, I know within the last
couple of years, GCSA hasstarted the first green program
to try to bring more, I guess,younger people into the
superintendent side of thebusiness and everything like
that.
But I didn't know if there hadbeen any talk or anything of
that nature of maybe doing like,offset thing of like the first
shop program where I don't know,maybe you take the kids from the
(32:04):
Votex or ones that are in theautomotive.
or something like that and takethem over to the shop for a day
and show them what we do on ourside.
It's, I don't know, a differentway to maybe try to bring some
more youth into this this sideof the business.
Trent Manning (32:19):
Yeah, I think it's an excellent idea.
I think they're maybe doing alittle something with the first
screen, you know, with somemechanics or not, you know, some
mechanics, but a mechanic youknow, have like a little set up.
they're touring around, youknow, the maintenance facility.
(32:40):
But I've just heard talk aboutit.
I don't know any
Carl Michael (32:43):
okay.
Yeah, I think it'd definitely bea,
Trent Manning (32:45):
details.
Yeah,
Carl Michael (32:50):
hour hour something add on.
You could probably easily do ashop walkthrough, show my grind
reels, and work on differentmowers and stuff like that,
instead of I don't know, doingPERT tests and learning how a
stint meter works.
But,
Trent Manning (33:02):
yeah.
Carl Michael (33:03):
yeah, just I don't know, might be a different
alternative since seems like,GCSA's starting to, I don't
know, push a lot more stuff withthe equipment manager side of
things now.
So.
Trent Manning (33:17):
Well, we got a new executive director here in
Georgia, Tim Busick, and he sentme a text the other day, and I
don't know, it's one of thelocal high schools around here.
That he's working with andthey're going to try to get a
technician mechanic thingstarted.
(33:38):
And he was talking to me and acouple other guys about maybe
going over there and talking tosome students.
you know, as part of, I thinkit's part of the shop class, you
know, like an automotive typeclass, you know, and talking to
those students.
I know personally around.
My area here, you know, usedlike when I was in high school,
(34:01):
all the high schools in mycounty had an automotive class
And construction class and allthat stuff.
And now same county there, Ithink there's only one high
school out of six high schoolsoffer that.
And, yeah, I mean, Atlanta keepsgetting bigger and, you know,
(34:22):
people are not as interested inthat
Carl Michael (34:25):
it's kind of the same thing down here.
It keeps growing and growing,and yeah, we've just been going
through middle school with myson, and yeah, everything's more
computer based now, and not somuch I don't know, I think when
I was in 8th, 9th grade, I hadthe full option to go work, on
engines and stuff all the timeor work in the But yeah, it's
not so much.
So much of a thing anymore.
It doesn't seem like
Trent Manning (34:46):
No, it doesn't.
I do think a lot of theeducation for young people, you
know, everybody wants to pushthem to college.
Carl Michael (34:56):
yeah college and
Trent Manning (34:57):
you know, and there's nothing wrong with going
to college, but, There's onlyabout 25 percent of the jobs you
need a college degree for
Carl Michael (35:06):
at some point you still need the the hands on
people doing all the the workout there.
Trent Manning (35:11):
right?
Well, I mean, it's just like,caddy shacks is the world needs
ditch diggers too.
And you know, I mean, nobodywants to do it, but it is the
truth.
Carl Michael (35:20):
Yeah, I agree completely.
Trent Manning (35:22):
Yup.
Anything else you want to talkabout anything else on your
mind?
Carl Michael (35:28):
I mean, no, nothing I can really think of
off the top of my head.
Trent Manning (35:32):
Okay.
Well, let's do some rapid fire.
Carl Michael (35:35):
All right, sounds good.
Trent Manning (35:42):
What's your favorite movie?
Carl Michael (35:44):
I would have to say the Boondock Saints.
Trent Manning (35:47):
Oh, okay.
Yeah, that's a good
Carl Michael (35:49):
it's been one of my go tos whenever I'm looking
for something to rewatch again.
And yeah, it just, it's got alittle good mix of everything.
The action, good storyline, somecomedy in the middle of
Trent Manning (36:00):
Okay.
Yeah.
No, that's good.
And you said rewatch and it mademe think have you ever listened
to the podcast rewatchables?
Carl Michael (36:08):
I have not.
Trent Manning (36:09):
It's a really good podcast and that's what
they do.
They go over different movies,mean, all the classic movies are
in there and really get deepdive into the movies.
Cool podcast.
Carl Michael (36:21):
to check that out.
Trent Manning (36:22):
What would be your last meal?
Carl Michael (36:24):
I would have to say probably a tomahawk steak.
Smothered in mushrooms andonions.
You know, side of asparagus orbrussels sprouts on the side.
Trent Manning (36:36):
Okay.
Any certain restaurant?
Are you cooking it yourself?
Carl Michael (36:41):
I don't know.
I might cook it myself.
Trent Manning (36:43):
Yeah,
Carl Michael (36:43):
I've grown quite fond of my my steaks.
Trent Manning (36:47):
I don't blame you one bit.
Yeah, and I don't, I struggledto go to a restaurant and spend
a lot of money for a steak andthink, I believe I could have
done better than this at home.
Carl Michael (36:58):
I would say if it would be a restaurant the New
York Casino out in Vegas there'sa restaurant there called
Gallagher's, but they have a, Iwant to say it's like a 28 day
dry aged steak.
Trent Manning (37:11):
Oh
Carl Michael (37:12):
that's probably the only one I would pick that
I've had
Trent Manning (37:16):
Okay.
Nice.
Carl Michael (37:17):
kind of, I fell in love with.
Yeah.
Trent Manning (37:21):
Very cool.
Do you do any dry aging or wetaging or any of
Carl Michael (37:25):
I've tried it in the past.
I don't know.
I've tried dry aging.
It's, I'm still back and forthwith trusting myself to do it
because you almost have to waittill it grows all that mold and
stuff on the outside.
And I don't know, I'm still alittle skeptical of How much I
trust myself trimming all thatoff and not poisoning myself in
the same process.
Trent Manning (37:44):
Right, right, right, right.
Yeah.
I hadn't dove into that.
And doubt I will leave theprofessionals.
Right.
Carl Michael (37:51):
Yeah, I would say so.
Trent Manning (37:52):
What are you most proud of besides your family?
Carl Michael (37:55):
I would almost have to say maybe just in, I
don't know, taking a newadventure and going a different
direction, making kind of a nonanticipated life change and, I
don't know, switching careers,switching states again and
moving back down to Florida.
Kind of starting all over fromscratch, but I don't know, kind
(38:19):
of taking the jump and making itwork.
Trent Manning (38:22):
Yeah.
No, that is awesome.
Yeah.
'cause it takes, I mean, that's,you're, you know, you're putting
a lot on the line Right.
Carl Michael (38:28):
Oh yeah yeah, when I told my wife, like, yeah,
we're gonna move down here andI'm gonna do something I haven't
done in 15 years.
Like, yeah, we're gonna stay inPennsylvania for six months.
Let us know what you think.
Trent Manning (38:38):
Huh.
Oh, ha So they did, they stayedin
Carl Michael (38:41):
Yeah, so I started in January down here, what,
three years ago, but my wife's aschool teacher, so she wanted to
finish out the teaching year upthere, and it kind of worked out
pretty well.
Gave me a chance to get my feetwet with everything.
Made sure it was going to be agood fit before we packed
everything up and move the otherside of the country again.
Trent Manning (39:01):
Yeah, okay, awesome.
Carl Michael (39:02):
But yeah,
Trent Manning (39:03):
Yeah, no, that's awesome.
Well, very good.
Thank you for coming on.
I appreciate it for sure.
Carl Michael (39:09):
thank you for having me.
Trent Manning (39:10):
Yup.
Tell the listeners how they canget ahold of you.
Carl Michael (39:13):
So
Trent Manning (39:14):
Got an email.
Carl Michael (39:16):
yeah, email is cmichael114 at gmail.
com and my Twitter or X iscmichael114.
Trent Manning (39:26):
okay.
Very cool.
Carl Michael (39:28):
my dirt bike racing number over all these
years.
Hey,
Trent Manning (39:31):
Oh, nice.
Alright.
Well, yeah, look.
I mean, we didn't even talkabout dirt bikes.
Dang.
Carl Michael (39:36):
even think about it.
Trent Manning (39:36):
here.
Yeah.
That's I'm sure some of thelisteners grew up on dirt bikes
too.
Carl Michael (39:43):
Oh, yeah, that was kind of the other back into
getting mechanical.
I started racing at probablynine, 10 years old.
And so my, I think I sold mylast bike about 10 years ago.
So yeah, it was probably a good15 years of racing and yeah,
doing all the wrenching andstuff on that.
And finally, one good injury andrealized I'm too old for this.
Trent Manning (40:04):
Yeah.
Yeah, we got to grow upsometime, right?
Carl Michael (40:08):
Yep.
Yeah.
It's a lot easier when you haveto, didn't have to pay the bills
and
Trent Manning (40:12):
Yeah, right.
Carl Michael (40:13):
broken leg, but
Trent Manning (40:14):
For sure.
Well, thanks again.
I appreciate you being on andwe'll talk soon.
Carl Michael (40:21):
All right.
Well, sounds good, Trent.
Trent Manning (40:27):
thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf
techs podcast.
I hope you learned somethingtoday.
Don't forget to subscribe.
If you have any topics you'dlike to discuss, or you'd like
to be a guest, find us onTwitter at Reel turf techs.
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