Episode 147: Tyler Bradshaw, CTEM

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
Welcome to The Real Turf TextPodcast, episode 1 47.

(01:09):
Today we're talking to TylerBradshaw, CTEM Equipment Manager
at Lakewood Country Club inDallas, Texas.
Lakewood Country Club is aprivate 18 hole club.
Tyler has two techs in the shop.
He has Toro, John Deere Steel,Baroness, Jacobson, Kubota.
Good mixture, everything.
Let's talk to Tyler.

Tyler Bradshaw, CTEM (01:40):
All righty.

Trent Manning, CTEM (01:41):
Light camera.
Action.
Welcome Tyler to the RealtorTurf Texas podcast.
Thanks for coming on.
How you doing today?

Well, I'm doing pretty good.
Thanks for having me

Yep.

Forward to this for a while.

awesome.
How's, how's the weather inTexas right now?
Is it getting hot?

a, it's getting hot and humid and, uh,
it keeps threatening rain andsevere storms and then it just
kind of drizzle.
So it's kind of is what it is atthis point.

I don't, it's weird.
Normally we're getting rainalmost every day, which is not
typical.
What we're getting rain in themorning.
You know, a lot of times we'llget the evening thunderstorms
that roll through, but this itrains in the morning for 30
minutes and then moves out.
I don't know, it's just weirdfrom what we

very weird.

Yep.
Tell us how you got into theturf industry.

So it was by sheer luck, I guess, I had
gotten laid off working afactory job driving forklifts
and also working in the toolroom a little bit.
And, uh, I couldn't find a jobanywhere.
So I was working for a buddyunder the table doing some
carpet and tile and we wentgolfing one day as work for some

(02:54):
reason.
And I was like, you know what?
I really enjoy golf.
Maybe I can just go work here.
And my home course had a, abrand new superintendent and he
just, he hired me to just be aregular grounds crew worker.
And two, two months or maybethree months into it the
mechanic at the time, he wasjust a part-time retired guy

(03:14):
that was, spent most of his timeworking on the cart, he knew who
I was'cause I'd been in the autoindustry for a while and he had
actually, uh.
Knew who I was.
So he asked me, he is like, Hey,let me uh, cross train you a
little bit'cause I'm going onvacation for a couple weeks and
you can, you know, handlewhatever needs to be handled.
I was like, all right, that'sfine.
Well, it, a lot of stuff hit thefan while he was gone and had to

(03:38):
figure things out and startedclicking.
And so at that point when hecome back, he had, uh, decided
he was just gonna go work on thegolf carts at the pro shop.
And so he just left it to me.
And then now it was probablyseven months later, they had,
uh, made it a full-time positionat a municipal golf course.
And, you know, the background Ihad, my dad had a small engine

(04:01):
shop growing up.

Okay.
Yeah.

it was actually like, it was basically
a Walmart, but did a servicebicycles, lawnmowers, chainsaws
and tires for cars.
But I just grew up in that shopand I just learned stuff from
his mechanics.
I started fixing weed eaters andchainsaws nine, 10 years old
and.
I worked on bicycles forever andthen, you know, here I am after,

(04:26):
you know, 21 years in, in thisindustry.
After getting a start out ofcomplete randomness,

No, that's awesome.
That's, yeah.
Good story.
So you said something aboutautomotive.
Did you get automotive trainingor you just start working at a
shop, or,

I started working at a shop, went through
a training program.
I ended up having a SEcertifications and breaks and
suspension.
And then, you know, I've letthose lapse long time ago'cause
honestly hated working in theauto industry.

Yeah.
Yeah.
How long did you do the autothing?

I was in the auto industry, started
working in high school a littlebit like at a tire shop, and
then started doing more andmore.
And then I got out of that.
I was about 20 years old, 21right in there.
And then I started working infactories just'cause that where
I was from, that's like the onlyplace you could, uh, really make
any kind of money.
So,

Makes sense.

yeah,

Well, what's your, uh, least favorite
part of the job?
Is it sand?

you know, I hate sand, but I understand
the necessary evil of it.
But honestly, I'd say my, thething I hate the worst of this
industry, this job, anythinglike that is getting up at four
30 in the morning every day.

Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.

But it has the benefit of, you know, hey,
I'm off work early and I've gottime to do things.
But then most things stop happenwhen it's like, I need to be
going to bed right now.

Right, right, right.
Yeah.

So it's, it is gotta catch it is catch 22

I don't, I mean, that is one of the things
that I used to really enjoyabout working at a golf course
is starting early and gettingoff and then still having, um,
you know, eight hours ofdaylight when you get off work.

Yeah.

you know, as you get older and you don't
have as much energy, uh, youknow, and you work hard all day
and you're like, ah, I justkinda want to go home and take
it easy.

Yeah, exactly.
Other than that, I, I would sayit's probably sand.

yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Fair enough.
Fair enough.
What's your favorite tool?

What is my favorite tool?
I would probably have to say mynew, uh, chop saw I bought for
working with metal.

okay.
What kind?

Uh, it's an evolution.
I'm not sure if you've heard

Uh, no.
We're,

So it's a regular chop saw, like you'd
solid blade carbide tipped andit chips it out instead of just
grinding it out like your normalchop saw.

Oh,

then

so

no, there's no heat to it.

it's a cold saw, right?

It's a cold

Or also known as

yeah.
Evolution makes it, and it's,it's got a, low drag, low RPM
motor.
So you can't just buy the bladeand put it on a chop saw.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And, uh, I was turned onto that by my
oldest son, actually.
He's a, a welding fabricatorbuilding hand custom handrails
stairs and all that.

Sorry.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

But yeah, so my, my son turned me onto
that and man, it, it cutsthrough anything like butter.

Okay.
Awesome.
How, uh, are they?
Very expensive.

it depends on the model you get.
The one I just got was shippingand everything.
It was 6 89 I think,

Okay.

but the blades on it are guaranteed for
3,500 cuts.

Wow.
Okay.

Yeah.
And then a replacement blade'slike 80, 85 bucks.
So it's not terrible for thelongevity to get it.
But I mean, I was cutting, uh,like I've been doing some.
Some things that, you know,well, I guess I'm helping out
the course with fence repair andall that, but, uh, I was cutting
what was it, inch and a halfsquare tubing that was a quarter

(08:10):
wall thick.
I mean, and it, it'll cutthrough that in 20 seconds.
So it's a time saver for sure.
And you don't get the wobblethat you get out of the, the
other style.
So it'll actually cut itcompletely

okay.

And so when you're at welding 45 degree
angles or cutting it at 45 andthen you weld'em together,
they're, they're right there.
So it's, you don't have to cheat'em a little bit, hands down.
Worth buying.
Anyone else out there listeningor even has one, they'll
probably vouch for it.
But if you don't have one andyou're doing a lot of
fabrication, pick one up.

all right.
No, that's awesome.
And what was the name of it?

That's a evolution.

Evolution.

Uh, you can pick'em up through Granger
through their website.
You can special order'em throughlike Home Depot according to
their website, but sometimes youjust can't trust that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna check thatout.
That's, that's good stuff.
Very

Get the all, get the new version, the
all black.
It's like the Max series, so,

Okay.
Very cool.
What do you do to relax or findyour balance?

oh man.
The things I do and what I'dlike to do, so I, I bowl on a
Tuesday night league that'scoming up ending, actually
tomorrow's the last day, butit's been a 33 week

Okay.

it's been, it's, I'm kind of burnt out at
the moment with that.
I used to golf a lot.
And then, you know, changingjobs and moving across the
country and then moving again,has hindered the amount I've
played.
I, I've started playing a lotmore here in Texas than I was
when I was in Indiana.
But for the most part, I, youknow, watch Netflix or whatever,
or I play one of my many guitarsin my collection.

Oh, nice.
All right.
You need to, need to hang outwith, uh, John Murray.
He,

I know, right?

the guitar builder.
I hadn't heard from him in awhile either.
I need to reach out.
Um, he's a super good guy too.

Yeah.
Like I miss the, uh, I used tohave a bunch of bands when I was
back home, you know, recorded analbum, did a mini tour through
California and the WesternUnited States.
So,

Ah, cool.

yeah, that was, it was fun.
I miss, I miss that.

Yeah.
I could only imagine.
That's cool.
Is uh, guitar the only thing youplay?

so I grew up, was forced to play piano
starting at six years And then Iwas able to quit playing piano
once I got to middle school, butI had to pick an instrument in
the band or the orchestra.
And so I played the trumpet fromsixth grade until I graduated
high school.
But I picked up the guitar on myown when I was 11.
I found this really crappyacoustic guitar my mom had

(10:55):
stuffed in a closet, and Ilearned playing on that.
And I've never put the guitardown,

That's awesome.
Yeah, I don't, I'm, I'm not, uh,musically talented.
So I always find it veryinteresting to watch somebody
that is, you know, I don't, it'sjust impressive to, you know,
and I grew up with this guy.
His dad played the guitar andtaught him how to play the
guitar, and he can play theguitar really well.

(11:22):
But then he started playing thebanjo, and then it's like no
matter what he picks up, he canplay it.
You know, he's one, one of thosetop, you know, like never, never
even looked at one before andlike, okay, just, uh, yep, okay,
I got it now, you know, andstart playing something just,

comes easy to that guy.

yeah.
Yeah.
Blows my mind.
Yeah.
Really talented people outthere.
What's been, uh, one of yourbiggest challenges?

You know, uh, biggest challenge was moving
across country, realizing whereI was at after 14 and a half
years, and pretty much at a deadend, making very minimal amount
of money leaving my sons behindbecause, you know, divorced will
do that.
Taking that step and movingacross country, not knowing a

(12:14):
soul.
Other than the people Iinterviewed with.
And then, uh, ended up movingthere to, you know, Newburgh,
Indiana working for VictoriaNational.
And that was an eyeopeningexperience going from a
municipal course for 14 and ahalf years to a top 50 club in
the country at And then hostingthe Korn Ferry Tour
Championship.
So that was a challenge.

(12:36):
And it was more on the personalside of things.
It was a challenge as opposed tothe job.
I mean, it did have some things,but it took me a couple of weeks
of being there to realize, youknow, why am I so worried about,
you know, my after cuttappearance when that's what I
do, is I've always done it.
You know, my cut quality isgreat.

(12:57):
So I was, you know, I wasputting, I think, a little more
pressure on myself.
Than I should have.
And then, you know, kind of wentfrom, uh, you know, working
about 50 hours a week to about70 to 80, which that will,
that'll throw you for a looptoo.
And then, you know, somemanagement changes happened and

(13:18):
didn't see eye to eye with theguy at that, that took over at
that point.
And I made the decision to, youknow, let's try this again and
move again.
And ended up here in Dallas,Texas and absolutely love it
down here

That's awesome.
That's so good.
Where, where were you at inCalifornia?
Or like what area of

Oh, I wasn't in California.
I grew up in southern Utah.

Oh, okay.
You too.
I, I'm sorry.
I don't know

Oh no.

thought you said something.

up with California.
I, I toured California with myband

That's what I

that's where, that's where it was.

Southern Utah.
All right.
All, yeah.
That's a, that's a big move.

Yeah.
That's a very big move.

and that's gotta be like way out of
anyone's comfort zone.

You know, it was, and it was actually my
kids, I'd actually gone throughmy second divorce and, you know,
I was bouncing around betweenbuddies, couches, basements, you
know, back and forth at myparents' house a little bit here
and there.
And my kids were like, dad, youneed to find a new job.
You need to make more money soyou can afford to actually live.
And even if you have to move,I'd never even thought about

(14:25):
that.
So I thought about it for awhile and, uh, decided I'd, you
know, put my resume out there.
And I used turf net and I endedup interviewing through Skype at
11 different count clubs acrossthe country and one in The
Bahamas.

Oh wow.
Cool.
Very

and so I was just like, wow, I guess I'm
in high demand, which shockedme.
And I was like that makes nosense.
I'm just a little, little guyfrom, you know, southern Utah
and ended up there.
And.
At Victoria National and I mean,I can't, there's some negatives
about being there and, you know,the whole move, the personal

(15:03):
things.
But it was, uh, an eye-openingand an experience that I'm glad
I did.
And then, you know, doing itagain and coming down here to
Texas is giving me a lot moreperspective on, you know,
finding my my personal balancebetween work and, you know, home
at that point.

(15:24):
So,

No, it definitely, yeah.
Makes sense because some thosehigh level clubs, you know,
there's just so much more demandthere

for sure there is.

are so much higher.

They are.
And, and you know, it was greatexperience to learn and learn
that, I don't wanna do thatagain.

Well, right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, a good friend ofmine, uh, Howard horn, he's been
on the podcast before too, buthe was at the Golf Club of
Georgia, which back in theheyday, like late nineties at
real high end, 36 holeoperation.
And then he went from there andwent to East Lake, and he was at

(16:05):
East Lake for, I don't remember,two or three years, you know, so
another super high end, thing.
So I give him crap now becausehe works at Bear's Best and
it's, it's a semi-private 18hole course, and he works Monday
through Friday, half a dayFriday.
I'm like, man, you're, you'resemi-retired now, but you know,

(16:27):
all these other, these otherjobs he had, you know, he's
doing the same thing 60, 70, 80hours a week, you know,

Yeah.
Well I had, you know, afterbeing at Vic, I had some courses
try to approach me from thereand it was kinda lateral moves,
same type of places, and it waslike, yeah, it's, that doesn't
seem worth it to me.
And so it was like, no, I'llstay here and not move somewhere
even more expensive and make thesame amount of money, so I'll
stay here.

(16:55):
And then three years I was done.
I had to figure out somethingdifferent.

Yeah.
No, that's awesome.
Very, very cool.
What's, uh, one of the strangestthings you've seen around the
golf course

Oh, man.
Well, there's been a lot ofstrange things,

that Yeah.

you just, you just scratch your head at.
Like how does that happen?
Actually I would say one of thestrangest things was like back
home we had a, an issue withprairie dogs.
They were an endangered speciesof prairie dogs, so we couldn't
remove'em out of fairways oranything.
The only place we were allowedto actually, you know, remove'em

(17:35):
or whatever was the greens.
So just seeing a prairie dogstop'em with a fairway mower,
you know, just to let the prayerdog go down its hole and then it
would attack the reel and getsucked in and, you know, scalp
it and, you know, kill it.
That, I mean, that's somestrange things to see.

Yeah.
Yeah.

trying, trying to protect themselves.
I would say, you know, somecrazy things of seeing sprayers
flipped on their sides becauseit's like, why would you take a
fully loaded 300 gallon, uh,tank on that kind of a slope?

Hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I

I think, I think the strangest things you
see is just the lack of commonsense at that point, and that
that might just because peopleare in a hurry and they gotta
get this done or whatnot.
But I mean, just some strangethings seeing, you know, even
here in Dallas, you know, I hadwatched a, a Falcon or a Redtail
talk, I guess it was just swoopdown, take a squirrel about 20

(18:35):
feet away from me.
I was

Oh, wow.

is, what is going on?

That's so cool though.
I love, you know, nature stuffis super cool.
We got a couple, uh, red Tailhawks, uh, around our course,
and they're always out there andthey're always hunting.

And they're, I mean, they, they're
pretty they're, they've beenaround them en enough that
they're, you know, they're notas shy when pe the golfers
around.
I mean, they're, they stay awayfrom'em, but they're not like
just flying off.
They're just like buzzing up toa tree or just buzzing over 20
yards to the rough looking forstuff or whatever.
It's seeing the wildlife andsome of the things they do is

(19:12):
kind of some strange things.

Oh yeah, yeah, for sure.

So, but I mean, equipment wise and common
sense is probably the most, mostthings you see that are, that
surprise you and go, huh, that'sinteresting.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I don't, I don't know thatthe common sense is, is that
common sometimes.
And

I think you're right.

I don't know if it's just the talent
that we get at the golf coursethat lacks some of the common
sense.
But I mean, the other thing I dothink, and I mean, just
something I've noticedpersonally around here, so when
I, I'm still living the samearea that I grew up in, and, but

(19:55):
when I grew up, it was a morerural area and I think.
You know, all the kids that Igrew up with, not all of them,
but most of them, we just hadmore life experience, right?
Just like working outside,working with our hands, you
know?
Um, and, and doing those thingswhere I think people that grow

(20:17):
up in, you know, an urban area,they don't get, you know, some
of those things.
Just like, for instance, myex-wife, it was her best friend.
She married this guy, uh, fromNew York and he moved down here
to Georgia to be with her.
And he had never driven a car,you know, never owned a car.

(20:40):
I mean, this guy's 30 years oldand nev ne never driven a car,
um, because you didn't need towhere he grew up in New York,
you know, never, never mowed thegrass.
You know, I mean, just all thesethings like, wow.

What's crazy is, you know, the
employees we get and it, itdoesn't matter what course it's
at, at this point kids thatdon't know how to drive a stick.

Yeah.
Yeah.

So trying, trying to teach'em how to drive
a prog And you're just like, oh,the clutch.
I'm gonna have to replace thisthing and I don't want to have
to do that.
And then they get it, theyfigure it out.
And then some of'em talk aboutthey want to go buy a car that's
a stick now.
And it's just okay, good luckwith

yeah, yeah.
Good luck.

I mean, I'm sure you grew up and you
learned to drive on a manualtransmission just like I did.

Yeah, we did.
I mean, well, and I was, youknow, way before I could drive a
car, I was driving a tractor.
'cause my best friend's dad hecut all the hay in my area, so,
you know, for horses and cowsand all that

So you were out bailing hay and

Yes.
Yes.
And if I never see a square bellof hay it's too soon.
I mean, I never wanna seeanother bail again.

and there was a lot of that in my
hometown.
I mean, it was literally, as akid you were, we were riding our
bikes wherever we wanted.
We had to come Oh, by the timethe streetlights were on really?
And we did everything that youcould, we'd be out there with
our 20 twos out rabbit huntingat 10 years old, not even

(22:18):
worried about anything.
You know, still you could takeyour gun to school, like in the,
the gun rack in your truck.

Oh, yeah, yeah.
Yep.

I mean, we all come from a different, and
now it's like my kids, even inthe same town, they didn't even
have those kind of experiences.
'cause you know, it's changed somuch.

oh yeah.
I mean the, yeah.
The same high school that, youknow, I, I graduated from Yeah.
We.
We had guns in our gun rack andyou know, went on right after
school.
But

yep, exactly.

now you can't do any of that stuff.
Yeah.
Just crazy.
Do you have a mentor in theindustry?

You know, I'd actually say my the biggest
mentor I have is probably my,uh, original superintendent I
worked for.
He was, you know, he'd been anassistant that, that course was
his first, uh, super job.
And he had the patience to letme learn.
And also, you know, he learned alot at the same time being a

(23:15):
super, he trained me on a lot ofthings and taught me a lot.
Like with spraying, mixingchemicals, that kind of stuff.
I've kind of pushed all that tothe side'cause, you know, I
don't really need to, I don'tneed to spray, I just need to
make sure the sprayer's working.
But he showed me the, thepatience and humility, and he
became one of my really, reallygood friends.

(23:36):
He was always there for me, likewhen I went through my first
divorce with my kid's mom, andeven after I went through my
second divorce, and I mean, whenI had to talk to him about, I
was thinking about, you know,leaving and he was my biggest
supporter on that.
And just the fact of the matterthat he'd you know, gave me the

(23:57):
time and showed me that, youknow, you could start from
nothing and be great atsomething.
So I would say he would, hewould be my, my biggest mentor
in this industry.

When what you said there, it kind of
reminded me.
So I worked for the samedirector of agronomy that I
started with, but I hadn'tworked for him this whole time.
So I worked with him for sevenyears, or seven and a half the,
the first stint and when I gotready to move on.
You know, I, I went to him, toldhim, you know, what I was

(24:33):
thinking, and he, you know,helped me talk through
everything.
He was so supportive through thewhole thing.
So it just makes me think ifyou're not working for someone
that would support you, movingon, you might not be working for
the best person.
I'm not telling you to leave,but, you know, that's, I don't

(24:55):
know, that just, it hitsdifferent, I think,

yeah.
It,

with

it,

that.

it does, you know, I mean, those guy,
the, some of those supers are, Imean, I.
There's a bunch of'em out therethat care about their employees
probably way too much than theyprobably should.
You know, let'em slide with thisor that when they're having a
rough day.
But at the end of the day, Imean, it makes that person
better.
Like in my situation, you know,I slacked off a lot after my

(25:24):
first divorce and I ended uphaving a drinking problem for a
while.
And you know, he just finally,it's like, dude, you need to
figure this out.
And he brought it to myattention that I didn't realize
I was screwing up And, you know,for him to have the patience to
not fire me and that kind ofthing, I mean, it, it turned me
around like, oh man, you know,this guy cares about me as an

(25:45):
individual as well as anemployee.
And if he's got the best of bothof us at that point, then it
works out for him in the longrun.
And, you know, it turns out abetter situation.

Yeah.
No, that's good.
That's good stuff.
What would be your dream jobopportunity?

Oh, dream job opportunity, winning the
lottery, does that count as ajob?

I don't know.
I don't sure.
I.

you know, I, some people I think would be
like, oh, I, you know, I dreamjob would be, you know, working
at Augusta or whatever.
And I, I look at that and I go,I just want to, my dream job
would be just a nice little munithat pays me really well.
Where, you know, you don't haveto stress and worry and you
Know, sit around and have coffeewith people or somewhere in

(26:36):
Hawaii maybe, you know, that'dbe kind of

Yeah.
Yeah.
There you go.

as tropical.
But as in this industry, youknow, I think, I don't
necessarily say there would be adream job.
I think the dream job would bethe one where you feel that
you're treated the best, you'rerespected, and you're
compensated for your skills.

Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
No, that's,

That would be what I would say is the dream
job right there.
And honestly, I'm, I feel likeI'm at that point right now at
where I'm at with here in Texas.

That's so good.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Really good.
Do you, uh, you got a technicianyou would like to work with for
a day?

You know, I don't have one single one.
There's a few that I'd like towork with for a day.

Let's go through'em.
Yeah.
Who?

well, we'll start off with you

Oh, come on.
Yeah.
That's all

just because, just'cause we're face
to face.

Of course you gotta say that.
Yeah.
So it's,

Well, yeah, but No, for sure.
For surely.
I would actually like to workwith you for a day.

Well, you're, you're more than
welcome.
Anytime you want to come toAtlanta, you just let me know
and, uh, we'll make it happenand we'll go visit some other
cool places too.

yeah.
See, and I'd like to, I'dactually like to work with
Austin Wright for a day.

Yeah.
Yes.
Yep.

Actually, uh, j Jr Wilson as well, and
Kayla definitely would like towork with Kayla for a day.
She looked, she seems like itwould be a riot

Yes.
She's a lot of fun.
Did you get to spend any timewith her at, in San Diego?
A little

yeah, just, just chit-chatting in the
hallways and stuff like that fora while.

a good one.

she's great and you know, she did my c
Tim at Testament,

Oh, okay.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.

and then, you know, I'd like to work with
Hector Velasquez for a day.
Funny story about Hector is so Iwent to a conference or a, a
school that he was doing at,when I was in Utah.
He was, uh, he had moved outthere to Utah at a Riverside
Country Club, and he had put ona through the Utah chapter of
the G-C-S-A-A, they did a, uh,service school type.

(28:34):
Seminar.
And so me and my boss went upthere and we, I didn't know what
to expect and you know, so I gotto meet him.
And then we were, and they didit at a different course than
when he was working at it, atthe one he was working at.
And then, it was, it was fun,,he went over his, plastic
welding stuff and his, his wirestuff.
And it was just, learned aboutwhat, what, how he was.

(28:54):
So like six months later, youknow, I hadn't told anybody that
I was moving to VictoriaNational.
I get a random phone call andit's Hector.

Okay.

He's like, I'm like, how did you get my
number?
He is like, I got connections.
Don't worry about that.
I just want to tell you.
Congratulations.
I know where you're going.
I was like, how do you knowwhere I'm going?
He's like, don't worry aboutthat.

Huh.

He's like, he's like, you got some pretty
big shoes to fill.
But, and then he gave me thebiggest advice.
He is like, don't fill thoseshoes, fill your own shoes.
And I was

Ah, nice.

So I'd like to work with Hector, you
know, other than seeing one ofhis things or, you know, bumping
into him at the shows and allthat.
I think it would be fun to workwith Hector for a day.

No, that's so good.
Yeah, hec Hector's a good one.
He's awesome.

yeah, seeing, you know, I'd like to,
I'd like to work with BrianEland again.
I used to work with Brian a lotjust'cause of the Dormy network
and, you know, he'd come up tohelp us with the tournament and
I went out to Arbor Links

Oh, okay.

and stuff.
Brian's a riot.
He's fun, fun to be around, andhe's got really good ideas.
And he's very technical, soit's, it's, you can learn from
him.

Yeah.

I think those, that would be kind of my
list of guys I'd like to workwith for a day.

That's awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, that would be, uh, that'd befun.
If you can work any of that out.
I wanna hang out with you whileyou're doing it.
I mean, that's fun.
You know?
It's so much fun.
And I don't, yeah.
For anybody, uh, listening, ifyou hadn't checked out the
YouTube channel, definitelycheck it out.
But we just dropped a episode ora video with John Patterson, so

(30:27):
I, I spent a day with our videoguy, Kevin at his shop.
It was a Sunday, I.
And pretty much spent all dayover there and, you know, he was
showing how he does hischeck-ins with his, uh, John
Deere walk mowers, and we did ashop tour, just, I mean, a bunch
of fun cool stuff.

(30:47):
You know, I, I don't know,anytime you get a chance to
spend, you know, with somebodyelse do it.

Well, and that's the thing that's, that's
really cool about our industry,especially on the equipment
management side, is.
No one's out to like hide theinformation from We're all in
this together.
We know it's a small, tight-knitcommunity.
And so it's like you can call ahalf a dozen guys or even make a
post on Twitter or a post onFacebook group, and you're gonna

(31:14):
get some guys that give you crapon there for even asking the
question, other people or hey,you know, try it like this.
This is how I do it, you know?
And just to see that nobody'sreally opposed to helping
another person.
And even if it's like fivedifferent people saying five
different things, one of thosethings might click and worked
for that for you on thatsituation.
And then we've got some of the,you know, sometimes I'm like,

(31:38):
they've nerded out way too muchwith some of this stuff, and
those guys are a ball full ofknowledge and they're great.
Just some of the conversationsI've had at, you know, at.
Even, uh, here in Dallas with,you know, Tony Bevelo and stuff
like that.
Just random stuff, and it's justlike, how'd you think about
that?

Yeah.

That's, that's a good idea.
You know, it's like, all right,cool.
But it's just like, that's kindof the reason I like to work
with some of these other peopleto see how they do it and see if
some of the things that they do,I could implement into mine, or
some of the stuff I do, maybethey can implement into theirs.
You know, just make it that mucheasier for everybody and you
know, everyone on the same pageof things.

Yeah.
And that's what I like about thelocal education.
I know y'all did something atTony's shop a couple years ago
'cause I was there.

Yeah.
Which did one in, in Februarythere as well with, uh, Mike
Rollins,

okay.
Yeah.
Well, but what I was saying,like, I like seeing other shops.
'cause just like you said, andit don't matter who shop it is,
you can pick up something, youknow, from anybody's shop, A
little idea.
They're like, oh wow, okay.
Yeah.
Why didn't I think of that?
You know, just little, littlethings.
Um,

Little tiny things that can go a long
way.

yeah, one, so the class I do at the golf
course.
Industry show.
What is it now?
It's not golf industry show.
It's not GIS anymore.
It's trade show and conferencelike.

Yeah,

that's what it's called now.
Anyway, the class that AustinWright and I are doing, all of
the stuff that I put in there isideas I've seen at other
people's shop.
I mean, there's, you know, ahandful of stuff for my shop,
but everything else is everybodyelse's shop.

Yeah, I mean the, the round table stuff
that we do, I mean, I was there,you know, sat in on that and it
was great.
You know, it's, you just hearsome people that you can tell
they're just fresh into theindustry and they're just like
gathering it all up.
And other people kind, sometimesthey roll their eyes at things
and other times they're like,oh, hey, you know, that's
actually really cool.
Maybe I should, and then you,you get random people just start

(33:47):
and asking random questionsthat, and it's just like, all
right, good.
This is good to see.
Like the round table discussionis always a fun, fun,
interactive thing.

Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
No, that's good stuff.
What do you know now?
You wish you'd known on day one?

oh man, that sand is the devil.
You, there's no, oh.
What's the, how do I wannaphrase that?
Um, there's no fix for stupid.

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Then also one of the biggest things is,
you know, you gotta keep itsimple And not overthink it
because that's when you starthaving issues.
But I would say one of thebiggest things that, something I
wish I knew then as I do now, isthat it takes a while to get to
be proficient enough.

(34:35):
And then once you think you'reproficient, you learn something
new and just go I don't knowanything.
And so to have the knowledge Ihave now when I started, I think
would've been a lot better.
And I think that could, youknow, there needs to be some
more schooling, some moretraining, you know, in this to
get people into this in anearlier stage in life.

(34:59):
I mean, I'm not sure how it wasfor you when you got into this
industry, but it was, I had tolearn everything and figure it
out on my own.

Yeah, no, I was, I mean, I was lucky enough,
I had a guy that, you know,taught me a lot about
mechanicing, if you will, and heknew, you know, some about
cutting units, but, you know, I,I definitely learned some bad
habits too,

Oh yeah, for sure.
I think, I think you can dothat.
Like when I first started in it,you know, I really didn't know
anything.
And the guy that he barely, Imean I proved him wrong and got
yelled at him'cause he wasadjusting reels.
He was, uh, setting his heightand then he was adjusting the
bed knife.

Okay.

And then I got chewed out by him.
'cause he's like, you're gonnado it the way I tell you to.
I was like, yeah, but yourheight changes at that point.
You're not even cutting grasswhen you set your height and
then all of a sudden you moveyour bed knife.
Well now it's off three or4,000.
Oh, that's bs.
And then he comes back to melike a week later and he is
like, you know, I tried it yourway and you're right.

(36:08):
And I was like, it's like justsimple looking at it, you know?
It's a moving part, so let's,let's get it where it needs to
be.
And, and I think the other thingwas something I wish I would've
learned now or new then that Iknow now is it's not as
lucrative as it should be.

yeah, yeah.
No, it should definitely be morelucrative.
It has become more lucrative,but it still ain't where it
needs to be.

Yeah, exactly.

We, we still got a ways to go.

Trent Manning (36:38):
Get ready for tips and tricks

What kind of tips and tricks you got you
wanna share with us.

Tips and tricks.
Save your back, get a hoist

yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

I mean, that's kind, kind of common
knowledge.
I mean, I've been dealing withsome back issues this year.
And it's been going on for thelast, you know, six or seven.
But a lot of it's the stupiditythings I did as a kid, you know,
racing dirt bikes, climbingtrees, jumping fences, soccer.
Soccer, you know, skateboarding,all that stuff.
But I worked on my back for 14years and didn't have a lift,

(37:15):
and so didn't even have a, ahoist.
And so I was lifting reels intothe, into the grinder, lifting
'em onto the bench.
I mean, 5,400 Toro reels intothere.
I mean, it's like, you know, soI've gone through the ringer on
my back.
My biggest tip and trick is keepit simple, stupid, and make it

(37:36):
easier on yourself,

No, that's really good advice.
And yeah, take care of your bodyif you can.
You know, and I, you know, Ihave a couple younger guys
working for me in the shop, andI tell'em all the time, like,
don't do it.
You know, I did that a hundredtimes and my back hurts

I, I tell my, my two assistants the same
thing and they've gotten reallygood, they've seen me coming in,
can't even walk, you know, andit'll, I'll throw my back out at
work, like lifting my arm up onoccasion and it's just like,
what the heck just happened?
I'll probably need surgery atsome point, but I'm gonna
prolong that as long as Ipossibly can.

Yeah,

And, and I think one of my other tricks,
tips, or tricks is, I don't knowif I'm allowed to plug any
brands of anything, but if I am,

don't care.

Oh, okay.
I, I didn't know if I wasallowed

No, I don't.
Don't bother me.

the consistency of a birdie bar

Oh, okay.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

from par bar, that's one of my biggest
tip tips right there.

Okay.
Yeah.
I love a I, that's all I use isBirdie Bar.
I love them.

I mean, I used Accu Gauge for so long and
you know, they're groomer gauge.
I like it still, but my birdiebar, there's no flex.
And I know you felt the flex ofthe anything else.
So my

Have you used his, uh, groomer gauge?

I haven't bought his groomer gauge

I really like it,

You like it better than the Accu Gauge?

yeah, the reason I like it is it has, uh,
a pen, if you will, that restson the front roller and that
pen's movable so you can get itto what you know, so you're
hitting in the right spot so youcan still, you can spin your
reel, you know,'cause some of'emI've seen has like a little

(39:30):
screw that hooks on the bedknife, but then you can't, then
you can't turn the reel and spinthe groomers.

I'll have to look into that one.

so his hooks on the front roller.
And what I like about it is youhold it like right behind the
gauge, so you know, you're kindof holding onto it like this.
And you can take, uh, your wristand push up on the dial
indicator, and then you can spinit with the other hand.
Then you make your adjustmentspin.
Make an adjustment.

So at that point, you're not having to shut
the groomer off to, actually,you can just spin it from the
reel to spin it.
Oh, man.
That would make it so mucheasier.

You're welcome.
Miles.
No, I'm kidding.
No.
Miles

they make a great product.
I'm actually looking at, I, Iwish they was selling, he could
do net 30 or,'cause we don't dopurchase cards, so it's like, I
either gotta pay for it outta myown pocket, then get a
reimbursement, or, you know, ifhe's got a distributor that I
can get a, you know, an accountwith or whatever, because it's a
nightmare.
We, we, we have one.

(40:30):
You know, but it's just like, Iwould rather have an account
somewhere instead of, you know,paying for it out of my pocket
and then get waiting forreimbursement.
But I really like the product.
And I only have the birdie bar,so I'd like to get two more
birdie bars and possibly their,their groomer gauge, if it's
that good.

Yeah.
No, it is.
I really, I really like it forsure.
Um, yeah.
He makes, he makes some goodstuff.
Yeah.
Any other tips or tricks?

the other tip is, like I was talking about
earlier, buy that evolution.
Chop saw.

Okay.
Yeah.

it's a game changer.
It really is.
Even if you're just cutting a,you know, just a piece of strap
steel.
It's a game changer.
I was cutting some rebar theother day and it's just like, be
right through it.
It was almost like not as fastchopping through like a, a piece
of wood, but for cutting metal,man, it's, it's a game changer.

Yeah, I'm, I'm going to Google that and
hopefully find a video andwatch, watch it in action.
I'm sure there's some

Oh yeah.
They, they actually have a greatvideo on their website and
they've got, they've got it.
It's literally a comparisonbetween it and like, I think it
was a Milwaukee Chop saw ormaybe it was a DeWalt, one of
the two.
And it literally starts thevideo and timer starts and it's
a guy like, he's putting on hissafety glasses, his gloves and
all that, loads it into themachine, cuts the thing, and the

(41:54):
guy still hasn't even got theother one set up and they're
just like both doing the samething.
And then he's, it's justcounting the timers, you know,
'cause you're having to let itjust come down with a regular
grind.
Saw, you can't force it.
And this one you're just, it'sright through it.
So, and then he goes back behindand welds two things together
and puts a back up there by thechop saw while that guy's still

(42:18):
cutting.

Wow.
Okay.

yeah, it's a great comparison video.

Yeah.
Good stuff.

but I don't know how much you
fabricate.
I'm sure you do a lot of stuff.
'cause you, you wouldn't thinkthat if I would've, that's,
that's something I should saythat I knew if I knew now then
that I know now is how much moreI should have paid attention,
like at, in welding class inhigh school and stuff like that.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because I, you wouldn't think that, you
gotta make a lot of, you know,fabricate a lot of stuff until
you actually start fabricating alot of stuff and you're like,
huh.

Yeah, I know.
It's, uh, we almost need, uh,like, autobody classes,

Oh, that

some of that stuff, you know,

Pla plastic welding classes.

yeah.
Yeah.
I don't, the thing that I've gotinto lately is, uh, the hot
staples.

Oh, okay.

Those, yeah.
For plastic welding, basically.
But you know, it's a staple thatgoes in.

things of the two prongs.

things.
That is awesome.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's some good stuff.

I think one of the cooler tools I've
gotten lately though is, uh, ariv uh, nutsert tool.

Okay.
Yeah.

The things are great.

Yeah that's Sandy.

Some of the stuff they've had

You wanna talk about,

that has nothing to do with our
equipment.

but say

What's that?

it cut out there for a minute.
What'd you say?

Oh.
Uh, some of the things they'vehad me, you know, fabricate, not
for our equipment or anything,but just for, you know, signage
for like the clubhouse andstuff.
And that nut or tool has come inhandy to hang signs like crazy.
I.

Oh, yeah, yeah,

So, yeah.

yeah.
For sure.
You wanna talk about C 10?

Yeah.

was your CA experience?

So it wasn't as tough as I thought it
would be.
I was, you know, I was nervous.
I'm terrible at taking tests, sodoing, you know, I just kept
putting off equipment levels oneand two.
And then as finally, like lastsummer, I was like, I need to
take some time off.
I gotta burn it before I loseit.

(44:24):
And I literally did both, bothtesting for levels one and two
in literally like a day, day anda half at the most, I think I
was.
And I passed the test withreally good, good scores, which
I know my stuff, but I amterrible at taking tests.
And so every time I'd click thesubmit button on one of the

(44:45):
tests, I'm like, oh, I'm notgonna pass.
And it's like, oh, you passedand you had this.
And then, you know, I startedthe, I'D started working on the.
The attachment from the rubricquite a while ago.
Kind of getting familiar with itand just going through things at
the shop to bring those to kindof what they were wanting to
see, I was a little nervous withit, with the whole process.

(45:07):
You know, I'm being, you know,on screen, showing off
everything that I do andeverything that I've done and,
you know, what my shop lookslike and all that.
And I was more nervous about itthan I, I should have been,
because right away, I mean,Kayla was just like, Hey, we're
here for you to help you out, sowe're, we're gonna go through

(45:31):
this and, you know, we're gonnamake this easy on you of, you
know, understanding what we'relooking for and you know, what
we wanna see and all that.
So it was, it was, it was agreat experience, honestly.
At the end of the day, when youlook at it, it's kind of, it
seems like a daunting task.
The fact that I have my directorof agronomy was very supportive

(45:52):
of me doing that because it, youknow, brings a shop into line
and also, you know, focuses whatI I'm capable of doing.
And you know, like lately, Imean it, I don't do a lot of.
Wrench turning.
'cause I've got my twoassistants that I've been
training and I'm supervisingthem more than anything.

(46:14):
I mean, I'm still jumping inthere and grab, doing things
that I need to be done or thingsthey've never done before.
I'm right there showing'em howto do these things.
But they've been great to haveand they help me out on a lot of
the stuff with the shop prep,you know,'cause it's like, Hey,
we need to get this stuff done.
Help me out here.
You know, it'll benefit youit'll show you what I have to do

(46:36):
with this whole thing.
And keeping you guys safe andkeeping all the other employees
safe and having things markedout and the visual stuff and,
you know, understanding, youknow, the waste disposal of
things.
Yeah.
You guys just know that, hey, wechange oil and we, we put it in
this, in the, the container.
Well now you understand why.

(46:56):
We gotta make sure we haveeverything where it needs to be.
And you can't really mix'em andcontaminate things otherwise.
What are we gonna do with allthis, this waste that we can't
get rid of?
You know?
So it it, it was a greatexperience, honestly.

No, that's so good.
That's awesome.

and Diana from the G-C-S-A-A is an angel
when it comes to all that stuff.
'cause she, I don't know howmany phone calls I made to her
in the last two years about it,of what am I going to, what do I
expect?
What, you know, is this gonna beokay?
You know?
And she's like, yeah, it's gonnabe just, we're here for you, you
know, that we wanna see peopleget this and achieve this goal.

(47:34):
And it feels great to have itbecause, you know, we're in a
class that doesn't have thatmany.
I think when I, when I got mycertification, I was number 41

Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.

and it's the C a's only been out, what,
two years?
Almost three.

Yeah, probably three.

the certification's about three
years now.
I mean, and so I talk to people,I've got a guy at a course here
in.
In Dallas area that's looking atdoing it.
And, you know, he's called andquestioned me a few times about
things.
I actually got another guy, uh,in Louisville, Kentucky, that's
called me a couple of timesasking about some stuff.

(48:14):
I worked with him before, well,not worked with him, but knew
who he was.
You know, when I was in Indiana,he was at another course in
Indiana.
He'd called me about some thingsand vice versa.
And so, you know, he's called mea few times asking about it.
I've got a, my old assistantfrom Vic, he's at his own course
now I keep trying, plugging itinto his brain.

(48:34):
He needs to start looking intodoing this stuff.
'cause he is been doing this along time now and he should
probably just go ahead and dothat.

Yeah.
Good on you.
That's

I'm, I'm preaching it, trying to get more
and more people involved indoing it.
And, you know, I think NorthTexas has a lacking of the
equipment manager side of thingsfor training.
It's.
Usually it's like me and me andTony are always talking about
it.
Whenever we see each other abouttrying to get more education,

(49:04):
try to get some events, get agroup together, even if it's,
you know, people are talkingabout it, the at the round table
and stuff like that of, youknow, get your association, get,
you know, try and do a night, amonth or night every couple
months where you guys just goand hang out.
You can talk about stuff.
You, you can go bowling andshoot the shit

Yeah.
Right.
Whatever it is.
Yeah.

yeah, and we have a lack of that here in
the North Texas.
I look at some of these othersections that you see all their,
the different and the turnoutsthat they And it's just like,
holy cow, how do we get thathere?
And it, I think it's, you know,it's, I mean as far as I know,
me and Tony are still the onlyCTMS in the state of Texas.

Oh, okay.
Yeah.

And that's a, it's a big state with a lot
of golf courses and we're theonly two, unless somebody else,
since I've, since I'd gottenmine has gotten there since
then.
But

Well, I'm trying to think.
I mean, me and John Pattersonmight be the only two in
Georgia.

Seems like most of'em are all in like
Wisconsin and

yep.
Wisconsin, there's a lot.
And then Florida, they got a lotin Florida.
Yep.

I mean, it's like, but I'm, I recommend
it to any, anyone that's lookinginto it.
Even if, I mean, yeah, there arethe few requirements.
You've gotta be an equipmentmanager for three years before
you do the C 10, but you can doyour levels one and two, you've
been in the industry for fivemonths.
You could start taking those, nobig

Right, right.

But the C tam, yeah, there is that minimum
of three years as an equipmentmanager, which is, you know, in
some, some of these guys thatwant to get it, I mean, I don't
think they'll end up.
If they stay where they're at,probably won't have that
opportunity to become theequipment manager'cause they're
just gonna be an assistantmechanic or and it's like, maybe
you need to move on to really dothat or convince, you know,

(50:51):
maybe you can get that, youknow, you gotta figure it out.
But that's the one hindrance.
I, but I, I agree with it aswell.
'cause in the superintendentside of things, they gotta be a
super, for a minimum of howevermany years it is before they can
try to be certified.
I get that.
But what, for the people thatdon't have the opportunity to
become an equipment manager likecertain courses, you know,

(51:14):
they're just gonna be a headmechanic and that's all they're
gonna have there.
There's not gonna be anequipment manager.
And so it's and some of theclubs won't pay for, you know,
the national dues or anything.
And do they want to pay out ofpocket the 95 or I think it went
up to 115

Yeah.

that's still not that bad for the whole
year, but it's like, do theywanna pay for that?

Why don't far as I know, you can still get
the deal through R and r.

yeah, I mean, that one they, they just
give you a, a

Right, right, right.
A credit.
So I mean, it essentially paysfor your membership though.

yeah, exactly.
My boss will ask me all thetime, why don't we get 125, a
hundred whatever dollar creditfrom our, uh, because I see Tim,
or because I'm an equipmentmanager.
Oh, okay.

yep.

Which I think that's great.
Of RR to

Yeah.
Yeah.
No, it's awesome that they'redoing that.
That's good stuff.

I mean, I'm sadly to say it, there's a
lot of things I've been buyingfrom RR lately, because some of
the things from Deere and Torohave just gotten so out of hand
on their pricing,

Yeah.

and it's just like, I don't wanna use an
r and r reel, but when I'm, Ican get the r and r reel for.
Two thirds less the cost of whatthey're trying to charge me.
For one, it's like, what's ouroption?
We have budgets we have to dealwith.
Yeah.
Is the quality there?
Probably not.
But when you don't have the thebudget to just drop whatever

(52:44):
they want to charge you foranything, it's whew.

no, it's, it's, uh, it's Rous for what,
uh, John Deere and Toro, and I'msure Jake too.
I just don't have any Jake.
But they're charging for partsand for equipment.
I mean, even a, a brand newpiece of equipment.
I mean, it's absurd howexpensive it is,

That's, I guess I could throw into the
things I wish I knew then that Iknow now.
If I would've known the price ofequipment, I would've figured
out a way to start building myown equipment so I could cash in
on some of that money.

Right, right.
Yeah, no, it's.
It's something else.
Yeah.
It's crazy and

that's the thing with specialty equipment,
I guess.

yeah, but it is not that special.
I mean it is, but

I mean, some of the technology Yes.
Is, you know, I, I get that someof the, the cost is there
because, you know, hydraulicsystems are not

mm-hmm.

You know, diesel engines aren't cheap, but
as a package, it shouldn't bethat much money.

Well, I mean, for instance, um, I had a
John Deere prog Gator 2028 fuelinjected Pro gator, a fuel pump
from John Deere$604

Yep.

one fuel pump.
So, and it's a Bosch fuel pump.
And so, you know, I punched thenumber in to Google and I could
have got the Bosch fuel pump forwhatever, 200 bucks.
And I ended up getting one fromO'Reilly's for$60 and I mean, it

(54:19):
works fine.

exactly.
I mean, I ran into that evenyears ago with like starters
from, for Toro Mowers orwhatever, and you, you pull it
off, you go to your local partshouse, they can cross reference
that and it, you know, itcrosses to like a, a 1992 Toyota
Corolla and you can buy the, abrand new starter for like 120

(54:41):
bucks.
It's like, you're gonna chargeme 600 bucks for a starter.

Yeah.
I don't know.

seem right.

That's crazy.
You, you,

they're special, but they're not.
And you know, guys like us, wefind to the workaround for that,

Yeah.
I mean, you got to, like yousaid, we got budgets and, and
all that stuff.
We gotta keep the equipmentrunning for

Yeah.
Well, gates they came out with amaster interchange like app on
your phone now.
I've been able to find almostevery belt

Oh, really?
Okay.

for John Deere's and everything, and then
you, you cross it.
'cause I mean, uh, what belt wasit?
A clutch belt on a two 20 E

Okay.

and John Deere wants like 50 something
bucks for that.
I was able to get it throughO'Reilly through using the Gates
Master thing, and it was like 12bucks.

Really?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I

So it's that's another tip right there.
Is that Gates Master thing.

Yeah.
I'll have to check into that.
I hadn't, I hadn't used the app.
I've used the gates, you know,cross reverence online, I guess,
but

Yeah.
Yeah.
They came out with the, the, myO'Reilly guy.
I guess you use O'Reilly

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do.

You know, they, I've got an outside sales
rep that stops biweekly here andhe, he actually had the Gates
rep with him like two weeks agoand they had the brochure for it
'cause they just rolled it out.
So I was like, oh, okay, that'llbe great.
I'll, I'll try that.
And I guess the other one is,you know, Wix Filters app.
That thing's great So,

That's one thing I don't, I mean, I like
O'Reilly's, but I've beengetting my Wix filters from
Amazon'cause they're cheaperfrom Amazon and I get, you know,
shippings just as quick and allthat stuff, so,

And I'll tell you what, the best deal I
ever had for parts and equipmentwas when I was working for that
municipal back home.
'cause we had state pricing foreverything,

uh, yeah.

dude.
I was paying like three,$4 forlike a 10 56.
Wix filter like a big hydraulicfilter.
I was paying like 14

Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

the 4, 4 6, 4 9 air filter that they're
like 30 bucks now, even fromO'Reilly.
And I was getting those for likesix bucks a piece on state
contract.
That was great.
And I was like, I, I gosomewhere else and it's like, I
don't have this pricing anymore.
And I'm like, man, that seemsexpensive for that filter.
No, that's just normal pricewithout state price contract,

(57:04):
you know, contracts.
So it's like, oh, okay.
That makes sense now.

Well, I don't know.
Yeah, if you've talked to, uh,your O'Reilly's rep, but they
can usually work a little on thepricing.

Yeah.
They, they do we get a discountwith our corporate account that
we have.
And so it's, what I see on theirwebsite is I pay cheaper than
that when it's billed.
So.
But it's, it's, it's nice thatway.
And surprisingly, you know, I'venever thought much of O'Reilly
in my life until I moved here toDallas.
'cause they, that's who theyhad.

(57:36):
They used to use Napa, but Napahere was terrible for'em.
So, and they have been reallygood.
Well, it's like, wow.
I've never thought much ofO'Reilly until now.
I use'em and it's like, eh,they're actually really good.

Yeah, no, I've, I've been happy with
O'Reilly's and kind of the samething.
I didn't know of them that well.
And I'd always use Napa.
And it's funny.
So we had Curley's Auto part inmy hometown, and you would go
in, it was awesome, you know,old school auto parts store.
And you went in there and youtalked to Peanut, and I'm not

(58:13):
making this up.
And Peanut had every parts bookmemorized and you know, you'd
hold up a part as you arewalking in and he'd say, oh,
that's off.
Such and such, such and such,such and such.
You know, I mean, he was justone of those guys.
Awesome.
Um, but anyway, it got boughtout by O'Reilly's, so then I
started using O'Reilly's and I'mlike, this ain't too bad, you

(58:36):
know, and peanut's still there.
And he's still, you know,everybody's typing on the
computer and peanut's going andgetting the catalog out and he's
looking through the, the Wickscatalog or Gates catalog or, you
know, whatever it is to fi findwhat we needed.

Reminds me of my old Jacobson's parts lady
from back in the day.
Like, I'd call her up and say,Hey, I'm, look, you know, I'm
working on this piece ofequipment and I need a, you
know, the, the fan belt.
She just rattles off the partnumber and I, as I, before I can
even like find it, I'm, and thenshe just.
And I'm like, how did you knowthat?

(59:11):
It's like, I've just been doingthis for so long.
We just got a, what's funny iswe just got a, a Jake dealer
here in Dallas, like distributorand the guy come over, well, we
know a lot of the same peoplefrom Utah'cause he's from Utah

Okay.

actually worked for the same company that
this lady did.
And I, so I was talking to himabout, did you ever know
Suzette?
And he's like, actually thatlady was crazy.
She just know a part number offthe top of her head.
And I'm like how?
I don't understand that.
'cause it's so many differentpieces of equipment, so many

(59:47):
different part numbers.
And it's I guess it's just asavant when it came to numbers.
Probably like this peanut guy,he

Yeah,

like peanut Yeah.
Savant with that.
So it's like, wow.

That's funny.
That's good stuff.
Were you ready to do some rapidfire stuff?

Tyler Bradshaw, CTEM (01:00:05):
Sure.

Trent Manning, CTEM (01:00:05):
All right.
What's your favorite movie?

My favorite movie is Varsity Blues.

that's a good one.
Yeah, I hadn't seen that inforever too.
Great movie.
What would be your last meal?

My last meal, a ribeye with a baked
potato.

Okay.
I love it.
Yeah, ribeye, definitely handsdown, best cut of steak.
There is, and people wanna argueall the time, but there's really

No, it's, it's, it's ribeye,

that's real eye.
What are you most proud ofbesides your family?

you know, being able to accomplish getting
my CE actually,

That's so good.

to, never went to school, but I feel
proud, uh, that I have that.

Well, you should.
I mean, that's awesome.
It's an accomplishment.

outside of, you know, my family, that's,
that's my biggestaccomplishment.

That's so good.
I love it.
That's awesome.
Well, good deal.
Um, tell the listeners how theycan get ahold of you.
You got a email?
I know you're on Twitter.

Yeah.
If they need to get ahold of mefor any questions, you know,
you, they can get ahold of me attBradshaw@lakewoodcc.com.

All right.

And then my Twitter, uh, I can't even
remember off the top of my headwhat it is.
I think it's just TylerBradshaw, I think.

Yeah, that sounds right,

think, I think, I think that's what it's,
I mean, I get on there, but Idon't pay attention to my
profile'cause I'm always lookingfor things.
So I can't even remember what myprofile, if I got logged out of
my Twitter, I probably wouldn'tknow how to get back in.
Mm-hmm.

Same here.
That's good.
Well, thank you so much forbeing on.
It's been a blast.
Really enjoyed it.

It's been a pleasure.
I've been looking forward to it.
You know, I was kind of nervousat first, like, ah, and then I
was like, you know what?
I know Trent he's pretty down tochill guy.
And it, it's just been like aconversation.

that's all it is, man.
Yeah.
And

So.

anybody else is listening and you want
to be on, you just heard it fromTyler, you can do it.
It's just two dudes talking.

Yep.
It's just a conversation.
It's kick back, chill, andrelax.

That's it.
Yeah.
And I don't, I mean, I've hadplenty of guests that cracked a
cold beer or had a mixed drinkin their hand.
I don't care.
I don't, I mean, it

I I've been sitting here with,

or a Dr.
Pepper.
Yeah.
Or a Dr.
Pepper.
You know, to eat his own.

Yeah.

Well, thank you again.

Hey, anytime, Trent, I appreciate the
opportunity

Trent Manning (01:02:30):
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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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Episode 147: Tyler Bradshaw, CTEM

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Episode 147: Tyler Bradshaw, CTEM

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