Welcome to Episode 101 of Reel Turf Techs! In this milestone episode, we have the privilege of sitting down with a true luminary in the turf industry: Jeff Drake, the Global Product Marketing Manager at the Toro Company. Jeff’s journey from humble beginnings as a caddie to becoming a driving force in turf innovation spans an impressive 39 years, and his story is one you won’t want to miss.
Join us as we delve into the remarkable trajectory of Jeff’s career, where he transformed a summer gig as a caddie into an illustrious journey through the world of turf management. From his early days navigating golf courses to his current role as a key player at the Toro Company, Jeff’s insights and experiences offer a treasure trove of knowledge for turf enthusiasts of all levels.
Transcript
Trent Manning: 0:05
welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we’ll learn tips and tricks. I’m your host, Trent. Manning let’s have some this episode are real turf techs on golf course industries Superintendent radio network is presented by Foley county a strong supporter of equipment technicians and golf course maintenance departments everywhere Foley county offers a proven solution for above and below the turf for turf professionals To learn more about Foley company’s line of real grinders bed knife grinders and the air to G2 family of products or to find a distributor visit www dot Foley C o.com Foley Ready for play Welcome to the real turf text podcast, episode 1 0 1. Today, we’re talking to Jeff Drake global product marketing manager at the Toro company. Jeff has been at the Toro company for 32 years. Let’s talk to Jeff. Welcome Jeff to the RealTurf Text Podcast. How are you doing today?
Jeff Drake: 1:26
I’m doing good, Trent. Thanks for having me. I feel honored.
Trent Manning: 1:29
No, I’m really looking forward to this and we’ve known each other for some time. Not that we talk that often, but it was good to reconnect last year. And you had me and, uh, Chad and Austin Wright come by and visit you at Toro Company, and I really appreciate you sending out an invitation and having me up for that. And I look forward to our conversation today.
Jeff Drake: 1:59
As do I. And, and thanks for, for reaching out on, on that visit. I was tickled when you reached out and dragging Austin and then Chad. It was, uh, it couldn’t have gone any better. I, I appreciated it. And hopefully you got as much out of it as I did.
Trent Manning: 2:15
Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah, the soundproof room. I know we can’t talk about all the stuff we saw, but hopefully that’s not off limits, but that was so eerie being in a soundproof room.
Jeff Drake: 2:27
It does, uh, it does scare you a little bit. Cause you can start to hear your blood going through and, and your heartbeat and other. Other creepy thoughts start creeping in because it’s the absence of ambient noise around you. your brain kind of struggles to process without all that ambient noise, it’s really weird.
Trent Manning: 2:53
Yeah, it was, uh, definitely, I mean, obviously I’ve never been in silence before, even, you know, I’ve might be in the woods and think, Oh, this is so peaceful and silent, but it is nowhere near silent,
Jeff Drake: 3:06
Yeah, it’s, it’s an experience. And I, I’ve done multiple tours like that and, uh, I haven’t had anybody. That’s been in that for the first times feel comfortable because that absence of ambient noise and Because it’s in our everyday lives and everything we do Like you said you’re in the woods and you think you’re in peace and quiet. You still got all the wind noise of just The noise around you.
Trent Manning: 3:35
right? Yeah. It’s, yeah, I didn’t realize how much noise was around me until I walked in that room and there’s none. So that’s super cool and I really appreciate you, uh, having us up. But tell us how you got into the turf industry.
Jeff Drake: 3:51
So, my introduction to the turf industry started at the, uh, age of 13. I was looking for a summer job, and Growing up, I probably lived two miles from two different golf courses. Both of them were private country clubs, and I rode my bike up to one of them and said, I’d like to be a caddy. And so I started my, uh, my now 39 years in, in golf as a, as a caddy on, I’ll call it the front end of the house of, at the clubhouse carrying bags for members.
Trent Manning: 4:34
Awesome. That’s so cool.
Jeff Drake: 4:36
And then that evolved into, you know, picking the driving range, working the bag room, cleaning carts. So then working in the pro shop opening and closing. the pro shop in the morning and the evenings the country club, they couldn’t get rid of me. So in the winters I was, uh, I was working in the dining room, waiting tables, Valley parking cars for clubhouse events, uh, weddings, you name it. And then the next spring came around and I was doing it all again.
Trent Manning: 5:09
cool. Very cool. Yeah. Did you work, in the grounds department any?
Jeff Drake: 5:14
So I never worked in the grounds department and working at the. On the golf side of operations, always, you know, kind of have been a mechanically inclined person. I ended up being our liaison with the grounds department. We had a fleet of 40, at that time, gas carts. And when we’d have events, we would need all 40, yet we’d have four of them. Five of them sitting broken down. I was the guy running out to the maintenance shop to get a bag of tools, to bring the carts back to life so we could put them all into the rental fleet for the event. And, you know, created a really good relationship with the grounds department, but was always working on the front end of the house.
Trent Manning: 6:05
Gotcha. Yeah, and that can definitely be struggle at clubs. I’ve seen over the years that sometimes, yeah, those two departments don’t, play nice together, if you will. And it. I mean, it just makes the whole environment a lot worse for all of us when that gets set up. So if you got a good director of agronomy and a good director of golf and they get along together, life is so good.
Jeff Drake: 6:33
Yeah. It was, it was a really good relationship with both the grounds department when they’d come up to the clubhouse. I’d be their check in point and, you know, do we need anything? Are things running? Is the range picker up? Is the range picker down? And, uh, you know, till the point where, when the maintenance crew would go do summer events, I’d get invited with them to go tubing down the river, you know, have the barbecue. So,
Trent Manning: 7:05
Very cool.
Jeff Drake: 7:06
you know, I was an extension of them at the clubhouse.
Trent Manning: 7:10
Mm hmm. No, that’s awesome. So young Jeff working at the country club. How does he? Go to school. And
Jeff Drake: 7:20
that’s it.
Trent Manning: 7:20
yeah, what, what
Jeff Drake: 7:21
a,
Trent Manning: 7:22
what was the next step?
Jeff Drake: 7:24
And that caddy history the, one of the pros who I worked under, it was a female pro, she came over from the neighboring club, the other one that was nearby, which had a really good caddy program. And the club I was at didn’t have the best caddy program. So that’s why I went there. So I knew I could get loops. You know, I didn’t have to wait four hours to get a bag.
Trent Manning: 7:52
Hmm.
Jeff Drake: 7:53
She introduced me to, uh, a caddy scholarship and it’s called the Evans scholarship, which is my shameless plug managed by the, the Western golf association, the WGA. She introduced me to it and said, basically, you’re eligible with your history of caddying and your hours and your, your academics, your community service. We just have to get you to apply and then get your letters of recommendation.
Trent Manning: 8:27
Okay.
Jeff Drake: 8:28
So Kathy Bremer was her name. She was basically my mentor to get me into The interview process for the scholarship, and then after that, the rest is history. So, uh, you know, the Evans scholarship provided me with a four year renewable college scholarship. And then at that point, I didn’t really have a good direction of what I was going to do in college. But going into the interview process, I had to have determined a school and a major. So it kind of forced my hand. and at that time, like I said, you know, I was mechanically inclined. I loved, tinkering or as Aaron Miller called it, you know, piddling.
Trent Manning: 9:13
Yeah. Yeah. Piddling. That’s awesome.
Jeff Drake: 9:15
and, uh, I went into mechanical engineering and proceeded into engineering. And then that opened my eyes to a program at the university of Minnesota, where I got my degree. It was a co op program and that co op program allowed you to. Integrate your schooling with a company and industry and alternate going to school and then working and going to school. And so the way it would work is you’d get a list of companies and then over spring break you’d interview with them. And then you would rate, the company you wanted to work for. And then the companies would rank their, their candidates of who they interviewed with. And then the program would kind of align them, you know, if the student was a number one and the company had him as a number one, it was a direct match. If the student was a five and the company had him as a two, you know, they would kind of link companies and students up.
Trent Manning: 10:26
Hmm.
Jeff Drake: 10:27
And at the time, uh, the Toro Company was on the company list, but they weren’t on the interview list. And so I asked the program said, you know, why is Toro not on there? And they said, well, there. They have a student already and he’s in his second year, so they don’t need another student. I said, okay. I interviewed with companies, made my selection, got a good fit. And it was the week before finals. I called the company and said, Hey, I haven’t heard anything about my start date for summer. Just trying to coordinate things with finals coming up next week. And the woman who I got a hold of wasn’t my contact. And her comment was, Oh yeah, we’ve been meaning to get a hold of you. We’ve gone through some cuts and we’re not going to use you.
Trent Manning: 11:20
wow.
Jeff Drake: 11:21
my heart just sank because I went out on a limb with this company. I had a direct lock at an, at another one, but I’m like, I’m going to take a little risk. And,
Trent Manning: 11:30
Hmm.
Jeff Drake: 11:31
and now it’s the week before finals. And I walk into the office and said, Well, I got bad news. Here’s what I heard. Are there any companies that didn’t get students? The woman handed me the list and I looked at it and go, yeah, I interviewed with them. I know why they didn’t get a comp or a student. And then at the bottom of the list was Toro question mark. And I inquired, I said, Hey, what’s the deal with Toro on here? They weren’t interviewing. And the woman came back and said, well, their student dropped out of the program, changed his major. But our contact at Toro is out of the country, and we’re waiting on an answer if they want a student.
Trent Manning: 12:10
Wow.
Jeff Drake: 12:11
And I just lit up and I said, I want to be that student. And, uh, this was before cell phones, so the contact was out of the country. They were waiting for him to get back. He got back, I had an interview, started a week later, and the rest is history.
Trent Manning: 12:27
Wow. That is awesome. So how long have you been with Toro?
Jeff Drake: 12:31
it was 32 years earlier this year. So over 32 years.
Trent Manning: 12:36
Well, congratulations. That’s very impressive. And you’re not that old for the listeners that can’t see your face. I, I’m not going to ask how old you are, but you’re not that old. So that’s a long time to, uh, be there at the Toro company. Yeah, that is awesome. So let’s go through Some of your different roles there. So you started in engineering?
Jeff Drake: 13:01
Yeah. I started in engineering right out of college. Well, I was in college doing that work study program, got my degree, got hired on full time as a product engineer. Some of the products I worked, I run irony of things is I started on, on riding greens mowers and then, transition to sand pros, bunker rakes and then really spent the majority of my time in five plex fairway mowers.
Trent Manning: 13:33
Okay.
Jeff Drake: 13:33
and that led me up till, I did one rotary, amongst that, but it was off of the, uh, the five plex fairway more platform. The last engineering project was the real master 50, 10 H. And at that point I needed a change of scenery.
Trent Manning: 13:52
Mm hmm.
Jeff Drake: 13:52
I had spent at that time about 20 years in engineering. I loved customer engagement and helping hear problems and deliver products to help them solve their agronomic and, and kind of golf course issues. So I knew there was an opening in our sales group and, and kind of reached out just informally to ask if we could talk about the position and our national sales manager at the time said, well, if you’re interested in this position, my search process is done. And. And I got back in the office the next day, our director of engineering came over and, and said, so I hear you’re going to sales. And I looked at him and I said, I didn’t even interview. I just inquired and he said, well, it sounds like the job is yours.
Trent Manning: 14:48
Yeah, yeah.
Jeff Drake: 14:49
And so I did a stint as a district sales manager managing, parts of 13 different states, five different Canadian provinces on the western edge. And did that for about five years. And, and I look at the spectrum as engineering is very product related. Sales is very customer related. Then I got inquired about, a product management position and said, would you be interested in doing this? And, Product management fits right in between engineering and sales. You’re working with both teams. I’ve had experience with both and, and that’s what I’m doing now. So I’m a product manager for our, our riding greens, our walking greens, and our, greens pro greens rollers as well.
Trent Manning: 15:37
Okay. So what is your day to day like?
Jeff Drake: 15:41
Day to
Trent Manning: 15:42
those product projects.
Jeff Drake: 15:44
day to day life is a variety of things working with engineering on current products. Answering customer and distributor questions about configuration or, you know, they’re seeing something in the turf and, and they want helping help addressing it. Both from our distributors or our customers. Evaluating markets for new product development.
Trent Manning: 16:12
Mm hmm.
Jeff Drake: 16:13
Every day’s different. You know, there’s no two days are the same.
Trent Manning: 16:17
It almost sounds like working at a golf course
Jeff Drake: 16:20
it is.
Trent Manning: 16:21
I mean, honestly, and you know, I mean, everybody I’ve interviewed this worked at a golf course. I mean, that’s, that’s why we love it so much is all the variety that we get to do.
Jeff Drake: 16:30
You know, I leave the house in the morning thinking, you know, mindset of I’d like to get these five things done today and I get to the office, open my email or check my mailbox and those five things just get thrown to the wind and now I’m doing a deep dive into something else.
Trent Manning: 16:49
Yeah, no, I mean, that honestly is exactly what we do at the golf course. Cause I get my whole day planned out on my way to work and five minutes into my day, plans gone, you know, because whatever the circumstance is, whether it’s weather or a piece of equipment is not running like it’s supposed to, or the boss had, this is true story, the boss had. A greens committee meeting last night, and they decided we’re going to take down 30 trees behind number eight green, the true story just happened. Just found out about it today. So it’s time to get the chipper hooked up the dump trailer hooked up, you know, make sure all the chainsaws are sharpened while we’re supposed to verify next week. So that was my day today. And I got to get equipment from one golf course, which we verified last week. To the golf course, we’re air fine next week and get it all back together and ready to go. So fun, fun times, but no, I love that part about not knowing what you’re going to do. And every day is different.
Jeff Drake: 18:00
I often tell people I feel like the guy in the circus who’s got the plates on sticks and he’s trying to keep them all spinning. And as soon as one starts wobbling, he’s got to run over there and get it, get that one back in sync and, you know, cause it, it might be the engineering team, it might be the test team. It might be our customer service. It might be our training team. You know, it might be a distributor that wants, wants some information for training that they’re doing in their region and we’re doing it on a global scale and so it’s, it’s. It’s looking around and determining which plate is wobbling the most to give it run, you know, give it some attention and give it another spin.
Trent Manning: 18:46
Mm. No, that’s great way to explain it. I love it. Well, tell us what your favorite tool is. I’m interested to hear.
Jeff Drake: 18:53
So my favorite tool has got to be my Milwaukee, M18 impact driver.
Trent Manning: 18:59
Ah, I love it. Yes. Right, right, right, right. Like the old Tim, the tool man, Taylor. Yeah,
Jeff Drake: 19:05
know, I just look at it going, man, I remember trying to drive screws in a piece of wood with a screwdriver. Or, you know, you’re trying to,
Trent Manning: 19:14
yeah.
Jeff Drake: 19:15
trying to loosen a bolt and, or get out a strip screw and, and now it’s like, that’s the first thing I go for.
Trent Manning: 19:23
No, I think it’s really changed our industry. All the electric tools that’s available now. And I know I got guys working in the shop and they think the air hose is for putting air in a tire. You know, they’ve never used a pneumatic tool and it’s like, that’s what I grew up on. Yeah. And one day I’m using a electric half inch impact and they’re like, I can’t do what I need to do. Cause I need that impact. I’m like, there’s a pneumatic one in the toolbox. I don’t know how to use that. Okay. Well, I’ll give you a little lesson here, buddy. We’ll get it figured out. But yeah, I think it’s really, uh, changed a lot and it’s so much easier not having to drag a hose around everywhere all in your way. I
Jeff Drake: 20:15
Yeah. I mean, I use it for carpentry work, for construction work, for mechanic work. I mean, the thing I, I, I like it so much. I’ve got a couple of them now, so I don’t have to make sure I’ve got one at each location.
Trent Manning: 20:29
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So you got multiple locations.
Jeff Drake: 20:33
Well, so I’ve got one at home and then we’ve got a up north.
Trent Manning: 20:39
Is that a pretty common thing? Because I think Chad’s got something similar going on.
Jeff Drake: 20:45
Yeah, I’d say in the Midwest, not uncommon to have A family cabin, a friend’s cabin. Cabin country is a, is a big deal.
Trent Manning: 20:59
That’s awesome. So yeah. What’s the biggest pastime in cabin country?
Jeff Drake: 21:04
Being on the water,
Trent Manning: 21:06
Okay.
Jeff Drake: 21:07
you know, just spending time on the water. If it’s floating, tubing, skiing, wakeboarding, relaxing, watching the sunset,
Trent Manning: 21:16
Yep. Yep. All good stuff. Yeah. Well, you kind of spoke to, you had one mentor that helped you get your scholarship. You got any other mentors throughout the years?
Jeff Drake: 21:29
yeah. I guess outs, you know, outside of the head pro helped me with the scholarship. I look at everybody in, in the golf industry is, is a mentor to me because, you know, when I stopped listening and learning then I’ve given up, you know, everybody’s going to be able to teach me something. I don’t know everything and everybody’s doing something a little different. You know, you guys are doing it day in and day out. I’m not living it. And so I look at everybody as really someone I look forward to spending time with to help me help them make better product.
Trent Manning: 22:08
Oh, I agree a hundred percent and yeah, anybody could be a mentor and everybody that I’ve hung out with or got to spend, you know, even a small amount of time in their shop doing whatever you learn something. And like you said, you know, we’re all doing it and we all do it a little bit different and some ways are better than others and you just have to find out what works for you. Or that’s been my experience.
Jeff Drake: 22:39
Yeah. So, you know, Chad, Chad Brown over at Town and Country over in St. Paul. I cherish the days when I can go and spend some time with him in the shop and, and, you know, it’s usually working on a piece of equipment or evaluating something or figuring, you know, where his pain points are. Austin right over at Sand Valley, Lanny Togi over at, at St. Andrews Fred Hartenstein and, and John Adams and the guy at Augusta National. You know, we’ve spent a lot of time in the shop with them. You know, we’re all learning something together.
Trent Manning: 23:17
Yeah, I agree. And I mean, that was probably, I mean, one of the funnest parts about working for Jerry Pate and the distributor, and that’s how we originally met was you were doing some testing on a, was it 55, 10, I think it was. And I mean, that was, that was so cool being. You know, experiencing that and seeing what you’re doing, trying to, to figure that stuff out and I thoroughly enjoyed it for sure.
Jeff Drake: 23:49
Yeah. It’s mutually beneficial. You know, at it as the customer’s helping me evaluate and prove out a product so we can make it better for them.
Trent Manning: 24:03
Hmm.
Jeff Drake: 24:04
And then spending the time in the shop you know, I, I like to hear the goods and the bads of the product and. The service aspect, because I look at our product we don’t design it to be in the shop, spending time in there. However, I also want to take pride in, we know what’s going to have to be there for general repair and maintenance.
Trent Manning: 24:33
Hmm.
Jeff Drake: 24:33
Let’s focus on making the time that it is there as efficient as process as possible. So we can get it back out onto the turf for what it’s meant to be doing, cutting grass.
Trent Manning: 24:44
Right. Yeah. And yeah, I kinda, I don’t know why I’m thinking about it this way, but the thing I want, like working on the least is a tool. So, you know, whatever it is, if you know, I don’t like working on tools. I need that tool to perform a job and I don’t need to be working on the tool, but I’ve never really thought about it this way. I mean, it’s the same way with the mower. We need the mower mowing grass. We don’t need to be working on it in the shop cause it needs to be more grass, but, and I don’t care what color it is. It all breaks. I mean, everything there’s where points, you know, whatever it is, you don’t do like Chad and you’re not up to date on all your preventive maintenance stuff. Spending time with him, though, the most amazing thing when me and Austin went over there, I mean, just to see his operation, is and. He’s so thorough and he’s in our WhatsApp group too, and somebody will throw a question up. And most of the time he doesn’t answer the question without answering the question with an operator service or a parts manual. Like he has all that stuff. You need to look here and it’s just so awesome knowing somebody like that. And he’s a huge resource source for our whole industry, not just, you know, for the people in the group. And I think a lot of us are that way. We just want to help. So if the guy down the road has an issue, maybe we’ve seen it, maybe we hadn’t, but we’re all very willing to help in any way we can.
Jeff Drake: 26:30
Yeah, it’s like I said, it’s about being more efficient. In, you know, maybe it’s diagnosing something or finding a resolution to resolve it, get it out of the shop and get it back out to, you know, if it was, if it’s an aerator, get it back out to aerate or a top dresser or a mower. It’s not doing anybody any good sitting in there disabled and non functional.
Trent Manning: 26:57
Right. Yep. Exactly. Right. Well, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell this quick story. So I was talking about moving equipment between courses. I went to load up a tractor and the ramp slid. And the tractor back tire, I was loading it forwards. The back tire goes down and I’m like, you know, this sucks, whatever. So I’m backing up and I see diesel fuel pouring everywhere. It has a plastic fuel tank right under the seat, knocked a hole in it, trying to load it on the trailer. So I’m pulling it in the shop, get the fuel out of it, take the fuel tank off. And I got a plastic welder. I welded it back up, put it back in, still got it delivered that same day. I mean, it’s just amazing what the right tool at the right time can do. And granted that should have never happened. I should have had the ramps probably a little bit wider. I should have had somebody spotting me, you know, I mean, whatever. It probably could have been prevented, but it wouldn’t. And anyway, so the, the boss, he was surprised to see it on the trailer. Cause he’d seen the hole was knocked in the tank and he went to launch or, you know, went and done whatever, and he comes back and it’s sitting on the trailer and he’s like, you got that fixed? It’s like, yeah, I got it fixed. So I told him, you know what I did. And he said, that one tool saved aerification, you know, and I never really thought about it like that, but a technician and the right tools. Could save verification.
Jeff Drake: 28:31
having the right tool saves a lot of things.
Trent Manning: 28:34
Yeah, I’m definitely a tool junkie. And I know this I’ve, I’ve struggled with it over the years, uh, and, uh, I do have hoarding tendencies, so it’s tough. But yeah, if they make a tool for the job, I want that tool. You know, why not? It just makes life so much easier. And I might’ve even told this story, but if I hadn’t, hopefully Corey Phillips will, uh, laugh along with us. I asked it this, you know, when I first started there at Jerry Payton, getting to know Corey and I don’t remember what we were working on, but we needed a pair of snap ring pliers. And I says, you got snap ring pliers? And he’s like, I got two screwdrivers. I said, okay, Corey. All right. So we get the snap ring off. I was like, have you ever thought about getting a pair of snap ring pliers? And he says, Oh, the ones I’ve got, they just don’t work. I was like, well, you gotta buy a decent pair. That’s not something you go to Harbor Freight and get. You get, you know, a good set of snap ring pliers and they’ll serve you well.
Jeff Drake: 29:45
Because all you need is one of those snap rings to let loose, and then we all listen for it. Where’s the last time I heard it go ping?
Trent Manning: 29:53
Mm hmm.
Jeff Drake: 29:54
And now you’re, you know, on the floor looking for a snap ring underneath a bench or in a pile of clippings somewhere. That’s, that’s just inefficient. It’s waste. It’s time we don’t have.
Trent Manning: 30:11
That’s exactly right. And who knows where that snap ring goes? I think maybe it goes to outer space because it will just disappear. You know, and it doesn’t matter how clean your shop is or whatever. I mean, you know how it is around equipment.
Jeff Drake: 30:26
Yep.
Trent Manning: 30:27
all kinds of nooks and crannies and it’s going to find one and you’ll never see it again.
Jeff Drake: 30:31
It’s, it’s like dropping a bolt, you know, underneath the seat or under the hood. You hear it ting, ting, ting, and you’re praying that you hear it hit the concrete floor.
Trent Manning: 30:43
Mm hmm.
Jeff Drake: 30:44
Because when it hits the concrete floor, you’ve just increased your chances of finding it tenfold.
Trent Manning: 30:49
Oh, yeah. Yeah, exactly right.
Jeff Drake: 30:51
Instead of being embedded in a frame or sitting on a, on a exhaust manifold somewhere that you now can’t even get to.
Trent Manning: 30:59
That’s funny. A buddy of mine was telling me he was changing a window regulator on a, I mean, some kind of old like E30 BMW or something, and you got to stick a 10 millimeter socket through a little bitty hole and to get it loose at any way. And he puts the new one in. He pulls his extension out with the 10 millimeter socket on it and it catches on the side of the hole. 10 millimeter socket goes down inside the door. And yeah, so he gets his magnet out. He’s digging around. He pulls out a 10 millimeter socket and it’s not his.
Jeff Drake: 31:37
There’s another one in
Trent Manning: 31:38
yeah, there was another one in there. So somebody else had performed the same job and left their 10 millimeter socket in there.
Jeff Drake: 31:46
Oh, that’s funny.
Trent Manning: 31:47
Yeah. So he got, he got. Somebody else’s 10 millimeter socket out and said, okay, I got my socket or I got a socket. So there’s still one riding around in that door.
Jeff Drake: 31:57
Oh, he didn’t go fishing for his
Trent Manning: 31:58
No, he didn’t go fishing for his own. I think it was a cheaper brand maybe. So he just left it in there. He had his 10 millimeter socket.
Jeff Drake: 32:08
That’s funny, trying to think, uh, uh, Daniel Heinze wasn’t, wasn’t he the one that would go magnet fishing?
Trent Manning: 32:15
Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s so cool. I hadn’t tried that yet, but it sounds interested.
Jeff Drake: 32:21
I’ve had to go, I’ve had to go magnet fishing for tools and hardware.
Trent Manning: 32:28
and I like okay. this got a good story with it.
Jeff Drake: 32:34
no,
Trent Manning: 32:35
No, okay. All
Jeff Drake: 32:36
we’ll just leave it at
Trent Manning: 32:37
yeah, we’ll just leave it to that. No good stories there
Jeff Drake: 32:40
So when I, when I heard Daniel talking about that, I was like, Oh, I can relate to that.
Trent Manning: 32:45
That’s awesome, that’s Well, I appreciate you being a listener and a guest. This is awesome. So tips and tricks.
Jeff Drake: 32:54
You know, tips and tricks. I’d say that is, I’ve got a long history of a lot of products. I don’t have one that sticks out, you know, they’re probably conditional. yeah, I, I don’t, I can’t think of one that sticks out as. You know, that’s something that was really beneficial because it’s, you know, from one guy might be, or gal might be, yep, I just had to learn that last week where the next person is, Oh, I never knew that.
Trent Manning: 33:24
Well, right Yeah, and A lot of times, you know, with this tip and trick segment, you know, you never know what you’re going to get. There’s so many good tricks out there and there’s a lot of good tips out there, but you don’t know what you don’t know. So always love hearing people’s story to that.
Jeff Drake: 33:48
I guess I’ve turned into, even before I start a project now YouTube. To find out, okay, i e what’s the, the tip and trick that’s out there that I don’t have to learn or before I even start the project? Well, I’m gonna watch this five minute video and figure out, do I have all the tools? So I’d, I’d say if I have a tip or trick, go check YouTube or
Trent Manning: 34:18
that is a,
Jeff Drake: 34:19
the WhatsApp to figure out who else out there has had this issue and, you know, save you the 10, 15 minutes on the, the diagnostic side of it.
Trent Manning: 34:29
no, that’s a great point. And so I’m working on a Honda civic and I’ve been working on Hondas for a long time, but I was watching a video on YouTube. About how did it remove the cylinder head? And cause I’ve never taken one off this particular Honda. So why not go to YouTube and get some insight? And the first thing I see blows my mind. On this Honda and I think several other Hondas there, you know, the hood doesn’t have shocks. So it’s got a mount, right? So you pop the hood up and it’s got a rod that holds the hood up. There’s, there’s two holes in the hood. I never knew about the second hole. So the first hole is like for checking your oil or whatever you’re doing. But if you’re actually going to do a little more work on the engine, there’s another hole that holds the hood more vertical.
Jeff Drake: 35:26
Like a service position.
Trent Manning: 35:27
Yeah. Like a service position. Exactly. Right. And I was like, how did I never see this before? So, I mean, you know, it’s just a little simple stuff like that. And I would have never learned that if I hadn’t have been watching a video on YouTube.
Jeff Drake: 35:42
Well, it’s funny you say that is, last weekend I found a little. Black plastic knob with a T slot in it. And I asked my wife, I said, Hey, do you know what this is from? And rather than throw it away, I put it on my dresser. And a week later, when I went to open the back hatch of my Tahoe, the window, it’s got a soft rubber button that you depress right next to the license plate to open the window.
Trent Manning: 36:14
Okay.
Jeff Drake: 36:14
so I put my hand under there and I’m like, wait a minute, the rubber bumper’s gone. So I look underneath. And there’s a slot in a round opening. And so I went back inside, grabbed that plastic piece, slid it in there, pushed it in the window open. I’m like, okay, I knew where this came from. And what had happened is the rubber pad, had dry rotted, you know, vehicles, 14 years old, the dry rod, and I must’ve slammed the window and it finally just dropped out. And the, unfortunately I didn’t find the pad part of it. Cause that broke in pieces, but the plunger. So now I’ve got the plunger in my glove compartment. If I ever need to open the window, I grab it, push it and put it away.
Trent Manning: 37:01
That’s awesome.
Jeff Drake: 37:02
The other night I went on YouTube to figure out how do I get the switch out? And sure enough, you know, it’s, you’ve got to take the door apart from the inside to get the outside license plate frame off, and then you can get access to the switch.
Trent Manning: 37:18
Okay. Yeah. I don’t, especially automotive stuff. There, there’s so many videos on there. Oh, you know, just little, you know, how do you change this light bulb that you have no idea how you get, you think you got to disassemble the whole dash panel, you know, to change a light bulb. And maybe you do, but at least in those videos, you can kind of find out what you’re getting into. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeff Drake: 37:43
yeah, and I can also tell you, there’s a lot of them that I haven’t followed the instructions. You know, same vehicle Chevy Tahoe or better yet, uh, a Chevy Malibu where you’ve got to take the front clip off bumper and fascia to get to the headlight. You know, and that, that’s where I just say shame on GM for making it really. Assembly easy and customer unfriendly
Trent Manning: 38:09
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s how engineers get a bad name.
Jeff Drake: 38:14
yeah,
Trent Manning: 38:15
Yeah, there’s two and stuff like that where you got to disassemble the whole car to change the headlight bulb.
Jeff Drake: 38:23
yeah. So now I’ve found out that a couple of two by fours properly positioned. I can get my arm, hold it open to where I can get my arm in and only have to take a couple of clips out.
Trent Manning: 38:34
Oh nice. Yeah
Jeff Drake: 38:36
Don’t do it in the middle of Minnesota winter though,
Trent Manning: 38:38
Oh, yeah Imagine not.
Jeff Drake: 38:42
because you will crack the plastic.
Trent Manning: 38:44
Oh I got you. Yeah Yeah, the things we do not have to worry about down here in the south.
Jeff Drake: 38:51
Yeah. Yeah. Pluses and minuses.
Trent Manning: 38:55
That’s right pluses and minuses Y’all have a lot more minuses up there in my opinion the pluses including the temperature Negative degrees. Well, let’s talk about, volunteering a little bit. You got quite, quite a bit of experience volunteering at some major tournaments.
Jeff Drake: 39:17
Yeah. So, you know, in my role, I get to visit a lot of golf courses and, you know, I’m, I’m there for a limited amount of time. So I’ve been able to volunteer at, it’s going on probably 30 different, 30 plus different events. You know, local events all the way up to, well, you know, I call it my, my personal grand slam. I’ve done all the majors, including Ryder cups in that. And it gives me the opportunity to spend time in the shop out on the golf course with superintendents in, I’ll say a different environment and walk in their shoes. And share both positive and negative, experiences to, again, help me learn and be more of a, a help in our product development process, rather than showing up for five minutes, we have a conversation and I only take away from that, that five minutes, you know, as a volunteer, you’re welcome. You’re there at o dark 34 5 in the morning and many times You’re not leaving the facility till 9 10 o’clock at night. So you’re with those folks day in and day out issues come up during the course of The week that you’ve got to react and get that piece of equipment back out or deal with that situation, and it’s, it’s a huge benefit from a learning experience. you know, I do it as much as I can. However, you know, it is, it is away from my day to day job. So I got to pick and choose when I can, but a huge, hugely rewarding, huge, social aspect and networking aspect, because as you and I know, you know, we 20, 30 years ago. Kind of started our relationship and it was tied to you know, my opportunity to create a relationship with a golf course that we were out testing at.
Trent Manning: 41:34
hmm. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s incredible how that works. And I mean, I think we, uh, talk about it a lot, but I think it needs to be talked about a lot is the power of networking. And for me, I think volunteering is. A big network opportunity, not that you don’t learn a lot of other stuff working with another mechanic. Like we talked about, we’re all doing the same thing. We all do it a little different and we do learn different tips and tricks and everybody does it different and there’s a lot of ways to skin a cat as the old saying goes and. I just, I love volunteering. And like you say, the social acts aspect of it and hanging out, getting to know people a little bit better. You have to find out what makes them tick and find out what kind of food they like, because I love to eat. it just, uh, makes the world go around, I think.
Jeff Drake: 42:35
Yeah. You’re learning different cultures, you know, different parts of the world, different parts of the country, different grass types, Bermuda’s and the zoysias, they don’t do too well up, up North here. So, you know, I’ve, I’ve got a, I’ve got to travel to, do testing in those environments. And I can’t tell you how many relationships through volunteering or connections that have blossomed outside of the volunteering aspect that both ways, you know, they needed, wanted some answers or wanted some help, and I’ve been able to maybe lean on them for something at times, and it just, it opens the world up.
Trent Manning: 43:18
Yeah, it really does. And yeah, it’s a two way street, you know, I’m getting some, you’re getting some, and I think, you know, at least my experience in volunteering, I always end up, or I feel like I get way more than I gave to volunteer for a few days or however long it is.
Jeff Drake: 43:38
Oh, heck yeah. I couldn’t agree with you more. And, uh, you know, you take that time aspect and then by the time you get back and address all the things that happened while you were gone, and you have a chance to decompress. And process all that, you know, went on during your time when you were there. It’s just the teeter totter never flips back. You’re you’re gained. Never has a chance to balance out what you put in. Cause you get so much.
Trent Manning: 44:13
Well, and I think you hit on a really good tip there of taking a minute and reflecting on what you did. Whether it’s. Going to volunteer or I personally did this last week. After the biggest part of our verification was over, uh, was in the shop and the other mechanic there, I said, let’s just talk about what all happened. You know, a little like, uh, after actions report, if you will, nothing formal, but just talk through it. Like, you know, this went really good, you know, we had some issues with this and I wrote all that stuff down and. What we’ve done historically is, uh, we do a report, verification report every year, and we take all these notes, write all that down. And then next year we read that report. So we don’t make the same mistakes we made this year, next year. And I just think that’s very valuable to do stuff like that. But if you do go volunteer, take a few minutes by yourself and. Reflect on what all you did learn and what you need to follow up on. And I’ve said this in the last few interviews, cause I learned it from Greg Womble. He’s a technician in the Carolinas. And he said, we’re, we are really good at coming up with ideas. And we suck at follow through. And I know me personally, I’m terrible on the follow through. So that’s something I need, need to work on. And I think a lot of us need to work on it.
Jeff Drake: 46:01
Yeah. One, one thing I learned, one of my first volunteer events is I found just a small little pocket notepad You know, something I could just slip in my pocket and make a note here, there follow up on, get back to someone or, you know, write down someone’s contact information. And you know, I do it every time when I go to visit a customer, I’ll bring a bigger notepad, but you know, I just say, give me a minute. I want to collect this thought. So, you know, I don’t lose it and forget.
Trent Manning: 46:36
Yeah. Cause it happens so easily. And I know, you know, with us being in the shop and you got a hundred things coming at you and you have this one thought and. Then you get interrupted. And if you didn’t write that thought down, I don’t know when it’s going to come back to you. You know, maybe it will later that day, it might be a week. It might be a month or it might not ever come back or yeah, I don’t know what happened to me, but we have a top changer and so it’s like the wet jet, if you will, instead of a dry Jack, it’s a wet Jack and. A great machine, but if you have any, uh, rocks or gravel or any of that kind of stuff in your sand that you put into it, it will get hung in the nozzles. So evidently this didn’t get in our report because I totally forgot that I even made it. But I made a tool to hook up to a water hose so I could reverse, The sand, you know, goes one direction. This is, I mean, it didn’t anything. It’s a 90 and a nipple and I can blow the rocks out with it.
Jeff Drake: 47:50
There’s the back flush.
Trent Manning: 47:51
yeah, a back flush. And I totally forgot that I made the thing. I don’t know. Maybe I’m losing it. I don’t know, but, uh, I totally forgot and I find it on the shelf. Of course, after we already did one verification, but I got it for the next week, so we’re going to be good to go. You ready to do some rapid fire questions?
Jeff Drake: 48:16
Heck yeah, let’s go.
Trent Manning: 48:17
All right. What’s your favorite movie?
Jeff Drake: 48:20
Do you have to ask? Caddyshack, of course.
Trent Manning: 48:22
Oh, okay. Caddyshack. Yes. I love it, man. I don’t know. Out of everybody I’ve interviewed, I can’t remember anybody saying Caddyshack. And it’s such a great movie. And I know some superintendents think, eh, you know, because it makes the superintendent look bad. But, uh. It’s it is what it is. And it’s a really good movie.
Jeff Drake: 48:46
It’s a classic.
Trent Manning: 48:48
What would be your last meal?
Jeff Drake: 48:50
Well that’s going to have to be a, uh, filet cooked medium with a, uh, little bit of, uh, garlic butter on top, maybe a twice baked loaded potato, some, uh, grilled asparagus. We’ll finish that off with a little, uh, vanilla bean ice cream and maybe a, uh, berry compote on top.
Trent Manning: 49:11
Wow. All right. I want to be there for your last meal. That
Jeff Drake: 49:15
I’m hungry now.
Trent Manning: 49:16
Yeah, I know. So what are you most proud of besides your family?
Jeff Drake: 49:21
You know, besides family, you know, I’ll, I’ll go back to our cabin. You know, we always had this dream. Of having somewhere just to get away and, and I said it earlier, kind of decompress and, you know, it hasn’t been easy, it’s not done, but, uh, you know, we’ve got it to the point where we can go and get away and, and, and just relax and it kind of put the stress of the week behind us
Trent Manning: 49:51
Hmm. No, that’s awesome.
Jeff Drake: 49:54
and we, and we love sharing it with, with others and just saying, let’s take it for what it is.
Trent Manning: 50:00
Well, I’m going to keep that in mind next time I’m up there and in the summertime. So if we can go stay at your cabin.
Jeff Drake: 50:07
You’re, you’re invited, but if you want to come during the winter, you know, we can have fun there, too. We might put a shovel in your hand, though.
Trent Manning: 50:14
Oh yeah. Yeah. Too much shoveling for me. Don’t don’t y’all have snow blowers and stuff too?
Jeff Drake: 50:21
We do.
Trent Manning: 50:22
Yeah.
Jeff Drake: 50:24
We, we might have multiple ways we can move snow.
Trent Manning: 50:26
All right. Yes. Well, thank you so much, Jeff. I’ve really enjoyed this. I appreciate you being a guest. If any of the listeners wanted to reach out to you, you got a email address or anything you’d share.
Jeff Drake: 50:40
Yeah, I guess, uh, well, are you gonna put it in your closing? Otherwise, I can give my email address. Both my work and my personal. JTDrake325 at gmail. com or Jeff. Drake at Toro. com
Trent Manning: 50:56
All right. Awesome. Very good. Well, thank you again. And, uh, We’ll talk to you soon.
Jeff Drake: 51:03
Yeah, Trent, it’s been my pleasure. Uh, in closing, congratulations again on your, uh, Edmund Boning Award. I know that’s something to be proud of. Some of my predecessors here and my peers in the industry that I’ve known over the years were recipient of that. Most recently, Helmut Ulrich, uh, right before you. And then, you know, Dan Alon, Hector Velasquez, uh, Jim Nedden, and the late Vali Carr, you know, all, all friends of mine that, uh, Have been recipients. So again, congratulations. That’s something to be proud of.
Trent Manning: 51:35
Thank you very much. I’m so humbled to be in that group of elite people. You know, it blows my mind. I don’t really feel like I deserve it, but, uh, I’m glad I’m there. And I’m very thankful.
Jeff Drake: 51:51
Well, thank you for all you’re doing for the industry and putting these on, you know, when I get the notice, I enjoy grabbing an hour and just kind of listening in and hearing what other people have to say. So thank you again for asking me to be part of it.
Trent Manning: 52:12
Thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf techs podcast. I hope you learned something today. Don’t forget to subscribe. If you have any topics you’d like to discuss, or you’d like to be a guest, find us on Twitter at Reel turf techs.