Description
Welcome to Episode 110 of the Reel Turf Techs Podcast! In this episode, we chat with Mark Thomas, Equipment Manager at the Country Club of Lincoln in Nebraska.
Mark’s been the lone tech in the shop for an impressive 15 years at this 18-hole private club established in 1903. From starting on the golf course as a teenager to becoming a John Deere mobile service technician, Mark’s journey is as intriguing as it gets.
We chat about the challenges of handling seasonal labor, and the unexpected joys found in the simplicity of a small hammer. Mark, a father of four, shares poignant reflections on the fleeting nature of time with kids and the importance of creating a supportive work environment.
Amidst the golf tech talk, Mark drops some insider tips, including a tine storage idea that wowed our host Trent during a visit to Nebraska.
The conversation takes a personal turn as Mark opens up about a tough period in his life, discussing the transformative power of therapy, medication, positive self-talk, and open communication with loved ones.
Join us for a insightful episode, packed with wisdom, laughter, and a touch of vulnerability that makes the Reel Turf Techs Podcast a must-listen for turf enthusiasts!
Transcript
Trent Manning: [00:00:00] 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 .
Welcome to the real turf text podcast episode 110 today. We’re talking to Mark Thomas 15 year equipment manager at country club of Lincoln in Lincoln, Nebraska. Country club Lincoln is a private 18 hole club on 108 acres in the middle of Lincoln. Established in 1903. Mark is the loan tech and the shop. He has mostly Toro equipment.
Let’s talk to mark. Welcome Mark to the RealTurf Text Podcast. How are you doing today?
Mark Thomas: I’m good. I’ve been excited to do this since since we talked it at my shop.[00:01:00]
Trent Manning: Yeah. Thank you so much for coming on and tell us how you got into the turf industry.
Mark Thomas: Well, actually kind of like you, when I was 14, 15, I I was throwing hay for 30 a day and did that for maybe a season, season and a half. And my neighbor who happened to be Oh, the director of parks for for St. Joseph, Missouri. He he asked me to push him over his one acre lot just next to his house.
And I did that a few times and he came down and he’s like, what, why’d you move that stick? I was like, cause it’s going to tear up the mower. I got a job for you.
I got a job for you when you turned 16. And so I turned 16 and I went and talked to him and he’s like, yeah, come with me. And like right then we just jumped into his park truck and I went to the golf course and he’s like.
This is the guy, this guy, this guy’s going to come work for you. And I was at that job for five seasons after that.[00:02:00]
Trent Manning: Okay. Just working on the crew.
Mark Thomas: yeah, just working on the crew, changing cups and coming in after school. And that was I was, oh, that was 93 and I did it for five years. Did a couple of things in there, worked at a car wash while I was doing that and going to school or high school.
Towards the end of that five years, I. I did a box making plant where we made like, Oh, Oh, Jimboree, like the, the kids clothes boxes and,
and Victoria secret boxes. And I did that for a whole year and it was miserable, paid really well,
Trent Manning: Mm
Mark Thomas: I hated being inside and I hated doing second shift and, and went back and did another season on the golf course.
And by that time. The superintendent had been replaced, which Dan Manson, the guy that was my superintendent for the majority of the time, was an awesome dude. I, I slept on his couch a few nights and, and just, just not wanting to go home. And he’s like, come on, don’t worry about this. I don’t need to hear your story.
Just, I know. Come on, come on, come sleep on the couch.[00:03:00]
Trent Manning: Okay.
Mark Thomas: And but then yeah, Mike Boaz, I worked for him for like a month. He’s like, what are you going to do? I was like, what do you mean? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you, are you going to, it was after I graduated high school and I was like, I don’t know.
I mean, this, this seems pretty cool. I’m like, I might think about this. And so the next day it comes in with a thick wad of papers. It was all of the, all of the schools that had turf degrees. And so I’ve panned through them and Didn’t really give it much thought, just not, not much motivation, uh, ended up marrying my girlfriend at that time.
And she, uh, she’s like, she graduated with her bachelor’s and she’s like, well, what do you want to do now? And I was like, I guess I want to go to school for golf course management. I want to be a superintendent. And so we, we found that same pile of papers. And look through it and found or Georgetown community college in Conway, South [00:04:00] Carolina.
And we just packed up and moved from Springfield, Missouri to Conway, South Carolina. And I mean, there’s a couple of the golf courses between. St. Joseph down to Springfield, Missouri, but I did some, Oh, one golf course. I was the equipment manager and then I found an assistant equipment manager. And then I found a golf course that was they were building it and all of the rock of Southern Missouri. And he was looking for an assistant slash technician. And so I took that job and my, what you learn from golf course construction, it’s, it’s just figured out, make it work and go ahead. I had a team mowers that had not being tires on just so we could get up to the T’s.
But yeah, just, just, just making it work, piecing stuff together and and then also growing in 75 acres of Bermuda grass
Trent Manning: Mm
Mark Thomas: growing in California style tee or greens [00:05:00] and just, I mean, just the amount of water you had to put down on that alone and just, just will watch was ridiculous.
Trent Manning: Was it Benegrass? I
Mark Thomas: big grass. Yeah. And they were just, it was just solid sand. California is just solid sand. Yeah. You put a little milorganite on the top of it when you’re trying to get the grass to, to, uh, start growing, to germinate. But aside from that, it’s sand. So yeah, I went through all that and finished that, that growing and got it opened and, and kind of settled into that.
And that was when we were like, all right, it’s time to move on. So then we moved to South Carolina and moved to Myrtle Beach
and
Trent Manning: Yeah, so why why Myrtle Beach? Just because of Horry Georgetown?
Mark Thomas: Yep. And there’s what, 150 golf courses
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Mark Thomas: all strip there. So yeah, started at Oregon Georgetown for the golf course superintendent, uh, track,
Trent Manning: Mm hmm.
Mark Thomas: Got my associate’s [00:06:00] bag there with them, and then when I was finishing that up I’d made friends with Ben Pickney. I’ve heard his name actually mentioned on your podcast.
HE he came to me and said, Hey, you you seem to be like, you know, what you’re doing with the equipment. So why don’t you come do the equipment manager? Track. I was like, sure, I can stay another year. So we, we got that knocked out and, he was super good dude. Just, just tons of just, lots of energy.
Just loved it. We were lucky right then was like the, I was like the, right then was the peak of, of like golfing and just equipment managers. And so in the shop at the, at the school, we actually had Bernhardt, Foley and Neary all in the same shop and we’d
grind on all the different ones.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah.
Mark Thomas: Yeah, it was, it was
awesome. so when I started doing the, uh, term equipment manager certificate the superintendent Dave Ziegler, Ziegler, [00:07:00] um, well, let me back up, so I worked for a barefoot resort on the, on the FASU course, and
I did that full time as a student going to school time, school full time.
And I did that for two years. And then I got to know Dave Ziegler, the superintendent for. The dive course, which was a fully private course on the resort of
Barefoot, uh, he offered me the equipment manager job and just like, sure,
but I had, I backed up. There was some other equipment managers at the other the like main facility.
So yeah, I did that for a year and then my ex wife now, she she got accepted to University of Nebraska to, to get her master’s in fine arts. And so we got here and just luckily. Oh, it was probably two weeks, a week before we left. Oh, what’s his name? One of the owners from Rebels Turf and Tractor, the John Deere place out [00:08:00] there came in and, and DZ goes, this guy’s getting ready to leave me.
You got, you got someone to replace him with? And he’s like, where are you going? And so he’s like, oh, I know I know Don Van Hallen out there for Vanwall Turf and Irrigation. Let me give him a call. I think he just opened up a store in Omaha, actually. And so I came out here and I did not want to do a dealership job.
tried every golf course in the area trying to get a job. And apparently there’s kind of a close knit thing here in Lincoln, Nebraska, where like, if they didn’t know you, they’re just like, whatever, you know,
diamond doesn’t. So I went ahead and ended up taking that job. And I did a mobile equipment technician for John Deere for three years.
And it was awesome. Like I, I had no idea how much I would learn doing that. And like I’ve heard your podcast talking about it. It is, it is three years as a mobile equipment technician is 10 years at [00:09:00] a
golf course easily.
Trent Manning: Well, you already, you already answered my question because my question was how much did you learn in that time? But yeah, it’s just, it’s amazing
Mark Thomas: no, I mean, like I learned all about how to, how to rebuild a diesel engine at school,
but then when you’re doing that in person, you got to remember where to put the spring on the, on the, the. Injector pump and you got to just all the little tiny things that you don’t just take pictures of it and like go back through your memory no.
So with when I was doing that John, John Mikovic he was, he worked for, oh, Big Bear and he was, he’d gone over to John Deere because Big Bear went out of business. And he was my he was awesome. He was my service manager. And he just like, that one’s got, it’s got some problems. Let’s, let’s take a look at it.
And he helped me diagnose it. And then he’s like, all right, tear it down. I’m right here. Okay. Let’s let’s, let’s see how that goes. And so I was, I was their [00:10:00] engine guy and I was their mobile equipment technician and. If they were having a problem with, well, we had a guy that I taught him how to grind reels, and then he took that over.
So if he had a problem with that, I’d come over and like,
Trent Manning: Mm-Hmm.
Mark Thomas: it won’t cut in the middle, but it’ll cut on the edges. Like, are you tying it down too tight? What do you, what, what’s going
on? And so it was, I don’t know. It was, it was really good, but
Trent Manning: So you, you had kind of some split time where you were on the road some and in the shop some,
Mark Thomas: yeah. it’s not a big market out here. I mean.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah.
Mark Thomas: But I did, I kind of, so if I had a piece of equipment to pick up, I would, I would drive out, but I had a like a route where I’d go hit different golf courses and try to sell service. And so the service salesman as well. So I, yeah, I did. You see all the different shops and it was awesome that people were nice.
And there was, it was a lot of like, well, you’re John Deere. Would you look at this green, green scheme for over here? I’m like, [00:11:00] sure.
Yeah.
Throw it on the trailer. I don’t know. I can’t fix it right here. Throw it on the trailer and we get service that way.
Trent Manning: yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Mark Thomas: but yeah, I mean, John McEvick being with big bear Jake’s and dealer for 20, 30 years, he could just look at it and fix it almost.
I mean, it was just. Just a smart dude. Almost deaf, but smart dude. Yeah, so I did that for three years and then I feel like I skipped some steps in there, I was working on some fairway mowers at Firethorn place here in Lincoln. And Scott Wilkie, the, he’s now the agronomist, but he was superintendent at the time.
He’s like, you know, Ben Messerly over at the Country Club, they just the equipment manager over there just, just retired. He’s been there for 50 years. I don’t know if they’ve ever had a different equipment manager.
Trent Manning: Wow. Mm-Hmm?
Mark Thomas: look into it. And so I got my resume together and rolled up in my I had a, at the time I had a 79 Mercedes diesel and just pulled right up in there and I think [00:12:00] they, they were just like, that’s our guy.
Okay. Yeah, I was, I was commuting my 79 Mercedes diesel back and forth to Omaha from Lincoln an hour commute, top speed of 60 miles an hour, but I loved it. Comfortable,
Trent Manning: Yeah.
Mark Thomas: good gas mileage,
Trent Manning: Uhhuh. .
Mark Thomas: So yeah started with Country Club of Lincoln in 2008.
Trent Manning: Okay.
Mark Thomas: April of 2008 and I worked for Ben Messerly, he’s not in the, in the, in the field anymore.
He’s doing something else. But and then three years after it started at the country club Ryan Krings, my boss now, he’s, he started and he’s awesome, supportive, just, just he was, he, in his previous course down at Arbor Lane, where Brian’s at, he actually, my boss built that golf course where Brian’s at.
Trent Manning: Oh, all right.
Mark Thomas: Yeah. And he, yeah, he was a superintendent for like 10, 15 years after they opened it up. Yeah, so he was the guy that did all the fabrication and all the mechanic, the heavy mechanic work down there. [00:13:00] So he was constantly over my shoulder for the first couple of years. And now it’s just like, you’re going to do that? All right. And because I’ll come talking like, I think I’ve overthought this. What do you think? And he’ll be like, yeah, it doesn’t need to be that heavy.
It doesn’t need to be that that whatever. And so we’ll, we’ll find a middle ground.
Trent Manning: Yeah. I wonder if that’s a, a problem that I know. I struggle with it, and it sounds like from your story, you struggle with it. Do you think a lot of golf course technicians or equipment managers struggle with over engineering things
Mark Thomas: Oh my God, yes.
Trent Manning: because of all the stuff we see on the golf course that we’re like, we’re not, this is unbreakable,
Mark Thomas: Why? Why? Why is there bulletproof plating on this? You
never know.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. That’s good stuff.
Mark Thomas: Yeah, no, I just re-engineered a a blower from, oh, I think it was a oh, 26 to a blower from early, mid nineties, and [00:14:00] put belts on it and, and. It went from chain to belt and I didn’t have the alignment quite right.
So, it burned the belts up just within two days. And so I was like, Ryan, can we just buy a new blower? And so I got him a price on it. Actually it showed up the day you were there.
Trent Manning: YeAh. Yeah. I remember saying it. Yep.
Mark Thomas: yeah. And that thing’s amazing. He’s like, don’t, don’t fix it. Don’t even mess with it. We’re just going to buy another one of those next year.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Oh, good deal.
Mark Thomas: But yeah, no, so I’ve been there for 15 years now, going on 16 years in April. And I love it. It’s it’s a good job. I mean, he’s, uh, he’s been there for me through some, some big life changes. And, and they’ve been there. Ryan.
And it’s, it’s been I don’t know, just like a home away from home.
Trent Manning: Yeah. And I think, you know, I’ve said it a bunch of times. I mean, we do end up spending more time with our coworkers than we do with our family a lot of times, especially in the busy season [00:15:00] and so much going on. So if you don’t get along with your coworkers, that makes life a whole lot
Mark Thomas: Yeah, and and you come home in a crap mood too, and you don’t, I, I, I just, I mean, I’ll still come home in a crap mood sometimes, but that’s why I got the routine of sitting in the driveway for a minute, like, alright, gotta turn on, gotta turn on husband and dad mode. Just gotta, gotta get my head in that space.
Trent Manning: Well, tell us what your least favorite part of the job is.
Mark Thomas: Oh so I want to phrase this properly. It’s seasonal help, but I mean, I love getting seasonal help in that, that cause you, you always have the opportunity. I mean, the opportunity of finding a new, a new kid that’s going to, that’s interested in what you’re doing in the shop and asking questions and and you get to make, get to meet all sorts of different people we get, usually about half high school students have, college students, and then a turf student or two.
buT it’s that sitting there watching them and you know, they’re gonna, [00:16:00] they’re gonna scalp two feet into the color and, and you know, they’re gonna, just do all the, the new kid mistakes, leave the, leave the transport wheels on and call you and say, it’s not moment right.
And, uh, forget how to start it because they didn’t turn it on or whatever. And they
get to go out there and put the switch on for them. So that is my least favorite part of it. But in the same manner, it’s, it’s also, that’s, that’s where you get to meet the new people and you get to bring the new people into the business and,
and get them interested and excited about it. had a turf student today. So in the winter, I just kind of, I take on a project right now. I’m working on our 5800. It’s got a bunch of different little things. And so I’ll, I’ll be working on that project, but I have my other guys that are changing oil and. And I have a long list of, like, what I want them to look at.
Belts and hoses and, and I’ll go take a look at them whenever they pull up a new piece.
But I walked by him and he was pulling the battery cables off because I had to clean them every time. And I hadn’t [00:17:00] told him how to do it, but one of the other assistants had. And I was like, well, what made you pull that negative off first?
And he’s like, I don’t know. That’s the way you do it. And I was like, well, but who told you that? And he’s like, I don’t know. I was like, well, good job. That’s the way you do it. I mean, the
other way gets a lot more exciting. But yeah, so he, he, he no, it’s just, just one of those guys. I didn’t really get to talk to him much through the season, but when we get to the In the winter, it get to, get, get, get, get a little, get together a little better.
So,
Trent Manning: yeah. Yeah. And I don’t, I’ve thought about this, you know, several times, but I don’t think people like you and me that are our age and our mid forties. I don’t think a lot of us realize how much we’re impacting the younger generation that works at the golf course with us, you know, cause like you said, high school kids, college kids.
And I, when I look [00:18:00] back when I was their age at working at the golf course, I know who I looked up to the superintendent and the mechanic. And I learned so much from both of them, you know, and, and my other coworkers too, that were older, but especially them because they were 20 years older than me
Mark Thomas: yeah,
Trent Manning: and had, you know, that much more knowledge.
So it is a great opportunity, but it can be frustrating at times.
Mark Thomas: it, yes it can, it can. But, and you just gotta know, I mean, the grass is gonna grow back, it’s not a big deal. They always, they always try to make the greens bigger by doing the cleanup out six inches from where it should be. And, I mean, it’s just gonna happen, you just gotta let it happen, give them the space. And then then build them up and not, not, not break them down. Just build them up and be like, I don’t know. You’re not the first one. You won’t be the last. Let’s just yeah, just, just bring your cleanup cut in six inches. We’re good. I mean, there’s a very consistent six inches. Good job. [00:19:00] But,
Trent Manning: Right, right, right. Yeah. Well, what’s your favorite tool?
Mark Thomas: So I know somebody else has said it on here, but man. So when I started this, uh, job at the Country Club, we had four GA 24s, have you worked on those much?
Trent Manning: Yeah not a whole lot. I’m familiar with what you’re talking about, but, and I’ve heard so many nightmare stories
Mark Thomas: really, for the time, they were a great machine, but they were so slow, and these were so old, and, and, so our, my first, oh, probably two verification’s worth those things. And then we got the ProCorp 648 and the stress of verification just evaporated. I mean, yeah, you got to put sand down.
Yeah. You got to drag it all in. You got to get the excess sand off, but just the, I wasn’t out there running circles, trying to make sure I had four GA 24s going all at once and generally it wasn’t, it was one, and then I was taking parts off of that one and getting the other, keeping the other three going.
Trent Manning: Mm
Mark Thomas: [00:20:00] uh, yeah, when those things went on the scrap pile, I was so happy, but yeah, so I, I’d say the, the pro core 648 is just, it’s just made my life on the golf course so much easier
and then actual like tool, uh, I have this little Oh like an eight ounce, 10 ounce ball peen hammer
that it’s always on the bench with me.
It’s perfect for. Center punch or just tapping a bolt to, to knock it loose or to jar it loose or tap the flats on a, on a hydraulic line to kind of break that, that corrosion loose. But it’s, it’s always right there, right within hand’s
Trent Manning: hmm. Okay.
Mark Thomas: find it, I go
Trent Manning: Huh. No, that’s awesome. Is it any special brand?
Mark Thomas: It’s the one that was there and it was like a nice little hammer.
I like this one. it’s it’s been by my side since.
Trent Manning: That’s awesome. No, that’s good stuff. I don’t, I’m trying to remember how much it weighs, [00:21:00] but a guy that, he was a mechanic his whole career, life, whatever, and he worked for me for a few years in the shop, and he had a small ball peeing hammer like that. Yeah, and I don’t remember if it was eight, ten ounces, and he just loved it.
And I’m like, what is the big deal about this little bitty hammer, you know? And, but I started using it and I’m like, this thing is super handy for a lot of things. So I ended up buying one
Mark Thomas: mean, yeah,
Trent Manning: cause, cause I’m a tall junkie. Yeah.
Mark Thomas: Yeah, no, I I, like, just taking the, the bolts loose on a a Redmax reciprocator. Those stupid little
bolts inside the, yeah, it’s perfect for that. And, I mean, usually I just use heat on that too, because the thread locked them all in place because they just come out.
But yeah, no, it’s, it’s, it, it’s a great, great little tool.
Trent Manning: Well, what do you do to relax or find your balance?[00:22:00]
Mark Thomas: So, I don’t get to work on it much, but I have A 78 international scout that my dad gave me
Trent Manning: Awesome. What color?
Mark Thomas: I love it. What’s
that?
Trent Manning: color?
Mark Thomas: It’s camo. Somebody
spray painted it camo,
Trent Manning: that’s all cool.
Mark Thomas: but it’s from Southern California. It’s, it’s got some rust, but it’s not too bad. The 345 engine, it runs great. The transmission slips like crazy, but I’ll rebuild it.
I mean, eventually I just actually my kids and I took a trip out to Colorado, we went and saw a Broncos game and it was all so I could go pick up a roll cage for that thing.
Trent Manning: Ah, okay.
Mark Thomas: I could put a back seat into it for him. But yeah, but we took a little mini vacation and I got a roll cage that I got to weld together and install.
But I just don’t get a lot of time. I got, I got four kids,
Trent Manning: Huh.
Mark Thomas: 7, 7, 11 and 18, actually
18. [00:23:00]
Trent Manning: wow. Okay. Awesome. Well, happy birthday.
Mark Thomas: Yeah, I’ll tell her.
Trent Manning: Well, yeah, I had my oldest daughter just turn 19 on the 11th.
Mark Thomas: Oh,
Trent Manning: yeah, last Monday. So, yeah. They grow up quick. Everybody tells you that and you don’t believe it, but it’s so true.
Mark Thomas: Yeah. No, so I started like, in this whole like the last five years of my life, I’ve been really thinking more about me and my kids and how I, how I want to be. And so I’ve been just reading more about it, but you’ve lost what is it, 80 percent of the time with your kids by the time they’re 12 years old.
And then you lose more
Trent Manning: Wow, yeah, yeah,
Mark Thomas: Yeah, it’s, it’s ridiculous. I mean, like you kind of just, I don’t know. You can’t, you can’t save it for the backend because it’s all happening right now,
Trent Manning: yeah. No, yeah, that’s, that puts it in perspective when you think about it like that.
Mark Thomas: it does, it does. And I wish I was [00:24:00] better at it, but I’m working on it. I want to be
Trent Manning: Well, right, that’s, that’s where it starts, I think, is awareness and moving in the right direction.
taskTracker Ad
Trent Manning: What I love about task tracker is they’re constantly innovating and listening to their users. They’ve added dozens of updates to make our job easier. One new feature is the ability to upload manuals to the equipment. All you have to do is scan the equipment. QR code. And you have the manual and all other information at the tip of your fingers.
You can even create links to those manuals and the work orders. And it goes directly to the page that you need. Make your life a lot easier and check them out at AASB task. tracker.com. Let’s get back to the episode.
What’s been your biggest challenge to date?
Mark Thomas: Biggest challenge. So I, I’m going to have to say mental health, honestly.
Trent Manning: Okay, yeah.
Mark Thomas: I went through, it wasn’t a messy divorce, but it was a out of the blue divorce to
Trent Manning: Mm hmm.
Mark Thomas: And [00:25:00] as far as work goes, and I’ll just keep that cause I want to talk about more
Trent Manning: yeah, yeah.
Mark Thomas: But as far as work goes, like I couldn’t function at work.
And just, just being able to have a boss that I could go talk to and be like, I got this going on at home. And he’s like, don’t worry about it, man. Just are the mowers cutting? Great. Don’t worry about the other stuff. Just, just. Yeah, get out of here. Get out of here. Don’t even worry about
Trent Manning: that’s so
Mark Thomas: like, cause some days it’d be fine, some days it’d be better, or some days it’d be terrible and, and I’d barely make it to lunch, but it was a, it was a rough go for a while there.
And yeah, so my biggest struggle was just, just honestly, it’s just kind of getting out of your own way, because Everything that was happening in my life, I couldn’t control at that point. And,
Trent Manning: But it was really awesome that your boss was so supportive and understanding of that. And that’s huge. That goes a long way.
Mark Thomas: yeah, yeah, I mean, it’s the reason I’m still at the club, honestly. I mean,
Trent Manning: Well, yeah, so we’ll touch on more of that [00:26:00] later. What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen at work?
Mark Thomas: so I, I was one of those working at minor park golf course in Kansas city. This person claimed they had five years experience working on a golf course. And so within a week having them on the golf course, we told them to go out and weed eat around grades. Right. Trees, bunkers, I mean, yeah, trees, not bunkers, but anything tall.
And so I get sent out to go check on this person. And they are weeding the edge from the green surface to the color. They’re weeding that half inch edge right there for some reason. Yeah. That person did not last long.
Trent Manning: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mark Thomas: Yeah. But
Trent Manning: Five years experience.
Mark Thomas: yeah, five years experience. Weeding around green. It seems like a pretty simple concept, but,
Trent Manning: well, he was weed eating around greens.
Mark Thomas: But I, so I got to know on that. And [00:27:00] it’s it’s more of a, like a, Oh, a juxtaposition of the just weirdness. So, when I was at Springfield golf and country club, I was my, my that was the course I helped build. I was the assistant there and I would just go, I’d go change nine cups and I’d come into the.
Into the cafe and order my breakfast. And, one time I came in and just nobody’s paying attention to me. And I was like, Hey, can I get, can I get my breakfast? I gotta get back out there. And they’re all staring at the TV. And that was it was nine 11. Yeah. And it was just a, so I’m sitting there and 10, 15 minutes into watching that and eat my breakfast.
The second plane hits. It’s just like, what the hell is going on here? And then my boss gave me like five minutes with that, and he’s like, Don’t you have cups to change? well, I, I, I guess I do. think the show’s gotta go on, I suppose, but Yeah, no, it’s just, [00:28:00] just, just weird, just the, just, like, I’m out changing cups, but this, this massive event is going on over here, but I still have to go.
Do this an it didn’t
matter the cups get changed every day.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah
Mark Thomas: yeah, so they’re just I mean, that’s weird. I mean,
Trent Manning: Mm hmm.
Well, do you have a mentor in the industry?
Mark Thomas: I got a few. So, so, okay, I’ll say I mean, John Mikovic, cause he, well, let me go first Ben Ben Pickney from HTTC, he just kind of, just kind of turned it into like, the dude came in wearing penny loafers and a tie and a white shirt to teach us how to manage equipment.
And I mean, he put on his, his, his doctor Knee length lab coat every time he got into the shop, but he just just turned it into something like, I can look like that guy. I can, I want to look like that guy. I want to [00:29:00] want to be
that guy. Professional. And so him and just everything he taught you, like He, he brought it down to like how it matters to you, not just an Oh, out in space type thought, but like how I’m trying to come up with a, like just pressures inside of a hydrostatic loop or whatever, like how it, it would come, it would go to the ground, like how that would make it go forward.
He was just really good at explaining that. And yeah, just a good, good role model. Just, just.
Trent Manning: hmm.
Mark Thomas: And then from there the next guy I ran into was John Mikovic, which I already mentioned, mentioned him. He, he took all of that stuff that Ben taught me about and put it in the field and put it on a tractor, put it on cutting units.
I mean, like he he really, really tied a lot together for me. Like I said, I, Three years there and I, I learned 10 years worth of stuff.
Trent Manning: [00:30:00] Yeah.
Mark Thomas: but yeah, no, that, that dude was awesome. And then after that, I’d have to say my boss, Ryan, just, just being able to come to him with I mean, personal problems or just, just swing his door and be like, I’m certain I’m overthinking this.
Can you come help me
Trent Manning: Yeah.
Mark Thomas: Then he’ll come out and be like, yeah, you are, man. Yes, you are. I can’t, I don’t, I don’t need to be that
fancy.
Trent Manning: hmm. No, it’s always good to have somebody like that to bounce ideas off of and, you know, two brains are better than one, all those things.
Mark Thomas: he’s, no, you see, he’s quite the fabricator himself and he, he loves working with wood and he’s doing that constantly. Like, anytime there’s a wood project, he, well, you saw our wood shop, I mean, he, he, he decked out that whole
Trent Manning: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mark Thomas: yeah. But, yeah, no, he’s, he’s, he’s good, he’s awesome,
Trent Manning: What would be your dream job or opportunity?
Mark Thomas: So, I don’t know, there’s been talk and I, I wouldn’t mind working into a to [00:31:00] where I have, I’m an assistant equipment manager in my shop, and I’m the director of building maintenance
Trent Manning: Yeah.
Mark Thomas: for the, for the property. I’d like to see that happen. I know something like that’s going to require more of my time.
So once my kids get a little older, I’ll push forward a little more.
Trent Manning: I don’t, do y’all maintain your golf league too? Is that part of your, do you maintain the golf fleet for the golfers, those carts or anything?
Mark Thomas: no, those are all leased and they get a service contract with it, which I’m very happy
Trent Manning: Yeah, I mean, our club’s the same way and I’m not arguing. I’m just thinking, you know, logistically and you know, how, how do you create more work for yourself? Oh,
Mark Thomas: I would, I would love to be able to yeah, just like come in and check on the guy, make sure reels are staying sharp and blades are getting changed and, and and then just go up and like, all right, that AC needs to be fixed and, and [00:32:00] fix it or call in whoever needs to do it. Just, just a little more, maybe put a tie on since I’ll be in the clubhouse, just something a little more professional.
Trent Manning: I got you. Yeah. Yeah. And I know, I know Skip Hines is doing it. I don’t know too many others that are Doing that and, you know, talking to skip, he was not advocating that anybody else do it for, you know, his situation, you know, you just, it all, it all depends on kind of who you’re. Yeah. I mean, he’s got a really big deal there and I was asked to do it at my club and I turned it down just because I didn’t want to get tied up with all the food beverage operations and, you know.
overseeing fixing, you know, ovens and
Mark Thomas: Well see. And that’s where I could see like, like you always talk about task tracker being a thing. It has, and if that, that freezer has a QR code on it, they’d make up an [00:33:00] invoice. It pops right to you. And I mean, like, if I was doing something like that, I would, I would like implement task
Trent Manning: oh, yeah, yeah,
Mark Thomas: right now in my golf course, I mean, like, it’s, it’s small enough that I, I mean, I have three Fairman mowers and. And I talk to the guys when they go out and I talk to them when they come in and if they make this weird noise, they let me know. I mean, I got a, I got a really good crew, but when you get into something like that, where you don’t know half the people that are coming in, you’d have to have a a way to do that.
I mean, just,
Trent Manning: No, that’s a really good idea there.
What technician would you like to work with for a day?
Mark Thomas: so I don’t know. I put a lot of thought into that. So there’s a Greg Dinger. I don’t know if you’ve ever
Trent Manning: yeah, yeah.
Mark Thomas: He’s, yeah, so he’s, I’ve talked to him a few times on the phone and through IG SEMA and golf techs and seems like a solid dude. And I’ve never got to meet him in person.
Trent Manning: Okay.
Mark Thomas: And yeah, I’d meet that guy. I’d, I’d, I’d [00:34:00] have a beer with
Trent Manning: Yeah, that’s
Mark Thomas: Yeah, I really wanted his Harley he sold probably ten years ago. Dang it. Couldn’t work it out. Not at the time.
Trent Manning: Well, what do you know now you wish you’d known on day one?
Mark Thomas: SO, alright, I, I’ve changed a lot of this in my fifteen years there. But, being approachable. nOt being the, the angry face mechanic like I’ve heard you say. Which so I feel like when I first started there, I wanted to be everybody’s buddy. And then that turned into everybody wanting me to fix their car. And, or playing practical jokes or whatever. And so I probably went too far the other way and just like, nah, nope, shut it down.
And so now I’m, I’m doing a good job of finding a happy medium in there. Like if somebody comes to me with a problem with their car, I’ll talk to them about it. But like, I don’t have time to work on it for you. Straight up. So yeah, I’ve, I’ve struggled with that that finding that, that, that middle, middle of the [00:35:00] road of just how to, how to be a professional doing my job where I can’t have you guys cars in the, in the shop.
I mean, I’ll bring mine in there, but,
Trent Manning: yeah, yeah. I don’t, I mean, it is, it is a struggle because especially our nature, you kind of, you want to help people, but if we helped everybody that asked for help, we’d never have time to help ourself do
Mark Thomas: yeah, yep, yep. And that’s, I mean, there’s been kids through the years that that they’re like, if I come in, can you just kind of show me? I’ll take the, I’ll take the second half of the day off and I can just, yeah, let’s do that. I would definitely do
Trent Manning: Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. For
Mark Thomas: Yeah, because it, because then they’re interested not just like, can I pay you 50 bucks or can I buy you a six pack?
No, I’m saving you 800 bucks.
No,
Trent Manning: yeah, I’ll tell you this. I might have told this story before. I don’t remember. But It was back when I was building sports fields and we had The Aerovator. It was made [00:36:00] by First Product. And it’s also a seeder. But we’d use it to aerate. And so I aerated my home lawn. And my neighbor comes over.
He says, man, you know, and it’s three point hitch behind the tractor, small yard. He’s like, you, you aerate my yard. And I said, yeah, yeah, I’ll do it. And he said, you want a six pack or a 12 pack? I’m like, dude, I’m aerating your yard. You can at least get me a 12 pack. I mean, come on.
Mark Thomas: and a bottle Whiskey.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, these companies are charging 100 or more to air five yards.
I mean, yeah, whatever.
Mark Thomas: Yeah. Oh, and that’s, I mean, I, I trade, uh, I, I mean, usually, we’ll, we’ll be pretty lax on like the president of the club. If he needs something done, we’ll, we’ll bring it in and do it. And, and I feel like they understand that when they aren’t the president, they don’t get to keep doing it because I haven’t [00:37:00] had repeat customers as far as
Trent Manning: Oh, well, that’s good.
Mark Thomas: Yeah. Now the golf pro on the other hand, he,
Trent Manning: Yeah,
Mark Thomas: he’ll bring in his razor. Can you change the oil on this? Sure. But he’s actually, I’ve, I’ve worked with quite a few golf pros and he is easily the best. Nick Muller one of my favorite golf pros I’ve ever, I’ve ever worked
Trent Manning: that’s awesome. Yeah,
Mark Thomas: Yeah.
Tips & Tricks
Get ready for tips and tricks.
Trent Manning: Let’s do some tips and tricks
Mark Thomas: All right. So actually today, um, I was working on our 5800 it’s got about 500 hours on it and we were having a problem over the summer of it overheating. And I don’t know how many people have seen this. I haven’t really looked it up to find out, but
Trent Manning: What just according to Twitter and the whatsapp group there’s a lot of people’s had issues with this Yeah,
Mark Thomas: what I found was that [00:38:00] shroud that’s right under your right foot. If you take that off, the suction comes from the top and not the bottom. It was full of easily five pounds of bugs,
Trent Manning: oh Wow, yeah
Mark Thomas: And it was, it was disgusting pressure washing it out of there. But, pressure wash those bugs out of there, and then left that off of there, and the problem’s gone.
It doesn’t, it doesn’t suck them from, I mean, you’re, think about it, there’s tires right there next to it, and you’re driving over it, all that noise and the tires and those bugs are coming up, and it’s just being sucked right through the engine.
Trent Manning: Oh, wow. Okay
Mark Thomas: Right through the
radiator,
Trent Manning: hmm
Mark Thomas: Yeah, so all I’m going to do is keep that cover off of there and build a just a expanded metal cover for it.
And I’m not going to put it back on. I mean, I, I know Toro designed it a certain way, but I don’t think they would think about that as far as that goes,
Trent Manning: Yeah,
Mark Thomas: but it looked, the radiator looked perfect. You couldn’t. You couldn’t, from looking at the front of it, it looked fine, but then you look at the back and there’s like, it looked like I don’t [00:39:00] know, like, like somebody had been, uh, carving up bread or something, like just, and it’s battered in there and I was like, what the hell is
that? And so finally figured out it was just bugs and it was just a bag full of bugs. So yeah, that one with the, the planetary gears on that, on the back of that 5800.
Trent Manning: Mm hmm
Mark Thomas: and then also for our 48, 4, 500. What I’ve done is just take a PVC pipe and figure out how much to, to refill the, the gear oil in
it, uh, PVC pipe and screw the top off.
And it has a little hose that comes out the bottom that goes directly into the, the bottom of the gearbox. So it would come out the. I know this is a audio, but so it would come out the, the, the full hole. buT I just put enough in there to spin the cap back on, put about four pounds of pressure to it, and it just pushes it back in and up [00:40:00] and out of the four pounds of pressure.
And out of that fill hole and you just plug it and plug it and you’re done. You don’t have to, it takes a little while. I mean, it’s only four pounds of pure oil, but
Trent Manning: Yeah. So how are you putting the pressure to four pounds?
Mark Thomas: Oh, so I’m just using a regulator with a gauge on it that goes down to like 0 to 15
PSI. And I think it’s about 3 or 4 PSI.
Trent Manning: Mm hmm.
Mark Thomas: And just let it go, push it in there nice and slow.
And that way you’re filling from the bottom and you’re not getting the air bubbles that happen when you’re filling it from the top.
Trent Manning: Okay.
Mark Thomas: But yeah, that one. And then, well, I had another one here. Oh, so I don’t know. There’s probably not many people that use these, but we have a Toro 360s. The, the ones that are like a belly
mower and a four wheel steer. And all of your height of cut comes from the the, the tires. And if one tire is three pounds off from the other ones, you’re going to get poor quality of [00:41:00] cut.
So what I started doing was putting a tire pressure monitors on those. And so the operator will see, you know, this one’s low and they can use that actually to bring it up to 22 PSI, which is what I’ve come to, which is actually over what we put slicks on all of our rough overs just because they spin
Trent Manning: Okay. Yep.
Mark Thomas: slicks on a rough overs.
There’s another
Trent Manning: Mm hmm. Yeah. Some of the craziest things you’ve seen. That’s some of the craziest things you’ve seen.
Mark Thomas: Yeah, I put straight
slips on it. Slips on rough overs. But we’re so flat. I
mean, in their all wheel drive, they’ll go anywhere.
Trent Manning: No, that’s cool. That’s a good idea. Yeah. So you just get that off Amazon or something. The
Mark Thomas: yep, like 30, 40 bucks on Amazon. And, and I did the ones that just spin on top of the valve stem. But next set I buy, I’m going to get the ones that go in the wheels. And just. Mounted on to the well, actually what I’ve done is leave it near the machine. So when they, when they’re leaving, they [00:42:00] can look at it and if everything’s fine, they
go, um, and, but I think they’ll just mount on the machine because then they’re, maybe we can label it number 0 7 5, uh, for the machine number.
And they can look at it and know which one it is, but it’d be better to just have it right here so they can watch it and watch it through the day. If they see a bad quality of cut, they can look down and like, Oh, I got a little tiger.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah. No, that is I mean, yeah, I’ve never even thought about this But yeah, would that save a lot of flat tires on the course, you know, if you had that on everything
Mark Thomas: Yeah.
Trent Manning: mean, maybe it’s overkill to put it on everything but
Mark Thomas: well, another one I want to put it on is our sprayers that go across
Trent Manning: Well, yeah,
Mark Thomas: a low, a low tire on a sprayer, you, it does that, that squeeze and tough it up in the middle. And so, yeah, that one’s going to get
Trent Manning: Yeah top dressers
Mark Thomas: yeah. Top
transistors. Yeah,
Trent Manning: I don’t I’m liking it man. I’m liking it. That’s awesome That’s good [00:43:00] stuff. But yeah, you got any more?
Mark Thomas: I Don’t want to roll. I don’t know. If I was wandering around my shop, I’d be like, how about, no, I don’t
Trent Manning: well now,
Mark Thomas: And then I’d be like,
Trent Manning: Speaking of wandering around your shop when I was wandering around your shop. And again, I, yeah, I don’t, we haven’t talked about that, but thank you so much for hosting the mechanics thing at your facility, awesome facility. And I really enjoyed my time there. But when I was running around your shop, the tines and the way you had them in the ammo cans with the tine on top of the ammo can, and I will try to remember and post a picture of that.
Mark Thomas: Okay,
yeah, no, and then,
Trent Manning: because I thought that was, yeah, really good idea. So yeah, will you talk about it a little
Mark Thomas: the part number. Oh, yeah, so, the ammo cans actually came after the After the, the time board [00:44:00] that I, I made and the time board is just like, it has three sections on it. One was for like the needle times, the next one’s for the quad times, and the next one is for, I can’t think of what they’re called, but it has the 10, the 10 time holder for the 6 48 or the 8 64.
Trent Manning: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Mark Thomas: And so they’re just in those groups and so those ones go, the, the ones that are in those groups go to those specific times. And I just the ones that we have, and I left a few extra spaces in case we get new ones, but I, I just kind of drilled some holes in the board, painted up nicely and put on a part number and, and zip tied them to the board.
So they can be in the superintendent’s office. They can point it and say, I want that one. And I’ll just walk out with it and go grab it off the, off the shelf and see if I need to order some or whatever it is. And But yeah, no, I mean, you can look at the time and look at the time on the, on the front of the animal can, and you don’t need to do a part number, the part numbers on the board, the part numbers on the, on the [00:45:00] animal can.
And then you just sit down and, and order it from big West turf and you’re good to go.
Trent Manning: Yeah, no, I love the idea because I don’t know how many times I’ve been in my parts room with my director of agronomy looking through time bins. So you want this 1, you want this 1, how about this 1 and they’d be like, oh, I like that 1. So, yeah, having that, you know, on the board on a board like that. Yeah. I mean, you can hang it on a wall, put it wherever put it in his office.
Mark Thomas: You don’t have to be involved in that situation at all anymore. If that, if that board is in there in his office and he can just kind of look at it, mull over it, go back to his work, look at it again, and then he’ll just, Hey, how many of these do we have? Do we need to order some? Keep it coming. And it’s, it’s, it takes me out.
It’s, it takes, I don’t have to hold his hand and I don’t, I hope he doesn’t hear that, I don’t have to be
Trent Manning: Well, right now we all get it. Yeah. No, that’s awesome. Super good stuff.
Mark Thomas: Yeah.
Trent Manning: [00:46:00] let’s talk about some mental health challenges that you faced and how you got through it.
Mark Thomas: So, yeah I’ve so I was married for 19 years and I mean, long story short, we just kind of fell out of it basically. And I, I was the second one to know. anD so I, I took it really hard. We have our, our three kids and we, we actually, we adopted all three of our kids through foster care and just, I had life, life gotten away and we just didn’t do a good job of being each other’s
Trent Manning: hmm. Yeah.
Mark Thomas: pointing blame. We’re still friends and we, we co parent great. And yeah, I mean, it was both of us. But in that time, and I can say that now, but in the time when all that was happening, I was taking it hard. I felt like I was, I was failing my kids. I was failing my now ex wife, my, my family.
I’m the, I’m the guy that’s got always go anywhere and get a job. [00:47:00] And he’s been holding this job for 15 years and he’s got a nice house. And I just felt like I was. And then all of a sudden, just a gut check. And, uh, so yeah, so she finally was like, I, I want a divorce. And I at the time I had my, I was riding my BMW motorcycle.
And heading home from work and just everything’s heavy in my head. And you know, that scene, did you ever watch Sons of Anarchy?
Trent Manning: Yeah. Like one time.
Mark Thomas: well, so, the last scene where, where, uh, Jax just drives into the front of a pickup truck, or not, a semi truck. I had that up in my head for like, five seconds, and I was just like, it could all be good. They could have my, my life insurance, and And it’s all over and she doesn’t have to worry about it anymore.
I don’t have to worry about it anymore. And then all of a sudden my head just was like, what,
what are you thinking? No, your kids are gonna be much better with you. I mean, you, [00:48:00] you grew up essentially without a dad. You don’t get to do that. Don’t do that to your kids. And it was it was, it was, it was scary.
I mean, like it was, it, it scared me. I mean, I just to have that thought and have the ability to just. Full speed into the front of that truck coming at me and it was terrifying. So yeah, from then I got therapy and was doing for a while there, therapy twice a week and went down to once a week and then changed therapist and was doing that weekly for a while, but they diagnosed me with depression.
And I got on meds for that, and that, that helped a bit. And then it seems like once you start fixing one problem, you start noticing another. And so then I know it started noticing my anxiety. It was just like constantly, I got a weight on my chest at work, at home. I just couldn’t, couldn’t function, couldn’t
breathe.
Trent Manning: hmm.
Mark Thomas: And so then I was diagnosed with anxiety and ADHD. And so they put me on [00:49:00] Xanax, not Xanax, nope Vyvanse. Which is like a slow release speed, essentially. And God, a game changer. Like, like, the first week was like, is this how people feel every day? I
Trent Manning: Oh, wow.
Mark Thomas: you can just, you can just like walk in and you’re like, okay, I know I got to do that, but I’m gonna get this done over here and then I’m gonna go do that before it would be like, I have those four things to do.
I need to do right this second. And it wasn’t, it was just like, and I would, I would get the, the like anxiety paralysis or the, like, you just freeze trying to figure out what to do next and then yeah, taking that drug, it just kind of opened everything up and took the fog away and just, just, know, it made it, I basically just asked for help and got it.
Trent Manning: Well, I’m gonna, I’m gonna call my doctor tomorrow because it sounds like I need some of this drug too I do. I’m just relating to what you’re saying. It’s so, I just struggle with it so much [00:50:00] because I get overwhelmed with so many things that I need to do and I, yeah, I feel like I need to do them all right now.
And I’ll go work on this for a second and then I’ll go over here and work on that for a minute and then I go back to this. Yeah, and you’re just all over the place. And at the end of the day, you didn’t get anything done.
Mark Thomas: no, my best way to explain it after I started feeling that was. My, my zigzag going back and forth, back and forth to all the things turned into a squiggle. Yeah, it was still doing it because you have to, but it, it, it took the zigzags out of it and made it a straighter
Trent Manning: Okay.
Mark Thomas: and it was just a, I don’t know, it was eyeopening.
Like I, I mean, you still have that, like, why didn’t I have that 10 years ago? I mean, can you get that? And that’s what the doctor said was like, Hey, you can’t, if this, if this helps you. You can’t be mad at yourself for not doing something like this 10 years ago. You did not know
Trent Manning: Well, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mark Thomas: there’s that people get the, apparently people get [00:51:00] depressed from like, why didn’t, why didn’t my parents do this for me or whatever, but it was, I’m just happy to have it
Trent Manning: Yeah, yeah, no, that’s awesome. That’s so
Mark Thomas: yeah, no, it was I don’t know, the last five years have been. A hell of a journey. I mean, just, just mostly like getting out of my own head, understand what I’m saying all the negative self talk going on in there.
Trent Manning: I don’t remember if I told this or not, but I’m talking to my therapist and I was talking about. Trying to, you know, slow down on the negative self talk and she said, have you ever tried positive talk? And I’m like, what is that? I’ve never even heard of that. What is that a thing? I’ve never heard of positive talk.
Never once in my life. Yeah. I mean, it’s like one of those most obvious things. The opposite of negative talk would be positive talk, but yeah, no idea. Never crossed my mind.
Mark Thomas: words fit together nicely, but [00:52:00] what, what are you talking about? Yeah, no. And that’s my, my therapist, Tom. He wants you to like relate to, and this gets a little into the, the weeds or whatever, but like, would you, would you talk to your kid that way? The way you’re talking to yourself, would you talk to your kid that way?
Would you talk to any other adult that way?
And no. Why are you doing that to
Trent Manning: Yeah.
Mark Thomas: Oh
Trent Manning: No. Yeah. I’ve heard, I’ve heard similar to that. Yeah. Would you tell your best friend that, you know what I mean? Yeah. Or whatever. Yeah. And
Mark Thomas: but it’s, it’s been a journey. I am super proud of it. And my, my, so I got married last January 16th. So it’s coming up our one year anniversary and to my, my wife, Georgina. And she has been amazing on this, this journey of like, cause she’s been through the same
stuff. it’s, And just, just like, well, helping me understand why I’m doing that to me.
[00:53:00] Just how to, why, why are you doing this to you? It’s letting me understand why I’m doing this to me. And and not, not judging for it. Like, why are you in a crap mood?Well, I’m not sure. Let’s talk it out. Also,
I mean, then you talk it out. Yeah, she’s, yeah, no, she’s amazing for that. She actually hooked me up with my therapist now, and he was amazing for her, and he’s just been wonders for me. And
Trent Manning: Well, I would like, I would like to speak on that for. I’m in it and not that you’re an expert and I’m not an expert and anybody listening. We’re not experts, we’re just talking, just two guys talking about this stuff. But did you struggle to find a therapist that you got along with?
Mark Thomas: yes. So the first therapist I went to. I went to it with my ex wife and we, we went for a while with [00:54:00] her and she was okay. And then she sent us to this other therapist. I can’t, there was a reason for it. So it was like you do eight sessions and at the end of it, you make a decision on whether you’re going to stay together or not.
And decision therapy. I don’t, I don’t know. I can’t think of what it is right now. But she was awesome. And I was like, why wasn’t the other one like this? I mean, like I didn’t, it was the first therapist I’ve ever seen. And then, so I, I stopped going to. The first therapist for a long time, and then I met my girlfriend, my wife now, and she was talking about Tom and how he, we just straight out, like our heads are a little messed up.
Trent Manning: Mm hmm.
Mark Thomas: Let’s just talk about it. And so she’d talk about her therapist. And we actually, before we even were engaged, we were going to counseling with him just to like understand each other a little
Trent Manning: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Mark Thomas: Yeah. I mean, just like, why not? I mean, why, [00:55:00] if we’re, if we’re serious about this, we may as well, I mean, take that step and I’m not, not opposed to counseling and yeah, so we went to him for a few sessions and then she’s like, you know, do you want to just talk to him by yourself?
I mean, to Tom by yourself. I was like, I don’t want to take your guy away from you. She’s like, no, you do nicely, nicely. But no. So I’ve been seeing him since. And but it’s, it’s awesome because. We kind of have the same background as far as traumas. And we also have the same background as far as a a therapist to talk us through those
Trent Manning: Mm hmm.
Mark Thomas: And so we have the same language to, to I don’t know, understand each other when we’re trying to explain how, like, like I I’m feeling anxious right now. I don’t know what it is. And we can just have a conversation, which is
Trent Manning: Yeah, I was gonna say, I mean, how much does that help? Having somebody that gets it.
Mark Thomas: yeah, that gets it. And then knows the language that your therapist is using
Trent Manning: Mm hmm.
Mark Thomas: I mean, it’s, [00:56:00] it’s, it’s pretty awesome. And she’s, she’s amazing. She’s she’s a biochemist and she just like understands, uh, turf and pesticides and, and she understands like golf course, but from a humanitarian point of view, because she did a lot of work with sleep and sickness and And Oh, these bags that are hermetically sealed with they have Oh, a pesticide on the, on the coating outside of the bag so bugs won’t get into
it. And they went into third world countries and gave them these bags so they could store their grain for the season and reuse these bags up to like five or six years. And so they’d have food and they’re not all pest ridden, but she designed those bags. I mean, it’s a sheet. Yeah. It’s been
just crazy. We met on Facebook dating.
Trent Manning: Ha that’s
Mark Thomas: It’s just, I mean, the weirdest thing I ever got online was you, babe.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s cool. That’s awesome. Awesome [00:57:00] story and I mean, we can continue on, but I want to say now, thank you so much for sharing your story and I know it helps other people.
Mark Thomas: I, that’s, that’s why I wanted to say it. I, I, and that’s why I kind of lied to you earlier when I said I I forgot. It was just like, I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. But then listening to a couple other podcasts, guys were getting into it. Oh, and then there was the WhatsApp. The guy was talking about,
uh, today’s talking about, it’s a tough time of year and that, and I was like, yep, all right, gotta do it.
Trent Manning: No, I’m, I’m so thankful you did. And I think the more people that, that do it, the better off. And honestly, I know, I mean, it’s just like, for me, I mean, it’s almost therapeutic, you know, you telling your story and I’m just receiving it. But I know every time I tell my story that’s therapeutic too, you know It’s just like when you’re talking to a therapist, you know, you’re telling them your story your struggle what you’re doing and they [00:58:00] can relate to it And you don’t feel so isolated and alone and I think you know when you do get in a state of depression you’re very isolated and alone
Mark Thomas: Yep.
Trent Manning: That’s not a good place to be So anything we can do to, to get out of that is, is a good
Mark Thomas: And just, just normalize it. You will have problems. That’s just, that’s a human, human condition. You’ll have, you’ll have mental issues. That’s, it’s a human condition. I mean, that’s just, you, for some reason, our brains beat up on us. It’s
Trent Manning: hmm.
Mark Thomas: It’s that simple. Yeah, thank you.
Trent Manning: No, thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much. That’s, that’s really good.
Rapid Fire
Trent Manning: You want to do some rapid fire?
Mark Thomas: Sure.
Trent Manning: Let’s do it. What’s your favorite movie?
Mark Thomas: So I married an axe
Trent Manning: Oh, okay. I hadn’t thought about that one in a while.
Mark Thomas: Yes, I love it. Anytime it comes up, I will sit and
watch it. [00:59:00] The, I don’t know, I swear that head’s got its own atmosphere or something like that. The kids sit in front of it, it’s awesome.
Trent Manning: What would be your last meal?
Mark Thomas: So this is gonna sound cheesy, but when my wife and I first met, she lived three blocks from the country club.
Where I
work
Trent Manning: hmm.
Mark Thomas: and I would go over there at lunchtime and she would make this spaghetti bolognese I probably ate it 50 times in the, the two years we were
Trent Manning: Okay.
Mark Thomas: So yeah, that, that, her spaghetti bolognese and then I don’t know, a side of whiskey and I don’t know, just a normal cheesecake, just a good
Trent Manning: Now, yeah, I love some cheesecake. I love anything sweet to be honest.
Mark Thomas: Yeah.
Trent Manning: What are you most proud of besides your family? But we can’t talk. Yeah, I know. I mean we can talk
Mark Thomas: can’t talk about that.
Trent Manning: your family too.
Mark Thomas: Honestly, I mean, my my mental health, I mean, like I’ve, it’s been [01:00:00] a, it’s been an uphill struggle for the last five
years and I had no idea where I was at five years ago. It just didn’t, I thought it was, I thought I was doing my thing. I thought it was being the man and doing my job.
And just, I thought I was checking all the boxes, but. I wasn’t,
I wasn’t, I wasn’t being there for my kids and I wasn’t being there for my ex wife. And I honestly probably wasn’t doing a great job at work either, uh, just, yeah. So my mental health is, it’s what I’m most proud of
Trent Manning: That’s awesome. Well congratulations for getting help. I mean, seriously, and yeah, life’s hard and it’s, it’s, it’s easier if we get help.
Mark Thomas: No, I, it worked. I’m like, Oh man, my head’s messing with me today, guys. to Tom about that. I mean, like it’s, it’s, it’s out there. I mean, like. When I, when my therapy day is like, Oh, I get to talk to Tom today. And I mean, everybody knows it’s not a, nobody’s like, Oh, he’s crazy. He’s got to go see somebody.[01:01:00]
Trent Manning: Well, no, and we talked a little bit, but yeah, before I started recording and I think it’s worth saying again to, you know, break the stigma of there’s something wrong with you if you need medication therapy. Or you need to work on your mental health. There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re perfectly normal.
And I really believe that the people that don’t work on their self, not willing to grow, they’re the ones that really need the most help. Cause, and I was there. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m not calling anybody out. Cause I was there for years and years and years like, Oh, everybody else is crazy. I’m fine.
Mark Thomas: Yeah. No. Yeah. Me too. I was right there. I, I yeah. And that’s why I don’t, I don’t, I don’t cover it up. I’m like, and I mean, I, I talk with guys at work all the time about it. I mean, I, it’s just a, it’s on my sleeve. I’m not afraid
Trent Manning: Yeah, no, that’s awesome. So that’s so good.
Mark Thomas: Yeah,
Trent Manning: And that helps so many other people. Well, I could just [01:02:00] just play this on a loop over and over again. If you’re struggling, get help. You know, if you’re struggling, call me, call you.
Mark Thomas: Yep. Just like, yeah, call
Trent Manning: Yeah. And, and while we’re talking about it, yeah. Michael Henderson at pebble beach put in the group last night.
That, yeah, this time of year, holiday season, family, all that stuff people, you know, that you’ve lost in your life that was close to you and it happened around the holidays. You know, if, if you need help, just, just reach out to somebody, whether it’s a friend another family member or professional help.
And there’s, you know, a suicide prevention hotline. This is it, 988. I think, I think it’s nine, eight, eight. Well, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll check and tag that in the tweet, but I’m pretty sure it’s nine, eight, eight. But yeah, if you [01:03:00] need help, just, just reach out so this, the suicide and crisis lifeline is nine eight eight.
Mark Thomas: 980,
Trent Manning: anybody that needs help and it’s 24 hours a day. Seven days a week and you can just reach out and talk to somebody about what you’re struggling
Mark Thomas: yep,
Trent Manning: And sometimes it’s easier. I mean my opinion is easier to talk to a total stranger than it would be a close family member Especially when
Mark Thomas: yep, I’ve heard people,
Trent Manning: start out
Mark Thomas: yeah, that like that online counseling too, I mean, cause it’s, you don’t have to be in an office, you don’t have to be in the stuffy, whatever, just type it out, talk it out, whatever, I mean, but, yeah, definitely, you’re not alone, I mean, not alone at all. And you’re not the one, one having those
Trent Manning: Right. Exactly. Right.
Mark Thomas: yeah.
Trent Manning: Well, thank you, Mark, so much for coming on, being a guest. I’m so glad that you shared all your [01:04:00] story, your turf story and your mental health story, tell the listeners how they can get ahold of you.
Mark Thomas: So I am on Twitter at BMW k12 rs, uh, that’s my, my handle. And then, I don’t know Mark Thomas on Facebook in Lincoln, Nebraska. And email is m Thomas M-T-H-O-M-S, ATCL cc.
Trent Manning: Awesome.
Mark Thomas: And phone number and blood type. No, no.
Trent Manning: Thank you so much.
Outro
Trent Manning: 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. .