This week we’re sitting down with David Prekop, Equipment Manager at Secession Golf Club in Beaufort, South Carolina. Growing up with a family tradition of caddying at the 18-hole private course near his home, this lifelong motorhead went from the crew to the shop thanks to his own gumption and will to pay the bills. We discuss how backlapping can be used as a tool rather than a crutch, fabricating new hitches with a plasma cutter, and continue the brainstorming on how to get new technicians into our great industry. David shares with us his love of boating and fishing in his free time, with a yoga instructor wife who keeps him zen and a two-year-old granddaughter who keeps him young. These two experts settle the question of whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie. (IT IS!)
Transcript
Trent Manning:
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 techs podcast, episode 51. Today, we’re talking to David precap. Equipment manager at successions golf club. And Buford South Carolina. So the sessions is an 18 hole. Private course. David has one full-time assistant and one part-time assistant. Let’s talk to David. welcome David to the real turf tax podcast. How you doing today?
David Prekop:
I’m doing well-trained. How are you?
Trent Manning:
yeah, that’s good seeing you again. I really want to say thank you for coming down and speaking at Georgia. That was great. I got a lot of good feedback from it and for the listeners, David put together him and Eric, Duncanson put together a little cradle to grave on equipment management. And maybe we’ll talk about that later, but I wanted to first say thank you for that.
David Prekop:
Thank you. And for inviting me, you’ve got an awesome group. I was very impressed with what you guys going on down there. A great group of guys,
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah, that’s a good grape and we’re very fortunate. And I tell this story all the time, how fortunate we are, but y’all are fortunate in the Carolinas too. Y’all got it going on.
David Prekop:
and we didn’t see, we didn’t we’re sheltered here, and we didn’t even realize. You guys were there. I knew you had something going on. I just didn’t realize you had over a hundred butts in the seats and they were all texts. That’s pretty awesome. Pretty awesome
Trent Manning:
We’re going to get to the first question. Tell us how you got into the turf industry.
David Prekop:
I’ll try and keep it as short as possible, but that’s quite an interesting story. I’ve been in golf pretty much most of my life. 18 hole, private golf course near my house. And my brothers were caddies. It’s a legacy thing. I had to be a caddy great way to earn money growing up. So I love game a golf. I love doing that. Got out of it, did many other things and around and as life went on. And then my wife’s a school teacher. Couldn’t find it. We’re from Ohio originally. Couldn’t find anything. In Ohio for jobs, she moves down here. Her grandfather calls me up and say, Hey, I want you to go take care of my daughter, my granddaughter down there. So I moved down and I took a job at 18 holes, silly. It was a Hilton head, executive golf course, and they sold me a bill of goods. And I showed up the first day and went out and I mowed on an old national, I don’t know you’ve been on an old day. yeah. Fun, fun.
Trent Manning:
I’m familiar with the national.
David Prekop:
Spend a half a day just keeping belts in the damn thing. And I realized if I don’t get out of here now, I’m not never going to get out. I’m stuck. So I worked the least amount of hours I’ve ever worked in my life. I probably worked, maybe I might’ve made it four hours and that was it. And I just said, I got to go. I went to the library, looked at every golf course on the way from where we lived in Ridgeland and Hilton. And stopped at every one of them. One of the last stops I made, I was on my way to a place called cat island at the time. It’s no longer that called that, but I made a wrong left turn and turn in there. They’re having a party. And I’m like, man, this is pretty cool. They got cooked a pig, I got beer and all like stuff going on. So I, I found the boss and said, Hey, I need a job. And are you hiring? And then he said yeah I could use some people and I had long hair at the time. So he said, what’d you cut your hair for a job. And I said, I’ll do anything for a job. And when I got the job, I went back to the house, grabbed my stuff, came down, started at the session golf club. And I was just on the crew man. I was raking bunkers and moan with the Jake tri king and doing all that. And it was a Saturday I remember, and I was on a seven gang pool behind Toro pool, behind unit. And it just we’re bailing hay was cutting a bunch of grass. Didn’t look, good. Boss comes up, says, Hey, that looks like crap. Take it in. And I’m like, man, I need money. I gotta pay bills. So I had to take it back to the shop. I’ve been a gearhead, I’ve been a Motorhead all my life. Took it back to the shop, start looking at it and be like, how’s this thing work and tweaked it and figured out how. Saw a dot on the one bolt. And I said, I bet that dot signifies something. It’s probably eccentric. I started playing with it, grab some paper, cause I’d seen the mechanic. I worked at our previous course checking with paper. So I got it tweaked in and took it out. I counted all the numbers where you set up the notches. So you’d set up the height with the notches counter, all those, even those up took it back out. And I was at nine fairway boss. And he’s waving his hands, screaming, yelling at me, cussing at me. I told you to go home, said, man, I didn’t want to go home. I took this back to the shop. I think I worked on it a little bit. I tweaked it. I think it’s good. What do you think? And he looked at the cut and said, I think you’ll be in a shop on Monday morning and that’s how I became a per technician.
Trent Manning:
That’s awesome. So you have told me that story before, but for the listeners, how incredible is that? That is
David Prekop:
It was pretty
Trent Manning:
so awesome. That was one of the coolest turf stories I’ve heard, but it’s interesting. Everybody has their own unique story and normally acts kinda
David Prekop:
from everywhere. Yeah. We all come from everywhere.
Trent Manning:
happens, by accident. Most of the time it’s
David Prekop:
exactly.
Trent Manning:
We just land here. Do you relief grind?
David Prekop:
I do relief grind. I believe in it I believe there’s a reason the factory does it. I think it’s, I see a difference in the cut when we have relief and when it gets worn off. So yes I do. And I think it’s good if you don’t do it. I’m cool with that. We all do our different things in the shop, but
Trent Manning:
I love to stay on this podcast on the real turf text. We don’t do. I
David Prekop:
Yeah, there you
Trent Manning:
get it done. That’s all good.
David Prekop:
See, I can take that step further. Cause I laugh my reels now it’s not everything, but there are certain reels that I got to get by two or three weeks before we’re going to grind them. I’ll throw them how lap them with some one 20 grit and just, I call it home. The reels together. And I use it as a tool. That’s one of the things I talk about with my boss. It’s a tool for me. It’s not a crutch. If you’re using lapping as a crutch, you’ll get yourself in trouble. But if you just use the tool to get you by a little bit, I’m okay with that. So I’ll take it even a step further. Don’t judge me out there. Turf,
Trent Manning:
Yeah, no, nobody’s judging not here. This is a judge free zone.
David Prekop:
I like that.
Trent Manning:
Tell me a little bit more about that. You’re back lap process, if you will, because I do think it’s misunderstood in the industry. And the reason I think it’s misunderstood is I think people wait till your cut falls off and then they laugh. And my personal opinion. And what I’ve learned was you lap before you lose you.
David Prekop:
You’re exactly right, When I start studying, when I’m looking at paper and it’s not necessarily tearing, but I see some hairs on. It’s not a quality cut. It’s not the cut that it was right off the grinder. So we’ll throw down there and generally what we’ll do is I do tighten them up. So there’s a, what I’ll call medium contact and you. can spin it by hand. They’re not they’re not so tight, you can’t spin them. So we tighten them up. So there’s just like medium contact. Start them up, throw some one 20 on him, lap him for maybe five, 10 minutes, wash them off. And you’re usually done and that’s about it. And it’s like a knife I think of it like a knife. I don’t take my knife to a grinder all the time, because I don’t like the finish. When you want to sharpen a knife and get a really smooth finish, you putting a stone, you’re putting a grit compound on it, basically by putting a honing stone and spoil on it. That’s how I kind of view lapping with reels right or wrong. I don’t know, but that’s just my thoughts on it.
Trent Manning:
Like you said, right or wrong, I agree. A hundred percent because I grew up in the country and. One of my favorite things to do was sharpen a pocket knife. And how do you sharpen a pocket knife? You start with a two 40 grit and then maybe you go to 300 and then you go to 400, then a 600. And then if you want to get it super, super sharp, you’re going to a thousand or 1500 grit. And then you get a piece of ceramic. You can really go all out on a pocket knife. Believe me, I was 12 years old. I learned all this stuff. And.
David Prekop:
Can you sharper knife? Enough to show. Just take some hair off your arm
Trent Manning:
Of course I can. I’m from Georgia.
David Prekop:
okay. I’m from Ohio. I still can’t do it. get it sharp. It’ll cut. But I can’t shave with it yet.
Trent Manning:
Oh, no.
David Prekop:
I’m working towards it.
Trent Manning:
I’m sure. A behind my back, when I was a kid, people made fun of me because I was really bad about shaving my arms with my pocket and sharpen my nose. Like Megan’s
David Prekop:
told everybody you’re a swimmer.
Trent Manning:
I’ve usually just go from like mid forearm to wrist. So not necessarily a liquid, like a swimmer, but yeah, fun times. Tell us something you’ve fabricated.
David Prekop:
I haven’t done a whole lot. I guess the only thing I’ve done lately is we had some hitches that go on our easy go-karts that the whole bore out. I don’t know if you can consider a fabrication, but we’ve got a nice plasma cutter in the shop. Took some metal cut out with the plasma cutter and sandwich them together, welded it on, drill the hole through it and made some new hitches.
Trent Manning:
Anytime you’re using a plasma cutter is considered fabrication.
David Prekop:
Yeah, that’s fun stuff there. That was one of the best purchases that you can do. So I didn’t realize all you could do with the plasma cutter. It’s an awesome tool.
Trent Manning:
It is one of the best tools. And there’s one of those tools that after I got one, I said, how did I do all this before
David Prekop:
Exactly.
Trent Manning:
angle grinder or something and cut. And it was just nasty and loud, all that stuff. What’s your favorite tool?
David Prekop:
No, my favorite tool? I’d say. And it’s a phone. Just having been in this industry now for 30 years, I’ve made so many great friendships and met so many great people. One of the things I always liked to help you on that smartest guy in the room, never, but I’m going to seek out the smartest guy in the room and pick his brain and learn from so being, not the smartest guy in the room and knowing that and willing to admit. I got a lot of people’s numbers in my phone. And if I run into something, I’ll call them. Other than that, I think a good innovation a good improvement on the way we have done things in the past is miles can’t put together. The birdie bar loved the birdie bar, loved the birdie bar. So kudos to him for putting that together.
Trent Manning:
Yeah, no, that is that’s awesome. Awesome tool. Yeah. I’ve had him on the podcast too. And that was
David Prekop:
Yeah, I saw that I didn’t listen to it yet, but I saw you had him on
Trent Manning:
Yeah I’m a huge fan of the birdie bar. And I think I got turned on to the birdie bar by Eric Duncanson when I was at hips. I saw it for the first time. I really liked this thing. It’s simple what he did. It’s not
David Prekop:
But it makes perfect sense.
Trent Manning:
he didn’t reinvent the wheel, but
David Prekop:
yeah. It is. I think Hector I learned about it from Hector shop, I think is where I first saw it.
Trent Manning:
What is the strangest thing you’ve seen at work?
David Prekop:
Ah, you want to talk animal vegetable or mineral?
Trent Manning:
a PG story place.
David Prekop:
Okay. Fiji story. I probably can’t tell that one cause I’ll throw one of our members under the bus and I like my job too much to do that. And you never know who’s living. I think the craziest thing we had a relatively new guy and he’s one of our assistants and he’s top notch and kudos to him. I really enjoy working there and Darren’s going to listen to, so Darren, this is for you buddy. He managed to take a 5,800 sprayer. He was spraying some mounds on what’s our number three hole, and I think he was on the side of. And it was slick and it slid down the hole. Look down the side of the mound into two Palm trees. There was no way. You couldn’t go forward. You couldn’t go backward. And it, until I realized how it actually, cause nobody tells you everybody who’s listening, who turns a wrench knows nobody tells you the truth. They don’t tell you what really happened. They tell you their version of what happened. So he told me a little bit of the truth as I looked at it. And I’m like, man, this thing just slid right down here. And I, yeah, I struggled with that thing for a while. Trying to figure out how I was going to get off of there. Second favor and I wasn’t even there. I saw pictures of it. Somebody flipped the Sidewinder over in a pond. Thank God he lived. Cause that, that could have been a catastrophe.
Trent Manning:
oh, yeah, for sure. It’s have you ever seen the Steiner or Ventrac get
David Prekop:
I have a Ventrac yeah.
Trent Manning:
yeah that’s another classic and the harder you work to get it off the tree, the more it
David Prekop:
Exactly. Exactly. You think you’re doing something, but all you’re D you’re just you’re getting closer. You’re getting closer. Get the chain, pull it away. You’re good. Tear up the grass. It’s okay. it grows back.
Trent Manning:
it will grow back. What do you do to relax or find your balance?
David Prekop:
I like boating. I like fishing. Love hanging out with my. My wife is is a really good she keeps me Zen. She’s a yoga instructor. I don’t do yoga yet, but she’s on me. I’m going to, I’m going to be doing yoga before the end of the year. I know it. Um, And will be.
Trent Manning:
a yoga instructor?
David Prekop:
She has been now for, I think, two years
Trent Manning:
Okay.
David Prekop:
and loves it. And that’s her that’s her sanctuary. But she is, she’s just pretty chill. And I’m pretty hyper I’m pretty wired. I’m long, pretty tight most times. So she, she helps keep me grounded and my granddaughter, we got a two year old granddaughter almost to living with us and. Long story behind that and won’t go into it, but she’s ours now. And it’s an, it’s a young person’s game having kids, but I find so much joy and relaxation to just hang with her and watching a young person experience a world that she has no idea about. That’s just, it’s incredible to me the simplest things are the biggest things for them. That’s pretty cool.
Trent Manning:
I don’t want to, one of my favorite things is seeing them get their personality for the
David Prekop:
Yes. Yes,
Trent Manning:
a little bit of identity of who they are and little persons and yeah, it’s incredible. It is.
David Prekop:
it is. It is. So I got a couple of things. I answered a couple of things in that, but,
Trent Manning:
Oh, there’s nothing wrong.
David Prekop:
and you got to do it. For what we do where he, I don’t care where he at, man, we’re in a stressful position. There’s a lot of stress in our lives and you got to find relief somehow some way.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Are you a ocean fishermen?
David Prekop:
If I can’t see land, I don’t want to do it. If I can’t swim back to land, I don’t want to do it some more inch in chore. And I was a lake. I know you’re a big bass guy. And that’s what I grew up lake fishing. But I’ve kinda been taught how to saltwater fish and love it.
Trent Manning:
I’m
David Prekop:
it’s a lot of fun.
Trent Manning:
whenever I retire and move to the coast of, I’ll probably be doing some saltwater fishing.
David Prekop:
This fun, very similar, just bigger fish sometimes.
Trent Manning:
Yeah, I don’t mind on that and they pull a little bit harder.
David Prekop:
Exactly. Bent rods are a good thing.
Trent Manning:
That’s a, what’s one of your pet peeves around the shop.
David Prekop:
Ah, that’s easy people that don’t think. think they’re thinking, but they’re not thinking. And that’s a tough one for me. Cause I carry that all through my life. Really, even my home life it’s sometimes I gotta step back And. say, not everybody thinks like me we’re problem solvers. We look at the world and I didn’t realize this till being around a lot of people that do what we do. We look at the world a little bit differently than a lot of other people. Um, and it’s. Sometimes I don’t, I can’t grasp the fact that people don’t understand what I understand. And I’m not an engineer by any means. Like I said, I’m not the smartest guy in the room ever. Sometimes somebody brings me a mower to work on and you do the simplest thing and they think, man you’re just part of the red sea and walked through it for crying out loud. So people that don’t think how about you? I want to ask you that question.
Trent Manning:
That’s a really good one. I don’t maybe I have a lot of pet peeves and be honest with you.
David Prekop:
I do as well. I do as well.
Trent Manning:
but they go through a few of them parking in front of the shop door. I cannot stand the roll up door. They want to pull right in front of it
David Prekop:
Albert Carter forks trust. Yep.
Trent Manning:
yep. Yeah, everybody has that guy. And. I don’t not putting stuff back where it goes you got it from here. Why can’t you take it back and put it where it goes.
David Prekop:
Yeah,
Trent Manning:
It’s not that hard. And just the overall cleanliness of if you got trash there’s, the trash can throw it away. Okay. Was this cart or behind the seat is not a trashcan.
David Prekop:
Yeah.
Trent Manning:
Let’s throw it away. So as a few months, that page.
David Prekop:
Fair enough.
Trent Manning:
You have a mentor in the industry,
David Prekop:
I’ve probably got a couple. bill led for who worked with TSP I had very little Jake equipment, but I went to a Jake school early in my career and I met bill Ledford and. He just put things in the simplest form. And one of the things he always used to say, use the kiss method, keep it simple, stupid. And sometimes I do have a tense tendency to overcomplicate things on my own. And I’ve got to step back and go kiss, use the kiss method, keep it simple, stupid. And he’s just an awesome guy. He’s retired recently. Worked for TSP, like I think I said, but awesome guy. Couple others. Eric Duncanson is a good one. Eric got me involved in a lot of he got me involved with GCSA. Had me do some talks with doing that. I never would’ve thought I would’ve done anything like that. And I just highly respect him as a person. And he’s one of those guys, he’s, he is one of the smartest guys in the room and I like to seek him out and get his counsel and he’s on my speed dial. If I got a problem,
Trent Manning:
for sure. That was a
David Prekop:
he can solve an electrical problem. He’s amazing with electrical and that’s probably one. of my weaknesses is electrical.
Trent Manning:
That’s something I’ll try to talk about a good bit on the podcast is having your core group of other technicians that are stronger. Stuff than you are.
David Prekop:
Yeah.
Trent Manning:
And just a, you probably met Corey Phillips. I’ve had him on the podcast, but in our core little group, he was the sprayer guy. So if you had an issue with a sprayer, you usually call him Corey and Kent Carson. He was the two-stroke guy. If you had a three stroke problem, he’s the one you want to talk to. And it’s just nice having all those friends that we’ve met through the industry and you call and UBS and all that stuff. And I dunno why, but nobody ever calls me for help. So
David Prekop:
CNN. I’m the same way, it’s cause I’m not the smartest guy in the room.
Trent Manning:
as they’re
David Prekop:
Everybody else has figured it out too.
Trent Manning:
yep. That’s a good what would be your dream job or opportunity?
David Prekop:
I always had a dream of being a musician. I would love to be on a stage with, I don’t know, half a million people. Jamming a guitar and making the guitar sing and doing that. I think that would be awesome. I am not, I’m not musically gifted, so therefore I will never achieve that goal in any way, shape or form other than the fact, when I jammed some Dave Matthews band in the shower and I become Dave Matthews. And for that moment, there’s 10,000 people watching me sing, but That’s about all I got.
Trent Manning:
That’s good. That’s good. What technician would you like to work with?
David Prekop:
You,
Trent Manning:
Oh, come on. No, you can’t say me.
David Prekop:
I could say you has anybody ever said you.
Trent Manning:
We, this is a pretty new question and we just started asked to that.
David Prekop:
Okay. All right. So, if it couldn’t be you, I just think you’re a pretty cool dude.
Trent Manning:
And honestly, you’re welcome at my shop any day of the week. You just let me know you come
David Prekop:
Um, you’re chill. You’re not, I don’t think you’re over the top. I think you’re pretty chill. I think you’re pretty practical in the way you approach things and I’m similar in that approach. I think it just be cool the way to see how you do things and I know you’re backstory. So I think it’d be cool to see how you do what you do. If I can’t be with you and I’ve just met him recently. I’ve known Twitter’s Twitter, people out there and you see what people do, but John Patterson impresses me. He’s another guy. If I was in the room, he’s the guy I’m looking for. Cause he’s probably going to be one of the smartest guys in that room. I’m just pretty impressed with what he does. And I’d love to just go by and see a shop. Maybe even spend a day within. I actually got to spend a day with, oh gosh, I cannot remember his name for the life of me. He’s the equipment manager at Augusta. Gosh, I can’t remember his name for the life of me, but Fred. Yeah. Got to spend a day with Fred. Fred blew me away. Because. Here. I was at Augusta national. It’s Augusta national. Oh that is it. And I’m talking to them and I’m asking I’m new to the industry. I’m asking him all these questions and he like looked at me. and he went, listen, man, you’re just the far hand. And we’re just farmers and we’re just grown grass and cutting grass. It’s pretty simple. And I was like, Okay. I guess I’m looking at things all wrong here, but it was just a humbling moment for me. I was just trying to take it over the top and ask him all kinds of technical questions on how he sets things up. And he set me straight pretty quick of you’re over-complicating things, man. Just chill out, get into cut, cut some grass. It’s easy.
Trent Manning:
don’t, so I’ve never worked for Fred, but I’ve met him several times and he seems pretty.
David Prekop:
Yeah.
Trent Manning:
That was the vibe I got. They didn’t right. He didn’t get rattled very easily or anything like that. And if you went up to talk to him about whatever the problem was, he much rather talk about Ford Mustangs, the tariff equipment, which always appreciated the, what do you know now? You wish you’d known on day one.
David Prekop:
Employees will never listen a hundred percent to what you tell them.
Trent Manning:
That is very true statement.
David Prekop:
No matter what it is, whether you’re teaching them how to run something they’re only going to catch 50% of what you tell them. And that’s our role that backwards into pet peeves. Cause that is a pet peeve of mine is I’m trying to teach you how to operate at $53,000 a piece of equipment. You only listened to half to me. I can tell you’re not listening to me because you’re not even looking at me. Yeah, I wish I would’ve known and I guess I could tie that even into, I wish I would have known how better to teach people how to do things. I think at 30 years, I’ve learned a little bit more how to act and react and interact with people and become a better teacher where early in my career, it was like, all right this does this go out and cut some grass 10.
Trent Manning:
I’m definitely familiar with that. And I think some of that, and I can’t speak for your situation is how we were brought up. And I know how my dad taught me how to do something. It was by yelling and screaming. And so when you know, I’m trying to teach somebody to do something, I thought that’s how you’ve done it to.
David Prekop:
is awesome because Yeah, I can relate to that. And millennials, you cannot yell at millennials. They don’t like that. And that’s a hard adjustment for me cause I I don’t mind being yelled at and I’m on yelling at people sometimes. It’s okay.
Trent Manning:
Yeah, That’s the way I look at it too. And honestly, if I’m doing something wrong, yell at me, that’s fine. And I’ll stop what I’m doing. That’s how
David Prekop:
It’s like a shock collar. It’s like a shock collar. When you’re training a dog yell at me, I buzzed a little bit and go, ah, okay. I got to pull it back a little bit.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. I don’t remember what movie it was, but we’re a guy. He kicks a guy in a button and the button, he says that’s an attention getter right there. Smoking the bandit.
David Prekop:
Good movie.
Trent Manning:
Yes. Great. Classic.
David Prekop:
It is
Trent Manning:
I want to tell you about a great product that I’ve been using task tracker. I know what you’re thinking. Task trackers for labor. But I’m here to tell you it’s also an easy to use equipment maintenance platform. Employees can scan QR code. And send notes about the condition of the equipment. And the equipment can be assigned to employees. Making them more accountable. I encourage you to reach out to Jamie and Gerald. The founders of ASB task tracker. At ASB task. tracker.com. The schedule a demo and see how easy the platform is to use. Again, that’s ASB task, tracker.com. What kind of tips and tricks would you like to share with us?
David Prekop:
whoa, man. I don’t know if I have anything earth shattering to share.
Trent Manning:
And it doesn’t have to be earth shattering because this is something else I’ve learned over the years is something that you think might be mundane and you do it all the time. It could be really interesting or helpful to somebody else.
David Prekop:
Oh man. I don’t know if this is earth shattering or not, but I’m just a big proponent of. Check-in equipment. I try and as much as I can put a hand on everything and double-check behind the guys that are doing the work and I do that only because I’ve had some instances of people not putting oil in when they should have put in putting oil in, or putting too much oil in. And that’s just one of my things. I just think. My job is to follow behind a little bit, the guys just to keep them honest. And sometimes I check behind them reels just to make sure they’re doing what they need to be doing. I don’t always have the opportunity. I’m, all over the place. Sometimes I’m like a fart in a windstorm. And I don’t always, I don’t always get to check the reels. My boss doesn’t even want me behind a grinder. He basically says, I’m paying you to be the head guy and not paying you to stand behind the grinder and grind real. I was like, somebody else can do that. I want you to do another things. So I’d just like to keep a handle on it. I have control issues. Touch everything in follow behind everything and make sure it’s all right. So when it goes out, I know it’s okay.
Trent Manning:
I can
David Prekop:
Is that good enough?
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Perfect. I can definitely relate to that too. I have control and she stayed with this. Okay. The safe place
David Prekop:
I have found that we all seem to in our little group of wrench Turners, we, I think we all have a little bit of that.
Trent Manning:
Oh, yeah, for sure. And like you said, we look at stuff different for sure than a lot of other people do. And I don’t know. It’s always been funny to me, especially with the kids or girlfriend or whatever. And they say, what are you thinking about? Because I stay in deep thought a lot about whatever who knows what my be. And normally is. Craziest off the wall, something you would never think, what am I thinking about sitting at a restaurant having dinner or whatever. And I’ll see something out of the corner of my eye and I’ll start thinking how does that work? Whatever it is.
David Prekop:
Yeah, exactly.
Trent Manning:
hopefully the listeners and you can relate to that.
David Prekop:
And I question sometimes what those around me think, or weren’t thinking how did. Think of the fact that this is going to happen. If you do this kind of thing,
Trent Manning:
yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s kinda like Legos. If you pull the one off the bottom or something, the rest are gonna fall. How could
David Prekop:
Or Jenga. Yeah. If you start playing Jenga from the bottom, you’re going to lose,
Trent Manning:
Yeah.
David Prekop:
The winners going from the top down.
Trent Manning:
Funny stuff. Do you have anything else you want to talk about? I got a few rapid fire questions that we’ll go through, but,
David Prekop:
one of the things that’s, I’m becoming passionate about because I’m old or I’m getting older is the state of us As turf technicians. So if this going out there to the universe something I thought of, I’m Trying to put it together. I’ve tried to reach out to Mike Rowe a little bit because micro is all about blue collar jobs and what we do as a blue collar job and that’s okay. I’m good with that. But there’s not enough people to do what we do. And I would love to see some kind of collaboration between turf equipment flyers GCs, AA, some local associations get together and start a school put it in the Midwest somewhere. And we’ve talked about this a little bit in teach This is a viable option for you as a future. And then there’s a lot of great turf technicians out there that can do internships with these guys to give them a OJT. So if I can use your platform just for a
Trent Manning:
Oh, for sure.
David Prekop:
and everybody’s listening, I don’t know who listens let’s put it together. Guys, call me.
Trent Manning:
Yep. That’s all right. Standing by the phone. Yeah. I don’t know what the answer is and how you solve the issue or the problem that we have, but there’s a lot of us that know that is a problem. And that’s not just enough. Both eventually come up with a solution.
David Prekop:
Yeah, we will. Cause that’s what we do.
Trent Manning:
that not, we fix things and I’ve often thought about, can it be a, an online training? And obviously I know you need hands on experience, but could you get the basics virtually over six weeks or something, and then go do an internship with Marty and get the hands-on experience.
David Prekop:
Yeah.
Trent Manning:
And I don’t know exactly what that looks like, but hopefully we can figure something out in the future. For
David Prekop:
Guy like Hector would be great at that. He’s already doing it already. Just move that platform to just some kind of different thing for show guys. Is there more than anything
Trent Manning:
I know ed Nagel up at the Ohio.
David Prekop:
state I’m from Ohio? Go Buckeyes.
Trent Manning:
he’s working on some stuff. And I was talking to him at the show in San Diego and they got a, the first one they come up with, it was three years and $40,000 or something and they fell it on the people are not going to pay this and go to school for three years
David Prekop:
Yeah.
Trent Manning:
to do this job. And I don’t have anything against school, but honestly you don’t need that much schooling to do what we do.
David Prekop:
No, and we’re not schoolers. Most of us aren’t anyway. We’re continuing education guys, but we’re we don’t want to sit in a classroom for four, six hours. We’re hands-on people. We want to do it.
Trent Manning:
Yeah.
David Prekop:
Yup. You bore me to death. If I sit in a classroom and you’re going to tell me how to rebuild sprayer pump, but you give me some wrenches and say, okay, let’s do this. This is how we take it apart. I’m diving in there. I’m grabbing wrenches and we’re taking it apart. We’re having some fun.
Trent Manning:
Yeah, for sure. And a lot of us definitely learn better that way and
David Prekop:
Exactly. We’re tactile learners, right?
Trent Manning:
yeah, because I can read a lot of things and I don’t know, I don’t quite get it,
David Prekop:
I’m 56. If I start reading, I’m going to sleep. That’s just the way it
Trent Manning:
That’s true. Familiar with that too. And I’m not quite that old, but I can not get still or I’m passing out.
David Prekop:
Yeah, exactly.
Trent Manning:
Even if I hadn’t had a beer, anything else you want to cover? Talk about.
David Prekop:
Good. Thank you. Thank you for having me on here. And thank you for doing what you do. And I said this to you in Georgia. This is cool. This is what you’re doing is pretty awesome. And just what we do as a whole, what it’s evolved into is really cool. I was a part of star. A couple of organizations the low country down here in Buford or in the low country and help them head Buford area. And I had helped with T tack a little bit and that this is the vision we had of what it could turn into. We just didn’t have the wherewithal to make it happen, but through little steps and many hands and everybody carrying the water. We’re getting there. I don’t know if we got there yet, but we’re getting there. It’s pretty cool. So kudos to you on many levels the mental health stuff you guys did. That was huge, I think you open the can up and said no, this is it. We all got this problem guys. It’s okay. Get some help. Help yourself be good. So kudos to you. My hat. I don’t have a hat on, but hats off to you. Um,
Trent Manning:
Okay. I appreciate that. And definitely people our age, it was viewed as a weakness. If you had a mental issue, your health problem or whatever, and it was not a taboo to talk about and you didn’t feel comfortable, but get it off your chest. Tell
David Prekop:
Yeah, it’s it. One of the things you said and you said it, I watched you say it a couple of different times when you spoke is it’s not really a weakness. It’s actually showing your ultimate strength to bare your soul and say, listen, this is what I’m feeling. This is the problems I think I’m having. And I don’t know how to handle. Somebody helped me that’s, that is the ultimate truth. That is a strength. That’s not a weakness
Trent Manning:
You think about it, what’s easier to do. Say nothing or put it out there
David Prekop:
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Trent Manning:
Put it out there.
David Prekop:
So what you’re doing with a lot of other people are doing Hector. He’s just a cool guy. He’s just a cool guy. Come on.
Trent Manning:
Yep. Talking about lay back and chill.
David Prekop:
yeah, exactly.
Trent Manning:
I don’t think he has control issues.
David Prekop:
No, I don’t think. Uh, he’s pretty laid back. And just just happy to be a little bit of a part of this and you invited me on here. I think it’s pretty cool. I’ve told a couple of people I’m going to be on a podcast and pick the, went out and had to buy some headphones and a microphone. And I was telling the guy that was behind the counter that. I am going to be on a guest on the podcast and he’s oh, that was so cool. You’re on a podcast. I didn’t have the heart to tell him it’s a turf technician podcast. Hey, it’s a podcast. What the heck? But yeah. Thank you. And thanks for everybody. Who’s listening for what you guys do. It’s it’s awesome. It really is awesome. Glad to be.
Trent Manning:
a international show. We get listens from all over the world. I never dreamed of that when I
David Prekop:
Yeah, isn’t that cool.
Trent Manning:
Yeah, it’s very cool. And I said this the other day. When I started this, I was hoping maybe we would have 10 or 15 lists. And there’s way more than that.
David Prekop:
How many do you have? Do you have followers? Are you able to track
Trent Manning:
It’s hard to all you can track is downloads. So every episode, this one out in the last six months. As been getting between 125 to 150 downloads in the first seven days. So that’s pretty strong
David Prekop:
That’s pretty awesome.
Trent Manning:
The we put out one, or we’re recording this on a Thursday, March 3rd. We put out one yesterday on the second with blind Cooper and is already at 101 day. So that’s pretty impressive. And so March 1st was a year that I’ve been doing the podcast and I don’t even remember exactly how many episodes
David Prekop:
Wow. Has it been a year already?
Trent Manning:
It’s been a year and it’s over 52 episodes and we’re somewhere around 14,500 downloads.
David Prekop:
Wow, that is
Trent Manning:
It’s crazy how it
David Prekop:
That is.
Trent Manning:
There’s nuts. That’s nuts. It really is. Let’s hit some rapid fire questions and then we’ll wrap this thing up.
David Prekop:
Sure.
Trent Manning:
What’s your favorite?
David Prekop:
Oh gosh. Diehard.
Trent Manning:
Love it, man. He
David Prekop:
come on.
Trent Manning:
actually that’s my favorite Christmas movie. Die hard.
David Prekop:
Yeah, exactly.
Trent Manning:
Yeah, Exactly. All right.
David Prekop:
I saw the debates about whether it’s a Christmas movie or not, but it’s Christmas movie. I’m sorry. It is.
Trent Manning:
It is. What would be your last.
David Prekop:
Oh, my wife made a chicken tacos this evening. She’s a culinary Wiz. I am blessed and glad, still be thin, but they were awesome. Yeah.
Trent Manning:
Good stuff. What are you most proud of?
David Prekop:
Let’s probably hadn’t killed anybody yet. Just kidding. I’m proud. I’m proud to have the family I have and everybody that’s surrounded with and the friends I have and just my core, like my group of people that keep me centered and grounded
Trent Manning:
Perfect. Tell the listeners how they can get ahold of you
David Prekop:
Twitter, eminent wheels eminent wheels. That’s the company I started sold it. I’m done. And other than that David pre COVID succession golf.com. out to me.
Trent Manning:
Thank you so much for coming on David. I know this has been a blast. We always liked to rap and have a good time when we get together and seriously, if you’re in Georgia, swing by and even though you didn’t invite me, if I’m in Buford,
David Prekop:
Alright, you do it and maybe we’ll go cut some salt water fish.
Trent Manning:
Oh, that sounds yes.
David Prekop:
See, I might get you down here.
Trent Manning:
the weather’s pretty nice in the fall, right? Like November.
David Prekop:
No falls the best. Yeah.
Trent Manning:
yeah.
David Prekop:
Yeah. October, November. And that’s prime fishing
Trent Manning:
Yeah.
David Prekop:
bed, fish, speckled trout.
Trent Manning:
I went to, I spent three or four days in Savannah last Thanksgiving and it was beautiful down there. It was perfect weather.
David Prekop:
Humidity ends up down low it’s in the eighties 80% humidity is beautiful for us.
Trent Manning:
Oh, yeah, for sure. All right, man. Thank you so much and
David Prekop:
Tran. Thank you.
Trent Manning:
yes, sir.
David Prekop:
Been a pleasure.
Trent Manning:
david story. On how you got into the turf wrenching. It was one of the coolest stories I’ve heard. And this is a great example. About how diving into something. Can lead you places. You never could have dreamed of. Another thing. I really enjoyed talking to David about his family and kids. And I’ve been lucky enough to talk to. A lot of my guests about family. Family and kids. And how important that is and how important it should be. And how rewarding it is raising kids. And I love being a dad. Even though my kids are teenagers now. That’s a different challenges. But we still have a lot of fun. Fun. This is something I really love is. Joking around and cutting up and give him a hard time. And I tell him my kids. All the time. That’s the way I show my love. It was about picking on them and giving them a hard time. So hug your kids today. Until next time. See you. Bye. thank you so much for listening to the real 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 real turf techs.