Kayla Kipp, Equipment Manager at Nemacolin Resort, returns to the podcast to share some insider insight on volunteering at the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles. Kayla gives all credit to David Fruchte, CGCS, and his team of nine for ‘cutting a diamond’ at the course and welcoming the team of 31 volunteers to support his crew. Kayla enthusiastically shares the experience of being on a crew with so many other women in an industry where women are underrepresented (to say the least!). Kayla educates us on how the improvements in women’s golf affect not only the game but our industry as a whole. Kayla and Trent have a great time discussing everything from pine cones to the power of connecting with others in this great career. Happy Pride Month everyone!
Transcript
Trent Manning: 0:05
welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we’ll learn tips and tricks. I’m your host, Trent. Manning let’s have some Welcome to the reel turf techs podcast, episode 67. Today, we’re talking to our friend, Kayla KIPP. About the experience of volunteering, uh, the 2022 us women’s open. At none other than pine needles. Kayla is the equipment manager at NEMA Collin resort. And a good friend of the podcast. Most of us followed along with the crew. Of the us women’s open on Twitter or Facebook. Whatever social media platform you might use. I’m so excited to get an inside look. And hear Kayla’s perspective. Let’s talk to kayla Welcome Kayla KIPP, the real turf tax podcast
Kayla Kipp: 1:04
Thanks for having me back trip.
Trent Manning: 1:05
absolutely. it’s so much fun. So today we’re going to talk about your time volunteering at the us. Women’s open
Kayla Kipp: 1:16
Yes, sir. And a blast. It was,
Trent Manning: 1:18
at pine needles and it was awesome because y’all got so much coverage.
Kayla Kipp: 1:24
we had a lot more coverage than last year at Olympic club. It was crazy. that’s what we’re hoping for though, because the message we’re trying to send is see it be it. If you can see us doing it, you can do it. And that’s not just for women. That’s for young kids. That’s people wondering if they made the right career choice. That’s everybody. If you can see us women doing it, you can definitely do it and have a blast at it because we totally did
Trent Manning: 1:49
Well, yeah, you could definitely tell. I mean, the videos I saw and the tweets and all that stuff y’all were having so much fun.
Kayla Kipp: 1:56
more fun than work. For sure.
Trent Manning: 1:58
Yeah. So do you have any fun stories that happened?
Kayla Kipp: 2:01
I have a really good one. It was Jill Seymour’s story. that was probably my favorite one that I heard from the open. she was changing cups on the back nine. she was doing morning set up all week and a young girl was headed out to watch golf. You know, she was on 17, so she was almost done and play was about to start. And the young girl was interested in watching Jill change cup. She’d never, you know, watched that. The USDA allowed Jill to have the young girl come up and watch Jill change the cup. And she came up and handed her the water bottle and the tools and, whatever Jill was unchanging, the little girl asked for her autograph. That’s super cool. And Jill had the pleasure of being on the golf channel to do an interview during coverage. So she probably saw Jill on TV and then saw Jill in real life. And it’s just, you know, that can be me and that’s super cool.
Trent Manning: 2:56
Yeah, that is so awesome. So awesome. And if it wouldn’t for everyone working on the course, there wouldn’t be a tournament and they can’t do it.
Kayla Kipp: 3:05
But. Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off, but the nine guys that had been working on the staff at pine needles for the last couple of years during the renovation and everything, I mean, they cut the diamond. That place looked great when we got there, it wasn’t us that that made it what it was. we just polished the edges and helped out and it, it turned out great. It was perfect.
Trent Manning: 3:25
Yeah, no, th that’s so good. Um, yeah. All, all those people. Yeah. They work all year long for this one event, but to actually pull the event off, I don’t think you could do it without volunteers.
Kayla Kipp: 3:39
I don’t know how you would. I mean, you’re running five or six fairway mowers. You have four Walkman teams. That’s eight walkers. That’s, you know, two cup changing teams. You have a divot crew in the evening. Um, I was running water, so it was really cool this time. So at Olympic. They had John Deere equipment. I was really familiar with John Deere. I showed up I’m an equipment manager and they wanted to get me in the shop. So I was in the shop. I learned how to grind and I was in the shop pretty much all week. And that was really exhausting for me. And I didn’t really get to hang out with the girls a whole lot, at that meal times or whatever. But this time, you know, Raymond Smith was in a car accident, the equipment manager at pine needles right before the tournament was about to happen. And he’s still in pretty rough shape, but the Southern hospitality is a love down there. There were so many guys that were there, uh, just to help out whether they, they were there for two days or all week. There were so many people in that shop. I was like, you really don’t need me in here. You really don’t. I mean, if you want me to come in and help with this or that holler at me, give me your phone number. If I’m out running the course and I need to go look at something, I’ll totally do that. And, uh, I saw, uh, GTX, I keep wanting to call it a Gator. I know it’s a Toro. I’m sorry, Toro
Trent Manning: 5:00
yeah, what’s up.
Kayla Kipp: 5:01
Um, I saw a utility cart with coolers in the back and I was like, well, can I take that cart with the coolers? You know, it’s hot down here in North Carolina and they’re like, yeah, sure. So I asked David Frick if, uh, he knew where I could get ice, he said, yeah, go, go down to the cart bar and fill up. So I, I pretty much became a beverage cart attendant for the week. I got to take lots of pictures. I got to hang out with our teams out on the course, Mellon fairways, cutting cups, raking bunkers. I just, it was phenomenal for me. It was a big change from Olympic. And it was great. It was perfect. It was, it was so awesome. I got to bond with the girls more than I did last time.
Trent Manning: 5:39
that’s awesome. That is really, really good. And we’re going to get to the bond and thing. I want to ask though, if they have nine people on staff, how many volunteers did you have?
Kayla Kipp: 5:49
there were 31 of us women, and then there were other local volunteers. So John Jeffries from buying Pinehurst, number two came over. Some of his crew came over and helped out. you know, Pinehurst is right there. So we had a lot of volunteers from there. We had some vendors that came and volunteered to, weigh more than you would actually need. I think, I mean, we had three or four people on a cup changing team. You don’t per se need it, but you know, every little detail was attended to every.
Trent Manning: 6:20
yeah, for sure. And yeah, that’s, that’s what makes it happen. And I love it. And when I volunteered at east lake and I see the person changing cups, pull out a pair of scissors and clip a little piece of grass next to the cup. I mean, that’s the attention to detail that goes into these tournaments, but tell us about your bond and experience with the other women that were there.
Kayla Kipp: 6:46
well, the Olympics and Olympic club last year for the women’s open, there were 30 of us. so I had known 30 of those ladies from the last time we got together for the open this time, it was 15 of the OGs which included me and we had 15 new GS. And so, so now we’ve got 45 of us that we know. And, um, there’s definitely more. But, you know, we wake up at three 30 in the morning. We shake hands on Sunday, learn how to run the equipment. we get, you know, lunch and a little time take a nap in the middle of the day. And I knew better from Olympic to not skip a nap. So Monday and Tuesday, I was really strict with myself. I’m like I got a nap and a Wednesday came around and one of the girls there local was like, Hey, let’s go to the pool. I couldn’t pass up full time in North Carolina. Couldn’t do it. You know, a little bit of pool time, some shopping, uh, some Walmart runs were done by Thursday. I’d say we were all hugging. Uh, after evening set up, we’d go back to the fairway house and sit down, share our favorite parts of the day with each other. Uh, and we introduced each other how we got to where we were, how the industry has felt being a female up to this point. And now that you’re here, how does it feel now? And listening to some of those stories from those girls just that’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for them. And it was for me last year. So this was my second in a lifetime opportunity and it’s so great to see them kind of come out of their shell. we embrace them, they embrace us. It’s it’s a family and I don’t know how else to explain it because they feel like they’re all my sisters
Trent Manning: 8:26
Yeah, no, that is, that’s an incredible experience. And I imagine it’s easier to kind of come out of your shell around other people that are like you
Kayla Kipp: 8:37
yeah. And we’re a group of superintendents assistants, technicians. Uh, yeah, there was an assistant technician there with me. So we had two female mechanics in the house. No, a sod farmers, sports field, turf managers, vendors. Aggregate products. So you have 30 women in a room together, and they’re all experts in turf. So you’re all like-minded. You all know what you’re talking about. When you go out on the course, we all knew what we’re doing. It’s, it’s easy. It’s we’re not having to teach anybody. It’s super simple and very streamlined at one point during, we had a couple of new volunteers come in and, uh, they asked David Frick, da you know, uh, so whenever you say we’re raking bunkers on the back, how do we, how do we get to number one or number nine or whatever? And he said, just follow the girls. That was,
Trent Manning: 9:30
that was
Kayla Kipp: 9:30
that was a pretty good feeling.
Trent Manning: 9:32
yeah, yeah, yeah, no. So yeah, y’all knew your way around y’all were experts that the way the course was laid out and everything else That’s was incredible. So much fun.
Kayla Kipp: 9:41
Mondays are usually a little bumpy. But after that, you get. It’s smooth after that.
Trent Manning: 9:47
yeah, no, that is awesome. Incredible. And I’m so happy for you and thank you again for coming on here and, uh, telling your story. This is a.
Kayla Kipp: 9:56
you know, I, I couldn’t, I wouldn’t even be where I’m at without you. And GCSA, if I never would have got involved, I wouldn’t be where I’m at right now. I wouldn’t be at Nicola and I wouldn’t be going to the us. Women’s open. I wouldn’t know anybody. I’d just be in my little, little mechanic bubble. And, uh, it’s been the greatest couple of years of my life. I know I said that last year and it just keeps getting better. I don’t know how it keeps getting better, but it does. And if you’re not involved, get involved. Cause it’s, it’s so great. So fulfilling my peanut butter as Kelly Lynch would say is overflowing. I just, I just want to give back.
Trent Manning: 10:33
awesome. Awesome. That is so good. And you know, I don’t want to take any credit, you know, you, you did this, you put yourself there, you got out of your comfort zone, and we’re proud of you. It was incredible, but I think, I think, I think all the listeners need to really listen. To what you just said about putting yourself out there and good things will happen.
Kayla Kipp: 10:58
Uh, Shelia, if any, from GCSA our director of membership programs, you know, she explains it as a gym membership. People are like, you know, I’m not losing weight, you know? Well, did you go to the gym? No. So if you want to get something out of GCSA and the industry, you got to get involved and when you do you’ll, you’ll love it. I promise.
Trent Manning: 11:19
um, when try not to embarrass you too much, but I seen the difference between Kayla KIPP a year ago, and then this year in San Diego, I mean, you were a totally different person almost far as been, you were just so much more comfortable in front of a stage audience, all that. You’re very well-spoken and I don’t, it was great to see
Kayla Kipp: 11:45
I still feel really nervous, but at the same time, you know, it’s helping somebody else. They’re like, well, if she can do it, I can do it too. And that’s, that’s my goal in life. You know, we had a lot of girls that said, you know, I I’m very shy. I don’t want to talk to the media. And as the week went along and they’re like, okay, yeah, I’ll do an interview. And it was just being around other people. They’re like, you know, give it a shot, if it’s, if it doesn’t sound right, so edit it out. It’s all right, let’s go for it. So love seeing other people grow to
Trent Manning: 12:17
Yeah, for sure. No, it’s, it’s an incredible, watching it and seeing everyone grow.
Kayla Kipp: 12:22
San Diego was really fun for me this year. You know, I was between jobs. So I was there on my own dime. That’s how much the industry show and the turf community means to me. I went on my own dime for the entire week and totally worth it. A hundred percent.
Trent Manning: 12:38
oh, yeah, for sure. And you might, meet your new boss there.
Kayla Kipp: 12:41
you
Trent Manning: 12:42
you you
Kayla Kipp: 12:43
out. I met Shelly. Well, new boss.
Trent Manning: 12:46
Oh, that’s all right. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Sure did. So
Kayla Kipp: 12:49
yup.
Trent Manning: 12:51
you said you had 30 at Olympic club this year. You had 31 and 15 of them were new. Was that by design or how
Kayla Kipp: 13:02
it is by design. So we don’t want to keep sending in the same group could because there’s more women out there. And the more we are doing this, the more are coming out of the woodwork. For example, this time, last year, whenever Shelia pulled up in the stats stats. So when the, for GCSF, there was one female equipment manager member you’re listening to
Trent Manning: 13:24
wow. Okay. Yeah.
Kayla Kipp: 13:27
This year there’s three, there was one that pine needles that isn’t a member yet. So there’s going to be four of us total that’s 250% growth in a year trends.
Trent Manning: 13:38
I can do that math. That was awesome. That was incredible. Yeah, no, that is really good. So I guess you’re definitely gonna have to, uh, let me know who the other ones are because I want to have them on the podcast too. I love giving you all a voice and honestly, y’all are more fun to talk to you. You smile more, you. know, it’s, it’s just more.
Kayla Kipp: 14:02
Well, the listeners can’t see me smile, but it is pretty big right now.
Trent Manning: 14:05
Well, I’m talking about is fun for me. The, the interviews with the women is more fun.
Kayla Kipp: 14:11
Oh,
Trent Manning: 14:11
And if, uh, anybody is getting their feelings hurt it’s okay.
Kayla Kipp: 14:17
that’s all right.
Trent Manning: 14:17
Yeah.
Kayla Kipp: 14:18
one of the things I kind of think about, you know, there were some on Twitter, you know, we were really active on Twitter for the women in surf because Rainbird sponsors our flights, those of us that aren’t close enough to drive for the. Rainbird sponsors our flights and then modern Turks sponsored volunteer meals all week. So we want to be active on social media. Let the sponsors know that we appreciate it, how much it means to us, because it, it means mountains to us. And there were some negative Nancies on Twitter. You know, it happens. It’s definitely not as bad as Facebook, but we’re not trying to take away from anybody. We’re trying to add to it. So if anybody’s jealous, I mean, by all means Twitter it up, treat it up, send it, uh, just be proud of your team. You know, get some media in at your place. Do some stories, published some articles. You can do it too. And there’s a lot of men in this industry. I have nothing against. Everybody’s been great to me through my career. Nobody has been, uh, thought inclusive and it’s, we’re all a team in the end.
Trent Manning: 15:32
Yeah, no, I think that’s a good point. And just like you’re saying. If there’s a group of man and they’re volunteering at a tournament, they can post all they want to post, or the tournament will let them post. So don’t get your feelings hurt. You heard it here on the real turf techs. Don’t get your feelings hurt if somebody else is having fun and doing a good job, you know, that’s the way I look at it. That’s the way I look at it. And I was thrilled, excited. I don’t, you know, you know, I don’t have a very large vocabulary, but I was so happy for all of y’all. And I love seeing every tweet, every video I watched and to see how much fun y’all have had. And if you’ve never listeners volunteered for something, go volunteer. And I don’t care if you’re a man or a woman go volunteer for it and you’ll see how much fun it is and how much you can do.
Kayla Kipp: 16:31
Yeah, absolutely. It’s it’s rewarding to the max. You can’t put a price on it. The biggest gift you can give to other people is your time. So all of us gave up our time at our home course, to, to go volunteer for pine needles and the team there. And it meant something a little extra to me knowing that, um, Raymond was in the accident. I definitely, I have to be there. It’s, you know, I, I don’t want to see him struggle through this. So this cousin, Dwayne McKinnon was running the shop during the open great guy as well. Uh, he worked under Eric Duncanson, which was another great man. Sorry that he’s gone, uh, really would have loved to see him again. but Dwayne had it under control and Joey, I called him flip flop, Joey. He rode his motorcycle and every day on his flip flops, awesome guy. And then there were a couple other guys in the shop too. And it was, it was great, but you know, I, I wanted to be there early. If they needed extra hands early, I was willing to go down early.
Trent Manning: 17:37
Um, yeah, and that’s a lot of times, or at least my experience volunteering at east lake. And then when I volunteered at Belle Reve advanced week and the shop mechanic work, there’s a lot more going on than tournament week. I mean, yeah, you got your daily checks on turn them up, but most of the time you’re not doing a ton of grinding and those kinds of things and less of the real gets dinged up running over
Kayla Kipp: 18:03
unless you’re at Olympic club, grinding greens rails every day.
Trent Manning: 18:06
Yeah. I mean,
Kayla Kipp: 18:08
So it was, this was a totally different vibe for me because Olympic club was an everyday grind. And I believe I was like, oh, well, this must be how all of them are. That’s what I expected this time. And I came in and it was super streamlined. It was ready to go, just check them every day, made it through the middle week. Really easy. I was really surprised, but I was also very appreciative.
Trent Manning: 18:29
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that’s, that’s a good problem to have not grinding every single day, especially when you’re sending out 14 walk mowers and you’re going to grind those every day. yeah. That’s nuts. And at east lake, they normally probably Wednesday tournament week they’ll grind, all the greens mowers, and then they usually make it, I mean, they’re, Mowen four times a day, so it’s not like they’re cutting a lot of grass. There’s not a lot of sand out there. So if you’re on par for your and program, it should hold up for a couple of days.
Kayla Kipp: 19:02
yeah. As long as you ain’t running over pine cones down at pine needles, have you seen those things are
Trent Manning: 19:07
yeah, they’re huge. Yeah. Yeah. Huge.
Kayla Kipp: 19:10
massive.
Trent Manning: 19:11
I think those are longer. Pines. I believe, you know, they call it Southern Pines, North Carolina, but I think those are long life long leaf, and that’s where heart pine comes from. And somebody correct me if I’m wrong on that, but I want to
Kayla Kipp: 19:28
you know, um, I’m a bit of a northerner. we don’t have those pine canes. We’ve got the little ones, little cute
Trent Manning: 19:34
yup. Yup. A little cute ones. from what Virginia Pines.
Kayla Kipp: 19:37
Sure.
Trent Manning: 19:38
Yeah, I think he
Kayla Kipp: 19:39
I know we have spruce trees and hemlocks mostly up here.
Trent Manning: 19:43
well, we’re not gonna, uh, hold that against you, you being from up north cause
Kayla Kipp: 19:49
I brought to a home home. You can edit this out.
Trent Manning: 19:51
oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. Awesome.
Kayla Kipp: 19:55
So, So, funny story, I call these the kids, um, Jill, and Alex Hill where our house mothers. So if we had any issues in that. Um, we would let them know. And all one day, these pine pins show up in the middle of everybody’s door in the house, and we’re like, weird, you know, where’d those come from? Who did that? And it was kind of a running joke all week, but I left my pine cone right in the middle of my doorway. So every morning I’d kick it and I’m like, ah, dang it. But I’d put it right back into the middle of the doorway, because it was just like a, we care about you saying,
Trent Manning: 20:29
yeah. That’s awesome.
Kayla Kipp: 20:30
yeah, just little
Trent Manning: 20:32
Yeah, Yeah. I don’t, can I leave that in?
Kayla Kipp: 20:34
Yeah,
Trent Manning: 20:35
Yeah, no, I think that was awesome. little story and I mean, that’s the way y’all y’all bond,
Kayla Kipp: 20:40
things are the best
Trent Manning: 20:41
right? That’s how you bond that’s comradery. That is.
Kayla Kipp: 20:45
I asked, uh, I had several coffee cups while I was there. I made our cup changing team. Debbie tools. I don’t, you know, make a screwdriver stabby,
Trent Manning: 20:58
All right.
Kayla Kipp: 20:58
uh, prison
Trent Manning: 20:59
A shank. Yeah, you’re making shanks. for the inmates. Okay.
Kayla Kipp: 21:04
Yup. Yup. I sharpened cup cutters. Uh, what else? I made a, a GoPro tool for our one. Filmographer who’s doing a documentary. She works at a university and she couldn’t quite get her fingers in on the knob of her GoPro to tighten it up. Could you, could you make me something? And I was like, well, what you really need is a three H drive Allen socket with a three eight ratchet. And you carry that. I was like, I’ll make you something because that’d be a little inconvenient. Uh, so I made her this tiny T handle Allen out of a boat and another bolt welded them together, sanding them down at stem with us. Women’s open and my name and her reaction to that. Sold it for me that week. I mean, she was in tears. She’s like, nobody’s, nobody’s ever made me something like that. Like you just, okay. And you did it. And it’s the little things like that that make the biggest impact on people. And that’s why I love being doing what I do in the shop. Cause people come to you with weird requests and whenever you can fulfill them and it’s like, oh, I had no idea you could do that. Or it could be done. That’s the most rewarding part of my job is the odd things.
Trent Manning: 22:15
yeah, for sure. Spot spot on. And I think that’s, you know, it’s rewarding for us to doing those odd things for other people that could be just as real. As somebody doing something nice for you. So since there’s what 2% of women are in the turf industry,
Kayla Kipp: 22:36
I think it’s just under, I think it’s 1.7%, but we’ll call
Trent Manning: 22:40
Okay. So one, 1.7% of the turf industry are women. And so normally at your, your home course, are you the only woman there?
Kayla Kipp: 22:54
I am not on the golf staff. I am. We have two females on the grounds crew at the resort. Awesome. And it’s, it’s a joy to everyday. See them and be like, hi, you know, Scott got a shout out to them as they’re going into the greenhouse and stuff. At the resort. There’s, there’s a lot of women in administrative roles and stuff. I just don’t get to see them, but I do get to see my grounds girls every day. So that’s, I don’t even know how to explain it. It just makes my heart happy. Whenever we get excited to see
Trent Manning: 23:24
Yeah, no, that was
Kayla Kipp: 23:25
it’d be like, I feel like it would be like being a man and working with a bunch of women.
Trent Manning: 23:32
Ah, yeah,
Kayla Kipp: 23:33
get excited to see another dude and talk football and
Trent Manning: 23:36
yeah.
Kayla Kipp: 23:37
NBA brackets. Cause I can’t stand them back. It’s tough. But
Trent Manning: 23:43
Well, you’re not alone there.
Kayla Kipp: 23:44
I know that’s just a thing, you know, not everybody likes
Trent Manning: 23:47
Yeah. Yep, yep. No, I think that’s great. And I noticed that at my club. So we do have one woman on the grounds crew with us and the cart staff. There’s four or five women that are on the cart staff and that’s. No, they didn’t always been that way. And I think it’s great. The members love it.
Kayla Kipp: 24:11
Yeah, I didn’t even think about our current staff. So I apologize. I mean, there are two ladies in the pro shop and then the card staff is female. I just don’t get to see them as much as I do the grounds
Trent Manning: 24:22
well, yeah, for sure.
Kayla Kipp: 24:23
but they are there. And Roxanne actually works in the pro shop and she was the one that told me about the job opening, where I’m at right now. So, you know, that connected. And now all these girls, we keep bringing to the open, have all these connections. And there’s some really cool things in the pipeline for a couple of them. Girls, I’m not going to spoil it for her, but, uh, she called me yesterday. Cause I was like, Hey, I heard something’s going on. And she called me and she’s super pumped. I just want to shout it out to the world what’s happening because like, yes, this is exactly what we wanted to happen. Um, so there’s exciting news happening with the girls and I couldn’t be happier.
Trent Manning: 25:02
So, what was it like working with primarily women at the U S open
Kayla Kipp: 25:10
it’s happy. It’s joyful. It’s just fun. It’s my small vocabulary. I don’t know how many ways to say fun, but it’s just fun. They, they don’t complain. They just do the same. Uh, filling divots. I mean, we’re playing music and singing, throwing sand, and
Trent Manning: 25:29
Yeah, that’s awesome.
Kayla Kipp: 25:31
it’s different and it’s, it’s not, uh, I gotta go rake a bunker. It’s all right. Time to do this. Let’s go. I mean, everybody’s in such high spirits whenever we do it. I, you know, I don’t know if we had to do it every day of the year together. It probably wouldn’t be the same, you know, it would probably get a little mundane, but we get one week a year to see each other. And then we see some of us we’ll see each other at the golf industry show. So twice a year, it’s pretty much all we’ll see each other. So the time we do get together is super special. So we have to make it be the best, the best.
Trent Manning: 26:06
So are any of you planning any other activities together as a group? I mean, maybe not the whole 31, but a smaller group going somewhere, hanging out, doing something.
Kayla Kipp: 26:19
I’ll definitely be heading back to North Carolina. the 23rd of this month for the pure seed field day. So some of our North Carolina girls will be there. And Kelly Lynch from pure seed will be there. So some of us will get to see each other there, which is awesome. And I love the weather in North Carolina this time of year. I can’t deny it. Renee Geier is out in near Seattle and their women’s amateurs coming up. When they’re asking for some female volunteers, I did sign up. However, there might be a clash in time off schedule at the shops. I might be able to go out for a couple of days, but hopefully a bunch of the girls volunteer for that. I would probably be more of our west coast ladies, but I expect the same. I expect a great showing fun, exciting time out there at the amateur
Trent Manning: 27:08
yeah, yeah, no, that’d be awesome. So what is the next big tournament?
Kayla Kipp: 27:14
pebble beach, couple beats out there with Bubba. He made it very apparent to us that right after Olympic club, he said, I want you guys back here in two years, working for me at pebble beach. So he made the commitment early on. That makes us feel really good about it.
Trent Manning: 27:30
I
Kayla Kipp: 27:31
I want to go, but you know, the, the rotation schedule is kind of due to take a break and I already told Kimberly Gard who’s with Syngenta. She’s been huge organizing on. Um, I told her, I said, Kimberly, I don’t care if Rainbird pays for my flight. I don’t care if anybody sponsors where I’m staying, I’m going. If I have to go and nobody gives me credentials, I will stay in the girls in the, in the house or the hotel. I will do everybody’s shopping. I just want to be there because that vibe is so intense. I don’t want to miss it for anything. I will be there. I’ll be at pebble beach and I know Shelby is going to go.
Trent Manning: 28:13
Okay. Awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that is awesome. I’m so, so glad for you. So happy for you.
Kayla Kipp: 28:20
And so what we’re seeing, like in women’s golf, you’re seeing a lot more, historically men oriented clubs getting on board with the women’s open and it’s, it’s encouraging to see that, Like the game of golf for women is changing and it changing for those of us on the turf maintenance side of it too. So you talked about future venues, you got Lancaster country club after pebble beach, Erin Hills, the Riviera Inverness. How do you say that? Inverness
Trent Manning: 28:51
know. You’re asking the wrong person about pronunciation.
Kayla Kipp: 28:55
and then Oakmont. So in Oakmont is pretty close to here. So obviously I’ll be there too. Um, but these are all really big name pubs. Top 100 is just great facilities. And I hope that the women and turf team can go to every one of them, whether it involves me or not. I might make myself go anyway just to be involved in some way or another, but that’s great, to be at big clubs that the men have been playing for the women is.
Trent Manning: 29:24
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. When you’re talking about the energy and the vibe from being there, what does that do when you go back to your home course,
Kayla Kipp: 29:34
I’m encouraged. I’m highly motivated. Like I’m back, let’s do this. We are going to kick some Royal, but today, like they’re like, we don’t know what got into you. I was like, I really didn’t sleep much, but I am so ready to just, what do you want your greens at 12? Let’s do it. And we’re going to get there. We’re going to be there like tomorrow. it just fills you with a lot of confidence and courage to just step out of your shell and do it and do it at a super high level. I don’t know how to explain it. It, it recharges my spirit from, from the, the bottom of just,
Trent Manning: 30:11
No,
Kayla Kipp: 30:11
just does it for me.
Trent Manning: 30:12
I know exactly what you’re saying. Recharge. Yeah. it’s a plug your second wind. You’re ready to go again.
Kayla Kipp: 30:20
I mean the body shut down about Thursday without the sleep, but I mean, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we’re all pure spirits pushed days and it’s great. Your body’s on autopilot is doing the thing, but the spirit is there and it’s amazing.
Trent Manning: 30:38
Well, I think you get something similar from, or I do at least from going to the golf industry show. When I come back, I’m ready to get after stuff and then doing a shop visits. So when I went up to the Northeast and visit Jr, and some of these other people, uh, Tommy and seeing different ideas, when I get back, I’m like, oh, I want to do this. I want to do that. You know? It’s. Yeah. Re-energized and I think we all need
Kayla Kipp: 31:09
For sure
Trent Manning: 31:11
a few times a year.
Kayla Kipp: 31:12
we absolutely need to look out for are a little bit, because what we do in the shop can become pretty mundane. it can quickly become the same thing. Every day. We can lose track of our stuff. We just work, work, sleep, work, work, work some more. And I want, I want people to make sure they’re taking time to recharge their spirit, whether it involves work or not, take some time off, uh, go volunteer in an event. You know, I, I really want to host the first screen event. I’ve been seeing a lot of that on Twitter, but I want to do that because I feel like that would be so fun to have a bunch of kids come to the golf course and do a field trip for the day and tell them about this and that. So there’s, there’s, there’s ways to your job and recharge to the golf industry says great, but you’ve got to get out there and start meeting people because it’s the people that make this job what it is. And I didn’t know that until 20, 19, 20 18, 20, 19, somewhere in there. And I wish I would have started a lot sooner,
Trent Manning: 32:15
Can you say that one more time for the people in the. It’s the people.
Kayla Kipp: 32:19
Get involved.
Trent Manning: 32:20
No. Yeah. It’s about The
Kayla Kipp: 32:21
turf people are awesome.
Trent Manning: 32:23
It really is. yeah, I’ve met so many, so many and I almost want to say I’m going to give it a really high percentage and say 95% of the people I’ve met in the turf industry are really good people. And,
Kayla Kipp: 32:38
can agree with that.
Trent Manning: 32:39
you know, and I, you know, I’m just making numbers up here, but, uh, a lot of the people I’ve met are really good people and they’re fun to be around we’re like-minded we are into the same stuff, you know, it’s I know there’s something special
Kayla Kipp: 32:54
It is. And whenever I got back from the open this week, I got phone calls from TA Barker. Kevin Sunderman, just congratulations. And we’re proud of you’s and means a lot. It goes a lot. A lot of that goes into your spirit recharge and just your motivation and your want to be better. But it’s the people
Trent Manning: 33:15
yep.
Kayla Kipp: 33:15
for sure.
Trent Manning: 33:16
It is. Yeah, because if you were just going
Kayla Kipp: 33:19
like you texting me saying, Hey, what was that? Like? It looked awesome on sweater. It wasn’t, what was it really
Trent Manning: 33:26
Yeah, yeah, no, that was great. Really, really good. What else you got there on your post-it notes?
Kayla Kipp: 33:32
Oh, okay. So we were talking about how the women’s golf as a whole has been improving. And I don’t know if you caught some of the statistics from this year. but the LPGA has the largest person they’ve ever had. women’s golf is spectatorship is up. So sponsors are putting more money in. We’re seeing bigger purses. That’s good. It’s good for the game as a whole. That’s our big goal is to grow the game, grow the industry. And everybody knows that labor’s an issue, but why would you, you know, ignore 50% of your labor pool. Women are just as capable. We’re excited about it. and we want to be part of it. the LPGA commissioner, she said, you know, we’ve never had such a robust team of partners to inspire young girls and women. And that’s a big part of what us and women and turf we’re trying to do. We want to inspire the young girls, you know, Trent, how many rounds of golf have you paid for in your career? Perfect example. So, yeah, you’re interested in playing golf, but you know what? It can be kind of expensive. And I come from an area where I’d be like, I don’t have 60 bucks to go spend on one round of golf. That’s not okay. In my book. But you can work at a golf course and play it for free. So, you know, we can kinda make a compromise on that. You know, if you want to play golf and you want to learn about it, you know, join a cruise. If you like it, if you do stay, if you don’t, well, at least now you know more about the golf course that you’re going to be playing on. And it’s just really cool to see it growing. We, I definitely more spectators than last year because out of the Olympic, you know, they were dealing with COVID at the time. So crowd numbers were limited anyway, but they’re seeing bigger ticket sales now than they did three years ago before COVID.
Trent Manning: 35:28
Okay, great.
Kayla Kipp: 35:29
So it’s making a positive move and that is encouraging to me as well. We’re headed in the right direction. COVID was a boost for sure.
Trent Manning: 35:38
right.
Kayla Kipp: 35:38
Uh, everybody wanted to get out lawyer in it just want to keep seeing it grow.
Trent Manning: 35:42
We just got to keep her foot on the pedal. Keep it moving.
Kayla Kipp: 35:46
Something else that was kind of cool from the open there. Um, and and Gabby Lopez both stopped by the volunteer tent to thank us and talk to us a little bit about, you know, their role and what it means to them. And Annika has a kind of an instructional golf program. So a lot of these younger ladies are going to Anika’s program, learn how to play golf. And now they’re able to play with her. She came back onto the tour and some of the amateurs were like, oh my goodness, I got instruction from him. Place, and now I’m playing in the same tournament as her, like how cool is that? Um, so, uh, having them stop by the tent and say, thank you, we saw you at Olympic. We were hoping you’d be here. And we’re so glad you’re here. Uh, that means a lot coming from them. You know, they’re the ones out there playing on the surface that we prepared. So super grateful for them, anybody that stopped by really, we had a lot of USDA officials stop by and thank us. Say, we’ve been doing a great job. We had zero callbacks this year. We kicked ass. I don’t know how else to say it.
Trent Manning: 36:55
Yeah, no, that was a
Kayla Kipp: 36:57
things were great,
Trent Manning: 36:58
that was incredible.
Kayla Kipp: 36:59
but David’s team that we just helped out at the end.
Trent Manning: 37:03
Oh, well, right. No, I mean, I think most, everybody should understand that and y’all got a lot of media coverage, but everybody knows that David laid the groundwork and y’all come in there to finish the show. I don’t know if that’s a good way to put it.
Kayla Kipp: 37:20
Um, I don’t know. I was thinking, you know, I put it on Twitter the other day. I said, they cut the diamond and we just Polish the edges. I don’t know how else to say
Trent Manning: 37:28
No, I think that that’s a lot better than what I just said as a really good, really good way of putting it.
Kayla Kipp: 37:34
so it seem to make sense to me. It was beautiful. So it was really different than Olympic as far as layout. I’ve never seen fairways that just roll out all the way to the pine trees into the pine.
Trent Manning: 37:47
yeah.
Kayla Kipp: 37:48
it was really cool. So it gives you a lot of forgiveness off the tee. So that was a lot different Olympic club was if you miss the fairway, you’re going to be hurting and like four inches of rough. And I just felt like I could play pine needles and do, okay. Olympic club, one tee shot into the rough, I’d be seven under on that whole, you know, just blowing up. So that was a lot different. It was really cool to see the Donald Ross design, the greens kind of roll off the sides for drainage purposes and stuff. And it’s, it’s a tricky, it definitely takes skill to play it for sure. And these women were killing it. the leader on the first day was like seven under, I mean, that’s incredible. Of course we did a couple of days of education while we were there, uh, Tuesday and Thursday, and the Kevin’s stopped by Kevin Breen and Kevin Sunderman president. And vice-president of, GCSA kind of filled us in, on some programs going on the Kevin’s. Did you laugh about that?
Trent Manning: 38:48
I like corny jokes. Sorry. I’m guilty.
Kayla Kipp: 38:51
so yeah, I had already mentioned first screen, the field trips. they’d been doing a lot of work with FFA to bring young folks into this industry and that’s been going really well. They’re partners partnering up with FFA programs, growing the game, I mean, that’s, that’s our, that’s our goal. And, um, showing other women that there are career opportunities that they might not have considered. These aren’t just jobs. They’re lifelong careers and you’re making lifelong friends. I cannot understate that
Trent Manning: 39:22
yeah.
Kayla Kipp: 39:23
life loan. Right. And I wanted to mention this, you know, I was in the military and that’s a very special breed of individual. I was very empty when I left the military, as far as that was my friend and family group for six years. That’s all I knew. And I lost that when I got out. So for four or five years, it was, I had my best friend here, you know, and a couple of them, but I didn’t, you know, you don’t connect with people that, well, you know, your work’s different. You kind of do something different over here. It’s in the military, everybody’s on the same page. So that’s another thing about this. I can relate to that. And I call them my turf family, because it has that comradery feel of my military family. Everybody’s like, Hey, if you’re down in, if you’re down in Georgia, stop by and see me. If you’re over here in Louisiana, stop by and see me. And if you need anything, I’ll send it to you. It’s intense. And it’s the greatest thing I’ve ever found since I left the
Trent Manning: 40:32
That’s so awesome. And I’m so glad you said that because it makes so much sense. And obviously I did not serve, but I get to understand the comradery and the family that you build in the military. because you’re spending so much time with each other, but we kind of do the same thing in the turf world because we see these people way more than we see our family, because we’re with them, you know, day in and day out. And it is something to build that team atmosphere and know if you’re having a hard day, somebody’s got your back. And I think that’s where from technician standpoint, I think that’s where a lot of people struggle. Is, they end up being isolated in the shop and it’s them against the crew and nobody has their back. And you feel like you’re on a little island, but there’s still other people out there like me and Kayla and I can go on and on and on other real turf techs community that we got your back. And if you’re in our neck of the woods, we want you to come by. We want to shake your hand or give you a hug or a high five or something and just talk shop
Kayla Kipp: 41:48
you know, anybody can stop by my shop if you’re feeling sad and you just need to cry it out, I will close the office door. You can, I won’t tell anybody, you know, we all have things that impact us differently. And if you’re having a hard time, You can reach out to me. I’m not going to, I have hard time. I go crying over things, but you know, I’m a woman, right? That’s that’s cliche, right? We all have things going on and don’t be afraid to reach out because we’ve all been there and we can relate. And what you’ve done with the real turf techs podcast, the WhatsApp group, the WhatsApp group, just the website now, too. You got some sponsors that is huge. I wish some of these smaller club turtle, shell types would join and just see that there’s more to this than just what you’ve known. Uh, the guy that I work with in my shop, you know, he’s been working there for 17 years. He has no idea. Nobody even offered me to join GCSA what is it? You know, I get a magazine, uh, an email. I said, you know, it’s, it’s a huge community. It’s really awesome. you know, he’s a little older, he’s not really interested in Twitter and stuff, but, if you have young folks in your shop, let them know that there’s a whole community. Don’t, don’t shelter them so much. Whenever they’re young, if they’re just getting into the yam field or any superintendents assistance, let them know that there’s an entire community out there to help them along because that’s, those are our replacements. We want them to have a good time on their way up the ladder for sure. A hundred percent.
Trent Manning: 43:31
Yeah. And
Kayla Kipp: 43:32
My door’s always open, but anybody can say.
Trent Manning: 43:35
when, yeah, same goes for me. And luckily since I started this and getting the word out, I’ve had several people stop by the shop when they’re coming through Atlanta. And I love that. I mean, it’s, it makes my day for that to happen.
Kayla Kipp: 43:50
I only asked one thing, you know, I’ve got the new toolbox in the grinding room. If you’re going to stop by bring a sticker. Like I got, I have stickers for my toolbox and my grinding room. That’s all I
Trent Manning: 44:00
well, not everybody has stickers, but I guess we can find some stickers for your toolbox.
Kayla Kipp: 44:05
I was actually meant to get online and see if I could make some today. And I totally forgot about it until right now, we’re good at that. Right. Have a hundred things going in our brain. Forget about one.
Trent Manning: 44:17
Well, I had this conversation last night with my daughter about you pull your phone out to do one thing, and then you never end up doing whatever that. one thing was. So I think it happens dollars that don’t really matter. You know? I mean, obviously I’m a lot older than she is, and we’re still doing the same thing. He’d pull it out to the one thing. And then you got 25 notifications and forget what you even started. Why did they even have this out?
Kayla Kipp: 44:40
that kind of happened to me today too, but it didn’t involve the phone. I had a plan on the way to work. I’m like, all right, just got to, I’m going to grind those two T units. I should be done by lunchtime and in check the two new pieces of equipment and there’ll be easy day. And I didn’t even get around to grind interiors until almost 10, you know, four hours of the day, just with other things going on. And then it’s perfectly okay. I was plenty happy to be out on the golf course, dragon fairways, first thing. And then, During. Effective height of cut adjustments on our TriFlex to match our walkers. That’s what I do. And I love it. I’m out here, we’re rolling putts and looking at clipping yield and I’m a real nerd
Trent Manning: 45:24
well, I’m want to be honest with you. I
Kayla Kipp: 45:26
other
Trent Manning: 45:27
most of the people I’ve met and our roles. I hate to say it. We’re not. And we liked doing nerdy stuff and you know, my whole life, I thought that I was a pretty cool hip person, but the older I get I’m like, you’re just a nerd, but that’s okay. I don’t, I don’t mind. I don’t mind being a nerd. I’m okay with it.
Kayla Kipp: 45:49
The golf conference and shows kind of like our
Trent Manning: 45:52
Yeah, it is. It really is. Yes. That’s a good point. That’s a great, yep. That’s exactly what it is. Yeah. That’s good stuff.
Kayla Kipp: 46:02
So something else came up and you can, I don’t know how you feel about this or how anybody in this, real tender sex community. I don’t know if he was going to ask that, edit this out.
Trent Manning: 46:12
so
Kayla Kipp: 46:13
So something else happened this year, and you’re probably aware of the fact that a lot of us, well, I don’t want to say a lot. A handful of the women in turf are gay. So last year we never brought it up. It was our first women in turf event. We, you know, just strictly women and tariff. So we were in the volunteer tent. Olin would have been Wednesday and it was June 1st. And Brandy had said, you know, oh, it’s June 1st happy pride month. And we’re like, oh, I guess it is June. You know? So the conversation. I think there were nine of us there, you know, uh, you know, we were sitting around in the house the one night and were going around and talking about ourselves and we were like, wait, you know, husband, husband, wife, husband, wife, girlfriend, husband, husband. And we’re like, you know what, there’s more of us than we really realize. And maybe it’s time to let other people know that it’s okay. We actually had a girl share a story that week. She said, fiance, every time we asked if she was, you know, had a booth thing, you know, my fiance, my fiance, my fiance. And on Thursday, she let it slip to the shoes sheet and were like, wait, you too. She’s like, I was so scared. I didn’t want anybody to know. Cause I didn’t know how anybody would feel about it. But yeah, I, I have a, a female and we’re forgetting. And we’re like, well, that’s awesome. You know, she said I was so scared up until this point. I didn’t want to say anything, but you guys made me brave enough to be open about it with you. And I want to be more open about it in my everyday life because it’s sucks to hide it. And I shared my story, you know, I’ve oh my goodness. Okay. Seventh grade ish. It’s I’ve, I’ve been this way a long time. And whenever I got into the military, it was still don’t ask. Don’t tell. So I took my little part of my personal life and I put it in into a backpack and I was like, all right, we can’t, can’t talk about it. Can’t tell nobody. Just nobody can ask. It’s fine because I could lose my job, my career. I could lose it over that. So for five years just played it straight. and then, uh, you know, in 2011 with don’t ask, don’t tell is fine. They repeat. And it was like, all right, I’m not going to lose my job. That’s the only thing I cared about. I just don’t want to lose my job over that. And now everybody could ask and it was, it was actually a really uncomfortable moment for me in times, because now everybody’s asking, well, Kip, are you getting I’m like, why does it matter? I’m a good person. I’ll help you out with anything you need. if you need me to come heal your grass, you need me to work on your car. I want you to know I have good character. I have morals, helpful being gay is the last thing that anybody needs to know. But at the same time this week, I was like, you know what? There’s other people out there that are passing the hide and it’s not okay. So we decided to have a conversation about it. And we did do a podcast. I’m not sure when it’ll come out. but we want people to know. This is safe space. We accept you. We love you just come on and turf is great. Again, being inclusive and grind game, but just being a decent human being at the same time, I had another person come up to me again. I’m not going to mention names, you know, I don’t want to throw anybody out there. So whenever I walk into a new facility, you know, I kinda, you know, flex a little bit, you know, cough out the chest and you know, I know, I know what I’m doing. Don’t treat me like I don’t. And somebody was like, you know, earlier this week, I didn’t want to, I wanted to ask you, but you seemed very, a little like off putting. And I just, I was a little scared. So I learned something about myself this week too, is that I need to turn it down a little bit, but being a woman, I feel like I have to be. Kind of rough and gruff to walk into a shop full of guys. And it, it’s just kind of this mask I put on the don’t treat me like your little sister, you know, but I felt super rude at the end of the week for doing that because they told me their story and I made a mistake, by not being open more open to that. And yeah,
Trent Manning: 50:40
yeah, I mean, I could see that you’re, you’re used to putting on that persona of this is a man’s world. I. need to be tough, you know, and you’re walking around, like, don’t mess with me because I’m just as tough as you are. And yeah, you don’t have to be that way. So I thought, I mean, that’s great that you realize that. And I think that’s great. Everything y’all are talking about, getting it out in the open and I would assume so. I’m so glad you share that story because I would have assumed that the other women would have been comfortable around other women sharing that, but that’s not how it was.
Kayla Kipp: 51:22
it’s not always the case just because we’re the same gender doesn’t mean it makes us super comfortable to share some of the most intimate things about ourselves. So we share pretty much everything else, but there’s still things. Especially being in the south, the south is less receptive, I’d say, but now she knows. And all the girls know, we love you. No matter what with, you know, we’re not here to, you know, build relationships in that manner. We’re here to make friends and network and you know, they’re my family. I, I don’t know. It’s hard to explain, but it’s safe. It’s okay to be who you are. That’s what we want you to be. We want you to be who you are, enjoy yourself and make friends. And I wish I wouldn’t have messed up earlier this week or last week. And I would have been a little more friendly, a friendly facade. I mean, I’m always friendly, but you know, I tried to toughen myself up when I walk into a new place just to, so I don’t get pushed around.
Trent Manning: 52:24
Yeah. And I mean, I’m sure a lot of us are guilty of that too, but I can see from. You know your viewpoint. That’s definitely a lot more, um, to, to deal with, but I think that’s great and it should be a safe space.
Kayla Kipp: 52:42
That, you know, if you’re a good human, you’re a good
Trent Manning: 52:45
Yeah. And other than that,
Kayla Kipp: 52:46
If you’re not a good human, you’re not a good human.
Trent Manning: 52:50
exactly. Right. Well, what else do you have for us? We’ve been going for about an hour, so
Kayla Kipp: 52:56
I ran out of
Trent Manning: 52:56
I well, that’s good. We got, we got through all seven stickiness.
Kayla Kipp: 53:00
I think the only thing I missed mentioning was women’s golf day, but I didn’t have much about it just hadn’t written down. That was Tuesday this week. And I didn’t have, I didn’t put on my red and white and go golfing or anything. You know, I went back to work cause I was gone for a week. So, um, anything else you were curious about? I mean, um, Georgia Klinger man is from Georgia.
Trent Manning: 53:26
Really? So where does she work?
Kayla Kipp: 53:28
I’ll have to let you know because I’m on my phone right
Trent Manning: 53:31
Yeah, yeah, No,
Kayla Kipp: 53:32
this. So I can’t,
Trent Manning: 53:34
good. yeah, keep me posted on that. So tell the listeners, if there’s any women listening, how they can get involved in this.
Kayla Kipp: 53:45
Well, you can get ahold of any of us that were involved on the women and turf team, and we will get you in touch with Kimberly guard. That is, that is ARB deli. And
Trent Manning: 53:57
yeah,
Kayla Kipp: 53:58
yeah, so myself, anybody Kelly Lynch, Kimberly guard, heck you could probably get ahold of, uh, Troy Flanigan or anyone that hashtagged women in turf and you will get there. You’ll get here and we will accept you, bring you in and you’re going to have a book.
Trent Manning: 54:16
Yeah. I’m so glad what y’all doing and growing the game and getting more women involved. There’s an incredible journey y’all are on and it’s really just the beginning. So it’s going to be fun. And a few years to see where this thing goes, they’re going to have 500 volunteers.
Kayla Kipp: 54:34
We talked about that too, and I think that’s part of the reason they’re splitting it up, you know, do two and take a break because it’s growing. And I think it’s going to grow kind of fast here at an exponential rate, which is really exciting. I don’t want to miss any, but I might have to just to let it grow.
Trent Manning: 54:53
I, I see opportunities and other women golf events than just the U S open. I mean, because that’s not the only golf tournament they play. So there there’s, there’s a lot of,
Kayla Kipp: 55:05
Yeah. So the amateurs.
Trent Manning: 55:08
a lot of opportunities out there.
Kayla Kipp: 55:09
Yeah,
Trent Manning: 55:10
they could probably be explored.
Kayla Kipp: 55:12
absolutely.
Trent Manning: 55:13
you so much for being on again. And this Probably won’t be the last time. Yeah. Yeah, no, it. is.
Kayla Kipp: 55:21
So anytime you need some content, just give me a holler and ask me some questions.
Trent Manning: 55:26
We’ll talk to you soon. Hope you enjoyed hearing from Kayla. What a great interview. That’s so much fun to talk to her. how amazing is that they experience. That she got to experience. So many positive things happen and right there, and one spot. Just because she decided to get out of her comfort zone. And go volunteer to tournament. And you can do that too. I love how she described. Why the women and turf is so important. To grow the game and our industry. About making women more visible. And women being more visible. Doesn’t take anything away from the men. There’s room for everyone. So a story to go along with this. I showed some videos from the us. Women’s open to some of our ladies on the cart staff. And they were blown away. They didn’t know anything like this was going on. So I really think it starts at the grassroots level. I’ve said it once. I’ll say it again. It’s up to us. To make stuff like this happen. And I told those women there’s jobs in the agronomy department. And women can do them just as good as men. Maybe even better sometimes. And something that starts as a summer job. My turn into a career. Happy pride month to all the listeners. We love you. And we’re glad you’re here. As your full sales. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time. See you. Bye. 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.