Lured to loving the game of golf as a kid, Austin Wright, CTEM, studied golf course management at Kansas State University before falling for the equipment side. After getting the basics at Washburn Technical, Austin learned under some great Kansas City superintendents then landed his current gig at Sand Valley Golf Resort in Rome, WI. Hear about Austin’s very cool lawnmower racing hobby, foamers, and some dad life tips you won’t want to miss.
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 68. Today, we’re talking to Austin, right? isn’t that nice to say? Grounds complex and equipment manager at sand valley. Golf resort And Rome, Wisconsin. San valley is a golf resort. With two resort golf courses. One par three course, one private. Golf course is under construction. And a resort golf course. That’s under construction. And they have grass tennis courts. And in the summer they have a fat tire bike and hiking trail. And in the winter, they have fat tire bike, cross country skiing. Snowshoeing trails. Pond hockey and ask Katie. So, I don’t know about down here in the south. Austin has four technicians working with him in the shop. And he has primarily Toro equipment. And Bernhard grinders. Let’s talk to Austin. Welcome Austin to the real turf tech podcast. Thank you for coming
Austin Wright:
Hey, thanks for having, me, Trent. It’s fun to be here.
Trent Manning:
yeah, it’s been been a long time coming. We were talking just before we started recording here. I probably reached out to you last may. Like may 20, 21 about being on and you’re finally
Austin Wright:
finally here
Trent Manning:
and me. Me and Austin, we, I guess originally met at bell Reeve when we were volunteering for the PGA
Austin Wright:
Yeah. Yeah, Matt bere. That was, that was, a blast man. That was a blast.
Trent Manning:
that was, it was, it was so much fun. And like, we’ve talked about on this podcast before you can volunteer at a tournament and make a lifelong.
Austin Wright:
You betcha.
Trent Manning:
and I really believe that. I mean, since me volunteered there together, so that’s been four years ago. We don’t talk every day, but we talk enough throughout the year to, Hey, how you doing whatever we taught a class at, uh, the virtual GIS. So this is just a really good example. And I’m excited to have you own. Thank you.
Austin Wright:
thanks for having me, Trey. I appreciate that,
Trent Manning:
Yes, absolutely. So how did you get into the turf industry?
Austin Wright:
You know, I began, you know, just enjoying the game from a really early age, playing golf with my dad and grandpa and just. Really, you know, having fun with the sport and, you know, played high school golf growing up. And, my mom Ishka Wright, uh, works for GCs a a and, you know, being going through high school and everything and having her work there, I really started to learn, that the golf course management side was, was a career path. And, and just was really thankful that I, I was shin that light. And So I started off and. I attended Kansas state for golf course management, uh, really, truly enjoyed it. And while I was on an internship at ball Detra, you might know him or remember him, Todd Sims was the equipment manager out there. And I, interned on the turf side, but really was drawn to in the shop. And I saw just how successful, you know, the equipment manager side of the business really was. And so it was really kind of at that point that my mindset really changed. And so, I Decided to go to tech school after that and worked as an assistant superintendent at Lawrence country club in town, and, learned so much from so many great people and experiences, but then I worked for a local to dealer in the Kansas city area, which was a great.
Trent Manning:
was great.
Austin Wright:
Opportunity for me to learn by the book. You know, you,
Trent Manning:
Mm.
Austin Wright:
you have to do it right every time. There’s no shortcuts, it’s the OEM way. And, and that really kind of set the standard for me. And, but I miss being on the golf course so bad, like I just, it’s a whole different environment. Every day is different. And, you know, in, in the shop working, you just, it tends to be a lot of the same thing over and over and over again. And so I was drawn back to the golf course and ended up taking my first equip manager job at the country club of Leewood. And there I worked for a couple great superintendents and it provided me an opportunity to run the shop, how I wanted to run it and take pride in it, you know, record keeping, you know, all that stuff was, was kind of, Hey, whatever you feel is best roll with it, you know? And so it, it really helped me kinda focus on the details a little bit and, and making sure I’m doing the job. Right. And, and then before, you know, it, I got, uh, a call from some folks up in Wisconsin that are building sand valley golf resort and, decided to move on up.
Trent Manning:
Yep. The
Austin Wright:
rest is history, they say. yeah, yeah, yeah.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah. That’s what they say. No, that’s awesome. What, uh, tech school did you
Austin Wright:
Uh, it was Washburn tech. So it was in Topeka, Kansas, just automotive, um, you
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Okay. So it was more of that’s what I was getting at. Was it more of an automotive program or.
Austin Wright:
and You know, in there it’s you, you learn a lot of the, just the basic stuff, you know, and, and, but you really learn to think diagnostically, you know, when you’re approaching, you know, something that has has an issue. And so that’s really what I took away from that the most.
Trent Manning:
yeah, no, that’s awesome. Do you relief?
Austin Wright:
Oh, you bet. you bet. I relief? Grind? man. Yeah.
Trent Manning:
All right. All right.
Austin Wright:
We got uh, Burnhard grinders and so anybody out there that has Burnhard grinders there’s no reason you can’t relief grind. I mean, that express relief is a really awesome tool and I love it. I mean, that’s my favorite job on the entire resort is if I get a relief crying and throw my headphones in and, and just get into my zone, I love it. I mean, We have one guy doing. Kind of tear down and bed knives, another guy helping with tear down and, and put back together and he’s spin, grinding, and then I’m relieving while all that’s happened. So it’s like, as soon as that Reel’s done spinning boom, it’s on the relief grinder. Next guy is putting him back together. I mean, it’s a, we really have some fun, you know, crank the music up in the shop and just get in our groove.
Trent Manning:
that’s. and I think that happens a lot, especially if you’re working with others. Tell
Austin Wright:
I tend not to do as much of the fabricating as I would like, um, kind of with my current role in the shop, but, um, Kevin tends to be kind of my fabrication dude and, probably one of the most recent things that we’ve made. And it was probably about a year ago or so. Um, but we custom made these RV brushes that go on the back of, uh, sand pro. And so, you know, the tooth rake, I like to call it the paddle rake that has those big metal paddles on the back of APRO. We, we custom fab a bracket that holds actual RV brushes. you know, you just buy off Amazon or whatever. And, um, and what that does is that takes all those little fingers that those paddles leave and just kind of dust it off.
Trent Manning:
Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Austin Wright:
we, we have really fine, they call it sugar sand up here and, and it tends to show a lot of that stuff. And so if we can dust it off, once it dries out, it’s like, we we’re never even there.
Trent Manning:
okay, cool. And I’m sure y’all with it being sand valley, you probably got a lot of muckers and a lot of sand,
Austin Wright:
lot of, uh, native. sand areas, that’s for sure. So they they’ve embraced the sand.
Trent Manning:
That’s cool. Well, tell us what your, uh, favorite tool is.
Austin Wright:
Man, my favorite tool. It’s, it’s gotta be my Leatherman wave. I, I
Trent Manning:
Liz? Okay.
Austin Wright:
carry it all the time. Use it numerous times throughout the day. Uh, you, you know, it’s your favorite tool when you carry it to church?
Trent Manning:
Oh, yeah, that’s right. Doesn’t leave your pocket just in case you never, you never know.
Austin Wright:
Yep. It’s it’s one of the, and then you gotta have a backup. you know? So when it goes in for warranty, you still have one.
Trent Manning:
Okay. Yep. Yep. I guess those have a lifetime warranty
Austin Wright:
I think so.
Trent Manning:
Yeah, probably. I’m not that
Austin Wright:
I’m, I’m sending them in every time I get a chance to do it, so,
Trent Manning:
Yep. I’ll blame you.
Austin Wright:
oh man. seeing lots of things, you. know, with building multiple. Golf courses. Um, but we have this stretch of asphalted road between our main entrance into like, if you’re coming in our main entrance to a residence entrance where it goes to like the, the houses and it’s probably a little over 500 yards, but there’s this like phenomenon that vehicles just tend to go off the road and end up in these native sand areas. And it’s, there’s no road that leads there and we’re good for a few, a couple vehicles a year, or, you know, the most recent one, we had a big delivery truck and it was just like, you know, it was the craziest thing And I don’t know what it is. People, you know, tend to blame it on deer or whatever, and there’s no deer tracks around. So it’s, it’s, uh, it’s just one of those. Kind of interesting little places and, you know, we hook, Track loaders up. and pull ’em out and send ’em on their way,
Trent Manning:
Mm-hmm
Austin Wright:
but it’s, it’s kind of, kind of a wild one. Another one is the stuff, man, that reels tend to eat. You know, I don’t know if they’re building golf pants that have holes in the pockets or, or what, but,
Trent Manning:
Mm-hmm
Austin Wright:
you know, it’s, it’s amazing the stuff that these cutting units fine.
Trent Manning:
well, if cutting units were not so expensive, I think they would be better than a magnet. They’re just not very economical
Austin Wright:
Oh yeah.
Trent Manning:
for picking up any kind of hardware that is on the course is gonna find it, but it only finds it after it had a fresh grind.
Austin Wright:
always, it’s Always. cutting beautifully. And then I was like, well, you know, blew out a bed knife here. Well, you know, here we go, grind the whole set.
Trent Manning:
It’s not at that point where you’re like, yeah, I really need to, to grind that one. It hit something. No, it’s the one you just finished grinding. That’s when it’s gonna get it. I don’t know. Murphy’s law, I guess.
Austin Wright:
yeah. You know, luckily we got extra cutting units, you know, so we can swap out sets, which, you know, is definitely part of the success of our operation. But you know, every now and again, it’s like, man, we only have one extra set and, and two fairway mowers went down,
Trent Manning:
Mm-hmm
Austin Wright:
I don’t know what party they had in a fairway, but we found it
Trent Manning:
well, what do you do to relax or find your balance? I’ve got
Austin Wright:
you know, I’ve got, I like to call it the most exclusive golf course in the world. And in my yard, I, I built the chipping course called it the fallen Pines.
Trent Manning:
okay.
Austin Wright:
so, uh, the guys from work and friends of mine, you know, come over and have some beverages and play the chipping course. The girls all play and all that stuff. Uh, so That’s That’s a fun one. Um, I definitely try to play golf wherever I can, but, uh, probably the coolest thing that I do is I race lawnmowers.
Trent Manning:
Mm-hmm and you race them in the snow too, right?
Austin Wright:
race. ’em on the ice
Trent Manning:
Yeah. On the ice. Yes, that was crazy. I remember you send me pictures of studded tires for your lawnmower race.
Austin Wright:
I, I can’t explain to you how much fun it is. Like it is literally like real life, Mario cart,
Trent Manning:
Uhhuh.
Austin Wright:
know, you, you custom build these race mowers and, and we have multiple classes and there’s six different classes based on horsepower, engine size, all that kind of stuff. And, uh, I mean the ice, the ice is so much fun. I love the ice. I mean, it’s super cold out and you’re just making these things go way faster than they ever should. And, you know, sliding around the corners and I, you know, Stu of tires, I mean, you get way more attraction than you think you do,
Trent Manning:
I’m sure. I’m sure I don’t. I would love to come watch.
Austin Wright:
Oh man, you would love it. You would have so much fun watching, you know, the whole club. And I mean, Wisconsin has a pretty good presence too. I mean, there’s three clubs in the state and you know, we all race together, you know? And, um, it’s just a whole bunch of guys having a whole lot of fun and girls there’s there’s some lady racers that’ll, that’ll definitely, uh, give you a run for their money, for sure. They, they don’t take it easy on us.
Trent Manning:
yeah. I’m sure.
Austin Wright:
but it’s, it is just pure fun.
Trent Manning:
That’s awesome. I’m definitely putting on my list
Austin Wright:
Yeah. We’ll have you come, we’ll have you come up and you know, do something with the, the w G C S a a
Trent Manning:
Yeah, there you go.
Austin Wright:
you know, And
Trent Manning:
And yeah. And plan that around racing
Austin Wright:
A race. Yep. You betcha,
Trent Manning:
All right. I love it. I’m there. Come in. What’s one of your pet peeves around the shop. Mm-hmm
Austin Wright:
you know, as EMS, we all have many things that, you know, we try, we strive for, or it’s stuff that pokes at us a little bit, but you know, I’d say my biggest push is for shop resets. You know, like just hit the reset button, you know, let’s get all the tools put away. Let’s, you know, clean up everything, you know, not, not only at the end of like, you know, every day, but in between tasks. And it’s kind of like, Hey, I’m having troubles with this machine or I’m kind of frustrated, boom. Just hit the reset, you know?
Trent Manning:
yeah, no, that’s a great.
Austin Wright:
and so, I mean, and on top of. You know, with keeping everything nice and clean and organized as much as possible. And we get frequent shop tours that come down, come around, you
Trent Manning:
Okay. Yeah.
Austin Wright:
or, uh, superintendents, buddies, or, you know, the Toro groups goes through, you know, a fair amount. And, and so we always try to have things pretty well dialed in, you know, at
Trent Manning:
yeah. Yeah.
Austin Wright:
hat.
Trent Manning:
Awesome. Do you have a mentor in the industry? Mm-hmm
Austin Wright:
I am very thankful for the career that I’ve had so far and kind of the path that I’ve taken and I’ve had a chance to work with and for really awesome people. And so I try to gain something from every one of ’em
Trent Manning:
yeah.
Austin Wright:
uh, and I, that goes for all of us out there. And, you know, whether it’s something you learned or a mindset. You know, and in, and, you know, in some situations it’s what not to do, you know? Uh, but I’ll tell you when I was an em, you know, at the country club of Leewood in Kansas city, uh, Chris rap was a guy that I really looked up to and, you know, I always called him the coolest man in the industry. You know, he just always had this swagger about him and, um, was always super, even keel and chill and, you know, called him a few times for just little help here and there. And, uh, at that time they were getting, what are they? I apologize. I think it’s called the Mississippi valley GCs a thing going on over there.
Trent Manning:
I’m not sure.
Austin Wright:
I’m I, I apologize for that for not remembering, but, that was the same time that. We were kind of working on getting something started in Kansas city. And so I used him as a big resource of just kind of getting that, ball rolling. And, and I tell you what it, you and I had the chance to meeting each other at, you know, bell re for the PGA championship. So I, I definitely owe a lot to him and working with Patrick and Corey and we just, we had a good time and, and learned a lot. And it was, it was one of those experiences that, that all forever cherish.
Trent Manning:
oh, yeah, for sure. That’s something I’m I’m never forgetting the time we had there together and we really worked our butts off, but we had a lot of fun doing it too.
Austin Wright:
Yeah, we did. And it,
Trent Manning:
just the camaraderie, the fellowship, you know, all that stuff.
Austin Wright:
You know, cuz I, I wasn’t familiar with John Deere cutting units, you know, I I’d been around them a little bit and worked with them here and there. But you know, the attention to detail, you know, that, that I learned there was really, really key and, and it’s cool working with guys there. It’s like, Hey, you just tell me where to go. You know, I’ll, I’ll get her done. it’s a great experience to volunteer, especially meet good guys.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. And I really like that aspect of it too, is what do you need me to do? And I’ll just go do it, you know? And it is nice for me to take a break from having to think, okay, this gotta be done. This gotta be done. That’s gotta be done. You know, cuz we’re always thinking about the big picture when we’re running our own show, but you go to a place like that and yeah, there’s a lot of moving parts, but you don’t have to really think about all those moving parts. You just gotta grind reels all day or set up cutting units or you know what, whatever it is, rebuild carburetors like Cory and Patrick were doing.
Austin Wright:
and you were, uh, you were brazing up a, a cup cutter or something like that. A handle on a cup cutter. You remember that?
Trent Manning:
I don’t. I remember yeah. Getting the call like, oh, he’s the braising guy come over here and Braze something. But honestly, I don’t even remember what it was that I braised up, but
Austin Wright:
And I went out and replaced hydraulic hoses on an old Pronovost or one of those trailers that they had out there, you know, it’s it’s cool. Cuz you know, like you said, just, just go and do it and we’re there to help.
Trent Manning:
Mm-hmm yeah.
Austin Wright:
you just, you just point and tell and we’ll get her done.
Trent Manning:
Well, I remember one year at east lake, they said, and I don’t remember exactly what it was, but there’s something wrong with, uh, transmission and a pro G and we had to pull a trans. They’re like, you wanna pull this transmission? I says, yeah, I’ll pull the transmission. Cause I mean, I’d done 10 of them. So it wasn’t like, it was a big deal. I knew what to do and all that stuff and pull it out, you know? And it’s tournament week and we’re pulling transmissions out to fix what, you know, its probably input shaft baring or something. They’re like, yeah, we got the parts you wanna fix this while you’re here? Yeah. I’ll do it. So I mean you get to do some different stuff too.
Austin Wright:
oh, very much. So see things that you just don’t normally see in your own operation,
Trent Manning:
Mm-hmm well what would be your dream job or opportunity?
Austin Wright:
you know, keeping with the dream job mentality, you know, it’s gotta be like a NASCAR driver, you know, it’s like,
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah,
Austin Wright:
how cool would that be as your day to day?
Trent Manning:
Mm-hmm
Austin Wright:
it’s like, oh, what do you do? Oh, our race cars,
Trent Manning:
yeah. Yeah.
Austin Wright:
but I mean, even for me more realistically, like even one day, you know, Having a great career, like I’m in and very thankful for. Um, but even just being able to be like a weekend warrior at a dirt track or something, you know, that would be, that would be fun.
Trent Manning:
is, uh, dirt track popular up there too?
Austin Wright:
Yeah. There’s only like two tracks, sipping, Wisconsin that are dirt. It’s like, everything else is Asphalt. And, you know, coming, coming from Kansas, you know, my wife and I we’d go like every Friday or Saturday, it seemed like to the dirt track, one of ’em in the area, cuz there was, you know, four within driving distance and, and so it asphalt’s fun, but it’s not the same as dirt.
Trent Manning:
No, no, dirt’s pretty cool. We’re lucky we got a three eight mile dirt track and somehow it has not got shut down yet. I don’t know how, because. It was in the country and now everybody’s moved around it and the noise and stuff and they race till midnight and nobody likes it, but their grandfathered in or whatever for the, uh, noise ordinance yeah, it’s so much fun. Get
Austin Wright:
support those local tracks, man.
Trent Manning:
That’s right. That’s right. What technician would you like to work with for a day? And you can name more than one.
Austin Wright:
All right. Well, if, if you’re giving me the option for two, I think it’d be cool to go down and see you for one, you know, um, just step into your shoes for a little bit and get the feel of your operation and know that, you’re really good at, you know, tree management and that would be something I would really like to learn more about. Um, but another one would be Patrick drinker.
Trent Manning:
Yeah.
Austin Wright:
I mean, he is, I, I roomed with him at the PGA championship and he was a hoo. You know,
Trent Manning:
Yeah, no, he’s a
Austin Wright:
and I there’s, there’s not a day that goes by that he doesn’t have fun. you know? So it’s like, I, I would like to go down and see him and, and it sounds like he’s at a pretty cool place right now, too. So
Trent Manning:
yeah, no, that’s awesome. And thank you for saying that, but you’re welcome at my shop. Anytime you come through Atlanta, you definitely gotta stop by.
Austin Wright:
I promise if I’m ever down there there’s I will be stopping by. no doubt. Yeah.
Trent Manning:
Well, I talked to, uh, Chad, bro, about it, I think on the podcast, we talked about it and if not, I’m going to give everybody else the idea. If you’re going to GIS in Orlando in 2023, flying to Atlanta, and then we’ll all ride down there together. Cause that is, you know, like a seven hour drive from Atlanta or something. I mean, it’s not close. um, you might make it six and a half, but anyway, you could come into Atlanta a little bit early and we could, uh, do some shop visits, cuz I know a few people there in that
Austin Wright:
know, a couple people,
Trent Manning:
Yeah. I know a couple people and we could go around and see some different shops and not just mine when
Austin Wright:
I’ll tell you what that would be cool. That would be a good experience for sure.
Trent Manning:
I did the real turf tech road show and that was so much fun and I don’t, I don’t even remember now I visited nine different courses or something and 10 days or whatever it was. And I gained so much from that, that I’m still collecting all the thoughts from what I learned up there. Just seeing different operations and how they do things. Really cool ideas. So it’s nice to be able to bring that back, plus it kind of re-energizes you because this job. get a little cumbersome sometimes and you maybe a little bit of burnout and all that kind of stuff. So it, it is nice having that mental
Austin Wright:
now, did you do that just kind of in your area or
Trent Manning:
Can you do that? No act, no, it was legit traveling. I drove from Atlanta to Rhode Island made several stops along the way and on the way back. So it, it was so cool. I went up there to speak at the new England turf grass association and Providence. It was like 1st of March. And then I went over and hung out with, uh, Jr Wilson on long island for four days. And he, on Tuesday he set up a shop tour and we went and seen like four different shops right there in long island. Plus his shop is really cool too. He’s a cool
Austin Wright:
Oh, I can, I can only imagine. I mean, listen, I met him at show one year and, you know, you know, listen to the podcast here on here. And I mean,
Trent Manning:
Mm-hmm
Austin Wright:
very, very smart individual
Trent Manning:
yeah. Yeah. Very smart. So what do you know now? You wish you’d known on day one,
Austin Wright:
I always strive to, I guess we all strive. for perfection all the time. And I would say very recently I’ve been able to kind of, uh, change my mindset to where, just don’t sweat, the little things, you know, you, you can’t control everything. And just kind of. Know your role and perform your role to the best of your ability. And, um, and it’s, it’s really, really helped me. and I think it’s really benefited everyone as a whole, you know, around me, especially on the team, you know, to where it’s like only focus on the things that, that you can control. And, um, and we work in a field to where if, if it breaks, we fix it. so you always want things running pristine at a hundred percent of the time. I mean, that’s not what we all strive for, but, that’s not the reality most times. And, and there’s job security in the fact that things do break and, and that’s why we are, you know, the way we are. But, that’s probably the biggest thing. If I could go back and say, Hey, here you go. Just don’t switch the little things and focus on your role. That would be a big one.
Trent Manning:
yeah, no, that’s great advice. Very great advice. And I’ve been here. That done is better than perfect, but I’m not fully bought into that yet. I, I mean, it’s just a struggle. It’s such a struggle. And I know it’s my personality. And I say, I’m a recovering perfectionist, but I’m definitely an, the early stages of recovery because it is hard. And it’s hard for me to let things go and I know I need to, but you make a great point and I know that’s something I need to work on and I’m sure there’s others out there that need to work on it too. As an equipment tech, one of the most tedious jobs is keeping your parts inventory straight. But that job just got a whole lot easier. With using AASB task trackers parts, scanning. Technology. I can scan or see parts into the inventory. And as I use them. I can scan them into a work order. If you hadn’t had a chance to check out the technician side of ASB task tracker. I highly recommend you reach out to them. At ASB task, tracker.com. To schedule a demo. Using task tracker has made my life so much easier. I love being able to pick up. The scanner and scan parts and inventory. Let’s get back to the episode. Let’s talk about tips and tricks. What kind of tips and tricks you got, you
Austin Wright:
I think one of the coolest, probably most unique things that I like to share with the group and, and many of them have probably seen it, um, is our fairway foamer kits that we put on all our fairway mowers. So we put ’em on our 50 tens and our 35 fifties and really what drived it, you know? Well, for one, you, you know, you put ’em on your fertilizer, spreaders or sprayers or anything like that, you know, that’s, that’s a normal application. Um, but our fine FSQ fairways that we have it’s. There’s not many courses out there that have fine. FSQ all over. Like we do. And I mean, we’re wall to wall, you know, bent grass greens, but everything else is fine FSQ and they don’t hang on to do it’s it’s not a turf grass that holds on to do, and it grows in a very irregular pattern. so when you mow it, you know, your first couple holes are good and then you start getting kind of towards the back nine. And, know, we have, uh, a very diverse Mo crew that tend to be kind of more retired folks. And, and when you lose those, those due patterns, you really can’t see at all, you know, and we don’t Stripe, or we do a little bit, but, um, for the most part, we blacken tan it or tuxedo it depending on, you know, what y’all call it. But, it can be really tricky to see. And so, uh, Andy brown load, the mammoth dunes superintendent. Given credit where credit is due. There had a crazy idea to put fairway mower or, uh, put foamer kits on the ferry mowers. And so we’re like, well, what the hell, man, let’s try it. And so we custom fab mounts up and, you know, found sections of the OEM wiring harness that we didn’t have attachments for. You know, like a, like for, I think we pulled the power from, uh, the powered seat, you know, what I’m talking about.
Trent Manning:
yeah, yeah.
Austin Wright:
it was already there. We just threw a fuse in it and boom, we have power now. And so did that and, got ’em all set up to where, you know, all our ferry mowers run foamer and, we, we have ’em set up to where it drops just out the back. I think eventually I’d like to turn into where I can pivot ’em off the sides. We try, we did that with our 35 50 S because as at, you know, three wheel chassis,
Trent Manning:
Mm-hmm yeah,
Austin Wright:
but. Um, we started dropping everything kind of in the center just to give ’em kind of a point of reference. but I think it’d be cool to improve ’em on, in the future to where they actually mow the foam off.
Trent Manning:
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That would be cool.
Austin Wright:
but then we’re relying more on the operator to, you know, decide which side the foam goes on, so on and so forth. And we just try to keep it simple for our staff, but that, that was a game changer for us, you know, significantly less Mohawks, better quality cut. Um, you know, and it’s, it’s all about the golfer. I mean, give ’em a good playing condition and, and that was a big one for us.
Trent Manning:
no, that’s awesome. And I remember you talking about, you used a part from another machine that you could get, you know, from Toro or whatever it was. and I thought that was, and you can explain here in a minute, but I thought that was a really good idea and example for others. So, and I can’t think of, of a good scenario, but if you’re fabricating something and you need a part to do whatever it is, see if any of your other equipment has a part similar to that? Um, I’m trying to think, like on the 31 fifties, the little ball joint couplers, that hold their reels on, I’ve seen people use those for things other than what?
Austin Wright:
what? do they call it? The stud receiver.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Stud and a receiver. Yep. Um, what, so what was it on the, was it on the farmer kits that used.
Austin Wright:
Yeah, so it? was actually on the 35 50, kits that we use, to make a pivot system. We actually use the, the tracker arm on the PROCO 6 48. So where the, you know, holds that little, you know, white of rubber, um, we were like, man, that’s, that’s all we need right there. And
Trent Manning:
Mm-hmm
Austin Wright:
I just ordered all the part numbers for that particular piece and, and, you know, did a little custom fab and cutting and stuff here, but it is an OEM custom fabrication, you know, to where it’s like, if I need that spring, boom, I got a part number for that
Trent Manning:
Uhhuh. Yep. It’s yeah, no, that,
Austin Wright:
and, uh, it’s, it’s worked out really well and I’m, I’m thankful we rent that, route.
Trent Manning:
that was a really good idea and something I’ve, uh, kept with me ever since I heard about that
Austin Wright:
Good. good That’s what they’re, that’s what tips and tricks are for man.
Trent Manning:
Exactly. Right. Um, any other tips and tricks you wanna share?
Austin Wright:
I don’t know, probably, uh, you know, more of a, a tip, just get involved, know, get involved with your local chapter. So I am the chairman, or I guess, I don’t know really what the, you call it. I’m on the board for, uh, I’m the equipment manager representative of the Wisconsin GCs a
Trent Manning:
you do with
Austin Wright:
and, it’s been really good cuz when I moved up here, like the very first thing I did is, is. Because we just got the Kansas city em program going and I got online and I was like, well, the Wisconsin chapter doesn’t have an em membership. It’s not recognized within, their membership classification. So I’m like, well, heck National’s joining. Let’s, let’s see what I gotta do And, you know, I got involved with the board up here and we, we were able to kind of get it going. And I worked with a lot of really great EMS early on in this area that really helped make it to where we had our own membership class. And that’s kind of step one. And then after that, we’ve been able to just kind of slowly build the program little by little. And now I got Justin Prescot. Um, I think he was, he did a podcast earlier, which, uh, he, you know, he’s a good friend of mine up here and, um, he’s. It’s been really good to have on the board now and has a lot of really good ideas and he’s super involved all over. You know, I know he is part of the em task group with the national and, and so we’re really looking on hitting some strides to, to build this chapter? in Wisconsin.
Trent Manning:
Wow. That’s awesome. I’m so proud. So glad all those, any word I can use, I’m really, really happy that y’all are doing that. And for the listeners, you heard it here, Austin say get involved. I’m saying, get involved. Anybody that you talk to that is involved will tell you to get involved because you end up getting more out of it than you put in. Plus you meet a lot of good people and you make friends and connections. people you can call, if you getting a bind, you’re working on this or working on that, you know, if I’m working on a former kit, I’d probably be calling. But down here, down here in the south, we never have a problem with the Dew, the cuz the humidity’s so high. There’s a due for days. What else did you wanna talk about?
Austin Wright:
Well, you know, I kinda had a question for you and, you’re well, more, you’re more experienced with this than I am. I’m I’m new in it, but, uh, you know, I was wondering if you have any tips and tricks of fatherhood, you
Trent Manning:
Oh, oh,
Austin Wright:
two year old daughter and just I’m learning things every chance you get, but, you know, I, I love, I love some tips and tricks.
Trent Manning:
okay. Ooh, put me on the spot too. This is great. Um, so first off, congratulations. And. uh, girl, dad, all the way. I got two girls and I love him to pieces and I always thought it’s better. Cuz every, you know, looking from a guy’s point of view, all your friends say, oh, I bet you wish you had a boy. Oh, I bet you wish I had a boy. No, I didn’t. I wish I had a girl because a girl I could love on them and hug on them and kiss on them. You know, when they’re little and you know, protect them with a boy, I would had to be mean like my dad was to me and whip ’em in the shape when they needed it. And not that I didn’t discipline my daughters. I did a good bit when they were younger and it paid off because when they were 10, they were pretty good little humans already. And now I couldn’t be more proud of where they’re at. So a tip, I don’t, I. and I’m not, you know, a, a perfect dad, but I guess the biggest thing that I probably come to realize probably more recently is just the open line of communication and talking to ’em all the time. And kids really wanna seal off to really want to sell off. And it’s hard to get information out of them and you don’t want to be over the top getting information out of them, but just get ’em comfortable talking to you. And I think that’s really, really good and love on ’em as much as you can. I never miss an opportunity to tell my kids. I love them because, and I didn’t grow up that way. And when I was growing up that I ain’t gonna say it was tabooed, but neither one of my parents said it. I know they loved me, but they never told me. probably suffering from that a little bit, maybe in my older age, but it was a, you know, it was just a, a different time, their generation that’s, that’s the way it was. Um, and being there for them, never breaking a promise, you know, all those things, um, I think are really important and that’s, you know, just me personally
Austin Wright:
those are all great things, man.
Trent Manning:
and some, some, some of my values.
Austin Wright:
One thing that I’ve learned kind of recently is always have a towel in your truck, just a beach towel, a bath towel,
Trent Manning:
Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep.
Austin Wright:
just have a towel. Like you just never know it could be apple sauce in the backseat or throwing up or whatever, you know, forgot a towel at the splash pad, you know?
Trent Manning:
Mm-hmm
Austin Wright:
That’s one little trick that I’ve learned recently is just always have a towel tucked under your seat.
Trent Manning:
That’s a great idea, and it’s not bad idea to have some baby wipes around
Austin Wright:
Oh
Trent Manning:
they don’t have, you know, they can be 15 and you still need a baby wipe from time to time you sticky hands or, or whatever it is.
Austin Wright:
oh,
Trent Manning:
that, yeah,
Austin Wright:
You don’t grow out of baby wipes, huh?
Trent Manning:
No, you never grow out baby wipes. You gotta keep those things around. They’re they’re good. Uh, and yeah, I guess somebody come up with bro wipes seen that on. Yeah, I seen that
Austin Wright:
Good marketing. Yeah.
Trent Manning:
Seen it on Twitter the other day.
Austin Wright:
One thing I did wanna talk about was. or give you kind of a, an opportunity to talk about C Tim
Trent Manning:
okay. I heard. Through the grapevine that maybe you were trying to get certified.
Austin Wright:
Yeah.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. So congratulations on that and good luck on your journey.
Austin Wright:
Thank you. Thank you. I’m I’m excited,
Trent Manning:
do you have any particular questions on CT or do you just want to hear about the whole process?
Austin Wright:
you know,
Trent Manning:
Mm-hmm
Austin Wright:
I’m, you know, doing the level one and then doing the level two, you know, I’m excited for the, the final part. And I, I tell you, I I’m, the rubric is really cool and I’ve already made improvements on stuff that, you know, we needed to tighten up. A lot of ’em were stuff you’re already doing. You just weren’t really thinking about it, you know,
Trent Manning:
yeah.
Austin Wright:
or it’s like, Hey, we’re already doing that. Let’s just take it to the next. Just the next step and then, boom, we’re good. You
Trent Manning:
Mm-hmm
Austin Wright:
um, just little safety type things, you know? Um, but all in all I’m pawing man, and I’ve waited my, my entire career from making this jump to, to doing it you know, to, for this opportunity.
Trent Manning:
is a very, very exciting time for anybody. That’s an equipment manager in our industry, cuz you have a chance to get certified. And I agree with what you’re saying, my facility, it was okay, but doing all this and creating the rubric really got me thinking about, Ooh, I probably do need to do something about that or I need to do something about this or, and like you said, it’s a lot of the safety stuff that you’re already kind of doing, but maybe you’re not doing it a hundred percent,
Austin Wright:
Mm-hmm.
Trent Manning:
you know, just putting signs where signs need to be making sure your exit signs are all working and you know, it’s, it’s a lot of little stuff, but it gets your facility better. It gets it safer for all the employees. and just having those programs and procedures to follow and help guide you along goes a long way. Then going back to creating the rubric and working with the other very talented equipment managers that was on the task group that year and how much you learn from them, how much fun it is doing that work. I mean, it’s just, we have a lot of fun, you know, it is not all work and no fun. It’s, it’s a good mixture of both. And Kim Thane is the psycho attrition that helped us create the rubric or she created the rubric. We just gave her some ideas and, um, she’s amazing to work with. And just that whole experience on what, what all you need to make a rubric. And we did the same thing when we were writing the em C P and writing the test questions. And, you know, she’s teaching us how you write a test question, which I’d never even thought of. You know, I’d taken plenty of tests as a kid and growing up and stuff, but you don’t think about what all goes into a test question. And then it’s funny. Now, if you see test questions after knowing how to write a test question, you’re like, what were they thinking? They don’t know what they’re doing, whoever wrote this test, you know, because she was really big on you can’t have true in falses on the CP when we were writing that no true in faults and your, uh, distractors have to all be relevant. And the correct answer has to be true,
Austin Wright:
Mm-hmm
Trent Manning:
you know? I mean, no matter what, it can’t be partially true.
Austin Wright:
right.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. And no, I mean, it was just, it was a fun process.
Austin Wright:
Yeah. I’m, I’m very thankful for all, you know, everyone that’s been part of that and making that a come to fruition and, you know, GCSA for, for really making it, you know, happen. Um, and so it’s, it’s cool. It’s, it’s a big thing for our industry. I, I think it’s gonna be a game changer. We’re gonna look back, you know, 10 years from now. And I think the industry’s gonna look different because of it.
Trent Manning:
Oh, for sure. And it just, I’m trying to think of who it was. Um, that told me the other day he passed level one. He passed level two and he showed his boss. He done it on his own. I don’t even know. I guess he signed up his membership with GCSA on his own, just so he could save money on the exams. But anyway, he was doing it for hisself, but he shows his boss. I passed these tests and the boss was like, oh, wow. I didn’t know you were doing that. You know, and gets all excited. And I don’t remember, he gave him like a $4 raise for passing the test. Yeah. I was just like, heck yeah, that is awesome. And I mean, that’s hopefully what’s happening across the country cuz it just legitimizes the position. And the biggest thing is it shows you care about the position and what you do, cuz the people working in a shop that are grumpy and they’re only showing up to work for the paycheck. They’re not taking the exam. So we’re not worried about those people. They’re they’re never gonna pass a test cuz they could care less. They’re just there for the paycheck.
Austin Wright:
yeah,
Trent Manning:
So it’s gonna make the hiring process for superintendents and directors of agronomy easier. When they see that somebody has passed one of the exams or they’re certifi.
Austin Wright:
oh yeah, you betcha. I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s all great things. All great things for sure.
Trent Manning:
Yep. Good stuff. Are you
Austin Wright:
We do. Um, we use it as a agronomy operation. all the, each golf course, uses it with the superintendents. labor tracking, so on and so forth, we’ve, we’ve just now started to kind of dabble into the equipment side of it. And we use it in the shop for our labor tracking, which is really, really nice to present to ownership or management who, um, whoever requests it, we just, boom, have it at the click of our, you know, on our mouse. And, uh, we’re really just kind of now working into getting the equipment side kind of dialed in, figured out. Uh, I think that’s really gonna be a big project kind of this coming off season. Uh, I should say winter. I don’t like to use off season cuz we’re always busy. but yeah, task track is a cool thing and I’m excited to see, how they continue to evolve cuz they they’re really, really good at taking everybody’s opinions and ideas and, and how to make the whole program.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. And I love that part of it because every time I call Jamie sharp at task tracker with an idea, he’s super honest with me and says, that’s a great idea. We’re gonna implement that. And it’s gonna be in two weeks or he’s well, I like that idea, but you know, I don’t, I don’t know when, when we can get to that, that’s gonna be way on down the road when we’re rolling out this next platform. And I just respect that. He’s that honest with me, you know, and I don’t all my ideas. Ain’t good. And that’s, that’s fine. I don’t, you know, just tell me it. Ain’t good and I’ll go on. Um, but all the feedback I’ve gave him, he’s been really receptive and I’ve seen him implement a lot of the ideas that I had. And so for the listeners or anyone that doesn’t know, Jamie was a golf pro and he created this software for the superintendent at the course he worked with to help track labor because the upper management wanted, wanted those numbers. So he developed the software to help the superintendent out. And so he has a pretty good idea of how we do things in the shop. and I know across the country, we probably do things a little different from place to place. Some people use purchase orders, some people don’t. And he’s thinking about all of that. So he’s not just talking to me, he’s talking to plenty of other equipment managers and listening to their input and their ideas and running with it and making a really awesome program.
Austin Wright:
it is a, a strong part of our operation at sand valley, for sure.
Trent Manning:
I don’t. So how are you using it to just track labor in the shop? I’m just curious.
Austin Wright:
So, I mean, we use, we use my turf for basically all our PM type stuff. Um, and then, so just for labor, it’s basically every day we go through, it’s like, you know, we try to keep it relatively simple to where it’s like, what labor goes to, to PM repair and maintenance, you know, uh, check and cutting units. That’s a big one. I mean, every day it’s, that’s like three hours worth of labor total, you know, I mean, even more than that in some cases. And,
Trent Manning:
So you just have those general tasks set up and then you,
Austin Wright:
So right now we’re kind of, yep. Yep. So we just have all the technicians in the shop. and then we just tag those, you know, per employee Just like if they were mowing greens and RACOM, bunkers, you know, just they’re, you know, re you know, doing preventative maintenance and check and cutting units, you know? So, we try to keep it simple. And, um, and then I think as we get more dialed in, uh, it’ll, our detail will go up a little bit more, but right now we’re just getting general numbers for stuff. Yeah. Mm-hmm,
Trent Manning:
when I think it would be interesting to see what those numbers said. If your PM goes up, does your repairs go down? You know, or, or something like that. And I, that’s something personally, I’ve been thinking about a lot and I’ve had a lot going on personally in my life and I’ve let some things slip outta the shop. And I have not been up on preventive maintenance. Like I should, you heard it here first, right here on the podcast. I’m just venting it all out.
Austin Wright:
You, are not alone.
Trent Manning:
but you know, and I under, you know, I think a lot of people can hopefully relate to that and I’m trying to get my head back on my shoulders and do a lot more of the preventive maintenance stuff. And I know it’s gonna help us in the long run, having less repair.
Austin Wright:
Yeah. You and a lot of the checks, you know, Parking break checks, you know, like, you know, to does them every like 50 or a hundred hours and stuff, you know, it’s keeping up on that type of stuff that that’s, that’s hard where it’s like, I’ll catch it next to oil change, you know?
Trent Manning:
yeah, yeah.
Austin Wright:
you know, cuz that’s where we all are. It’s, that’s the reality of it. But yeah, I would be curious to see how that shakes out. And I, I think in many circumstances, if your PM goes up, your RM goes down, you know, but obviously, you know, depending on the age of your fleet and all that good stuff, you know, that’s a big part of it too.
Trent Manning:
Yeah, for sure. Are y’all lease package or
Austin Wright:
we own everything. So, um, you know, we’ve got the majority of our fleet is five to six years old, you know, in. You know, the sand is catching up on a lot of things. Starter generators is a big one on, you know, workman’s or golf carts or whatever. It’s that sand man, it finds its way in every single nook and cranny it possibly can. so, you know, we’re starting to learn a lot of those little trends that are starting to catch up, you know, everything’s great when it’s new. it’s just in each environment’s so different than the next,
Trent Manning:
well, and this little stuff like that though, that you’re learning. So do you start blowing out alternators every hundred hours or, you know, just, you, you kind come up with your own preventative maintenance stuff based on your particular needs.
Austin Wright:
yeah. I mean, during the off season, I mean, Pressure wash every machine top to bottom before we service it. And you know, some people are like, man, you can’t, you can’t wash things like that. Like, man, I gotta get the sand out. You know, it’s like, I’ll take my chances. I’ll take my chances with water to, and you know, and then we let it drought in the heated shop for a few days before it goes back in this, in this cold storage barn. but Yeah. it’s, it’s one of those things where it’s like, choose your battles, man. It’s like, do you want Sandy? You want just a little bit of moisture and
Trent Manning:
Yeah,
Austin Wright:
it’s, we’re, we’re learning both ways and that’s, that’s the cool thing about working on a golf course is you’re always learning, you know? Oh, I don’t know how to do it. It’s all good. Guess what? We’re gonna figure it out, man. It’s. Yeah. that’s, that’s, that’s a fun part of our industry is we have such an opportunity. And I think you, you might have touched on it at like an earlier podcast. I can’t remember, but you know, talking about how, if you were in an auto shop and you had a, you messed up, you know, it’s a really big deal now you’re never gonna do that job again, you know, and here it’s like, well, I messed up, well, how do I not do that again? You
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Austin Wright:
that’s, it’s a special industry that it is really cool.
Trent Manning:
Well, yeah. And I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. We get paid to learn and I mean, what’s better than that. And when I got somebody working in the shop with me and they say, I’ve never done that before I say, I have not either. Let’s take it apart and see how it works. I mean, that’s what we do.
Austin Wright:
that’s the best part. It’s like, I don’t know. do. you know? No. Well, I’m gonna go print off the service manual, cuz we’re about to figure it out.
Trent Manning:
That’s right. Yeah. And then if you think about it, it’s already broken. So all we can do is maybe break it worse, but let’s let you know. Let’s take it apart. See how it tick.
Austin Wright:
You betcha.
Trent Manning:
Anything else you want to talk about?
Austin Wright:
You know, as we continue to grow at sand valley, you know, building a team in the shop, uh, is, is really, really important to our success. And, you know, one thing that, that we really strive on is diversity and having, you know, very different minds in the shop. And I’m, I’ll kind of go through like my guys in the shop and, and then I’d like you to definitely voice your opinion. Um,
Trent Manning:
Okay. Yeah.
Austin Wright:
um, kind of, kind of what you see in your shop and around your area, but, uh, like Kevin he’s, he’s kind of. You know, we call him the old fart, you know, and, and he’s the diagnostic dude, the fabricator, I mean, just loves that kind of stuff. Like if there’s a problem that we can’t figure out, he wants to be the guy that figures it out, you know, and that’s really cool and kind of does more of the major repairs. And then Ryan, he’s like 20 years old, I think he’s, he’s younger. Um, didn’t really know a career path coming outta high school. And I was able, I was lucky enough to snag him in the shop and the guy is a workhorse dude, like just shows up to work all the time, works hard, goes home. Does it again? You know, and, and he’s really kind of helps out with shipping and receiving cuz we’re, that’s part of our operation at grounds, does a lot of the real checkin cuz he runs kind of the. Works the second shift in our shop and then does the PM and light maintenance. And then Derek, he just recently moved over to the Lido. One of the new courses, that’s gonna be kind of finishing up here soon and kind of, he, he did the military thing for a while and, kinda got a background in an electrical, doing that, and then started pursuing the turf side. And then I was like, man, you would really like it here in the shop. So we got him in the shop for about a year ago. And then he’s just had a great opportunity to, to kind of take on the lead technician role over at the Lido. And now he’s working on growing, growing equipment and hydro receivers and stuff. And then, uh, my assistant, Tim, who you met at show last year, uh, You know, just an awesome dude. And he’s been kind of with me ever since the beginning, he started off just seeding the golf courses and could turn a wrench and showed him a career path. And, and he helps with all the safety training. So, uh, a lot of the JSA stuff, uh, the safety training checklist that we’ve come up with, you know, those were kind of originally driven from the class I took at show with, uh, Gary be Dansky. Um, and he’s, Gary’s a big safety guy. And so I kind of used like all of us, we each help each other out and twist it. Um, you know, kind of used something that he had created part of his operation. And then. Tweaked it and made it work for ours and, and that’s been really, really helpful. So Tim helps out a lot with that and then does inventory and, and then kind of repairs, but it’s, it’s cool, man, having a really diverse group in the shop. I mean, we, we listen to all sorts of music and I mean, we listen to everything from like, you know, classical to John party country to jet road, toll to tech nine rap music. I mean, we listen to everything. I mean, and That’s
Trent Manning:
awesome. Yeah, no, that’s really cool. Really cool. Yeah. So my input on that is, I don’t know. um, I, I think it’s great though, to have a diverse group like that, because I mean, I, obviously, I don’t want to hire somebody. That’s just like me, you know, I want somebody with different skill sets and I, I think back to a friend of mine, he was. Well, he worked with me for a while too. But before that he was, uh, a hot rider and he restored classic cars and worked at some really great shops and they put together, you know, kinda like a dream team. So they had one guy that was the engine guy, you know, and he could do any, he was the best guy around, do anything with engines. And then they had a paint and body man, you know, that done all that stuff. And then a suspension guy and a tire guy, you know, I mean, they just had all those roles field that you would need in a shop. So, you know, if you think about the ultimate shop or whatever, I, I think that’s what it takes is people that kind of specialize in different things. And just like you were saying, I don’t do near as much fabrication now, as I used to. but I have a young guy working in the shop. He’s going to welding. Cool. He loves fabricating. He loves welding. So let him do the fabrication and welding and cuz I know. So if you talk about management, you know, it’s trying to manage it to people’s strengths. So if there’s a fabrication project, instead of me doing it, I’ll let him do it and I’ll do something else that he can’t do, you know, so, and divide and conquer and, and that kind of stuff. And I think as, as much as we’re servicing cutting units and doing set up and all that stuff, it’s really good to have a, a dedicated person that enjoys doing that type stuff. And I’ll be honest. I don’t really enjoy doing setup on cutting units every day. Maybe it’s cuz I’ve done it so long or whatever. And not that I’m too good to get in there and do it. I’ll do it, but that’s, that’s not my cup of tea.
Austin Wright:
Mm-hmm you, you know, and it’s something that we all do every day. It takes a, a large chunk out of our day, but that’s, you know, that’s where our attention to detail comes from. And, you know, no matter who’s cutting or checking, cutting units that day, it’s, you know, we all try to help out as much as we possibly can, but I always say it’s like, whoever’s checking ’em. It’s like, Hey, today you got the most important job in the shop.
Trent Manning:
for
Austin Wright:
like, You know, I, I think it was a podcast. I think it was John Patterson said, it’s like, we manage a cutting unit shop, you know, in that, you know, we’re, we’re we manage cutting units and we do a whole lot of other stuff, you know? And, uh, it’s, it’s so true, cuz that is our direct connection to the golfer. mm-hmm
Trent Manning:
Yes. For sure. And that is the most important job that we have. And that’s what we need to be the best at because there’s a lot of people that can rebuild an engine. There’s a lot of people that can troubleshoot electrical and hydraulic. There’s not a lot of people that are really good with cutting units.
Austin Wright:
mm-hmm
Trent Manning:
And then you talk about bringing in staff and building a team. You gotta know your stuff to be able to train them. So they know their stuff because there’s a lot of people in our industry that learnt the wrong way and not outta malice or anything like that. The person before them, they didn’t know either, you know, because nobody had ever showed him or taught him. And I mean, even me, when I first come up, the, the guy I worked for. Excellent mechanic, really good mechanic. and he was plenty good on cutting units, but I think the times has changed a little bit too. So it is kind of keeping up with the, the industry, because, well, at that time we didn’t have a bed knife grinder, so what are you gonna do? You’re gonna bagla you don’t have any choice. That’s what you do.
Austin Wright:
the option, man.
Trent Manning:
yeah, that that’s, that was our option. And is that the best practice? No, I know that now, but in 1995 when I was, or 97, I was 18 years old. I didn’t know any different that that’s what you do. You go out and you mow sand and you lap it until that bed knife’s gone. And then you put on another bed knife and lap it, I mean, it, it was craziness, but seriously that’s, that’s the way we done it.
Austin Wright:
yeah, That’s that’s man. I will say that there is at work. There’s no greater feeling than to pull off or pull a, cutting it off the grinders, dial it up. And it’s just butter. Just
Trent Manning:
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Austin Wright:
It’s just like, oh man. You know, you’re like sh man, come over and feel this, you know,
Trent Manning:
Uh, right. Yeah. You want, you want to show everybody? Hey, come here.
Austin Wright:
yeah.
Trent Manning:
that’s awesome. Love it. Let’s do some rapid fire questions and we’ll wrap this up.
Austin Wright:
Right on
Trent Manning:
What’s your favorite movie?
Austin Wright:
days of thunder, uh,
Trent Manning:
Oh yeah, of course. It’s gotta be a racing movie. I love it.
Austin Wright:
Cold trickle. baby.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. uh, what, what would be your last meal?
Austin Wright:
it’s gotta be the Thanksgiving spread.
Trent Manning:
Oh yeah. Turkey
Austin Wright:
Turkey. Oh man. You gotta have Turkey, ham, caterers, green bean casserole,
Trent Manning:
Uhhuh.
Austin Wright:
pecan pie. I mean, you know, and then, I mean, of course your gravy’s gotta be white, you know, it’s gotta be white gravy.
Trent Manning:
Yeah.
Austin Wright:
a, I’m a, I’m a white gravy man, you know? Yeah.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. I, most of us down here in the south, we like our white gravy don’t gimme any brown gravy. I want white gravy. um, what are you most proud of?
Austin Wright:
I’m most proud of? my family. I’m so blessed, um, to be where I am to have the family that I have. I’m, I’m very, very thankful. Uh, uh, but another thing that I’m really proud of and it’s something that’s kinda looking a little deeper into things. Um, I’m very proud that I was able to, uh, jump to the equipment side of the industry when I did, um, you know, I, I was on the path to do the agronomy side. I loved it. Uh, and so that was a big decision for me that, that I’m very, very grateful that I made. Uh, it was a hard one. It was a tough one, but, uh, looking back, I, I wouldn’t have changed it for nothing.
Trent Manning:
awesome. And I’m so glad you’re on our side.
Austin Wright:
I am too, man. It’s fun. It’s fun on this side.
Trent Manning:
yeah, it is. We have, I think we have more fun. Well, tell the listeners how they can get ahold of you.
Austin Wright:
Uh, you. know, I, I don’t do social media, um, but you can get ahold of me via email, just at a Wright. So a w R I G HT sand valley.com. Shoot me an email. I’m I’m happy to help you out in any way I possibly can. And if I can’t help you, I’m gonna send you on down the road to someone that I might think could help you. Uh, that’s the beauty of the network.
Trent Manning:
Oh yeah. Yeah. That is a great thing about the network. And I get calls all the time and I say, I don’t know, but call this guy. I bet he does, you know, depending on what it is and yeah, this it’s awesome having the network and the community that we’ve built and it’s, it’s incredible. Well, thank you Austin so much for coming on this. I knew it would be fun. And I’m sorry, I hadn’t been talking to you more and it was good to see your face and I’m happy for the baby that ain’t a baby anymore.
Austin Wright:
no, not a baby anymore. Those are the easy days. Uh, you know, that’s that’s yeah. Thank you, man. Thank you Trent, for doing this and, and promoting this em industry and you know, I, I listen to this podcast and I really enjoy it. I mean, there, so anybody that is, is part of this group and listening, I’m doing ’em man. It’s fun. And I, I learn something from every podcast. I listen to everybody, uh, you know, whether I, I knew you. before or not, I, I truly enjoy it. And, and, uh, it’s, it’s just SU such a cool thing. Uh I’m I’m excited for you. So you, you keep this ball rolling.
Trent Manning:
Yeah, we’re gonna keep it rolling.
Austin Wright:
Yeah.
Trent Manning:
I mean, it, it is been very fun. It’s been rewarding and yeah, I I’m happy where we’re at and we’re gonna keep, keep it moving forward.
Austin Wright:
Oh, I haven’t got on your website yet, but I gotta do that,
Trent Manning:
but yeah, definitely check it out.
Austin Wright:
Now I got to,
Trent Manning:
All right. I’ll see you later.
Austin Wright:
Hey, thanks Trent. Have a good evening, man.
Trent Manning:
I hope you enjoyed hearing from Austin. I think it’s so awesome. What we have Austin and I, and it’s all because we volunteered together. And 2018. So it’s been four years ago. And they just super cool dude. We made, a lot of good friends. Just working together in one week. The other thing I wanted to talk about. I think it’s something that we can all use and. Take home. Is how, when he made those phone markers, He used material that was readily available. That he could order from a manufacturer, whoever. So it cuts down on the fabrication process. Um, when you can just buy that part and. Throw it together. I did that. Uh, put. Homemade black kids. On some. Walk behind greens mowers. But I bought the brackets from Toro. ’cause it was, it was cheaper to buy the brackets from them. Them then me building myself. And the holes are drilled. And they line up ride and all that stuff. So sometimes that’s hard to beat. And I want to congratulate Austin on being a C town. He was not a sea town when we recorded this. But he is now. He sent me a text last week. And I just, I think it’s awesome. The whole CTM. Process. Really benefits your whole operation. And it makes you do stuff the way you should be doing it. So your operators are going to be safer. Your shop’s going to be safer. And it’s a great thing for the industry. And then the other thing I wanted to mention. His task tracker. And I know Austin hadn’t really got into using task tracker a whole lot on the equipment. At side. They’re mainly just using it to track labor hours. And one of the crews doing. But it’s been so valuable to me. Being able to track all my equipment. Maintenance and repairs that way. They may get super easy to get the information in there. And they just rolled out. You know, a month ago, the. Inventory part of the software. And that’s been really easy. I got. Maybe about half my inventory. Loaded into the system. So anytime we use a part that comes out of the inventory. And then you can set your minimum threshold. So, you know, when you need to reorder. And if you have any questions about it, Call Jamie sharp. Or Gerald. And that’d be happy to. Uh, give you a demo or show you how it works. And a lot of clubs are already using the task tracker for the crew. So it’s kind of a no brainer. To a. Rolling the equipment side. And the other thing I like about that on the equipment side and working with the superintendent is if I got to take a piece of equipment out of service, uh, can disable it. So when they go to sign it, they say it’s disabled. And you can also leave a note for why it’s disabled. And then. They don’t have to come ask you. So it was an awesome, awesome system that I got going on there. And I would appreciate it. If you check it out. And if you are not on Twitter and you didn’t see the update. Over the summer months, we’re going to go to every other week. We’ve had a little challenge getting. Guests lined up. I know everybody’s busy. And honestly, I’ve been super busy, too. So we’re going to cut back to a, every other week. Through the summer months. And hopefully in October, we’ll get back on once a week. Again, when things starts slowing down for some people. Until next time. So you buy. 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.