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Daniel Barnes, Equipment Manager at The Ford Field and River Club in Richmond Hill, GA, was dragged to Lake City Community College by his grandma and entered the golf course maintenance program having never set foot on a golf course. After a stint as a small engine mechanic at an asphalt plant and some road time as a mobile service tech, Daniel found his professional calling at the golf course with its wide variety of things to wrench on. Learn what makes TETAC so great and the value of local networking for turf techs. We go deep on work-life balance and its importance.

Transcript

Trent Manning: 0:05
welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we’ll learn tips and tricks. I’m your host, Trent. Manning let’s have some this episode are real turf techs on golf course industries Superintendent radio network is presented by Foley county a strong supporter of equipment technicians and golf course maintenance departments everywhere Foley county offers a proven solution for above and below the turf for turf professionals To learn more about Foley company’s line of real grinders bed knife grinders and the air to G2 family of products or to find a distributor visit www dot Foley C o.com Foley Ready for play Welcome to the real turf tax podcast, episode 69. Today, we’re talking to Danielle Barnes. Equipment manager at the Ford and field and river club and Richmond hill Georgia. The Ford field. And river club is a private 18 hole course. The course is on. 110 acres, but the total property is 1800 acres. The course is a Pete dye design. Last renovated in 2014. Daniel manages two shops. The main building is all golf and the other buildings, whole grounds maintenance facility maintenance. And housekeeping. He has a tech and the golf side and attacking the ground side. The grounds maintenance shop takes care of all the grounds equipment, including all vehicles and equipment for facility housekeeping. F and B and a Questran department. It sounds like a busy guy. Daniel has a four year lease with Toro equipment. With a few other one-off specialty machines mixed in. Let’s talk to Daniel. welcome Daniel to the real turf tech podcast. How you doing today?

Daniel Barnes: 2:18
doing good train by yourself. Huh?

Trent Manning: 2:19
I’m doing good. Thank you so much for coming on. This will be fun. Like it always is. I only say that on every episode, just to make sure the listeners really know how much fun that we’re gonna have.

Daniel Barnes: 2:30
So much

Trent Manning: 2:31
Yes. So much fun. Tell us how you got into the turf industry.

Daniel Barnes: 2:34
Uh, well, like most people kind of stumble upon it, I stumbled upon it through the education side, saying meaning as I walked into this lake city community college, just looking for something to do. and I should, I’d really walk in there. My grandmother dragged me there because after high school, I wasn’t sure what I was gonna do. I was gonna go military. It was right after nine 11. So my grandmother was like, Nope, you’re going college. You’re getting something. So we went to check out some it programs or something and, uh, they asked, Hey, what do you think about golf maintenance? Like never been on a golf course. What’s what’s there. And, uh, my, uh, so I was like, Yeah. you know, work on mowers and equipment and kind of, they did kind of went over like the, um, the subject matter, like your, your engines, your hydraulics, when that sounds cool. My, um, my family’s a bunch of farmers and I grew up around shops around some of the big hay equipment, logging equipment, big tractors, skid steers and such. So it’s, you know, its like cool. That sounds, I like tinker a little bit. sounded good. So I, you know, jumped right in there was uh, did my one year at the, uh, was it the TM program? And I think I finally stepped onto a golf course during spring break cuz like, Hey, there’s like 12 weeks of onger out trainings. Like I don’t know where I’m gonna. there’s at the time, this is early two thousands. you know, job offerings are coming in, they’re left and right from all over, which is pretty cool. They posted both on the board. but I had a family friend who was an assisted out in Jacksonville and asked, you know, you know, can I talk to him a little bit about the whole, whole golf course thing? And it’s like, sure. He was a technician at one time. It kind of moved up. So they had a little opening there and it kind of worked out, their guy was leaving and I kind of came on for my summer portion of the course. And, you know, I was, you know, my spring break, I went out there and it was, I spent pretty much half the week doing oil changes in like weed eaters and going through, sitting on the floor, just going through old bread Macs and uh, some old steel stuff and getting my hands dirty. So it was, it was kind of cool. just kind of dove in and you know, it, it was, they’re both the CED and the super, it was, uh, they’re both lake city. So they kind of knew what I, what I went through and kind of were just kind of molded me the way they wanted. And it worked out really well. and still here and That’s you know, years ago. So, it was cool. I got into it. I liked it. You know, it was something different. the job it paid, you know, I was go, come from a little caution, light town, and now I’m working at, and, uh, it was, uh, San Jose country club in Jacksonville, Florida. Clayton, Estes, who’s still there kicking around. He, uh, they brought me in and, and it kind of just trained me up and it was, it was cool. especially nice coming from, you know, not knowing anything about golf and it’s like, I get in the shop and it’s, you know, old building, but it’s upkeep and, you know, kind a high standard. So it kind, it was nice. It kind of set me, it kind set my, uh, I guess my level kind of high in my, my high free detail. So, which at the time I didn’t know was good. I just like, oh, it’s the way it is.

Trent Manning: 5:27
yeah, yeah, yeah,

Daniel Barnes: 5:28
so. But, uh, but I was, I, I spent a few days there. I just just started getting into the local chapters. I got a couple phone calls and, and was in it. And, uh, and I stepped out for a little bit and got a job offer kind of back towards lake city of the like asphalt and paving company as a small engine guy at the time, I was like, sure, whatever, I’ll do it. You know, I was, I think 21, 22, I was a little closer to home, which wasn’t a really big concern, but I was making still good money. Uh, it had my own shop, like just me in the building doing, I thought the same stuff. Uh, and it was about the time of recession. So I, as I got in there, it was working. It’s like, it’s awesome. And then, Hey, we’re cutting hours, cutting hours, cutting hours. And then I found out that being these small engine guy at a, uh, asphalt plant means you work on a lot of concrete stalls in mobile gen portable generators. Um, got bored and kind of quick. Um, so,

Trent Manning: 6:22
I bet.

Daniel Barnes: 6:23
so that’s when I, I threw my back, my name out there on turf net and, uh, got picked up in a job in South Carolina. So,

Trent Manning: 6:30
Okay. Where’d you go in South Carolina.

Daniel Barnes: 6:32
the job was with S turf equipment out of Conway, Mer Burle beach area. They needed a so, uh, service tech for their kind of bluffed Hilton head Charleston area. That’s kind the Southern end of, of South Carolina. so I picked that up, and not knowing much there were Jacobson dealer. I dealt with some Jacobson, it was green Kings five, but I still dealt with them. Um, everyone kind knows, I think knows those things, machines real well. I jumped in with them. They, they hired me on, uh, I think I moved to Beaufort, South Carolina, and I don’t know, was it 12, 13 years ago, I guess. And, it, the job worked out was good. Met some new people. met some people I’m still know today and a lot, you know, I’m in the same area, so it kind of helps out too. But, uh, the job was kind of, it was not bad. It was different. wasn’t my thing. Wasn’t, I’m not a mobile guy. Uh, so I I’ve I’ve was kind of, they, they were kind of changed the way they did things too. So, not that my job was going away, but the amount of work for it was so, um, they kept me on part-time when, they kept me on full time, but they were, you know, Hey, can you, you know, kind of, I could tell they kind of pushing me to get a full-time job somewhere else, just because they’re, the work was kind of running out. So I, I don’t know if it was, it was out, out of just trying to help me out, cuz I moved all the way up here from Florida to, to do their job with them or not. But either way I’m grateful for ’em to kind of just let me hang on. And until I got that, uh, a job at a new place.

Trent Manning: 7:55
Okay. Where’d what club did you go to it?

Daniel Barnes: 7:58
I got a, a opening up at, uh, sun city Hilton. sun sees a big, uh, they’re kind of scattered out throughout, throughout the, uh, us, but it’s a big, uh, active adult retirement type community. and when I got in there, it was two technicians, two golf courses outta one shop with a third course kind of being in the works, getting built,

Trent Manning: 8:18
mm-hmm

Daniel Barnes: 8:19
got in there. the, gentleman hired me was kind over all of it. Then they kind of worked him outta his position and moved up the assistance and so forth. And it was funny, the sales guy, OFS that kind of, it talked me and, and kind of got my name, a number, got me up there. he was actually working there at that point. So I was working with him again, which is good, you know, familiar face. but no, I worked there and it went from two courses to three courses, all one shop and spread out over, I think, five or six miles there. So it was alar, you know, it’s a large community. I think at the time it was like 6,000 acres. I think even more now,

Trent Manning: 8:55
wow. Yes, that’s a huge property.

Daniel Barnes: 8:58
yeah, the, the, I mean, we trailer, we had a trailer equipment for two of the courses each day.

Trent Manning: 9:03
Oh no, that’s terrible. just something else to break and work on. Mm-hmm

Daniel Barnes: 9:09
that’s five, six more pick, well, five more pickup trucks with trailers. Um, so you you doing, although granted we’re going, you know, 20, 30 miles an hour, but the trailers really, the ramps we have these special MAs, we get trifles on there. so which worked out, cause I gotta do a, like a special little project for one of ’em, a little push button, kind of hydraulic chain lift sport. So it was kind of cool. Um, the

Trent Manning: 9:31
cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 9:32
but no, that wasn’t too bad. I was there for almost 12 years.

Trent Manning: 9:36
Okay. So yeah, you must have liked it. So how long have you been at Ford river or for.

Daniel Barnes: 9:44
Ford field and river club.

Trent Manning: 9:46
Okay. They made it really easy to roll off the tongue.

Daniel Barnes: 9:49
Right? I love my email address. I go from a couple abbreviations to a whole paragraph. It’s love trying to spell it out. so I know it

Trent Manning: 9:58
how long have you been there?

Daniel Barnes: 9:59
Ford. I started just hit by one year.

Trent Manning: 10:01
Okay.

Daniel Barnes: 10:02
I started,

Trent Manning: 10:03
Can you drag congratulations on that. That’s, uh, that’s a special place to me for whatever reason. And to give the listeners a little background in you too. When I worked for Jerry pay, the Toro distributor, the Ford club was still Toro like you are now. And the gentleman that was the mechanic there at the time, his name was Tim or, and he was, um, retired coast guard and he had, I think he had got all his training and electronics.

Daniel Barnes: 10:37
Yes,

Trent Manning: 10:38
and I mean, he’s super sharp individual. And I think he left there and he was going to work for the railroad because he wanted their retirement or whatever. But, uh, he had the little, I don’t, y’all probably still don’t have it, but one of the little mighty Mitz trucks and that still around, no.

Daniel Barnes: 10:56
no, they get a little smaller little, they got smaller pickups, but they’ve been there like they’re like 15 or they got 2016. I think I got those.

Trent Manning: 11:03
Yeah, this was, eh, what was this like? Oh 8 0 9, something like that. But anyway, we would just get out there and ride around and I’ve always had a drawing to the coast and the live Oaks and the Spanish Moss. I don’t know why it just makes me feel good in being in that environment, but we’d get out there and ride around just a beautiful, beautiful course in the way everything was laid out. It was. A lot of good times down there.

Daniel Barnes: 11:33
Nice. Yeah. It’s it’s cool.

Trent Manning: 11:35
my, my friends, I got some friends that live at kill Kenny on kill Kenny Creek, which is not too far down the road from y’all. So, and I obviously live up here north of Atlanta. So anytime I’d go down, I’d just stay with them. So that made it even that much better. You know, I’m not staying in a hotel, I’m staying with some friends and go out on their dock and drink a couple beers every night. I mean yeah. Living the life for sure.

Daniel Barnes: 12:00
Sounds like it.

Trent Manning: 12:02
Yeah. It was good times.

Daniel Barnes: 12:03
I got the wrong road. Tech drive. Sounds like

Trent Manning: 12:05
Yeah, that’s true. Yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 12:07
I didn’t know the right people, I guess.

Trent Manning: 12:09
but, well, to be fair, I was only on the road for two years because I pretty much burnt myself out and my kids were pretty young and not getting to see ’em. Ever, even though I was home most nights, but when you get home at 10 o’clock and they’re asleep and then you get up and leave at five and they’re still asleep and you don’t get to spend any time with ’em. And that really sucks. So, and I know it’s a hot topic here lately, the work life balance and all that stuff. I’ve never done very well with that. So something to think about

Daniel Barnes: 12:42
Yeah, absolutely. It is

Trent Manning: 12:43
And I think we might even talk about that a little bit later.

Daniel Barnes: 12:46
we could,

Trent Manning: 12:47
tell us, do you relief grind or not?

Daniel Barnes: 12:50
what is this relief crying, talking about?

Trent Manning: 12:52
You’d never heard of this, uh, term relief grind. I

Daniel Barnes: 12:55
I know what it is. Uh, no, I, I don’t, every shop I’ve been in has burn hard grinders. I I’ve used them. I like ’em, uh, I see the benefits relief. Uh, I want to try and get into it and, and just especially with, with, the fairways and stuff, that’d be great to have, I think, I know. I missed the window. Like when we replaced grinders, my first got in sun city and now they’re at, as I’m leaving now, they’re up for replacement now.

Trent Manning: 13:22
Mm-hmm Yeah,

Daniel Barnes: 13:22
so once, uh, these grinders here at Ford come up, for replacement, I’m looking, I’ll look and dabble and I may say burn hard and just get attachment. Uh, we’ll see. I don’t know.

Trent Manning: 13:32
yeah, yeah,

Daniel Barnes: 13:33
you know, I like, I see the reason why, and I give it a shot. So I know when I was at San Jose, they had an old, I think it was old Foley, like single blade, relief grinder, never used it, never knew enough. Then I was, you know, too, I was frat little, you know, wet behind the ears still right into the

Trent Manning: 13:50
yeah, yeah,

Daniel Barnes: 13:51
was like, like, I’ve heard a reef, we saw it once or twice in, at lake city. And it’s like, okay, that’s cool. But I didn’t know the benefits of it, you know, just an oil changer and yeah, sure. I’ll grind, you know,

Trent Manning: 14:03
yeah. Right.

Daniel Barnes: 14:05
but

Trent Manning: 14:05
And we’ve talked about it on here before is a, a lot of the stuff that, that we learn, we learn from someone else and it may or may not be the best way.

Daniel Barnes: 14:17
Sure.

Trent Manning: 14:17
And I’m not saying that, you know, anybody’s way is wrong, but you might not learn the best way to do stuff. And even when I started, I didn’t learn the best way to do stuff. And the guy that taught me a lot of what I know, he didn’t really know the best way to do stuff, so I don’t, you know, hold him accountable. And I do think the industry has changed a lot too over the years since I’ve been in it since 95, the, the standards have definitely been raised.

Daniel Barnes: 14:49
Yeah, no, I, I see that as well, you know, not quite 95 turn, you know, but I’m, I’m close. I’m

Trent Manning: 14:55
yeah, yeah, That’s right. That’s right.

Daniel Barnes: 14:57
but

Trent Manning: 14:58
And one thing I did wanna say about, uh, the Bernhards is everybody says how quick they are. They’re so quick. They’re so quick. They’re so quick. And I’m not disagreeing, they’re quick, but with a Foley and I can’t speak for S I, because I hadn’t used one of those, but on the fo league, once you get used to it, it’s pretty quick.

Daniel Barnes: 15:19
I’m I’m sure with any Grindr once you’d use it enough, you can get It, yeah. I’ve heard Burnhard yeah, I can do it fast. I’ve been doing it for, I don’t know how long, 15 years. I mean, I can it’s it’s gonna be fast.

Trent Manning: 15:31
When with that being said, when I first started learning, we only ground reels once a year. That was it. That was our procedure. You ground reels once a year, whether they need it or not, obviously they needed. Uh, and when you’re only grinding once a year, you forget, you know, how, how to make it quick. But when you’re grinding every day to every other day or three times a week, or whatever, you keep all those skills up and you can make it happen pretty quick.

Daniel Barnes: 16:02
Yeah. Well, that’s why I notice it’s a Ford. They use a lot of sand so it’s oh, like, and it’s not just greens. It’s everything. I mean, it’s we just got, we’re just open up today actually. been the whole month of June close and 48, 47 loads of sand. I went, went through the shop for a pile, bought the

Trent Manning: 16:24
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 16:25
is now out. So

Trent Manning: 16:27
crazy. And it’s already, it’s already sand down there.

Daniel Barnes: 16:31
right?

Trent Manning: 16:32
I mean, yeah, the soul’s pretty Sandy

Daniel Barnes: 16:34
how much do you, and I don’t include the bags in, they brought in, you know, that was pallets where it loads coming in. It’s like, how would like, I, I go to the beach, I know where it’s at. Come on.

Trent Manning: 16:43
right.

Daniel Barnes: 16:44
I

Trent Manning: 16:45
that’s funny. Tell us something you’ve fabricated lately.

Daniel Barnes: 16:48
haven’t being at Ford. I I’ve got my, fabrication’s got, I got a lot of like todos and like want tos. I haven’t got to yet. I, I spent the first little bit catching up. Uh, they were kind of out out the main guy for a little bit. And the, we just had one guy between the two shops in there. so I was playing more of a catch up, but I got a few things I wanna work on there and I haven’t got anything to, to it. at sun city, I did, I did a lot of prefab and basically I would, I have, I even there’s, I think it’s probably still standard on the shelf. I had a bunch of projects I wanted to do, and I had the metal and I had three. I had guys that hang around the shop, need something to do on frost. Dayss like here, here’s the measurements cut the metal for me. I just never got to all of it. There’s some of ’em I did, uh, couple little, little, like Dolly size, real racks stuff like that Thanks. The thanks to Bob of, uh, Bob shop threw, threw a threw, got kind of this little oh yeah, cool idea. I wrote it out and kind of duplicated and put my little spin on it. so stuff like that, the, you know, small little things I’ve fabricated. The lift gate for the trailers was like probably one of the cool. fabrication that did, I guess. So,

Trent Manning: 17:58
cool. Mm-hmm yeah,

Daniel Barnes: 17:58
uh, but, uh, but no, like I need to, I need to do more. I think like there’s a couple little, little tools and wrenches. I want to like modify, cuz I spent last 11, 12 years I’m Deere equipment. It’s like, all right, cool. Oh now a Toro. It’s like, oh wow. Alright. This is different. I mean, you know, so I’m learning what wrenches are my go-tos and it’s like, Hey, you know, let’s modify this, make a tee handle and a couple sockets welded together to do this and that. So I’ve I got the ideas. I just gotta sit down and put, ’em make ’em from paper to actual.

Trent Manning: 18:30
Is the vice still there on the work bench. It’s like a really big vice that come out of

Daniel Barnes: 18:38
It’s old.

Trent Manning: 18:39
Henry Ford’s shop at his property there. That, that was the story I was told.

Daniel Barnes: 18:45
well, I haven’t been told that story, but there’s a big old bison there and it’s on one of the work benches there. I don’t know. It’s old. I know that. And it’s the only one in my shop. I’m like, I need to, I need three more. I always like, it’s like, I gotta walk over here grease it it’s like, so I that’s fab project. I’m gonna have some more of those and a mobile one eventually. Uh, but no, it’s a big old one. Uh, I don’t know. I’m gonna look tomorrow and see if I could see any numbers on

Trent Manning: 19:14
yeah, yeah, That, I mean, that was the story that, uh, Tim shared with me and they said they brought it outta Henry Ford’s workshop

Daniel Barnes: 19:22
Very much

Trent Manning: 19:23
in.

Daniel Barnes: 19:23
uh, if not, I’m sure if it’s, unless someone snagged it and took a home for a souvenir it’s, it’s probably floating around somewhere around that

Trent Manning: 19:31
mm-hmm

Daniel Barnes: 19:32
There’s a lot of old stuff like that.

Trent Manning: 19:33
well, tell us what your favorite tool is.

Daniel Barnes: 19:36
Oh, everybody’s name, the favorite tools. And then I kind of, with that, you know, I agree in certain days, for the longest time, I think my favorite tool was this little, screwdriver, so pocket screwdriver. So I had the little reversal head, a flat head to the, to the Phillips.

Trent Manning: 19:51
Okay? Yep. Yep. Mm-hmm

Daniel Barnes: 19:52
and the little magnet in that’s three tools at one, and I kept my shirt pocket. And, uh, I used that thing all the time for everything, even things I probably shouldn’t. I

Trent Manning: 20:02
oh yeah, yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 20:03
you know, I, it got to a point where I couldn’t use the Phillips anymore. Cause I pride so much stuff and just jammed it all in there. Still, still worked. I think I use it for toothpick occasionally. Um,

Trent Manning: 20:14
Oh yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 20:14
so that, you know, I guess that would be my favorite one. I don’t, but I haven’t Ford. I lost them all. And now I’m in a different shirt. Doesn’t have a pocket, so I don’t carry it, but my little flashlight stream light’s my, my little go-to now, I guess. So. And

Trent Manning: 20:28
what’s. Uh, what, what model streamline

Daniel Barnes: 20:30
I have no idea. It takes two double A’s.

Trent Manning: 20:33
stylish pro?

Daniel Barnes: 20:34
Yeah. Yeah. Uh, no, no, no. That was, cuz also fit my shirt pocket. Next time. I’m a little screwdriver now I’m a new place I wear it. It’s a little bit larger. Uh, but no, the stylish pros I went through, I, I, wore those things like about a half dozen and kept them and used, used the dog outta those things.

Trent Manning: 20:52
those are hard to beat.

Daniel Barnes: 20:53
I had one of them. I dunno if you’re familiar with the, uh, John Deere, uh, uh, the UTX UX T or SUVs, I’ll get my letters. Right. Eventually, basically just, side, side by side vehicle. Anyways, it’s an, encl have a, it’s a DV clutch. Enclos all the way, except for like little, little, square to back.

Trent Manning: 21:12
Mm-hmm

Daniel Barnes: 21:13
And so I was using my light doing so. And I dropped it in there. It’s like, God, dang it. And so it fell down. It’s like, I’m not and there’s like, I don’t know, 20 something screws to get it. I’m like, wow, it’s gone. I’m gonna leave it in there. And the superintendent comes back like half hour later, Hey man, I’m going on the road. I hear something loud banging around. It’s like, Oh, it’s probably my flashlight. Sure. I like, and then I get it. It’s and it’s where it’s sad. It’s making noise, hitting something. So I get it out. It’s got a half a groove gone into it, into the battery. Still works.

Trent Manning: 21:47
That’s awesome

Daniel Barnes: 21:48
I was proud of I kept it like there on top of my bench.

Trent Manning: 21:51
of you have to take a picture of that and send it a stream light.

Daniel Barnes: 21:53
Right.

Trent Manning: 21:54
still works. yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 21:55
it still hold me because Yeah. they had a little aluminum body, so ate, threw it pretty, pretty easy. But uh, I kept it. I already had his replacement in it in my pocket before he called me.

Trent Manning: 22:04
Yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 22:05
I kept a couple of those things went through ’em they, they just needed in piece where you can bite it on it and hold it still. I think then they’ll be, they’ll be, I think they make one for that now, but I know I was constantly hit, put, it was in my mouth and

Trent Manning: 22:17
yeah, no, that’s a good idea. The other thing that I’ve done with that stylish pro and I wear a hat almost every day is, uh, stick it in my hat, you know? Yeah. Up in the hat. Yeah. And

Daniel Barnes: 22:29
I understand that works. Perfect. Got a little perfect spot rub across the temple, but Yeah. did that right? It’s it worked, worked well.

Trent Manning: 22:37
I hope the listeners enjoy this. Cuz I could talk about stream light, stylish pro all day. Cuz I love those things. Oh

Daniel Barnes: 22:44
I pro if ive thought about it to grabbed that link, Ima toolbox, I might, I might have to take pictures into you, but I guess they had

Trent Manning: 22:51
yeah. Yeah. For sure. Send it. What do you do to relax or find your balance?

Daniel Barnes: 22:57
I don’t know. I mean, I, I, I hear this question through all these, all the other guys, little techs coming through, if I’m not at work, I’m a home, the family. So I would say that, relax would be, a little bit, you know, a glass of whiskey and quietness in the house. Yeah, yeah, Kids are still up, so not quiet. I can still hear ’em upstairs banging around. Um, so that would be a relaxed and then, uh, you know, probably it’s odd as it sounds. I don’t do it often, but when I do, I really enjoy it as much as it painted, but it is it, um, jumping, throwing stuff on the smoker, like at 2:00

Trent Manning: 23:32
yeah, yeah, yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 23:33
it’s quiet. And depending on time of year, it’s got a little chill in the air. you know, it’s, it’s like you could hear stuff miles away, way the sound travels and just that the way that hair flows and a smoke, it just kind of lingers. It doesn’t really float away. that’s that is super satisfying in my eyes

Trent Manning: 23:51
no, I love it. I love.

Daniel Barnes: 23:53
not, and then you. 20 minutes, 30 minutes, hour nap. Whoa. Check on it. Okay. Still good. Go out to sleep. You know, that part is cool for a little bit and then get, you know, wears on you and it, since the kids, I do that way less. cuz my, my sleep time has gone to like four hours a day,

Trent Manning: 24:11
Oh, wow.

Daniel Barnes: 24:13
most of time I get, I get up, get my stuff, get the kid stuff, get to work, get back.

Trent Manning: 24:19
Tell us, uh, the strangest thing you’ve seen at work. Oh, huh.

Daniel Barnes: 24:22
I got, that’s a big thing about that. There’s I mean, I’ve seen stuff. I don’t know if it’s strange or not. uh, they can’t do cool neatest things I saw was a, in the do on its sun city. I heard about it. My boss seen it and told me, and I actually saw it one morning more kid stuff, clean up the house. It’s like, Oh, man, Hey at 11 o’clock let me get to sleep. it’s like, let me, let me try to do something relaxing. And like I got a garage full of tools and, and, and a hat and it’s barely put together. I’ve been working on the past eight years and I’ve been in this house and it’s like, it’ll be there tomorrow. it’s just so, but no relaxing. just do hang out with kids. It’s been the big one. There’s six, 20 year old to six and the, the one’s three. So it’s, you know, the fun times, uh, the pain to butt times at time also,

Trent Manning: 25:08
yeah. Yeah. Yep.

Daniel Barnes: 25:10
It’s way, worth it, way, worth the trouble. So

Trent Manning: 25:12
That’s awesome.

Daniel Barnes: 25:13
is, footprints from the Gators travel from pond to pond. Well, once that attracts it’s kind of odd shaped cause the Gator’s missing a foot. So it’s kind of, kind of cool. Uh, what the cool funny part is is that Gator will actually obey, uh, obey the, the ropes and get to a rope turn, go around the rope, stakes and

Trent Manning: 25:37
no way

Daniel Barnes: 25:39
Like you’re supposed to, that’s I, that way I didn’t see, but I, I, heard a boss saw it and I think it took a picture of it all, but he kind of went around it. So that was kind of cool. strange ish, I

Trent Manning: 25:49
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that’s cool.

Daniel Barnes: 25:51
but, no, I did, I did get to call 9 1 1 for a guy when I was like, was I 19 or 20 at San Jose? that was scary, not scary, just like kind of intense, but turned out to be a kind of a crap show afterwards. well on the radio, now I’m, you know, I said 19, 20 years old, first course hanging in there and all of a sudden, Hey, so, and so, and so and so, so and so fell in the bunker, you know, you, so my boss gets in the office, takes off, calls me on the radio, Hey, call 9 1 1. I’m like what I, what, who? And like, alright, so I called 9 1 1. and they’re telling me what’s the S I’m not sure somebody already fell I’m I’m on the radio now trying to figure that out. And if I’m giving them my address that, and I get like, and then it’s like, Hey, don’t, Hey, don’t call 9 1, 1, like too late. I’m on the phone with her right now. It’s like, she’s right here. And, Uh, don’t call, it’s not an emergency, you know, hang up the phone. Like, I’m not gonna hang up on. That’s kind of rude.

Trent Manning: 26:51
Right, right, right.

Daniel Barnes: 26:52
so it’s like, Hey, you know, Hey, they’re telling me it’s okay. And like, you sure, like, Hey they, are you sure? Like, yep. Hang up the phone. All right, hang up the phone. Well, come to find out. Uh, I don’t know what it, I can’t remember if it was a big tournament, but we had everybody record bunks. I couldn’t know if it’s wa bunch of washouts. the guy, uh, that fell. I D know he’s been there for few weeks, I guess. nice guy, very polite kind of funny kind of oddball at times, but, uh, apparently went home for lunch and got a little guy, a little tipsy.

Trent Manning: 27:22
okay. yeah, yeah,

Daniel Barnes: 27:23
Got, got, uh, had hit five. O’clock a little too. And came back and, uh, and was ricking bunkers at the very top. I think, I think I’m pretty sure they, someone said he took, took a leak on side of the green and then was Ricky bunkers and took face planted over the top into one. And that’s when they called 9 1, 1, uh, or called my boss to call 9 1 1. Uh, that was kind of comical once I figured once it all kind of went out. Cause I’m, you know, I wasn’t nervous. It just, Hey, nine one, one’s a pretty big deal. I’ve never had to call him, uh, not something your practice. So I, uh, it’s, it’s sure enough. They come, the boss comes in, brings him in he’s the guy’s got sand on his face and, and has that, that thousand, that thousand mile, whatever they call stare,

Trent Manning: 28:09
Yeah, yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 28:10
faded over. so I, I think that was the last I saw him there. I don’t think he lasted for too much longer after

Trent Manning: 28:16
yeah, probably not.

Daniel Barnes: 28:19
kind of funny. but, uh,

Trent Manning: 28:20
Oh yeah. That’s a good one. us one of your pet peeves around the shop.

Daniel Barnes: 28:26
Well, they they’ve changed over the time and since I’ve been at Ford, they’ve also changed. and I, and I mainly not blame it, but I think kind of put it towards shop layout and how things are. it’s sun city. My biggest pet peeve was people pulling up to my bay door and blocking it. And I think you said it, you drive the cart and move it. I do the same thing. I drive it around the other building. I drive it definitely outta sight.

Trent Manning: 28:50
Uhhuh.

Daniel Barnes: 28:51
I think I drove it out the front gate, our maintenance gate and that’s, you know, a couple hundred yards.

Trent Manning: 28:55
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 28:56
so do I do that, but at Ford we got like four or five doors and nobody really goes messing with the shop doors. So that, that pet pee’s kind of gone. it did drive me to us. Man. Guys would pull up with equipment. We had like really just one main door at sun city and they would come to the door and then I hear the machine. Sure. But, you know, turn the machine off, come talk to me. What’s up. Or call me, I have a radio, I have a phone, I get, I get the whistle and that, or like the dog whistle. And it just, I don’t know why, but that

Trent Manning: 29:25
Oh no.

Daniel Barnes: 29:26
it’s like I trying to whistle get my attention. It’s like, it’s not an emergency. Turn the machine off, walk, get over and talk, call my phone. Don’t don’t whistle. So, and it, I would just mean there. It was the other guy too, uh, a couple of the guys throughout the years that just didn’t like that. And we, I would, I’d be death of the world. They could whistle lot. They ride behind

Trent Manning: 29:47
Yeah. Yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 29:48
I wouldn’t, I didn’t hear a thing. so that was kind of, I guess, one, but, uh, again, that one’s kind of gone. and up until I did a job search the whole term mechanic technician was a kind of a, wouldn’t say a pet pee. I always try and made that, that correction. If someone said I’m mechanic, well, I I’m a turf technician. You know, I kind of used it as a specialty. I, I went to a turf school, uh, which at the time I wish I would’ve paid more attention. I think I remember maybe 5% of that place, but it was still a good experience. But, uh, so I was like, all, you know, it’s, it’s, a specialized thing, so it’s not, you know, mechanics come just a broad description up until I had to search for a mechanic here at Ford and it’s like type into job descriptions. Like you type in technician and there’s thousands, there’s your, your, your medical technicians and all those, those fields and the medical fields, you know, they go on from pages of pages and then your aircraft, we have Gulf stream here. So your aircraft auto body sheet mail technicians, but you type in like golf course technician, you know, it, it, it pulled all those in, but you type in golf course mechanic, man, it layer it nowhere down. So I think I kind of, after that, I kind of just dropped that whole, that pet peeve. So I guess that’s a good thing in a

Trent Manning: 31:01
Yeah, yeah. Yep. Yeah. I don’t, I don’t know. I, I don’t mind being called a mechanic and kinda like what you’re getting at there is, I think it’s easier for people to understand what you do. If you say mechanic. Cause like you’re saying technician can be anything. Everybody is a technician nowadays of some sort, you know, whatever it is.

Daniel Barnes: 31:26
get the fry technician in the back. Yep.

Trent Manning: 31:27
well, yeah, exactly. Yeah. You’re burger technician, living burgers. Yeah, they, the technician term gets, uh, used a lot for sure. But back to getting whistled at, I couldn’t imagine I, I would lose my mind

Daniel Barnes: 31:44
I know there’s some days I, I fr I had to come up pretty, not happy about it all. I’m not a angry guy, much anymore. I I’ve calmed down and not been as much of a hot head throw a wrench type guy. I’ve worked with those guys and seen what the effect is with the operators. so I, I, I tried not to be that. guy, which was good.

Trent Manning: 32:03
yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it’s definitely good.

Daniel Barnes: 32:06
But, uh, Yeah. there was like yeah, don’t like, I get very short with people very fast if I have to help them.

Trent Manning: 32:13
Yeah, no, I, I, I could, uh, I could definitely see that. And if you wanna see me turn mechanic face whistle at me, and we’re, we’re gonna go round and round. Cause, uh, kinda like you say, I mean, I think I’ve definitely got better. I try to be more self-aware of, uh, people and their feelings, which, you know, 20 years ago, I did not even think about anybody’s feelings. Um, but I can get back there real quick.

Daniel Barnes: 32:42
no. yeah. I, I started sun city. They’re the technician there, older guy been around for a while. You know, we’re pretty, pretty stout, you know, background knowledgeable. He apparently had a certain way of things and which was good in some aspects, but not some others. And basically didn’t get a lot with many people. Eventually not including myself for just silly reasons, wrong radio station you know, stuff like that. He had a reputation, like they wouldn’t the Hispanic crew, Spanish guys or Spanish speaking guys. They like one translator for a whole group. And he came to me like first, like, Oh, like first month I was there and say, Hey, we have a lot of broken stuff. And we go to him, he yells at us, we break it. It’s like, can we bring it to you? I’m like, sure. yeah, definitely bring it to me. Don’t, you know, almost a pet peeve. Don’t uh, don’t put broken stuff back, bring it to me. And it’s and then the next day it’s like, oh, here comes four Weers oh, here comes more. It’s like, oh dude, all right? One at a time. It’s like, I it’s like my bench. I’m like stepping over stuff to get to my bench. Now he just, everybody lays it stuff there and you go to his bench and it’s nothing. And it’s like, oh, you’re lucky.

Trent Manning: 33:50
yep. Careful, careful what you ask

Daniel Barnes: 33:51
right. So once it got, once it got outta control it, you know, leveled out. But so that seeing that, like, it’ll kinda open mind as like, Hey, don’t be that guy, you know?

Trent Manning: 34:00
do you have a mentor in the

Daniel Barnes: 34:02
uh, mentor, you know, I don’t know if I say a mentor. I learned, I, I view mentors to somebody like kind of just shows me in a way. Now, you know, someone to kind of look up to and, you know, kind of teach you in a way. And a lot of my stuff, I, I learned a lot from like a little bit from everybody. lots of things, uh, when I was at Jacksonville and Sam Jose, the first few years, you know, I really didn’t, I just kind of was, I have service manuals, my go to I didn’t really lie. I didn’t really, I didn’t know anybody. So I kept call anybody. I kind of just figured stuff out, uh, on my own. And again, I kind of kept doing that over the years and slowly I, you know, I get hate that’s the Jake guy, let me talk him. And I kind of pick up on the, on who’s who, and who knows. But I would say when I moved up to South Carolina with the Jacobson dealership, I went to tech school, Jake tech school, I moved up. So then I move Monday, move Monday. I’m driving to Charlotte for like, and it’s like mid, like week before Christmas, uh, when I started to move all this stuff. But, uh, I go to dual tech school and meet there’s like three, four guys in there and one of ’em is bill Ledford

Trent Manning: 35:05
Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah,

Daniel Barnes: 35:06
I, uh, and yeah. we talk and he’s been there. And if Eric decides at time was still, was still with Jacobson. So he was leading to So, you know, watched a couple South Carolina guys and then, you know, my Florida, my Florida self in there. And I think there was a couple guys in New York. but I, I met bill and I was like, oh cool. You know, he was, he was a service tech for Jacob percent as well with, with the other side of Carolinas. and you know, man kinda got a somewhat friendship there. Uh, I think I had his number kind exchange numbers, but that was it. But then like a few years later, I’m kind of getting into stuff that’s down here still. And I, I come across bill like bill, like, you know, kind like, man, I like, it’s good to see you. And, and like ever since then, it’s just like been a great relationship with bill and, and a great friendship. So I would say like, I mean, you know, he’s kind like a mentorship in a, in a way. And, Bill’s a, you know, hell of a guy. I don’t, I talked to him, you know, once, twice, three times a year, maybe off and on. Uh, now we’re kind of a little more frequent. We’ll just kind of, especially being at Ford. He knew, he knew my boss beforehand and, I put him down as a reference. And so I was like, oh, I know your boss. And they, they already had a relationship. So, bill may have sealed the deal For to get me in there forward. So that was kind of nice, I guess, but No, it was cool. Like ever since he kind of calls check up on both of us, like, Hey, how are you? And you know, and Jared, my boss, how you guys doing? You guys, you know, you guys mesh along good, you worked well. It’s good. And it really wasn’t. He taught me machine work about that. It just, I think just pick it up just to be a genuine person, like, just be that nice guy, be like, I don’t know who is on the, I hate bill list or a real haters out there. It’s gotta be like one person maybe. And. they’re probably a very lonely person if that like, like, you know, it’s just a love guy and just so honest and, and, and you just, you know, you, can’t not like the guy, I think, uh, it’s

Trent Manning: 37:00
I, I

Daniel Barnes: 37:00
just that nature.

Trent Manning: 37:01
When I was at, uh, well, when I met you at the Carolina show this past fall y’all didn’t y’all name, an award or something after bill.

Daniel Barnes: 37:11
we did, we have a turf technician award for the Carolines. I think that’s what we called it. I think it’s just the turf technician award. So being the bill is much these done, not just for each individual of us. They, uh, he’s done a lot for association and, and then every, every conference he was there for the longest time doing a class or two, over the years that I went. And I know I’m sure before that, too. And, uh, so Yeah. he’s now this to build Ledford turf technician of the year award,

Trent Manning: 37:42
So last year when I was up there, that was the first time I’d heard bill Lever’s name hear all this great stuff about bill Leard

Daniel Barnes: 37:51
Oh, you’re in Georgia. So that’s

Trent Manning: 37:52
Yeah. And I’m in Georgia and, and I mean, it’s understandable. And I think I’d like to meet this guy someday. You know, everybody says all this great stuff about him, you know, to the point, I think maybe they’re even exaggerating how good of a person this guy is until unfortunately I had to meet him this way, but I went to Eric Dunston’s funeral and bill was there

Daniel Barnes: 38:16
yeah.

Trent Manning: 38:16
and he blew me away. You can see, you can tell just, I mean, the vibes that he puts off, how genuine he is, how caring he is just a super awesome guy. And I mean, soon as I shook his hand, he like pulled me in

Daniel Barnes: 38:35
Yeah. Right.

Trent Manning: 38:35
it is an honor to meet you, you know? And I’m like, I, you know, I don’t need that or whatever, but I mean,

Daniel Barnes: 38:42
that that’s bill, right? Bill makes you feel like a, like you’re number one. That’s

Trent Manning: 38:47
Yeah. Yeah. So cool.

Daniel Barnes: 38:49
just him. It’s been really awesome to just kind of catch up with him and especially it’s like, it’s been a few months, uh, I catch up with’em over the years. I did some, the local association I was involved with still am, but it’s just, I was one president. I was kinda, Hey, Hey bill, you know, it’s coming up your, you know, TSP time, let’s work on some education. So always like, oh yeah, cool. Let’s get this. We spend like five minutes talking about education, 20 or 30 talking about family and everything

Trent Manning: 39:14
yeah, yeah,

Daniel Barnes: 39:15
So it’s all.

Trent Manning: 39:16
awesome. Yeah. And, you made the recommendation and I’m definitely gonna follow up on it, but not just because you made it. I definitely want to have him on the podcast cause that’d be a great time.

Daniel Barnes: 39:27
I be a hoot I’m sure. Uh, um, Ugh.

Trent Manning: 39:28
Yeah. Super, super good dude. What would be your dream job or opportunity?

Daniel Barnes: 39:33
you know, I dream Jo, like for the longest time I wanted to be like Marine biologist. Then I realized how much like schoolwork it was involved. Like, huh, I don’t know. May have not for me. Uh, I still like the water. I still love sharks. Like I wanted to be the guy in that cage. not the cage. The shark goes through, not that one, but the good CA the good cages I wanna be in that one. But then now I think they got the clear plexiglass ones. Like I wanna be in that one, just, you know, make it extra jaws, proof thick.

Trent Manning: 40:02
yeah. Yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 40:03
so I was like, yeah. but, uh, I think that’d be kind of cool, still to do you know, just tag sharks research. I don’t know. They, they, they still have these cool things just to be the guy that on the boat with that all day, be on the boats, just therapeutic in itself, especially on, on open water or, or on the, on any kind of salt, in my opinion. just that just the air and there’s sharks too, you know, it’ss always cool. So that was probably the main one, you know, if I had to like, be a more realistic dream job something kind of like I’m in now just, you know, something I can see my family a lot, make sure I don’t miss as much, you know, kind of come in, knock some stuff out, do some stuff on the phone if need be. And then I met my kid’s soccer on time or early, but

Trent Manning: 40:45
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 40:46
that’s to be a challenge some days.

Trent Manning: 40:49
Oh yeah, for sure. Some days it’s, it’s outta control and it’s, I think it’s obtainable, but it’s hard to have a work life balance in this industry and the definitely in the busy season, wherever you might be

Daniel Barnes: 41:05
sure. Yeah,

Trent Manning: 41:07
when the grass is growing, it’s hard to slow down.

Daniel Barnes: 41:10
Yeah, And when they oversee, it’s like, oh, thanks.

Trent Manning: 41:12
Yeah, no, it is. And I don’t, honestly, I don’t know how they do it. The people in Florida or, you know, in those climates south of us and even you, I mean, y’all are pretty open, but

Daniel Barnes: 41:26
oh yeah.

Trent Manning: 41:26
have a little climate down there. A little season change.

Daniel Barnes: 41:30
a week. Yeah. It’s cold. you know, now I’m from Florida. I hate cold. So it’s cold several weeks, but like, yes, my wife who’s from Ohio. It’s like, it gets cold for like a day or two for an hour or two. And it’s like, I’m like, whatever, I’m I got layers on, like get off me. I’m, you know, I hate it. I rather be. I really, I also just wear, be a t-shirt soaking, wet and sweat instead of five layers of clothes walking around like a kid from, Uh, the Christmas story,

Trent Manning: 41:55
Rat rat

Daniel Barnes: 41:57
Yeah. they, they get crazy here, Wal with, at Ford with, uh, with the over seat, the whole back nine’s over seated. So, and then like a lot, pretty much all the grasses from parts in are rough is over seated on the front nine. So it

Trent Manning: 42:10
When do y’all oversee?

Daniel Barnes: 42:12
when,

Trent Manning: 42:13
Yeah. Okay.

Daniel Barnes: 42:14
what is it? Uh, September, October, I think we could, right? Yeah, we, yeah, we shut down the month of September scalp, everything down, mow it down, throw his heat out, get it growing then open. I think, I think it’s like three weeks, maybe. I’m sure the guys I’m sure I’m probably wrong and I’ll be corrected when I. get to work when they hear this,

Trent Manning: 42:33
Oh, no, that’s all good.

Daniel Barnes: 42:35
Hey, Hey, I just hit one year. So, you know,

Trent Manning: 42:37
we usually, oversee the last Tuesday because we’re closed on Tuesday in September

Daniel Barnes: 42:44
gotcha.

Trent Manning: 42:45
and there for a while we would close for a week. Now we don’t even close, but it’s, it’s kind of a pain keeping the course open and trying to keep all the eye grass watered and not get golfers wet and you know, all that stuff.

Daniel Barnes: 43:01
all the fun stuff

Trent Manning: 43:01
Yep. All the fun stuff. What technician would you work with for a day?

Daniel Barnes: 43:06
yeah, I don’t know. Uh, there’s a couple of ’em. Can we all work the one shop together? Cause that’d be kind of cool.

Trent Manning: 43:10
That would be super

Daniel Barnes: 43:11
like, like a super shop, you know, you know, it’s I working, having deer, I mean, again, I’m Toro now, so it’s a whole different mindset, I guess. Uh, but I had deer for all these years with, uh, sun city uh, always and I kept track of, you know, anybody pretty much online. And then once I got in Twitter, it was like, whoa, blew up. But uh, all the information out there, but, uh, Patterson was a, I think is up there just cuz the Deere equipment I’m outta of Deere equipment now. So I was like, all right, so who’s got Toro equipment that I wanna sit down with. Uh, but no, uh it’s.

Trent Manning: 43:45
I will, I will say this and John’s not paying me to say it, even though he’s got Deere equipment and you don’t, it would be worth spending a day with John Patterson. He’s

Daniel Barnes: 43:54
no, that I, I follow I’ve. I follow it’s been following his stuff in, in his information video, his, his pictures, and it’s like, oh, you know, I, him kind of picked his brain a little bit on, on, through Twitter with some stuff, with over the years. And then, uh, you know, I’ve like, oh, I like that idea taking it. It’s like, oh man, he’s got, he’s got the, he paint his floor. He put those, those, those tiled things down. It’s like, Ooh, lemme look at that. It’s like, well, yeah, that’s, you know, but it’s, it’s just kind of cool stuff. It’s like

Trent Manning: 44:20
Oh, yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 44:20
look into, uh, he was one of them. But, and then if to, to, tighten up my shop tightness, I wanna go check out, uh, Besler Brian.

Trent Manning: 44:31
Oh yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 44:32
like, Yeah. the surgical floor

Trent Manning: 44:35
Yeah, it is.

Daniel Barnes: 44:36
seeing that transition was is. the photos is kind of, was his photos was kinda cool. is. either that, or, or Bob Bob’s shop. I already hang with him just because he’s does all stuff in the shop, but then Bob’s also in the kitchen and then he’s at his son’s or someone’s house fixing something at the house, building something. And it’s like, he’s, he’s, you know, got a little good knowledge about everything. So like, you know what, just hang on Bob for kind of cool. So

Trent Manning: 45:00
honestly you probably need a week to hang out with Bob Yeah. And you better pack several lunches to keep up with him, cuz he is just constantly

Daniel Barnes: 45:08
I, yeah, I bet.

Trent Manning: 45:10
But I’m with you. I’m definitely getting up to Brian Brussel’s shop at some point, I gotta get up there and check that out. And I was lucky enough when we were trying to get together the certified turf equipment managers program. I was working on it with Brian and he was one of the first shops we attested and we really ragged him pretty hard about, yeah. Do you work in here? You do all the work outside and this is just a showroom. mean, cuz it is it it’s amazing.

Daniel Barnes: 45:41
Nice. Yeah. It’s, it’s

Trent Manning: 45:42
Yeah. Everything has a place. I mean, yeah, this, this is a special place, but he said, I forget how long he’s been there when he first got there. It was not, not the nicest of places and they renovated it like a couple years ago. And since they did that, you know, they just keeping everything spotless.

Daniel Barnes: 46:01
yeah. that’s funny. I, yeah, I, uh, I remember hearing about that. Uh, actually applied for that job knew I wouldn’t get it, but you know, it was worth shot. HEC, uh, Hector hit just hit me up. Blaque has hit me up. I said, Hey, you know, here’s, here’s our opportunity, man. You should put your name out there. I’m like, sure. Definitely wanted get it is like you, you know, I’m sure. Like with all the experience with the, with tournaments, I had zero at sun city. had just, you know, workflow had that in there, but yeah, I was like, I’m not getting it, but I did get a really cool rejection, not rejection. That’s a pretty strong word. did a really get a, sorry. It’s not, you know, it’s not for you type, type, uh, letter from, uh, from Steve cook up there. I still have it somewhere. I kept it.

Trent Manning: 46:41
okay.

Daniel Barnes: 46:42
I was like, that was kind of cool. I was like,

Trent Manning: 46:43
Yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 46:45
so if I ever see if I get up there, I gotta make sure I have a big appointment. Thanks Steve. For that, that letter of, you know, it could disappoint, but also encourage cuz it kind of like, you know what, I gotta, I got some things to work on.

Trent Manning: 46:56
Okay. Yeah, no, that is awesome. And I mean, it’s good to get. honest feedback, you know, if there’s a few areas you need to work on. Yeah. I mean, I don’t know anyone that doesn’t need to work on some area of their life at all times. but you know, that’s just part of it.

Daniel Barnes: 47:13
it’s a revolving door.

Trent Manning: 47:14
Yes, it is.

Daniel Barnes: 47:15
and what those sliding scale’s like, oh, I’m doing good. It’s like, oh, I need to pick this up. Like, oh,

Trent Manning: 47:21
Yep. And then

Daniel Barnes: 47:22
back, you know, back and forth.

Trent Manning: 47:23
mm-hmm for sure. What do you know now? You wish

Daniel Barnes: 47:29
Oh, shit down, man. There’s so much, I guess, uh, slow down. Like I was really gung ho like jumped in like this. Motor’s not working. Let me pull apart and put it out together. And it’s like, that didn’t work. Let’s, you know, so slow things down. Go, you know, don’t don’t uh, don’t jump anything right ahead. The head first, you know what, uh, what’s the term the firefighters use they use, uh, was, uh, don’t run, walk with the. Per, uh, welcome purpose,

Trent Manning: 47:59
Yeah. Wa of purpose.

Daniel Barnes: 48:00
Yeah.

Trent Manning: 48:01
Yep.

Daniel Barnes: 48:02
that’s like, you know, like do that, like I should done, I wish I’ve done a little bit more of that. And then I really wish I like got into it, you know, the whole, uh, communicate with other technicians. cause I, when I got San Jose, I didn’t know anything. I just like sure. I did the year at school. This is where I’m at. I’m at, I’m at a job.

Trent Manning: 48:22
Right,

Daniel Barnes: 48:22
why this is it so, you know, not knowing those, the, those, those Associa associations are out there and the, you know, guys helping each other out know, that’s kind of cool. It’s like, I’ll get, see a lot of shops. Like this is kind of awesome. And then I, I move, hang on, change fields you know, but, uh, yeah, that’d be one thing. And then the whole, I know when I changed, when I changed, when I left the first golf course and did the, the, the, uh, asphalt company deal which I wish I didn’t, but kind of glad I did, cuz that really. told me that I don’t want to work on the same stuff. I like the variety, know, so that, you know, I guess I kind of taught myself that a young, you know, I found that way out pretty quick, I guess. So that was pretty good. But no, that’s, that’s it just really just don’t sweat, small stuff. Really keep it simple. Just, you know, it’ll be here tomorrow.

Trent Manning: 49:12
yes, it ain’t going nowhere cuz nobody else is gonna fix it more than likely.

Daniel Barnes: 49:17
no, those little, those little, those little noms, they don’t fix things. They

Trent Manning: 49:20
Yeah, that’s right.

Daniel Barnes: 49:21
it apart.

Trent Manning: 49:22
But now I liked your analogy with the, a fireman or a firefighter. Yeah. Maybe it’s not

Daniel Barnes: 49:29
I, I don’t know the term. I, I volunteered firefighter years ago. I don’t remember so sorry.

Trent Manning: 49:36
Well, so I got a little not fire. I don’t have any firefighting background, but I do have some search and rescue background, which we’re under the fire department. So I’ve been around a lot of firefighters. And then some of the training that we’ve had is, uh, what they teach you when you first get on scene. So you’re going to an incident. And like you were saying, you never see a firefighter run. They don’t run, you know, they’re walking with a purpose, like you said, but what they’re doing is sizing up the scene. So they’re taking in their surroundings and orienting their self to the scene, making sure everything’s safe, all this stuff. And I, we can do the exact same thing with a piece of equipment. You know, we approach it with a purpose and run all that stuff through our head

Daniel Barnes: 50:30
Mm-hmm Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm

Trent Manning: 50:30
before. you know, put a wrench on it

Daniel Barnes: 50:34
You’re right. That’s the thing. If I could have done that, you know, it would save some headaches, but I’m a big trial buyer type guy. I, I learned from my mistakes,

Trent Manning: 50:43
oh yeah. And I think a lot of us are, and I couldn’t tell you how much stuff I’ve tore apart and maybe even broke it a little bit worse.

Daniel Barnes: 50:51
right. well now it’s like, alright, we definitely have to replace it. So I just, you know, next

Trent Manning: 50:56
Right. Well, it is. I mean, I say this all the time. It’s already broke, so yeah. I could break it worse, but it’s not gonna work the way it is. So let’s just tear it apart.

Daniel Barnes: 51:06
And who’s gonna know you broke it.

Trent Manning: 51:09
Well, it was already broken,

Daniel Barnes: 51:11
So yeah, They don’t know. just, you know, fix it fast enough. They’re like, oh That, that cable came in like that. And that’s what the operators say. So we can use it too.

Trent Manning: 51:22
Yeah, of course. Yeah. It was like that when I got it. what are some of the latest tips and tricks you wanna share or any tips and tricks? They don’t have to be latest. I need to take that out. Maybe. What are some tips and tricks you wanna share with us?

Daniel Barnes: 51:39
I don’t know. You’ve been asking that for a year. You haven’t got ’em all yet.

Trent Manning: 51:42
no, I, I think there’s more out there and obviously we got the most popular ones

Daniel Barnes: 51:47
sure.

Trent Manning: 51:48
and you don’t have to, you know, one up anybody. And you just tell me what your favorite is. Maybe that maybe I need to say, what is your favorite tip or trick.

Daniel Barnes: 51:59
Uh, well, I know I thought about it. I, I kind of got, I guess I got two because it, I think you’ve said it several times is like what this person been doing for years, that person never knew about. And it’s just a simple thing. Putting on like tension Springs, uh, for your belts. Uh, my number one machine right now, I’m thinking of is the last tech, uh, pull behind seven. Deck like 7 21. There’s big spring for Isler. It’s, you know, instead of trying to use PLIs to pinch it, I, I use a, uh, a heavy duty, uh, little metal hook, like, a, like a little hook sets, just they’re bigger. I think, I think you use, I use it pull out seals and stuff like that. It works really well. Cause it’s got a nice fat grip on it just to pull the spring, lock it in place, slide it out the way. I, and when I don’t have that around, I’ve used, you know, wrenches box into a wrench, same pull it, you know, it’s a lot easier to try to take your name of those PLIs and grip the grip, the stone out of it and try to yank it. I guess

Trent Manning: 52:59
you ever used a piece of starter rope

Daniel Barnes: 53:02
I have maybe I’ve used rope. I don’t know if you started rope,

Trent Manning: 53:07
Well, yeah. Yeah, not that to be

Daniel Barnes: 53:10
used some stuff, something like that before kind of help move it and pull it. but no, where I was at was always like, I don’t know, I had like inch of space,

Trent Manning: 53:20
Oh, I gotcha. Yeah,

Daniel Barnes: 53:21
like I was able to get my elbow and then just right and pull the little, the metal hook. And, and then I was able to kind of twist the wrist and get it pushed the other way. but, uh, and then, uh, I haven’t done it lately cuz I don’t know if I just, I’m not working my hands as much or I’ve gotten better, not getting hurt. But I, you know, getting cuts and fingertips and everything else that we touch machines with all day, it hurts. Uh, or, you know, you try to avoid getting Mel shavings and cuts. I would take, uh, like bandaids put ’em over to, they get messed up, still hurts touching stuff, you’re hanging it, banging on stuff. I would take, uh, this PE banded on take super glue and hit it on the edge of the bandaid. makes like a little cast.

Trent Manning: 54:01
Ah,

Daniel Barnes: 54:02
and like, you could sit there and it would hurt tapping before now you got super glue, give it a minute or two and then you tapping and it’s your whole finger, not just a tip.

Trent Manning: 54:10
That’s good one.

Daniel Barnes: 54:11
that one? Uh, I like that one. I don’t know how first aid and safe it is putting their open moon, but, you know, uh, I’m definitely not a medical professional, so don’t follow my advice and, and blame me for it.

Trent Manning: 54:26
yeah, exactly. Yeah, no, no medical advice on the realtor text podcast, we just make suggestions. And if you want to try it’s, it’s all on your own.

Daniel Barnes: 54:36
It, I got super glue in my system now. I’m fine. Still. So I guess it’s okay.

Trent Manning: 54:40
Well, and I’ve heard that from, I mean, a lot of people that using super glue on cuts and stuff and gluing ’em back together, but I hadn’t heard about making a cast out of a bandaid.

Daniel Barnes: 54:52
yeah, I mean, it works and then gets you through lunchtime, replace it, pop new, a couple more drops and you’re good to go. Uh, it also works like I’ve done it with bands folding over tip it, always get those corner edges. take those, take some 10 snips or something and, and, or scissors come down and it’s super glued edges and make. I, I formed bandaid payment pretty much like a little dome shape. So, again, I don’t bang my fingers up this issue more. I think I’ve gotten smarter where to put them and not to put them when I’m working on machines and stuff. So, but

Trent Manning: 55:25
Well, one thing and his, a friend of mine that kind of turned me onto the term, I guess, or whatever. But when you’re going really hard, so like we get going in the summertime in the busy season and you get nicked up. That’s what he said. And I don’t, I was at his shop one day and he he’s the blacksmith guy that I refer to sometimes. But he, he says I’ve been going really hard. I got my hands all nicked up and you know, and we’re cautious if taking our time and doing our jobs like we do most days, you probably don’t get nicked up, but when you get in a hurry, that’s when you get nicked up.

Daniel Barnes: 56:06
Makes.

Trent Manning: 56:07
Yeah. When we’re really busy, you’re trying to get stuff done. You’re you’re going, going fast. You get nicked up.

Daniel Barnes: 56:14
You know, it’s funny, there’s been a few times, like, I think I’m working pretty fast and I haven’t gotten nicked up. So either I’m doing really better working fast or I’m just not working fast. I just old and it’s catching

Trent Manning: 56:26
no, you’re not old. Not yet. Not yet, man.

Daniel Barnes: 56:29
No, it’s it’s coming. Girls are aging me quick.

Trent Manning: 56:33
Uh, that’s fun though. Those kids, something else. All right. What, what else are we talking about? You wanna talk about, I know you, you had a couple things you wanna talk about and we will get to those. I do want to hear a little bit about TAC and how you got involved with them and how great of association it is, is

Daniel Barnes: 56:53
It is the best ever. Uh, it’s seriously. It took like it’s, it’s a good little organization. I’ve I was in here, I’m here in Bluffton, which is south end of. South Carolinas right near Georgia line for anyone had not sure what I’m talking about. And, um, we have a little local association. It’s not, uh, a TAC affiliated or anything like that, but it’s the same purpose. we, we together, we, we, we share numbers, information with each other, uh, have meetings. We bring inve you know, monthly meetings. We bring in people bring in our vendors, they’re bringing the service reps, provide some kind of training for our local guys. And so then we got, I met that kind of ran into that, started doing part of that. And then I found the TTAC. I, I got not sure how, I think one the, around the sun city, my, my super kind of threw, you know, put it across from my desk, little flyer. And I think I was up there. Um, man, my first meeting that was years ago, like, like probably like first, second year I was in sun city. So like, oh eight or um, oh nine, maybe 2010

Trent Manning: 57:57
Mm-hmm

Daniel Barnes: 57:57
went to one of those things, went to a little conference. It was one, I think they’re, they’re still doing it at the Orry Georgetown. So it wasn’t blown up is that their actual, the main college main campus. And, uh, I got involved, you know, I was going to that, enjoyed it. And looking around, I was probably easily the youngest person there, like every year, I like one other person that’s like, Hey, we know we know the same songs and same jokes and, you know, the same references. And we also don’t know anything, crap what we’re doing here, but, you know, we’re learning. And I, they, uh, I, it was, I think it was Preston bur bur. He kind of approached me and hit me up and I knew pre-op cuz he’s local, he’s in Beaufort. I I’ve talked to him and about some stuff, but they, uh, kind of hit me up and asked me, you know, of what, what am I joining the board? You know, they wanted to get my young mind and, and. my insight, I guess I, I thought I had or think I have and, uh, and brought me a board and, you know, so I have, I sure. You know, anybody wanted, you know, nominate someone nominated. It’s like, yeah, I’ll accept it. Sure. So there, you know, I’m on it. And then I spend a few years and then it’s like, Hey, you know, so, and so is stepping up a president turns up, so, and so is gonna take it, you know, what, think about being five president I’m like, I wanted to say no, like, you know, if you really want me to be sure and kind of like, I didn’t turn it down, but I didn’t say yeah. And sure enough nominate. Nope. It will nominate him a VP. He wouldn’t have, have a VP. So I’m vice president now and which is cool. At the time I was, I was president of our local association. So it’s like trying to do all that and it’s like, oh, now I’m married. And oh, now I have kids. And it’s like, it’s like trying to juggle all of it now. It’s and it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s a gray origination. What we do. They put on the big conference show, uh, training seminars in Myrtle beach each year. and there’s local chap. There’s a few local chapters. I think they’ve kind of come and gone here and there. I know north, Carolina’s got some, still got a local chapter kicking big out somewhere. I want, I don’t know, region out very well, but, uh, I’m sure someone else does. And then like with us in our area, we got our little local association, but, uh, it’s, it’s, it’s good. Cause you, you, you grant, you gather the gather, you’re gathering guys up, you’re getting them, you know, it’s social networking or networking portions. Pretty cool. Uh, you know, sitting around, sitting, eating lunch with some guys and it’s like, Hey, I got this, you know, some guy in help state, you know, never, we never heard of Jill’s courses, but ed, we work on the same equipment and Hey man, this is what I’ve done to fix this the solution. So that’s pretty cool doing all that. And then, you know, we between the training, uh, they bring, they said they do. Kind of throughout the year, uh, they have a BES fund, which is, which is a really cool thing, for like a technician in need, whether it be, you know, for, for, you know, hope, you know, hate, hate to, but you know, a death in the family or themselves, know, we, we are hate, you know, family needs help. So we’re gonna, we, we set aside those funds, we host tournament for it to help build up those funds each year. So that, that’s a, that’s a big plus that’s, you know, pretty cool. But I mean the big one’s the social part. That’s where I met Duncanson that was

Trent Manning: 1:01:11
okay. Yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 1:01:12
one of my first, my, I think my first trip up there sitting in class, taking an electrical class with him, I spent, I spent like the first half, probably the whole class, trying to figure out what the hell he’s saying. it was, the accident was so thick and funny, the accident hasn’t changed. I just got better at understanding it and a lot better. So that’s always fun. It’s it is really fun when I take my new text with me and it’s like, Hey, you know, I’ll put you in this class and it’s like, what’d you think? And it’s like, ah, it’s good. I just couldn understand. I was like, ah, you’ll get used, do it, you know?

Trent Manning: 1:01:45
Yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 1:01:47
but no, that’s the, organization’s good. We do some this stuff. I’m just drawing a blank. So yeah, it’s good. Uh, I, I like it. It’s not, you know, I know some people are not the big social people, you know, mechanics are kind of, you know, stick, stay on a cave, leave us alone, grumble grumble, on some, you know, work on some machines, leave me along. But no, it’s, it’s good for that. And then the stuff with the GCs bringing that, that side is just huge on itself. You, it’s kind of cool being, it’s kind of cool being part, you know, being a tack and then like having those, those, those, like, I don’t know, five, six years ago when it was the, the, the equipment manager side was kind of just starting to wheel, starting to turn on the, on the GCs, a side and having. Those head, you know, head guys, come in and talk to us and, you know, and, and tell us, you know, and just kind, really, I think, just kind of listen in to what we’re doing and take it and, and put it in their big wheel machine and, and make it bigger and guess more obtainable. I don’t know. That’s the word for it or not, but just building up on it. I just, I could, I could say

Trent Manning: 1:02:50
just celebrate your 20 year anniversary or something last year.

Daniel Barnes: 1:02:55
was it 20? I thought we passed 20. I

Trent Manning: 1:02:58
I don’t may, maybe it was maybe it was, but at Carolina show they had a, and it was

Daniel Barnes: 1:03:05
yeah, yeah. I got a t-shirt it says that’s bad. It’s bad. It says Spanish is VP doesn’t know that. yeah, I don’t, uh, I don’t remember. I think so. I think we’re 20. It’s not more,

Trent Manning: 1:03:15
Okay. Yeah. Yeah, that was awesome.

Daniel Barnes: 1:03:17
So yeah, we did not think about it. I. I I’ve been a lot and I’ve gotten getting my years fixed up, so it happens.

Trent Manning: 1:03:26
oh yeah, yeah, yeah. It all runs together. Really? I don’t know. I don’t know what summer this is. I just know it’s summertime at the golf

Daniel Barnes: 1:03:34
I know it’s my first summer at THD. I know that that’s I got that down, but sun city, oh, I had 11 years there. I, they all started to blur after a while. No, it’s TAC. Good. I will be a part of that as long as they let me or want me hang me around.

Trent Manning: 1:03:48
is there another association, like the low country association or something? It’s a little different. I mean, it’s not

Daniel Barnes: 1:03:56
there’s our, yes, that’s the, that’s the there’s low country, turf equipent technician association. We’re kind of staying alone. I’ve over the years are kind of like, Hey, why don’t we join up? And it’s like, well, you know, difference of opinions, whatever It’s, you know, two groups doing the same thing. I think the local association, I think, has got T tech beat by a couple years. like, it, it kind of got started up and was rolling. Don’t that’s going by from what the old, some of the, uh, older guys in the group say, and I, I don’t believe it, you know, I’m not gonna not gonna do about it, but,

Trent Manning: 1:04:29
yeah, yeah, yeah,

Daniel Barnes: 1:04:30
it’s, it’s funny, you know, I get in there and, and it’s like, same thing. I mean, the young guy it’s like, they make me president, like why, why would you do that? it’s like, I I’ve, I’ve got like, you know, maybe a quarterly experience that half the guys in here,

Trent Manning: 1:04:45
it is because you’re younger than they are and they don’t want to do it.

Daniel Barnes: 1:04:49
that I learned halfway, know what, now I get it. And it’s like, we’ enough. The president can do almost everything. And it’s like, well, we had the treasurer and stuff as well, but uh, like here you go. You could use, you know, get this, this here’s a big binder. Here’s a box. And like, what do with it? Like, I don’t know this. It was given to me here. So it’s of, you just kind of take a go. But it was cool. I, uh, I met actually, uh, at the show I met Mike Rawlins \,S I had, and, you know, Andrews myself made sure I made, you know, kind of like a little point in contact and, uh, I completely forgot. I met him like his, his, when he first started we had, we had TSP come down and was doing a training at Berkeley hall for our lo this is local association, the little country association. And, uh, mark came down and was doing little presentation with the grind with like some real theory and the grinders and whatnot. And it was one of, I think one of Mike’s first, you know, I think I know that I know the Orlando show was, I think just happened. And so it was like one of his first association

Trent Manning: 1:05:52
funny. Yep. Yep. Mm-hmm mm-hmm okay. Yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 1:05:54
It was cool. I, uh, uh, I, I still have it, but it was, they took, they, uh, mark took our little like email banner and put it on, uh, pie tape. So it was kind of cool to have like, gave to everybody there and it was cool. Cause I had that and I kept it and was like, well, I bought one already. So this one’s my special one. I’m gonna It’s got our, I’m not gonna use this thing. It’s got the, the association name on it. And uh, but I met Mike at the show where he talking like, yeah, yeah. You know, we met, you know, at such and such and I’m like, oh, you’re that other guy in the background. They didn’t talk. It was kind checking things out it’s it was all kind of coming together. He mentioned that and it’s like, oh man, it’s so awesome.

Trent Manning: 1:06:32
Yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 1:06:33
but it, it was cool. It’s something they did. They went through and did that. but no, the local association, we do that. It’s, it’s we, since co code hit it kind of, you know, just like everybody else, it kinda sucked the life of stuff. since then, I think there’s been, I think we just finally kind did our kickoff meeting, uh, locally. I, now I’m in Ford. It’s, I’m, I’m kind of far away from that stuff and it’s always like, Hey, it. It’s like 15 minutes from my house. Oh, but I’m 45 hour, you know, 40 minutes hour to help other side of Savannah and it’s on Hilton head. So it’s like I’m driving an hour and a half to get to it. And it’s like, man, I wish I could. I got a lot of stuff going at work and just, you know, missed opportunity. So, but there will be time. I, I really like to, I would like to get on the, build something up in Savannah, Richmond hill kind of area. I, I, I’ve met a few techs through one of the little Jerry pay schools we put on. I didn’t get really much names and numbers, but I, you know, I know the service tech and he can easily get me those plate names, but I’d like try to, you know, get a little group there. Uh, I know over the years with low country, we we’ve I’ve I know I’ll talk with Alan, who was the mechanic at, uh, four before me. Uh, and I got him kind of involved a little bit coming him. He’d bring his texts over. And I J you know, we. Try. There’s a couple guys that are kind of bitch from Georgia that have come through our side. So, uh, I like to type like, you know, we kind of cool to build that up, but I know it’s, it gets challenging in some areas. I mean, I know, like, I think Chad mentioned before, it’s like Myrtle beach where everything’s at, like, you know, it’s hard they’ve been trying for him. I think other people been trying for years and really can’t get that ball, turning that wheel rolling over So, but,

Trent Manning: 1:08:16
yeah. You gotta, you gotta find a, a handful of people that, you know, are passionate about this industry. Like we are, and it, it is kind of hard finding that handful.

Daniel Barnes: 1:08:29
Yeah. It’ll get

Trent Manning: 1:08:30
Because, I mean, honestly, some people, I don’t understand this, but some people like to go to work and go home, but that that’s never really been me.

Daniel Barnes: 1:08:40
Yeah. I, yeah, I’m not there to punch a clock and click a check. I wanna something out of it,

Trent Manning: 1:08:44
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. For sure.

Daniel Barnes: 1:08:46
but

Trent Manning: 1:08:47
Do you want to talk about work life balance

Daniel Barnes: 1:08:50
Sh. Yeah, I guess so. And every, I, I, you know, I know there’s lots of guys listening to this, you know, and there’s a lot of, I guess the text kind of, you know, our job is the fresh faces are new young guys coming in. They granted I’m not old, I’m in the middle, I guess now, but you know, I see guys retiring, but I don’t see as many guys coming in, but, uh, the work life balance, I, I kinda my family, we work back home, they farmers they’re working nonstop. It’s like, oh, we’re not, we’re not gonna miss this. You know, this family get together. Cause we got, you know, a bunch of hay farmers. So it’s like, man will is right. We gotta go. which I get and it’s awesome that they do that. Uh, we, we just we’re like that. Just our kind of family, our, you granddads. And before that just kind in our blood So, and that was kind of like with my father, he worked, you know, provide for the family, wanted that, you know, provide for the, you know, for us, give his kids every, give us, me and my sister, all we wanted. Uh, it was great, but he wasn’t home much. And you know, maybe he was overroad overnight truck driver. So we’d see him a couple nights a week. It’s like, you know, Hey, there’s dad, that’s all, it’s like his mom the whole time. And so that, and that, that kind of led to them separated when I was, you know, in middle school. And it’s like, I saw that and, you know, you know, just kind of just suck. Sure. Being, you know, being in the kind of middle and, you know, you don’t know it’s, you know, is it your fault, not your fault, you know, your part. I knew it wasn’t my fault. I, I kind of had that from a get go, but I did use that to my advantage with grades failing. It’s like, oh, you know why? You know, it’s like middle school. It’s like, you know, you get the bad grades, is it cuz your mom, you know, is it cuz your parents cetera. I’m like. well, yeah, sure. It is. Yep. That’s right. but no, the, the work life balances when I took the job at Ford, I, uh, you know, I, I’m a new, yeah. Newish. I’m six, you know, six years, dad, I guess. However you wanna say it, uh, is a fir I son city. I had a five minute ride to work. Now I’ve got 45 minute ride to work. So I gotta better use, better utilize my time. And at the start I was playing catch up and, and trying to put in the time forward that needs that I think it needs. And I kind of, you know, it was putting a lot of my life. and not so much of my kids. Kids are young. They, they see me here and there. Uh, not here and there sounds bad. They, they see me. They, uh, I’m not, you know, I’m home every night. I, I take care of dinner in bedtime and baths. But my wife does a lot, like in the mornings and, and it kind in betweens, she’s like, definitely got that, that like, I don’t know what you call. that one-on-one support. I’m really good at the back, the back behind the scenes support

Trent Manning: 1:11:30
mm-hmm

Daniel Barnes: 1:11:31
and the, the work life, the balance needs to be like, get it early. Get it set when I was before kids before life. Yeah. Hey, you know, then I was in San, say renovation, man, we’re working 60, 70, 80 hours a week. Cool. No problem. Go home. You know, microwave dinner, three minutes, fall asleep before it’s done. Wake up, wake up, make, pack it into lunch boxes, you know, go the next day. No big deal. Uh, and that’s the mentality and I had it, my blood and it’s when I got the family. I, I didn’t, I don’t think I changed, like I needed to at the beginning. I I’m working it now, but now I think it’s, you know, like it’s kind of, it’s not too late, but it’s just, it’s definitely, it’s, it’s kind of put a, I don’t wanna say a rut. Uh it’s yeah. I don’t know. It’s it needs just, they need to get it’s best to. and control at the beginning of all, don’t wait till it’s be proactive and not reactive to it all. That’s kind of like, you know, I hear you guys talking about it. Your friend, Corey, his podcast he’s I forgot what he said. And I tried to even try to go back earlier and try to find exact words, but he said something, it was like I’m and I was driving to work. I heard that and I was like, oh, that’s like, you, you know, absolutely. Like I was like punching mid-air like that’s, that’s it like, that, like screaming at top, my Cho like, ah, that’s that’s the right he’s right. Uh it’s just like, man, I now got what he said, cuz that’s

Trent Manning: 1:12:58
Well, I, I think I remember what you’re talking about. He said that you have to be at work at a certain time. You should be able leave work at a certain time. So if quitting time is three, o’clock leave at three o’clock and you get in trouble. If you’re late to work and he thought you should get in trouble, I, I might be putting words in but you know, he thought you should get in trouble or be mad at yourself if you stay longer than you’re supposed to.

Daniel Barnes: 1:13:28
I remember what it was. It resonated me and it hit pretty good. It was, you know, it’s not okay to be late for. It’s not, it shouldn’t be okay to be late for your wife. Hey, I’m gonna be five minutes. Hey, I’m gonna be 30 minutes.

Trent Manning: 1:13:40
Ah,

Daniel Barnes: 1:13:40
that’s, that’s the point that, that, that caught me and just like, you know, hell yeah. Like I was like, just punching steering wheel, like idiot. Why don’t you do that sooner? You Um, but it’s like, oh man, like that, like get that early on. I think, you know, I’m talking to people it’s, you know, just I’m like guess listeners who have not yet run into that situation yet. And they just be

Trent Manning: 1:14:04
I think it’s one of those things that, I mean, obviously you’re pretty self-aware and you’ve seen what was going on there and you’ve made actions to correct it, which is awesome. And if you’ve been doing this 30 years, it’s never too late. You can always, you know, correct it. But like you’re saying, it is definitely better to be proactive than reactive. would say a hundred percent of the time.

Daniel Barnes: 1:14:29
no, I, I, I struggle with it. I, you know, I’m like, oh man, I see five more minutes and I get it. It’s like, no, put it down, you know? Um, you know, it’s, it’s there tomorrow, so, but it’s, you know, so now, so it’s like, all right, so maybe I just get a little earlier and take care of it. We’re good to go. Cause it’s always like, Hey, this is what it’s gonna be done for tomorrow. And you I’m doing, I haven’t really, I’ve kind of done it. I’m just gotta have to tell boss. No, it can’t. It can’t happen, boss. tomorrow. Not at, not at, not start. Give me an hour, you know, gimme, gimme 30 minutes and what’ll happen. So, no, he’s, he’s good though, you know? No, my boss has not told me. You need to stay late to finish this. You know, it’s like, Hey, can you just, you know, this is what I need. And that’s where, like I gotta plan my day better. It’s like, Hey, greens, mores, go out every day. Don’t start after lunch. Just start working on ’em going through. ’em start when they come in or, you know, right before, an idea, like, Hey, if I got a grind, jump on that earlier. Uh, little things like that. So you’re not rush in o’clock. That was, that that got pointed out in my, like my little nine day review is like, like from 12 o’clock, three o’clock, whatever that timeframe. I, I push out some work, I get some stuff knocked out, like, cause all there’s my like I’m and, and my bosses said he kind of does the same thing too. It’s like, you know, we, we like that, that, that, I guess that, uh, that challenge of the deadline, I’m trying to make that deadline squeeze

Trent Manning: 1:15:52
Ah, okay. Yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 1:15:53
I, I, and I don’t try to do that. Just was what happens cuz I procrastinate. And that’s where a lot of my troubles come through over the years. Like I procrast think Bob, dang it.

Trent Manning: 1:16:04
Well, yeah, but is it all, you know, it’s not all procrastination either, because how many other times do you get interrupted in the morning and get delayed on getting started? And, yeah, it’s just one thing after another.

Daniel Barnes: 1:16:18
I get, I got my new guy in a golf shop and it’s like, I tell him that like, Hey, you know, I’ll get, I’ll sit. You know, I know what’s I know what the plan is the day before. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t change before I get to work. I get that text, but I tell ’em yeah, this pretty much, the way it works is you plan your day, throw it away because after minutes it’s gone. and we, we, what was it this, this morning get in there. It’s like, I, my kids, my wife’s out of town, so I kid drop off. So he’s on the shop himself for first couple hours till I get in. And it’s like, try to text and, you know, call walking through things till I get in. And it’s like, all right, you know, we had an issue. We fixed it. It’s lunchtime now let’s start the day stuff. It’s

Trent Manning: 1:16:59
Mm-hmm

Daniel Barnes: 1:17:00
so it’s, he’s a month in and he’s already under he’s he’s under, he’s got it. He, he knows the routine. It’s like, all right, well let’s plan 10 let’s plan 10 or 20%. And then we’ll go for that.

Trent Manning: 1:17:09
Well, I had a, an ex superintendent hand up being a good friend of mine, but he said 90% of your day comes to you. And it’s very true. I mean, that’s it’s yeah. It’s a big percentage that comes to us every.

Daniel Barnes: 1:17:26
You close my doors more often. need, if I had AC shot, I can just close my door and just stay in there and, you know, keep it locked. Mm.

Trent Manning: 1:17:35
I will say that’s so I have the two shops and the one in Midtown we renovated last year and we put air conditioning in it and is the best thing ever. I was down there last week for one of the first times this summer. And I walk in the shop and I almost got chilled, cuz hot outside. And so I asked Joe, I was like, what do you got the air set on here? You know, I’m expecting it to be like 65. And he says 78. I was like, no way 78. And it feels this good in here. Ugh.

Daniel Barnes: 1:18:11
we, uh, at sun city been there 12 years. It’s like, Hey, what do you wanna do? And always changing the shop. I was always putting wheels on, on things, cuz we always either add new equipment, add more equipment with like the new golf course, just constantly changing things. You know, we finally get the floor, you know, epoxy, like the boom COVID hit and it’s like end of the year, it’s like, Hey, we have all this extra money leftover cuz they couldn’t do events. It’s like and over and also every few years, like capital project AC here’s AC quote, finally get it, get it in there. I enjoy one summer of it and I leave.

Trent Manning: 1:18:47
oh, dang.

Daniel Barnes: 1:18:48
it’s like it’s. So that was a big, that was, you know, I, I didn’t, the drive was a big one for me for changing jobs. I needed to change the jobs, but it just for my sake, but it’s like, I get the pain in the floor. I get all I, when I started there, there all, pretty much all your greens mower and Tmore equipment was kept inside the main work area. It was a big space. It was a hundred by 50 foot space. So yeah, naturally the two guys working there, they can shift the space. but it’s like over the years we, we changed things. We, we got a second auto lift put in there with the, with golf lift and we had this, we had that and it’s like, all right, you know, we got the walk mowers out, just cuz mainly we didn’t use ’em much often. And it’s like, oh we got some of the trifles out, but we had Oxy to floor. It’s like, oh, T-Mobile are out perfect. We can set this area up. It’s a grinding area. Like it’s like, woo. You know, chills. Like I get the, you know, I get a, I get a John Patterson shop or, you know, I get some kind of wig shop, you know, skip, like skip HS, kind of set up that’s what his way his shops were. And it’s like, boss rolls, Hey, we’re not gonna, you know, I’m trying to figure out how they’ll map out the trifles in it. It’s like, how about we just find spots elsewhere? I’m like, I’m out the door. I’m the tape measure. I’m going,

Trent Manning: 1:20:00
Uh, huh? Yeah,

Daniel Barnes: 1:20:01
marketers lines up. And like, they’ll fit like this. If we park them like this and, you know, playing the Teris and, uh, yeah. Get, get the shop. I get it where I don’t have to pull equipment. The only thing’s pulled in there is my, is the superintendent carts and the shop cart, get all that stuff, set up, get AC in a shop. And it’s like, go on the Ford. And it’s like, no, AC I got big ass fans put in sun city. Like, like shortly after I started that wasn’t even that wasn’t in Ford, it’s on the floor at Ford. Now I just got, I gotta get it mounted, but I got

Trent Manning: 1:20:31
Okay

Daniel Barnes: 1:20:32
Because, yeah, it’s you, it’s Georgia itself in the coats. It’s hots is, you know, um, but yeah, it’s, I look forward to eventually get that port getting that day, like, Hey, was Casey in this shot, you know? And then I’m gonna leave, go somewhere else. So

Trent Manning: 1:20:48
well, and, and honestly, when you were talking about that, skip Heines was one of the first people I thought about, because I don’t know how many clubs and it was a running joke for a while. Like every time you would call him once a month, you’d Hey, skip, what club are you working at now? moving so much there for a while. And I think he’s got a, a pretty good home and happy where he is at, but he done that in every shop he went into as far as I know.

Daniel Barnes: 1:21:14
He, well, he get built that name for himself and just, yeah, like, Hey, he, he, he, this is what I want, but if they get me in there and sure enough, you people do it. So it’s like, all right, I need to get my name out there like that. get there, get, get the AC before I leave, you know, there sooner so I can enjoy bit more.

Trent Manning: 1:21:36
Are you ready to do some rapid fire questions and we’ll wrap this thing up, put a bow on it. What’s your favorite movie?

Daniel Barnes: 1:21:43
James Bond,

Trent Manning: 1:21:44
which one? Any of any, any James Bond?

Daniel Barnes: 1:21:47
I like James Bond, I mean, you

Trent Manning: 1:21:49
Okay. Yeah, I actually, I, I caught that out of the corner of my eye, your, uh, double oh seven tattoo. So that’s awesome.

Daniel Barnes: 1:21:55
yeah. I, I grew up, was watching my grandfather like I, and I watched it was, you know, they always said the marathons and stuff on TV, so I was So that’s why I watched I, you know, I’ve had to like pick one movie it’s kind of hard cuz they all kind of blend in. I I could pick a, how about Sean condre how about any of his, know, the original, you know, all of ’em have their own place, but you know, I guess that would one of his be my favorite and man, if you can make that his movies. With like today’s graphics. Oh

Trent Manning: 1:22:26
Oh yeah. Yeah. Yep.

Daniel Barnes: 1:22:27
They would be, it’d blow out all the current actors. So

Trent Manning: 1:22:31
what would be your last meal?

Daniel Barnes: 1:22:34
I don’t know who’s making it, is me, mom, down the

Trent Manning: 1:22:38
mean, it’s your, it is your last meal. You we’re making this up as we go here.

Daniel Barnes: 1:22:42
That’s that’s tough, man. I’m a big, big platter person. I like, I like like a sample of platter. I like

Trent Manning: 1:22:48
Okay. You, you going to golden corral for your you have a little bit of everything.

Daniel Barnes: 1:22:53
it, the idea sounds great, but no, the quality, you know, last meal gotta idea of equality. You know, I don’t know. I really love my mom’s lasagna, but yeah,

Trent Manning: 1:23:02
Okay. Yeah.

Daniel Barnes: 1:23:03
but I don’t know. I think, nah, red meat, man, me a hog rib eye and seared. Throw some slaps of some, some really loaded down with buttered bacon, whatever mash potatoes on the side, or bake you bake potatoe, you just make it all mashed inside the side of the skin.

Trent Manning: 1:23:20
yeah, there you go.

Daniel Barnes: 1:23:22
that’s yeah, that’s probably it, you know, and then get just whatever it is, just gotta add big ball. So I can just no, on it a little bit.

Trent Manning: 1:23:30
what are you most proud of?

Daniel Barnes: 1:23:32
You know, probably the kids, the family that I’ve, you know, my wife really, you know, she really keeps this train going this crazy train going.

Trent Manning: 1:23:40
mm-hmm

Daniel Barnes: 1:23:41
I’m just, you know, I’m the guy shoveling cold and, and, and trying to bust my ass to keep up with her. Uh, so I would say that, you know, I really, now I’m really proud of my one, one of my twins, she, uh, UN untrained, my wife blamed me for it, but she can move her eyes all different, crazy directions. Like, like I can move my like kind of sideways and straight and my wife, it, it freaks people out a little bit and they’re like, it’s creepy. And my wife’s she’s always like, I do it. She roll her eyes, contact deal. My little one of my twins. I don’t know she’s been doing it for at least a year. Now. She like said did, did it one day looking at my wife. And she’s like, she, my wife Neely just, just cut, cut the eyes at me. Like, what did you treat your daughter? I’m I swear it wasn’t me.

Trent Manning: 1:24:30
that’s what dads do.

Daniel Barnes: 1:24:31
yeah. Right. And it’s like, it wasn’t me. And it’s like, oh my, and it’s not me. I’m I am jumping for joy. Like, yes, that’s awesome. Like I five high five, my mom’s bat, but, and now I’m, I think she’s actually better than me. She can move from different directions and inside like, gets to googleize. So proud of that along with the whole family

Trent Manning: 1:24:53
yeah,

Daniel Barnes: 1:24:54
Now they’re they’re, you know, you know, we got some good kids. They’re lucky. So. You know, it’s, I’m sure I did a little bit with it, but you know, wife does a lot, just so you know, like I, the grocery store yesterday, like trying to the rabbit questions, I am kind of Burt rabbit trail, but, uh, in the grocery yesterday and it’s like, I got three kids. Part of me is like, why’d I just do this before I picked it up, picked them up, but you know, whatever, I’m in the grocery with ’em and it’s like always, you know, I’m pushing, we got one, one contained, which is good. Cause that’s the wild one inside the buggy and other tooth’s like, all right, you guys, or my, my purses pushers. And it’s just, you know, all these people are like, oh, you’re doing good dad. It was like, oh, you’re in no way here. Say, excuse me. And it’s like, oh, she’s fine. You’re doing good dad. And it’s like, that’s cool. But like, I really hope you guys, like, same thing happens. Like my wife pushes, you know, does this every day. I hope you guys tell her that shit too. You know? It’s like,

Trent Manning: 1:25:45
yeah, yeah. Cause yeah, the mom is probably expected to be really good at

Daniel Barnes: 1:25:50
yeah. And it’s like, no. Yeah. I love her. That’s awesome. I tell him that. It’s like, oh, thanks. And I just kind of keep going. it’s cool to hear, but it’s like, I really hope that you told her to like, I I see that mom in there and, and it’s like, I just cut a big smile. Like, you know, you doing, you know, doing that way, like parent, right. You know, we’re do parent we’re in that kind of crap storm kids acting crazy in the grocery store. We’re like, we know what’s going on. That they get that secret nod. Like, yeah, I got you. You know, I understand.

Trent Manning: 1:26:18
That’s funny. Good stuff.

Daniel Barnes: 1:26:20
so yeah. Proud of the kids. That’s good.

Trent Manning: 1:26:23
Tell the listeners how they can get ahold of you.

Daniel Barnes: 1:26:26
Smoke signals do not work too much wind going on by the coast, but I am, uh, you know, yeah. I don’t know who still does that, but, uh, you could find me, I think it’s Dan does 24. On Twitter, if not Daniel, Daniel, a Barnes, Daniel Barnes. I’m on Facebook. I don’t do much with it. I just peek at the groups. I just, well, yep. Yep. Negative comment, negative comment. whatever. Get out. I just, I just chime in, but turf, uh, Twitter I’m on there. I, uh, you know, I’m not as much they used to the pandemic kind of hit, I mean, I kind of took a backseat from, from, uh, social media for a little while and I, I hadn’t really got back to it yet, but I’m, I I’m, I want to, you throw those photos of, you know, shot photos, always, Hey, took us out or,

Trent Manning: 1:27:12
Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Daniel Barnes: 1:27:13
so I’m on there. I, I damn, I am snooping on some people creeping a little bit, I guess,

Trent Manning: 1:27:17
yeah. That’s all

Daniel Barnes: 1:27:18
click up, clicking up photos, saving it. Ooh, I like that idea so, but, uh, yeah, I think that’s the best way.

Trent Manning: 1:27:25
Yeah, no, definitely we’ll tag you when

Daniel Barnes: 1:27:27
yeah, Gmail. I got email people wanna hit me up, barns it to south, easy enough, I guess

Trent Manning: 1:27:33
I do@gmail.com, right? Yeah. Awesome.

Daniel Barnes: 1:27:36
I’m not hiding I’m out there. I probably have MySpace account somewhere too. Who knows? I haven’t touched it like 15 years at least.

Trent Manning: 1:27:45
that’s crazy. That was awesome. Well, thank you so really appreciate it. This was, it was a blast, like always.

Daniel Barnes: 1:27:52
Yeah. That’s fine. Good. Kind of finally get touch base, you know, it’s only been what, so seven, seven months, like, yeah, well we should do that. And you know,

Trent Manning: 1:27:59
Yeah, I wanna say, just so the listeners know how, how this kind of goes down. I talked to you in February and you said, yeah, I’m interested. And now we’re recording at the end of July. Oh,

Daniel Barnes: 1:28:13
that’s June. Don’t don’t that’s not that

Trent Manning: 1:28:14
um, I, it all runs together. Sorry. almost due July. That’s what thinking. It’s almost July, but

Daniel Barnes: 1:28:24
yeah, you know, I’ll get busy. I was waiting for that, that, that perfect moment. And I wait until my wife’s gone out of town for a week and it’s like, oh, I’m juggling the kids and, everything. It’s like, Why was this a good idea?

Trent Manning: 1:28:36
no it’s yeah, no, it’s all good. And I’m not picking on you, but I, and that’s, I mean, that’s life and that’s the way it goes.

Daniel Barnes: 1:28:43
yeah, yeah. Cause it wasn’t like I was busy and mowing grass or grinding in February. I am now, you know, it’s like, we’re busier. Why, why chew? Why do it in February? I had free time. So

Trent Manning: 1:28:54
Well, yeah, but I have plenty of guests in February and running, I’m running low now. So this works

Daniel Barnes: 1:28:59
So yeah. So yeah, no I’m sacrificing my sleep for this. That’s awesome. I really hope these people enjoy it. I did

Trent Manning: 1:29:06
yeah. Speaking of which it is way past my bedtime and probably yours too.

Daniel Barnes: 1:29:10
oh yeah. I got dishes and clean up to do still. So

Trent Manning: 1:29:13
Oh, alright. Well, I’m gonna let you get to it. talking

Daniel Barnes: 1:29:15
sleep. Hey, thanks for having man.

Trent Manning: 1:29:17
I really hope you enjoyed that. So that’s a great time sitting down and talking to Daniel. Real standup guy. I really liked what he was saying about the local technicians association T tack. If you have anything like that in your area, please get involved. And if you don’t have something like that in your area, Start thinking about it today. And hopefully this fall. Start reaching out to people. And get something going. And it doesn’t matter if it starts with two people. It will grow. I promise you. The other thing I want to talk about. Is. Eric Duncanson. He passed away a couple months ago. And he, he was a dear friend to me. And I’m so happy that T tack is putting together a golf tournament. They done the tournament before Eric passed away, but they’re going to do it. And Eric’s memory now, for their 11 that’s fun. And soon as I get more information on that, I will be passing that along. So anybody that can donate or come play in the tournament, we would love to have you. And then the other thing is work life balance. And that might be a hot topic. And the past few years. I don’t know that I even heard about it until the last couple of years, the work-life balance. cause I’ve always been work, work balance. Uh, this. Just kind of the way I’m wired and the way I was brought up and. That’s, you know, the way. You do things. It is very important. To find that balance. And it’s going to be different for all of us. Some of us. You know, maybe can work more. Some of us probably don’t need to work as much. And me personally. I’ve been trying to work a little bit less lately. And. That’s really helped. So just remember when it comes to proprietized in your day. You’re the only one that can decide that. And you can’t let anybody else decide it for you. The works will be there tomorrow. But time with your kids and loved ones. Passes away, too fast. There will always be another day. At the golf course. As long as you’re on the green side of the turf. But the kids. Won’t always want to go to the store with you. Or go fishing. Or read a story. So remember quit one is quitting time. I get busy living. So the nearby. 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.

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