David Blowers, Senior technician at Abell Turf and Tractor in Holly Springs, GA, was forced into Lake City Community College by his dad because he liked his mom’s cooking. He worked at a few golf courses before moving to the distributor side. Where he was the service manager at Georgia Turf and Tractor for many years. David is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to turf equipment and especially John Deere equipment. In the episode we touch on a lot of really important things like fostering relationships, using the tools in your toolbox and don’t be afraid to push yourself and others.
Transcript
Trent Manning: 0:05
welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we’ll learn tips and tricks. I’m your host, Trent. Manning let’s have some Welcome to the reel turf techs podcast, episode 70 today, we’re talking to David Flowers. He’s a senior technician at able turf and tractor in Holly Springs, Georgia. David graduated from lake city, community college now, Florida gateway college. After completing the technician program. I first met David when he was working at Georgia turf and tractor back in the nineties. And I’m glad now to call him a friend. Let’s talk to David. Welcome David to the realtor turf text podcast. How you doing today?
David Blowers: 0:57
Doing well, sir. How are you? I’m
Trent Manning: 0:58
doing great. And this is a little unique because we’re sitting in your kitchen. and I don’t do a whole lot of in person, uh, interviews like this. So it’s gonna be fun.
David Blowers: 1:10
We’re always welcome. You can bring anybody else along if you need to borrow the kitchen anytime.
Trent Manning: 1:16
I really appreciate that. That’s awesome. Tell us how you got into the turf
David Blowers: 1:20
industry reluctantly. you know, my father was in the military, back in the stone age, and he retired and decided he wanted to get into the golf course. Business, went to school, in lake city to go to the. agronomy program, you know, superintendents association, program, whatever you wanna call it. And I was in high school, so I didn’t have a choice where I just went. I graduated high school in lake city. He had a, still had a year of school left. And, my dad’s a pretty direct individual. we don’t have a lot of heart heart conversation, but when we do it’s pretty blunt and his conversation to me was, well, what are you gonna do with the rest of your life? And I said, I don’t know. And he said, that’s not good enough answer. You need to either get a job, move out, do your own thing, pay rent, or go to school. I. School sounds pretty good. Right? but I don’t know what I’m gonna go to school for. And he said, well, they’ve got this mechanics program that you can take and at the college, and I could still claim you on my taxes. The VA benefits will pay for it. You know, you can stay at home, eat mom’s cooking. Yada, yada, yada. I said, I don’t wanna be an old golf course mechanic. He said, you don’t have to be a golf course mechanic, but it won’t hurt you. You’ll be able to take that knowledge with you for the rest of your life. And again, you can stay home and eat mom’s cooking. I said, okay, I’ll just do that till I can figure something else out that I want to do. So, that was in 1980 and I haven’t yet figured out what I want to
Trent Manning: 3:06
do. So that’s okay. That’s okay. There’s still time,
David Blowers: 3:10
Dave So this, all golf course thing is temporary.
Trent Manning: 3:13
Mm-hmm yeah. It’s been temporary for how many years? 40, 40 years. Yeah. Temporary career for
David Blowers: 3:20
40 years. For
Trent Manning: 3:21
years. I love it. Yeah. That’s awesome.
David Blowers: 3:24
Yeah, it’s been good to me though. And I can’t complain. So
Trent Manning: 3:27
where did you, uh, start? Where was one of the first courses you worked?
David Blowers: 3:31
the very first golf course that I worked at was idle hour club. Well, I mean, I, I worked at some places when I was a teenager, summers and things like that. And, in Memphis, Tennessee, where we lived prior, worked at Ridgeway country club just the summer as a, push mower and weed eater guy. And, I worked at the Millington Naval air station there some weekends and things with my dad. He always worked somewhere. He loved to play golf and he worked somewhere for playing privileges and I got drug along quite often for that sort of thing. but the first gig that I had as a mechanic straight out of lake city was idle hour club in Macon. working for Ken manga.
Trent Manning: 4:13
It’s a very popular name in the industry.
David Blowers: 4:16
Yep. I was fortunate to, my mothers originally from north Georgia to COA area and my parents, once my dad got out of the military, they wanted to get closer to hi to her family and, but not in the backyard. So they found a job at Macon. What, and my dad got the assistance job there and I went with him to meet Ken. And he said, by the way, are there any mechanics coming out of the program this year? And my dad said, there’s one and he’d be the only one. So he talked with me for a little bit and said, well, you’re the most qualified person I’ve spoken to. Would you like to work for me? And he gave me a job and I worked for him through the remainder of his tenure there. And then, the next guy that came along was William Shirley. And I worked for him for his tenure there at idle hour. And he left and I worked for Wade Thomas for about a year and a half, I guess. And then I decided I was ready to go do something else. So fortunate in that I took that job and it was a good, it was a good club. And I worked for some people who were, knowledgeable and professional, and I got to meet an awful lot of people who came to see them and visit them. so I had a lot of, lot of contacts, friendships, I guess, and we’ll call, ’em not necessarily contacts, but I just got to know a lot of people through their, through their. Relationships and, during Ken’s tenure, he was the president of the Georgia chapter association. And during William’s tenure, he was the Georgia chapter association president. So, you know, it was a, it was a good place to be, so,
Trent Manning: 6:03
yeah, no that’s awesome. That’s really good. Did William go to peach tree just after there? Or did he land somewhere else before
David Blowers: 6:13
he well, he actually, he actually left ID Lauer and took the job at capital city. but he didn’t stay at capital city. I don’t think he was there a year and he got poached to Peachtree. So kind of, yes. And not
Trent Manning: 6:30
mm-hmm same time. All right. What do you think about relief? Grinding you a believer in relief, grinding?
David Blowers: 6:37
it’s a controversial thing I know. And a lot of guys debate it and argue it and swear one way or the other. And I don’t have any preference, I guess, one way or the other. what I am a firm believer in it is that there’s more than one way to skin a cat And there are as many ways to sharpen reels and achieve a good quality of cut. As there are ways to skin, a cat and you have to work with the tools and the knowledge and the time that’s available to you as a technician at the golf course. I used to do grinder seminars when I worked for Georgia turf with Bernhard and I would. Say, what is the most popular model of spin grinder that you know of? And I’ve get a lot of arguments about, you know, Bernhard Foley, this or that, but that’s none of that’s true. The most popular spin grinder there is, is a back overlapping machine. I mean, it’s, it’s a grinder it’s, it’s grinding paste. The reel is spinning. I mean, it’s a spin grinder. You just have no control. so some guys that’s all they have and it works just fine for them. Some guys use a combination of, a fo bed knife, grinder, a Burnhard real grinder, a single blade relief grinder once a year. I mean, whatever you have that works for you, that’s fine. And the time allowed, you know, that’s the other thing, if you’ve got a 27 hole course, and you’re the only guy there and you’re walk, mowing greens, you’re spending an awful lot of time trying to figure out greens mows every day. triplexes takes a little bit of load off. I mean, Having an extra hand takes a little bit of load off, you know, so it’s all legitimate. It’s all possible. I understand, the purpose of relief, me personally, everywhere that I ever worked and had to deal with reels. I had an express dual grinder. I became proficient with that. I know you had a conversation with another technician recently about, speed and time. And if you’re proficient with Foley, it gets to be pretty, pretty fast as well. And I suspect that that’s the case. I can’t speak to that because I never, I never had that opportunity. Right. But I liked to use the be. and I liked to do that without back lapping. And I liked to do the spin grinding regularly because it does provide a small amount of relief on that. And on the bed knife, if you grind once or twice a year and you wear that down, then that’s never gonna work for you. So, It’s that’s my easy answer.
Trent Manning: 9:18
Yeah. Yeah. And I agree. You gotta do you gotta work with the tools in your toolbox and you don’t have any option And like, when I first started, uh, shutting down, working with Larry, we didn’t even have a bed knife grinder. So we did a whole lot of lapping. Yeah. And I never remember grinding a greens mower. We only laughed.
David Blowers: 9:40
Yeah, well, that’s how it was for me at idle hour. When I first went there, they had a grinder in the corner, but it was an old Neary single blade grinder. And you could turn the head sideways and change and put a cup stone on it and grind a bed knife. But it, I could have done a better job with a flat file mm-hmm and, uh, I did a lot of lapping, you know, and I mean, we’d buy bed knives and I can remember lapping a reel for hours to try to get it to cut, you know, and as that was what you had to do, and eventually we got a real grinder, no bed knife grinder, and then eventually we got a bed knife grinder, and I’m sure they have something different today. Uh, but like you said, you do what you have to. So,
Trent Manning: 10:20
and I don’t remember having terrible quality of cuts or anything like that. I’m sure it wouldn’t as good as what we’re seeing today.
David Blowers: 10:31
Well, I’m a, I’m a minute or two older than you. And been in a little bit longer. And I can remember when a fairway mower was a toe behind Toro gang mower, mm-hmm or an F 10 or a park master, and quality cut was, a totally different thing. And I remember we bought some ransoms mounted fives at idle hour that went on the back of the tractor and they cut better than a park master and better than a, than a toe behind gang unit, but not as well as a greens mower. And we did the best we could, but the fairways looked awful and playable, but they looked horrible and Jacobson was just coming out with a LF 100 and Torah was slightly behind with the 2 23 and we wanted to do lightweight fairway mowers. and we sold that to the membership by going out onto the at idle hour. Number one, and number 10 T are the, the holes are parallel to one. Another. Everything about ’em is exactly the same for the most part. And we mowed number one, fairway with an old greens, master three, if you’re old enough, you know what that is, but it’s a, that was before that it’s a 31 50, but it doesn’t, it just has a, pump and, there’s no pedal to make it go. You just pop it in gear and it takes off cable steer, but we mowed that fairway with that greens master three took about four or five hours to mow one fairway and we mowed, uh, other fairways as we had been mowing. And the difference between the two was night and day. And so the difference in. Cut quality from what was acceptable, in 1982 versus 87 or 88, that was night and day. And the difference again, I mean, it’s, it’s like every few years the expectation grows and, and things get, I mean, I used to say, it’s not rocket science, man. We’re just cutting grass, but it’s getting to be a little more precise these days and a little more rocket science involved.
Trent Manning: 12:49
So, yeah. True. Yeah. We’re not out there with our, uh, rear engine snapper
David Blowers: 12:53
No, no, no. And I’ve seen that done
Trent Manning: 12:59
well, tell us something you’ve fabricated lately.
David Blowers: 13:01
I don’t get the opportunity to fabricate in my current position. we’re I work, you know, we’re a, we’re a reseller. We take older equipment, used equipment restore to original standards and we resell it. And one thing that has always been important to me, in my tenure with Georgia turf and tractor, Greenville, turf, and tractor, and today at able turf and tractor is someone is gonna have to work on that machine behind me. I know that, and I don’t need that to be harder for them. I try to think about that. And so, you know, I get the question all the time. Can you put. new rake on this old machine and can you up upgrade this? Yeah. I could do that, but it makes it difficult. So I want the person that has to work on that sold machine to be able to look at the serial number on that machine and go find the parts catalog for that serial number machine and know that everything on that machine is correct for that. So we do some fabrication, occasionally here or there, but most of the time I get someone else to do that work. That’s not something that Franklin would put me on. he would tell you that I’m too, uh, valuable for that. I don’t know. Maybe I’m just too slow. I don’t know but, but I try to, I try not to do much modification for that primary reason. So
Trent Manning: 14:41
yeah, no, it makes perfect sense. And you remind me of something that I remember you telling me years ago that weren’t you somewhat responsible or the person responsible for getting the salesman to give us parts manuals and service manuals. When we got a new piece of equipment,
David Blowers: 14:59
Uh, uh, yes, when I first started at Georgia tur from, I started as a, as just a floor mechanic and within a few months I was the, golfing tur for mechanic. And then I was the, service manager within just, one summer. And, they asked me, what do we need to do? And I said, you do all these things to try to try to sell a golf course, super. and the first thing the golf course superintendent is gonna do, he is gonna take this machine to his mechanic and say, what do you think? Because if that guy’s gotta be happy with it, that guy’s gotta be able to work with it and nobody’s familiar with your stuff. And the one thing to me that was always important was to have a manual. I like to be able to fix things. I like to be able to do my job. Most of the guys that are mechanics in the field today, yourself included, you want to do your job. You want to be the hero. you want to at least seem, competent in your, task. And to me, the parts manual service, manual operators, manual paramount. And so we started providing those with the equipment and it was a huge benefit to the. End user. And it was a huge benefit to me because I spent so much time talking with customers about what was wrong with their machine and how to fix it, to help them do their own diagnosis and their own repair. And it was easy for me to say, okay, are you looking at your tech manual? What page are you on? Because I can then go to exactly the same page you’re looking at, or I can refer you to where you need to be. Mm-hmm to get what you need today. Most of that’s available online, but still important.
Trent Manning: 16:46
Well I just got a quote from greenville, turf, and tractor, and it still has a parse manual and service manual so they’re they’re still doing it.
David Blowers: 16:55
They need to,
Trent Manning: 16:56
and I agree a hundred percent,
David Blowers: 16:58
you know, and, and, and, and along that line of thought, I’m not in a position to buy machinery for anybody these days. But if I were a guy in your position or any golf course’s position, and I were buy-in machinery, you need to be budget conscious, not just your budget for purchase of the machine, but your operating budget. What’s the cost of telling the salesman. I need five years worth of filters. Doesn’t cost that much, but it costs you a lot more cost you a lot more to buy that stuff retail than it does for them to buy it at cost and put it in with the, and put it in with the sale. I mean, what’s it gonna add to the cost of the machine? A hundred bucks, 200 bucks, 500 bucks, but you get five years worth of maintenance or six years worth of maintenance, or, you know, if it’s a lease, get enough to, you know, they got oil grease, put it all in there.
Trent Manning: 17:57
Did you do that when you were buying equipment?
David Blowers: 18:01
I tried, and wasn’t marginally successful at it. and then of course, when I worked with east lake, budget, wasn’t a so, uh, but yeah, I would’ve loved to have done that. I would’ve loved to, and I’ve tried to encourage that to, to, to others.
Trent Manning: 18:21
Mm-hmm
David Blowers: 18:23
I make noise. I don’t know if anybody listens.
Trent Manning: 18:25
Yeah, that’s all that’s all we can do sometimes. And I don’t I’ve been guilty of making noise and not really getting any feedback. And then maybe a month or two months down the road, somebody else comes up with this idea that, uh, I’d. already Kind of heard of and it’s it is amazing how that works yeah but that’s okay. Sometimes you gotta plant that seed and let it grow.
David Blowers: 18:49
And sometimes you just say, man, that’s a good idea. I wish I’d have thought of that. You know? That’s right. Yeah, exactly. Right.
Trent Manning: 18:55
what’s your favorite tool Smartphone Okay. You can Do everything with
David Blowers: 19:02
like I said, you know, I, I, I use it 10 times a day, take pictures of things. I can take a picture of something and send it to a customer and say, this is what you need to be looking for. Where’s a tow valve on my machine. It’s broken down, you take a picture, send it to me so I can see what you’re looking at. I gotta take something apart in my position. it happens daily. I take something apart. I make parts list. I gotta wait on parts. priorities change. I’ve had things taken apart that I won’t get back to for six months.
Trent Manning: 19:38
Wow.
David Blowers: 19:39
Probably be able to put it back together without, but to have a picture of, I mean, recently I had to take a control box off of a Foley, 600 real grinder, the big, barbecue cabinet, cuz the guy, you know, ex bound and determined that the controller was bad on the one we sold him and I’m not gonna go to Ohio to make a service call, so we just we’ll send you another controller. So I took the controller off. I mean, how many wires are there?
Trent Manning: 20:10
Oh yeah, there’s a
David Blowers: 20:11
a few And so I just take pictures of what I’m disconnecting and so I’ve got a roadmap to put it back together. that I can understand and, but I also have a pretty extensive Google drive with manuals and, information that I have gleaned from different sources through the years. I think I’ve shared most of that with you. Mm-hmm and I refer to that religiously, I used to say the most important tool in my, in my arsenal was a tech manual, but the smartphone supersedes, I can take pictures, I can look up manuals. I can, if you don’t know how to do something, I guarantee you YouTube knows how.
Trent Manning: 20:51
Yeah. There’s a lot of youTube certified mechanics out
David Blowers: 20:54
there, you know, and sometimes you learn as much about not what not to do as you don’t, as you do what to do, but, you know for sure you can get a lot of information there and, I can make a phone call with. that’s another thing and, uh, worse comes to it. and I all else fails. I can play Tetris while I’m sitting in a job interview.
Trent Manning: 21:17
Yep. That’s good too. When you’re talking about making a phone call, I have to tell this story, and this was, I don’t know how long ago it was. That was a while ago I mean four or five years ago. I had uh
David Blowers: 21:31
that was just yesterday, man
Trent Manning: 21:32
Yeah. John Yeah. Well, you know, um the other day is any day from the time you were born until yesterday. So that’s the way we do it down here anyway. Yeah. But, uh, yeah, I’d um, went through and rebuilt air core 1500 top to bottom replaced every barren and it, and we go out to number one, fairway. We’re ready to do. Airification and it’s a rototiller and I’m beating my head against this machine and I can’t figure it out. And, double checking everything can’t figure it out. So I called david and I tell him, everything I’ve done. He’s like you taking the gearbox out of it. Yep Took the gearbox out of it, replaced every bearing in it. You know, I beat my chest. I’m proud myself for everything I’d done. And he said you put the gearbox in backwards. I was like, no, I didn’t There’s no way, no way I put it in backwards. Sure enough. I put it in backwards. And you said that was the second time that you’d heard of that happening, So
David Blowers: 22:36
yep. Happens.
Trent Manning: 22:38
But yeah, it’s a humbling experience, but we all make mistake
David Blowers: 22:43
Not really humbling if you look at it correctly, but you know, I mean, you know, they used to say the difference between knowledge and experiences, whether or not you read the manual. Uh, but you know, is an excellent teacher. Probably the best.
Trent Manning: 23:01
I learned a lesson
David Blowers: 23:02
Yes. Bet. You won’t make that mistake again.
Trent Manning: 23:04
I guarantee you, I want
David Blowers: 23:06
Yep. Been there, done that.
Trent Manning: 23:08
Yeah. And you know I didn’t didn’t even think about it didn’t even cross my mind that that was a possibility of something I could have done.
David Blowers: 23:16
Yeah. Well, I was glad I was able to help.
Trent Manning: 23:18
Yeah Yeah no Yeah. Oh whatever. You’ve helped me a bunch over the years and I do appreciate all the help.
David Blowers: 23:25
anytime.
Trent Manning: 23:26
Tell us how you, uh, find your balance,
David Blowers: 23:30
Uh, I rebuild gearbox is on 1500 air course. Okay.
Trent Manning: 23:35
and and install. ’em the correct way.
David Blowers: 23:38
Not always. I’m a, I’m a low key individual. I don’t really, I like to say I’m, I’m a car guy. I like working on cars. I have a number of cars. I’ve got an old truck in the backyard, I’ve got an old Oldsmobile in the backyard. My son’s got a Subaru that we’ve spent countless hours and dollars on. And, I do that for, for pleasure. I like to look at, hot rods, but I don’t really spend enough time at that. I like to, I’m a homebody, my wife and I, we’ve been together 40 something years. And
Trent Manning: 24:13
congratulations,
David Blowers: 24:14
you know, to her credit, not mine. I try, uh, I’m learning, but, we don’t have separate lives, I can’t wait to get home to be with her. And she says she feels the same way and she’s always here. So. I, I guess that is. And so we do everything together and, you’re sitting in my kitchen, we’ve lived in this house 30 years and I would venture to say, there’s not anything in this house that you can’t look at that I haven’t built, rebuilt, modify, modified, or thought up, built this table, built that table out the window. There I’ve rebuilt that I’ve rebuilt that deck several times, you know, I’ve refin, I’ve refinished. that piece of furniture right there, was from her mom’s house, was one of the very first pieces of furniture we had. And so we spent a lot of time. In fact, this morning, before you got here, I was down in the basement tile and a shower.
Trent Manning: 25:10
Mm-hmm that’s awesome though. I mean, a lot of history and a lot of memories and all those things.
David Blowers: 25:16
So, what do I do? For relaxation. I work
Trent Manning: 25:20
well, I think a lot of us can relate to that. A lot of us, uh work You know, I mean, it’s, there’s this guy, I read his, um, he kept like a journal and he had uh, moved to alaska and he was living by himself. His name is dick Peggie and, and there he said, work makes good company
David Blowers: 25:40
Yeah
Trent Manning: 25:40
And this guy’s isolated and he’s working and no contact with anyone except, uh, babe, the pilot that would bring him supplies, you know, every six weeks or
David Blowers: 25:53
yeah. I, I can sort of relate to that. I mean, you know, and you got another question I think coming up that will kind of, you’ll understand, but, mentor, who are, who’s my mentor.
Trent Manning: 26:05
mm-hmm
David Blowers: 26:07
every job I’ve ever had. I either worked alone or I was in charge and I didn’t have anybody above me to, so I’ve never worked for anybody, other than, you know, the superintendent or such like that. And as far as, a mentor, I mean, I’ve learned to do things, how to pick something up, carry it, move it, dropping it on myself, without having to ask for help, you just, like you said, work is great company. just, you get used to being up by yourself and doing things for yourself and people, people make fun of me now because they’ll ask me a question. If I’m in the middle of something, I I’ll just keep on. I don’t even, I don’t even slow down. I don’t even think about the, drives my wife crazy, but. are you gonna answer me eventually?
Trent Manning: 26:56
I yeah eventually yep.
David Blowers: 26:58
But so
Trent Manning: 26:58
well don’t I get that cuz you get so focused or in your mind about whatever you’re doing. It’s such a distraction to stop, answer a question and then you gotta get back to where you’re at.
David Blowers: 27:12
Yeah.
Trent Manning: 27:15
As an equipment tech one of the most tedious jobs is keeping your parts inventory straight But that job just got a whole lot easier with uses an ASB task tracker But that job just got a whole lot easier With using AASB task trackers parts scanning Technology I can scan or see parts into the inventory And as I use them I can scan them into a work order If you hadn’t had a chance to check out the technician side of ASB task tracker I highly recommend you schedule I highly recommend you schedule out I highly recommend you reach out to them At ASB task tracker.com To schedule a demo There’s a really great software And I use it on a daily basis Using task tracker has made Uh using task tracker has made my life so much easier Using task tracker has made my life so much easier I love being able to pick up The scanner and scan parts and inventory Let’s get back to the episode As an equipment tech one of the most tedious jobs is keeping your parts inventory straight But that job just got a whole lot easier with uses an ASB task tracker But that job just got a whole lot easier With using AASB task trackers parts scanning Technology I can scan or see parts into the inventory And as I use them I can scan them into a work order If you hadn’t had a chance to check out the technician side of ASB task tracker I highly recommend you schedule I highly recommend you schedule out I highly recommend you reach out to them At ASB task tracker.com To schedule a demo There’s a really great software And I use it on a daily basis As an equipment tech one of the most tedious jobs is keeping your parts inventory straight But that job just got a whole lot easier with uses an ASB task tracker But that job just got a whole lot easier With using AASB task trackers parts scanning Technology I can scan or see parts into the inventory And as I use them I can scan them into a work order If you hadn’t had a chance to check out the technician side of ASB task tracker I highly recommend you schedule I highly recommend you schedule out I highly recommend you reach out to them At ASB task tracker.com To schedule a demo There’s a really great software And I use it on a daily basis Tell us one of the strangest things you’ve seen at work.
David Blowers: 31:33
worked a few places and seen a lot of, lot of things. I’ve seen, an asphalt grinder on a cart path, buried six feet deep in a sink hole. Wow. I’ve seen a well drilling rig at about a 45 degree angle buried in a middle of a fairway. I’ve seen a grown man run screaming from a three inch snake. you were, we were, you were telling me earlier about the, the story that I had shared with you. And I don’t, I didn’t even remember it at the time, which had to do with the beverage cart and a young girl that was riding. It said it, the starter wouldn’t stop, couldn’t shut it off. And I told her to go get the other cart. And she came back, said, this one’s doing the same thing. Turns out she set the secondary ice cooler on the pedal and had it stuck in the on position. It’s just, there’s always things.
Trent Manning: 32:36
what’s uh, what’s one of your pet peeves around the shop. I know you’re laid back easy going, but I’m sure you got a pet peeve or two.
David Blowers: 32:44
Well, if you’re gonna lift something up with a Jack, I don’t care if you’re under it or not. It better have a safety stand underneath them because they don’t always fall straight down and I’ve seen that happen. I’ve seen people get hurt and it’s simple to avoid. Uh, I don’t like to see the Jack handle laid out. It needs to be in an upright position when it’s up underneath something. I don’t always watch where I’m going and I tend to trip over things. And the last thing I want to do is trip over a Jack handle. That’s holding up something that you’re working underneath that doesn’t have a safety stand on it, so,
Trent Manning: 33:22
oh yeah, for sure. How would You feel after that?
David Blowers: 33:25
Yeah. Yeah. So, that’s the, that’s one of my things that I, that I really, but like you said, I’m pretty easygoing. I don’t, I learned a long time ago. There’s, you give two mechanics the exact same problem in the exact same toolbox, and they’re gonna be two completely different solutions. And neither one of them will necessarily be wrong. where I might grab a pair of PLIs you might grab a Crescent wrench, doesn’t make it wrong, just makes it different. And I learned, to let people do what they’re gonna do. this is the task, this is what I need at the end. If you need help, let me know. Otherwise I’m gonna leave you alone. I’ve had so many guys that work for me. Well, I don’t wanna break anything. Well, don’t worry about it. I got your back. If you. You’ll learn from it. And we’ll go from there.
Trent Manning: 34:17
Think that’s one of the great things about this industry and working on a golf course is we kind of get paid to learn, or if you’re at a car dealership or some of those places you’re probably not getting paid to learn.
David Blowers: 34:29
No, I don’t want to pay for their learning curve,
Trent Manning: 34:32
right?
David Blowers: 34:34
yeah. Yeah. Well, that’s, that’s true. And I remember in the early days I, people were, well, what do you do for a living? I’m a golf course mechanic. Well, you must be really good with lawn mowers. Yep. Lawn mowers. I work on cost more than your car,
Trent Manning: 34:50
right? Yeah Yeah yeah, Mm-hmm
David Blowers: 34:52
but at any given day I might be working on a, on a weed. a $5,000 or $21,000. Now walk behind greens mower. That’s capable of cutting, 50 thousands of an inch high precision, or I might be working on a excavator or a caterpillar or a dump truck, or a three phase electric motor on a Suba. I mean, as a golf course mechanic, we get involved in so many things and, and, I try to explain this to, to other guys and I try to explain it to, to Ralph. I mean, if there’s something that I can help you with, it doesn’t matter to me what it is. If I have knowledge and, and ability to, to help that’s, be a team player, you know?
Trent Manning: 35:38
Yeah, for sure. Just this week I was, uh, in a hole right in front of our pump house. helping put back together a 10 inch mainline and it was muddy. It was nasty. Mm-hmm but you know what do you do? And honestly, I kind of like being that guy. something happens around the course, they say where’s tri at. And i, I like that. I’m not not gonna lie. I I like being that
David Blowers: 36:05
that guy. Well, I think in, I think in most, uh, golf courses, that’s probably more true, uh, you know, with particularly the guys that have been in their, in their position for any length of time, you know, it’s superintendent is the guy on top and the next guy down, everybody thinks is an assistant. And yes, that guy is important and there’s a lot of assistance that have been, everywhere and been around and been at their job a long time. But, but by and large, I think the mechanic is the guy who is, because he fits into so many different. areas. I mean, I won’t say he’s necessarily the second guy in charge, but he’s, he’s the hand if that’s, and I’m not trying to insult anyone, certainly not trying to demean anyone because I tried to my stand at assist and it’s not easy. And I respect that. Trust me, he takes a special mental fortitude to be a golf course, superintendent, and I don’t have that. So
Trent Manning: 37:04
Well, I remember a certain assistant superintendent back in the day. I was working with Larry Freeman, going into Larry’s office and crying I mean, that’s how stressful that job can be. Yeah. And that ain’t talking bad about him at all, but that’s how stressful it can be.
David Blowers: 37:23
I can relate. Trust me. I tried my hand at that, you know, I thought, I thought I saw dollar signs and, uh, all I can say is fail. like I said, it just takes a, takes a, you just gotta love that job, you know? And, and I guess the, the way I put it is, as a mechanic, Hey, this is broken, well, let me do this and this and this. I’ll put this part on it. I’ll weld this back together. I’ll turn this, bam, it’s fixed. There you go. Golf course, superintendent assistant. Well, I think I’ve got XYZ disease. I think this is what’s wrong. Well, let me put this on it and I’ll wait seven to 10 days and see if it looks like I’ve got, I mean, yeah, yeah. That doesn’t work for me, you know?
Trent Manning: 38:06
right. Yeah. Want something a little more cut and dry than that.
David Blowers: 38:10
Yeah.
Trent Manning: 38:10
but we run into it too with, electrical problems or whatever and intermittent stuff and it won’t stay broke And can definitely be some of the frustrating times that we deal with. You already kind of touched on this, but do you have a mentor in the industry?
David Blowers: 38:27
You
Trent Manning: 38:28
yeah, me. Yeah Yeah I I’m your mentor.
David Blowers: 38:30
Sure. you’ve done a lot. You’ve done everything you can to promote your industry and your position and your, and your career choices. And you’ve done everything you can to help educate other people in. Yeah. I mean, I, I respect the hell out of that, so,
Trent Manning: 38:49
well, I really appreciate that, but I do. I want to pat you on the back and say, thank you too, for getting me involved. Because back in the day, when Tina was looking for some people to help her with technician education, you gave me a call and you gave Corey a call. And without that little push, I don’t know if I’d be sitting here today, to be honest.
David Blowers: 39:15
Well, anytime you need to push, just let me know.
Trent Manning: 39:17
All right. You’d be happy to push me around I’ll
David Blowers: 39:20
you around. I have no problem with that at all. I’ll push, somebody’s got a lead. I’ll be happy to push.
Trent Manning: 39:25
There you go. There you go. I love.
David Blowers: 39:28
Nothing wrong with being an Indian. The world’s got lots of chiefs.
Trent Manning: 39:32
What do you know now? You wish you’d known on day one.
David Blowers: 39:36
Well, so many things, patience. Read the instructions first. That’s a funny story actually, when I went to lake city community college for the turf program, the very first day and, and, and understand this, most of the guys that are lake city graduates today, went to the nice brick building from the TM program. When I went to lake city, we were still in the Quanset hut. Okay. the old gentleman ed com that was the instructor day. One took us in and sat us down and gave us a handout and said, here’s an entry exam. And I don’t know it had 25 questions or statements or whatever you wanna call ’em at the very top. It had a. Line that said, read everything before doing anything. And then number one was, you know, write your name in cursive. Number two was, write your date of birth. And, you know, it had all these crazy things that you had to do. And then you get all the way down to number 25. And it says, if you’ve gotten to this point, write your name in the upper right hand corner of the page, do nothing else and lay your pencil down. You’re done. And when you just see guys around the room, just scribbling as fast as they can writing on this page. And all you had really had to do is just read it, get to the bottom. I don’t have to do anything, so patience, read the, read the instructions, read the fine print, know what you’re getting yourself into. don’t just charge in head. So many problems, so many things I’ve seen, I’ve seen guys take things apart. I’ve done it myself. We all want to, tear that engine apart. Or I remember taking a John Deere tractor apart at idle hour tore the rear end of that tractor apart from one wheel all the way through the rear axle to the other wheel, because it had a squeaking noise in it. And turns out only thing that was wrong was the nuts that hold the rims onto the adjustable wheel spacers were loose.
Trent Manning: 41:39
Wow.
David Blowers: 41:41
So
Trent Manning: 41:42
but I mean, we’ve all been there and done something like that. Yeah. All of us have, and I know one of the guys that works for me, he is, yeah. He likes tearing stuff apart,
David Blowers: 41:54
yeah
Trent Manning: 41:54
and just
David Blowers: 41:56
The other thing is, along with the patients thing is, we’re always quick to assign blame, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cussed. I know I had this wrench, I know I had this socket, what happened to it? somebody took it, somebody now I was working on this and I know I left this part right here. And, somebody came in here and swept the floor and you know, and 30 minutes later I find what I was looking for. Right. Where I left it.
Trent Manning: 42:22
Yeah no, and I think it’s a really, really good point. And it reminds me of a story that, Chris Bennett told me, and I don’t remember the mechanic’s name at the time, but he’s just going nuts about his nine 16th and his five eights wrench. And, you know, somebody’s taking it and he’s not gonna work anymore until he gets him back. And I mean, he’s losing his mind and that, uh I don’t remember It was e K four or whatever. And, uh, I don’t know what the problem was, but he’d worked on it and it comes back in the same problem or something, and he takes the cover off and both wrenches are still on the hydraulic lines. still sub there, where he had left them So they we found your
David Blowers: 43:07
Yeah Yeah
Trent Manning: 43:09
but you’re right We are quick to
David Blowers: 43:11
yeah. And you know, and the thing, and in a grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter whose fault it was, because knowing whose fault it was and, who’s to blame, doesn’t solve the problem. And doesn’t, I mean, we can’t go backwards. Mm-hmm in anything. We can only move forward. We can learn from it, and not do the same thing again, for sure. But, I’m not in the, I’m not in the job to, assign blame and judge people I’m in the job to solve problems and to solve problems. I have to move forward.
Trent Manning: 43:42
Great point. I love it. You got any tips and tricks you wanna share with us
David Blowers: 43:51
tips and tricks? I don’t have any tricks. And my tip is sort of counter trick. Okay. there are no shortcuts. There are no miracles. There are no, there is no spray can of fix it. there’s no amazing lubricant. There is diligence and perseverance and do the job. You might say old school. It’s done that way because it works. I’m fine with adapting. I’m fine with learning. I’m fine with, a better way of doing things, but most of the time you still gotta do the work. Maintenance is faster, easier, and takes less time than repair any day of the week. Just do it set your priorities in the shop you had to guest on here talking about greens, Moores and saying, that’s your number one thing. I mean, if you’re on a golf course and you’re the superintendent, you’re the superintendent, you know, every day you’re gonna mow greens. If your mechanics over here working on ’em, a pool start on an edger and the greens MOS are sitting there not ready that’s the wrong place to be, greens. Moore’s gotta go every day. That’s the first thing you need to concentrate on. And the more time you spend doing the maintenance on those, if the superintendent comes to you and says, Hey, such and such is not cutting, right? You’re no longer in maintenance mode on that cutting unit. Now you’re in repair. Okay. Maintenance mode. Would’ve been make the adjustment, do the slight lapping or the quick grind or whatever it is you do. So that when it goes out next time, he doesn’t say, yeah, that thing’s just not cutting. Right. do the maintenance, it’s faster, easier, takes less time, saves money. I mean, I’m basically a lazy person, I wanna take the easy way out,
Trent Manning: 45:36
easy way out is do the maintenance,
David Blowers: 45:37
Just do, just do the maintenance.
Trent Manning: 45:39
You heard it here. First.
David Blowers: 45:41
you know maintenance says, do the maintenance do the maintenance? You know, I know that. Nobody likes the, the Drudge, the mundane, the repetitive task, you get a guy working for you in the shop, you know, in the summer and get this young kid to come in here and be my assistant, or, the first thing you want to do is show him how to touch greens mowers. No, that’s the last thing he needs to do. That’s your bread and butter. That’s your reputation, that’s your, you do that, leave him to, you give him a, a task. Yes. maybe he can change oil or grease things or, handle, learn how to handle weed eaters and things like that. You know, let him be the guy that goes out on a golf course to fix a flat tire or change one, but you’ve got to, you’ve got to maintain your hand on that. What’s important. And, Along with that. if there’s something, that’s broken and it can still run and drive or be put in the back of a cart, bring it to me. Okay. I guarantee you, I make more money than you do, and I have less time than you do. And I’ve got other things that are important. So you bring that broken thing to me and I’ll deal with it. And I’ll find you something else to work with in the meantime. But I’m not gonna chase you around the golf course, looking for you to put a blade on your edger.
Trent Manning: 46:55
oh yeah. No, that that’s not happening. No, thanks. You can You can bring it in here And I, I don’t know if our guys don’t like to edge, but they’ll use a quarter of the blade and bring it in Let’s change this. Yeah, no, no, why don’t, why don’t you go ahead and use the rest of the blade then I’ll think about changing it.
David Blowers: 47:15
Yeah no, let’s Don.
Trent Manning: 47:17
Yeah
David Blowers: 47:18
Yeah
Trent Manning: 47:18
yeah no, think that’s really, really good advice. And I’ve been looking for a two-stroke person for, I don’t know. 20 years. I ain’t found one yet. I still end up working on the two stroke stuff Yeah and I I try to teach him all. I can
David Blowers: 47:34
can’t help you.
Trent Manning: 47:35
Right
David Blowers: 47:36
know anything. What is the two stroke again right
Trent Manning: 47:38
exactly. I don’t uh, well I call Kent a lot
David Blowers: 47:42
Yeah.
Trent Manning: 47:42
he’s he’s my two-stroke guy
David Blowers: 47:44
you know Like I said, I’m, I’m older than you and I’ll tell you what my arm doesn’t like pulling on those ropes anymore.
Trent Manning: 47:54
so you not messing with it unless it has electric start
David Blowers: 47:56
you know, I’ll work on whatever you put in front of me and tell me is the priority. But if I had my choice, I would rather have something that has electric start
Trent Manning: 48:07
I don’t blame you there. That’s good. Anything else you wanna share with the listeners?
David Blowers: 48:14
I’m pretty much an open book. I mean, if you want note something, just ask me if you need some help with something. If I can help you, I will. If I, if I can just help you think it through, I’ll be happy to do that. you tell me I’m full of crap and hang up on me too. That’s fine. You’re not gonna hurt my feelings
Trent Manning: 48:33
I don’t I think a lot of times just talking to somebody else in the industry is helpful. Even if they don’t give you the exact answer you need. Yeah. You know, it just gets your mind thinking in a little different way.
David Blowers: 48:51
Well, back. in early days when I worked at the golf course, the one thing that always sort of stuck with me was, the superintendent’s got his association and his, he’s involved in that and he’s also, involved with the, a lot of the membership and people that play. And, so there’s a, there’s a whole group of people there. And then you’ve got your operators and your, there’s a whole group of people there and here’s the guy that’s in the middle, and you’re getting pound you’re middle management, you’re getting thumbed down from the top and you’re getting thumbed up from the bottom, you know, and it’s a tough place to be. And you’re looking for, some validation, some, I mean, sometimes it’s just that person to say, yeah, man, I feel you, so yeah. You know what you started doing? With the, you know, lunch bunch, I thought was awesome. I mean, I wish I had had that when I was, 25 but didn’t have anything like that. Didn’t and, you know, and there was no internet and there was no, there was nobody to call nobody to nobody to help. And the, funny story, I remember there was a guy that worked at a course across from me and Macon. And when I left ID hour and went to work for Georgia turf and tractor, and I’d probably only been there a few months and he called me up and he had some piece of John Deere equipment that he was having trouble with. And, you know, it was probably a product we didn’t even sell. I don’t know, a backhoe or something. He started asking me questions about it and I was. What do you want me to do, man? I don’t, I don’t even know what that is. I’ve never heard of that machine. You know, what is, and he said, well, you better figure it out, man. You’re the John Deere guy now it’s like,
Trent Manning: 50:29
that’s awesome.
David Blowers: 50:32
That’s all on you. Yeah. Yep You know, I told the guys that worked for me, you know that, you know what you gotta understand. I mean, people would come in and say, well, I could do this grind reels for you. You know what you have to understand is the dealership guys that are working in there, we don’t, we don’t grind reels. We don’t change oil. We don’t, what we get to work on is the worst thing that you can possibly imagine that you don’t wanna work on. That’s what I gotta deal with. And it’s a different, and there’s no come in in the morning and ride around, drink a cup of coffee and check the mowers out, it’s, come in and get to work and. do it all day long, never slow down.
Trent Manning: 51:09
That was one thing I liked about, working for a dealership was just uh, Because a lot of times, and it wouldn’t necessarily that the technician that was there couldn’t figure the problem out, but it’s warranty yeah. They’re busy They don’t have time yeah but more than likely they’ve looked at it. And if it was something simple, they would already took care of it. And then it’s up to you to figure out what the problem I like that challenge.
David Blowers: 51:37
Well, I, I love, I love a challenge, you know, and that’s why I probably thrive in the dealership and yes, I can do the other, but I thrive in the, in the C. I love it when they bring something to me and say, well, everybody else in town has tried to fix this, and see what you can do with it. I like that. but when I worked for, Georgia turf and I’m sure, probably similar for you with, Jerry pay, know, I know one of your questions is what technician would you like to work with? having been out on the road and having worked with so many different guys in so many different situations, in so many different pieces of machinery, I like it all. I’m 59 years old. I’ve done this 40 years. I learned something every day, I’m humbled every day and I’m fine with that. I relish it, but, I just, uh, I loved going out to a guy’s place and. helping him find a problem, solve an issue, and then propping him up to his superintendent and saying, look what we did, look what your guy figured out. Mm-hmm try to make, make a friend out of that guy, make, you know, I mean, back to that same thing with, providing the manuals and things like that, teach a guy to fish, don’t just buy him a fish,
Trent Manning: 52:53
Right yeah yeah no exactly Yeah And I mean, still to this day, I’ve got friends from those days of traveling the road And being out there and it wasn’t that I was really good or anything else, you just make those relationships and and I still call em today and ask them, you know, I’ll remember something like, uh, Glen Johnson at, uh, Reynolds. I remember he had super wide tires on his top dresser on a pro Gator. So I called him up the other day. I was like, where’d you get those at, cuz I’m looking for something similar and it was good catching up with them.
David Blowers: 53:33
Cool
Trent Manning: 53:34
Yeah. No that’s good stuff.
David Blowers: 53:35
Yeah.
Trent Manning: 53:40
you ready for some rapid fire questions?
David Blowers: 53:42
Sure
Trent Manning: 53:44
What’s your favorite movie?
David Blowers: 53:45
Shaw shank redemption.
Trent Manning: 53:47
Love it. What would be your last meal?
David Blowers: 53:50
Spaghetti and meatball.
Trent Manning: 53:51
Hmm simple.
David Blowers: 53:52
I love spaghetti and meatball that I could eat it every day.
Trent Manning: 53:57
I really figured you for a rib eye and a baked potato type
David Blowers: 54:01
too Now don’t get don’t get me wrong. But I mean, you know, if I, but, and I should have been Italian, that’s all I can tell you.
Trent Manning: 54:06
Okay. What are you most proud of?
David Blowers: 54:09
Stand standard answer. Family.
Trent Manning: 54:11
Yeah.
David Blowers: 54:12
Love my kids. They, they probably don’t realize it probably don’t don’t know it. And, but nothing better.
Trent Manning: 54:19
Yeah. No family. That’s where it’s at for sure. Well, tell the listeners how they can get ahold of you
David Blowers: 54:25
I got two. I got one I’ve had for two decades. That’s JD real doc. J D R E E L D O C be south.net. Or you can email me@dblableturf.com.
Trent Manning: 54:40
Awesome No, that’s great. Thank you so much, david It’s been a
David Blowers: 54:44
pleasure.
Trent Manning: 54:45
I I know it would be. And, uh, it was fun to sit down and catch up with you a little bit. Not that we don’t talk a good bit.
David Blowers: 54:55
Not often enough. I wonder
Trent Manning: 54:57
often
David Blowers: 54:58
Sometimes I’ve pissed you off, but you know,
Trent Manning: 55:00
man, it’s life and you get busy and, and all that stuff you know?
David Blowers: 55:04
Yeah, yeah.
Trent Manning: 55:05
was like the text you sent me the other day about yeah. That you’d made me mad or something, but that’s never the case.
David Blowers: 55:11
Yeah well
Trent Manning: 55:12
you know how busy we get
David Blowers: 55:13
I do. And I just mess with you, but it’s a, and it’s a two-way street always and I, I, uh, I’ve never been good at that.
Trent Manning: 55:22
Mm-hmm
David Blowers: 55:22
I mean, I can sit here and talk with you all day long and you know, we can be friends and I’d be happy to hang out with you and do anything with you at any time. But I’m just so used to being alone, I guess, doing my own thing. And, and I just, uh, I’ve never, I’ve never been real good at fostering friendships. I think there’s probably something MIS wired in my brain sometimes.
Trent Manning: 55:47
Yeah. I don’t know. Um, I think. For males, it’s really hard. Yeah. And it’s something that I really, uh, kent carson, he does a really good job of that. Yeah, he does because he’ll call me, I mean, once a month or send me a text
David Blowers: 56:04
does me the same thing. I just wanted to check on you.
Trent Manning: 56:07
Yeah. Yeah. And it’s so good that he does that and I wish I was better about it. I got a friend, I hadn’t talked to him in probably three months and I feel terrible, I gotta reach out to him. and see how he’s he’s doing.
David Blowers: 56:21
Yeah. well I can, remember machinery and, I can relate everything I’ve ever worked on to the next thing I have to do. And you know, that’s my curse, I guess. I mean, it just that, since I was a little bit little boy playing with rector sets and Legos, you know, that stuff just makes sense to me and I can just picture it in my mind, but what you’re doing from day to day or whether or not we need to catch up or,
Trent Manning: 56:44
right.
David Blowers: 56:45
Just right past me. Yep. No, I totally
Trent Manning: 56:48
understand that.
David Blowers: 56:49
So I’m glad to be here for you.
Trent Manning: 56:51
No, thank you. Yeah I really appreciate it. And I appreciate you being a friend. I appreciate you being on the podcast and yeah We’ll We’ll talk again. Scene. He enjoyed that as much as I did. Always great to. Talk to a friend and someone as smart as David Flowers. He’s a wealth of knowledge. It amazes me every time I talked to him. All the stuff that he remembers, that was pretty incredible. And some of the high points of our conversation was. How important it is to foster relationships. And I have a lot of friends in the industry. And I don’t foster those relationships. Like I should. I need to be reaching out to more people talking to more people. And that’s something that’s on me. I got to take care of that. And you should too. Because I’m sure I’m not the only one that’s bad about that. And I think it comes natural, being a. Male. So I hope you think about that and hopefully reach out to some of your friends. Some of the people maybe you lost contact with and. get that connection rekindled. The other thing is using the tools in your toolbox. We might have a set idea of how things should be done. But sometimes we don’t have all those tools in our toolbox. So we got to use what resources. That are available to us. And there’s a lot of people out there that’s already using those resources and they’re successful with them. So if you change jobs and you get to a place and you can’t do it exactly like you did before. We’ve got to adapt and evolve. And then the other thing that we talked about was these new equipment packages. Make sure you get everything you need. Luckily for me are. John Deere distributor. The salesman I’ve had a relationship with for, I guess, 25 years now. And he kind of knows what we need and want. Far as the accessories that go on equipment. And he’s really good about selling that. He’s a good salesman. But some of these other salespeople that come through. You know, they don’t know that I won’t lock kits on everything. I order. They don’t know. I want a canopy on everything I ordered. And that’s just, you know, that doesn’t for everybody, but that’s the way my operation wants to run. We want to make our operators more comfortable. And put a canopy on there. Yes more money, but. You get better PR. Production out of your employees. So we want to take care of them. And then. Extra cutting units or like want to talk to John Patterson. He said, I wasn’t extra. Well, what was the word he used? Maintenance that’s yes, we need maintenance sets of cutting units. So we don’t take some of the pressure off and maybe you can take off a Saturday or a Sunday or. an early day, if you have those maintenance units. And then lastly, Don’t be afraid to push yourself and get out of your comfort zone. And maybe you need to push somebody else too. We’re not all a. Wired the same. And different things motivate us. And if I didn’t have some of the people in my life pushing me, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today. And I do want to thank David. For. Pushing me and get me more involved. Cause I probably wouldn’t be here right now talking to you. So I hope you’re having a good season. And it’s almost over. And it’s going to be a breath of relief. For me, I know. Mark your calendars. The first annual Eric Duncanson Memorial golf tournament. The support, the benevolence fund for T tack. Is it going to be Monday, October 10th. At Carolina, tres country club. So if there’s any way possible, you can make it down. Come on, sign up. And if not, you can still donate. That’s a great cause and it helps a lot of people. And I’m going to try my best to get up there. So let me know if you’re coming. Tag us on Twitter. And let us know that you’re coming. Until next time. See you. Bye. thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf techs podcast. I hope you learned something today. Don’t forget to subscribe. If you have any topics you’d like to discuss, or you’d like to be a guest, find us on Twitter at Reel turf techs.