Jason Fontana. CTEM, Turf Equipment Manager at Desert Mountain Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ worked with his grandfather in an auto shop in the summers when he was a kid. He always enjoyed taking things apart and putting them back together. He started working for a company doing irrigation on a golf course and found his way to the shop. He loves spending time outdoors in the mountains. Hear how this CTEM is living his dream in this week’s episode.
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 real turf text podcast, episode 93. Today, we’re talking to Jason Fontana CTM. Turf equipment manager at desert mountain in Scottsdale, Arizona. Desert mountain as a private club with 126 holes. I said it 126 holes of golf. Across seven courses. On a property of 9,000 acres. I guess I have big stuff in Arizona, too. Not just Texas. Jason has 14 techs. Two in each shop. Jason has mainly John Deere equipment. Let’s talk to Jason. 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, Jason to the Real Turf Tech podcast. How you doing today?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 1:51
Doing good, Trent. Thanks for having me.
Trent Manning: 1:53
Absolutely. It’s gonna be a blast. It always is a lot of fun. Tell us how you got into the turf industry.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 2:01
Well, I would say I kind of feel like I’m probably have a similar story to a lot of guys in the industry. I started out as a young kid messing around with toys and, and breaking them, putting ’em back together, driving my mom crazy. That kind of led me into, uh, my grandfather owned an auto shop downtown Phoenix, so all my summers off from school. parents sent me down to Phoenix, spent three months with grandma, grandpa, and go to the radiator shop with grandpa. And that just kind of got me into working with my hands getting dirty, learning what tools are what they do. and then it just grew from there. You know, I, uh, my first car was a 70 Chevy Nova, so I like to work on my car a lot,
Trent Manning: 2:44
Mm-hmm.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 2:45
it up and, uh, yeah, it just kind of blossomed into that. An opportunity came across one summer and, uh, at the local golf course and jumped into that, and it was, it was immediate, I mean, fell in love with it immediate.
Trent Manning: 2:59
That’s awesome. So you started working at a golf course directly in the shop, or did you start out on the crew?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 3:06
No, I actually start, they were doing an irrigation, replacement, really old golf course up in northern Arizona and Flagstaff. and they were trying to get modern, you know, our old system was all nighttime. Water. Guys would drive around at night and set quick couplers at night, and that’s how they did it. So they were upgrading to more of a valve and head system. Yeah, one of my buddies worked there previous summers and he just said, Hey, you know, we’re looking for guys to come help us rip out this old system and dig holes and trenches and that kind of stuff. And hopped into that and started, you know, day one in the bunkers, hand raking bunkers and
Trent Manning: 3:43
Mm-hmm.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 3:44
worked my way up out that. And once I got into the shop, you know, and got to mess around with, with reels and things like that, it was off to the races after.
Trent Manning: 3:54
That’s
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 3:55
intimidating at first, you know, something. So, uh, specialty, you know, a little different from working on just small block Chevys and stuff. But no, man, it, it, it, it came naturally. Loved it, loved it immediately,
Trent Manning: 4:08
That’s awesome. No, great story for sure. Do you Relief grind
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 4:12
every time.
Trent Manning: 4:14
every time. All right. Always. I love it.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 4:17
uh, We try not to let our land widths get any closer than halfway, you know, if it’s halfway, that’s too far in my opinion. So that way we’re not doing such a heavy relief grind either, you know,
Trent Manning: 4:28
Right. Yeah. Yeah.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 4:30
But yes, absolutely we are. Uh, we’re full, full blown relief grinders here.
Trent Manning: 4:35
okay. Very nice. And have you always, I guess, relieved Crown?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 4:42
No, no, you know, in the early days I didn’t know any better and the first course was kind of a low budget course, so they actually had back lapping machine and back lapping compound, which is something I haven’t seen or touched in years. But it was pretty, pretty popular in those days. And I mean, they just. You know, spin grind, everything was full thickness blades, maximum robbing of horsepower, heat build of all the stuff you don’t want to do. But, uh, no, it wasn’t until, um, it wasn’t until I started with Tru Golf. I worked at a course and, um, they sent me to a grinding seminar. Every year, a local seminar, the local John Deere guys would do a, a grinding seminar. And it was through Foley and it really opened my eyes to the, um, to the science of it, you know, of why it backed up by data and everything. And so once, once we saw that, it was like, okay, that was kind of a no-brainer. After that,
Trent Manning: 5:44
Mm-hmm.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 5:44
wasn’t lucky enough to learn it all of, you know, the detailed way at the beginning with relief, it was mostly just spin, grinding.
Trent Manning: 5:52
Why don’t, I think a lot of us can relate to that and I mean, even me, when I first started, we didn’t even have a bed knife grinder. And I’ve told this story, you know, a bunch of times and yeah, that’s all we could do was lap you, put a new bed knife on and lap it until that bed knife’s done. You throw another one on there.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 6:09
right, right. I remember our, uh, one of our first mechanics, he, uh, he had the old, you know, you would number each blade.
Trent Manning: 6:18
Mm-hmm.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 6:18
even a spin grinder, it was just a relief grinder. But you would just do one blade at a time, start on one, go through all of ’em, and then start on two on the next one around until you relief that thing all the way down where there was no land, you know? And then they’d send that thing out and it’d get dinged up immediately. And, you know, you just learn what works well and, and, and what gets you stuck.
Trent Manning: 6:42
Oh, for sure. Yeah. I got a 1988 Toro Pool gang unit, and in the operator’s manual it tells you to relief, grind, and you know, with no land and then you’re supposed to lap it to establish the land.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 7:01
dLAN. Yeah,
Trent Manning: 7:03
And I don’t know. I posted
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 7:04
right there, man.
Trent Manning: 7:05
a super old school. Yeah, old school for sure. Yeah. I don’t, I don’t do that, but that’s what it says in the operator’s manual.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 7:14
1988. Huh?
Trent Manning: 7:15
Yep. 1988 and she’s still running. and honestly, it’s one of my favorite pieces of equipment because I’ll go through it in the wintertime. I’ll ground the reels, check all the bearings, all that stuff, and it’ll run all summer. And all we gotta do is adjust reel to bed knife. Occasionally we’ll replace a roller or something like that.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 7:33
right? And you pull that around in your roughs.
Trent Manning: 7:36
Yeah, so that’s our rough mower. And then we have, uh, 1 30, 100 that, you know, kind of catches the cleanup.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 7:45
Gotcha,
Trent Manning: 7:46
we’re a hundred percent reels on our rough, and I know a lot of people that’s went rotary, but I just, I’m not there yet.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 7:54
Those are a
Trent Manning: 7:55
I’m hanging on. Oh yeah, yeah. You can destroy some stuff and destroy some cutting units too with, without hanging out.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 8:04
every other tree that we had at
Trent Manning: 8:06
Uh huh.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 8:06
in Washington with one of those just getting too close and
Trent Manning: 8:10
Yeah, y’all always, well, it was, uh, John, uh, bso, he said it’s amazing what an operator will do to try to get one piece of grass.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 8:20
Oh, yeah.
Trent Manning: 8:21
One blade of grass.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 8:22
How much time you waste. You miss it and come swing back around just to try to get
Trent Manning: 8:26
Yeah. Yeah. That’s
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 8:29
like being thorough.
Trent Manning: 8:31
That’s it. us something you fabricated lately?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 8:36
Uh, me personally, last thing I fabricated is pretty small, but, um, we are flipping leases and we have some GPS equipment on property now, particularly some of our, uh, 200 gallon sprayers or gps.
Trent Manning: 8:51
Mm-hmm.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 8:51
So the last thing I actually welded up and fabbed up was a, a stand to take up on one of these mountains for the, uh, the transmitter antenna. Nothing fancy, but just like some two by two posts with a stand on, you know, flat plate on top with a cover, and then put a cabinet in it so that, you know, keep it out of the weather. And then, Ransom, uh, steel conduit cuz we get a lot of pack rats and stuff in there that eat jacketing off wiring and they just tear everything up. So it was a cool little project, even though it was halfway up a mountain, but it’s good
Trent Manning: 9:25
I don’t, uh, you said pack rat and here in the south we don’t have pack rats and you know, I’d heard the term PAC rat, you know, my whole life and referring to people that are probably hoarders being pack rats or whatever. but I was up my friend’s house in Kansas and I opened one of our kitchen drawers and there’s all these pods in there. From, and I’m not sure what tree it came from, but these pods were, yeah, they were seed pods and maybe six inches long, and the drawer is packed full of them. And I mean, she’s like really clean too. So I’m, I’m really puzzled. I’m like, is she saving these seed pods for something? So I said, come, come here. What? What’s this in this drawer? And she, you know, so she immediately starts freaking out like, oh my God, what is that? Sure
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 10:19
Oh, they’re
Trent Manning: 10:20
a pack wrap.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 10:22
Dairy havoc, man. We get, uh, we get equipment that we park out of the way, you know, that doesn’t get used very often. Like, some fleet vehicles and, you know, you come around ’em in the springtime or whatever to pull ’em out and use them and you find it, you know, they’re in the hood, they’ve made a house and they’re, they chew, you know, half through, halfway through a bundle of wire harness
Trent Manning: 10:42
yeah. It’s
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 10:43
just destructive.
Trent Manning: 10:45
Yep. That’s nuts.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 10:46
really gotta go outta your way to keep ’em out. So I basically welded them out, you know, keep ’em out
Trent Manning: 10:51
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yep.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 10:53
But, uh, yeah, that was the last thing I personally made myself.
Trent Manning: 10:56
what’s your favorite tool?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 10:58
See, I gotta go basic and say the, the trustee hammer,
Trent Manning: 11:02
Okay. All right.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 11:03
know what I’m saying? I mean, old school hammer, you don’t know how many times you need a little, little hammer. I mean, new style, I’d say probably my fluke, multi-meter.
Trent Manning: 11:13
Mm-hmm.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 11:14
can’t tell you how many times a hammer, you know, you just need a hammer.
Trent Manning: 11:18
What’s your favorite hammer?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 11:21
I just use an old S wing framing hammer steel shaft. Had it for probably 20 years.
Trent Manning: 11:26
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn’t, I didn’t know. Yeah, if you’re snap on balling or
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 11:31
No, no, not nothing like that. I look, I got a couple ball pees in the drawer. You know, you need those. But I usually go from my straight cloth, framing, hammering. Just always have, I don’t know why.
Trent Manning: 11:41
That’s, I love it, man. It’s good stuff. What do you do to relax or find your balance?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 11:47
pretty much anything outside, you know, be it fishing, hunting, anything I can do outside. My wife and I like to go off-road and out in the desert and look for old abandoned gold mines and do some prospecting and things like that, and
Trent Manning: 12:00
Oh yeah.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 12:01
out on the weekend and do that. That’s, that’s usually been what we’ve been doing lately cuz it’s nice out in the desert still. It’s not hot.
Trent Manning: 12:07
Okay. That’s awesome. So can you kind of do that all winter long?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 12:13
what’s that? Prospecting and all
Trent Manning: 12:14
Well, I mean, yeah. Is the weather decent in your area? Through the winter.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 12:19
It’s great. I mean, we’ll get into some cold spells. I mean, cold for us is, you know, you get into the thirties, get some, get some frost. We never really get a heart. It’s pretty rare. We get a hard freeze. So when you start out a morning in the upper thirties, sun comes out and you know it’s in the fifties and no time. So it’s a little cool to our standards, but ultimately it’s it. It’s nice, you know, we’re gonna be complaining in a few months about it being too hot, so we’ll take it while we can.
Trent Manning: 12:50
Yeah. Any day that’s mid to high fifties and the sun’s out, that’s, that’s beautiful weather for getting outside doing
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 12:56
pretty good. We were touching the low seventies for a few days, but those are, it’s just. Every three days, we get a rainstorm come through and a couple times it’s snowed out here. And you know, that’s which, it’s not unusual, but when it’s st it doesn’t usually stick. It’ll snow and maybe dust the desert a little bit. But this last one, actually, everything was white. Like two inches of snow. Know?
Trent Manning: 13:21
Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, that’s that’s a good snowfall then.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 13:24
Yeah. Expecting that tomorrow night again. So it’s kind of.
Trent Manning: 13:29
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen at the golf course?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 13:33
Like in my career, man, I’ve seen, I’ve seen some crazy stuff. some of the vandalism I’ve seen, you know, you come into work. I mean, I can remember a time coming into work and. Doing the front line, come around the back and there’s a couch and one of the bunkers in the fairway. Like a, just a full blown, like they, I don’t know what they did in there all night, but I mean, they had beer bottles and, you know, I’m, I’m sure you’ve seen your share of some interesting vandalism too. some interesting wildlife kills. You know, out in the desert we’ve found half buried deer. Like we think mountain lions kind of hide their
Trent Manning: 14:12
Oh,
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 14:13
To come back later, but that was, that was pretty crazy to come and see a, like a hollowed out, full grown deer, somewhat halfway buried in a bunker. That was pretty crazy.
Trent Manning: 14:23
No, that’s nuts. I don’t, is mountain line really common there? I guess.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 14:29
actually, yeah, I know. Uh, Arizona Game and Fish has three known cats that are tagged. Out here in this area, in these mountains. And if you get on YouTube, there’s actually a cool video of one of ’em on the 18th Green of the Chi Cow. Of course, some, uh, members were shooting video. They were having drinks in the patio and they shot video of him, and he was just playing around with the flagstick, you know, swatting around at the flag and got his cloth stuck in it, and pulled the pin out. And it was, it was pretty cool.
Trent Manning: 15:01
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 15:03
our local, uh, resident cats from Desert Mountain.
Trent Manning: 15:07
Very cool. Yeah, so this afternoon I was talking to my director of agronomy and I told him that I was interviewing you and, and where you worked and he couldn’t remember, I think it was like early nineties. He was at your club. And I think maybe G C S A was having their event somewhere around there. And anyway, he came out to play and you know, I don’t know who invited him or whatever, but he said from the entrance, it’s a pretty long drive up to the clubhouse.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 15:39
Yes.
Trent Manning: 15:39
was, and I don’t know what course it was he played, but he said that they got your name at the gate and by the time you got to the clubhouse, they had all your stuff.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 15:51
Really.
Trent Manning: 15:52
Yeah, and I mean, I don’t know if y’all still do that or not,
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 15:56
I, I don’t know. I mean, in those days it would’ve been, you know, we’re up to seven golf courses now and they, they built them, I think they started in 86 with Renegade, and they went all the way into the early two thousands for the six big courses. And then they just added a seventh course par three. Think they finished that three years.
Trent Manning: 16:17
Wow.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 16:18
and it’s all on a 9,000 acre property. So, I mean, depending on what part of the mountain you go to, you pull in the gate and it might be a 30 minute drive before you get to your actual course.
Trent Manning: 16:29
okay. Yeah.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 16:30
know what I mean? It’s
Trent Manning: 16:31
I wanna say he was saying there was only three courses, like when he fir when he came out there.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 16:37
Renegade, Cochise, and Geronimo, those were the first three. Renegade was first.
Trent Manning: 16:41
Okay. No, that’s cool story. If it still happens, uh, that’s.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 16:46
Yeah, I mean, it, it wouldn’t surprise me if they went to that level. It wouldn’t, it wouldn’t surprise me.
Trent Manning: 16:51
What’s one of your pet peeves around the shop?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 16:54
Uh, let’s starting, I’d say probably starting too many projects, you know, too many irons in the fire. You know, we all, we all get caught up in the moment and try to do as much as we can and be as productive as we can. A lot of times I think we bite off more than we can chew, and it’s easy to let something slip by or miss something and you don’t realize it until you know when it’s crunch time or you find out the hard way. So we try to really focus on starting something and finishing it and, you know, getting it done hundred percent and not having to do it again.
Trent Manning: 17:28
No, that’s, yeah, that’s, uh, a really, really good thing. How many, uh, technicians do you have that work for you?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 17:35
So I have 14 total two in each shop.
Trent Manning: 17:37
Okay. That’s awesome.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 17:38
it’s, it’s a great team, great team. They’re uh, they’re autopilot, man. You know, they were already an autopilot when I got here, and they pretty much stayed busy on their own. You know, we have. We have our meetings and all that stuff, but there’s, I don’t have to line ’em out for the day or anything like that. They’re real, uh, they’re real efficient on their own.
Trent Manning: 18:03
No, that’s awesome. Good stuff.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 18:06
Yeah. With two in each shop. I mean, there’s, I don’t wanna say redundant, but you know, they cross over each other and make sure that things don’t get missed. There’s a lot of overlap,
Trent Manning: 18:17
Uh, right, right. Yeah. And I mean, that’s, that’s good. And having some redundancy is a great thing.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 18:24
Yeah,
Trent Manning: 18:24
I don’t, I need somebody to check behind me all the time cuz I’m constantly forgetting this or that or did I do that? Yeah. Just like you’re saying in in, in the heat of the moment and when everything’s going a hundred miles an hour is all you can do to keep
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 18:39
It’s easy to drop something.
Trent Manning: 18:42
Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure. Do you have a mentor in the industry?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 18:47
So, you know, tra I wouldn’t say that and I hate to say that. I can’t say that I actually have one guy that I can think of my whole career that I really look back to. the ones that stand out are really my high level DOAs that I work for. You know, like, like my director right now, Todd, he’s awesome. I’ve worked for, you know, worked for Sean Emerson, he was great to work for. and then some of the other guys in the northwest, just the, the high, the, the directors that really. Yeah, I don’t know how to say. Some directors, I feel like it’s hard to approach, you know, maybe an intimidation thing when you’re lower level to how approachable your directors are. But these guys that I’ve worked for over the years have always been really approachable and you feel like they care about what you’re doing and, and where your career is headed. and, and then just the little things that they say. Stick, you know, like a hundred percent commit to every commit to what you’re doing. Don’t second guess yourself. Things along that line, you
Trent Manning: 19:47
Mm-hmm. No, that’s some really good, yeah, really good advice. And I mean, it’s so
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 19:53
A lot of great, a lot of great people out there that I’ve worked with.
Trent Manning: 19:56
Yeah, that’s that’s awesome. And I’ve, I mean, I’ve had a bunch of people say that, you know, I don’t have one mentor. I got a hundred mentors.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 20:05
Yeah, and that’s kind of how I feel. You know, it just depends on where you’re at and what you’re going through. But, you know, some of ’em I work for have, have exposed me to the agronomy side. You know, I went. Through turf school and, and wanted to be a superintendent, because I looked up to some of those guys and was like, you know, maybe that’s what I want to do. I, I, I, I love doing that too, but I still like to, I still, my heart’s in the shop.
Trent Manning: 20:29
Yeah. Yeah. Yep. No, I’m, I’m with you there and I’ve, I’ve thought the same thing about, you know, should I pursue that? But I don’t know. I really like working in the shop and really glad I don’t have to deal with membership too, and play all the top politics that
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 20:46
That’s the, those are the two biggest things you said right there is the politics of it, and then members, you know, there’s always, you know, there’s always the members that will have your back no matter what, and then there’s the few that you can’t, no matter what you do, you can’t, you, they’re hard to get on board with what you’re doing, no matter how hard you try. It’s the ones in the middle that matter. You know the 80% in the middle
Trent Manning: 21:15
Well, right. And that’s probably what makes the direct of agronomy keep doing it is those 80 in the middle. It’s not the ones on the
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 21:24
Not the 10 that always complain,
Trent Manning: 21:27
Right. Uh, What would be your dream job or opportunity?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 21:32
oh man, if I could have a dream job, it would be. I’d be up in the mountains. I mean, my heart and souls in the mountains. if I could have a cabin in the woods, might golf course work, seasonal, you know, and just be out. Cause I’m an outdoors guy, so I’d, I’d already be there, you
Trent Manning: 21:50
Oh yeah, yeah. No,
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 21:51
Sounds simple, man. But it’s, it’s just, uh, I don’t know what it is about the woods, but that
Trent Manning: 21:57
I agree with you. I mean, there’s, there’s definitely something to being outdoors in the
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 22:02
just tired of the city, man. The city life gets old. There’s too many people and you can’t do anything without, you know, something going on And,
Trent Manning: 22:10
yeah, I had, I had that conversation. Uh, the neighborhood I lived in, I built a playhouse for my daughters and, you know, they were, whatever. one and four or something like that, you know, I mean, they’re really small at the time and it wasn’t, you know, nothing fancy painted the same color as our house, and I put Cedar shake shingles on it.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 22:31
Nice.
Trent Manning: 22:32
because my neighbor had some cedar shakes and shingles, and I thought, this’ll look cool. So, you know, I put those on there. Yeah. And HOAs up in, you know, in uproar, can you paint these black? And I’m like, no, I’m not paying Cedar shakes black. I’m sorry.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 22:47
man, nuff
Trent Manning: 22:48
But yeah, they’ll, they’ll, they’ll turn. So, yeah. And you know, I grew. In the country back then. It’s not so much now, and I don’t, I mean that’s, I can definitely relate to what you’re saying. Being outdoors. I was out outside every day as a kid.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 23:05
Yeah, that’s, that’s where I grew up too, is up north in the woods. the career brought me back down to the desert, but you know, like I said, that’s where my heart and soul is, is back up in the, in the woods. And if I could get a job where, you know, something that would satisfy and, and, and be up in that kind of environment, man, I’m in.
Trent Manning: 23:24
Mm-hmm. Nope. I’m gonna keep my eye out for you. I’m sure there’s something coming down the line.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 23:30
appreciate that. You let me know.
Trent Manning: 23:32
What, what technician would you like to work with for a day?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 23:35
That’s a great question. I’ve never really given that any thought. I mean, there’s so many guys in the industry. I’d say probably the ones that really stand out. I mean, I know Steven Tucker’s done a lot for the industry, but I really got to chat with John Patterson a little bit at the.
Trent Manning: 23:49
Oh,
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 23:49
known of John Patterson for a long time. I’ve just never formally met the gentleman. it just sounds like a really cool guy and the place he works at, you know, at Atlanta is, is something to behold as well. And I think it’d be cool to just hang out with him for a day.
Trent Manning: 24:06
Oh, for sure. Yeah, and I mean, hon honestly, if you ever want to come to Atlanta, you let me know and we’ll set up a shop tour and we’ll go see John and see some other people. And,
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 24:16
That would be awesome. Yeah,
Trent Manning: 24:18
we were lucky enough. When, uh, Chad Braun came down and spoke at our equipment manager seminar here in Georgia back in January And he, uh, luckily was able to stay the next day. So we ran over to John’s and we went by Atlanta Country Club, which is, uh, where Corey Phillips is at. You might have run into him at show. Uh, he’s got a nice facility there too. But we, we had so much fun, just seeing, you know, different people shop and you walk around, you see all their equipment and you’re like, oh, what are you using this for?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 24:50
That’s so
Trent Manning: 24:51
a great.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 24:51
about it too. You know, we all, there’s a million ways to skin a cat, you know what I mean? We, we,
Trent Manning: 24:57
Mm-hmm.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 24:58
our product I think is generally the same, but the differences in how different guys get to that is, is what blows me away. You think you kind of have grip on everything and then you go to another place and see people doing things completely different, but, In an awesome way that results in great product and it’s like, yeah, I’ll just, I’m like a sponge man. I’ll learn, I’ll take that up all day long learning
Trent Manning: 25:25
Oh, well, I mean, exactly like you said, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. We’re all trying to do the same thing. We all do it a little bit different, and if you collectively take 10 people’s processes and put ’em together, you can come up with something really, really good that works for you.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 25:41
right. Totally agree.
Trent Manning: 25:43
yeah, for sure. So, yes, definitely, uh, John Patterson would be a great one to spend the day with. And he’s open to that too. I know. Uh, Jerry Cara, he came up, uh, last, well not this past winter, the winter before, and spent a couple days with John at his shop in the wintertime and. I mean, it’s so nice to be able to do that and pick somebody like that’s brain for a couple days, that’s been doing it forever and has a really good program over there, and they’re fortunate.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 26:16
he’s smart too, you know, I mean, well we tried out some of these brackets that he engineered for, uh, QA five s that man, there’s no looking back. Like he needs to mass produce those, and
Trent Manning: 26:28
That’s awesome. So
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 26:30
our guys struggle with those eccentrics on these S I P grinders and that’s like the solution right there.
Trent Manning: 26:36
Mm-hmm. Yeah, no, hands down and I mean, I, no matter what kind of grinder you got, that is a pain to try
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 26:44
It is. And you’re right. You’re right. It doesn’t matter. The grinder, I mean, even anybody that touches one of those eccentrics, I’m sure is grumble at it.
Trent Manning: 26:53
Yeah, I’m, I’m still trying to find a socket that I can get a seven eights to fit through. You know? You need a socket that’s, yeah. Yeah, right.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 27:02
you gotta grind down into a low profile wrench.
Trent Manning: 27:05
Uhhuh. Yeah, exactly. I don’t know what, what the engineer, well, actually this was, when was this? Probably like 2011. Uh, me and Corey Phillips, we went to, uh, the John Deere training school up in, uh, yeah, in Raleigh. And one night we went out and was having dinner with the engineers, and me and Corey both asked this engineer, what are you thinking on
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 27:38
Do you hammer ’em?
Trent Manning: 27:39
yeah. We hammered him like, this is an awful design.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 27:43
I remember they gave us that opportunity at the end of the factory training. I went to that as well, and like the last day was q and a with the engineers and it was what everyone was waiting for
Trent Manning: 27:54
Mm-hmm. Oh yeah.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 27:55
Adam.
Trent Manning: 27:56
What do you know now you wish you’d known on day one?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 27:59
Well, that’s a tough question too. wish I’d known that I would come this far. You know, I never would’ve, never would’ve dreamed that I’d be even halfway to this level. You know, you thinking back to day one of, you know, sticking a probe in the ground looking for irrigation pipe, trying to rip out old pipe and hand raking bunkers. You know, managing 14 guys and you know, the, a huge John Deere lease and five shops and it’s, yeah, never would’ve, never would’ve dreamed it, man.
Trent Manning: 28:34
Yeah. Yeah. You might, you might, you might be, uh, Having the dream job already. You already got some people’s dream job probably having a facility like that.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 28:44
It’s great. I mean, it’s not never a dull moment, you know, I mean, it has its challenges, but at the end of it all it’s, you know, if I didn’t have the team I had and they probably wouldn’t be here,
Trent Manning: 28:56
But right. Yeah. Yeah.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 28:57
you know, they really carry and it, it’s just a cool place to be around and cool people to be around. And it, it, it is, it’s great. It’s huge.
Trent Manning: 29:08
I’m definitely, uh, I’ll just go ahead and warn you. I’m not asking, I’m inviting myself next year when,
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 29:17
I, I hope man, doors always open. Always open, and that’s kind of what I’ve talked to my, you know, I don’t know what plans the show will have, but I know there’s gonna be some gentlemen in in town that might want to step out and ladies too. Come, come out, check, check out the mountain, show you all the shops.
Trent Manning: 29:36
Definitely on my list for sure.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 29:38
Awesome
Trent Manning: 29:43
You got any tips or tricks you wanna share with us?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 29:47
tips and tricks. Not really, man. I mean, I’m just,
Trent Manning: 29:50
No.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 29:51
nah, not really.
Trent Manning: 29:52
Okay. Just keep your head down. Stay busy.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 29:56
yeah. Yeah. Just commit to what you’re doing and a hundred percent every time.
Trent Manning: 30:02
That’s, I mean, that’s something to
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 30:03
wouldn’t call that a tip or a trick, but
Trent Manning: 30:06
Why don’t, yeah, I don’t, I think it’s, uh, good advice. How
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 30:10
yeah, that’s where
Trent Manning: 30:11
This is really good advice. Let’s talk about, uh, getting a shop, OSHA aide.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 30:17
Big job. So like I said, this shop and the other four as well are, they’re outfitted generally, like you would see a standard shop, But goals I have, you know, to start with painting floors, epoxy floors, creating safety lanes. no-go areas, like welding areas will be painted a different color. some of the things I noticed, and this comes from the time I worked in a fabrication shop, that was huge, and they were very OSHA oriented to where. You know, something as simple as he’s looking for a fire extinguisher. You know, you, you’d see a red stripe on the wall, so you could see it from a distance and know right where to go versus, you know, if something happens and you’re scrambling around you, you can’t find her. It’s not where it was, or somebody, you know, moved it or whatever. You know, high visibility, things like that to help in a, in a situ. hose reels from the ceiling. So all our air hoses will ho hang from a reel through the ceiling for dropdown. There won’t be anything across the ground, anti-slip on the stairs. as much as I can get off the floor the better.
Trent Manning: 31:28
right, right. right.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 31:30
but that’s the big start right now is, I mean, this is a 7,000 square foot shop. So I gotta sub that out to have an epoxy and then we’ll, we’ll do lanes, what else? Tag in, tag out. You know, we, that was never in here. We implemented that. even though we have a facilities department and we usually can call them out and have them come fix stuff, there’s times when we gotta do it ourselves. And, you know, just everything is just safety oriented, you know, I don’t want anybody to work on anything without some sort of a layer. Safety. You know, that’s where the tagging tagout came in. You know, something as simple as a light switch, you know, you gotta kill power to that circuit or whatever.
Trent Manning: 32:11
Right, right. Do you have any, uh, what are you doing on the epoxy floor? Any certain brand or
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 32:19
so I’ve used a lot over the years. You know, we’ve tried to cheap stuff. The rustoleum, to me, that’s a homeowner garage coating. High impact shop like this. So I’ve really been looking for something heavy duty. in the past I used a product through Lawson. I don’t remember the name of it, but it was a two-part gray epoxy and it worked real nice. It was pretty strong. Had a real nice gloss. but I found a product called Armor Epox. On the internet. It’s not cheap, but I mean, this stuff builds up to like 24 mills thick. it, it’s used in, aircraft hangers, you know, stuff with high heavy traffic. I’ve tried it in two of our smaller shops, just around the grind area. And I mean, it doesn’t chip off. It doesn’t, it looks like it did when we installed it eight months ago.
Trent Manning: 33:12
Wow.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 33:13
So I’m hoping to use that here. It’s not a, it’s not cheap, but I feel like in this industry you get what you pay for more often than not.
Trent Manning: 33:22
Oh yeah, for sure. And I’ve used the Sherman Williams products, the HS 1000 or whatever it was,
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 33:29
And what are your
Trent Manning: 33:30
is a two.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 33:30
that?
Trent Manning: 33:31
Uh, well it’s a two-part epoxy and it looks beautiful, you know, right after it goes down. And mine’s actually been down 10 years and it looks pretty rough though.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 33:47
Does
Trent Manning: 33:47
that’s one thing I do do not like about it is it seems to chip pretty easy.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 33:53
right.
Trent Manning: 33:54
I did, I think I did a fair job on the prep and we done it all in the house and it is a pain and I wish I could sub that stuff out. I don’t know if how thick you’re allowed to put it down, but maybe, yeah. If you had it, you know, 10 meals thick or something, maybe it doesn’t chip as bad. I’m not. But I mean, all in all, it’s, it’s held up pretty good, but I would say every three years it probably needs to be done to keep it looking sharp.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 34:23
Right? Right. And that’s the other thing I noticed too, was a lot of products tend to chip no matter how much prep you put into roughen up the surface and acid etching and all that. I still feel like, especially the box store stuff like the rustoleum’s and stuff, they don’t. They’re just not made for the kind of work that we do with the high impact and the harsh chemicals and stuff. I’m hoping this will be the solution. I mean, I, I, it comes with a pretty hard warranty, and uh, it’s like any other two part, you know, it takes three, four days to fully cure,
Trent Manning: 34:59
Mm-hmm.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 34:59
but, yeah, I hope to put that down in this shop here in the next couple months
Trent Manning: 35:04
Okay.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 35:05
shop.
Trent Manning: 35:06
Yeah, we will, uh, keep us posted for sure on how that stuff’s holding up. If not, I’ll, I’ll, I’ll find out
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 35:13
Just bring
Trent Manning: 35:14
N next February.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 35:15
bring that hammer and we’ll swing a hammer
Trent Manning: 35:17
right.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 35:17
it.
Trent Manning: 35:19
That’s good. Good stuff. So what else are you doing OSHA wise on getting. All your shops, I mean you. So let’s back up just a second. You are a certified turf equipment manager. So you have went through the C T E M process and got certified, so your facilities were already pretty squared away.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 35:41
Yeah, they’re pretty safe. I mean, I think, you know, I don’t want to say it’s, you know, for me personally, but you know, if I can really fancy this up, instead of just basic, you know, with, with not just, like I said, the floor. But like things on the wall, organized on the wall, get everything up off the ground, hang what I can. just really will reduce, even if guys aren’t paying attention, you know, it’ll reduce accidents and things will just from stuff laying around. big one I see is the air, air hoses and extension cords drag around, you know, so hanging those will be the big thing. fuel. We have our fuel tanks, so I want to get all of, I’m not required to have everybody, but I’d like to get all of my guys certified for underground storage tank for abc.
Trent Manning: 36:40
Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 36:41
that way it’s not just me. There’s enough overlap and coverage for fuel. See, anything fuel related. what am I missing? I mean, fire suppression. I’d say
Trent Manning: 36:53
Are y’all required to have fire suppression in your facilities?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 36:58
as far as legally, I, I don’t know the square footage, but yes, there’s a certain square footage and we do have the sprinkler system, but like I was alluding to earlier with the, uh, fire extinguishers, they’re in here, but I don’t know that there’s enough. You know, someone want to add some more spread ’em. So the people don’t have to go so far. If there is an accident or if they need one.
Trent Manning: 37:20
Yeah. Yeah. When I, you know, when I was going through the CTM process, I wanted to make sure of that too, so I went. Through, I called out our, uh, fire extinguisher guy, the guy that comes in, or the company that, uh, services him every year. And I was pumping him for information like, how many of these do I need per square foot? And he’s like, I don’t think it works that way. And I’m like, O okay.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 37:47
I kind of got the similar answer from our facilities department cuz they handle all that and I was like, Hey, I want to add some fire extinguishers. I don’t know if there’s enough. And they’re like, Kind of a similar thing, like, well, I don’t know that there’s a formula that you follow, and it’s like, well, I’m standing here and there’s oil barrels and stuff right here, and there’s a fire extinguisher over there, but I’d like one to be right here as well. Right next to everything.
Trent Manning: 38:13
Well, that’s a good thing. Not, they’re definitely not gonna. They’re not gonna count off if you got too many, know, there’s, yeah. No, no such thing as that, right? Yeah. Don’t have to worry about hearing that. Didn’t you have something really cool for your fuel, the fuel dispense sun like a had?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 38:37
Oh, we use, uh, V S T. So V s T is a all, all of our pumps. Yeah. They’re all, each, uh, employee has a code and that code will connect them to their home golf course that they work at. So when they enter a code, it has the golf course they’re at, the vehicle they’re using, and then what pump they use. So basically a computer tracks every gallon to what machine and by what employee at what golf course.
Trent Manning: 39:08
Okay.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 39:09
So it really helps when, uh, ADQ comes around and wants, you know, total fuel output, it’s, you know, 30 seconds on their app and they can generate a report for however they want. It’s way handy versus following a, you know, clipboard and add it
Trent Manning: 39:26
yeah.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 39:26
up and not counting for who forgot to record their gas for the day or whatever. You know,
Trent Manning: 39:33
Well, and
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 39:34
cannot get gasoline without having to access the.
Trent Manning: 39:38
Well, that’s what I was gonna say. There’s no way for them to get gas or to get diesel or whatever without accessing that
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 39:44
Yep,
Trent Manning: 39:45
Yeah. No, that’s, that’s pretty cool stuff.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 39:48
it is. And I mean this, this, this golf course, we’re in multiple layers of security. You know, you gotta go through Security Gate and then another gate, and another gate before you finally get in here. But you know, so theft isn’t really an issue here. But I’ve worked at other places where, you know, gas. Disappears on its own, if you
Trent Manning: 40:07
Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. Yep, for
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 40:09
So this is nice to be able to track every gown.
Trent Manning: 40:12
Yeah, I don’t, we had a, a guy, I don’t, he hadn’t been there long, like, you know, a, a week or two and on a Saturday the manager sees him over filling his car up and it’s like, dude, what are you doing? Oh, I thought we could get gas. It’s like, what, what are you, what are you thinking
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 40:29
Doesn’t work that way, man. No. I worked at a place where that happened before there was a car. It was my first day on the job. And there was a like a Honda or something at the gas, and I didn’t make a big deal, but I just walked over to him and was like, can I help you? And he’s like, yeah, I’m the general manager. Nice to meet you. He was like, oh yeah,
Trent Manning: 40:49
All right. Okay. Yep. Yep. Have a good
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 40:51
day.
Trent Manning: 40:53
Yeah, exactly right.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 40:54
know, watch those fuel pumps like a hawk.
Trent Manning: 40:57
Mm-hmm. Yep, for sure. Well, you got anything else you wanna share with us?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 41:03
No, I mean, it’s like I said, I hope you guys make some time and come out if you’re down here for the show next year
Trent Manning: 41:10
Oh, don’t, don’t worry. You’re gonna get, uh, you’re
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 41:13
around,
Trent Manning: 41:14
you’re gonna get bombarded.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 41:16
I can’t wait man. Can’t
Trent Manning: 41:17
no, it’s, it’s gonna be, uh, it’ll be a lot of fun, for sure. Well, let’s do some rapid fire questions.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 41:26
Go man.
Trent Manning: 41:27
What’s your favorite movie?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 41:29
The Godfather,
Trent Manning: 41:31
Oh, classic. What would be your last meal?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 41:35
oh, Tom Hawks steak.
Trent Manning: 41:37
All right. thick is a to is a tomahawks steak generally.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 41:43
say, uh, inch and a half, you know, inch and a half’s good. Nice
Trent Manning: 41:47
I saw, uh, I saw, yeah, I saw a show over the weekend and they were cooking a tomahawk steak, and I thought, man, that looks so good.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 41:55
That’s a big piece of meat, man.
Trent Manning: 41:57
What are you most proud of?
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 41:58
my.
Trent Manning: 41:59
Awesome. So good. So, so good. I love it, man. Well tell the listeners how they could get ahold of you. You on
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 42:08
well, what’s that? I’m actually not on any social media. I’m not
Trent Manning: 42:12
No social media.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 42:13
Not yet. I’ll probably warm up to that eventually starting with Twitter. But, you know, I answer emails all day long. J fontana desert mt.com.
Trent Manning: 42:22
Very good.
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 42:24
What’s that?
Trent Manning: 42:25
That’s very good. Yep. Email address is, uh,
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 42:27
Yeah, blow it up, man. I’ll, I’ll, I’ll, I check it on the hour, every hour, so hit me up with any questions or anything you wanna talk about, or if you’re gonna be in the area and you want to come check the place out, I’m happy to show anybody around.
Trent Manning: 42:40
I appreciate that. Well, thank you so much, Jason. This has been a blast as always, and I
Jason Fontana, CTEM: 42:45
youre, it was awesome. Yeah. Love what you’re doing, man.
Trent Manning: 42:49
Thank you. Thank you. 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.