Join us for a recap of our travels to the New England Turfgrass Conference. We also stopped by several shops on the way to and from. We got to visit with our good friend JR Wilson from Noyac Golf Club. he joins us for the recap.
Transcript
Trent Manning:
welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we’ll learn tips and tricks. I’m your host, Trent. Manning let’s have some Welcome to the real turf techs podcast. Real turf techs roadshow. This is going to be fun and interesting. I’m just going to give you a little recap. Of my trip. To the Northeast. And it started on Sunday. March. Fifth. I got up. Like I do every Sunday morning. At 5:00 AM. And I drove to the boat ramp. And fished a little tournament. At Safelite till noon. Every Sunday through the winter, October through the end of April. And I can’t miss fishing anymore and I have to. So I fished. I think we ended up getting maybe third place or fourth place or something. Anyway. We got our money back. Not too bad. So I left the boat ramp about one o’clock. PM. And drove to Richmond, Virginia. And on my way up there. John Murray contacted me. And I’ve had him on the podcast before. If you didn’t hear that episode, go back and check it out. And he asked if I wanted to grab some dinner. So I rolled into Richmond. It was around nine 30. And met John. Uh, Texas Roadhouse. And have me a nice rib-eye. Medium rare. So good. And John was nice enough to buy my dinner. I tried to buy his he’d been on the podcast. At least I could do as by as dinner. But he said the next time I come through as all me. And handed out a few stickers. And then my next adventure started, I went to the hotel that had pre-booked. And when I got there, I was exactly one week early. For my reservations. So, yeah. I messed that one up. And they were not very nice. They would not give me a refund, even though I was staying there anyway. So here’s a hundred dollars going. Day one. But that’s all good. So I asked for a room, he says, yeah, I can still get your room. You okay. With a smoking room. And I thought, yeah, sure. I’ll smoke. What’s the big deal. I forgot how bad it is. And I grew up, my dad smoked in the house. And then really think much about it. But. It was so terrible. So anyway that didn’t work out. Good. So I get up the next morning. And. I have my eyes set on pine valley. ’cause I know Tommy Richie, the equipment manager up there. I’ve known Tommy for a long time. He was a year in Georgia with us for quite a while. I think he’s originally from Alabama. But he got his career started off at Atlanta athletic club, which is not too far down the road for me. And I’ve known him for a long time and I was really excited to stop by. And see pine valley, the pine valley. And it was all I thought it would be, I guess. It was a really, really cool. Uh, cool experience. Super nice place. The feeling I got when I drove up to the little guard shack. You could just tell this place is special. I get to the guard shack. I’m waiting. I’m waiting. I don’t see anybody. Finally a guy walks out of another building, then he walks over. And so I tell him who I am and I’m here to see Tommy Richie, the equivalent manager. And it goes. You sound just like him. I was like, okay. I guess so. So anyway, he lets me in. I get to Tommy shop. He shows me all around the shop. Incredible minus facility. Definitely state of the art. And then. We jump in a cart and go for a ride. And he rides me through every hole. And. Seeing it in person. Does it justice. I watched the fly over. Drone video, that golf digest on. And it’s pretty amazing, but doesn’t do a justice. Being there firsthand and seeing the elevation changes. Is a pretty impressive. And I got to go to the devil’s asshole on number 10. And stand right next to it. And I thought about getting in it. And I thought then I got to climb back out. So I’ll just stay up here. really cool experience. I ended up spending about five hours there. And I was supposed to go see Mike Elliott at union league national. And it didn’t work out. I spent too much time at a. Palm valley. But it was definitely worth every minute I spent there. So while I was sitting there talking to Tommy. I asked him where I could find. A Philly cheese steak. Because I’m right outside Philadelphia. And I was staying in a hotel and Chester, Pennsylvania, which is just east to Philadelphia. So he couldn’t think of any. Exact names. So. I just wanted to Google. Best T stake in Philly. And it was jams south. So I’ll punch that in my GPS. I drove to downtown Philly. Parked on the street. I’m about, I don’t know, a few blocks away because there’s no parking at this place. And Walt rap, but right up in there. And locally. Tommy had told me, don’t ask. For a Philly cheese steak. Because you’re in Philly. So, okay. Make sense. So I order a cheese steak. And they have three different types of cheese that they’ll put on it. We is. American and provolone. So they asked me what kind of cheese I want. And I really don’t know. Because I don’t want to screw this up. I want to go traditional. So I asked the cook. What do you recommend? And he says, go with the whiz man. And I said, where’s, it is bringing on. So I get my sandwich. I go upstairs. Eat. I was not disappointed. Very very good cheese steak. Definitely a lot better than anything you get in a restaurant down here in the south. Definitely worth the experience. So, this is not too. And I’m going to another hotel. Which I had pre booked and I picked the right day, this time somehow. So I get to the hotel check in. They just remodeled this hotel. And it’s pretty nice. It was probably originally built in the eighties, but. Just had a fresh makeover. So my room smelled like paint. Freshly painted. So it felt clean. But the paint fumes were a little strong. Y’all are going to think I’m a. Too picky on my hotel stays, but it really doesn’t matter. Most of the time. I just got lucky my first two nights on the road. And the wind. Was Hylan so loud. All night long. And I think my window must had a little crack in it. I checked, I couldn’t find a crack, but it was whistling all night. And I get up the next morning and I’m going to see Terry at Overbrook golf club. Which is in Villanova, Pennsylvania. And is only about 30 minutes away. So I’ll hop in the car and. Stop at Terry shop. And it’s pretty cold that morning, so we didn’t get out and ride around on the course. But. I’ve got to check out his whole maintenance facility. Super nice guy. Got to meet his assistant there. That’s helping him on the shop. He was a guy that was, uh, on the crew. And he’s now working in the shop. So that was good to see. The shop, it was small. It was originally. A horse stable. But it was a really cool building. It was all, uh, Rick. It was pretty neat there. So anyway, chatting with Terry for a while, and he’s a. He likes going down the rabbit hole sometimes on the ground and cutting units. And. That was always interesting. And I talk about. Uh, crankshaft and a single cylinder. And that came out of a. Uh, Gator or something then. They ordered a new, a crankshaft and. Couldn’t get the right one and turn it into be a big pain. They put some pictures on Twitter back. Several weeks ago now about that. But. Cool experience. And then I’ll leave Terry shop and I’m headed to the Providence Rhode Island. And right after I left Terry’s I was getting on interstate 4 76, which has kind of a bypass around Philadelphia. And I’m on the on ramp. And I’m going up the on ramp, pretty steep hill. And I see this little pothole. And the pothole was probably the size of a soccer ball, maybe. And I hit that going about 60 miles an hour, and didn’t really think about it, but evidently it was about 12 inches deep. Because I blew my tire out. I hit it and I thought that could have not been good. So I was thinking, you know, initially alarm a problem or something like that. I’m going to get alignment done. then my tire pressure light comes on. And I said, this thing good. So I might get to an exit ramp because I do not like stopping on the interstate for no reason. It was too dangerous. So I may get to the exit ramp, go up the exit ramp and it’s on a pretty good inclined to. Part my car, get out access to damage. And by this time it’s completely flat. And I’m supposed to be at Providence at 5:00 PM. It’s going to take four hours. To get there. And I got about five hours. So. I’m not very happy at this point. my trunk was completely full. Because, um, it was going to be gone for basically two weeks. So I got all this crap with me. I had brought my recording stuff with me anyway. I’ll start digging stuff out of the trunk, putting it in the back seat. And finally get my spare tire out. Get my jacket out. I start jacking the car up. With it on the incline. Thinking this isn’t smart, you know, better than this. So about the time the, the front tire comes off the ground. The car starts to rock back. So I’m like, ah, crap. So. Go around. But all the emergency brake. Let it back down. Reposition my Jack jacket back up. Got my tire off. Put the tire, the spare on. Could barely feel fit my tire and the trunk. And Google. You know, closest tire shop. And I guess lucky for me, there was a tires plus. About. That was probably a mile and a half away. So I head on in two tires plus and tell him, you know, what I got going on. And they said, uh, I don’t know. That’s a, you know, The aftermarket wheel. And I don’t know if we’ll have a tire for that. Um, something is great. I’m going to be stuck in Philly for another night. he’s looking on the computer and he’s oh, we have one in stock. Just one. Well, that’s all I need is one tire. Well, it is the nicest tire we sell. Of course it is, of course, is the nicest tire you sell. So $250 later. I’m back on the road. Headed to a. Providence. I got to go through the New Jersey turnpike. That’s an expensive place. If you’ve never been through there, they locked their tolls. And then, uh, yeah, I think I had to pay to go across the George Washington bridge. And the New York and Manhattan. And then, uh, I don’t remember if it was one a or something like that. I kind of skirted around the north side of. Manhattan. Then I eventually made my way over to Connecticut. I went through the state of Connecticut. On a four lane divided median. Road that was 55 miles an hour, the whole way. And everybody was driving 65. So that kinda made me feel like I was at home. And then eventually merged back into a 95. my wife to Providence. And beautiful scenery up through there. I don’t know. There’s always thought that it would be a lot more danced, a lot more populated. But lots of woods. I liked my woods. So I might get into Providence, check into my hotel. Really nice hotel. Let me tell you the Omni hotel, downtown Providence, beautiful place. Really nice room, nice bed, no complaints at all about this hotel. Stay. I had to meet guy Supriano. From golf course, industry magazine. And then we hooked up with Robert and I would per. I’ve tried to pronounce Robert’s last name, but I know it’s going to. I’m going to mess it up. That’s something like Marta, get Marta. Zinsky. I’m sure. I butchered that. But he’s a TPC Highlands. And Connecticut. I met him through. I think it was like LinkedIn or. Yeah, it was LinkedIn. Cause he wasn’t on Twitter at that point. He is now. You got to hang out with guy and Robert. I don’t remember what I had to eat. Probably shrimps on, but. It was good food. But a whole lot better conversation. So that leads me into the first day of the new England turf grass show. And what started, I think on Tuesday with some education. But the M education was Wednesday and Thursday. And that morning. the first class we had. Was time management. And I don’t remember the gentleman’s name. But he was talking about time management and. He referred to it. As focus management. Which I like the idea that a little bit better. Because you can’t necessarily manage time. There’s only so much on a day. But you can’t be focused all day long. So that was one of my takeaways from that. Then we went down to the trade show floor and mark Luffy. He’s a independent consultant. He am. He does. He’s been in the industry for a long time. I think he’s worked for all three major distributors at one point or another. And now he’s kind of doing his own thing. He’s a Jim deaden protege. So as soon as I heard that I was like this, guy’s got his stuff together. If he’s falling, Jim Ned. So he done a, a little demonstration on a Procor 6 48. And it was really neat. They had a camera set up on the machine. And then the audience that was sitting around was able to watch it on a TV screen. And see exactly what he was talking about. So I really liked that set up. He covered some really good information on that. From keeping the belt tight. You know, it’s obvious stuff. But the hydraulic belt on there. Needs to be tightened pretty frequently. The other thing he talked about is the dampener links. And how, how he checks those. Really good education. That afternoon. I done my presentation on tips and tricks. And that went really well. A lot of good feedback. One thing I like about doing those classes is a lot of people give me information. So I ended up learning as much as I’m teaching. Which is always great. And then that night I went out with, Greg Turner. He works for Foley company. I’ve known Greg for years now. So they’ve been a Foley customer for so long. And I got to tour the Foley factory back when I was a. Uh, roadtec for Jerry Pate. And got to meet Greg at that time. And then when I win one, the NVT, Greg came down to give me the award. So it was. Good dinner with him. And it was a better conversation, honestly. And we didn’t even talk that much about work more about life. And this is not mine. I just realized more and more as I’m traveling and talking to more people, you know, for so long, I was just sitting there. And a little. Whole of my own, if you will. But getting out and talking to other people, and I don’t know, this is a really, really good industry. And. Some of that makes me really happy. So going on to day two of the show, which is Thursday. Martin, Luffy done another presentation on a basic cutting unit set up. another good class. One of the things I really liked about mark is our technically is on everything. And giving us part numbers, you know, if you’re having this problem or that problem, this is the part number you need. I just, I’ve always enjoyed. People like that. That I can remember that top stuff off the top of their head. And then I went into my class after that, which was a Google drive. And the things that I’ve been doing with Google drive. I’ve done a four-hour class, man, Brian Bressler at conference and show in San Diego on Google drive. So this was a condensed down hour long. Version. And it, it was received well. That’s some good feedback. Good questions. All that good stuff. So that evening I went to union station brewery. Which was right down the street from the Omni hotel. And I was sitting at the bar having a beer and I had ordered my dinner. And. Guess who walks in? Sandra. And Jeff from J R M. And they were getting a table. So I joined them. Uh, out a few more beers and a lot more. Laughs. So it was really great to hang out with them. I’d met them before. When I went and toured their factory. Back. Early January or something like that. So it was great catching up with them and, uh, hearing some nice Southern voices, not the Jeff has a Southern voice, cause he’s not really a southerner. But we won’t beat him up too bad over that. So the next morning I get up. And I talked to miles Kemp because he’s just up the road and Massachusetts. It was like 15 minutes from. Providence. So hop in the car. I go up to visit miles. The creator of the birdie bar. You hadn’t heard of that. And got the tour of his shop. he’s got an 18 hole. Course. Public. With a single owner. And as a really small operation. Well, I pro I forget how many they got. For five people, maybe on the crew, in the summertime. Full-time. So real small operation. But cool. Hanging out with him. He had some interesting. Stuff going on there. Everything and his shop pretty much is on casters. I really liked that idea. Even his, uh, nuts and bolt banned. The nuts and bolts tray. All that stuff on casters. And he had rigged up a little PVC. System to store all his funnels. So the oil would drain through the PVC system down into a five gallon bucket. And I thought that was pretty cool. So I leave his place and I had to new London, Connecticut. Where I’m catching the cross sound ferry. And lucky for me Jr. Had told me to make a reservation for this ferry. Because I had no idea. I just thought I could show up. And get on the ferry. But that’s not the case. You gotta make a reservation. So I’d made my reservation. I actually got there about an hour early. Yeah. I think I was taking the two 30 ferry and I got there. Well one 20 and they said, oh, we can get you on this Barry. So. Drove onto the ferry. It’s about an hour and 20 minutes. Ferry ride. To orient. Long island. Which is the north fork of long island. And I get off the ferry. I drove into the little town. I Greenport. And I was pretty hungry. So I stopped at Andy’s. I had an Auster. Po’boy. I know it was pretty tasty. No complaints. So I got done there and then I got on another ferry. I was just on a ferry kick. I got on the north ferry that goes over to shelter island. And once I got to shelter island. Jr Wilson and his oldest system, which is now an equipment manager at a course on shelter island. JC. They met me there when I got off the ferry and. I followed them back to JC shop. And met a superintendent there, DJ, and it was kind of interesting. I didn’t necessarily remember him. He’s a younger guy. And he said that I was in your chainsaw class, G I S in 2019. And. Uh, just thought that was pretty cool to meet somebody that had actually taken a class. I gave. And five years ago, and even given any classes, this is amazing what you can do when a. You get out of the box. Get out of your comfort zone. So we hung out there. They were doing some, uh, draining stuff on their grains and we went out there and check that out. The me and Jr left. And we. Took the south ferry. Because that’s the only way you can get the shelter island is via ferry. Or about, we took the south ferry. And he took me to the house I was staying in, which is owned by NOI at golf club. I think they had three houses. The course owns and is for employees to stay in just because of the cost of living so expensive there. And there was no way they could pay somebody to. Work there. And live there pretty much. So the way that worked out. And I did a little recap with Jr. So we’ll play that next. Hey Jr. Long time. No, C
JR Wilson:
Hey Trent, long time. No. C how are you?
Trent Manning:
I’m good, man. It seems like it’s been at least two days since I saw you.
JR Wilson:
Yeah, I’d have to say, how was your trip going back home?
Trent Manning:
It was good. It was really good. So there was a guy, his name’s Rob Campbell, and I apologize. I don’t remember what course he was at, but I met him at the Rhode Island show and he was telling me about the bridge tunnel that crosses the Chesapeake bay. So I ended up taking the bridge tunnel and it was awesome. Have you ever been across it?
JR Wilson:
no, I have not. Did you take a ferry to get to the bridge tunnel?
Trent Manning:
Yes. yeah, I stopped by and seen Mike Elliot at, union league national, which is in Cape may. And I took the Cape may Lou ferry. So I went from Cape may, New Jersey over to Lou’s Delaware. And then. Then I drove, yeah. Down the east coast of Delaware into Virginia and then across the Chesapeake bay,
JR Wilson:
Now tell me about this bridge tunnel. I don’t understand how it works.
Trent Manning:
So the tunnel goes under the channel. So it’s a bridge and I guess it’s pretty shallow cuz I got PIs and stuff. That’s holding the a. And you drive. I don’t know. I should have clocked and seen how long it was. I recorded the whole thing, me going through it, and it took 17 minutes driving 50 miles an hour. So you, you could imagine how,
JR Wilson:
And that you’re under water the whole time you’re doing that. Cuz it’s a tunnel right under water or
Trent Manning:
no. So it’s a bridge for most of the way. And then you go under channel in a tunnel and then you come back up on a bridge again, and then you go under another channel. So there’s actually two tunnels and bridge. Yeah, it is crazy.
JR Wilson:
That’s great. That’s cool.
Trent Manning:
it was, really
JR Wilson:
really cool. It’s just cool. How they got, how they got the bridges to set. So the tides and all that stuff and all that, you know, all that. That’s really cool.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. I would say the bridge is probably, you know, and I don’t know if it was low tide or high tide, but it was probably 20 feet off the water. And yeah, it was, it was crazy, really, really cool experience. And I hit it like perfect right at sunset. And I hit Cape may ferry. Perfect too, because there was a two 30 ferry and then a six o’clock and I left union league at like two o’clock. And I called the ferry and booked a ticket. And the lady’s like, are you close? I was like, says I’m gonna be there at 2 25. Oh, so yeah. Good. Part of the story is I pull up there and there’s two cars waiting in line. And I don’t remember how much it was, 26 bucks or something, but there’s two cars and the lady’s taking forever and I’m like, there’s no way I’m gonna get on this ferry. So I finally get up there to the lady and she says, you sure are cutting it close. I said, I know I’m trying to hurry here. You know, like, why are we doing small talk right now? I’m trying to get on this ferry. But she is like, oh, it’s okay. You’re on. So she tells me what lane to get in. I pull up there. And I’m the only one sitting there, you know, waiting to get on this ferry and a cop walks over and says, I wanna have to check your trunk, pop the trunk. I’m like, okay. You know, and I got my shotgun back there and I, I have no idea if you could carry weapons on this ferry or not. So I hot my trunk and he looks back there and says, you’re good. so I got on the finger.
JR Wilson:
that’s awesome. That’s awesome. That’s so funny.
Trent Manning:
it was a good part of
JR Wilson:
So you, you did a lot of ferries this trip from what I was saying, right? You you did new London from new London to Greenport from Greenport to shelter island and then shelter island to San Harbor. But in the process, we, I met you on shelter island. And we right. And we get to go see JC or
Trent Manning:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. We went by JCS course. And what he worked for you for a few years.
JR Wilson:
Yeah. For five years he worked for me as my assistant and then he was ready to go and there was an opening over there and he went and got it. And he’s been there for now. I think he said eight years or something like that. I think that’s what he said. So he’s doing really good. Yeah. really cool. It’s a cool island, right?
Trent Manning:
oh yeah. Yeah, that was, that was really cool. And you can only get to the island by ferry or boat.
JR Wilson:
Or boat,
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah, no, can’t drive over there.
JR Wilson:
No, can’t drive. There’s no bridges. There’s no bridge tunnels.
Trent Manning:
No bridge time over there. And you gave JC a little bit of an addiction for snap on tools. I believe he’s got it pretty bad.
JR Wilson:
Yeah, I think he’s gotten it worse than me. I got it pretty bad, but I think he takes the key, especially toolboxes. He had two huge toolboxes more than I saw before. And but I am a tool collector. As you could tell, when you were in the shop, you saw that I have mills and blades and all that kind of stuff, but he has a bunch of tools too. So it’s a good addiction
Trent Manning:
oh, yeah. Yeah. I, I got a cool addiction too, but I don’t, I’m not on y’all’s level by any means.
JR Wilson:
yeah.
Trent Manning:
when, when you broke out the square hole cutter, I thought, okay, he’s serious.
JR Wilson:
That’s funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That, that, that thing actually saved me a bunch of times though, to make those the, you know, for the square switch, the rocker switches. That’s when I do the spray rigs.
Trent Manning:
Oh, yeah, no, I’m, I’m definitely getting one. And actually I was talking to Rob Campbell this morning and telling him about, since it was re his recommendation to go through the bridge tunnel, I was thinking for that. And he sent me we were, while we were up there talking about McMaster car and how great did he is and all this stuff. And they make a wiper seal installer. That you can get for McMaster car. There’s three different sizes. I’m gonna buy all three.
JR Wilson:
Really
Trent Manning:
Yeah. For on a hydraulic cylinder,
JR Wilson:
Yep. Yeah. I know exactly what you talk about. Yeah.
Trent Manning:
just punch it in McMaster car. And I’m pretty sure it was wiper seal installer is what it was called. And it it’s got a picture on there that shows how it’s got two little handles and it bends the seal up. You know, I’ve used like a zip tie and zip tied it together, but it’s still such a pain
JR Wilson:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah, yeah, Always every time. And then it rolls on you usually And then yeah. yep.
Trent Manning:
Mm-hmm so I’m gonna try it. And now I’m gonna be running around the shop trying to find a cylinder to rebuild just so I can use a
JR Wilson:
That’s awesome.
Trent Manning:
M sure. I got a cylinder leaking, one that’s a little weepy or something somewhere.
JR Wilson:
That’s awesome. That’s.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. So let’s talk about your class on Monday that we had at your shop.
JR Wilson:
Monday. Yeah. I, I think it went pretty good. It was the first time we’ve had one in a while. Back in the day, we used to have like 60 to 70 guys That were in the mechanics association and it fell to the wayside. You said you were coming up this way and, and you said you were gonna, you may swing in to see me, cuz I always say my doors are open and you came this way. And I got to about three weeks ago after we were in Cali and I said, I called up one of the companies and I said, could we get a a list together so we could get a sh you know, a class. And we got like 18 and 19 people. I maybe there was a couple more. And I thought it was a pretty good turnout. And then you did your tick tips and tricks and that’s always awesome. And then we did a a full tour slash like I went over the car patrol system that we’re putting in and then my new building that I’m gonna be getting, like I’m very excited about and Basically then we did a tour of the teaching facility that we put in for the members with tees. And then we talked about some Subir stuff that I did. And then we went into some 3d printing, a little bit of that, and we took it out of the box the night before my Colby, my son got to put it together the night before, and then we got it going, but it wasn’t perfectly leveled, so it wasn’t working properly. But the next day. Then we got it working and we printed some things. I think I printed a pig and a couple cats, just a thing. But actually I found a couple files that we’re gonna print some tools, so we’re gonna do some different things. Colby found this. One tool that, you know, for putting on wire it’s a piece and you can take it and it, it drag as your wire goes through, it feeds the wire onto the wire. So you don’t have to feed it. So it’s like a plastic tool. So that, that was pretty cool. So he printed one because he is working on his truck right now. But Yeah. that was cool. So we did some 3d printing stuff.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’d like to have one of those. And the other thing you were talking about printing is battery or whatever, a fake battery holder for your Milwaukee tools or the Milwaukee
JR Wilson:
Yes.
Trent Manning:
would slide onto it and it would hang onto a wall or something.
JR Wilson:
yeah. Yeah. Basically it’s the battery, but with nothing on it and you screw it to the wall and then you can slide your tool in. And hold it and then they make another one that’s the opposite. So you can put your batteries on and for the Milwaukee too, so you can hang your batteries when you’re not having in the charger, you can hang your batteries next to your tools.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s.
JR Wilson:
Yeah. So that was, that was neat. And then we were trying, we’re trying to figure out how to place that on the plate. So you can try to do more than one to at the time, like when we were explaining that, that, you know, it’ll be a little better. So
Trent Manning:
Yeah, Yeah, no, that was awesome. And for the listeners that don’t know Jr. Is building his Suba in house, which I don’t know anybody else doing that. Maybe they done it at Augusta because I think they, the superintendent and mechanic kind of got together and invented the Suba. But I don’t know any, anybody else, this building in house. And it’s pretty amazing to see what you’re doing.
JR Wilson:
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, no. We just, we, we had a long time ago, we, our course was really, really wet and we had a lot of trees and we’ve gone through that. So we, we had X, G, D in it, and it worked well, but it just didn’t work like we needed it to, so we actually went and went into the greens and made ’em all U S G a. And we had 17 fans at the time and the members kind of wanna get away from the fans. So I said maybe we can do something. So we decided to my boss, Lieutenant Brian, Gosky, he, he, myself, we started to work on somes and I built it and I actually built the, or from scratch all the way, all the VFD and everything. And we actually build the Impella and we found a company up island because the biggest thing about. The whole system sub or whatever you’re building is the balance. If you can have that prop balanced or whatever, you’re spinning in the motor, you’ll never have a problem. Cause the first one I put on there, I thought I was a genius and I’m really not. I put it on a tire balancer and I tried to balance it and I put it on the, on the motor, on the electric motor. And naturally it took the barrings out. I’m like, Like a month.
Trent Manning:
oh,
JR Wilson:
like, oh, Oh, wow. I got a problem here. So then that was a trial and error. So then from that point luckily I found this company and it, they do airplane props and they do all these different things and I called them up and I was like, Hey, listen, I have this Impala to, to balance. And they’re like, yeah, bring it up. So actually Brian brought it up the first time and he brought it there cause he was going up by own and he dropped it. Off and he’s like, Jerry, you gotta go there. You gotta go see this place. It’s incredible. So when I picked it up, I went and talked to the guy and it is incredible. They have these cool machines, they actually sell the machine and it’s $60,000. If you wanna buy one and act, you can actually do your own impellers. So it was like, if a company like was doing a bunch of like, or whatever it.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah, that is cool. And yeah when you’re talking about making Suba systems 60 grand to, if you could make, if you’re putting in 20 of them or something, maybe it pays for itself.
JR Wilson:
But the thing was, we thought about it too. We were gonna do that, but they were charging us. Like, I think it was like 600 bucks at the time to do it. So it wasn’t worth, you know what I mean? So I’d rather pay the $600. And then I, what I was doing, I was building, I built six at a time. Like when I set up, I’ll do six of each piece. So I’ll do Impellas. So I’ll, I’ll build six Impellas and then that budget goes to that for that year. And then the next year I’ll do housings and then the next year I’ll do VFDs and motors. So then I take all those and it seems like, oh, work, I get, try to get two outta year is what I’m trying to do. That’s my.
Trent Manning:
Okay. I gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. That’s awesome. Are y’all planning on putting ’em on every green?
JR Wilson:
We are. Yeah, And then this year, actually this last year, I should say, we number seven is tucked in the woods. Basically the green is tucked in the woods and we had a, a precision fan on there and. We had that running and I actually got it to work so I could run precision air and I could use my Suba. So they were both running at the same, same time, same time. So that was really cool. That was, I was, I didn’t know how much Amper I was gonna be drawing with the Subir and once it gets going, the amperage is like so minimum. It’s so cool.
Trent Manning:
Well then that kinda one of the advantages of the VFD is it doesn’t take as many startup amps.
JR Wilson:
Yeah, because what it’s doing is, is it’s like, like if you think about when you’re trying to break a prop to start when they have the gas motor, and it’s trying to break the wind, that’s what takes it so much to get it going. But with a VFD it’s variable speed. So it’s taking in its slowly ramping it up, so you’re not pulling as much amperage. And then once you get it up and running. It’s just like anything it’s spinning it’s it’s not taking a lot of power. So Yeah, I think it it’s like the start on one of those fans. When, before we had a VFD, we had some precision fans and we needed 40 amps to be able to start it up. And now we can do it basically off of like 20 amps to start it up. And then when it’s running, I think it pulls like 25 amps with the VFD and then the, the Subir pulls like 10 amps. So pretty cool. Pretty
Trent Manning:
Yeah, that is cool. That was awesome.
JR Wilson:
and then
Trent Manning:
What, what else did we do that day?
JR Wilson:
on Monday, then you did your other class. I can’t think of the name of that,
Trent Manning:
Oh, yeah. About growing your network and mental
JR Wilson:
network. And that was awesome.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. I, I love giving that little talk and the response I get to it and, you know, someone’s always coming up after and saying, thanks for saying that, that needs to be said. We don’t talk about it enough. So it’s always good to hear that.
JR Wilson:
Yeah, no, that’s good stuff. You know, if, if you need help, please reach out because it’s, you know, everybody, everybody, once in a while needs help, you know what I mean? Any which way. So I feel that. I feel very strongly about that.
Trent Manning:
Yep. I’m right there with you. And if you don’t need help, somebody, one of your loved ones might need help. Somebody needs help out there.
JR Wilson:
Yep. Just Say something, there’s always people to help you. You
Trent Manning:
something, say something
JR Wilson:
Yep. Yep. So then I think we did a little bit of air two G two, right.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yep. Tyler.
JR Wilson:
on that. And then we did
Trent Manning:
Oh, those other thing, Tyler, Tyler
JR Wilson:
yeah. Always spoke about Yes, Tyler from Foley came and he spoke about cut lines and stuff like that. And that was good. I think the guys got a little bit out of that. I think they really did because there was some, some newer guys in there, like my nephew, Kyle,
Trent Manning:
Mm.
JR Wilson:
was there. He’s works over at national links of America and that was cool that he got to come and see that. I think he enjoyed that. And then there was some newer guys that I didn’t even know. I got to meet two guys from maid stone. That was nice. They were newer guys. They just started the one gentleman. I did know, like I always say I’m terrible with names, so I apologize. And then who else there was, there was some other guys there. They were, everybody was nice, very nice. And I thought it went pretty smooth and I was very happy with whatever. And actually today, I started the WhatsApp group for our area.
Trent Manning:
Oh, that’s awesome.
JR Wilson:
to get, I’m trying to get a thing just for the, just for our area I’m trying to do just for long island. And I, I think I got like 15 people, 20 people on it right now and see where we can do from there.
Trent Manning:
That’s awesome. Yeah. So for the listeners Jr. Started a WhatsApp group just for his little area there, or it’s not that small, but there is a lot of courses right there, not far away. And I think that’ll be great and y’all can network that way and
JR Wilson:
Yeah. And I think it’ll maybe it’ll spark an interest cuz there were some definitely some guys that were interested in trying to get something to go to maybe meet once a month or maybe meet once a year or twice a year. And the more people you can get to meet, you can actually get more dealers or more, more different things to come. Like we used to do like an echo class used to do a still class because you had people. And they would come to teach those things. You know, what I mean? So that’s how it works. You know, the more you get the they’re because they’re thinking, oh, we could maybe sell something or something like that. But it seems always to be better when you have more people. Cause if you try to get them to come to like your course and maybe one other, they’re not gonna come, you know, you gotta have that group.
Trent Manning:
Shout out to store tractor too, right? For
JR Wilson:
Yes. Yes. Store tractor did an awesome job. There, our, our Toro dealer out here and they they sponsored, it helped sponsor it for us. They gave us breakfast and lunch and helped us set it up and get the people to come. So that was awesome. That was great. Brandon and, and Andy and a couple other gentlemen, so real nice.
Trent Manning:
When every, all the listeners know that you just gotta have food. There we’ll come. If you got.
JR Wilson:
I know you’re not a coffee drinker, but I always like my coffee, so
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah. True. True. Yeah. I was surprised that I paid 3 99 for a mountain Dew at a seven 11 on long island. So talking, talking about the cost of living there is definitely a lot higher than it is here, cuz I think here it’s like a dollar 99 at a convenient store.
JR Wilson:
yeah. And that was at a seven. That was that seven 11 was in Mon talk. Cause that was there’s only two seven elevens on from the canal. Nobody understands, but the canal, that’s what I call like my home base from the canal to Monta is where I know where I am. Trent can say that because we actually went to one course and I drove past the canal and I lost my, started to squirrel out a little bit. Cause I didn’t know where I was. It was. it
Trent Manning:
You didn’t have your passport, right?
JR Wilson:
Yeah, I did. I needed my passport
Trent Manning:
You, your passport.
JR Wilson:
Yeah, Cuz I get, I get a little nervous cuz I never know where I’m going.
Trent Manning:
Yeah, no,
JR Wilson:
That was.
Trent Manning:
And how many courses are right there at, or with sheko and there like four courses.
JR Wilson:
so we have in the area, I guess you let’s say it’s like 15 miles area. We have Atlantic three, three ponds, the bridge Noack. Then it goes to Shinnecock south Hampton. SNIC. and then national and south Hamptons national and Shinnecock are probably within five miles of each other. Actually I think the three course, all four courses. actually touch at some point in the junction. They don’t, they, they touch some way or another between a road or whatever, but there’s that, it’s how it works out. It’s pretty crazy.
Trent Manning:
Yeah, I was just,
JR Wilson:
that’s the Mecca right there. You know
Trent Manning:
yeah, for sure. When I remember being over at national and looking back and being like, isn’t that the clubhouse for shin how’s that work?
JR Wilson:
Yeah. Yeah. It’s pretty crazy that you know, and probably. 15 years ago, you probably wouldn’t have seen that because they let all the trees grow up on both properties. And then they came in in 2004 and started to get it ready for the open. And then national did the same thing and they took everything back to where it was back to the, where it was instead of having all the trees up there. And then when they did that, you could basically see all the way, you know, it was.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah, that is cool. And national shop was really impressive
JR Wilson:
Oh, national shop was incredible. The there’s just the whole way out of it and the way they had it all set up. Rob Renner and Rob Renner. He’s a great guy. He does a really good job. He’s been in the industry, I think like 30 years. He actually, the funny story is, is he started at NOAC outta high school. He was the technician there. And from there he went to Fryer’s head up, up in Riverhead. And then from Fryer’s head, he went to national. He’s been he’s at national. I think he’s been at national now. He’s gotta be 16 years or so. So I’ve been at NOAC yesterday was my 18th year anniversary. So it was 18 years there yesterday.
Trent Manning:
Congratulations. That’s all.
JR Wilson:
you. Thank you. Yeah, it was cool. Yeah, no, he’s been there and he’s been in the business for a long time and we RA we Razo dazzle each other. We all. like to pick I, you can see, we, you were hanging out with us, you could see with the fire department and everybody, everybody has a little bit of thick skin cuz we like to. Fool around with each other.
Trent Manning:
Oh yeah. Y’all, y’all go hardcore picking on each other all the time.
JR Wilson:
yeah. Yeah. There’s a little bit of hardcore picking on, but it’s all in love. We always say, if they’re not picking on you, they don’t like you. So it’s the way it is out here.
Trent Manning:
That was another thing you told me is if everybody’s going at one another and you walk in the room and it gets quiet, you know, you’re the guy they don’t like.
JR Wilson:
Yes. Yes. If that happens, you better as well, just spin around and walk back out and let ’em keep going again. Cause yeah, that’s not, that’s not a good feeling.
Trent Manning:
I don’t. And seeing you and your brother-in-law go at each other. That was pretty funny too.
JR Wilson:
Yeah. We, we, we have Been with my wife now I 25 years we’ve been married 20. So we’ve been together for a long time and we’re basically like two brothers, and we just picket at each other, you know, there’s four of us actually that have. The crazy part of it in the fire department, I have three brother-in-laws and everybody’s like, what is, how does that work? And I have my sister’s married to Mike and he’s my brother-in-law is in the fire department with me. He’s the assistant chief and then Richie and Scott. Scott is actually my wife’s brother and Richie is married to my. Wife’s sister. So it’s funny how that goes. And tr got to meet all these characters. He actually got to come to a day that we had like this fisherman flea market. We call it and our house and all these guys come in and trade and look at all these hooks and all that stuff. And it was a little crazy there, but it was pretty funny.
Trent Manning:
Yeah, what y’all have hit a record too, right? For.
JR Wilson:
Yeah. Yeah, we, we haven’t had it since COVID set in, you know, everything and the best we ever did was 180 people. And I think we did 220 this time and it, it was great. It was awesome. It was good. And, and we had record food sales, believe it or not. That was, that was good too.
Trent Manning:
That was funny. So Jr’s, brother-in-law, Scott’s back there taking all the credit because he bought the perfect number of hot dogs.
JR Wilson:
And, and the thing is, is that the one time I bought bagels and I bought way too many. And they, I, I just can’t live it down. I, I think they froze ’em and they, every once in a while they’ll pull one out for me and be like, look, we still have a bagel left. And that’s what they ripped me on all the time. So it was pretty funny.
Trent Manning:
Yep. That’s good. That’s awesome.
JR Wilson:
Yeah. So then I guess that was that day. And we were like, we were, that was it. Basically everybody kind of left and I had to go do something. And you went out with Tyler for a little while, right?
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
JR Wilson:
Yeah. the next morning we met up at shop and I, we did, we set up, I set up some tours, we where did we start off? We, I think we went to the bridge. Right? Is
Trent Manning:
Yeah, we went to the bridge first.
JR Wilson:
And then from the bridge we
Trent Manning:
So a little about a little about the bridge. How many holes is it?
JR Wilson:
The bridge is 18 holes.
Trent Manning:
18 holes. And there was a race track there.
JR Wilson:
It was the bridge Hampton race track. Actually, it was actually a cool thing. We were talking about that a little bit. The history of it, it, it actually had a NASCAR race there back in the fifties and it’s had some history, but the problem was is people moved around it and it was too loud and they didn’t like it. So they closed it, but there was a lot of races there. There was a lot of cool things. I think you were mentioning in one of your friends race there, right?
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah. Tom Daven hall, and I talk about him all the time on the podcast. He’s my blacksmith buddy that I’ve worked with for like six months. But so he grew up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and somebody he knew was trying to get basically their Ray Acer driver’s license and their se. S CCCA the sports club, car of America was having a driver training event at bridge Hampton. And this is like 19, whatever, 66 or something. And so Tom got invited to go out there and he got to make a couple laps around the track and a formula be car. And I was just talking to him today about that and, you know, it was crazy him going on and on about Being there. And, you know, he was talking about this Ferrari and it, and I don’t the car, they drove out. There was an original Hemi and it had a two barrel carburetor. You know, he is going all this stuff over my head,
JR Wilson:
but. that’s cool. There was one part of the track that used to call it the echo valley and it was a area where they would come through and when it would, when. And the cars would come through it actually, when they went through would echo and it’d be like, whoa, whoa. It was so cool. And that’s actually where the year their 11th hole is. So it’s there, but the track isn’t there anymore because the town made them take the track out. But it would’ve really been cool if they would’ve left that in there. I would’ve thought that would’ve been so some, but,
Trent Manning:
but part of the entrance road
JR Wilson:
The part of the entrance road is. actually the racetrack and what you go the opposite way because you go under the bridge. But when they used to race, that went the opposite way. So they would, when we were driving out, you were actually going the proper way of the racetrack. So when we were, when we went into the maintenance area, we were going the wrong way. We did the maintenance. Then we fun back around. It went up to the clubhouse that had an incredible view that you could see all the water around the basically the whole thing. And I didn’t know a little bit about the Bridger cuz actually I worked there. That’s why I, from 2000 to 2004, we did the grow in and I was telling the story about the one time we were pushing up a pile and there was a huge pile when we were building the golf course and actually they pushed a pile up. And when we did that, it needed the tallest spot on long island. It is the second tallest spot on long island. As Trent knows that he was drove around, it’s pretty flat by us, but that is the tallest. And I think it’s like 230 feet above sea level, but we had it like at two 40 with this pot aisle or two 50. And when we were there, we could actually drive our carts up. It, it was really cool. And you could see the ocean and the bay at the same time. You could basically see around all the trees. It was a really cool, cool thing. It
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah, no, that was awesome. Yeah. In the real modern clubhouse, not necessarily my taste, but it was
JR Wilson:
No, no, not mine either, but that, you know, he’s very, that’s, that’s who they are and you know, it’s pretty cool. Pretty, pretty cool place. It was cool. It’s 500 acres. That’s actually, the course is 300 acres. I remember always trying to drive around it. You always got lost. It seemed like, cause it was so far to get to a hole. You had to, you had to get there quick, but. It was, it was a cool time in my life, but then I got to go to Noack and I love every minute of it. You know.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they take, they take good care of you there. And you can tell that, you know I remember you saw you, Hey, Mr. Whoever, and you know,
JR Wilson:
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, they’re all good people there. It’s a good, they’re a good little place. It’s awesome. Then we went from the bridge. We went to Schock Hills, California shop Schock and we saw Larry over there in his shop and we did a tour over there and that was pretty cool. It was a nice shop. They’re working on some things to try to get it a little better and they’re gonna make it better. They got the us open coming up in 26.
Trent Manning:
Okay.
JR Wilson:
and they were, I thought we, when we were there, weren’t they working on the pro shop I think. And they were, they made a new catty area. So that was pretty cool to see.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yep. No, it, it was a cool facility for sure. And a nice setup and layout, and I don’t know, it’s kinda like the rest of the facilities. It just seems like there’s not quite enough room for everything that we have.
JR Wilson:
yeah, it’s crazy. And then we went over to national and we saw their shop and it was just incredible. And they just, they said they were actually maybe putting in another, they had the plans to maybe put in another area for more storage, cuz they didn’t have some of their stuff in there. They were talking about that and they had a really cool power washing room, like where they power wash the, the machines and stuff like that. And with the hook to the car patrol, that was really cool.
Trent Manning:
yeah. That, yeah. And indoor hot or indoor steam power washer.
JR Wilson:
Yeah, and they could do, they could bring their machines in and power wash everything off and it all went into car patrol and it. was recycled. That was really cool. That was a really cool setup. That. was really thought out. That’s one of the top shelves I’ve ever been in. That’s just my opinion, not, you know, I haven’t been to everybody’s shop, but for mine around here, it’s probably one of the best. and then from there. After we did that tour.
Trent Manning:
Before we go on, before we leave there, I really like what they’d done for the sand pro washing rack.
JR Wilson:
Oh yeah. I forgot all
Trent Manning:
kinda out away from the maintenance facility and it’s just a rack and it’s probably, I don’t know, two foot deep or something like that. Mesh screen that you drive your, your sand pro up on and rinse it off and all the sand ends up right there. It is
JR Wilson:
genius, something that you would never think of that, you know, bill and Rob must have done something there. That was genius. I just saw it. And it was like, that is genius. And I, we stopped by and we’re like, what is that? And that’s what it was. And it was just pretty cool. That was cool. And I forgot about that and it just slipped my mind, but that was neat. That was a cool, cool thing.
Trent Manning:
Yep. Very cool. Yeah. So then we went to west Hampton,
JR Wilson:
Yes, west Hampton, And that’s when I started to squirrel out a little bit, cuz we crossed the canal and
Trent Manning:
And the other thing I think you, I know I was getting a little hangry
JR Wilson:
Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was, yes, we were, we were getting a little angry, definitely because we were going at it from, I think we started at like seven 30 and, it was like, and usually I eat at 11 or so because we eat early, whatever, cause we always up early, but I was yes, I was getting a little hangry and a little shaky and we, we got to west Hampton and a brand new shop. It just got rebuilt and that was cool. They had some, they had a lot of a lot of restrictions didn’t they try to remember like the, they had that whole thing with the Environment and with the let lands and they had that asphalt, remember that asphalt, they had that you could pour the five gallon bucket on. And they were saying that, that I don’t even know how big that area was. It wasn’t that big. And it was like $20,000 for this small area of asphalt, but you could take a bucket of water and pour it on there and it would go right through and it wouldn’t, it would just, this, that was.
Trent Manning:
I don’t just off the top of my head. I’m saying it’s 400 square feet. It was
JR Wilson:
Yeah. it wasn’t big at all. It was like, I think there was three or four trucks parked on it and it was like covered, you know, that’s where they parked. And then they had blues throwing around the rest of the area. They’re they’re talking about doing more of the asphalting, but he’s saying that they’re gonna do it in sections. Cause it is so expensive. And that was one of the things he was upset about. Ryan. He was a little upset because he didn’t have the he wanted to do more, but it was just so expensive. So they had the Bluestone. That was nice. And then they had the back of the shop was nice and the whole inside of the shop was really nice. It was brand new. It was real long, had really tall ceilings. And then they had a really nice area that they were still working on and they were gonna put some stuff up in the loft area that was maybe gonna be good. So they, they were talking about some plans. They had some good stuff going on there.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. That mezzanine area. That’s something, I don’t think we get to utilize as much in the south because normally our roofs are not pitched that steep.
JR Wilson:
Because
Trent Manning:
about.
JR Wilson:
him, we pitch ’em for the snow to try to get the snow to come and whatever. Yeah. You guys a flat roof more or,
Trent Manning:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We’re like four 12 pitch on a lot of stuff or on maintenance
JR Wilson:
yeah, yeah, yeah.
Trent Manning:
I don’t know what y’all are gotta be 12, 12 or something
JR Wilson:
12, 12. Some of them are a little bit more, but most of ’em are 12, 12, I’d say. Yeah.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. You never know what we’re gonna talk about in the real turf Tex podcast, we might be talking about roof pitch.
JR Wilson:
Yeah.
Trent Manning:
You
JR Wilson:
we can out really quick. Trent. We can scroll out. You hang out with me a little bit. You, you, I think you caught a little of the disease while you’re with me.
Trent Manning:
No, I, I already had it. You, you just helped bring it out in me a little bit. I thought I wouldn’t shy around you. So
JR Wilson:
Oh,
Trent Manning:
letting it come out. Yeah. So yeah, that was it for our, our trip,
JR Wilson:
yeah.
Trent Manning:
our tour. And.
JR Wilson:
was, that was pretty cool. I thought we had a good time. I had a great time. I thought it was awesome. And it was a lot of fun and I thank you for coming by and hanging out with me cuz it was it
Trent Manning:
sure. For sure. No, I, I thank you it was a trip of a lifetime for me. And the other thing I want to highlight is Jagger. He got to come with us, so Jr.
JR Wilson:
Yes. I forgot all about that. Yeah. Jagger my basically Jagger. Thank you for reminding me. Jagger is one of the interns that he’s basically an intern working for me. Kyle who’s over at national now. He was the start of it and He’s now at national working with Rob and Jagger came to me. I got him from one of my friends who does sell tools. He had him working in his shop and he is like, I think you really need to have this kid come work with you. he came
Trent Manning:
<silence>.
JR Wilson:
he told me he is gonna start a BOS, we call it Boies here. It’s a program that you can go and you can learn how to become a technician or a mechanic or whatever he’s doing car mechanics. And he’s actually now he did his he’s in his senior year and now he’s actually coming to my shop on Tuesdays and Thursdays. for the half a day that he would be at Bo’s and he’s doing my internship and then he’s coming after work after school. Now that the summer’s starting to pick up and he’s starting to work and he’s worked with me now for two and a half years. And he’s come a long way. And it’s very exciting to see how these guys are growing. Like with Kyle and you got like JC and. Jeff and everybody got to meet Jeff too. I think you got to meet. Yes. You did get to meet Jeff. Yeah. So all those guys, I just, I’m so proud of all of them, you know, it’s always, it’s like, I don’t, I always say that the best part about it is getting to see them grow. You know what I mean? I take more pleasure in that than anything, you know?
Trent Manning:
for sure.
JR Wilson:
Yeah.
Trent Manning:
Yep. Exactly. Did you have to work something out with the high school to get that
JR Wilson:
So basically they have this program and Jagger and the teacher comes and sees me. And he came to see the shop. He checked the whole thing out and he’s like, this is the first time I really ever did a golf course. So they didn’t really understand it. So they came and then they walked in and he is like you know that question, what do you guys work on? Golf carts? And then we took him for the whole tour and he was like, oh my God, You guys work on everything. And I was like, yeah, we do a little bit of everything we dabble. He was like, this is awesome. So basically I signed a bunch of papers, my life away to say that I was, gonna do the right thing. And he fills out a time sheet on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I have to sign and, you know, give them a grade basically on it. And so that’s how it’s working.
Trent Manning:
Okay. So yeah, if he screw something up in the shop, you can give him an F
JR Wilson:
Yeah, an
Trent Manning:
no, he is a good.
JR Wilson:
no, he is a good. kid. He, he had a lot of fun and that was that was great that he got to tag along with us and he actually took the two days off to do the full class with us on Monday. And then he took the tours with us. And I think, I think it even made it more exciting for him. I think he’s even more excited now to be at the golf course in the industry, cuz he got to see all the, those things. And I just think he was. Like his mind was blown. I think some of the things we got to see my mind was blown. You know, it was pretty cool.
Trent Manning:
I could only imagine from, you know, somebody of his perspective, how he would look at it, but I know what it does for me. And like you you’ve been in the business a long time. It really inspires me and gives me more energy after going and seeing different shops and different ideas. And I was excited to get back to work today.
JR Wilson:
Yeah. Yeah. yeah, no, I, when I, I got back on you left Wednesday morning and I got back into it and I was like, I felt energized again too. You know, it was good. Shop tours, I think are really good for everyone. It gets you outta your little hole and get you into somebody else’s and you get to meet somebody. And, you know, I always say it’s. Trying to learn something every day is my goal. And when I don’t, I feel like I failed. And that’s one of the things that I push with Jagger. And I push with all my, the guys that I’ve ever worked with. I’m like, you gotta try to learn something every day. If you can learn something every day, you’re doing something good. You’re gonna have those days that you, it doesn’t happen, but. Man. It’s a great day when you can pick up a trick. I actually picked up one today and I can’t even remember, but there was, you know, always something it’s just always something that your little thing and you put it in the back and it, you know, it’s awesome.
Trent Manning:
Yep. No, that’s awesome. Thank you so much for,
JR Wilson:
No, thank you. Thank you.
Trent Manning:
and especially for doing our little wrap up here on the podcast. I think the listeners will really enjoy this and it’s gonna be good.
JR Wilson:
Yeah, no, thank you for having me. And thank you for coming out again. And like I always say the doors are open guys. Please come by and check us out cuz it’s a cool area. It’s a cool little Mecca.
Trent Manning:
It is for sure. Yeah. If anybody is out Jr’s way, definitely stop by. And when you go in the shop, you’ll realize why it’s the Hamptons because everything in there no seriously, everything that you got there. It’s, it’s like the candy land. You, you got dream tools that I, I inspire to have one day.
JR Wilson:
Yeah. Yeah. no, I am a tool collector. There’s people collect everything and my biggest thing is, is there’s a tool for every job. I say, you know, and then people will say, yeah, that’s a tool for every job, but you need to know how to use them. And that’s what I try to pride myself in. And you know, the funny story quick, you know, I screwed up with Trent the other day when we were buffing a car. And I did some YouTube why, and I thought I was a Bing fool, and I was a fool for sure. And I put, we were Bing this. Dark line at a rental car quick and there was a black line on it and I buffed it out, but I, I took too much and I took a little bit too much paint. I was embarrassed that I probably lost sleep the next night, but you know because, but it happens, you know, everybody makes mistakes. It was a funny story. It was like a funny thing that
Trent Manning:
I was actually texting Tyler right before we got on and asking him how it went with the rental car. And he said, what rental car? Haha. LOL And he said he dropped it at JFK and took off running and he hadn’t heard anything since. So hopefully he’s good.
JR Wilson:
It worked out. It worked out. That’s funny.
Trent Manning:
Yeah. No, it was
JR Wilson:
So Yeah.
Trent Manning:
Yeah.
JR Wilson:
who knows? It probably was there already and we fixed it for, you know,
Trent Manning:
Well, yeah, very possible. Yep. Never know. That was just one of the funny stories that happened over those days. Man, it was such a great
JR Wilson:
was tons. Too many to think about.
Trent Manning:
Well, hopefully you can tell. I had a really great time hanging out with Jr. One of the best times of my life, honestly. And it was funny, man. Uh, Jr. Was a target about it later. And he said, he told his wife that that was, uh, the most fun he’d ever had. With another guy. So I feel pretty special about that. So I leave long island. And I drove. Straight to union league national. Which is south New Jersey. And Kate may. And I got to visit with Mike Ellia. I think Mike’s been with union league since last. June or July, something like that. And a union league national, they have, I think, three courses. But at the national course, As a 27 hole course. I think they had one nine. That was about Don. The second nine was close. And then the third nine, they were still doing a lot of construction on. So we got to drive around that property. Beautiful property down there. Pretty open. You know, a few trees here and there. Really what. A golf course kind of should be in my opinion, less trees. That means more grass. But beautiful property. unbelievable. What they’d done on. If they wanted a Ridge or a mound, they just dug a lake. And. Made a Ridge or a mound. But it is amazing what all they’re doing. They’re putting in a dorms. For the employees. they’re trying to make a whole production out of. Golf course employees and not just golf, maintenance, but clubhouse. Staff, the cook staff. I just sounded like a really cool experience and he was extremely excited to be there. And it was kind of cool talking to him. His ambition, I guess since he first got into the industry was he wanted to be the equipment manager at Augusta national. And he made it to pine valley. So once you get there, you’re like, yeah, I really want to go to, I guess, or not. And then he leaves pine valley to go to the union league. So I think that speaks volumes. For what the union league is trying to do. And he was very excited and enthusiastic. About where the union Lake’s going. And happy to be a part of it. So I’m definitely gonna. Continue to follow him through that journey. Because it sounds like they’re doing impressive stuff there. And I know GCI golf course, industry magazine. That article on union league. I think it was back January ish. Sometime around there. No, I actually, it might even been earlier than that, but anyway, I know there’s an article out there. Good stuff. So I left a union league around at two o’clock. And I was trying to make the Cape may lose ferry. Which cuts across the Delaware. And the ferry was at two 30. So I’m rushing to get there. Cause that was about 25 minutes away. And I call the ferry. reserve a spot and the ladies like it got kind of close. Oh, yeah, I know. I’m going to try to make it GPS as I’ll be there. So I pull up to. The ticket office, if you will. And the lady says, oh, you’re cutting it really close. I saw no, I’m trying to hurt here. She was taking her sweet time. So, anyway, she says, don’t worry. You’re in. So she tells me what lane to get in. I pull up there in the lane. And remember I’d been, I went hunting with Jr. So I have my 12 gauge shotgun. And my trunk. Along with a bunch of other crap Uh, pull up there and this police officer. Walks over to my car. I have my window down. He says, Lead you to pop the trunk. So I’m thinking, oh no. And I have no idea what the restrictions are on this fear. If you, if you’re allowed to carry weapons or not. Uh, I had a box of shotgun shells. And I didn’t know what to prepare for. So I com. I’m prepared. So anyway, I parked my truck up and I’m looking in the mirror and. They just kind of glances over and they said, okay, you’re good. And lets me go. So I get on the Cape may lose ferry. That was another, about an hour and 20 minutes, hour and a half. Over to a. Luiz, Maryland. So my mission was. To get to the bridge tunnel going over the Chesapeake bay. Before dark. So I set out for that. And luckily I got to the bridge tunnel about 7:00 PM. And sun set was right around. I was like 17, so I really hit it. Perfect. I couldn’t have timed it any better. And it’s amazing. Sometimes just the way things work out. So I crossed the bridge tunnel. Amazing experience. I think me and Jay are talked about that. And I get out of the bridge tunnel and I’m in a Norfolk, Virginia. And I’m really hungry. So back to Google, I go. And I said, best crab. In Norfolk. And it takes me to this little place. AWS shucks. And I go in there not really busy. I sat at the bar. Order an IPA. Like I like to drink. I love my IPA’s. And I’m looking at the menu. And they got raw oysters. And I thought, why not? You only live once, right? And I’m not necessarily a huge horsepower fan, but okay. So I get a half a dozen orchestras. These are sisters where the best thing I ever put in my mouth. They were so good. Put them on a saltine cracker. Put the little hot sauce on there. Good. for my main dish, I ordered the crab cakes and I didn’t go wrong. Those craft cakes for so good, probably best crab cakes. I’ve had my entire life. Let her crate. So I finished that up. Hit the road again. And I drove to Franklin, Virginia. Because my goal for this. The next day is I wanted to be back home. So I’ve been gone for 11 days at this point. And really wanting to get back home on the 12th. And I was supposed to see my girls that night. And we usually meet at five or five 30. So I was ready to get there. So I stopped and I stayed at, I don’t even remember quality and or something. And Franklin, Virginia. Not a very nice hotel, but it didn’t smell like cigarette smoke and it didn’t smell like fresh paint. So that was good. I get up the next morning. And hit the road. Trying to get back. I was doing pretty good on time. I left probably seven ish or something. On a Thursday morning. And I got to Charlotte. And again, The, hopefully this is something you’re kind of picking up on. I really liked, I liked my food. I liked to eat. You can probably tell that by looking at me. So I type in Eastern Carolina, barbecue. Because I’ve always been a big fan of the vinegar base, barbecue sauce. I found this place, not too far off the interstate. And it was called noble smoke. And I think the chef’s name was something noble, whatever. They had a huge bar there. It was an open air top. Atmosphere. The head to a huge. On roll up garage doors on both ends of the bar. That were opened up, whether it was perfect. And I went with the old faithful pull pork sandwich. And I was not disappointed. One of the best pork sandwiches ever put my mouth. And when I say that that carries a lot of weight. Because I am a certified KCBS barbecue judge. So I’ll put a lot of pulled pork in my mouth. And this was some really, really good stuff. Definitely worth the stop. And I will put that on the list. Anytime I’m back. And Charlotte, I will be stopping a noble smoke. Honestly, I would like to go there just for a weekend trip. So I could drink more beer. Because they had to have at least 50 taps on the wall. And none of them were labeled. So I asked the bartender because I thought that was kind of confusing. How he kept it straight. But they were numbered. I just couldn’t see the number. So anyway. I hit the road after that. And. I ended up in Canton, Georgia. At five o’clock. To meet my daughters. And have a. Very underwhelming Applebee’s dinner. I think I ordered a side salad. Cause I wouldn’t know. Hungry. I just spent 12 days eating some of the best food I’ve ever had. So Applebee’s just, wasn’t quite cutting it anymore. But I had a good time hanging out with the kids.. Getting to share my adventures. Over the last two weeks. And it was just an incredible time. And I wouldn’t change anything that I done except maybe try to hit some more places. But it’s not like I had much free time. And I definitely want to do this again. And honestly, if I hadn’t have started this podcast, if I hadn’t started networking. If I hadn’t started. Teaching with. GCSA. And getting involved and getting out of my comfort zone. I would’ve never went on this trip. So I hope this inspires you a little bit. You know, I’m not talking about this to tell you, look at me, look what I did. I’m telling you look what you can do. cause I’m no special person. I’ll put my pants on just like everybody else. So I hope you enjoyed this. Thank you all so much for listening. And making this possible. And you just thought we were done. We got questions. So I asked this on Twitter. And I got some questions. Tim Krieger, our buddy. Executive director. Of the Carolina. Association. The man, the myth, the legend. I asked best new food. I won’t have to go with the holo. Shrimp. From cappuccinos and downtown sag Harbor, New York. There was some of the best stuff I’ve ever ate. I have so good. It was shrimp sauteed with fresh herbs and garlic and olive oil. Taught with marinara sauce and mozzarella. They don’t get any better than that. And then he asked. Favorite state. This is a really tough one. I’m from Georgia. I really liked Georgia. But I really liked North Carolina, too. And honestly, long island. I’ll never thought I would say I liked New York, but long island part of New York. Pass the Shinnecock canal. That’s really nice. I really liked it out there. And then what did I miss about my job? Not really a whole lot. Her really enjoyed my time. And I enjoyed living in the moment. Kayla KIPP. I asked. Favorite view. So I think my favorite view was probably from the bridge golf course. The club assets. The second highest point on long island. And we had probably 270 degree view. Of the island. It was pretty impressive. You. But as hard too. Narrow it down to. Just one favor of you. Cause I seen a lot of cool stuff while I was out and about. John Brisso. I asked, what did you listen to? And to be honest. So I listened to superintendent radio network. I listened to pool and weeds. And thanks to my girlfriend. For sending it to me. I listened to some female rappers too. And some, you might find interested or not. On the way back. I did not turn on the radio a single time. I’m one of those weirdos that I can just ride down the road. Without anything playing. It’s kind of strange. But I’m the totally opposite. And the shop. If I’m working on something. I need some music going. But if I’m riding down the road, Maybe it’s meditation. I don’t know. He also asked high and low of the trip. So the high was probably shooting at ducks and pheasants with J R. On long island, other annual fire department. Shoot. The low was definitely hitting the pothole and blow my. on the side of the interstate. Last ways though. I asked. What new tips and tricks did you pick up? So a few things that I saw, that I’m gonna definitely do is. At extra lights to my Foley, 6 53 grinder. Uh, T handle tort ranch. For Totten and Bednar screws. And then. I really liked this idea. It was a drill press. Over a bench grinder. That was set up to sharpen stump, grinder teeth. I thought that was pretty ingenious idea. And then large front tires for my pro Gator sprayers. Definitely stuff I’m looking at too. And then Blass also asked how many Foley grounders did I come across? Well, I visited nine shops. And unfortunately for Foley, I only saw two sets of Foley grinders. I got some ground to make up. Total miles on the car and how many Philips. Great question. 2,260 miles. On my Honda civic. With five Philips. And a total of four farrier ads. And I might be disappointed blasts with the answer to this question. Total burgers consumed. I believe it or not only one. I focused on seafood. Since I was close to the coast. And then his last question was. How many E M. We’re missing their 10 millimeter socket. None that I know of. Would be the answer to that one. Nobody asked me for a 10 millimeter. One other interesting thing. For me. New states. I was Maryland Delaware, New Jersey. Pennsylvania. New York. Connecticut Rhode Island. And Massachusetts. I’ve never been to any of those states before this trip. So that was pretty cool. Thank you for listening. Until next time. See you. Bye. thank you so much for listening to the real 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 real turf techs.