Reel Turf Techs Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Coming to you live(ish) from TETAC 2021 and the Carolinas GCSA Conference and Show. Join your host as he sits down with  Chad Kintzer, Joe Moreira, Mike Rollins and Michael Shelton and find out what it was like to join the other techs in Myrtle Beach. This roundtable discussion brings you hot topics and more than a few laughs. We might even do this again! Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs a...

Send us Fan Mail Jason Skaggs is the equipment manager at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida. After starting out of high school as an oil-changer at a car dealership, Jason moved up quickly to apprentice. He got his reel grinding experience as a Toro dealership technician and eventually made his way to the golf course. We’re talking fabricating reel racks, going in-depth on shop floors, and ho...

Send us Fan Mail Howard Horne is the equipment manager at Bear’s Best Atlanta Golf Club. This farm kid from a no-red-light town in Florida made his way to metro Atlanta after getting hooked on the game of golf playing with friends. Howard transitioned from his first career as a meat-cutter through the storied mechanics program at Lake City Community College, working at several premier Atlanta area...

Send us Fan Mail John Borsos shares with us in this episode of our Mental Health Series some of the warning signs that his anxiety had become unmanageable - including being unable to sleep - and the impact of alcohol as a coping mechanism. John gives a great perspective on how our thoughts and what we focus on are the filters through which we experience our lives. It’s not always as simple as ‘jus...

Send us Fan Mail David Currie, EM at Bayview Golf & Country Club in Thornhill, Ontario is the rare turf tech who received an education in turf mechanics. After a long-term layoff from workin’ on the railroad, David entered a program where his first apprenticeship interview featured tire changes and troubleshooting tests. David shares with us his latest fab projects including bench grinder stan...

Send us Fan Mail In this bonus episode as part of our series on mental health, previous guest Wyatt Harris shares his story of dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts from a young age. With the help of professional therapy and meds, Wyatt is enjoying today and looking forward to a bright future. Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning Email us at ReelTurfTechs@gmail.com Check out our YouT...

Send us Fan Mail Diarmuid Griffin, equipment manager at Trump International Golf Links Doonbeg in County Clare, Ireland, got his start building off-road go-karts from a kit with his Holy Communion money. After working as a caddie and getting his education in agricultural mechanics, Diarmuid did a stint at a workshop in Saudi Arabia. When a job opened three minutes from his home in Ireland, he jump...

Send us Fan Mail In this bonus episode as part of our series on mental health, previous guest Matthew Axton shares his story of overcoming and continuing to deal with a traumatic experience, details the impact it had on his life, and offers us encouragement to just reach out and be there for each other.  Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning Email us at ReelTurfTechs@gmail.com Check out our Y...

Send us Fan Mail Josefth Moreira, equipment manager at Lake Toxaway Country Club in North Carolina, began his wrenching career in honor of his late dad who was a mechanic himself. Starting out as a flat-rate auto mechanic, Joe’s strength in electrical propelled his career quickly when he took the plunge into turf. With the support of the first superintendent he worked with, Joe learned to jump in...

Send us Fan Mail Don Cotton is the owner of Turf Pride LLC, a turf equipment research and development facility with manufacturing and distribution located in Andalusia, Alabama. Don’s father was a Ford tractor dealer who went into business in 1949, so Don grew up working on equipment, ‘piddling,’ and later selling, researching and developing new equipment. Don takes us through his long career from...

Send us Fan Mail Myles Kemp is the equipment manager at Chemawa Golf Course in North Attleborough, Massachusetts and the inventor of the Birdie Bar height of cut gauge. Myles caught the turf equipment bug as a high schooler and went on to the famed turf equipment program at Lake City Community College. Myles hosted a PGA senior event at his first course fresh out of school. Hear from Myles on what...

Send us Fan Mail Matt Hyde is the equipment manager at Schuyler Meadows Club in Loudonville, New York. This 80s kid is a former dirt track racer and owner of a landscape business turned turf tech. Matt reminds us that you never know what the job you didn’t get might lead to. He gives us the low-down on Baroness walk mowers and explains how he uses Google Drive for inventory and reorder to manage t...

Send us Fan Mail Mike Rollins, Regional Manager at SIP Grinder has been in the golf industry for a short 20 months but boy howdy has he made a splash on Twitter. Mike married into the reel grinding business then fell in love with it, using his background in film and media to create outstanding videos promoting equipment managers. We’re getting deep into reel theory, bedknife angles, and relief gri...

Send us Fan Mail Wes Danielewicz is the equipment technician at Butterfield Country Club in Oak Brook, Illinois. Wes enlightens us on the many things that have changed during his 40-year career in golf course equipment maintenance and brings a unique perspective including 22 years at a municipal facility. We discuss the benefits of relief grinding and backlapping as well as the extra pluses of reg...

Send us Fan Mail Being a greenkeeper at a small country golf course in New South Wales, Australia means you’re doing the equipment maintenance too. After working on a golf course as a jack-of-all-trades, and seeing a need for reel grinding for those country golf courses who would otherwise be facing downtime using a city grinding service, Gareth started a reel grinding operation of his own strivin...

Send us Fan Mail From zero golf experience to a head equipment manager position in a year-and-a-half: that’s just how Matt Leis rolls. Matt joins us from the Westin Kierland Golf Club in Scottsdale, AZ. While earning his bachelor’s degree in accounting, Matt got a taste for turf working for his local parks & rec department. After a quick detour in selling private jets, Matt turned his focus to...

Send us Fan Mail From farm kid to cart boy to equipment manager, Michael Shelton knows his way around the golf course maintenance industry. Michael is a Horry-Georgetown Technical College graduate with an associate’s degree in turfgrass management and worked as an assistant superintendent before moving into equipment management. Like many of us, Michael enjoys the variety of his career whether he’...

Send us Fan Mail Herb Leyva began his career in the golf industry after 25 years of service in the United States Navy and is now the Equipment Manager at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, CA. We’re talking with Herb about how to get consistent results day after day, keeping up with the preventative maintenance requirements in a lease agreement, and the very real labor struggle that exists reg...

Send us Fan Mail Wyatt Harris, equipment technician at The Four Seasons Orlando, comes to us with under a year in the shop. Find out how Wyatt went from getting picked up from elementary school in a golf cart to crew to spray tech to the shop. Wyatt’s fresh perspective shines a light on the value of keeping it light and positive so that operators don’t fear the ‘grumpy mechanic’ and how handy a 90...

Send us Fan Mail You’ve never heard a ‘how I got into the industry’ story like Hector’s! Get to know the man behind the videos: a person of faith, family man, and absolutely the real deal. Hector will inspire you to speak your dreams into reality and is a living example that there is strength in being vulnerable about our fears, hopes and dreams. On the wrenching side, learn how his background as...

Send us Fan Mail From Albany, New York to Sag Harbor to L.A. all by age 30 - Geoff Briggs is making the most of his opportunities and living with no regrets. Listen in with the EM from The Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, CA. Hear all about the challenges of going from east coast to west coast turfgrass and adjusting to green vs. red. Geoff shares some cool details on a bridge railing fab pro...

Send us Fan Mail Taylor Cairns, equipment manager at The Rock Golf Club in Muskoka, Ontario catches up with us this week and shares his story of getting into the turf equipment industry. Hear how networking, being open to learning and working on the GCSAA Equipment Management Certificate Program all led Taylor to where he is now, happy at the golf course. Get an idea for a fun project involving ol...

Send us Fan Mail Matthew Axton jumped out of his comfort zone from the cricket pitch in the United Kingdom all the way to The Royal Golf Club in Bahrain. A rare find in our field, Matthew studied turf equipment and won a National Vocational Qualification Award which was presented by none other than Prince Phillip. Find out what it’s like to be Workshop Manager on an island in the Persian Gulf wher...

Send us Fan Mail We cover so many important topics this week with Tommy Richey, Equipment Manager at Pine Valley Golf Club in Pine Valley, New Jersey. Tommy got his start turning wrenches as a machinery technician in the United States Coast Guard and now manages the equipment for the top club in the U.S. Hear what it’s like to achieve your dream and find it’s even better than you imagined. We get...

Send us Fan Mail Get ready to meet one of the best minds in the business - Roland McPhearson, Equipment Manager at Orinda Golf Club in Camino Sobrante, California. From LA (not that one - Lower Alabama) to NoCal by way of upstate New York and New Jersey, Roland is the inventor of the Roller Tamer and an Edwin Budding Award winner as well as a veteran of the United States Air Force. Roland and Tren...