Send us a text

Jason Miller is the host of the Growing Golf Podcast. Listen in as we talk about the game of golf and  how it has changed our life's.

• Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning
• Email us at [email protected]
• Check out our YouTube Channel

Send us a text

Brandon Hoag is the Equipment manager at Glens Falls Country Club in Queensbury, New York and the 2021 Winner of the Most Valuable Technician Award presented by GCSAA and GCM Magazine in partnership with Foley Company. A newcomer to the industry with a pretty handy background in machining and fabrication, Brandon talks about his love of the Roller Tamer, the outdoors, and being a dad to two boys. 

• Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning
• Email us at [email protected]
• Check out our YouTube Channel

Send us a text

This week we’re sitting down with David Prekop, Equipment Manager at Secession Golf Club in Beaufort, South Carolina. Growing up with a family tradition of caddying at the 18-hole private course near his home, this lifelong motorhead went from the crew to the shop thanks to his own gumption and will to pay the bills. We discuss how backlapping can be used as a tool rather than a crutch, fabricating new hitches with a plasma cutter, and continue the brainstorming on how to get new technicians into our great industry. David shares with us his love of boating and fishing in his free time, with a yoga instructor wife who keeps him zen and a two-year-old granddaughter who keeps him young. These two experts settle the question of whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie. (IT IS!)

• Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning
• Email us at [email protected]
• Check out our YouTube Channel

Send us a text

Hooked on golf at age 10 playing for the first time with his dad on a family vacation, Bland Cooper went to work on the golf course at a young age. After a time in golf course construction, a natural evolution to consulting led him to his eventual career as a PGA Tour agronomist. Hear about the importance of quality of cut and after cut appearance from someone who spends 160 nights a year on the road and has seen it all. We discuss the value of volunteering and why it’s one of the best educational experiences you’ll ever have.

• Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning
• Email us at [email protected]
• Check out our YouTube Channel

Send us a text

Listen to two buddies who are all jacked up on Mountain Dew & Sour Patch Kids as we recap the 2022 GCSAA Conference and Show. We’ll tell you why you should try like hell to attend in Orlando in 2023, encourage you to submit a proposal to teach some EM content, and sell you on the Reel Turf Techs WhatsApp group. Deep discussion on EM - superintendent communication and personality types is also featured. And when you think this episode is over, it’s definitely not!

• Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning
• Email us at [email protected]
• Check out our YouTube Channel

Send us a text

Iain Johnstone is the Equipment Manager at the Donalda Club in Toronto, Ontario and an enthusiastic martial artist and guitarist in his free time. Like our host, Iain started out in the turf industry with his first job on the grounds crew. Following in his dad’s footsteps, Iain became a licensed auto mechanic. After six months back at a golf course he knew there was no going back to the auto shop. Hear from Iain on fabricating a reel transportation stand inspired by Bob’s Shop; talk fishing with Trent; and listen as we discuss the importance of our peers as mentors. 

• Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning
• Email us at [email protected]
• Check out our YouTube Channel

Send us a text

Meet Gary Bogdanski, Equipment Manager at The Sharon Golf Club in northeast Ohio. Growing up on a strawberry farm and doing all the wrenching that comes with being a farm kid, Gary was introduced to the golf course by his mom who took a job in the kitchen at the Sharon Club. Tired of going home every day smelling like the rubber plant where he worked second shift while going to college, Gary agreed to give it a week working in the shop and never looked back. Gary finished his degree in mechanical technology engineering while beginning what would become a long tenure at the Sharon Club. Gary has seen it all in his time there including a tractor in a tree. Find out more about this experienced technician, safety expert, and cycling enthusiast, including the details on The Ohio State University - ATI turfgrass certificate program where Gary teaches four nights a week. 

• Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning
• Email us at [email protected]
• Check out our YouTube Channel

Send us a text

Head Outside the Shop this week with Tyler Bloom of Tyler Bloom Consulting. This Penn State turf grad who worked his way from assistant to superintendent started his own successful workforce development consulting business in 2020. We talk about how automation to address labor shortages will impact the equipment we maintain and repair, influential mentors, and the restorative benefits of catching an episode of Daniel Tiger. Tyler shares some of his expertise in how to apply Predictive Index tools at the golf facility and how EMs can develop a portfolio to help them stand out in a job search. We also discuss the importance and impact of managers all the way up to GM demonstrating they care for the people who work with them.

• Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning
• Email us at [email protected]
• Check out our YouTube Channel

Send us a text

From working his life away in a copper tubing mill to getting thrown into the fire at a golf course 45 days before the season kicked off, Scott Brock has had a great career as a golf course technician. Scott emphasizes the importance of understanding agronomic practices and having an open dialogue about those practices and their impact in equipment with the superintendent. In his free time you’ll find Scott bowling strikes with his league and being a grandpa to five awesome grandkids. 

Learn more about volunteering with Scott’s team at The KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship here. 

• Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning
• Email us at [email protected]
• Check out our YouTube Channel

Send us a text

Meet the laid-back equipment manager from The Dunes Golf and Beach Club in Myrtle Beach - Chad Kintzer.  Chad is a self-described big kid whose dad was a mechanic too. Chad served his country in the United States Army before starting his career as an auto mechanic in a local garage. After tiring of the people side of the auto tech business, Chad transitioned to building firetrucks before finding his way to the golf course. In his free time Chad enjoys cooking and smoking meats, living the dad life coaching his kids’ sports teams and now getting run ragged in his new role as grandpa.

• Tweet us @ReelTurfTechs and @MTrentManning
• Email us at [email protected]
• Check out our YouTube Channel