Episode 162: Kurt Horne

Episode 162: Kurt Horne
[00:00:00] 
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 .

Trent Manning: Welcome to The Real Turf Text Podcast, episode 1 61. Today we’re talking to Kurt Horn, equipment manager at the fall line in Butler, Georgia. Fall Line is a private golf and sportsman’s club.
With 45 holes of golf, sporting clays, fishing and hunting. Kurt has one assistant and an intern. He has primarily Toro equipment. Let’s talk to Kurt. Welcome Kurt, to the Real Turf Text podcast. Thanks for coming on.
Kurt Horne: Yeah, thanks for having me.
Trent Manning: I appreciate.
Kurt Horne: be a great time.[00:01:00] 
Trent Manning: Yep. It’s gonna be a good time. We had a little technical difficulty getting started here, but it’s all gonna be good.
Kurt kicked his wife and son out of the house. So we can have some time here, but I appreciate you being here.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Sure. Thanks for having me.
Trent Manning: Tell us how you got into the turf industry.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: All right. So a lot of us, it just started out as a summer job. I had a family friend that, his dad was an equipment manager at the local golf course, and I’ve always worked on stuff and been the gearhead kind of kid. And he’s Hey, why don’t you come out and help me?
You’ll shuffle reels around, wash ’em off after back clapping and all that jazz. So I was like, all right, well, I’ll give it a shot, 16 years old, what do I have to lose? So go out and start doing all that and, just one thing led to another and one summer led into two.
And then once I got outta high school, then it just, stayed at that course for a while. And that’s kind of, that was the start.
Trent Manning: Yep. That’s that’s the way it happens. Yeah. So where was this [00:02:00] corset?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: So I was in Destin, Florida. It was Kelley Plantation. It was relatively new whenever it was being, like, whenever I started there, it was only four years old. So
Trent Manning: Mm-hmm.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: kind of. Kind of nice to see it when it was in its prime. It’s unfortunately now it’s not nowhere. The course it used to be.
Trent Manning: Mm-hmm. So how did you get to Jerry Pate?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: So that was about, almost 10 years later, after all of that I moved down to South Florida in the Orlando area. Worked for Steels and different manufacturers and dealerships, and then came back up to the same course, Kelly Plantation. And the equipment manager was still the same guy there and he’s Hey, you know you really should go look at this job at Jerry paid.
I’m like, what’s going on? What is it? So it was a field service technician job and it was, sure, I’ll give it a shot. And it was, the rest is history. And I started out there, it’s just a field service guy in the van, worked all the way up to service manager and any kind of the service jobs in between.
I was the guy.
Trent Manning: [00:03:00] Mm-hmm. How long were you on the road?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Four years,
Trent Manning: Four years. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That’s a long time. What years was this was.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: see, 2014 to 2018.
Trent Manning: Okay. All right. I’m I would be interested to know if any of the practices that me and Corey started or put together when we started. I don’t, this was like 2008, I think, and Jerry Pate was just getting into the service. Outside service then and Corey, there was a few other road techs. There was one in Pensacola and one in Mississippi, and then I think one in Louisiana and then the two of us in Georgia.
I mean, it was pretty small back then. Then we hired a guy in Alabama. But anyway, it was the ground floor when I was there and [00:04:00] we put a lot of. Things in place the calendar that we were using and how we shared that and all this stuff. And Bruce is still there. I’m sure Bruce.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Oh yeah 
Trent Manning: I know Bruce is probably one of, one of my favorite bosses of all times. He was just always so good to me and if I ever needed anything, he was there. Every time he’d call, he would start with. How’s your family, how’s your kids doing? And all those things. He just really cared about me as a person and he wouldn’t, he knew we got work done and all that stuff would work out.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Sure. No, that’s Im important. 
Trent Manning: To say something there?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: no, I was just agreeing. I mean, Bruce has always been a great guy, one of the guys you could call and it didn’t have to always be about Word call and get some, advice on, something going on, just totally unrelated, and he’d sit there and be the ear to listen and, offer his 2 cents.
Trent Manning: Oh yeah. Yep, for sure. So what’s your favorite [00:05:00] part of the job and why is that? Sand.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Oh Lord. I thought I said, what’s your least favorite
Trent Manning: Yeah, it does I gotta mix it up here. 
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: No, 
Trent Manning: I read the same questions all the time.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Sure. No, to be honest with you. And it’s not when you’re working with a group of guys at a course and they understand everything together. And that’s what’s so good about where I’m at now is the fact that the three superintendents and myself, we all work together for the same goal and we have to top dress.
I mean, that, that’s just part of it. And, our goal is to leave the sand on the green, not pick it back up. So, light applications and enrolling and wedding agents and stuff like that rolled into the program. Help keep it there. But no, I mean, we deal with it. It’s like everybody no, I love what I do.
It’s I mean, it’s a dream job. Kind of always loved being at the golf course versus being beside, four walls, every day’s different. You never know what. What you’re gonna, have in front of you at any given time. So that’s what I really like.
Trent Manning: Yeah, I’m right there [00:06:00] with you. And luckily today I got to get out of the shop and we were doing some greens mower training. And it was just a beautiful day. I mean, it was 70 degrees Bluebird skies. I mean, it is nothing like being outside.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Yeah. It was a lot better than yesterday, that’s for sure.
Trent Manning: oh yeah. Yesterday was a wash for sure. So yeah, I mean, beautiful weather and I mean, I’ve said this plenty of times, but that’s one thing I really like about, working in the shop is we get the best of both worlds. So when the weather’s nasty, we can be inside doing our thing, and then on beautiful days we can get outside and get some fresh air. What’s your favorite tool?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: man, it just kinda what everybody says, the cordless stuff’s just been such a game
Trent Manning: Yeah, it is.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: it’s funny, as I had traditionally, I’ve always had Milwaukee stuff and then I started this current job and they had some Milwaukee tools and they were buying Milwaukee saw dolls to cut bunker edges and stuff like that.
I’m like, Uhuh, no more Milwaukee for me. I’m going [00:07:00] DeWalt now. It’s ’cause you can’t steal my batteries and steal my tools and I know exactly whenever you have a yellow tool, Hey, that’s mine. What are you doing with it?
Trent Manning: Mm-hmm.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: just kind of funny, one thing leads to another. I gotta jump brands for one thing, but honestly, I mean, I think the biggest game changer for us has been the gear Wrench makes these toolboxes we called like the mega mods, and they have the foam EVA like liners and each tool fits into a specific spot.
I mean, that’s, for us, that’s been the biggest thing. It’s now when you pull the door open, I mean it’s like an aircraft shop. You pull it open and it’s missing. You’re like, Hey, where’s this 19 millimeter wrench? Oh, I was doing an oil change on that, that carry off. Forgot to put it back. I’ll put it back.
Now it’s come on, let’s put our
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah. Right, right. No, that’s awesome. Yeah, I don’t, yeah, I hadn’t seen that. And it’s made by Gear Wrench.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: gear Wrench, it’s a whole set, it’s they have foam trays for every tool, and it’s really nice stuff.
Trent Manning: Yeah. I’m gonna have to check that out. I bought some gear wrenches. This is going way back. It was late nineties and it was, [00:08:00] I’m trying to remember. It was like fostering company, kinda like a Lawsons or something like that. And he had a set, and I still have ’em. And I’ve only replaced maybe one or two, since the late nineties.
So, I mean, they make quality stuff or used to anyway.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Yeah. As long as you don’t try to break bolts loose with the ratcheting side of it and guys, hold on, get the regular wrench. You don’t want to be, you break that part of it right out.
Trent Manning: Yep. What do you do to relax or find your balance?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Yeah, so like during the spring and the summer I love to have a well manured lawn. I mean, it’s kind of a turf nerd, through
Trent Manning: All right. Yeah.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: out there with a flex 18 mowing My grass striping it all up. My, my neighbor’s what are you doing out here making us all look bad? I’m like, I’m sorry.
It’s just kind of what I do. And in the fall and in the winter, I mean, I love shooting. I go to the gun range all the time and, it’s. Probably three or four times a month I’m out there just spending some time to myself, just sending stuff down [00:09:00] range. It’s just, just kind of relaxing and there by myself.
Nobody’s talking to me, got my headphones on and just enjoy it.
Trent Manning: That’s awesome. So do you get to use the gun range or is this a
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: No, we have a, there’s a range, just like five minutes from my house I go to, I have
Trent Manning: Oh, nice.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: at work, but it’s
Trent Manning: Okay.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: it’s not open for us all the time, so it’s unfortunate. ’cause they have all the sporting plays and shooting and stuff there and member use,
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah. No, that’s super cool. What about fishing? Do you get to fish out there?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: no, we don’t ever go fishing. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Trent Manning: Okay. All right. Okay. All right, cool. That’s
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: no. Yeah, 
Trent Manning: a secret.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: every once in a while we’ll throw some wine out there. All the ponds are stocked, so you don’t really want to start pulling stuff out of them.
Trent Manning: Right, right, right. I got you. That’s James Wilkerson, he’s out in Montana and he works on, it’s like a super private nine hole [00:10:00] course and they’re building nine more. And it’s a single owner. And they have I think five trout ponds and each one is stocked with a different type of trout, and they’re not allowed to fish.
The employees are not allowed to fish. It’s in the employee handbook, right? You can’t fish out Here, it’s only the owners. And so anyway, he works a lot with the owner because he does a lot of building maintenance stuff too, around, their cabins and things. And anyway, the owner’s did you ever fish out here? And he’s no, I didn’t think we could. He’s ah, I don’t care. So he is okay, I’m might take you up on that Then he’s, he is, been itching to go.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: sure.
Trent Manning: What’s been one of your biggest challenges to date?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I would say the biggest thing now is just a language barrier because in like Northwest Florida and where, traditionally where I worked in Florida. I didn’t have Hispanic speaking. Staff, we were all English speaking. There was a few H two Bs that came in, but they all spoke English.
But [00:11:00] now, just so hard with the workforce. We’re all, contract labor for a lot of the maintenance people. And it’s just, Spanish, I can speak some golf course, Spanish, that’s about it. Once you get past, the basic pieces of equipment, I’m lost and they’ll talk to you like, exactly what they’re saying.
I’m over there translating on my phone as quick as I can, but so that, that’s, it makes it hard because you really wanna understand what they’re saying and show that you care to them. But, it’s just, it’s difficult.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Do y’all still have HTB help
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: we don’t, we’ve never had the H two Bs here for the golf course. It was at other places that I’ve worked. We’ve had some H two Bs.
Trent Manning: Gotcha. Yeah, we, the last I guess, three years have had HTB help and yeah, hands down man, it for where we’re at, around the Atlanta’s, we can’t find anybody. So those guys are, and gals, we got one gal now are Lifesavers for sure.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Where are they predominantly? Where are they from?
Trent Manning: So the first set we [00:12:00] got were from, I’m gonna mess this up Ecuador,
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Oh,
Trent Manning: and then the last two have been from Mexico.
It was actually the same group the last two years, which that was super nice too. ‘Cause the first year the guys we got, they had no, they didn’t even know what a golf course was. Right. And then the guys we got the last two years, I mean, that’s was really nice ’cause we didn’t have to do as much retraining.
And we got, I think we get 12 and there was maybe three of ’em were new. Last year, so, but you had the other 10 guys to, get them up to speed so
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Yeah, I worked at Sandestin down in Sandestin, Florida for a little bit, and they had H two Bs from Jamaica and a lot of them had come, been coming for 10 plus years. I mean, it was just like family coming back and forth and, I mean, it was just [00:13:00] seamless. They would just come in, pick right up where they left off and keep on going.
So they, they’re really blessed with that for sure.
Trent Manning: Oh yeah. Yeah. It makes a big difference. Yeah. And we’re gonna, I guess, get into that more in a minute labor and how you find it for the shop. What’s one of the strangest things you’ve seen around the golf course?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I,
Trent Manning: good
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: it’s
Trent Manning: that
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I don’t have one individual. Yeah. I don’t have one story by itself, and it’s just, I don’t see how these people get the mowers and the places they get ’em and flip ’em into the water. I mean, I guess they’re just so scared of using the weed or a, and a fly mode that they’ll try anything
Trent Manning: Mm-hmm.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: it’s just golly.
I mean. You’ve never put, a side winder there before and it’s now it’s upside down in the water. And here we go. I mean,
Trent Manning: Yes.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: one funny story. 
Trent Manning: Go ahead.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: The old 5,500 fairway units. This is back at Kelly Plantation. I was just a kid. I was mowing fairways with this guy at the same day and we stopped and [00:14:00] let some play go through us and sitting on a hill and the hydraulics are kind of holding it.
Then it, it lurches one time and it lurches again and he couldn’t get it started and couldn’t get it turned or whatever. Next thing he rides it in backwards up to his neck and water and I’m just like staring at him like, all right, well I guess we get to pull this out and get her back going.
Trent Manning: That’s funny. I dunno. It reminds me me and a friend of mine, we were floating down, we were in a 12 foot John boat and we were floating down the Awa River here in North Georgia. And we come up on a log jam that went all the way across the river and there was like one little spot we were gonna try to get through, but it was almost 45 degree angle and we didn’t make it.
So we get pushed up in this log jam. And the boat tilts a little bit and water starts rushing in. So I jump out up on the log jam and I’ll never forget, I look back at Eric and he’s sitting in his seat and the water is up to his knees and he’s what are we gonna do? And I’m like, I [00:15:00] don’t know, but I would get outta the boat right now.
I mean, he just froze solid I mean, it reminds me of, this guy just ride it all the way in. I don’t know. What are we gonna do? But
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: for sure.
Trent Manning: was crazy stuff. Do you have a mentor in the industry?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I would say my first equipment manager, I mean he’s the one that brought me in and just. Taught me everything from the beginning of, just the real basics of, grinding. We used to grind on the old Foley that had the reel that would sit up with the two bars holding it. I don’t remember the number, but like a single blade relief grinder.
And if you could grind on those things, you can grind on this new stuff so much easier.
Trent Manning: Oh yeah it’s changed a bunch. Yeah. Yeah.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: No. And he just took the time, teaching me electronics and the electrical side of everything. And the hydraulic side, he had a automotive background, so, he was very strong.
And the electrical diagnostic stuff he was one of those guys you’d just walk up and he’d be like it’s this, just like two seconds. You’re like, well, Billy, how do you know?
Trent Manning: Mm-hmm.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I’ve seen it before. It’s just. Really good [00:16:00] guy. He was really patient with me and just took the time to, to build me up
Trent Manning: Mm-hmm.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: it really changed who I am and kind of the way that I approach things, being around him and as the mentor.
He was the one that got me to the job at Jerry Pate. I mean, he kind of, brought me up through the industry.
Trent Manning: Yeah. No, that’s awesome. That’s really good. Is he still turning wrenches?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Now he’s since retired.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Okay. All right. Good for him.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: He worked at Kelly for 30 years.
Trent Manning: Wow. That’s crazy. Yep. Long time. I’m sure. He’s seen a lot of strange things
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Oh yeah.
Trent Manning: His time there. Did you ever get a chance to work with William Albertson?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: No, I didn’t,
Trent Manning: know who I’m talking about, right?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: In
Trent Manning: everybody’s heard of William? Yes. I don’t man that guy. Yeah. He’ll forget more than me and you’ll ever know together. I mean, it is just incredible the knowledge he had. And [00:17:00] he was a really good storyteller too, and he loved to tell the story. So before Jerry Pate took over, it was turf care products.
And before that it was another company that I don’t remember the name of, but that company. So William was in Savannah, Georgia, working for the Ford tractor company as a technician, and the Toro dealer at the time in the mid eighties flew William to Atlanta to interview him for the job. And he’s been in that same building since, I don’t remember what year that was, but it was late eighties before turf care products, or maybe it was mid eighties.
I mean, yeah, so just crazy and far as I know, he is still there. Last time I talked to Bruce, he was still working there.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Yeah, I didn’t, the, when I was at the shop just a few weeks ago for their little update school, I didn’t see him, but he may have been off. I’m not sure if he’s still there even or [00:18:00] not.
Trent Manning: yeah, I don’t, I think Bruce said that he had went to like limited time or something, not, he’s not working 40 hours a week anymore, but cool stuff. What would be your, what would be your dream job or opportunity?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I mean, I’m living it right
Trent Manning: You’re living it right now. That’s awesome.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: this is cool. This is a cool place, to see it start from there was 18 holes that were built before I came on board. They waited a really long time to get an equipment
Trent Manning: Mm-hmm.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: they’re like, Hey, in four weeks we’re gonna have our first preview play.
I’m like, what? And so I’m like, you better get me some grinders here. ’cause the superintendents have been taking care of the stuff. I’m like, guys, I mean, we gotta really get this stuff dialed in. So it was challenging from the beginning. I hit the ground running. But it all worked out, man.
It’s it’s really cool to see, just from. The barren land to the, and them shape the courses through. And I really like the architecture side of our industry, so it’s kind of cool to see something [00:19:00] from the very beginning to the end, on two of the other courses. So the east course was already built before I got there, but we had to put our finishing touches on it before the member preview play.
But to see the other, the west and the short course get done it’s been really cool.
Trent Manning: Do they plan on building any more golf there?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I really don’t know. I mean, there’s plenty of land, but
Trent Manning: right? Right.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: there’s no, I haven’t heard of any plans of doing any of that, but there’s, they have lots of land. They do whatever they want, probably.
Trent Manning: But yeah. And y’all got a small membership.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Yeah. Very small, very limited.
Trent Manning: what I was thinking. Yeah. The other thing I was thinking about you taking really good care of your yard, there’s probably not a whole lot of people in Butler, Georgia doing that would be
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: No. So it, none of a, none of the management team lives over in Butler. We all live, in Columbus or in the outskirts of Columbus. So, but yeah, still there’s, maybe in Columbus proper, there might be some, but in the little small town I live in,
Trent Manning: Yeah. [00:20:00] Okay. Yeah. So how far are you away? How
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: about 32 miles. But it’s just straight. I mean, I go through two stoplights and that’s it. I mean, it’s just back roads twisting and turning.
Trent Manning: Yep. All right, I got you. That’s cool stuff. Do you have a technician you’d like to work with for a day?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I mean, there’s several between, yourself and obviously JP and I mean, Corey just, some of the, 
Trent Manning: yeah.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Older technicians? Not necessarily. I mean, Corey and I are pretty close in age, like John, I mean, he’s, been at a distributorship. He’s been where he is at for a while.
I mean, he’s just a wealth of knowledge and just,
Trent Manning: Oh yeah.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: he just understands it in a way that I wish I could. And it just, there’s gotta be. He needs to write some books or something. ’cause he’s gonna forget it all before he can get it all out.
Trent Manning: Oh yeah. No that’s a good point. Yeah, I need to have him on the podcast again and get some more of that information out. Have you run [00:21:00] into Jim Edden before?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Mm-hmm. I have not.
Trent Manning: anyway, he’s a, he worked for a Toro distributor. He was a superintendent. Then he worked for a Toro distributor, then he worked for Toro for several years.
And then he was still working with Toro, doing like side work or contract work or whatever. Anyway, he’s one of the smartest per smartest people that I’ve ever met, and he’s in his seventies now. He still does a class at. The trade show and conference every year, and I talked to him the other day and I want to get set up and do like a YouTube live.
With him doing his, he’s got a really good 6 48 class A sprayer class. Get him to do those and record all of it so we have it. I mean, it’s just. And it’d be great to do something like that with John and some of these other guys that are getting ready to retire before too much [00:22:00] longer.
But you’re welcome at my shop any day, and I can almost speak for Corey and John that you’re welcome at their shop any day. I mean, that’s we’re all that type of people, you want to come by, come on by.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Yeah. I mean, likewise, I mean, it’s always an open invitation to guys in the industry just to, to come by and see what we’re about.
Trent Manning: Yeah. No I really appreciate that and I do think I’m gonna take you up on that. We’ll we will work it out here sooner rather than later. ’cause ever since I heard about the course being built and all that stuff it’s definitely piqued my interest because I’m an outdoorsman too, and I like going to the gun range. And I like hunting and fishing.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Yeah.
Trent Manning: fishing more than hunting, but anyway.
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Learn more at www. clubessentials. com backslash task tracker. Let’s get back to the episode.
What do you know now you wish you’d known on day one?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Just how much your words can truly hurt somebody. It’s all about. The old school mentality was that people bring something in broken, you’re yelling at ’em, screaming at ’em, and then they just throw it over in the corner. They’ll never come to you and tell you anything’s broken.
So you find it later on, just the next time somebody’s out there to go use it. You’re like,
Well when were y’all gonna tell me this is broken? So, just trying to change myself to be a better person, just. Be approachable. I wanna be somebody they could come to and, tell me what’s wrong with something versus the, some of the other guys that I’ve worked around, they’re just yelling and screaming and throwing wrenches and that’s, that doesn’t do anybody any good.
So
Trent Manning: No. No. But yeah, you’re right. It hap happens a lot and I wish I could say I’ve never been that guy, but I’ve been that [00:24:00] guy before.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: we all have them, we’re all guilty of it.
Trent Manning: and I’m not proud of being that guy. But certain circumstances it’s really hard to keep your cool. But you’re exactly right. I mean, who’s gonna come and tell you about a problem if that’s your reaction each time?
So, yeah. Well, good. Good on you. How do you deal with that person?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I mean that’s something
Trent Manning: person on your crew?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: working with that, daily that’s, it’s kind of funny ’cause I was talking with Corey down in Orlando and you know about a. Individual I have working in my shop and I’m just like, man, I don’t know how to, talk to this kid. I can yell at him, scream at him, talk nice to him, and just, I get the same result.
He really is trying to do the best he can. It’s just I can’t break through. And then he gave me some great advice. It’s a book. He said it was a book. It’s actually, it’s a devo a like a shoot, I can’t think of the term. Not a devotion, but it’s a, like a study thing, but it’s all
Trent Manning: it is,
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: It’s
Trent Manning: I was gonna say like a workbook or something, or, okay.[00:25:00] 
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: is, it’s I said this, you said that, or I said this. You heard that. And it’s by Kathleen Edelman and it’s my wife and I started doing this, just here within the past couple of days. And, it’s gonna change the way I even talk to my, my son, my
Trent Manning: Oh yeah. What color are you? You figured out what color you are.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I’m not.
Trent Manning: Okay. All right. Well, I’ll let you know. I’m red. I’m 100% red. Yeah, and until I read that book, I don’t, I mean, I didn’t know, I guess, what I could be, but a red is outgoing and I’ve never thought of myself as outgoing because I’ve always been a little bit shy and kinda reserved and withdrawn.
So when I was first looking at all the colors, I’m like, well, there’s no way I’m red because I’m not outgoing. But comes to find out I’m pretty outgoing, I guess,
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I mean, this, doing the, like this podcast is even totally outta my comfort zone, to be honest with you.
Trent Manning: [00:26:00] Oh
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I’m always the guy that, kind of just real quiet. Even all the classes, I’ll just sit there and listen and, talk with, a few people. But to get out in front of a bunch of people, it’s, I’ve never been, that guy to go out and do that.
And that’s something I want to do. ’cause I want to be the teacher. I wanna be bringing people into our industry and all of that jazz.
Trent Manning: Well, and if you would ask me. Seven years ago, I would’ve said, you’re crazy. There’s no way I’m gonna talk in front of a group. But I’ve been doing it for now, whatever, seven, eight years. And I’ve told the story before, but I’ll tell it again. My first time speaking was in Orlando, or no, sorry, in San Antonio.
And it was right after the GCSA had completed the EMCP level one. And me and Corey and Eric Duncanson put together a class on basically [00:27:00] kind of like how to pass the test, right. To give some pointers on each one of the exams and eight exams. And I forget exactly how we split it up, but we each had an exam to do.
And I’ll never forget being in that room, I thought I was gonna throw up in the corner. I was so nervous. There was, there’s 20 people in there and I’m with Eric that I’m really good friends with and Corey that I’m good friends with. And I knew they would be there to help and support me or whatever, but I was just so nervous losing my mind.
And now, I mean, I don’t even hardly think twice about it. You just get up there and you do it,
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: because I
Trent Manning: I mean it’s probably, go ahead.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I used to teach like the service schools and stuff, at the branches when I’m a service manager and when it’s something that, we’re so familiar with, it’s just so easy. You can stand up there and just
Trent Manning: Mm-hmm.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: about it all day long. I could talk about real geometry, told everybody’s ready to go to sleep, but we get into some other things and [00:28:00] it’s, it’s hard to, it’s hard to public speed, that’s for sure.
Trent Manning: Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, it does. And I mean, it takes practice and yeah, you gotta get outta your comfort zone and do it is the only way you’re gonna be. Decent at it. And I was always jealous of Corey because I thought it’d come more natural to him. Like when we were having to do service schools, I’m like, man, Corey’s really good.
How’d he get so good? But, just doing it, that’ss what it is, just doing it.
Tips and Tricks
Trent Manning: Get ready
for tips and tricks
What kind of tips and tricks you got, you wanna share with us?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I, when I saw this question, I can only think of really one thing and it, some people might think it’s stupid, some people might actually get something from it. But I. I’ve always like obviously marked my bed bars, bed bar two real, and it stays consistent with that. That unit, that cutting unit stays the same pieces, on and off, but started something a couple years ago and it was the same bed bar bolt goes in the same bed bar hole.
We’re all Toro, [00:29:00] so, you don’t have to adjust the the tension on, left or right. So it just speeds everything up so much. You just, you rip the bed bar bolt out, put it inside the little jig that I built, and you just line ’em all up and then when you reinstall it, everything, you’re just grabbing the bolt and torquing down.
The bed bar bolt and you don’t really have to mess with the the endplay adjustment because it’s just, it’s already preset essentially.
Trent Manning: Oh,
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: like so many people, fight that, hey, it cuts in the center, it doesn’t cut on the outside. Well, you got the bed bar deflected, or you got the side plates all pulled in and it just speeds everything up.
Make sure the bed bars, floating left to right, as it should be set. Make sure that the play’s correct. And there’s just, it speeds you up tremendously. ’cause you just pull that one bolt, throw it in. On the left and the right, it’s marked left and right, which fault goes where, and it’s really quick.
It speeds up the process tremendously.
Trent Manning: No, that’s a good one. Yeah. That I hadn’t thought about. Yeah. I’m the guy that’s sitting there adjusting the jam nuts every time I put it in. Yeah, no, that’s a good one. So how [00:30:00] do you mark left and right?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: So I have a jig and it’s got, I just have it marked one through 12. I mean, we hardly ever would have more than 12 reels torn down at a time. And plus that’s the number of like greens mowers. We don’t have more than 12 greens marked per course. So, you just pull the bed bar out and if you’re working on, say, cutting unit number three of that set, you got three left and three right, and you just put, the bed bar bolt in respective hole. Then you just go on to the next one.
Trent Manning: Yeah.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: It’s real simple. I mean, it’s just a piece of wood with a three eight hole drilled into it, and you just push the bolts down,
Trent Manning: Okay. 
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: The washers on ’em and
Trent Manning: right? No, that’s
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: And.
Trent Manning: That’s good stuff. Any other
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I mean,
Trent Manning: that comes to mind?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: we joke about it, at my current facility, but I’m always the guy. I’m like, let’s stay within the box. You gotta stay inside the box. Let’s not do something crazy. This unit’s designed to do this. Let’s not try to go. Do something that’s not designed to do.
Let’s not go verta cut with a groomer. I mean, I’ve [00:31:00] been places where like I set that thing down real low. Let’s get after it. I’m like, it’s not gonna do anything. It’s just spring loaded. It’s gonna be floating on the top, and it’s, it’s really good for us to all come together and have the same ideas about things.
And, they’ll come to me and say, Hey, we need to do this to the turf. Like again, I’ll say, well, let’s stay inside the box and figure out what we can use to do it.
Trent Manning: how important is that when the superintendents or director, whoever comes to you and asks you for your input on how they want to accomplish something?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I mean, it’s huge. I mean, it makes you feel part of the team. And my director, I. He’s really good about that. We have meetings and we all sit down together, myself and the three superintendents, and we lay out what we’re doing every week and we talk about what it is and, have the, we all have the same, end goal.
We all strive for perfection, and it’s, how can we get there the easiest way for the cheapest amount, because I mean, [00:32:00] sure, we can go burn up all kinds of bed knives. Picking up sand or we can go out and lightly top dress and have the same result.
Trent Manning: Mm-hmm. No, that’s, I mean, that’s why I brought it up because I mean, the guy I worked for is the same way, and I love it when he comes to me and he is I got this problem. How do you think we can, do whatever it is and Yeah. I mean, you feel needed, you feel wanted you feel like you’re part of the team, and that goes a long way.
I mean,
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I really, yeah, I wanna push, other people, I mean, I’ve worked other places where the the mechanic or the equipment manager, whatever title they took, they’d never go out on the course. And if you’re not out there daily. How do you get ahead of an issue, whether it’s a mechanical issue or agronomic issue.
And that’s kind of where we all come together is, we will look at the turf together and be like, well, yeah, I can kind of see the edge marks there, but, do my little finger test where I go up, down, left and right and if it’s [00:33:00] toughen up the turf, I’m like I can’t fix that.
That’s not on me. Guys. Let’s do we need a verta cut and top dress? We’re getting a little puffy right now. Let’s. And we all come together. It’s not one person pointing their finger at the other. It’s us coming together as a team.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah. Yep. No, that’s so important. Very important. How are we gonna get more technicians in the turf industry?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: And that is the hardest question to answer. And it’s something we’re all struggling with this the younger generation. They’re not bad people. We’re just, we don’t know how to talk to ’em. I feel and we don’t know how to spark that interest. I mean, it’s a great industry, obviously.
I mean, there’s a lot of people who have been in it 20 plus years. we’re finally recognized now as a good paying job. For the longest time, it wasn’t the skilled people. They can take care of their families off of, being equipment managers and technicians and I wish that we could just go to, technical schools and be like, Hey, send us a couple of people. [00:34:00] But, in our industry, we’re not really, or I would say the golf industry isn’t really known for, producing technicians and or having the jobs that are, well paying.
And, it’s a highly skilled, highly valuable job to, the whole organization. And just trying to spark the interest in the younger generation. That’s, it’s kind of laid heavy on my heart, the past few years. I’ve always wanted to kind of get something going on, to get people in.
I, I finally have a young guy working in me or working under me in our shop and trying to build up the next, generation. It’s tough. It’s really tough and it’s. We’re not gonna be, I always tease my director, I’m like, you got me for 10 more years and I’m done.
Trent Manning: Mm-hmm.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: that’s not true.
I mean, I’d only be 50 years old, but still, at 50. I don’t wanna be working as hard as I am now, that’s for sure. But
Trent Manning: Right, right, right.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: we just need to build up the next generation. There’s no schooling for it anymore. There was Lake City Community College, which I went to they had the equipment side of it [00:35:00] that taught the whole equipment side before.
They would go to become superintendents. That’s what I want to do. I was like, Hey, I’m gonna go be a superintendent. So I went to Lake City and went through the mechanical side of it, and then got hired out by steel to go work underneath them before I finished my school.
Trent Manning: Mm-hmm.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: but it’s something we all need to do and I don’t know, I don’t have the answer.
I was asked that question during an interview. For actually this job that I currently have, the interview guy, the interviewer asked me, he goes, so how do you bring the next generation in? I’m like, fuck no. I mean, that’s tough.
Trent Manning: I mean, just, for one, like you’re doing with the internship program or something like that. I mean, I think is a great way, unfortunately we can only hire so many people and train so many people, in an 18 hole or a 45 hole, wherever you’re at. And I mean, that’s just hard.
I don’t
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I really [00:36:00] wish
Trent Manning: other way to put it.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: the manufacturers would get on board and kind of support it because they need it as well. I mean, every distributorship that I know of. They’d hire qualified technicians on the spot. If they had somebody show up, they would find a way to hire ’em. And I feel like that if we could get some kind of initiative going on between the different distributorships and, different clubs and build up people, be it like a feeder somehow.
I mean, obviously it’s gonna take money. I don’t know who’s gonna back it, but it’d be cool if, Toro or Deere would get on board and get something going.
Trent Manning: When I’ve heard that Deere has some stuff for AG students. Some programs for, the ag side of the industry and I mean, we’re not that far removed from the ag side, and I know we’re not as big a industry as ag, it, it looks like, yeah, somebody could come up with something. [00:37:00] Personally, I would love to be able to start a online type school.
I’ve even had some conversations about doing kinda like the service school that Toro and Jerry Pate did, but have a traveling week long service school. So maybe you go, wherever. But again, how do you fund that?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Mm-hmm.
Trent Manning: You know who’s gonna pay for it? I mean, the students maybe can pay for some of it, but.
You’re gonna have to have somebody to run it. Then you’re gonna have to have however many, 4, 5, 6 instructors in there. And how do they get paid? And, the, all the people I know that would be really good at it all have full-time jobs. So it’s like, how do you get those guys out, in the field, you could do some in the winter time, I don’t know. I’ve tossed
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: shut down, it seems I mean, they’re like, oh yeah, we’re closed for winter, but it never
Trent Manning: Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. And the only reason I say winters, the guys up [00:38:00] north, I mean, they definitely get more of a break than we do in the south. Did y’all get a little bit of a break with the real cold snap we had?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: yeah. But I mean, it wasn’t. It wasn’t much. It was really short lived.
Trent Manning: Yeah. I mean, we covered greens, but we were still there every day and doing, all the other stuff. So.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: covers were on, covers were off. There was, they’re going back and forth, they may have stayed on for three days at one point, and then right back off, members were coming in, so it’s like, all right here to play golf.
Trent Manning: Yep. Gotta get it ready. Yeah. It’s crazy how that works. Yeah. So back to that, I, the other thing that I wish, when I worked for Jerry Pate, I know Toro had a lot of really good online training for us technicians that was working for a distributor. Why can’t that be available for everybody else?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Yeah. You’d think they’d wanna release that and to let people, I mean, I feel like if a technician is. Very familiar with your [00:39:00] equipment. They’re gonna push for that. And I want red because Red’s teaching me, or I want green because Green’s giving me all the information that I need. It’s not rocket science.
I mean, we’re just making tall grass short, make it look good. I.
Trent Manning: Right, right. I don’t know. I mean, it’s crazy. I don’t know why they can’t, but, just the, I only worked there a couple years and I learned more in those two years, doing that than I have at a golf course in 10 years. I mean, just the amount of problems that you’re running by, new problems that every day.
That was the other thing. If I was staying in a hotel room, I mean, I guess I’m a nerd or a psycho or whatever you wanna call me, but I mean, I was up to, getting educated. All the online training that they had was really nice.
Anything else you wanna talk about, discuss?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: man. I’m kind of
Trent Manning: You got any
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: straws.
Trent Manning: you got any great ideas on how to get more people in the [00:40:00] industry? Tech schools, high schools?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Yeah. And kind of been looking into the green tea stuff, seeing if maybe getting the students out. And that’s what the GCSA thing’s called, right. Where they bring the
Trent Manning: First screen or
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: First, yeah. First, whatever that
Trent Manning: think it’s the first grain.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: but they, I think they pushing more towards like middle school and younger versus a high school style program.
Hard. We’re in a small town where my, the current course is that I’m at, and we have, there’s some local people that come in. They started out just right outta high school working for us. There’s, a handful of ’em that’s, they’ve been with us the entire time.
But I just, I really wish that, somebody such as a manufacturer would get on board and kind of. Kind of get behind this and I don’t know who to get in front of or who to talk to about it. But, and I’m willing to give up my shop and I’m sure my director would be behind it, to get people into this industry.
Build ’em up and push ’em back out. I mean, ’cause there’s, the longer you’re in this industry, the bigger your [00:41:00] circle of people get and there’s always people looking for qualified technicians, superintendents, all of that stuff. I mean, it’s, it’s a good industry to be in, and I’m glad to be a part of it.
Trent Manning: Oh, for sure. And I mean, that’s what, like any of the young guys that’s worked for me. That’s what I tell ’em. I mean, you can go anywhere in the world and work at a golf course. There’s golf courses everywhere, and. I mean, I don’t know. I definitely I’m biased for sure, but I think it is a really good, career path and especially now the pay has got up where in a lot better place than what it was for quite a while.
Yeah, it’s a really good industry to be in
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: For sure.
Trent Manning: I’m with you. I’m definitely thankful to be here.
Rapid Fire
 
Trent Manning: You wanna do some rapid fire
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Sure.
Trent Manning: What’s your favorite movie?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Man, this is a tough one. I mean, I’m kind of more of a [00:42:00] documentary guy. I like the, the world’s fastest ending stuff like that. Something I can relate to, Burman Road, doing it, going for the feed record. And he did it the hardest way possible. Building everything piece by piece, and bringing it over on the ship.
That’s kind of been my life, it wasn’t never a straight and easy path, I always took the most difficult turn for whatever reason, but here I am.
Trent Manning: It’s Johnny Cash, one piece at a time. Get you there. What would be your last meal?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Oh man. A rib eye and a baked potato. Definitely,
Trent Manning: Yes. All right. I’m right there with you. Ribeye, by far the best cut of meat there
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Burn outside of it And bring it to me.
Trent Manning: Yep, that’s right. I don’t, yeah, I just learned that the other day. What they called it blue rare.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Pittsburgh style.
Trent Manning: I don’t, they were talking about, it as being extra rare, but they said they wanted it to be blue. That
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: heard that.
Trent Manning: yeah, I don’t know. Yeah. Yeah. Some guys at a steakhouse that’s, [00:43:00] I think they said blue rare. I don’t remember. What are you most proud of besides your wife and your 4-year-old?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I’ll just, you know where I’ve come, you know my. From a little small town to, being the person that was told that, oh, you just think you’re somebody you think you’re doing, good. And then just, just stick my nose to the grindstone for a long time and really proud of, what I’ve done, in my career.
It’s been a long road, I feel really good about it and really enjoy what I do and where I’m at.
Trent Manning: That’s awesome, man. That’s so good. Yeah. So good. I love it, man. That’s good. That’s good stuff. Well, you wanna tell the listeners how they can get ahold of you? You got an email or something you mind giving out?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Yeah, probably the easiest thing would be my work email. It’s kHorn@falllineclub.com. That’s horn with an E. That was really fun as a kid, but. Once you learn it doesn’t nothing bother me. I don’t care anymore. 
Trent Manning: Okay.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: the jokes went away, but No. Yeah, it’s K horn with an [00:44:00] e@falllineclub.com.
And I’m sure people see me on Facebook, the golf course equipment managers page. And that’s about it.
Trent Manning: Yep. Yep. And no relation to Howard Horn?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: No,
Trent Manning: No. Do you know Howard Horn?
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: I do.
Trent Manning: Okay. Yeah, I mean, he’s a dear friend. We’re we talk weekly anyway if not more than that. And we’re members of the same gun range, so we spent some time together up there. But he went to Lake City also, and he grew up in North Florida.
So that’s why I
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Yeah, there was a bunch of them in the Lake City area. It was kind of funny when I moved down there and they’re like, oh, you’re from here? I’m like, no, I’m not.
Trent Manning: oh. That’s all the Howards can, I guess.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: Yeah.
Trent Manning: Yeah. Who knows. That’s funny. Well, good stuff. Thank you Kurt, so much for being on, and we’ll talk to you soon.
riverside_kurt_raw-video-cfr_rtt_interview_0166: All right. Thanks for having me.
Trent Manning: thank you so much [00:45:00] 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.