Glenn Peters, Equipment Manager at North Shore Country Club in Glenview, Illinois, found he could make money by repairing old equipment and selling it. He started his career at a hardware store and found himself at a golf course working as a mechanic in 1986. Peters fell in love with the variety that we see at the golf course. Each day brings a new problem and solution. He has been very active in the Chicagoland group of technicians over the years. He was very involved with his sons in the boyscouts.
Transcript
Trent Manning: 0:05
welcome to the reel turf techs podcast for the technician that wants to get reel follow along. As we talk to industry professionals and address hot topics that we all face along the way we’ll learn tips and tricks. I’m your host, Trent. Manning let’s have some Welcome to the real turf text podcast, episode 89. The day, we’re talking to Glen Peter’s equipment manager at north shore country club. In Glenview, Illinois. North shore is a private club. On 170 acres. Glenn has one assistant in the shop. They have mostly Toro equipment. Let’s talk to Glenn. Welcome, Glenn to the Real Turf Tech podcast. How you doing today?
Glenn Peters: 0:51
Doing well. How about yourself?
Trent Manning: 0:53
I’m doing great. Thank you so much for coming on. We’ll get straight to it. Tell us how you got into the turf industry.
Glenn Peters: 1:01
Well, uh, like, many of the older folks in my generation, you, you start messing around with, uh, small engines and go-karts and mini bikes and all that kind of thing. And then, then, uh, you pick up a couple things and fix ’em and somebody buys it from you and go, Hey, I can make a little money off. Uh, somebody’s cast off machinery. So, uh, wasn’t exactly sure. Kind of thought I wanted to be an automotive mechanic when I graduated from high school. got involved. program in the community college. And, uh, I was, uh, actually working in a harvest store job I had had in high school. And then I would go in the local, uh, mower shop and one of the one day the guys said, Hey, you interested in a job? And I said, well, yeah, I was thinking about making a change and how much you offer anything. And I think it was, uh, 25 cents an hour more than I was making. I said, okay, I am. And, uh, so there we, you know, off, off we went, learning how much I really didn’t know about small engines and all those kinds of things from, a man who was, uh, at that time in his forties. Of course, he seemed very old to me then, but, uh, he was well versed and, and he knew, he knew how to grind reels and bed knives. And of course that was all old single. Blade grinding and old equipment in those days. so that’s, that’s how I get kind of got my start. And then, uh, had a customer that would, after a few years, customer of ours was looking for a, another mechanic in a landscape, construction company. I said, well, that paid an hour, an hour more. So I went there.
Trent Manning: 2:43
Right. Yep. Chasing that
Glenn Peters: 2:44
Here we get, we are getting married, so, yeah. Oh yeah. So, uh, stayed there for a bit. the, the engine, the Moore shop, got a new owner took, called me up, asked me if I’d be interested in returning. Of course that was, that was a little bit more money. So, you know, how.
Trent Manning: 3:02
Mm-hmm.
Glenn Peters: 3:03
And, uh, he didn’t turn out to be everything he represented himself. So I was looking for a change to get out of there. And, uh, there was a adding a local paper for a mechanic for a golf course. I’m like, okay, I’ll take a look at that. And, uh, interviewed with that superintendent. And, uh, he’s, and I, when I told him I, I had experience with reels, he, he says, okay, you’re hired. I don’t think he was having much success. This is 1986.
Trent Manning: 3:38
Okay. Wow. Going way back here. So what’s one of the biggest changes have you seen in the industry?
Glenn Peters: 3:46
well, it, in our end of it, the, uh, in the private end, I’d say it’s the expectations.
Trent Manning: 3:53
Mm-hmm.
Glenn Peters: 3:53
we would, we would, you know, uh, you know, 180 7 was a, a low mowing height years ago. Now, now we routinely are running, one 15 day in, day out, you sometimes one 20. But yeah. the equipment itself, it’s, it’s, you know, the GM 1000 was a brand new machine. And when I, when I remember when they rolled it out, we, we happened to have some of the first in our area, so that was a, that was a big change.
Trent Manning: 4:21
Mm-hmm.
Glenn Peters: 4:21
The equipment is, was really, really big.
Trent Manning: 4:25
Right? Do you relief, grind.
Glenn Peters: 4:28
I do. I am doing it now because I was able to, I updated my grinders about a year ago and, uh, we have Bernhard, but I also bought the, uh, express relief accessory for it. so I was able to, I made, I got by with what I had until we railed upgrade. I think a lot of people in the industry understand that and uh, so now I’m able to, to do that.
Trent Manning: 4:58
what kind of benefits have you saw from Relief Grounded.
Glenn Peters: 5:03
I feel that my units are staying sharper.
Trent Manning: 5:08
Yep.
Glenn Peters: 5:09
and especially the farwell units, the ease of easy of back lapping and, you know, in comparison to not, you really, really pretty much had to grind if you got in a situation where you weren’t happy with the cut.
Trent Manning: 5:25
Right, right, right. For sure. Well, tell us something you fabricated lately.
Glenn Peters: 5:30
well, I haven’t fabricated anything I’ve metal lately, but I made. Out of, uh, PBC pipe. I made a, uh, a, uh, place to park all our funnels when we’re done using ’em. So I got about. I when the internet looked around and they’re like, yeah, we can do something like that. So we got a place for all the funnels to drain, and they’re not sitting in a bucket and or falling on the bench and making a mess. So, yeah, that’s, that’s, it’s working out good. Something anybody could do. You, you, you’re use your imagination.
Trent Manning: 6:02
So you just have the PVC pipe all linked together for multiple funnels and it all drains to a single point.
Glenn Peters: 6:09
Correct, and then you could just take the little plug out and drain that out and keep using it that way.
Trent Manning: 6:16
Okay. Awesome. Yeah, I saw Miles Kemp at his uh, shop. He had a set up very similar to that. The guy that makes the birdie bar. You familiar with it?
Glenn Peters: 6:28
I’m not,
Trent Manning: 6:29
Okay. It’s a ha to cut gauge
Glenn Peters: 6:32
Okay.
Trent Manning: 6:32
he makes, he’s a fellow golf course mechanic, uh, super great guy. He’s up in Massachusetts and I don’t remember the name of the little city. He’s not too far from Providence, Rhode Island. When I was up there this spring, I went by his shop and I saw his funnel set up like that and thought that was super cool. Took a picture of it. What’s your favorite tool?
Glenn Peters: 6:55
I’d say our, our new favorite tool is, uh, a golf lift. Uh, real caddy. Big has helped, helped, uh, quite a bit and there’s a lot of other things you can do with it too.
Trent Manning: 7:06
So what’s the golf lift? Real caddy. I’m not, I don’t know if I’m familiar with.
Glenn Peters: 7:11
little. Um, it’s a four wheel, it kind of looks like, um, go. kind of a four-wheeler, small four-wheeler with a, a, uh, a tray on it. You can, you can crank, has a hand crank, crank it up and you has a brake on the, on one back wheel so you can load it up and pick up your wheels to the move ’em around to the bench or storage river. And, uh, that, that’s, that’s made a, a big difference in being able to move these things around now and, uh, handling them. I, my. The, the, uh, gentleman that helps me in the, in the shop. I, I think we’re about, we’re close to the same age. I think he’s appreciated quite a bit. So he’s,
Trent Manning: 7:52
I’m
Glenn Peters: 7:53
yeah, he just grabs it and goes, and he’ll take and put stuff away and, you know, that’s one of those jobs that, you know, getting stuff put back is a, is always a big help.
Trent Manning: 8:04
I wonder how many back injuries it would’ve saved
Glenn Peters: 8:07
Oh gosh.
Trent Manning: 8:08
a piece of equipment like that For all of us.
Glenn Peters: 8:11
Probably, probably a lot. I’ve, I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve not had one. I know other people that have had, but for some reason I haven’t. yeah. I think back to the mower shop and even mower shops now have devices to lift mowers up onto the bench.
Trent Manning: 8:27
Mm-hmm. what do you do to relax or find your balance?
Glenn Peters: 8:31
we, uh, we have a small place in central Wisconsin we can get up to in about two and a half, three hours and, uh, get a weekend run up there and, and, uh, it’s, it’s quiet. no, no phone, except cell phone service has got, has improved, but, uh, yeah. No tv, no internet.
Trent Manning: 8:52
Mm-hmm.
Glenn Peters: 8:52
Basically, you know, if it, if the service is working right, you can get an internet, but generally, no. That kind of thing. And, uh,
Trent Manning: 9:01
uh, lake or what?
Glenn Peters: 9:02
near, near, we’re not on a lake. We’re, we’re close to a lake. We got, we got a, a boat there so we can run and take it out and relax, do that, do a little, little fishing and, and hanging out. And our, uh, sons and their spouses enjoy that too. So,
Trent Manning: 9:20
Mm-hmm. Very good. That’s awesome. What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen at work?
Glenn Peters: 9:26
That’s, uh, that’s a good one. I, uh, back in 2011, we hosted the Western Amateur, and the last Saturday morning was the last day of play. I think they only played half a day. And we were, we came out on the course and we were greeted with, a stop sign in the middle of our number eight green. and also in the middle of number two, fairway, another one. We have a neighborhood that on our south side, and so, yeah, some, some neighbors decided that’d be a kids would be a, that’d be a good thing to do. So, yeah, well you, and you know how it goes. sent the appropriate person out there, pull that out and do a quick repair and, and everything went on. So,
Trent Manning: 10:12
Awesome. So it didn’t really hold up the to.
Glenn Peters: 10:15
no, it was early enough. We got it all under control. of course the superintendent was, uh, not exactly happy about that, but, uh,
Trent Manning: 10:23
Oh, I’m
Glenn Peters: 10:23
it all worked out. It
Trent Manning: 10:25
That’s awesome. Yeah. At least it worked out because yeah, these people just don’t understand what all goes into tournament prep and you know, you’re trying to get every blade of grass just right and then they do something like that.
Glenn Peters: 10:40
Right. Yeah. They, no, they’re just out having fun.
Trent Manning: 10:44
Yep. That’s right. We all, we all were young and wanted to have fun too, I guess, at
Glenn Peters: 10:48
Right, right.
Trent Manning: 10:49
Yeah. what’s one of your, uh, pet peeves around the shop?
Glenn Peters: 10:54
I, I would say, uh, individuals blocking the, the door to the, that access the shop, to the lift and in that area. And every single person does it from the
Trent Manning: 11:06
Wow.
Glenn Peters: 11:07
from the most experienced to the least experience. So we have to work on that. We keep working on that.
Trent Manning: 11:12
So what do you do to work on that?
Glenn Peters: 11:14
sometimes I just take and move the vehicles to another location and they, they go looking for ’em. So, yeah.
Trent Manning: 11:21
I’ve, uh, I’ve been known to do that too, and depending on how much exercise I want, depends on how far I drive it away from the shop.
Glenn Peters: 11:28
Yeah, let’s, we can, we, there’s an access to the number four fairway right outside the shop so I can park it around the corner, so that’ll leave even looking for a little bit.
Trent Manning: 11:38
Mm-hmm. But they still hadn’t learned their lesson. Huh. Cuz they
Glenn Peters: 11:41
Uh, some, some are, some have gotten, some individuals are boat, others.
Trent Manning: 11:47
Yeah. Yep. That’s true. That’s every course. I think some individuals are better than others.
Glenn Peters: 11:52
are.
Trent Manning: 11:52
Do you have a mentor in the industry?
Glenn Peters: 11:55
I was thinking back to that at, My previous job, the superintendent there, mentor, not mechanically. But, in dealing with people and, uh, he was a man that, very, very, very little got him upset. And maybe, maybe he just didn’t show up, but he, I never saw him lose his temper with anybody. So that was a good, uh, a good example to, to set for his, his guys. And I, I think I, I learned, I learned a lot from him. He was a, he was a, he is unfortunately not with us. He didn’t get a chance, didn’t live to enjoy his retirement, so, but, uh, in our area, yeah. Anybody, you mentioned Dennis at Sunset Ridge and everybody goes, oh yeah, he was a great guy. So
Trent Manning: 12:39
Hmm. That’s awesome. How long did you work with?
Glenn Peters: 12:42
14 years,
Trent Manning: 12:43
Okay. That’s awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s gotta be great to work with a person with that attitude or mentality
Glenn Peters: 12:52
Yes. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 12:53
somebody that’s explosive and a little high strung and like some of us can be.
Glenn Peters: 12:59
Right, right. Yeah, we,
Trent Manning: 13:02
So that’s good stuff. So what else did you learn from him?
Glenn Peters: 13:07
I would say that, uh, You know, there’s, uh, there’s always the gray area
Trent Manning: 13:13
Mm-hmm.
Glenn Peters: 13:14
in situations. There’s always kind of look at everything and there’s, there’s also that gray area that, uh, is, is actually pretty common.
Trent Manning: 13:24
So you would say like giving people the benefit of the doubt if something happened and that kind of.
Glenn Peters: 13:31
I mean, I think we, I think we all realized that, uh, The things happen and, uh, they’re not, no, I don’t think any, I think most individuals are not trying to break anything or damage anything.
Trent Manning: 13:45
I would agree with you, and I think a lot of us probably don’t or didn’t look at it that way.
Glenn Peters: 13:52
I.
Trent Manning: 13:52
We thought it was more intentional.
Glenn Peters: 13:55
Correct. I, I, uh, in my younger years, I would get more irritated with, with indivi at, at my first job, you know, and I was, of course, I was learning all this golf course, procedure and everything then. And, some of those people were, you know, undereducated and, The language barrier and, and such. I had an, there was an assistant there who could speak the language very well, so that, that helped quite a bit. And, uh, yeah. So yeah, I don’t think that most, I don’t, can’t think of anybody that’s trying to break anything in our group. It happened. Things happened.
Trent Manning: 14:32
Oh yeah. Yep. No, it does. And you’re right. Nobody shows up and every day and says, okay, what can I break today?
Glenn Peters: 14:39
Right,
Trent Manning: 14:40
I don’t, I don’t think they set out to, to do that. I do think we have different styles of operators and some of ’em are more cautious, uh, of than others.
Glenn Peters: 14:53
Yeah, I would agree with that. Yes.
Trent Manning: 14:56
What would be your dream job or opportunity?
Glenn Peters: 14:59
if I was a younger man, maybe a job out in, in a, one of the Western states or something in the mountains or somewhere like that. no place in particular, but yeah, being a, maybe if we were younger, we would, uh, make a move out there if.
Trent Manning: 15:18
I know Is, is your roots just too deep right now?
Glenn Peters: 15:22
well, our, our, our kids are all and their spouses are in the area. We’ve got a, uh, 10 month old grandson with our,
Trent Manning: 15:31
Congratulations.
Glenn Peters: 15:32
you, with our, uh, our older son, his wife’s, and, and they’re about an hour away. So, you know, Uhhmm, Yeah. We’re not gonna knock me them too far away if,
Trent Manning: 15:44
Yeah, no, I understand that. Can’t gotta stay close to the grandbabies especially.
Glenn Peters: 15:48
my wife’s mother is, is still with us, so she’s, she’s starting to need some help, so, you know, you know, you have to consider that too.
Trent Manning: 15:57
Yeah, for sure. For sure. I want to tell you about a great product that I’ve been using task tracker. I know what you’re thinking. Task trackers for labor. But I’m here to tell you is also an easy to use equipment maintenance platform. Employees can scan QR code and send notes about the condition of equipment. And the equipment can be assigned to employees. Making the more accountable. I encourage you to reach out to Jamie and Gerald. The founders of ASB task tracker. At ASB task, tracker.com to schedule a demo and see how easy the platform is to use. Again, That’s ASB task tracker.com. Let’s get back to the episode. What technician would you like to work with for a day?
Glenn Peters: 16:46
I, I, well, one individual in particular is a friend of mine who had to retire from the business early due to an injury. his name is Ted. He was at Wilmette Golf Course down the street from me. We’re good friends and, we still, he see each other even though he’s not working, in the industry. But, and. I’d say, uh, there would be, uh, the other gentleman that was with me where Tim was there, met you, uh, Tim Johnson, uh, another man, west Danielle Whiz. Another man named Chuck Tatton. He’s, he’s kind of a neighbor. He is about 10 minutes away. Those are all guys I’ve known a long time. Yeah, I’d worked with any of those guys for in a tournament or for a day, wherever, you know, we’re on the same page.
Trent Manning: 17:31
why don’t, so if you’re really close, if you’re really close with those guys, why don’t you go spend a day.
Glenn Peters: 17:37
that’s a possibility. We’re, we’re, yeah, that’s a possibility. And also, uh, Justin up there in Kenosha too, I met.
Trent Manning: 17:46
Mm.
Glenn Peters: 17:46
Yep. we, we met, I forget how we met a couple, three, three or four years ago. But yeah, he seems like a, a good young guy and he’s really, uh, putting an effort into, uh, To make a, make a, a good name for himself in the, in the industry.
Trent Manning: 18:04
Yeah, Justin, he’s uh, he used, put in a lot of hard work, and that’s the first time when I met you up there at Kenosha Country Club. The first time that I’d seen his shop, I’d talked to him before, emails and phone and stuff like that, but, uh, he had a really good setup there, you know, and it’s not a huge high end place, but he was, uh, doing a really good job with what he had
Glenn Peters: 18:28
Yeah, it looks, yeah, it looks like he’s, he’s done. He’s put some time in there.
Trent Manning: 18:33
Yeah, he was definitely organized. And that’s one thing I’ve heard people say it before, it don’t cost anything to be organized and clean.
Glenn Peters: 18:42
Right.
Trent Manning: 18:43
you know, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to get your place clean and organized.
Glenn Peters: 18:48
cleaning up. which it, sometimes it’s easier said than done. You try to keep your area clean. other spots, well, you then you kind of have to look the other way. You can’t, you just can’t do it all.
Trent Manning: 18:59
Oh no, very true. Yeah, and I’ve, I’ve seen plenty of shops that way where the mechanics bay is squared away and then you go to another part or into cold storage or whatever, and it’s just a mess.
Glenn Peters: 19:12
outside the building or,
Trent Manning: 19:14
Right? Yes. Mm-hmm. Yep. How much, uh, do you wanna buy it off and chew? That’s kinda how that works out, I guess. How much time do you got in your day?
Glenn Peters: 19:23
How much the elephant do you want?
Trent Manning: 19:25
Yeah, that’s right. Yep. Exactly right. Well, what do you know now you wish you’d known on day one?
Glenn Peters: 19:31
that, the mechanic slab shirt technician, whatever you’d like to be called. You don’t have to do every job, and you sh you shouldn’t have to, you shouldn’t be expected to do every jobs. For instance, the tractor needs a blower put on it. Well, more than likely, there’s a couple other individuals that you, they are trainable or have done that before, and They’re just not saying anything. Or they would do it, but they haven’t been given, you know, for whatever reason they’re not not being allowed to or, you know, so yeah, if you can, you can get, some people that can do things like that. the man that helps me. You know, I can, I can tell him go out, you know, put the blower on, put the cedar on, whatever, and he may need a little bit of help getting things lined up. But yeah, he know, he knows where he is going and what he is doing. And then we get, we get it done.
Trent Manning: 20:28
I think that’s a really good point. And even if you don’t have somebody at the current time that knows how to hook up a blower, you could go teach them. Not do it for ’em, but teach ’em how to do it, and then next time they know how to do it.
Glenn Peters: 20:44
Right. Yeah. We, we have a lot of changes that happen on a daily basis in our, our operation. So, and, uh, yeah, he’s one of, of, uh, four brothers, so, and they all, all the brothers have been there a long time. They’re long term employees, so they, they’re all pretty well versed. And, uh, at least even getting something out and bringing it in or whatever they, they know where, what you’re talking about.
Trent Manning: 21:08
Yeah. And that, that helps a lot too. If you have some longer. Tenured employees that hang around there and kind of know the ropes and the ins and outs. It’s always a, a big plus too. But I think one of the takeaways I got from that is maybe we should try to delegate a little bit more.
Glenn Peters: 21:29
Right. And, and sometimes we, we want things the way we want ’em, and it’s, it, it, you have to work at delegating.
Trent Manning: 21:37
No, and it is, yeah, it’s a struggle and it can be tough. And had a guy tell me one time, if he gave the same job to five mechanics, they would do it five different ways. And you just gotta let them do their thing and see how it works out.
Glenn Peters: 21:55
Right. And, uh, yeah, the, the man that helps me. Yeah, he may, he may take the, take those mowers off the fairway unit just a little bit different than I would. That’s okay. It’s getting done and
Trent Manning: 22:07
Mm-hmm.
Glenn Peters: 22:08
can put my attention into other things.
Trent Manning: 22:11
Yep. That’s good awareness there.
22:14
Get ready for tips and tricks.
Trent Manning: 22:19
kinda tips and tricks you want to share with.
Glenn Peters: 22:22
Oh, I know. What was one? take a bolt. Say you wanna, you got a couple. Got a gasket that you have to keep, keep in place. Take coup. Take a couple bolts. Cut the heads off, cut a slot in them, and then you can use those for your lineup tools. Hold that gasket in place and say, you know, use ’em for a lineup for, uh, put, put a pump back in or drop a manhole back in. That, the man I worked with at the Moore shop taught me that one a long time ago.
Trent Manning: 22:50
Yeah, no, that’s a good one.
Glenn Peters: 22:52
Uh,
Trent Manning: 22:52
you’re saying just cut the head off the bolt, put it, screw it in, put the gasket over it, and then put on whatever else you’re mountain the pump, or
Glenn Peters: 23:02
Yeah, well, you use it for, yeah, whatever. like that. Sometimes you cut a slot in it, because then you can just take, once the air bolts are in place, you can take a screwdriver and run it back out. the other one, I just kind of came up with this, this fall. We were having trouble with the seed flowing in our, our tri wave cedar we never did before. We have a lot of, we’ve added a lot of fescue in our facility and it, that stuff would not go. Um, and I, and I thought about that and I, I thought, you know, I thought I had heard about this. Monday morning I came in and I, Cedar was empty and I, I took and hose that thing down with the spray graphite, the whole thing, and went out and it worked.
Trent Manning: 23:43
Okay.
Glenn Peters: 23:44
was pretty happy about that one.
Trent Manning: 23:46
So what do you think was causing the seed not to flow?
Glenn Peters: 23:49
I, I don’t know. I, I,
Trent Manning: 23:51
Was it the type of seed or something like
Glenn Peters: 23:53
Yeah, it was odd because it was sea we used before, in doing some, a bit of reading it. I guess this is a fairly common thing in agriculture with, with corns and stuff like that, and they actually make a, a graphite product that can be added to those kind of cedars, those big cedars. So it, I never had the problem before. Turf Co didn’t have any idea.
Trent Manning: 24:19
Mm-hmm.
Glenn Peters: 24:20
nobody ever called me back but, uh, it worked.
Trent Manning: 24:26
Okay. That’s awesome.
Glenn Peters: 24:27
that’s all, you know, it’s, that’s all it matters. Boss Boss was excited about that. So, uh, you know,
Trent Manning: 24:33
And you, you’ll have a can handy next
Glenn Peters: 24:35
oh yeah, we
Trent Manning: 24:36
it comes seeding time.
Glenn Peters: 24:37
yeah, we, yeah, we, well, it, it kind, it, it hangs in there too. I was surprised. It actually kind of stays there, so, yeah. But we, it’s some, something we’ll have around.
Trent Manning: 24:47
So you didn’t have to keep reapplying
Glenn Peters: 24:49
No, I thought maybe we’d have to reapply it and, uh, no. It, it, it got the, we got our job done. got that, you know how they are, they wanna get that seed in the ground
Trent Manning: 24:58
Oh yeah.
Glenn Peters: 24:59
or it gets too chilly out and, uh, so it worked.
Trent Manning: 25:03
How about the director that I’ve worked for for years and years? We used to be bent grass on our greens, and he said the perfect day to see bent grass. Where we’re at just north of Atlanta is August 15th, and the second best day to see Bent Grass is August 15th of the next year.
Glenn Peters: 25:26
Of course.
Trent Manning: 25:27
That, that, yeah, that’s the way he looked at it. So yeah, that seed, uh, my point is the seed’s gotta go out when the seed goes out. Yeah. We, we can’t, can’t be dilly dialing. Any other, uh, tips and tricks? Oh, I was gonna ask, what else do you use the dry graphite for?
Glenn Peters: 25:44
we’ve used it, for, for places, things that you want. I’ve used it on chains in the past just for kind of an anti corrosion thing we had. Yeah, we, I’ve used it on, on open chains and stuff like that. Dries, drip, gives us a little protection, a little, little bit of coating on that.
Trent Manning: 26:02
Mm-hmm.
Glenn Peters: 26:03
it in that application before.
Trent Manning: 26:05
Okay. What else do you wanna talk about?
Glenn Peters: 26:08
I feel like I’m in a bit of a, a unique, facility because, uh, my, my superintendent is his le legacy superintendent. His father was the superintendent before.
Trent Manning: 26:20
Oh
Glenn Peters: 26:21
And up until, up until this year, his cousin was the assistant. He decided it was time to retire. And, and he did. and, uh, he had his, his father and, and two uncles were, were all superintendents. Grandfathers a superintendent.
Trent Manning: 26:38
Wow.
Glenn Peters: 26:38
So they, and he has two daughters. And that was the, that’s, that’s the end for that.
Trent Manning: 26:45
Oh,
Glenn Peters: 26:46
But yeah, he’s, it’s, uh, I don’t think there’s too many facilities that, that have that situation anymore.
Trent Manning: 26:53
No, I don’t think so. And it’s a shame the daughters, they could, they could do it too. They’re getting, getting to be a lot more females in the, in the golf business.
Glenn Peters: 27:02
the girls saw, saw how much time there is and they decided they, they just weren’t gonna do that
Trent Manning: 27:07
Yeah. I can’t say that I blame ’em, honestly.
Glenn Peters: 27:10
that end of it, you know?
Trent Manning: 27:12
Yeah. So was his grandfather at that club
Glenn Peters: 27:16
No, he was at a, a club, just, uh, probably about 15 minutes north of us
Trent Manning: 27:21
okay.
Glenn Peters: 27:22
in Highland Park, Illinois.
Trent Manning: 27:24
Yeah. That’s awesome though. So cool.
Glenn Peters: 27:27
And I,
Trent Manning: 27:28
Yeah. I wonder between all of them, how many years of experience would that be? It’s gotta be something crazy.
Glenn Peters: 27:33
yeah, I did. I did. I did. To get to meet his father, cuz he would come around. And, he had known my old boss at my previous job, he, he referred to him as a kid, you know,
Trent Manning: 27:45
Mm-hmm.
Glenn Peters: 27:46
that time. my old boss was in his mid sixties, so,
Trent Manning: 27:51
Oh wow.
Glenn Peters: 27:52
yeah. So he referred to him as, as a kid. He, he said, yeah, he’s a good kid.
Trent Manning: 27:57
Yeah. That’s awesome. 60 year old kid.
Glenn Peters: 27:59
Yeah. 60 something at that time. 60 something.
Trent Manning: 28:02
Mm-hmm.
Glenn Peters: 28:03
But yeah, he had had a great respect for him. He said, yeah, I remember when I was a, a stupid young superintendent and I called, called Joe up. He, he read me the riot act, but then he was over in five minutes to see what he could do to help me.
Trent Manning: 28:19
Yeah, that’s awesome. And that’s what this industry is, and everybody, for the most part that I’ve met in this industry is that way. We all just want to help each other.
Glenn Peters: 28:29
Right.
Trent Manning: 28:30
We might give each other a hard time too,
Glenn Peters: 28:32
Oh yeah.
Trent Manning: 28:32
that’s part of comradery and friendship and that kind of stuff. But we just want to help at the end of the day
Glenn Peters: 28:39
Right.
Trent Manning: 28:40
and that’s what makes it so great. Were you ready to do some rapid fire questions?
Glenn Peters: 28:50
Sure. Let’s, let’s get at it.
Trent Manning: 28:51
What’s your favorite movie?
Glenn Peters: 28:53
well, it’s more of a, it would be a series, band of brothers.
Trent Manning: 28:57
Oh yeah. That’s great. Yeah. Great series. What would be your last meal?
Glenn Peters: 29:03
Venice and tender line with, uh, perhaps maybe some twice Baked potatoes. Mushrooms.
Trent Manning: 29:10
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So good. So are you into hunting?
Glenn Peters: 29:14
Yeah. Yeah.
Trent Manning: 29:15
Okay. All right. Good deal. So can I heard in when I was up there in Wisconsin that the rifle season, firearm season was only nine days long.
Glenn Peters: 29:27
It does. Yeah, yeah,
Trent Manning: 29:29
That kind of blew my mind because here it opens in October and don’t close till January. This is crazy. Total
Glenn Peters: 29:37
in the meantime they can they it before and after this bow hunting. So goes to, uh, that goes to. About the second week in January in Wisconsin. In, in,
Trent Manning: 29:50
Okay.
Glenn Peters: 29:50
yeah. So, lot, lots of opportunities.
Trent Manning: 29:54
What are you most proud of?
Glenn Peters: 29:55
well, I, I have to start out with, uh, with my family, my sons, they’ve both become going on to become their own men and, uh, and also my, my involvement in the, the scouting program. they both became Eagle Scouts, which I’m quite quite proud of that, and, uh, takes a, takes a lot to get there and, uh, they did it
Trent Manning: 30:18
That’s awesome. Yeah. So good. how long does it take to get there?
Glenn Peters: 30:22
well. You can, you generally join the program when you’re 11. There are some individuals that get done by the time they’re 15, but, it, it all depends. And there are some that you have to have everything completed by, by your 18th birthday. my son, eldest son’s best friend, completed, turned in all his work on the day of his birthday. So, yeah, so it, it
Trent Manning: 30:50
Cutting it close.
Glenn Peters: 30:51
runs the gamut,
Trent Manning: 30:52
Mm-hmm.
Glenn Peters: 30:52
but, uh, yeah, it all depends on how motivated the individual is and how some people, some guys don’t get, well now it’s open for, for, for girls too. And, uh, they don’t, don’t get motivated until they go, you know what, I, yeah, I think I do wanna finish that because it’s awful. It’s awful nice on a resume and it shows you’ve done something. beside before you’ve graduated high school?
Trent Manning: 31:20
Yeah, it definitely shows that if you put your mind to something, you can accomplish
Glenn Peters: 31:26
Yes. And the, the leadership, pro part of it is the, probably the most, most important part of it because
Trent Manning: 31:32
Mm.
Glenn Peters: 31:33
they’re the ones that are potentially directing adults to do the work, the do their, their service project, you know,
Trent Manning: 31:42
Yeah. Were you in the scouts as a
Glenn Peters: 31:46
I was, I did not become an Eagle Scout. I had a one friend of ours in our, in our five six guys that became an Eagle Scout. I, my brother’s an Eagle Scout as well. but uh, yeah, it was, good experiences for us. There’s, there’s, uh, there’s five of us that still see each other and, and, uh, we were all scouting one of the, one of the guys’, dad was one of our scout masters and, uh, yeah. So here are all gray old men and we’re, we’re still seeing each other, so
Trent Manning: 32:19
Yeah, but how awesome is that to, you know, a live hood bond that you created when you were a young man? That’s incredible. and to keep that relationship up, especially at the age you’re at now. And, you know, everybody goes in different directions after high school or college or whatever. So yeah, that was, that was pretty incredible.
Glenn Peters: 32:43
yeah, yeah. It is.
Trent Manning: 32:45
Very good. Well, thank you so much Glen, for, uh, being on the podcast has been a pleasure as always, and we’ll talk to you later.
Glenn Peters: 32:55
All right. Thank you.
Trent Manning: 33:01
thank you so much for listening to the Reel turf techs podcast. I hope you learned something today. Don’t forget to subscribe. If you have any topics you’d like to discuss, or you’d like to be a guest, find us on Twitter at Reel turf techs.