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I’m going to start recording here. And I got the 6 0 1. So who wants to lead off talking about volunteering? I’ve volunteered for the us. Women’s open last may in San Francisco at the Olympic club. And it was the coolest thing I think I’ve ever done. so this point, as far as volunteering, I, met 30 couple ladies in the, in the industry and in the turf world. And the networking part was super awesome. Like I, I, I can’t put a price on the networking that you do when you’re. And then I met, Todd Blankenship, who is the Bernhard rep on the west coast. And he taught me 30 seconds of something that changed my entire life with grinding. It was incredible, that you didn’t have to let it spark out. I don’t know why, like I read the NIRI manual and it was, you know, let it bark out. And he explained to me, he knew leave some contact on the sun and it’ll give it a little bit of a relief just by your grinding. Cause they have the impact grind on the Bernhard. And I was like, don’t, how’s that work? Cause I don’t understand. And it was, it was like a light bulb went off and my grinding program, I cut a lot of time off of it and it really helped out. Yeah, I bet. So. No, that’s awesome. How many of the people you met out there that you are still in contact with? The women’s open and North Carolina this summer in may. So I’ll see a lot of them again, I saw a lot of them in San Diego at the show. So you’re going to go back. Where’s the one in the Carolinas caught me off guard, find needles. There’s pine needles. Yep. That’s right. It is it’s pine needles. That’s where our old friend Eric Duncanson used to be now. He’s moved down the road to Mid-South. Yeah, he was there for nearly 20 years. I think I’ve been there a long time. I think they’re era kava, female. Second. The shop. Not that, not that I’m aware of. There is a female tech in North Carolina. I can’t remember what course. The chief down there and then Brock Brock has a female tech in his shop. And he said that she’s a hard charger. I almost have to tell her to slow down sometimes. Well, from what I’ve seen on Twitter, I think she’s a hard charger. She’s left a good, a good impression anyway, post and stuff. And I asked him questions and, and I forget, I think she said she had 20 years experience or something like that. So that’s awesome. Very cool. Well, anybody else that wants to speak, just hit the button down there to request to speak and I’ll, uh, turn you on. Let’s hear from you, John, about where did you volunteer? Uh, it was at the USA amateur open at Oakmont this past year. And as the first time we got to cut grass on the golf course, did they not have texts in the shop or, I mean, volunteer spots? I don’t because my boss, when, uh, he told me about it, he wrote down on my volunteer sheet shop only, obviously they had different ideas. Cause like, I literally didn’t know what I was going to be doing. Yeah. We went there like the Friday, Friday night before for like, you know, pick up your stuff and then like kind of gave you a rundown of what was going to happen. And then Monday they’re giving out first assignments. I was like at the end of the list with somebody else and they go, can you run a 4,700? I’m like, I can run anything, go cut there, go cut the range floor. Okay. But it’s like, it was crazy. Uh, I got to meet a lot of like, uh, because my boss was like, he was an assistant out there for a whole year intern there. And then he was an assistant for like this 10 year, like there or 10 years or something. And, uh, so I got to meet a bunch of people he worked with that came back, uh, court from doubt, uh, rebels. We were filling divots on the, uh, short game. And that’s funny cause I was wearing a Toro hat. He’s like, oh, you must be a Turo guy. I’m like, no, I’m a whatever guy. That’s what I’m wearing today. And we started talking and I end up talking to him for like, 45 minutes. Okay. But they were, again, he was supposed to be in the shop at, uh, after he was done, like, I guess first assignments, because they were less than his chops about why aren’t you over here up. And I was in New York talking so, but I did whatever they wanted me to do. I was out there raking blockers, did the, uh, the approaches on their practice area with a hammer. So it was kind of nice, cause I never did a walk mower before, so I got to do a bunch of stuff that I never could do, like work. So just I can run, I can run stuff to test to make sure it cuts. Right. But I can’t like technically cut greens or fairways or anything as a regular basis because of how we’re set up with union. So I fix this stuff, they run it. Right. So crazy. But a buddy of mine, he’s in the elevator business and he’s, you know, in the union and he was a technician. So he did all the work. And then he took a job with a company where he was going to be a supervisor and just oversee the work. And when he took that job, it was a, I think he stayed in the union or whatever, but it was a non-union job and he couldn’t touch a tool on the job site. Yeah. That was crazy. And it’s like, oh, you know, like I help when I can, what I can do. And I’ll put them up. It’s, it’s a fine line. Cause they people thought a grievances and all kinds of crazy stuff happens. Right. But probably, definitely a, if I’m still in the area, I’ll be out there for the open, when it comes doing whatever they want me to do again, it’s. Yeah, no, that was awesome. You can just learn so much and meet so many really good people and become friends. And that’s like the, the group, and this was the first time that I’d ever experienced that. But for the 100th PGA at Belle Reve, me and Corey Phillips and Austin rot and Patrick drunkard, the four of us went up. We got up the Sunday of advanced week. So start of advance week and we worked all week through Sunday, the next Sunday. And we ground every cutting unit on. And replaced every bed knife. So we were taken off brand new bed knife and putting on brand temp, bed, nuts and regret. I mean, it was just, I don’t know, the equipment manager up there at the time was a Chris Rapp, um, super awesome guy. And I’ve been trying to get ahold of him. I don’t know exactly what happened after he left a bell reef, but it was somebody else had put into his boss’s ear that the bed knives needed to be the same size, I guess. So that’s why we replaced all the button-ups. But anyway, it was fun times, but anyway, I mean, you, you get pretty close with people spending that many hours with them. Cause it was sun up to sun down just about every day. Yeah. It’s like, if you have the opportunity to volunteer, it’s. I mean, it doesn’t matter if you’re in the shop or if you’re out on the course, you know, you’re going to learn a lot and see how people do things differently than you do. Yeah. And just, I mean, stuff, we come, come across in the shop that say, what do you use that for? Oh, that is a great idea. Why not? Why not? I’ve been doing that. Yeah. I mean, is this all kind of stuff like that, that they came up and then they had the same yardage markers that we had and there, the way we have them, there might not have brass and they got two pegs and they’re really supposed to go in to grass, but we have ours in the cart path. So, you know, they’re getting run over by every golf cart. You could straddle them cause they’re in the center of the path. But now that wouldn’t be any fun. So yeah, I guess people like going over the little speed bumps, so the shanks are constantly getting broken. And, uh, so we had to repair a couple of those. I was like, man, this makes me feel like I’m at home. Yeah. Like they do the same thing I do at our place. I don’t Chris turf, her, I asked to speak, what do you got on the volunteering? And have you volunteered? Are you planning on volunteering somewhere? Well, good evening. I’m actually trying to look into it. We’ve got the senior Shaw open or sorry, the PGA champions show in here. Uh, but unfortunately it’s in our busy season, so I’ve always been interested in it’s one of those things that are on the bucket list. I didn’t want to try to get to do something in our off season. So I’m, I’m hoping to haven’t done anything yet, but I’m totally going to be planning on doing something at some point my career. I don’t know whether or not I’m going to be in the shop or if I’m going to be out on course, but I’d probably be more comfortable in the shop. Right. Right. And that’s like, John was saying, when he signed up, I guess he put shop on the volunteer sheet and he ended up my one. Well, I I’m pretty sure I could figure it out if there is somebody there that I could follow a log and cut it in a Chevron pattern. Yeah, totally. I could do it. It’s trial by fire. Hopefully it won’t end up with too many birds pitch pitch, black cut and sub somewhere you never seen before. It’s great. When they, when they were having me out for the us women’s open, they were like, oh, you’re a mechanic. So you want to be at the shop and on the course or what? And I was like, get up, you know, whatever. So I’d be in the stop a little bit. We did a lot of education in the middle of the day, and then we’d go out on the course. So one evening I feel divots another, I was clipping irrigation heads with scissors. Uh, you name it. I mean, I did a little bit of both in the shop stuff. And then out on the course, I got to see it all. Yeah. It’s definitely different being out on the course and like my daily routine, you know, it was nice, nice change of pace for me. Of course. Walk and Phil and David’s for ours was no fun. No, no, it’s not exactly fun, but it is cool to see the labor, the fruits of your labor out there for the championship rounds and hear what people are saying. I spend a lot of times hand raking sand traps, no, go grab a rake. I’ll go hang out with the bunker crew. When I would say for any of the technicians in the house, if you’re willing to volunteer, check into advance week, you don’t necessarily get all the limelight that you would turn them at week, but there’s really a lot more work to do. And you can learn just as much, if not more. I was lying on my he’s there for three weeks at east lake, which is incredible. Most distributors are now willing to offer, you know, that much time from their staff. What do you call the week before advanced. Well, no, I’m talking about advanced week. So the week before the tournament. So I don’t, I don’t know when it, when Mike gets the hair, I don’t, I don’t know what you call that week. We call that a Dewayne grinds week. Well, they’ve got a good man on staff then. That’s right. He was, uh, snooping on them today. I think. So it was posted on Twitter. Is that the one where he showed up in the gate? Which nobody was around? Yeah. I don’t know what you would call the third week out before advanced week advanced, advanced week, I guess. But yeah, I love doing that. I would do a month if I could, but yeah, I’d recommend, um, if you guys really want to like transit, if you don’t really give a. Two craps about, you know, being with the fans and trying to get on TV or whatever it may be. Um, advanced week is in my personal opinion, the best we can do anything. Uh, because that is, like you said, when all the work is, um, yeah, advanced, we can just, you get to work on cutting units, you’re working on all the cool stuff. That’s really, really important. And then if everything’s grown properly tournament week, Shaq should be pretty chill. Um, but yeah, I’d, I’d recommend advanced week as a, is a great time to get stuff done. I know set did all of tournament week at Sawgrass and they still were working really hard, getting a lot of stuff done because they just have so much equipment, so many people out there. Um, but the what six or seven tournaments I’ve done now, um, advanced week is always the best week to really get your hands dirty and get a chance to talk to. Cause you’re not, you know, networking with a ton of people. You can talk to the three or four guys in the shop and really pick their brains and learn about. I got a question. How, how many volunteers show up to help out or the course in the advanced week? Because I know that if we have about 20 people in my shop and that includes our staff, uh, we, we run out of space. And so it’s like how many volunteers show up and how big is the horse that takes care of the course? How big is that during the advance? We can engineering the tournament. Anyone that’s actually a really good question. Trent might know more than I do about it. The tournament’s I’ve done. The only people that are there during advanced week volunteer-wise are a handful. This is in my personal experiences. It’s only a handful of superintendents or assistant superintendents who all kind of, they all kind of know the superintendent that’s at that property and they’re kind of buddies already and they just come in to help do the abortion reading and whatever, like do a bunch of little stuff, um, to help out. But yeah, Volunteers like official volunteers who have requested and signed paperwork and are put up in a hotel, usually show up on Sunday night. Um, pretty much every term where I’ve done that show up on Sunday night, do like an orientation, go back to the hotel and then start Monday and go through the whole week. So that’s actually a great question. I don’t know if trend can touch on that or add an add to that, um, for trying to get into the shop during advanced week. But, uh, that’s what I’ve got so far. I would agree with that a hundred percent. And that’s exactly what I’ve saw out of the places I’ve volunteered advanced week is yeah. Basically friends, whether it be technicians or superintendents or assistance. And then, yeah, like you said, Sunday is when all the, the real volunteer show up and far as where do you house those volunteers? I know I had a bell Reve, they set up, they had a tent that was, I don’t know, it’s probably 75 by 50 or something like that. And they probably had close to a hundred volunteers, but they had it set up. It was self-contained, uh, generator on-site to power it heat and AC and their refrigerators in there. That’s where everybody eats breakfast. That’s where the meeting was like set up. I don’t know, two or three TVs. And then something very similar at east lake. They basically take one bay of equipment storage or their cold storage area and partition that off. And that’s where all the volunteers hang out. So. Yeah, the Oasis, uh, south. Could you tell us what you saw at Sawgrass? What’s up guys? Hey, bro. Uh, you know, a lot. Yeah. When did you show up to a, if you can’t talk yet, either dude, you can just go back to mute, but when you’re good, when did you show up to a Sawgrass Sunday, right? No. So they actually had a show up on Saturday. Oh, to go back to Chris, what Chris was asking. I think it’s, it obviously depends, you know, the size of your. You know, you have your tournaments, your main tournaments, your grass, the Memorial, you know, the U S open PGA. They’re all, they’re all different. Right. But there’s like, those are the biggest ones of the year. So those are usually east, like th those are usually gonna be the biggest, those are going to, I mean, there was probably, I don’t know, gosh, close to a hundred volunteers at Sawgrass plus their 80 plus staff members. Yeah. They have huge staff for what if 36 holes, right? Yeah. It’s 36 holes. Um, you know, they have a huge, I would say it’s run like a, like a major championship, honestly. Uh, Sawgrass was, um, you know, and I’ve been to Sawgrass. I was helping out on the golf course and in the shop, um, which is fine. I like being outside the. With my agronomic background, uh, the Memorial. See what year was that? I did the Memorial in 2018, um, which was awesome. Uh, great food. The food, there was really good food though, is the best part. Yeah, they, they, you know, they, they, they put you out even soccer as do the hotel. They put us up in progress was amazing. Um, I’ve heard stories from guys like my boss. He, he used to, uh, he went down to the Sawgrass once and they used to stay in a dorm in Jacksonville somewhere, I guess some college dorm. Um, so the accommodations have really come along with. And it was a really nice hotel. You got your own hotel room. Um, the Memorial was the same way. Nice hotel. You had your own room. Uh, every everybody at the Memorial was you’re going to learn some stuff cause it’s a lot of the big name guys come to the Memorial just because it, I don’t know it is what it is, but, uh, you know, you got guys from Marian Oakmont, you know, the, the top echelon clubs, a lot of those guys it’s either their interns or their assistants are coming there. So to talk to those guys, it’s pretty cool. And that was in the shop the whole week, you know, show up Sunday, leave Sunday for the Memorial. Um, I would, I would highly suggest if anybody bill the mechanic there. That he’s awesome. Awesome guy. Um, very knowledgeable. He’s been doing it a long time. Uh, if you are in the Ohio area, Pennsylvania, I would highly recommend trying to volunteer for the Memorial just because it’s one of the biggest tournaments of the year. And it’s, it’s a, it’s an awesome property. Yeah. I’m going to try to invite myself to Muirfield this year. Um, but yeah. Sorry, Chris, I didn’t even answer your question either. I think Trent correct me if I’m wrong to east, like pre COVID. Charlie told me they were pushing a hundred volunteers as well every year, and then COVID hit. And I think they only had like 20 or 30 or something like that. The first year I was there. Um, and then last year for just a few months ago, back in September or whatever, um, I think they were back up to like 60 or 80 or somewhere around there. And I’m assuming this year is going to be big again. Um, I do keep trying if you’re there listening, I keep sending people, uh, Chris’s email too. She’s like, can we volunteer? How do we volunteer? Like I said, Chris, do you want me to just give them your email? So, uh, I’ve been just passing Chris’s email out like Skittles, but, um, that’s the other thing too, is east, like does put you up in a hotel, they put you in the Marriott up in Decatur. It’s really nice. Um, they do the shuttles and stuff back and forth. You can drive to the property if you want. Um, but they do put you in a hotel, you share room, uh, with, uh, another guy you can tell them if you know somebody, um, so that you’re not rooming with a totally random person, but everybody’s awesome. Um, and then, uh, I don’t really, every time I got back to the hotel late, um, all the volunteers were usually kind of chilling at the hotel bar, getting some food and stuff. So the events are awesome. You’re literally just networking and talking and, um, learning for seven, eight straight days, however long you’re there. And that’s why I like to do it as long as I can. That’s I did three weeks and in August going into September and I was there for a week in July to get them set up on the grinders and stuff too. So, um, and I have, if I could have, I would have spent more time because you just I’ve said it before in the podcast. You learn in my personal experience, I learned more in the first two weeks of the first tournament that I did than I have in the past two years, total. And then that’s why last year I wanted to just kind of throw myself into the fire for basically a month, but split it up in a week and then three weeks. But, um, this year I’m gonna try to shoot for three weeks again. Um, do as many tournaments as I can invite myself to Muirfield, uh, Chad listening. And then, um, I might even try and I know Seth, you and I were talking, uh, I might try to invite myself to a PGA championship this year, um, and, uh, see what happens there. But yeah, as as many opportunities as you guys can get I’d, I’d take them. If you, if you have a chance to get out to a tournament in your boss, your superintendent lets you get out to do it. I would take advantage. Okay. That’s the one thing I really, um, fortunate about with east lake is I’ve been, you know, helping out and I’ve always known the mechanic and. That kind of stuff. So a lot of times I’ll just kind of hop in when it’s convenient for me, because it’s in the season. So if I can get down advanced week a day or two or whatever and help out, that’s wonderful. And if not, that’s okay too. They understand, they know the drill because it is really hard for us to pull ourself away during the season when, you know, everybody relies on us so much to get things done. Yeah. Jason is a prime example. First year, two years ago when Anthony was EMI was there and John came out and helped grind and stuff. And then last year, um, that’s why I was there by myself. Uh, and then, uh, like from the sip side, that’s why, cause John was just slammed. He was, he had way too much going on at AAC. He’s like, dude, I can’t, I can’t leave. I was like, it’s all good, John. We got it, man. Uh, but yeah, it is tough when you’re in season and grown turf too, to kind of get away. That was like my main concern. Whenever I went up to the women’s open was leaving my place for over a week. And as soon as I got back, I went right to the shop and was checking rails just to make sure, but they made it through all right. Without me, it was okay. That’s like, uh, John, uh, the other night we were on Twitter or whatever, and he got all of his new reels. So yeah. The first thing is, check him, you know, get him up on the mower, get the mower up on the lift. And from checkout, I was like, yeah, that’s the person we do from a dealership is just check it. But yeah, I can’t imagine coming back after a week, freaking out thinking near your shop’s gone to hell. That’s the, uh, that’s the nice thing about being up at Michigan is we have the ability. So November, December, January, February, March, you know, even into April, we have the ability to leave our golf course and go volunteer somewhere once, maybe twice and not miss anything that. And that would have been why I’m crying too, and just sort of getting into the busy season. So everything up until now would have been really interesting. So that’s why I’m going to be taking some time in the fall and trying to get them be involved as much as I can with everything. I met a, I met a guy, uh, dad at sod grass. He was a superintendent up, uh, I don’t know where in Canada, I think close to bank. His name was Brad. Great dude. But he essentially took a long vacation and went to Riviera, uh, volunteered for the Genesis open there. And then I guess him and his wife were just kind of like sightseeing taking a cruise across the country doing. And he was like doing different tournaments, volunteer. And, uh, the Sawgrass was his last one. They’re heading back, but he’s, I think he was like, I dunno, maybe like a month over here from Canada was pretty, pretty sweet idea. Yeah. Chris Harper, he’s just right down the, down the road from bat, maybe hour and a half. So should have hooked up with him, Chris. Well, I definitely do the checkout on that. Um, and maybe it would be bread Spurling that you might be talking about even the numbered area. Yeah. Yeah. That sounds great, dude. Well, we’re not all that bad. All the crazy up here. The maple syrup of bikes is promoting. That would be my advice to Chris is just reach out to some of your other superintendents in the area or your association. So if there, if there’s any local tournaments coming up of anything, and honestly it doesn’t matter how big the tournament is. It didn’t, you don’t have to go work at PGA or, uh, uh, USDA or anything like that. And a lot of times you might not, those courses might not be seeking active volunteers, but if you get to know people and you call them up, say, Hey, you’re having this tournament. You mind if I come by and help out, you know, they’re usually up for it. Oh yeah, totally. Um, we’ve had a couple of the assistant professionals for our Alberta or provincial routine coming through. And, um, it’s been interesting to see that, uh, it does get a lot more pristine and a lot more accurate in my super and be assistant. They definitely like to make sure that everything is on and I try to do it for them. I, I don’t notice that much of a change of what I do on a regular basis. The weeks leading up to our tournament to men during the tournament, it’s just same old, same old for me. I just tried to keep going at it and hopefully I don’t get slammed, but I haven’t had anyone come up to me saying, yeah, you want the belt? I would love it. Yep. True. And a lot of us, we don’t, we don’t want to ask for help because the other thing we know everybody’s busy and all the stuff they’re going through. So you don’t want to pull them out to come give you hand. If you don’t have to, for everybody that’s listening. If anybody wants to speak on volunteering, your experiences with volunteering, we would, uh, love to hear from you. Kennedy was with me out there at the us. Women’s open. She wanted to share anything. Well, I invite her to speak and see what happens. I think that was her first volunteer to Kennedy. Mike, where’s your next tournament sport? Uh, I got to look at my talent there. I think the next one, if I can get into Muirfield, it’ll be the Memorial. Um, but then I don’t have an LPGA event until like September. Early August. I think I got to go help out with that. So it actually not for awhile. So that’s why I’m on the road for six out of the next nine weeks. Um, just traveling, getting in front of people, but yeah, I don’t have tournament for awhile. Well, dude, if you’re, if you’re at the Memorial, uh, just keep coming north and I’ll probably be at home with a new baby, so you can go hang out in my shop couple of weeks if you want. I got you, bro. I’ll go sharpen some reels, bro. Yeah, I’ll sharpen a triplex and I won’t tell you which one I do. And you can let me know if you can figure out which one it was just that from, from after cut appearance. Okay. Yeah, we should do that deal, bro. Everyone would just heard it’s public now. Yeah, that’d be great. Jokes aside. I do. I was talking to bed. I do want to come up. Um, do like a Michigan tour. So, uh, May if I make it up to Southern Hills or whatever, uh, I’d like to do that and then do the Memorial. If I do the Memorial, uh, and can invite myself in, or just drive into the gates, I’ll do that for a week. And then, um, I’ll just make my way north up to you guys. After that, I’m going to have to find a job where I can just travel around and volunteer and duke podcast episodes or something. I already told you, bro, you can do it. Anybody here could do it. It’s pretty fun. Well, I mean, I know I could physically do it financially. I’m trying to figure out how I can do it. The hard part is I would volunteer at everyone. I could, if work would pay for it, they can vacation kind of hard to volunteer a lot. So that’s where I’m spoiled is. Yeah. I like, I’m not really taking time off by volunteering. I’m kind of still working, you know what I mean? Like that’s where I’m really, this job is such a, yeah, this is such a odd, not odd, but just an outlier rare position that fell in my lap, uh, to be able to do this and call it work. Yeah. It’s not a bad job to have though. I’m very lucky. I’m very fortunate too, because I don’t have to take vacation to go volunteer and I get paid the same. And the person I worked for has always been very supportive and encouraging to go do these things. And it was actually really cool. So my trip that I just took, we, my superintendent had a, a green committee meeting this week, or excuse me last week. And. He was telling the, the green committee where all I’d been and all these clubs I’d seen and, you know, cause I went to some pretty high end places and they were all really surprised and shocked and thought that was cool. So I was kinda surprised even told them, but I just, that was pretty interesting. Yeah. Most of the, uh, assistance they, we send them, the super director will send them each one to a different tournament every year. When we sit down and decide who’s going, where us open PGA Memorial. No, we got a guy going to Marion for the Walker cup this year, I believe. Yeah. That’s awesome. East link, the same thing too. They’ll send all the assistants over like Augusta or just like you said, all the bigger tournaments and stuff to get them some more experience too. Yeah. And it’s all paid for. Pays for their way there. That’s awesome. It’s a really good benefit. I think that a lot of courses don’t offer. Oh, for sure. If I, if I were on the assistance side on the agronomy side, if they were like, we’re going to give you a bag of sour patch kids and a Snickers bar, and also pay for your travel to go volunteer once or twice a year, I’d be like, I’m in. Yeah, that’s probably, he needs kiddos. I mean, don’t forget to stop beaming. That’s fine. Ethic. Give me the Halloween bag. I’m in Kennedy. Did you want to speak to your experience volunteering? Uh, yeah, sure. Um, I did the women’s open last year. Um, earlier in that year I did the gusta Nashville women’s Zam. That was my first, um, Tournament, I’ll be doing the women’s open again this year and then hopefully rocket mortgage, rocket mortgage classic down in Detroit area, um, later in the summer. So a couple of tournaments a year I’m looking for as my goal. Um, but women’s open is definitely on the agenda. That’s awesome. That’s so cool. So evidently you enjoyed volunteering and that’s why you’re doing it again. Oh yeah. I absolutely love it being a student, but not in a turf program. It’s a hard to interact with those in the industry unless I’m out in industry events. Um, so volunteering is a great way to do that. See other courses, other, uh, maintenance practices that are going on. Uh, so I really enjoy volunteering and, and I hope to make it a goal to volunteer at least twice a year, going forward. Good for you. That is awesome. And one thing I figured out, so I went through the Atlanta airport on Friday and I thought I was just dressed like a normal dude and serpentine in through the security line. And this guy gives me like the head nod and he says you a soup. So I started laughing. I started laughing. I said, no, buddy, I’m a mechanic at a golf course. Uh, it was hilarious. And, uh, so he was a superintendent attended, I guess we have that look. Oh, yeah, you definitely do. What was it? My connecting flight to San Diego for the national show. I could just tell all the turkeys in the room. It was pretty obvious who was who? And you just go up to them and you say, are you golf course? Superintendent? Yeah. Hat, no, it just sparks a conversation. I think most of that flight was all had into the show. Um, so yeah, there’s definitely a look for interviews. I remember being in San Diego here a few months ago and everybody was dressed different, obviously they’re dressing up. And so, yeah, he’s a turf guy. He’s a turf guy. Yep. She’s a salesman more than likely. Hey guys, mom, Dawn. I liked it. You were kind of breaking up there. You try that. Can you guys hear me? I got you now. Hey, my name’s Sean. I’d like to introduce myself to you guys. How are y’all doing pretty good. We’re doing good, bro. Good deal. Good deal. So I work, uh, I worked with Matthew warden, um, at CGC and Charlotte, North Carolina. Can you hear this nice dude? You’re the equipment manager? No, I’m just an equipment operator, but I’ve been there, uh, for on and off for about nine years now. And, uh, I keep coming back cause uh, Kennedy could probably vouch for this. I know she, I know Kennedy. You met, uh, my boss, Matthew at the national assists year and, and uh, I remember seeing you on Twitter. Uh, saying how your heart was fluttering and so forth. So anyways, great guy love working for him. And, uh, um, anyway, it’s been there, like I say, on and off for about eight, nine years. Um, I got a turf degree. Um, I’ve been doing it now for over 20 years, man on turf grass. So, uh, just, but I’m new to Twitter. So I really don’t know what, what all was going on. In fact, this is the first time I’ve ever done anything like this, welcome to the party, dude, you’re doing it right. This is the best thing you can do is start networking through Twitter. Um, social media is really great for it. Turf Twitter is awesome. Um, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a heated conversation on turf Twitter. It’s great. Everybody’s warm, welcoming, knowledgeable, uh, willing to help and share info. And, uh, it’s a great, really great community to be a part of, uh, best part as is. It’s an industry I’ve never been a part of either. So welcome to the show, man. Well, thank you so much, Mike. I appreciate that. Yeah. Um, you know, so far so good. Uh, it’s only been a few months for me, I’m on Twitter, but, uh, but then the turf life has been my life forever and ever. I don’t know, uh, if anybody’s local around me in North Carolina anyways, uh, my mother, uh, she worked, she still does works at caramel country club in Charlotte, North Carolina. It’s a 36 hole, uh, course, uh, two cores north and south. And, uh, uh, bill Anderson, if that names mean, it means anything to anybody. Um, she, uh, uh, T w was a baby she’s taken over my life and I didn’t have a choice, but to be in the golf industry. So I love it so much. That’s awesome. Yeah. You got, um, who’s he got trending as Justin’s there. Michael’s down in South Carolina, he’s got chat over in South Carolina and Myrtle. Um, I actually want to make my way over there because Trump national, I don’t know how far that is from you guys there in Charlotte, right? Oh yeah. They’re up there to lake Norman lake Norman. Yeah, yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Yeah. When I’m in the area, man, I’ll reach out for sure. I hope you do. I’d love it. That’d be great. Yeah. Thank you. Just to backup what Mike was saying. I mean, hands down, best industry ever and turf, Twitter’s where it’s at. That’s where we all hang out. Most of us on a daily basis. Yeah. I’m noticing that. And then it’s a, it’s pretty cool. I never, I never knew anything about it. I know that Matthew was on it for so many years before I ever got involved. And um, once he started posting more and more photos of me on the golf course, I thought, man, you know, I need to see what’s going on here. See what kind of photos he’s posting. And anyway, so I did, and here we are, but I’m, I’m, I’m super, super thankful for, for Ms. Mr. Warden. He’s he’s been great for me, man. He’s he’s an awesome guy. And as you guys get an opportunity, if you haven’t met him, he’d be real, real. It’d be, it’d be a pleasure for you guys to meet Sean. And I’m a boss right now. No, he’s a super good guy and gives back to the industry and I mean, it’s just incredible, all the stuff he’s doing. And actually, I don’t mean that he DM me about something and I don’t remember what, but something about the podcast. And anyway, I got the email address of y’all’s equipment manager. Yep, Jr. And I’m gonna, I’m going to be sending him an email and see if we can get him on the pocket. Jr. Yeah, that would be cool, man. Uh, Jr. And I, we grew up together, uh, in a little suburb of Charlotte, which is called pine hill, which is basically, I mean, there, they touch each other. I mean, you know, you drive down the street and that same street trains for Charlotte arrival. Anyways, we’ve known each other since we were little kids, man, like eight, 10 years old. So we’ve known each other for 30 years or more. Um, yeah, Jr is top of the line. His daddy has been a mechanic in, at Charlotte golf courses, uh, his whole career. And so that’s where Jr learned it from, they had a little shot there in Pavo. His dad did I in the little garage outside of their house. And, uh, so he was always tweaking and messing around with low engines and stuff like that. And, uh, and learned, uh, a lot more hands on than his dad taught him, you know, really, but it runs in their family, man. They, they they’ve got the mechanics, blood and. Well, that’s awesome on AGU to put in a good word for me to tell him, tell him to keep a look at, I will do, are you sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair? Uh, you told me Shawn. Yeah, I’m on a back porch. Uh, uh, but I’m watching the LPGA right now. I got a TV outside. I could hear like birds chirping and we’re not going to play it. It’s peaceful. It’s peaceful. Yeah. I got a bunch of birds running around slat around. I got my two dogs here and um, yeah, I’m on the back porch though, man. It’s it’s a beautiful evening right now. About 63 degrees. Uh, real, real, real pleasant. Yeah. Sitting in a comfort in Clemson, South Carolina. Oh yeah. Uh, well I’m a tar heel. So what can I say that ain’t nothing fun going on down there and Clemson. They do have a great turf school. Don’t get me wrong. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. Oh, you’re good. I don’t think you’re going to bother anybody. Yeah. So that’s a dog. I’m a Gator, uh, current where you Trenton, I guess you’re a Jayhawk right now, but yeah. Yeah. I’m a Jayhawk today and last night, man. That was crazy. I know we’re talking about volunteering here, but I will tell you a little story. So we got a LA limestone pizza, which is downtown Lawrence. They basically shut the restaurant down and I don’t have many peoples in there, maybe 50, 50 people in there with three big screen TVs and all you can eat pizza and the drinks were cold. It was a, it was a lot, a lot of fun. And I don’t care anything about basketball, but it was awesome. Yeah. There’s nothing like if your team makes it to like the sweet 16 elite eight final four, it’s nuts, man. We were my wife and I were in New York city and yeah, I know we’re talking about tournament, volunteering and stuff like that. So sorry for the tangent. But yeah, we were in New York city when Florida made it to the final four or lead eight or whatever, and went to a local Gator bar. And it’s just madness, man. Absolute insanity. Go. Everyone’s going bonkers. Sure. Kansas was a ton of phone last night. Are you still out there right now, Trent? Yup. I’m still out here. I’ll be coming back tomorrow. Yeah. Other than that, you you’re a Georgia tech. Aren’t you baby. Oh, oh, Chris Lewis is Georgia tech. Yeah, that, that would make sense. Chrysalis is Georgia tech. I see Brian Lorette and here, unless that’s his social media manager. I thought he was supposed to be. He might be, he might just be listening. Yeah. Get Brian to get you in the mirror field. Oh yeah. We’ve already, I’ve already been bugging Brian. I bought, I bothered Chad. When we were out in San Diego, I was like, Hey, chairman is Mike Rollins. I’m coming to your tournament this year. And he’s like, okay, come on out, man. You think I’ve got the budget to hire social? There is bro. I had a boy. What’s up? What’s up, dude. Is that Brian? Thanks for giving me a mic here. Glad to jump on board and listen, I’ll shut up now. Are you on vacation right now? Just got home last night. So we had the family, we went down to Gatlinburg for a few days and um, settling back in, get the kids back to school tomorrow. Yeah, man. Do your thing. Don’t let it hold you up, but yeah. Uh, isn’t. Uh, like just west of it, there were some fires, they were evacuating some folks. Um, I think west of gallon Berg and pigeon forge, but, uh, we could see just a little bit of smoke kind of rolling through, but, um, really wasn’t bad where we were. Gotcha. Did you get the kit check out a cage cuff while you were there? We did. And we did a, so we did an, a key sta we did SkyBridge and a couple other activities. So, um, it was fortunate. We had some decent weather and able to get the kids outside and let them burn some energy. Well, so speaking of the Memorial where you were at miracles, were you filming another episode? Is that where you were doing there? Um, yeah, so I I’m out there all the time. So I’m doing a new, I’m going to be doing a series, um, where we’re all follow kind of on a semi-regular basis, maybe, you know, every week, every two weeks, just to kind of, depending on the schedule. So yeah, I was just out there, uh, Thomas Bass, this was in from the PGA tour. Um, so followed those guys around for a little bit and um, yeah, I had the camera rolling and just capturing a little bit of a advance tournament and also here. Yeah, it was cool. Is Thomas she, so he’s the PGA tour agronomist for the Memorial. Yeah. So Thomas Thomas covers the Memorial for the tour. He’s their championship agronomist. Um, he. I think it’s going to be like his, gosh, I want to say maybe his fifth or sixth here, um, at the Memorial. So yeah, this, this was like his eight, eight week advanced visit. Um, last week Trek, correct me if I’m wrong. I think I’ve heard bland Cooper say he does something similar, uh, with some of the bigger names stuff, and then the ones that he knows, they might be struggling a little bit agrinomically and they’ll go out and kind of check on them early and then check on the big ones super early. Cause I know he used to like, is what about eight weeks out? They blow the whole course up don’t they tear it up and then let it kind of grow itself back in. Yeah, I think it’s usually 4th of July that week is I forget what they call it. Hell weeks, what I would call it, but basically destroy everything. And then have it all grown back in and ready to go terminate at time. Yeah, because I think that’s the number two, right? I mean, you were Brian probably know this. I think that’s Seth probably don’t do eight weeks out. You can’t. I think the PGA tour doesn’t want you verdict cutting air five. They don’t want you to doing anything. Um, you know, pretty aggressive eight weeks out, I think, is the cutoff. So Eastlake, Charlie waits till the last second and they just shred it to pieces. Yeah. And I think that’s the idea behind that is they, and that’s why they have to be so aggressive on all their stuff is they’re only doing it that one time where, you know, a lot of clubs they might Vertica lightly every week. Yeah. I think it’s, it’s all going to be specific to the site too. I mean, it’s, um, you know, I don’t, I don’t necessarily think it’s as much, you know, that. Visit just to say no more of this or that. You know, I know Thomas a lot of what he does and I know he was just on another podcast recently. And, um, he talked about it during our visit as well as, you know, he’s there to, you know, he works for the player. Does those, those tour agronomists worked for the players. So, you know, this visits an opportunity for them to check and see what’s changed from, um, you know, Amir field’s case. Uh, it’s an annual stop. So has anything changed from the previous year? Did anything happen over the winter that, um, you know, the players may not anticipate that something happened to the golf course or trees added removed, or whatever. Um, he kind of goes and makes this visit and, um, takes the tour of the course and checks to see what’s changes. If there’s anything that’s going to impact the upcoming event, um, and kind of makes that available to, to the tour, to the players. Um, as they’re, you know, I guess confirming their schedules and whatnot, um, just kind of gives them a heads up as to what they can expect. Um, come the end of the end of may for tournament time or whatever would, you know, whatever event it is. And they’ll kind of go through some of those agronomic programs as well. You know, top dressing, sprays, all that fun stuff. anybody else? Uh, I don’t know. Brian’s still on here. Yeah. Brian, he asked to, to speak. Yeah, I can talk a little bit. How you guys doing good, man? How you doing? We’re good, Mike. I’m glad to see that Dewayne is still around. It was nice to see them today getting some sun down there. I think some people, some people wanted to see Dewayne. So a little while now my experience just to get back to term and stuff, I’m not very broad as far as that goes, but I try to get to Victoria national for the corn for a championship every year, last year. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to, because I got sent to a Briggs ranch in Texas, in San Antonio there for an aerification because they didn’t have any equipment manager at the time and they needed somebody. So, but I definitely want to go this year. Um, but I can say like personally, without a doubt, it’s a, it’s an extremely rewarding experience to volunteer and like the sense of pride that you get with. And not to mention the networking opportunities that tournaments do provide as far as, you know, relationships and friendships and things like that, that you’ll carry with you the rest of your career. And so it’s kind of nice to have that, that to, you know, yeah, most definitely. And I wish it was easier to quantify meeting different people and how much that helps you, but it really does. Yeah. I mean, just like the WhatsApp group that alone is, is huge for a lot of people. I mean, it, I don’t think there’s ever been a question answered in there. Anything that hasn’t been answered in like five minutes. So it’s pretty neat to be able to network like that priceless really quick. Isn’t it? The answers like what’s the longest a question has gone without being answered maybe seven minutes. Okay. Yeah, probably, probably something like that. I don’t know. It’s pretty quick. Yeah. I’m not keeping up with those stats. I’m just trying to get how many years you’ve worked in the turf industry. Uh, we got about half the people, um, on that, but yeah, it’s super quick and I don’t just having somebody else you can reach out to when you’re having a hard day and whether they give you the exact answers, the answer you need, you know, that didn’t, that doesn’t matter either. Sometimes it’s just nice to know somebody else has got your back. Amen. You’re right about that. I mean, I think, I think we spoke about it more, the podcast episodes, maybe not, but it’s a launchpad to like I know Ralph and Charlie would tell you, I know a few other superintendents I’ve done tournaments with would agree. I mean, there are, when you volunteer, even if you’re an AIT, you’re in a city. Um, or even as a superintendent, right? One of the first things John Patterson taught me too, is like, you better be careful who you, like, what you say and who you say to and things like that. Cause they could end up being your boss down the road. Um, you know, any of these people you’re talking to Amanda about offering you a job down the road, you may end up offering them a job down the road. So, I mean, there are a lot of things that we don’t even know. Like you said, we can’t quantify those things when you’re volunteering. Um, but I do know for a fact, I know at least two or three guys that have been at east lake for the tour championship who have now moved on to high end, really nice properties because of some of those voluntary entities you’re not going to, you still going to be around when, uh, when open Hills host all this stuff in 48 years. Oh yeah, bro. I can’t wait, dude. Um, I’m inviting myself to that one too. I don’t know about 51. I mean that’s 29 years. I’ll be 64. So I’ll be on the verge of retirement. No, that’s spring chicken material right there. 64. You got to keep your mind going. Got to keep, stay active. No, if it, if I’m on the road, I’m going, I think I can retire. And when I’m like 63, so that’s awesome. Yeah. And then you can just volunteer all the time. What’s the cutoff. I’m curious. Now I need to ask Chris Lewis at east lake because I do keep sending his email to every. What’s the cutoff as an equipment manager. If you have a, let’s say you have the U S open rights up YouTube. I mean, what’s the cutoff there for volunteers in the shop? Is it like six guys, eight guys, 10 guys? At what point are you like? All right, everybody just get the hell out of my shop. I don’t know. And we’ll probably figure that out with, oh, hang on. Whoops. Yeah. I don’t know if there’s a number. I remember it was, I guess 2019, there was probably 10 of us in the shop at east lake. And that was probably a bit too much. Yeah. I feel like, I feel like six is probably the sweet spot, anything over, I mean, even anything over like three or four guys, they’re just kind of standing around kind of just portal on their thumb. Um, it is nice and thick how to run the equipment out, bring it back in, whatever, and then you can focus on repairing stuff. But yeah, I think, I think the sweet spot is like four to six, but Chris has probably got 10 people emailing him right now when it probably depends on the operation too. And you know, I don’t know if you got 40 million walk mowers that need to be checked out every day. I’ll I’ll take 10. Mike, I’ll just go on vacation that week. No, I don’t. I don’t know. And that’s something I’ve actually thought about. Um, just the way my mind works, you know, we got a us open in 12 years, so I like the way my mind works is I’m already starting to think about that and we get the U S junior am in two years. So I’m sure we’ll figure all that w we’ll use these, these other tournaments is, I don’t know, I’ve practiced rounds of. Yeah. Warmup. Yeah, for sure. Then the junior round, I would think you wouldn’t need quite as many volunteers as you would for a U S open. So, well, I think w w I think it’s going to be like a U S we’ll we’ll treat it like a us open we’ll treat the, the U S women’s amateur, like a us open, and then we’ll treat the, obviously we’ll treat, then we have the women’s us open in 31. So, you know, the next 12 years is it’s pretty heavy, heavily on the, uh, USDA championship. tournament’s coming. Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Super cool. I mean, it’s, you, you S you put all this time and effort into your property and renovation restorations, and, you know, 80 hours a week at the, at the golf course, and it’s, it’s all coming to fruition. It’s, it’s kind of been really cool to see firsthand. I mean, I tried to be there as my mentality is if there’s equipment out, um, I’m at the golf course. So if they go out Mo approaches or teas at five o’clock in the afternoon, I’m there. I want to see what it’s doing. You know, if there’s an issue, I just don’t want to go home and then have to be called, you know, that’s my main thing. Right, right. But hopefully when that little baby gets here, your, uh, priorities will change a little bit. I’m just saying, speaking from experience here. Yeah. Yeah. We, we’ve got, uh, a two year old already and one on the way. So it’s a, yeah. I don’t know. Don’t get me started on the work-life balance. Cause I think that’s different that pertains to differently to different people. I would say. No, I agree with that. And it was really funny and I don’t, hopefully I never forget this. And if I do, Mike will remind me, but Mike asked me and John Patrick. About work-life balance. And we just started laughing. Yeah. Because, uh, it was a work work balance for me and John for plenty of years. And honestly, I’m not that much different now. Yeah. I mean, I’ll still call JP on a, on a Friday at seven o’clock. Cause I know he’ll still be at the shops and sure enough, I call him and I hear the grinders in the background going cause he, for him, it’s therapeutic. Right. And on top of that, he’s not going to let anybody else touch his cutting units anyways. But I will say is the bragging point for me? I did get to, he let me grind parallel, square up, do everything. All of his greens mowers for the women’s PGA championship. And he actually admitted he’s never ever let anyone do that in his entire career. So he said either he’s getting soft or he trusted me, but I would assume he, I don’t trust me either. So train, train, you forgot the sound. The sound effect. Oh yeah. You’re a S I P there we go. Um, I got to get the love boat on here. I got to figure out how to get it on my thing so I can play it every time JPS name comes up, but that was my fault. I’m the one that brought up John Patterson for the record. You did? No. And that’s Mike, I had talked to you when you stopped in this past winter, it’s something I had brought up to you. And what you told me made it made me feel better for one, knowing that was like five pounds. Well, yeah, I mean, JP, you call them at seven or eight o’clock at night and he’s still grinding. You know, if, if I didn’t want that, you know, and I told you if I, if I didn’t want to do that, I wouldn’t be working where I’m at, but that’s why I’m working where I’m at. Right. You know what you’re getting into before you get into it, you use some foresight and thought ahead and said, Hey, you know, that’s, I have that conversation with Charlie all the time. And, um, when at Eastlake, when he’s trying to now with Chris, um, Chris needs help in the shop cause his guys go into Eric’s going down and he’s got shoulder surgery and stuff like that. And so Chris was by himself right now in the shop at east lake. Um, and so Charlie texted me to try to help him out and, uh, trying to do that, um, apprenticeship program and stuff like that. And we talk all the time and I actually asked Charlie, cause I’m always asking him questions, trying to learn and stuff like that. And I’m like, Charlie, what do you say to these guys when you are interviewing people at east lake? And he’s like I said, I’ll try to lob them a softball. I said, are you telling them upfront? Like, Hey man, like this is not normal 18 hole golf. This is 18. Annual tournament golf. There is no work-life balance. And he’s like, yeah, that’s the first thing we tell them. And those guys know before they even accept the job, they even sign up a document, anything they know, okay, we’re going to be working 70, 60, 70, 80 hours a week. I mean, it never stops. And I know Brian already left Brian, the rent left, but, um, same thing at Merrifield, right? You have a tournament every single year. It’s pretty close to a major. Um, you have a lot of people, a lot of staff, normally not including volunteers. Um, and these guys have to know upfront, like what, they’re, what they’re getting into. Um, you know, they have families, they have wives, kids, all that stuff. And the more they know upfront the better. And like you said, if you know what you’re getting into, um, you signed up for it, right? You knew what you were getting into and it’s, you have no problem working as hard as you do. Um, and I’ve met plenty of those other guys too. Uh, if somebody calls him, he calls them, you know, Joe six pack words, He’s in at 5:00 AM and at two 30, I’ve had guys do it to me in the middle of doing a training on grinders. So I got two 30, I got to go. I’m like, bro, I just drove 12 hours to get here. You’re going to hang out. You’re going to wait a little bit. And I don’t care if they’re paying you overtime or not. We got to go through this, but two 30 man, they’re out. But they do their jobs really, really well in between five and two 30, you know? And, and that’s something I’ve, I’ve seen both ends of that spectrum for sure. And there’s nothing wrong with either side it’s as long as you know what you’re getting into. Uh that’s that’s all it really matters. Yeah. I mean, that would say that it’s obviously person is different from person to person. You know, some people they need to, they need to work 40 hours a week. No, go crazy. If they work over 40 hours a week, some people need to work 70, 80 hours a week or I’ll still go crazy being at home. Yeah. People can’t sit at home. Yeah. The right day, they prefer to be at work. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with either way. I would say, as long as your family’s good with it. Yeah. I grew up that. Yeah. I think it’s different for, for all of us. And it depends on the person and the operation. And like Mike was saying, if you’re letting an employee know what’s expected of them, that’s part of it. The other thing I think about is there’s a difference between knowing you’re going to work 60 hours a week and actually working 60 hours a week or 70 or whatever the number is. Some people are not cut out for that. Just luck access saying some people need to work 40 hours a week and you tell somebody, oh, you’re going to have to work 50. And am I be the end of the world for them? I mean, I know he’s not here to talk. Um, but I would still say this with him sitting here. Cause he and I talked about all the time, a Ben Ben beard, right stuff. We all talked about it all the time. Like Ben is one of the guys who’s really good at like, Hey man, it’s Saturday, Sunday. I’ve, you know, I’ve got everything set up. I went through it all during the week. All my stuff’s good to go. Somebody’s going to be there to check on it. And if they do have an emergency, they’re going to call me, you know, and Saturday, Sundays, Ben’s not in the shop, you know? And I think he’s talked about that in his podcast. He’s talked about it here in the Twitter space too. And I’ve, I’d use that as an example all the time of like, Hey, like that’s what works for him. That’s his work-life balance. Um, and then some guys, I mean, I’m not gonna lie when I drove to east lake today, it’s Sunday. I thought I like an 80% feeling in my stomach that Ralph was going to be there. You know what I mean, Trent, like, he’s that kind of guy where like, it’s just, it’s in his blood. That’s what he likes to do. He loves being there seven days a week and has no problem with it at all. And sure enough, he texts. Why don’t you tell me you were there, man. I want to come on over. I’m like, that’s why I didn’t text you. I didn’t want to ruin your Sunday. No, you’re exactly right. And I think the other thing is, I mean, I’ll speak for myself as I’ve got older, uh, I’m a little more comfortable letting other people handle stuff than I used to be. And I’m still a control freak. I still read personality. I like to be in control all the time. As I’m getting slammed eyes right now, you got the, uh, the music cued up. So I’m going to say it. John Patterson taught me early on too. He said the same thing you just did. Um, as you’ve gotten older and wiser, as he said, He’s learned to train his guys, his crew members or the crew members and things like that, of what to look for. Um, they do classes just like Steven Tucker on, on everything from a hat, operate, all the four stroke stuff to stroke stuff. Um, all the way up to the heavy duty equipment. Everybody runs everything and they know how to use it. They know what to look for. They know what to look for. And after court appearance, quality of cut issue, stuff like that, the assistant superintendents are walking around. So, um, he’s put in that resource or those resources, um, to help him, you know, work when he’s not actually there I was a little late to the party. That’s all right. I forgot. I keep talking, give you a chance to find the music better, late than never. I got it. I’m going to get the love boat, keep it up for, uh, the next time we do maybe next week. Try to do that. I’ll drop a lot, a lot of JPS. Yeah. And then we’re going to make sure Kevin had niggers in here too. Just for that one. I was just texting him. I know he’s a family guy and there’s nothing wrong with that. And I know it’s like Taylor up there too. He’s like I have Sunday family night and that’s great. Yeah. There’s nothing wrong with that. Nope. Nothing at all. And honestly, this is my son, the family, not. So after you coming down to east lake for the tour this year or what? I know, probably not since. Yeah, well, yeah, actually this year, it’s the end of August. You normally, yeah. It runs into that first weekend of September and the labor day or whatever, but yeah, this year it’s, it’s the end of August. I think I should also be careful too. I keep inviting everybody. Like this is going to be party, but I’ll be working my ass off to three. now I’d love to, I just doing are already doing Sawgrass and then, you know, my wife told me better do better do what you want to do before the new one comes. So this summer I’m, I’m out this summer, I’ll be taking care of a newborn. Well, I will say if you can only come to east lake for one day, come on Thursday, first day of the tournament, because we usually have pork chops that day and they’re so good. They get them from this place. they, yeah, it’s usually Greenville sponsors and they get, um, uh, From a place down in man. It’s rough. Not either way. They’re good. They’re they’re really, really good. That’s a good question. What’s the best meal you had volunteering, flying biscuit breakfast every morning. It’s awesome. Yeah, I don’t, that’s a tough one because we had some really good stuff at Belle Reve too. But at all the tournaments, probably the pork chops from my favorite thing. And then Greenville, they do some good smoke wings too. As I say those, those chicken thighs or whatever they were making were both sides were really good to them. Yeah. Those were really good. And then Jim Roberts, he makes his own hot sauce out of a Carolina reapers. And he says, if you can eat five of these, I’ll give you a t-shirt. I said, I don’t need a t-shirt that. Yeah, I just got lots of swag from the golf club. I’m good. Well, that’s another thing I don’t know that we’ve talked about that much is you get some really good swag. Yeah. Probably bill Reed. Say that again. What’s your favorite swag? Probably bell Reeve. I mean, anybody that hands out, OTO backpacks with the logo on it and stuff, that’s gotta be the winner, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, that was really nice and yeah, we got a custom and gray pocket knife and I don’t remember how many shirts and an ice pullover and yeah, it was really, really good. I mean, east does pretty much the same thing too. I guess it kind of depends on, you know, what your, your, your companies, your suppliers or your vendors, what they want to do to help out one. You have the first year, I think site. Um, did really nice, uh, waterproof jackets. That’s my favorite jacket for me. Slack is in my van all day, everyday. That’s all I ever wear. Um, and they did a knife that you, they did a knife both years to actually, um, in the pellet can actually had, they gave me like seven, eight different shirts, um, a bunch of different hats, uh, I mean all kinds of stuff. Well, that’s the other thing, usually the quality of the Sheraton stuff is really good too. Oh dude, my, I had zero polo, good pole, maybe two good polo shirts, my entire life. And now I have like 60 and my wife’s like, where are you going to put all these? I was like, I don’t care, but I want them cause they are really nice. Yeah. Sawgrass was probably the nicest swag I have gotten from a tournament. They give out the Ogio bag with the embroidered players and the year. Yeah, that’s awesome. And there Peter Malone. And what’d we get eight Peter malar, four long sleeve polos, two short sleeve polos, a pullover, a rain jacket, rain pants. It was nice. When is, when is the Sawgrass tournament? this year. It was first week of March. Yeah, it’s usually, yeah, first or second week of March. I should definitely try to try to make that one. Cause that’s driving distance. Yeah, you should. it’s a good one. It’s a cool, cool property. Cool golf course. And the atmosphere is pretty wild. Gotcha. I can do the Honda classic too. That’s down in south Florida. I do that one every year. When is it? it’s usually a week or two right before the players there. So started the, the Florida. Okay. They do the Honda classic than they do. Um, I might be getting this wrong, but they don’t want a classic bay hill, uh, players. And then Innisbrook I think. Yeah. And after that they go to Texas. Yeah. Yeah. I do a couple of weeks there. I would, uh, one thing I look at when I’m looking at a place to volunteer for is equipment. What kind of equipment they got? Um, cause I like to see how other people maintain the same equipment I’ve got or right. True. Yeah. That’s a good point. Definitely for us technicians. Really good point. If you guys don’t mind, like, let me, let me just go back just a moment again. My name’s Sean. Um, I worked at Carolina golf club in Charlotte, North Carolina. And um, and you guys were talking about, um, Like the best places you would, uh, uh, the best terms you’ve been to or whatever right earlier. Um, I mean, like, as far as like volunteer ship, right. Is that what you guys are talking about? Like, uh, working with swag and all that, right? Yes. Yep. So, so for me, um, I’ve only been to one tournament over and over again, and that’s the Wells Fargo at quail hollow in Charlotte. Right. So I haven’t traveled out of my state or city, but I, but I did go up to the Wyndham one year. And that was like, and that was the year the tire played that year. Cause he was trying to get into the tour championship. Um, and but, but before that, uh, quail like a couple of years back, uh, for the PGA championship, uh, at. Man swag, holy shit. Food. Oh my gosh. It was nuts. And being in North Carolina, I don’t know if everybody tried to outdo themselves, but it seemed like every day we had a new vendor trying to bring some, some like, really incredible barbecue to us. And every single day it was, it was so good every day, every day. Uh, so I enjoyed that a lot and I, I wish I could experience some more volunteer ship. Uh, just haven’t done it yet. I’m hoping that I can make it down to, uh, you know, someone somewhere else. Uh, uh, solid grass really. I mean, I’ve enjoyed the Sawgrass tournament as a patron, but, but not as a volunteer. I got friends who worked at, um, at one who’s a superintendent down in, in that, in that area, but haven’t been there yet, but yeah, I’d love to, I’d love to, uh, make my way out of North Carolina for sure. I even the Greenbrier, uh, because that’s not too far, you know, a couple of, you know, on her miles up from me. Well, they make it there, you know, Two things in the facility where I live, but, um, yeah, but as far as shooters concerns, man, I don’t know if he didn’t know what to go on. Well, personally I love North Carolina barbecue, so that, that would be tough. But what about east lake for you ever thought about it? I have, I have, uh, in fact, uh, last or no two years ago or whenever it was when, when tiger made his run and won it, it, it kind of clicked out to me. I said, man, I need to try that. But, uh, no, I haven’t, I haven’t applied. So if something under the do well, I don’t there. The thing for east lake should be coming out pretty soon. I don’t, it might be may when they send the email out for volunteers, shouldn’t be too much longer. I’m not like you guys superintendents or assistant or even equipment matters. I’m just an equipment operator, but I’ve got a terrific. Um, I got my pesticide license, valid North Carolina. Um, I got a horticulture degree, um, and I’ve got damn near 20 years experience. I just, I just haven’t ever gotten the opportunity to move myself up in this. Maybe, maybe, maybe because of me, I’ve, I’ve tried to stay where I’m at and I’m content where I’m at and so forth. Uh, so I, I haven’t really pushed any further. I’m just happy where I’m at. I did however, become an assistant at one point and that lasted for a couple of years, but then that, that course got bought out by they, they totally closed everything down, but if you’ve been in the turf industry for 20 years, I’m pretty sure you’re a machine you could, uh, it’d be easy to volunteer at anywhere. I mean, you got plenty of experience. You don’t need the title. You’re exactly right. Yeah. Anyways, I appreciate you guys listening to me. Oh yeah, for sure. You, um, if you’re ever looking at, you know, moving to Atlanta or something, let me know. We’ll turn, you we’ll turn you into a mechanic though. Uh, I know a few things about, uh, operating, uh, uh, I mean, I’ve had to, I’ve had to, you know, check the Heights on of my bed knives. I’ve had to, I’ve had, I’ve had a lot of that stuff on my own. If this whole golf course I was at where basically you’re putting one operator equipment and a public course in Charlotte. Now, now it’s a bunch of homes, but I appreciate the offer because he absolutely, I can learn all that. Yeah. I don’t want to put her on. Trent. You want to a wish and see if Morgan wants to talk. Cause she was just mowing greens at Augusta yesterday. I saw that. That’s amazing. Good for, I don’t know, Morgan, if you can hear us, if you want to speak, we all kind of want to hear what you got to say about Augusta. Yeah. That would be awesome to hear. Yeah. Under center on the invite. So we’ll see what happens. Uh, turn, turn, turn a board people on either side. Right. But the greens, I thought we did a quail on the, uh, PGA. All right. Uh, can you guys hear me? Yes. There we go. All right. Uh, I just saw this, um, I actually just woke up from a nap cause you know, they got us do an, uh, early, early wake ups. Oh yeah. That’s the best nap on the planet right there. Oh, you were not kidding. Um, so I was actually there for the, uh, uh, Women’s amateur. So I’m not there for the masters right now, but I did get to know, um, number eight, number 17, uh, which is just, I mean, I, I mean, I have no words, um, but they’re running Jacobson on greens, right? They are. And which I, I didn’t even know was still thing, honestly. Um, I hadn’t been to a course that had Jacobson. Well, we’ve got a huge, a huge distributor up here in Charlotte, uh, for Jacobson. Yeah. Jacobson it’s good equipment. Okay. Gotcha. I, my course used to have, I think maybe like a team mower or something like that, but it got old, but those greens mowers that they have are just, they’re so light and so easy to turn. And, um, earlier that week we were at champions retreat and they have the neutral. What’s your like weighted and super duper heavy. Okay. The far where you have to, where you hold onto the handlebar, but, but you have to, you have to squeeze them with your, with your fingers and kind of like, right. And so that, that kind of controls, uh, how fast you’re going or whatever. And she’ll make earns with that. With that mower. You actually have to let go, like your fingers have to let off because you can’t whip it like other modes right inside the same one, right? Yeah. It’s uh, you can, but you really have to put a lot of effort into it. I was having to stop the mower in turn and we got those where I’m at too in it. Gosh, man. It just, they’re just nowhere near as good, but I’m sorry. Go carry on please. No, all good. Um, but uh, it was, it was definitely an experience. Um, and I really didn’t expect that tweet. I sent out to blow up like that, but I’m really glad that everyone appreciates it because I, I was there last year and, uh, I was raking bunkers and I saw the greens mower and I was just like, oh my gosh, like I really want to do that. Um, so thankfully I got the opportunity to do so. And now you’re speaking on a Twitter space. I mean, what more could you ask for in life? That is awesome. And that’s why the tweet got so much traction at Augusta national. I saw it and I am pretty new to Twitter. And I was like, I saw what you waited and I guess on what, what is like bikes or whatever that you do, like based on your, your likes or whatever. And I was like, and I saw this. I was like, and then you said, I mowed grass because who they, I was like, holy shit. I have like that. That’s incredible. Yeah. It felt great just to distance, be on a green there. And, uh, I, uh, the first day that I was there, so, uh, the second round got rained out at champions Franzen three, and they didn’t finish on Thursday. So, um, we had to finish it out on Friday where we would normally have a practice round, um, uh, Augusta. And so, um, I got to Augusta in the middle of the day and, uh, they were, they were like, why don’t you go walk around and see what’s out there in the first place I went was an amen corner. And, uh, I was just like, I, every time I go there, it’s just like breathtaking. Like you can just stare and just take a deep breath. And it’s just like, Like I’m finally here. You know what I mean? Yeah. This is it. Are you from Morgan? And then, um, how are you getting into Augusta each year? Yeah, so I am at, uh, Oak Hills country club in San Antonio, Texas right now. Um, I’m an assistant there. I just started last January, but I actually, um, was at a golf club in Gulf shores, Alabama called peninsula. Um, before I moved here and the super there knew somebody that, um, has something to do with, um, starting up an law and, um, which is the, uh, women’s amateur. And, um, they, he actually said, you know, why don’t you guys write a letter, um, to Brad Owens and S you know, tell them what you do, um, why you would want to, uh, attend or volunteer or anything like that, and maybe see what happens in. That year, um, they responded and sent us like a, the option to volunteer and, um, that’s why then I had already moved to my new course. And so I got to accept it and go, um, last year and they sent me, uh, another request this year, her invitation, I guess. And, um, I definitely hopped right on that. So I just honestly kind of knew somebody and got lucky. Well, that’s what it’s all about. It’s what we were talking about with networking and doing tournament support and things like that too is yeah. You meet people at the tournaments, but you already knew somebody beforehand. And then it, the saying is true. It’s cliche, but it’s not really what you know, it’s who, you know, so that’s awesome. Yeah, that’s definitely true. And you do me a whole lot of people too, and even people that aren’t. Um, working on golf courses to like sells men. And, um, I met someone that, who runs a pond dredging company for irrigation ponds that I was like, I didn’t even know that was a thing. So it’s a good resource for sure. That’s actually Trent, I don’t know if you had to run it up, but that’s how I met Tina Workman and she’s the GCs H uh, executive director for Georgia. And she was at east lake doing tournament support and, uh, volunteering and, uh, what running the do with the first time I met her. So you really see a ton of really cool people. Oh yeah. Yeah, definitely do. She’s uh, she’s a petite thing and it’s so funny to see her with a backpack blower on, but she’ll, she’ll blow like nobody’s business. Yeah, man. Yeah. So you got the meet, Tina. Oh, no, I didn’t, but I was talking to one of the assistants, uh, at Augusta Ryan Montgomery, I don’t know, does anyone know him? Um, but uh, he was telling me about, you know, and how she’s just, she’s really on top of things. So, uh, that’s pretty cool that you mentioned there. Yeah. Tina’s another like mom figure. I think for everybody, I, at least for me, I’ve loved meeting Tina and talking to Tina all the time and, um, she’s a really, really great person to get to know. And then that’s somebody you want on your side for sure. Okay. Awesome. Good to know for sure. And Mike definitely made an impression on Tina at some point because Tina sent me a text and said, you need to have mock-up for the equipment manager seminar. I really liked that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She texted me and I mean, don’t worry. I was going to get you up anyway without that tax, but that was a little more motivation on my part. I love that lady. She’s awesome. And she does such amazing stuff for us here in Georgia. She’s the executive director. I don’t know if Mike said that or not, but of the Georgia association and she is the best. And I know they’re in the Carolinas, they got a heck of a director too. And Tim Krieger, I’m hoping to see him an hour. And I was just texting with Allen. Um, since I’m here with TSP this week, hopefully I can see those guys one night this week, get some dinner or something. There’ll be really cool. Yeah, for sure. So, Morgan, are you volunteering anywhere else? You got anything else? I am. So I’m the middle of April. Uh, uh, the Korn ferry tour is playing a tournament at, um, uh, the Texas Rangers club in Ireland. Um, and I’ll be there. And then I’ll also be with Kennedy and Kayla, I believe at the us women’s open at the end of may this year. It’s a pine needles. Uh that’s right. We already talked about that, man. Getting, I know it’s been an hour and a half in a Twitter space. I don’t even know where I’m at anymore. Tyler Bradshaw, did you have something to say he requested to speak? You can hear me. Yes, sir. So speaking on like the volunteering thing, I’ve never technically gone volunteered anywhere, but I’ve had volunteers come to my course. My last course I was at, you know, for the Korn ferry tour championship, um, dealing with all the different people, coming from all the other clubs who is such a pleasure, being able to network with them as well and still to this day. Those those connections out there that you can just randomly ask questions to the guy, or they can ask you questions, everything like that. And while I was there, you know, I tried to the, the one guy that would show up for our, in our shop. You know, I try to make things easy on him. And the boss is on the agronomy side. You know, they, they ruled everything and it didn’t quite get to make it as easy in my opinion for, you know, the equipment managers coming from other places. But they still had, from what I saw was quite an enjoyable experience. They got swag, they got food, lots of time to map everything like that. So I think it was a success for people, all the volunteers, whether it was agronomy or just some locals coming in just to help out and rake bunkers or whatever. But they just, all, you know, it seems like it’s a big camaraderie for everybody, right? Work together and get it done and makes it enjoyable for everybody. And just talking with people, getting to know them on a personal level. I think it’s a good thing. Hopefully, now that I’ve moved down here in the Texas, I can make it over to the Byron Nelson here in the next month or the month after. I can’t remember when it is that kind of stuff. So I just think it’s a great thing for whether you’re a superintendent assistant or an equipment manager, even a technician, or even a one guy in here. That’s just an operator being able to go and do that. I think it broadens your horizon, see how everyone else can, uh, how they manage everything. And, you know, you know, the type of people you’d want to be around. If you’re going to go, you know, searching for a new job somewhere else, uh, being able to see how they run their operations. See if. They treat their guys terribly or they treat them like gold, not so that’s always a big thing in this industry. If you don’t feel like you’re respected, you want to go somewhere else. So I think that gives everyone a great opportunity to see other places. See if that if where they’re at is where they want to stay or if they want to try and broaden horizons and go somewhere else. Yeah. I think that’s great. And you you’re spot on, on all that stuff. And I remember I met John Riley at the Carolina show and you know, I’d never met him before and we had this, not just and him, but there was a big group of us having drinks and we just had the best time. And then he posted a position at Longboat key. And if I didn’t, if my roots weren’t so deep here, I would have really entertained that just because meeting him one time. I said, I think I could work for a guy like. Yeah, exactly. last course, I didn’t feel like I was respected with management changes and stuff like that. That’s why I got out of there, but I’m happy where I’m at now. Well, and I wish I could remember this story, so I’m gonna butcher it and I’ll make it a lot shorter. So I don’t bore everybody to death, but they were at, I don’t remember what club this was. They were asking all these questions when people would leave the club and not just when they would leave, but to see what they were doing right at the club. See what they were doing wrong at the club. But the one question they never asked is, do you feel valued? And if you don’t feel valued at wherever you’re working, you don’t want to work there. That Atlanta is the truth spot on. So I think that’s what we’re all looking. And volunteering is definitely a good way to get there. And you said, you said something to, to Tyler. That kinda hit me hard too. Cause what I did was when I did my first tournament, uh, the Addy’s like Trent wasn’t there that one year. But when I did my first one, I like, uh, made it a point cause it’s one thing to go, right. It’s one thing to sign up and be there, but it’s another to like kind of put yourself out there and for some people that might be tougher. So for any of you guys out there listening who, you know, end up wanting to actually do a volunteer opportunity, make it a point to go out and ask questions. Cause I did that with Ralph. I did that with Blaine Cooper. I did it with Charlie. I mean, blend Cooper was out, you know, checking moisture on. It was like Thursday or Friday. It was like Wednesday, actually. It was like Wednesdays. It’s like tournament Eve. And I’m like, Hey, like he’s walking off the green. And I’m like, all right. I gotta ask him is my only opportunity. He’s like. And I’m like, Hey man, do you mind if I kind of asked you some questions? You’re like, yeah, Mike, come on, man. Let’s go. And so he ended up answering all of my questions and things like that. And next thing you know, we’re having dinner, you know, we’re asking questions, I’m asking more questions and picking his brain. Um, and it just turns into an opportunity. Then I’m asking Ralph questions, he’s stamping and I’m still bothering him. I’m like a four year old, ask him why the sky is blue, but he’s answering all these questions. He easily could have told me to F off and, you know, go do something else or go kick rocks. But Ralph capital, um, of all times and places he’s answering all my questions. So my point is, you know, put yourself out there. Um, if you guys do go volunteer, put yourself out there to go ask those questions. Don’t be afraid to ask them because honestly, I haven’t met one person who has been rude to me when I asked them what is probably a really obvious question or a question with a really obvious answer. And they’re always awesome at answering those questions to. Yeah. That’s I love that. Um, every time I go to a tournament, I always bring like a tiny notebook with me. That’s perfect. Like pocket size and a little pen. And I write down everything that they say to me, all the questions that I asked them. It’s really great. I mean, you have a full group of people with a whole nother wealth of knowledge that you might’ve never heard of. Um, I’m sorry. And it’s free. It’s free knowledge. Yeah, absolutely. It’s so awesome. Absolutely. And the cool thing is too, is when I go to these, I mean, I come as a student. So when they’re telling me people I should talk to or different things that are happening in the industry, I might’ve never heard of that person or what’s happening. So it’s another really great opportunity for me to even network beyond the group of people that you’re with. So yeah, absolutely make the most of the time. Right. I mean, it’s, for me, just the being able. I have some people in this industry know who I am, where I’ve come from, where I’ve been, has opened up a lot of doors for me. Um, I’ve turned down quite a few jobs just because it wasn’t a good fit for cost of living versus, you know, almost a lateral known from a previous course, but they were answered every questions that I ever talked to them in that interview process and everything else like that. So getting out there, being able to mingle with other superintendents, other equipment managers, assistants, whether it’s at the golf show, anything like that. I mean, you can, you can open up your doors significantly in this industry and pretty much go anywhere you want to live at this point. Yeah, for sure. And I might kind of hit on it too about the industry being so tight knit and everybody knows everybody and you gotta be careful not to burn bridges. But the other thing there’s bridges that you do have are so strong and case in point, I had a gentleman that worked with me for three years, and now he’s at Hawks Ridge, which they’re locked number six in the state of Georgia. And when he took, when he went to apply for the job, he could, you know, sends them the resume and all that stuff. And my director of agronomy called his superintendent, which they’ve known each other for 30 years and said, this guy squared away. So when he goes in for the interview, the guy says, I talked to Courtney young and I’ll hire you right now on the spot. You got any questions for me? You know what I mean? I didn’t even need to talk to the guy. That’s awesome. You know, and that that’s how, how tight we are. And that’s how, if you have a good reputation, how far it goes, One, one other thing about volunteering. If you’re looking to what, what tournament your you’d be interested in volunteering for, whether it’s Korn ferry, PGA tour, a USDA event, they’re all, so PGA tours obviously separate from USDA. That’s all separate from PGA of America, right? So for me, like I’m looking from here on, out with tournament that I go wrong here. They’re most likely going to be USDA events so that I can see how the USDA sets up for a tournament versus, you know, we’re not hosting any PGA events. So that’s what, that’s what I want to know. And it’s all different as you guys didn’t know that the way, the way the different governing bodies have gotten set up for tournaments. Yeah, dude, you said something earlier, too, that I thought was awesome. I’m trying to go to tournaments that have the same equipment as you do, you know, like I’ve never stopped to think about that. And it is a really great idea because then you can see a little tweak here, a little tweak there. Oh, I didn’t know how he did that. Like when a few of the music, Trent, uh, when JP showed me how he pops that bed knife out of a QA five. Have you seen that video, Seth? Yeah, dude. I like blew my mind. So now every single time, just that one little thing. Right? Every single time I break down a QA five for a customer and we start going through it. I show them that they’re like, whoa, what’d you did you just drop the knife? And I’m like, yeah. He’s like, that took like three seconds. I’m like, yeah, man. And it just like that one little thing. I’ve now shown to like 30 other people and they’d never seen it before and now they pop the bed knives out. They’re not pinching fingers and losing fingernails. It’s just one little thing. It’s pretty cool. So that was a great idea doing is just going to see the same equipment. Jason Miller since you’re raising your hand, I’m sorry. You asked to speak about 30 minutes ago. So, uh, we’re finally getting to you. Oh, that’s no worries trying to appreciate it. Hey, what’s up guys? Uh, happy to be on here. Uh, it’s the first time, I guess, you know, longtime listener first time, caller tiny mentality, but I really didn’t have a chance to volunteer. Last year. I was supposed to go up to the Detroit country club for the, I think it was a U S um, senior amateur. Um, but that was right before I ended up getting my job at Birch this year. So when I switched jobs, I wasn’t, I didn’t have the time to actually go and do it, but I really appreciate this subject being brought up because it’s, you guys have brought up and talked about so many amazing things and justice last hour and a half. And I really appreciate that. Oh yeah, of course. That’s, that’s what we do. Well, that’s been the greatest thing about getting in with you and getting into some of these groups and the WhatsApp group and everything like that. So much amazing knowledge that comes from all you guys in this industry. And everybody’s so wonderful what that experience. I don’t honestly, I was kind of sitting here thinking about this while this was going on. Um, about when do we start another WhatsApp group that just focuses kind of on volunteering and more you’re volunteering and where you can share your story of volunteering, volunteering anywhere this year, man, I’m sitting here with my mock off and I’m just talking away about, um, volunteering and starting another WhatsApp group, just for volunteering, where you could share your story of volunteering and where you’re volunteering next and what tournaments are good to volunteer at. So young, let me know about that idea. And then so. All I know of right now is east lake. And I do that every year. And like I was saying, it, it works out really good for me because it’s an hour from my house and it’s about 45 minutes from my shop. And then I can, they’re really good about just letting me kind of come whenever I can. So I’ll usually text Chris Lewis down there and, or whoever the technician is this year. Um, no, it’ll, it’ll be, it’ll be Chris, but, uh, but it’s uh, well, since the, in 11 years there’s been 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 technicians. So yeah, I was going to say probably give them some context for that, that joke. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’ll give a little context for that joke and to Chris’s credit, he’s been there all 11 years that I’ve gone on. So I don’t think he’s going anywhere. And then they just been looking for the rat fit. That’s all. But, uh, so anyway, that deal works out really good for me cause it’s close and they work with me and I just kind of come and go as I please. And I’m really appreciated Ralph for, for being that way. And then, uh, I don’t know where I’ll volunteer next. Um, definitely be checking the calendar and I would love to get up to the Carolina’s for some of those. So wait so back, Morgan, if you’re still there, um, are you at Augusta all week long or you were done like after today? I was. I finished up by today. Yesterday was my last day. I, we started out at champion the way that the law works is it starts out at the first round. Second round player played. And then the prac or the final round is played at Augusta. So we have it through Thursday champions and then Friday through Saturday at Augusta. So, um, I did ask, well, we talked a little bit about volunteering for the masters and it’s kind of like, you know, a lot of things at the masters, you kind of have to get into a lottery and, um, kind of wait your turn. I think they have a lot of returning volunteers there. Um, but opportunities do open up. Um, I know that if you do say that you’re interested, like if you, um, are able to talk to somebody, they, um, put your name into kind of like a, they call it the bullpen and then you get selected to be able to go. So I’m hoping, you know, maybe in the future I’ll be selected and that’ll just be, I mean, crazy. Yeah, I’ll also, I wanted to say, I think that the idea for the WhatsApp for volunteering is a great idea. Um, a lot of the things that I’m volunteering for, or have volunteered for, I didn’t even know about until someone else said something about it. So I think that’s also one of those situations of who, you know, and what they know. So I think that’s a great idea. Yeah about the masters bull pin thing, whatever they call it. Yeah. It’s like a five-year outweigh. So I somehow got my name on it last year because someone reached out to me and he was like, Hey, I see your volunteer to NWA. I got an in, do you want to get your name on the masters list? And I was like, are you serious? Yeah, of course. Why is this a question? Um, but yeah, they said it’s about a five-year way because all the returning people, they get invited back every single year. So you basically have to wait until someone says no one year. Um, so yeah, it’s like a five year wait out, but once you’re in, you’re in for all the years going forward, one man, might, we’re talking about Ms. Tina Workman. I believe she said this year would be her 20th year volunteering at Augusta. That’s our end, bro. I’m just going to call Tina and be like, yo, smuggle me in I’ll dress up. We’re just all piling into a van and jumping the fence. That’s right. That’s how we just get hit with a nuke dude. They don’t let it in there. Well, I don’t, I was telling somebody this story, when I worked for Jerry pay the Torres Strait theater, I think it was Mike. I was telling just the other day I would pull up, I’ll pull up the Augusta national in the middle of the summertime. So it ain’t like they really had a lot going on. Right. And my Jerry Pate rap van that said Jerry Pate, Toro all over it. And I would say, I’m here to see Fred Hartenstein equipment manager and they would say, okay, and walk away. And then 10 minutes later they would come back and say, do you know how to get down there? Yeah, I do. Okay. You can go. You can go in now. So I don’t know whether you’ve been. No I’m saying, if I were you, it’d be like, yeah, I know how to get down there. I’ve been here 900 times. You guys have met me, you know, 850 of those times as you’ve seen this guy face to face, he’s still asking you these questions. Well, yeah, that, so I was with them for like two years and I went there at least 15 times, and that was the other thing. Some of them were back to back. Like I would be there on a Tuesday and I would be back Wednesday the next day. And they would still give you a hard time about getting in. It was just craziness. And then I got to tell my little story. The only grass I got to tomorrow was the second driving range fairway, because we were doing some tests and they’re like, okay, you can go out here and mow where nobody’s ever going to see. And again is in the middle of the summertime. So like, anybody’s going to see it anyway, what a joke. So to get them all green, that is something very, very, very. And I’ve got to ask Morgan, do you know what height they were at? That’s so funny, someone comments on that tweet out. And I was like, I did not even think to ask. I’m like kicking myself to not even think to ask. It was just like, I was just star struck to even be put on a mower. So if you’d caught off guard, for sure, they probably wouldn’t have even said, well, I was curious to see if like, maybe it was up on the handlebars, you know what I mean? Like if they put like the little label maker or something on there, so nobody puts the wrong height or something. Oh no, they were, they, I didn’t see anything like that, but I will say they were pretty, any question that I asked, um, they, they always gave me an answer. They were never like, oh no, I can’t tell you that or anything like that. So they may or may not have told me, but, um, they seem to like, you know, they were open to answer any questions. I mean to my knowledge, they were always really secretive of how to cut numbers even to the point where if they were getting rid of them, I were, you know, trading to Dan to the dealer or whatever, they would change the hot on it before it left Augusta. Come on, bro. Really? That’s what I was told. You know, this is all hearsay. I didn’t physically see them change the height before they tried to be. Well champions retrieved for the NWA. There’s similar like that with their ball, um, their greens speed ball roll, whatever you call it. Um, cause when I was there, the superintendent Craig Walsh just took me under his wing and there were, uh, measuring green speed and he was like, Hey, you want to use the stem major? And I was like, yeah, of course. Sure. And uh, he told me what it was and he gave me the lecture. He said, now there’s only three people allowed to know what this number is and you’re number four. So you gotta take this to your grave. Um, so yeah, even the course kind of down the road is pretty particular about that. So I wouldn’t put it past Augusta to be like that for high to cut. I know east lake I’ve experienced that is they have their number and then they step every green every morning and then whatever their number is, they say plus or minus. And inches of that number. Yeah. That’s, that’s exactly what I was going to say was I’ve been places where like east, like, has like that like code kind of thing, and then I’ve gone other places like the Honda classic at PGA national where they couldn’t care less. They’re just like, yeah, we’re snipping 13 and a half, no big deal. You can tell the entire planet, if you want, tell them to try and beat the course, you know, like shoot under par or whatever. And that’s why I think this year, the winning score was like eight under nine under or something like that. Maybe 10 maximum. But, um, everybody else was about five or 600. That was it. So, um, you definitely get both ends of the spectrum where some people are very secretive and then others couldn’t care less. So it’s pretty cool to see different styles of how they do their agronomy practices and stuff. And I think it depends on, you know, the, the situation too. We had the Nike tour championship back in the late night. And all our grains were locked 14, 15. It was crazy insane numbers. And ESPN wanted to do a little video on how you get a stint rating. So they came to the superintendent and said, can we borrow your stent meter? And he said, I do not have one. I mean, you know, he, wasn’t going to give them the step meter so they could say no fast. Yeah. Accordance it’s I don’t have a step meter. I’m sorry. KLP so crazy. How, how that works. I don’t know about y’all, but, uh, we’re coming up on two hours, another two hour Twitter space. And this has been probably one of the most exciting ones that I can remember. My favorite. My favorite topic in all of golf is volunteering at tournaments. I can talk about this for days. Don’t lie. Mike is cutting units. We know you. Yeah. They go hand in hand dude, one in the same setting, your, your dad cutting into 10 tournaments. Thank you, Seth. Boom. That’s it right there. Cutting here at the tournament. Leave me alone. Let me go into this thing. I got to, I got to do it in my shop. It says Mike Rollins on it’s for 24. No way, bro. I’m bringing it. I’m stealing a bunch of picks that are not fixed, that a bunch of floating flex and walk mowers and I’m throwing them on the grinders. You’re not even going to know, go for it, bro. I don’t. So when’s your tournament in 24 July? Ah, man, it’d be tough, but I would love to try to make it what happens. I got a smoker. I’m down then I’m there, then that’s all it took in the wintertime. We grill inside the shop. Cause I’ve got, I got a ventilation fans in the grinding room. That’s awesome. The smoke just goes right out, right out the shop. Very, very cool. Well, thank you everybody for tuning in and talking and more than likely we’ll be back next week. Does this time? I mean, obviously it works for everybody here. I guess I should ask the people that are not here. And if I set up a WhatsApp group, um, I will, uh, I’ll let everybody know. I see David and here let’s get on let’s let’s ask all the Canadians, what time is good for them? Let’s get all the Canadians in next week. That would be a, that’d be a good idea. Let’s see if David will speak. Like I said, I know everybody has family time, but I wouldn’t be opposed if somebody wants to do one at 3:00 PM or something we could, uh, we could do that. Yeah, it sounds good. I’m going to go watch some Yellowstone. I, I gotta get, I gotta get caught up. The show has been off for like two months. I know. I wait for all of the episodes that happen and then I watched 10 of them in a row and fell asleep. Okay. I got you. Did you finish, did you finish 1883? Yeah, dude. So good. So good. So good. I finished that a couple of weeks ago and then just started season four, Yellowstone, uh, today. Awesome. Yup. Well, Dave is nuts, man. Right now we’ll uh, we’ll last in the WhatsApp group and. Alright, good. Seeing everybody enjoyed it. Bye everyone.

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